The Bitching Thread

[Buffalobiian]

That's strange. You'd think the likes of Canon or Microsoft, for example, had the same system everywhere since the same products are sold everywhere. Maybe your national laws forbid such rebates?

I just did a quick search and someone's bought a monitor at an Australian shop that involved an Acer MIR, so I presume it's legal. I've just never seen one advertised. If they're unadvertised, then I never bought something that had MIR. Mandatory online registration for warranty services is the worst I've had to deal with in this regard. It sucked when I didn't have the box anymore for my mobo, but required the serial number to contact technical support to ask about 3-4TB HDD support.

[Ryllharu]

Tree falls on powerlines across the street, snaps the power lines. Was without power for 7 hours, but because it was in the high 80s (~30C) and my house was correspondingly quite warm, I lost everything in the fridge and freezer, except for the mustard and soy sauce.

3rd time in just about a year (edit: that I've lost the contents of my fridge and freezer).

[Kraco]

7 hours because of such a thing? The local electricity company surely saw no need to hurry, huh?

[Ryllharu]

Nah, the line crews were on the scene within the hour. It was just a nasty fix because the tree was still on top of all the other lines that hang from telephone poles.

[shinta|hikari]

That sucks. You should have just eaten the stuff in your fridge, and cooked the stuff in your freezer.

[Ryllharu]

It was dusk when it happened, I was already full.

It was a large garbage bag worth of food, I doubt I could have consumed it all even if I hadn't already eaten.

[Kraco]

You should have cooked all you could and taken much of it to the repair crew. Maybe that would have made them work faster.

[shinta|hikari]

Cooking the frozen food after it defrosts would make it last longer, then you could have just popped it back in the fridge once the power is up. Doing this could have saved at least some of the food.

Some cooking methods are also great at preserving food, especially once that have salt/soy sauce, sugar, and maybe vinegar.

[Animeniax]

I'm surprised the food couldn't stay frozen or at least be thawed but fresh enough to cook over the next few days. If you keep the door closed on a freezer without power, the contents should retain enough chill to survive 7 hours.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm surprised the food couldn't stay frozen or at least be thawed but fresh enough to cook over the next few days. If you keep the door closed on a freezer without power, the contents should retain enough chill to survive 7 hours.

Yeah, I'm pretty surprised too. I would have thought the food would last that amount of time.

Some cooking methods are also great at preserving food, especially once that have salt/soy sauce, sugar, and maybe vinegar.

Is it common to have gas stoves in the US? I've got electric, though I do have a gas cooker. I suppose a BBQ would have done the job too..

I had a power failure a few months ago for around 10hrs. The food was fine, but it wasn't 30C.

[Sapphire]

What about getting a cooler or being all manly and setting up a backup generator?

You should have cooked all you could and taken much of it to the repair crew. Maybe that would have made them work faster.

Yeah when I was a kid we gave a gift basket to the people who were doing our lawn (we were renting, so auto-maintenance). It made us happy to see them take a break and munch on our goodies. <3

[Animeniax]

What about getting a cooler or being all manly and setting up a backup generator?



Yeah when I was a kid we gave a gift basket to the people who were doing our lawn (we were renting, so auto-maintenance). It made us happy to see them take a break and munch on our goodies. <3

I keep meaning to get a gas generator for emergencies but I live in central Texas where the only natural disasters are brush fires and drought so it'd be kind of pointless. From the sounds of it Ryllharu would be well served to have a generator on hand.

[shinta|hikari]

Sorry for being in a country where gas stoves are default and we do not have electric anything...

30 degrees C, LOL. I actually hope for days like that recently.

[Buffalobiian]

One good thing about electric stoves (prolly the only good thing, tbh) is that I can flip the main power switch off for stoves before I leave the house and have the comfort of knowing I won't burn down the house.

Yeah when I was a kid we gave a gift basket to the people who were doing our lawn (we were renting, so auto-maintenance). It made us happy to see them take a break and munch on our goodies. <3

Has.. that got anything to do with having a tipping culture? The "treat them extra nice on top of their pay" idea?

[Sapphire]

No, just a pure act of compassion for others. We had one prepared already, we got the idea from our neighbors giving us one when we moved in.

[Ryllharu]

The interior of my house was 83°F (28.3C) last night because I have shitty A/C units and it's been disgustingly humid the past two weeks (so I can't open the place up at night).

Normally, food would last more than 7 hours. But all the food in my fridge was over 54°F for longer than two hours, so all the dairy and meat went out. I was able to keep some fruits because they don't really need to be refrigerated anyway.

The rule is over 40F or under 130F to prevent microbial growth and not all foods are irradiated. This is why people get sick at outdoor events or office parties. Food can't be sold if it is within that range for 30 minutes or more. It's also why I never eat fish at buffets, and never eat uncooked shellfish (or someone's homemade sushi).

I wasn't about to go on a cooking flurry at 9pm-Midnight with a propane grill outside. Also, once I cook the food, I put it back into the already warm fridge and freezer?! That's not going to help the few things I didn't lose cool back down.

Lastly, you're also not supposed to bother the line crews. They don't work any faster than they already are.


Edit 2: Yes I need a generator. No I haven't bought one yet.

[KrayZ33]

what kind of freezer can't hold food cold for around a day or so without power? depending on how well you filled out the empty spaces of course

you should buy a new one, probably going to save money in a few years too

[David75]

Dad's birthday. I plan on replacing his old iPhone 4 phone that is showing signs of exhaustion.
Since iPhones are way too expensive and I hat the iPhone 5, I decided now would be the right time to switch him to the android world.
Why now? Because Orange just out a new version of visual voicemail that integrates well in the call history.
Since my dad is a tech noob to the core, he uses a smartphone as a phone, so visual voicemail really is a key feature, not having it is like having a piece of crap.

So I carefully check specs on many smartphones, check they all have android 4.2 for visual voicemail integration.
I get a Liquid E2 from acer, nice build, screen, reasonnably fast and fair priced.
The only problem is that visual voicemail doesn't work on it!!!

Now I'll have to wait God know when for an update either from Acer or Orange (or both...)

Why is that Google smart guys never ever forced visual voicemail solutions. They've had the api for years, but no one cares... go figure.

So now I have a piece of crap to offer as a birthday present, great.

[Kraco]

I get a Liquid E2 from acer, nice build, screen, reasonnably fast and fair priced.

When you get anything from Acer, it's guaranteed a feature or two will not work.

[Buffalobiian]

I also purchased an android phone a while ago for one specific feature, where after purchase the feature didn't work properly. Luckily it wasn't for a present, and it costed $100 only.

edit: actually.. I might root it with cyanogenmod to see if that fixes it. Would rooting work in your case David?