What Did You Learn Today?

[NighthawkChris]

10 hours ago, ghost_of_fl said:

Yeah I saw a hidden camera investigation once where they showed what a ripoff the apple store is.   

The story about the iPhone battery reminds me of my experience getting new lenses for my glasses last week.  I already had nice $200 Ray-Ban eyeglass frames that were a little over a year old.  The plastic on the sides and around the nose had turned a little white.  Oxidation or some kind of reaction.  

I was told when I brought in my frames (by these eye care professionals) that the plastic had "dried up" and they might break when they try to put new lenses in.  Hogwash but I'll play.  

So they put in the new lenses and of course nothing broke.  When I came to pick them up, a different "eye care professional" pointed to the white stuff and warned me to "be careful  because of the acetone".   At first I was trying to figure out what she meant.  Acetone = nail polish remover.  After I left, I figured out she meant acetate.  The frames are made of acetate plastic.  

Anyway, no they didn't "dry out", they just needed a little TLC.  This is how they look after some light scrubbing with melamine foam (magic eraser), conditioning with auto plastic restorer (Outlast by ArmorAll) and a little mineral oil to restore the shine. 

Personally, I think they just wanted to sell me a new set of frames even though I didn't need them.  Won't be going back to that place. 

Yeah I believe that there’s some sort of scheme going on at the Apple store as well as other places like your eyeglasses place you went to. The worst is being alcohol when you know you’re getting fed a total line of BS. Pure, utter BS… Good on you though getting your eyewear in better shape. I usually try not to get into rants about stores (think GC…) because they are what they are, but this Apple store really chafed my inner thighs yesterday haha!

[NighthawkChris]

2 minutes ago, Whitefang said:

Shouldn't be hard, Forty.....    Every cellular service offers smartphones not made by Apple.  Mostly Samsungs.  

Whitefang

As I was saying before your main front runner “quality” choices are a Samsung Android-type or an Apple iPhone. Being that these things are literally much more than “phones” today, getting something that’s like this where literally you feel naked to leave home without, you want something you can foresee good support for in the coming years. I’ve done androids, iPhones, blackberries… even had two of the same kind when work gave me company phone. Guess we’re taking the good with the bad as they say. 

[Whitefang]

Frankly, I still use an old LG flip phone.  And why not?  It does all I want a mobile phone to.....

Receive calls and make them.  If I said it once I've said it millions...

I don't text, tweet, snapchat,  instagram,  take incessant, inane "selfies" and wish not to listen to tinny sounding music, watch TV or movies on a screen the size of a business card.  And I'd rather have a conversation ON my phone, NOT with it!  Or(as I've seen a lot of over the years)  ignore all the other people in the room while I "nosedive" into my phone as I'm on something called "social" media.  

Whitefang

[jdgm]

1 minute ago, Whitefang said:

Frankly, I still use an old LG flip phone.  And why not?  It does all I want a mobile phone to.....

Receive calls and make them.  If I said it once I've said it millions...

I don't text, tweet, snapchat,  instagram,  take incessant, inane "selfies" and wish not to listen to tinny sounding music, watch TV or movies on a screen the size of a business card.  And I'd rather have a conversation ON my phone, NOT with it!  Or(as I've seen a lot of over the years)  ignore all the other people in the room while I "nosedive" into my phone as I'm on something called "social" media.  

Whitefang

Same here; I was given an old Nokia, and that's all I need  - but -

For many people now the smartphone IS their computer as well as a phone.

I don't have any Apple computer products, never have; too expensive for me.

[NighthawkChris]

@ghost_of_fl thanks for the video link! Pure corporate greed. I know this iPhone 8 is the last Apple thing I buy. Was my first and last because I’m not going to buy from a company I cannot trust to value my purchase. They even went so far to want to not have any 3rd party repair groups and try to make it discouraging to owners of their stuff to attempt a simple repair… if you ever tamper with the hardware their software tries to detect that and shuts down the system for using aftermarket crap… This just shows that Apple is about making money at any expense and they are so big they can afford to F you over. For all the people like me that turn down a new phone because a battery has worn out, there’s someone behind me that will buy into that BS and well made up for that $50 they lost from me not buying a battery. So… this opened a can of worms for me at least. 

I use a smart “phone” because I am a tech enthusiast. I’ve had vision years ago that the internet would be in our pockets. Now not calling myself a prophet or some visionary here, but I saw this coming years ago where we are all networked together as we see today. I feel that it is basically a human right to have something that keeps us involved in today’s world because face it, literally everyone has one of these things in their pocket today. You’re in the very small minority if you still have a flip phone - and even smaller minority if you don’t have ANY telecoms. You just have to be smarter today than before and learn about privacy online, cyber threats, etc. all those fun things we hear about today telling us to update our s***.

Bottom line is that Apple is a very rich corporation and they show they don’t care about you because there’s someone behind you in line that is willing to spend thousands with them like a rat for a pellet. If my Android before this iPhone 8 worked good, I might have decided to go with another, but alas, I have found another big tech con where now my link to the world today is under their control and I have to keep them treating me well with hundreds to thousands of dollars today. Again, I did pretty much same thing as the guy in the video… I went to someone I knew that could do the job Apple told me that I needed a new phone if I wanted a new battery… literally moments to open up phone and way less effort and time to take the battery out. They were going to take me for $500 for a replacement that I needed to wait for them to order. It’s a scheme no doubt and I am ditching this iPhone after I get sick of it when this new battery dies or something else goes wrong. 

Edited July 11, 2021 by NighthawkChris

[Mr. Gibson]

I’m a Samsung user, 200.00 is enough for a phone. Works for my new hobby of cow/rancher selfies. Now everyone knows I’m weird when I send them a pic.

[NighthawkChris]

17 hours ago, Mr. Gibson said:

I’m a Samsung user, 200.00 is enough for a phone. Works for my new hobby of cow/rancher selfies. Now everyone knows I’m weird when I send them a pic.

Well I’ll be honest the reason I went to an iPhone was because me experience with a company iPhone I had for years - iPhone 5S. Great phone, great battery - it just worked for everything I needed it to. So I took a gamble with the 8. Yes been great and not had issues for 3 years until this battery thing happened. Finding out the hard way that Apple is not my friend at all so to speak. 

That being said, I might just get a ”cheap”, generic Android phone like you because as much as I like tech stuff and hacking, etc. I just want something for basic comms - text and voice mostly. I browse guitars on Reverb and the web as my side tasks on this thing. No social media either FYI. Sort of feeling like the time I made the decision to cut cable from my house a few years ago as I haven’t regretted that decision one bit. I only pay for internet and my cell service these days as the “mandatory” extraneous costs in my budget. 

[Whitefang]

This might be digressing a bit, but-----

Wasn't Samsung the company having battery issues a few years back?  You know, phones and tablets going up in flames?  I remember joking that;

"Those Samsung phones are marvelous.  You can talk, text, surf the net and send e-mails and even light your cigarettes with them!"  

I even recall Samsung WASHING MACHINES bursting into flames!  

Whitefang

[Pinch]

20 hours ago, Whitefang said:

This might be digressing a bit, but-----

Wasn't Samsung the company having battery issues a few years back?  You know, phones and tablets going up in flames?  I remember joking that;

"Those Samsung phones are marvelous.  You can talk, text, surf the net and send e-mails and even light your cigarettes with them!"  

I even recall Samsung WASHING MACHINES bursting into flames!  

Whitefang

I think so, but I'd imagine that's long rectified. 

[NighthawkChris]

I learned that when my electronics are not working, I give them a whack and they somehow, magically, stars-aligned decide to work again… This and my smoke detectors will only start to tell me that their batteries are getting low at 3am without fail. 

Case in point, when my amp starts making sounds I don’t like, I sometimes have to “motivate” it to stop making undesired noise. After some “coaxing” the thing shuts up. Works every time!

Edited August 8, 2021 by NighthawkChris

[badbluesplayer]

I learned how to fix a water line leak where you can't move the pipes apart enough to slip a union on there.  Make a little "U" with 4 elbows.  And never break your water service when you're digging a fence post hole. 

[Whitefang]

2 hours ago, NighthawkChris said:

I learned that when my electronics are not working, I give them a whack and they somehow, magically, stars-aligned decide to work again… This and my smoke detectors will only start to tell me that their batteries are getting low at 3am without fail. 

Case in point, when my amp starts making sounds I don’t like, I sometimes have to “motivate” it to stop making undesired noise. After some “coaxing” the thing shuts up. Works every time!

Yeah, but when my KIDS started making sounds I didn't like(which was often) I found it wasn't prudent, or even legal to "coax" them in that fashion.      And a brother in law of mine used to "coax" his  son that way.  Up until his son got big enough to "coax" him back!  

Whitefang

[NighthawkChris]

42 minutes ago, Whitefang said:

Yeah, but when my KIDS started making sounds I didn't like(which was often) I found it wasn't prudent, or even legal to "coax" them in that fashion.      And a brother in law of mine used to "coax" his  son that way.  Up until his son got big enough to "coax" him back!  

Whitefang

In all truthfulness I was nowhere implying to “coax” living things. If one does this sort of coaxing to kids too, they might learn about bubbas big snake in a cell. One would only hope if this be the case…

Edited August 8, 2021 by NighthawkChris

[Dub-T-123]

My friends and I are super hooked on an online video game that we play on our phones. I have noticed that my iPhone 12 consistently outperforms my friends/competitors even with the frame rate maxed out and graphics set how I want etc

 

Part of that is my really good WiFi, but overall I think the iPhone 12 is about as powerful as they come. Certainly not a bad product (though that doesn’t speak to the company as a whole)

[NighthawkChris]

I learned that GnR is my new most "favoritest" band ever...  Still high from the concert last Sunday.  Loved this band for quite a few years now.  Hope to catch them again when they come back in my "neighborhood".  Was an awesome time and recommend going to see them any chance you get if you're a fan.  Even the songs you'd think are played-out religiously on the radio are great time to actually hear the band play them.  Totally different feeling to watch this happen in the flesh.  A lot of energy and good times.  Like I said about this before, never going to forget this concert.  Probably going to be in my top concerts of all time.  It was that good of an experience for me.  Wasn't cheap, but well worth the price of admission IMHO. 

[Whitefang]

Still high?  

Must've been good sh*t!  

Anyway, glad for ya.  Personally, It's hard for me to actually pick out a "favoritest" band.  Not even going by genre, as there are several I lend my ears to.  No one band from ANY genre supercedes the  others.  Especially those artists and bands(like Zappa and Matthews) who to me, seem to be their own genres. 

Of course, in my youth I did have my "heroes",  which would change on a regular basis, but as years passed, I found it more and more difficult to settle for only one band/artist/genre.  And something too you might understand Chris....

I also consider MOTOWN to be more of a genre than a record label.  

Whitefang

[jdgm]

23 hours ago, Whitefang said:

I also consider MOTOWN to be more of a genre than a record label.  

Whitefang

I know exactly what you mean.  I have pondered about this (off and on) for years.  It's in the name IMO.  Atlantic isn't a genre though the soul music they produced equalled Motown in many ways.   And Motown artists are in a way still forever from Motown, even if they left the label.

Edited August 12, 2021 by jdgm

[Pinch]

On 8/11/2021 at 4:39 PM, NighthawkChris said:

I learned that GnR is my new most "favoritest" band ever...  Still high from the concert last Sunday.  Loved this band for quite a few years now.  Hope to catch them again when they come back in my "neighborhood".  Was an awesome time and recommend going to see them any chance you get if you're a fan.  Even the songs you'd think are played-out religiously on the radio are great time to actually hear the band play them.  Totally different feeling to watch this happen in the flesh.  A lot of energy and good times.  Like I said about this before, never going to forget this concert.  Probably going to be in my top concerts of all time.  It was that good of an experience for me.  Wasn't cheap, but well worth the price of admission IMHO. 

Thinking of going when they come here. 

What an underrated bass player Duff is, btw.  Even back on "Live like a...", he was really good. 

Impressive wine drinker too. Very few people could physically down 20 bottles of white wine a day, that is until his pancreas gave up.