Ascendingthethrone
Ancient Mariner
This.
Rant Thread
- Thread starter Ariana
- Start date
When I was a kid, I was taught that any conflict between people can be settled if you talk.
Now, not only is this not true, as we all know, but now at an advanced stage in my life I have to observe that the very same people who taught me this will go out of their way to avoid having a talk even if it means making them miserable for years on end.
And when I'm trying to make such a talk happen, these very same people directly tell me to shut up.
What I understand the very least of all is that this particular situation I'm talking about just came out of nowhere. There was no necessity to it; the people just snapped from one moment to the next. And these are people who until that moment were doing relatively well for themselves. Coming out of problems they were having with reasons to be optimistic. I'm starting to think there is an innate human necessity to create a crisis for themselves because it's so much easier to wallow in misery than to maintain happiness, so much easier to destroy than to build.
It may be a fact of life, but it's so painful to watch people you love doing this to each other when from the outside you see that it's not necessary.
Now, not only is this not true, as we all know, but now at an advanced stage in my life I have to observe that the very same people who taught me this will go out of their way to avoid having a talk even if it means making them miserable for years on end.
And when I'm trying to make such a talk happen, these very same people directly tell me to shut up.
What I understand the very least of all is that this particular situation I'm talking about just came out of nowhere. There was no necessity to it; the people just snapped from one moment to the next. And these are people who until that moment were doing relatively well for themselves. Coming out of problems they were having with reasons to be optimistic. I'm starting to think there is an innate human necessity to create a crisis for themselves because it's so much easier to wallow in misery than to maintain happiness, so much easier to destroy than to build.
It may be a fact of life, but it's so painful to watch people you love doing this to each other when from the outside you see that it's not necessary.
I hate it so much that ever since I started re-watching the old Star Trek series on Netflix I keep getting Star Trek related content suggested on Facebook. Especially because I am taking so many precautions against data espionage. I have Ghostery blocking virtually everything and despite the fact how tedious it is, I always make sure that every cookie, including the "legitimate interest" ones are blocked. I use a VPN most of the time. And still something always slips through.
I mean yeah, ultimately it's obvious that nothing I do online is hidden, if a service is free the user is the commodity, etc, bla bla bla, I know all that. It nevertheless annoys me because it didn't have to be this way. This development wasn't inevitable and yet we let it happen. And if I choose to "vote with my wallet" and not buy any product that is being advertised, no corporation will care and I'm only making my life more complicated by making it dependent on negative brand consciousness.
I mean yeah, ultimately it's obvious that nothing I do online is hidden, if a service is free the user is the commodity, etc, bla bla bla, I know all that. It nevertheless annoys me because it didn't have to be this way. This development wasn't inevitable and yet we let it happen. And if I choose to "vote with my wallet" and not buy any product that is being advertised, no corporation will care and I'm only making my life more complicated by making it dependent on negative brand consciousness.
Data is the new oil, and Facebook is Standard.
Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
*Meta.
Jer
'Til Tomorrow
So, food inflation.
Went into Aldi the other day and eggs were $4.99 a dozen. I literally remember walking into the same Aldi about 3 years ago and the price was $.39 a dozen during a particularly good sale. WTF. I understand there was an avian flu outbreak or whatever, but a 12x multiplier on the price range seems beyond outrageous. If I buy in larger volume from Costco I can get the price down to about $3.20 a dozen, but come on.
Then there’s soda. A 35-pack of Coke Zero cost ~$10-$11 pre-pandemic. Then they jacked it up to $15, and most recently they bumped it up to about $17.75 (over $.50 a can!). They did this while Pepsi and Dr. Pepper were holding the line at $13.99 for a 36-pack, so they were charging an over 20% premium to buy Coke products. WTF. So I switched to Diet Dr. Pepper, and now even those guys have jacked the price up to ~$15.50 for a 36-pack. Ridiculous.
So I started looking at 2L bottles, and the Coke and Pepsi situation was still really dire in that medium ($2.50 or more), but 7-Up and Canada Dry were still selling 2L’s for $1.38 (normal price, not on sale). Then I returned this week and those same products had been jacked up to $2.28 a bottle! WTF! So now I’m trying out the Walmart store brand soda, which is still just $1.18 for a 2L, at least for the moment. Their fake Diet Dr. Pepper is pretty bad (heavy on the anise flavor), though their fake Coke Zero is surprisingly not awful, and tastes sort of like watery RC Cola. I don’t know, I might have to alternate between shitty store brand 2L’s and overpriced real brand cans to even out the cost without getting too depressed.
Some of this has got to be predatory price gouging. I just can’t imagine that raw material and labor cost could account for anything close to this kind of markup. Fuckers…
Went into Aldi the other day and eggs were $4.99 a dozen. I literally remember walking into the same Aldi about 3 years ago and the price was $.39 a dozen during a particularly good sale. WTF. I understand there was an avian flu outbreak or whatever, but a 12x multiplier on the price range seems beyond outrageous. If I buy in larger volume from Costco I can get the price down to about $3.20 a dozen, but come on.
Then there’s soda. A 35-pack of Coke Zero cost ~$10-$11 pre-pandemic. Then they jacked it up to $15, and most recently they bumped it up to about $17.75 (over $.50 a can!). They did this while Pepsi and Dr. Pepper were holding the line at $13.99 for a 36-pack, so they were charging an over 20% premium to buy Coke products. WTF. So I switched to Diet Dr. Pepper, and now even those guys have jacked the price up to ~$15.50 for a 36-pack. Ridiculous.
So I started looking at 2L bottles, and the Coke and Pepsi situation was still really dire in that medium ($2.50 or more), but 7-Up and Canada Dry were still selling 2L’s for $1.38 (normal price, not on sale). Then I returned this week and those same products had been jacked up to $2.28 a bottle! WTF! So now I’m trying out the Walmart store brand soda, which is still just $1.18 for a 2L, at least for the moment. Their fake Diet Dr. Pepper is pretty bad (heavy on the anise flavor), though their fake Coke Zero is surprisingly not awful, and tastes sort of like watery RC Cola. I don’t know, I might have to alternate between shitty store brand 2L’s and overpriced real brand cans to even out the cost without getting too depressed.
Some of this has got to be predatory price gouging. I just can’t imagine that raw material and labor cost could account for anything close to this kind of markup. Fuckers…
I can't completely work out what justifies this either, although I've still got a suspicion that chunks of the economy and shareholders refuse to accept any losses/drop in profits/too-slow increase in profit growth from the covid years. Factors like energy and fuel being in short supply, lingering restrictions hampering consumer goods production in China, war in Ukraine, and Brexit mess don't account for all these price rises.
Still fuming about the £40 Gojira tour shirts and £80 hoodie, incidentally The shirt cost more than the gig ticket
Still fuming about the £40 Gojira tour shirts and £80 hoodie, incidentally
The shirt cost more than the gig ticket
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Magnus
currently discounted
@Night Prowler used to put them onto pizzas on a daily basis almost, go figure.
#ThoseWereTheDays
#ThoseWereTheDays
still do
Magnus
currently discounted
Spambot
Meme Lord
Not really a rant, but maybe somebody can clarify this for me:
Bands announcing tours: UK and Europe.
Why? Where is UK, in Asia? I understood if it was EU and UK or something, or if it was 10 dates in UK and 10 dates in rest of the Europe, so you know, both deserve a mention. But, 15-20 dates, one or two in UK and it say - *certain band* UK and Europe tour? Why?
Bands announcing tours: UK and Europe.
Why? Where is UK, in Asia? I understood if it was EU and UK or something, or if it was 10 dates in UK and 10 dates in rest of the Europe, so you know, both deserve a mention. But, 15-20 dates, one or two in UK and it say - *certain band* UK and Europe tour? Why?
____no5
Free Man
its_ArchroniX
Educated Fool
To pick up on that topic I also hate it when bands announce a "European tour" and then only have a few small dates at festivals (and often festivals where they don't belong) and then are already done with the European part of the tour. But put down the very biggest production in America.
A good example is Disturbed who are coming to Europe in 2023 and will be at a number of festivals, including Pinkpop in the Netherlands where the main act of the day is Robbie williams (okay.....?). Then they have a few more small dates in Europe before they go all over the continent in America with their giant tour and probably have a bigger set list.
I guess it also has to do with how much a tour of Europe costs, but then don't call it a "European tour" when you're only at a few festivals and not even as the main act....
A good example is Disturbed who are coming to Europe in 2023 and will be at a number of festivals, including Pinkpop in the Netherlands where the main act of the day is Robbie williams (okay.....?). Then they have a few more small dates in Europe before they go all over the continent in America with their giant tour and probably have a bigger set list.
I guess it also has to do with how much a tour of Europe costs, but then don't call it a "European tour" when you're only at a few festivals and not even as the main act....