3
points
doctor_radium
Joined 115 karma
- doctor_radium parentI was going to say, "at last, something good out of Texas". Maybe you're on to something?
- I would like to think incompetence as well, but when the problem is this widespread, IMHO it does point to a corporate issue...even if that's simply leaving too many incompetent managers in charge. IMHO if you're the manager and the part-time teenager didn't finish updating all the shelf pricing, then it's on you to finish before going home. But today too many people just don't give a damn.
My first job was in retail as well, going back to the days before scanners when every item item was ticketed individually. When something goes on sale you ticket it again, then tear off the sale price stub when the sale ends. Repeat as needed. Maybe that could be a suitable punishment, too? Force stores to abandon shelf pricing for a period of time until it hurts enough that they get their act in order?
- So this means I would get the app-only sale price, without using the app?
While doing some research into state retail pricing laws a few years ago, I discovered how tough Massachusetts is, being one of the last holdouts mandating ticketing on all items, and only relenting in exchange for price scanners every so many aisles. Living in Pennsylvania and annoyed by stores tying their best prices to their apps, I fancifully emailed Elizabeth Warren, asking if she'd prod a friend in state government to consider a legislative end run around apps. I had no idea such a law really existed. "First in the nation" I expect. Wonder how long it's been around?
- Better (?) browsers also have an internal switch to disable location.
- With a browser, you have the ability to block cookies, block whole hosts/domains, alter DOM content, alter tracking URL's, and (often) disable low level features you don't like. With apps, not so much.
- As a teenager I worked at a discount store, and sometimes ran the service desk, which (among many other things) involved processing returns. The returns form included a spot for "phone number", to which some customers would respond, "my number is unlisted". We honored that. Today in the USA, it seems the phone number is the new Social Security Number, which everybody wants to use for tracking. Stores used to give out physical discount cards (which I wasn't keen on either...) but now (obviously because it saves them money) so many stores have switched to a system where your account is tracked through a phone number or an app or both. No thank you.
- I held onto Symbian longer than I should have, but am surprised this practice hadn't crossed my path before now. IMHO it's insidious. It's one thing for a Google Street View car to war scan my WiFi router, but another for my own phone to secretly rat me out. Not that I use Location myself, but I can't stop other members of the household. I assume this is yet another practice that Android forks like GrapheneOS disables?
- I am also not very far away, and used to find myself driving through Parkesburg sometimes. Had no idea it was there! My first computers were user-friendly TRS-80 Model 1's (school) and my C64, so just missed the 1970's and earlier generations. Will look into a visit in 2026!
- I'm more a syadmin type than a developer, but still get hit with online "testing" requests sometimes: a couple SQL tests for some support position, a couple psychological tests, etc. These are now a hard line for me. Why? Maybe I misunderstand...but my time is valuable, too. If HR or the hiring manager wants to reach out for a round 1 interview and then tell me a week later I'm one of your top candidates, and would I please take some online testing to continue the process, fine. But not the other way around.
- "Since 2023, I and a couple of other key members of the Film is Fabulous! team have been aware of a large collection of films, thousands of films, that have become vulnerable. That collection contains some very important material including a missing episode of Doctor Who."
I assume this refers to Network (now defunct UK home video company) founder Tim Beddows, who passed away unexpectedly in 2023. I remember reading an article about the drama that unfolded thereafter (sorry, no links), which mentioned him having a large, private collection of vintage material, and the first thing I thought is that he probably has a missing episode or two of Who.
Obviously the missing episode of The Web of Fear is out there somewhere [0], and I recall speculation, probably from the Roobarbs web board [1] that "a couple lost episodes of The Dalek Masterplan are in private hands".
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Web_of_Fear [1] https://www.zetaminor.com/roobarb/forum.php
- > They were deaf to all arguments. Why? Insurance mandated crowdstrike. Still. Even now.
Your comment got me wondering if MBA's in say, risk management or underwriting also share some of the blame?
- I've begun wondering recently to what degree the American Psychiatric Association adding "the pursuit of money at all costs" to their book "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" would be both accurate, and a benefit to society:
- You're right. And I'm surprised. There are states and cities that mandate a cash option, but most don't, including my own. I now side with the OP. There was a time I carried $50 around at all times to avoid being tracked by my card data, but then got lazy. Need to return to this habit.
The only store where I insist on paying cash is (maybe not surprisingly) Home Depot, because they have this odd, shameless practice of tying your in-store purchases with your web account, and sending emails in response. No thank you.
- Maybe the plaintiff is fishing, but this is the reason I never abandoned my Covid mask after the pandemic. You want to string up cameras like Christmas lights? I can wear a mask! What ticks me off more is WalMart and some grocery stores putting monitors over certain aisles, to show you're being monitored. I'll sometimes flip them off.
Aldi really annoyed me by showing live video on the self checkout screen with the notice "Monitoring In Progress". Then I realized Walmart and many others have a camera notch on their monitors, too, so perhaps I should thank Aldi for at least being honest?
Anybody using facial recognition or similar may know me very well by now. I'm the guy in the mask who flips them off.
- I believe some Kohls, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Dollar General stores do it.
- > NONE of the working self-checkouts accepted cash so I just walked out with empty hands.
I'm pretty sure this is illegal. All businesses need to accept cash somewhere, somehow. I am curious what would happen if you forced the issue and announced to the attendant that you intend to pay in cash.
- Not my bug, but many years ago, I was trying to automate the Windows screen grabbing program SnagIt via VBS and the COM port, and this one command just wouldn't work, no matter what I tried. Out of frustration, I loaded the executable into a binary editor and discovered they'd literally spelled the command wrong (!), and of course never tested it. It may have been an "i before e, except after c" thing.
- Speaking as a person over 40 who has been job-hunting and has encountered Workday roughly 10 times, what I don't understand is whether the "AI-based applicant screening tools, which include personality and cognitive tests" cited in the article are present in every installation, or if they are optional. Optional for either the employer (i.e. it can be switched off, or requires a higher payment tier) or the applicant. I recall one HR platform (probably not Workday) outright requesting my permission to use AI as part of the screening. Something like that. I've always opted out.
- Shrug. I thought most HR people already are bots, and it's been this way for roughly the last 20 years.
- I use the Consent-O-Matic addon to auto-process cookie consent popups. (I believe that's how it works.) uBlock Origin could then be used to handle the sites that lie or don't offer a choice at all.
- Does Bloomberg regularly do this...turn news articles into obnoxious, PowerPoint-like animations? Disabling JavaScript didn't help, so reader mode to the rescue.
Bloomberg: stick to your core competency and stop being cute.
- I was living Amiga daily during the OS 3.9 days, and have no reason to think it didn't come from the Commodore source. Back then I got the feeling it was called "3.9" because the various powers assumed it would be the last release of 3.x. I've never used Hyperion's 3.x, but that is official, too, if largely a backport of 4.x, which of course also came from official source. I would say Hyperion jumped into 3.x (against their contract?) in search of cash, as nostalgia for these old systems increased and ARM emulator boards (etc.) made it possible.
OS4 is still the future, but the cost of PPC motherboards greatly limits the market size.
- Kudos to the coder and the poster. I'm involved in a browser project that runs on OpenSSL, and figured I'd have to dig through WireShark myself at some point to figure this stuff out. Well, I may still need to, but now have many points of reference. If the most common use of OpenSSL is Python, then in the age of Cloudflare, a Firefox TLS spoofing option isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity.
- Lots of agricultural exports .
"U.S. agricultural exports have grown steadily over the past 25 years—reaching $174 billion in 2023, up from $57.3 billion in 1998."
https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/international-markets-us-tra...
- I don't have a subscription, but will still visit the library sometimes to skim the odd article. CR's problem is...what? They still tailor content to a magazine article size (online content is updated more, but not necessarily deeper), but the magazine today is miniscule due to printing costs? And they really don't have the resources for proper longevity testing?
I believe they still have a letters column, or failing that, an email address. Would highly suggested the OP contact them and complain how they missed the mark.
- 403 error.