Overheard on Facebook

[mm1970]

I'll just leave this right here...


The comments related to the post make me sick:


-Whoo hoo!

-What a great deal!  Such a great offer for owning your own business!

-love love love!

All of the posters are her little minions that she has dragged into this little MLM scheme.

I have one or two friends who went into Rodan and Fields.  Apparently they do really like the skin care line (I'm a 40 something woman, so there is that).

But I guess I either have good skin or I don't mind looking 40-something!

[regulator]

I'll just leave this right here...


The comments related to the post make me sick:


-Whoo hoo!

-What a great deal!  Such a great offer for owning your own business!

-love love love!

All of the posters are her little minions that she has dragged into this little MLM scheme.

My bet is no one will buy her products.

I have two friends who have started their MLM skin care businesses in the last few months, and I hate it because their posts for their products have completely taken over all the fun personal updates that they used to post.

One of the ladies lives far away from me and I actually enjoyed seeing her kids' photos every now and then, but now it's just MLM skin care all the freakin' time!  And, yes, all of those posts get likes and positive comments from the other people who are in the stupid MLM network.  It's so annoying.

The second lady is my neighbor, and she's as sweet as can be.  The other day she was telling me that she really wants to host a wine & cheese party at her place for some of our neighbors, our book club, etc.  She was a little worried though, like "I don't know if my place is nice enough.  What will people think?"  I'm like, "(1) your place is really nice, and (2) people will just be thinking how nice it was of you to invite us all over and how much fun we're having."  So, my neighbor says, okay, she'll do it.  Then, she adds, "and I'm thinking of setting up a display of such-and-such skin care in one of the rooms in case people want to buy any!"  Well, fuck, now I don't even want to come to the party anymore.

Ugh, I have a friend who has started up with another variant of face stuff snake oil.  Fortunately she lives over a thousand miles away so party impositions and direct sales efforts are unlikely.  But, holy cow, the woman is an actuary who should be able to think clearly.  It took me 2 minutes of googling to see lots of reputable sources indicating that the product has no actual benefit.  Why would you enthusiastically sell something you knew to be useless?

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Last week my cousin posted about how she's 'seriously in love with the fall wardrobe' for her 1 year old daughter.  Seriously!  Wardrobe?!? And for a 1 year old???  The word 'wardrobe' makes me shudder.  Every picture of this little girl shows her in a new outfit, fur boots, leather jackets, and so on.  I can guarantee that they spend more money on her clothes than I do for myself AND my two growing boys.

I always get depressed when I see little babies in uncomfortable, fashiony clothes. Babytooth gets crabby if I put her in anything other than knit jersey, so she's wearing a lot of knit dresses and onesies and such, most of them handed down. She's very happy with her wardrobe, provided it always includes a skirt she can grab and wave over her head.

Haha, me too!

My daughter has recently discovered that not wearing clothes is possible, and she can sorta get most of them off. No shirt! No dress! No pants! Shirt off! EEEEEEEEEE! *does happy dance*

She has a surprising number of American flag clothes because her aunt likes buying things on sale, and they're always cheap after Independence Day. I think the one piece of clothing we've bought for her has been a winter coat. Everything else has been hand-me-downs and gifts from people who like retail therapy.

[RunHappy]

I saw a post the other day about a guy complaining how the county charges a 3% surcharge on all credit card transactions.  How it is unfair since he was trying to pay his housing tax bill.  Went on to complain about taxes because who has thousands of dollars just lying around.  Someone mentioned that if he paid by check there would be no surcharge. He countered with no one has that kind of money to pay the taxes in one lump sum.  I'm wondering why this tax bill was a surprise since he bought this house about 15 years ago.

[cerebus]

Last week my cousin posted about how she's 'seriously in love with the fall wardrobe' for her 1 year old daughter.  Seriously!  Wardrobe?!? And for a 1 year old???  The word 'wardrobe' makes me shudder.  Every picture of this little girl shows her in a new outfit, fur boots, leather jackets, and so on.  I can guarantee that they spend more money on her clothes than I do for myself AND my two growing boys.

I always get depressed when I see little babies in uncomfortable, fashiony clothes. Babytooth gets crabby if I put her in anything other than knit jersey, so she's wearing a lot of knit dresses and onesies and such, most of them handed down. She's very happy with her wardrobe, provided it always includes a skirt she can grab and wave over her head.

Haha, me too!

My daughter has recently discovered that not wearing clothes is possible, and she can sorta get most of them off. No shirt! No dress! No pants! Shirt off! EEEEEEEEEE! *does happy dance*

She has a surprising number of American flag clothes because her aunt likes buying things on sale, and they're always cheap after Independence Day. I think the one piece of clothing we've bought for her has been a winter coat. Everything else has been hand-me-downs and gifts from people who like retail therapy.

Yeah our little 2 year old girl has a whole set of quite brand name designer-y clothes that we got for a fraction of the price of new, or for free. I have to admit I kind of like dressing her up and I don't like it when I see kids dressed in clearly old, unfitting, falling apart clothes. My 3 all look at least smart and presentable.

[Kitsune]

Yeah our little 2 year old girl has a whole set of quite brand name designer-y clothes that we got for a fraction of the price of new, or for free. I have to admit I kind of like dressing her up and I don't like it when I see kids dressed in clearly old, unfitting, falling apart clothes. My 3 all look at least smart and presentable.

Full disclosure: I've been stopped and complimented on my 16-month-old's outfits. (And mine, for that matter - I actually do care about fashion, so, it carries down). But it's possible to have cute kid-outfits for pretty cheap. I don't buy her dresses at all (she's still mostly crawling: dresses get stuck under knees and make her faceplant). She gets cute jersey cotton rompers, legging+shirt combos, jeans and cute shirts, stompy boots... basically what I'd wear, though fortunately much cheaper. Basically, everything needs to be cotton, comfortable, in a color/pattern that isn't particularly stainable (so she can get grubby while she plays, because playing is important), and less than 10$/outfit, ideally including hand-me-downs. (As an example, today, she's at daycare in a buffalo-print legging and an almost-dress-like flowy t-shirt. Total cost: 6$.)

TL;DR: caring about your kid's outfits =/= spending a ton of money on clothes.

Although sunscreen stains like crazy, so she only gets sent to daycare in stained or too-dark-to-stain clothes. :)

[UnleashHell]

woman in a local community page has advertised that she has openings for people. She's a reiki master and a minister and she can shine light into the dark places in your life. All for a deposit and a monthly fee that will total 1,000 Plus a year.

I thought of a lot of things to post but settled on "Do people really pay you for this?" and she replied "Yes".


I think I've found my side hustle.

To be fair she will answer your emails.....

[mm1970]

Most of the things that I read that make me shake my head are from the buy/sell page.

"19 year old pregnant, soon to be single mom, needs everything"

There are so many of them.  So. Many.

[meg_shannon]

I can't stand it either. Kids don't need that kind of "yes mom." The need the "yes parents" who will color with them, read to them, build with them, explore with them, etc. 

Eh, I'd disagree that it's even the best for kids to have this kind of "yes" parents.   While sometimes "yes" here is good, IMO/E even an always "yes" parent in this way is not the best.    Kids need to learn to entertain themselves and need to practice being bored.   I do not think that the push in certain socioeconomic groups for parents to constantly "engage" (ie, entertain) their kids is a good thing.   No, even in this way, we need to be prepared with some "no"s.

Some "No's" are inevitable, at least in our house. My point was that children need their caregivers time more than they need their stuff/money (at least in any family that has basic shelter, food, etc).

[AlanStache]

Friend of mine posted something about increasing his Lending Club investment as other returns have been low.  About four people asked him what LC is.  Then I posted "yeah I use them too, good system within an IRA, blah blah blah..." and I included a link to LC's FAQ page.  Three people have posted under me asking what LC is, and no one has said anything about the link. 

I guess setting a bowl of soup in front of someone with a spoon is not sufficient, you have to actually manipulate the spoon too.

[dragoncar]

Friend of mine posted something about increasing his Lending Club investment as other returns have been low.  About four people asked him what LC is.  Then I posted "yeah I use them too, good system within an IRA, blah blah blah..." and I included a link to LC's FAQ page.  Three people have posted under me asking what LC is, and no one has said anything about the link. 

I guess setting a bowl of soup in front of someone with a spoon is not sufficient, you have to actually manipulate the spoon too.

So are you gonna tell us what LC is, or what?

[AlanStache]

Friend of mine posted something about increasing his Lending Club investment as other returns have been low.  About four people asked him what LC is.  Then I posted "yeah I use them too, good system within an IRA, blah blah blah..." and I included a link to LC's FAQ page.  Three people have posted under me asking what LC is, and no one has said anything about the link. 

I guess setting a bowl of soup in front of someone with a spoon is not sufficient, you have to actually manipulate the spoon too.

So are you gonna tell us what LC is, or what?

sorry, for got to link it, here you go.

[Brilliantine]

Lady in a neighborhood community message board complaining (in the crime and safety section) that her middle-schooler's iphone 6 was stolen for the second time at school.

Lady, the only crime here is.. Oh whatever...

[I'm a red panda]

Friend of mine posted something about increasing his Lending Club investment as other returns have been low.  About four people asked him what LC is.  Then I posted "yeah I use them too, good system within an IRA, blah blah blah..." and I included a link to LC's FAQ page.  Three people have posted under me asking what LC is, and no one has said anything about the link. 

I guess setting a bowl of soup in front of someone with a spoon is not sufficient, you have to actually manipulate the spoon too.

How long has it been since you posted. Sometimes when I use facebook on my phone it takes days for other people's comments to show up.  It's resulted in me posting some stupid stuff because I didn't see the rest of the conversation.

[MrMoneyMaxwell]

Several facebook people get sucked into these pyramid health shake schemes. It's a recurrent cycle "Come to my ____ party!", "I feel so great from ____ supplement!", "I've lost 4 pounds in 6 months because of ____!"

If it takes you 6 months to lose 4 pounds maybe you should stop eating cookies and drinking pumpkin spice lattes for a minute and go for a walk.

Additionally, they are all obese, alcoholic, and smokers.

[KittyCat]

Several facebook people get sucked into these pyramid health shake schemes. It's a recurrent cycle "Come to my ____ party!", "I feel so great from ____ supplement!", "I've lost 4 pounds in 6 months because of ____!"

If it takes you 6 months to lose 4 pounds maybe you should stop eating cookies and drinking pumpkin spice lattes for a minute and go for a walk.

Additionally, they are all obese, alcoholic, and smokers.

Wow, that's kinda sad.

[AlanStache]

Friend of mine posted something about increasing his Lending Club investment as other returns have been low.  About four people asked him what LC is.  Then I posted "yeah I use them too, good system within an IRA, blah blah blah..." and I included a link to LC's FAQ page.  Three people have posted under me asking what LC is, and no one has said anything about the link. 

I guess setting a bowl of soup in front of someone with a spoon is not sufficient, you have to actually manipulate the spoon too.

How long has it been since you posted. Sometimes when I use facebook on my phone it takes days for other people's comments to show up.  It's resulted in me posting some stupid stuff because I didn't see the rest of the conversation.

I have never suspected a delay, will keep an eye out for it.  I mostly log in from a proper computer and only occasionally on my phone; on my phone I only read-never post.

[I'm a red panda]

Hey guys! Did you know Younique just released their new fall line?
I do because EIGHT of my facebook friends sell it.

Fiber Lashes (mascara) for $29 a tube.  You can't afford NOT to buy this!

[MgoSam]

"What?! Apparently we can't have mountains named after republican presidents while the dictator is in office."

Then there's an article about the "name change" of Denali. I used quotes because anyone that knows anything about the mountain knows that it has been called that for ages because some random prospector "discovered" it and named it after the republican candidate for president. It's pathetic imo that Ohio Republicans have blocked previous efforts to restore it's name and high time that it has been done.

But of course, anything that President Obama does has to be wrong. No need to look something up before shooting off your mouth, instead just refer to him as a dictator and assume that his action has a sinister attempt.

[justajane]

Hey guys! Did you know Younique just released their new fall line?
I do because EIGHT of my facebook friends sell it.

Fiber Lashes (mascara) for $29 a tube.  You can't afford NOT to buy this!

Haha. Jamberry also has their NEW FALL CATALOG out, packed and ready to ship to you. It's got some awesome new designs for your nails! At least that's what my Facebook wall tells me.

[Taran Wanderer]

"What?! Apparently we can't have mountains named after republican presidents while the dictator is in office."

Then there's an article about the "name change" of Denali. I used quotes because anyone that knows anything about the mountain knows that it has been called that for ages because some random prospector "discovered" it and named it after the republican candidate for president. It's pathetic imo that Ohio Republicans have blocked previous efforts to restore it's name and high time that it has been done.

But of course, anything that President Obama does has to be wrong. No need to look something up before shooting off your mouth, instead just refer to him as a dictator and assume that his action has a sinister attempt.

The mountaineering community and pretty much all of Alaska have been calling it Denali for years, and Alaskan natives 'forever'.  It's nice to see the U.S. Government follow suit.

[Cherry Lane]

Ugh, I have a friend who has started up with another variant of face stuff snake oil.  Fortunately she lives over a thousand miles away so party impositions and direct sales efforts are unlikely. 

Don't be so sure.  "Online" sale parties are a thing now.  You don't even get fancy food and socializing out of the event, you just tell her what you are ordering and she makes a big deal over it on FB.

[cerebus]

Lady in a neighborhood community message board complaining (in the crime and safety section) that her middle-schooler's iphone 6 was stolen for the second time at school.

Lady, the only crime here is.. Oh whatever...

She's a yes mom.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[I'm a red panda]

Haha. Jamberry also has their NEW FALL CATALOG out, packed and ready to ship to you. It's got some awesome new designs for your nails! At least that's what my Facebook wall tells me.

I actually haven't seen that one on my wall yet.  But I like Jamberry...

Don't be so sure.  "Online" sale parties are a thing now.  You don't even get fancy food and socializing out of the event, you just tell her what you are ordering and she makes a big deal over it on FB.

Seriously, how is this a thing?  Why bother with the party? Can't I just go to the website and order what I want whenever?  The company could stop with the stupid "hostess benefits" and just charge slightly less. I hate the home sales parties, but will occasionally make a token purchase because the hostess fed me some good appetizers and I had an excuse to see all my friends.

Edit: I do like the online parties though because they are easier to ignore. I STILL don't own anything from Norwex. Pretty happy about that. You can only skip so many in-home parties until people start getting annoyed you are a hermit; and it appears women my age only socialize through sales...so I'd rather not lose friends.

[Cherry Lane]

Don't be so sure.  "Online" sale parties are a thing now.  You don't even get fancy food and socializing out of the event, you just tell her what you are ordering and she makes a big deal over it on FB.

Seriously, how is this a thing?  Why bother with the party? Can't I just go to the website and order what I want whenever?  The company could stop with the stupid "hostess benefits" and just charge slightly less. I hate the home sales parties, but will occasionally make a token purchase because the hostess fed me some good appetizers and I had an excuse to see all my friends.

I've no idea.  I can't believe it actually works, but I see them all the time.  For me, I'm not buying anything unless you feed me, and even then I'll only buy if it is something I want anyway (like a new spatula).

The last sales party I attended (a few years ago) was actually kind of fun.  A friend of a friend was in a DM scheme for some fancy chocolate company.  My friend hosted the party, and told all her guests beforehand (but not the seller) "Please don't feel obligated to buy anything.  I just want a fun evening of eating chocolate."  So we ate (and drank) chocolate, and a few people did buy things, but I had zero guilt for not opening my wallet.

[Programming 'til FIRE]

This recently came up on my news feed and I commented that you don't have to go to Yale to get a 4 year degree and that my university's undergrad is now only $6,500.  Well, the masses decided against that. 

This one commenter, which I guess is a friend of a friend?, is being a complainypants.  Do you agree?  I also think the first line is a bit of an attack on me for not getting into Yale...




Complainypants:
 

Curtis, have you tried to get in to Yale? Not easy. Yes Donna, now you are getting it. There are many many people who want to go to school, but $7.25 an hour no longer is a wage to help the average student go to school let alone a parent raising children go to school.. Grants are certainly not a four year solution to the problem either. Grants usually do not last longer then a year. Need based money is usually set up for those living below the poverty line, which the poverty line has not kept up with the times and is set way below what should be listed as poverty. Also, the school you went to Curtis, being at 6,526.00 does not include books, transportation, living on campus if needed, etc etc, etc.Books per semester can be $500 or more. One other thing people don't realize is not all majors are offered at every school either. Sometimes going to the school that has your major just can't be afforded. State schools (public) are the worst. Christopher, once again it is great you were able to go to an affordable college to satisfy your needs, but for most students who start at a community college today (affordable to most) when you transfer to another school to continue towards your bachelors degree, there are usually many classes taken at other schools that are not acceptable or transferable at the new school. The new school then makes you retake some of your classes to meet their criteria which gives that college just what they want- another semester of college out of a student. Many, many students are now having to go 41/2 to 5 years just to get a bachelors degrees. When does the money grubbing quit? Colleges are a business. They have CEO's or Deans making hundreds of thousands to millions yet the students have to pay for this first and an education next. College is no where like it used to be when the 50 or 60 year olds of today went. A student him/ herself used to take a summer job to pay for school. Today the students need grants or any other awards they can get then a school loan and then their parents are taking loans or getting second mortgages on their houses to pay for a students education. It's awful.

[merula]

This recently came up on my news feed and I commented that you don't have to go to Yale to get a 4 year degree and that my university's undergrad is now only $6,500.  Well, the masses decided against that. 

This one commenter, which I guess is a friend of a friend?, is being a complainypants.  Do you agree?  I also think the first line is a bit of an attack on me for not getting into Yale...


Complainypants:

blah blah blah

I completely disagree that you have to go to Yale to have a quality education, and a number of things cited are patently false, including:

• Grants usually do not last longer then a year.
• Need based money is usually set up for those living below the poverty line.
• [Listed tuition]does not include books, transportation, living on campus if needed, etc
• State schools (public) are the worst. This made my blood boil.
• many classes taken at other schools that are not acceptable or transferable at the new school.Planning can fix that.

The specifics are definitely complainypants, but the bottom line is that colleges have a bloated, overpaid administration paid for by tuition fees that have vastly outpaced inflation over the past 30 years. IMHO, that's terrible enough as it is without all the other crap.

I've heard arguments like that in response to "I put myself through college in 1960, everyone should be able to do that" arguments against restructuring student loan laws and increased public funds for college, and I agree with them. It sounds like this person was using a good argument in a completely wrong place.

[FatCat]

I think the prices of tuition are going up faster than they should because of student loans being easily available and college people seem to be less debt averse since you don't have to pay any of it back until you graduate.


What's so wrong with state university?

[MrMoneyMaxwell]

• State schools (public) are the worst. This made my blood boil.

That also made my blood boil.

A LARGE majority of state schools are in the top 20, top 50 and top 100 of all engineering disciplines.

They're able to get research grants large enough to attract better professors.

[coin]

I checked up on an acquaintance the other day.  I sort of regret it, I unfollowed her from social media because she is stuck in a cycle of 'yay I have money, let's do something stupid' then 'ohhh I'm so poor, woe is me'.  Her latest post is that she now really wants to get a pet snake, which here in Australia will cost her about $700 for the animal.  Not to mention the costs of an aquarium, heating pads, and getting a licence for the darn thing.

She doesn't seem to recognise that there's a direct correlation between her spending money on stupid things, then being unable to afford bills.  Originally we were good friends, but I distanced myself after it became apparent that keeping up appearances was more important than maintaining relationships (like our friendship).

Oh well, at least she seems happy (for now)?

[I'm a red panda]

What's so wrong with state university?

To some extent- it depends on the state university.  But there are some FABULOUS ones out there. Private doesn't necessarily mean it is better; not in the slightest.


As for Community College- unfortunately, to get your credits to transfer, you have to know what you are doing. Not all CCs work well with universities.  I have seen many students waste 2 years at CCs because they didn't realize they had to take very specific classes to be able to apply them to a degree plan at their chosen university.  The CC told them to take classes that would apply towards an associates; things that possibly had no relevance to their chosen Bachelor's degree.  That is a waste of time and money.

There are also some CCs that have excellent integration with universities and set students down a great road. 

But nothing is standardized.

[FatCat]

Lady in a neighborhood community message board complaining (in the crime and safety section) that her middle-schooler's iphone 6 was stolen for the second time at school.

Lady, the only crime here is.. Oh whatever...

My school had a policy that if they saw you with a phone or game device, even if it was turned off, they would confiscate it and you weren't allowed to have it back until the end of the year. It caused a few lawsuits from parents wanting the devices returned and the school stating that they have a right to enforce whatever policy they want. I can't believe that buying iphones for your kids to take to school is normal now.

[Chris22]

she now really wants to get a pet snake, which here in Australia will cost her about $700 for the animal. 

In OZ?  Can't you just go grab one out of the nearest bush for free or something?  This contradicts everything I learned on The Crocodile Hunter ("This week, we look at the 10 most deadly snakes.  We're on #3, and this beautiful example has been living under my workbench in the garage for a couple of months!")

[Camarillo Brillo]

Lady in a neighborhood community message board complaining (in the crime and safety section) that her middle-schooler's iphone 6 was stolen for the second time at school.

Lady, the only crime here is.. Oh whatever...

My school had a policy that if they saw you with a phone or game device, even if it was turned off, they would confiscate it and you weren't allowed to have it back until the end of the year. It caused a few lawsuits from parents wanting the devices returned and the school stating that they have a right to enforce whatever policy they want. I can't believe that buying iphones for your kids to take to school is normal now.

Wow, in a case like this I would love to lure a school administrator to my house and have them park in my driveway. Once they did that I would confiscate their car, briefcase/purse, and phone.  I would tell them I had a right to enforce whatever policy I wanted.  Maybe I'd even confiscate their clothes.  Possibilities are endless.

[coin]

she now really wants to get a pet snake, which here in Australia will cost her about $700 for the animal. 

In OZ?  Can't you just go grab one out of the nearest bush for free or something?  This contradicts everything I learned on The Crocodile Hunter ("This week, we look at the 10 most deadly snakes.  We're on #3, and this beautiful example has been living under my workbench in the garage for a couple of months!")

I am sorry to say that people are jerks and would remove species from their natural habitats until there was nothing left, so pet snakes and things are highly regulated.  There are an alarming number of people who try to smuggle birds and lizards out of the country to sell to rich idiots with no real appreciation of how destructive the trade is.

Fun fact, in the Adelaide Zoo (South Australia) there is a display of macaws and other exotic birds customs officials intercepted being smuggled into the country.  For various biosecurity reasons, the animals can't leave the country and are now on display at the zoo - once they pass away, they will not be replaced.

Sorry, I get really wound up about Australian wildlife.  Aussie wildlife is rad.  Attached is a picture of a lizard I nearly trod on found while geocaching a few years back.

[JLee]

Lady in a neighborhood community message board complaining (in the crime and safety section) that her middle-schooler's iphone 6 was stolen for the second time at school.

Lady, the only crime here is.. Oh whatever...

My school had a policy that if they saw you with a phone or game device, even if it was turned off, they would confiscate it and you weren't allowed to have it back until the end of the year. It caused a few lawsuits from parents wanting the devices returned and the school stating that they have a right to enforce whatever policy they want. I can't believe that buying iphones for your kids to take to school is normal now.

Wow, in a case like this I would love to lure a school administrator to my house and have them park in my driveway. Once they did that I would confiscate their car, briefcase/purse, and phone.  I would tell them I had a right to enforce whatever policy I wanted.  Maybe I'd even confiscate their clothes.  Possibilities are endless.

Oh..that would be amazing..

[GuitarStv]

she now really wants to get a pet snake, which here in Australia will cost her about $700 for the animal. 

In OZ?  Can't you just go grab one out of the nearest bush for free or something?  This contradicts everything I learned on The Crocodile Hunter ("This week, we look at the 10 most deadly snakes.  We're on #3, and this beautiful example has been living under my workbench in the garage for a couple of months!")

I am sorry to say that people are jerks and would remove species from their natural habitats until there was nothing left, so pet snakes and things are highly regulated.  There are an alarming number of people who try to smuggle birds and lizards out of the country to sell to rich idiots with no real appreciation of how destructive the trade is.

Fun fact, in the Adelaide Zoo (South Australia) there is a display of macaws and other exotic birds customs officials intercepted being smuggled into the country.  For various biosecurity reasons, the animals can't leave the country and are now on display at the zoo - once they pass away, they will not be replaced.

Sorry, I get really wound up about Australian wildlife.  Aussie wildlife is rad.  Attached is a picture of a lizard I nearly trod on found while geocaching a few years back.

Also, since all of the plants and animals in Australia are fatally venomous, picking up a found snake could prove very complicated.  :P

[MgoSam]

she now really wants to get a pet snake, which here in Australia will cost her about $700 for the animal. 

In OZ?  Can't you just go grab one out of the nearest bush for free or something?  This contradicts everything I learned on The Crocodile Hunter ("This week, we look at the 10 most deadly snakes.  We're on #3, and this beautiful example has been living under my workbench in the garage for a couple of months!")

I am sorry to say that people are jerks and would remove species from their natural habitats until there was nothing left, so pet snakes and things are highly regulated.  There are an alarming number of people who try to smuggle birds and lizards out of the country to sell to rich idiots with no real appreciation of how destructive the trade is.

Fun fact, in the Adelaide Zoo (South Australia) there is a display of macaws and other exotic birds customs officials intercepted being smuggled into the country.  For various biosecurity reasons, the animals can't leave the country and are now on display at the zoo - once they pass away, they will not be replaced.

Sorry, I get really wound up about Australian wildlife.  Aussie wildlife is rad.  Attached is a picture of a lizard I nearly trod on found while geocaching a few years back.

Also, since all of the plants and animals in Australia are fatally venomous, picking up a found snake could prove very complicated.  :P

Or you could hire this fishterman that decided to try to break up a fight between a stone snake and a water snake.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3216525/Spearfisherman-photographs-epic-battle-killer-sea-snake-deadly-stonefish.html

[dragoncar]

• State schools (public) are the worst. This made my blood boil.

That also made my blood boil.

A LARGE majority of state schools are in the top 20, top 50 and top 100 of all engineering disciplines.

They're able to get research grants large enough to attract better professors.

Berkeley has a higher world reputation ranking than Yale.  Nuff said

[nobodyspecial]

Berkeley has a higher world reputation ranking than Yale.  Nuff said

But the Yale version of Unix has a much simpler command line than BSD.

It has one command "interndo" in the business version and "maiddo" in the home version

[sky_northern]

"What?! Apparently we can't have mountains named after republican presidents while the dictator is in office."

Then there's an article about the "name change" of Denali. I used quotes because anyone that knows anything about the mountain knows that it has been called that for ages because some random prospector "discovered" it and named it after the republican candidate for president. It's pathetic imo that Ohio Republicans have blocked previous efforts to restore it's name and high time that it has been done.

But of course, anything that President Obama does has to be wrong. No need to look something up before shooting off your mouth, instead just refer to him as a dictator and assume that his action has a sinister attempt.

The mountaineering community and pretty much all of Alaska have been calling it Denali for years, and Alaskan natives 'forever'.  It's nice to see the U.S. Government follow suit.

I had no idea it had a different name than Denali.
I am finding I suck at US geography.
My friend posted on facebook that she was going to St Louis and I had to google what state it was in. Why do you guys have so many states? Seriously, we are good with 13 Provinces/Territories and Australia only has 6 states.

[sheepstache]

Lady in a neighborhood community message board complaining (in the crime and safety section) that her middle-schooler's iphone 6 was stolen for the second time at school.

Lady, the only crime here is.. Oh whatever...

My school had a policy that if they saw you with a phone or game device, even if it was turned off, they would confiscate it and you weren't allowed to have it back until the end of the year. It caused a few lawsuits from parents wanting the devices returned and the school stating that they have a right to enforce whatever policy they want. I can't believe that buying iphones for your kids to take to school is normal now.

Wow, in a case like this I would love to lure a school administrator to my house and have them park in my driveway. Once they did that I would confiscate their car, briefcase/purse, and phone.  I would tell them I had a right to enforce whatever policy I wanted.  Maybe I'd even confiscate their clothes.  Possibilities are endless.

I'm assuming the school informed people in advance which items were contraband and would be confiscated.

[FatCat]

Lady in a neighborhood community message board complaining (in the crime and safety section) that her middle-schooler's iphone 6 was stolen for the second time at school.

Lady, the only crime here is.. Oh whatever...

My school had a policy that if they saw you with a phone or game device, even if it was turned off, they would confiscate it and you weren't allowed to have it back until the end of the year. It caused a few lawsuits from parents wanting the devices returned and the school stating that they have a right to enforce whatever policy they want. I can't believe that buying iphones for your kids to take to school is normal now.

Wow, in a case like this I would love to lure a school administrator to my house and have them park in my driveway. Once they did that I would confiscate their car, briefcase/purse, and phone.  I would tell them I had a right to enforce whatever policy I wanted.  Maybe I'd even confiscate their clothes.  Possibilities are endless.

I'm assuming the school informed people in advance which items were contraband and would be confiscated.

The students were informed of the policy. Any parents that attended the orientation knew about it. We all received paperwork to take home that had the policies for parents to review if they didn't come to orientation. It's possible that some parents didn't know about it just because not everybody reads everything. I remember several parents were angry because their kids had taken the parents' cell phones to school and the school had taken them and refused to give them back.

This lasted for quite a while before they had to change their policy to return the items at the end of the day instead of the end of the year.

[ormaybemidgets]

One other thing people don't realize is not all majors are offered at every school either. Sometimes going to the school that has your major just can't be afforded. State schools (public) are the worst.

• State schools (public) are the worst. This made my blood boil.

It looks like the original commenter meant, "One other thing people don't realize is not all majors are offered at every school either. Sometimes going to the school that has your major just can't be afforded. State schools (public) are the worst [at not offering all majors at every campus location]."

[regulator]

"What?! Apparently we can't have mountains named after republican presidents while the dictator is in office."

Then there's an article about the "name change" of Denali. I used quotes because anyone that knows anything about the mountain knows that it has been called that for ages because some random prospector "discovered" it and named it after the republican candidate for president. It's pathetic imo that Ohio Republicans have blocked previous efforts to restore it's name and high time that it has been done.

But of course, anything that President Obama does has to be wrong. No need to look something up before shooting off your mouth, instead just refer to him as a dictator and assume that his action has a sinister attempt.

The mountaineering community and pretty much all of Alaska have been calling it Denali for years, and Alaskan natives 'forever'.  It's nice to see the U.S. Government follow suit.

I had no idea it had a different name than Denali.
I am finding I suck at US geography.
My friend posted on facebook that she was going to St Louis and I had to google what state it was in. Why do you guys have so many states? Seriously, we are good with 13 Provinces/Territories and Australia only has 6 states.

Hey, don't blame us that you guys cannot afford a real set of 50 states and have to make do with 6 or (shudder) unlucky 13...

[Joggernot]

This post came today.  This person needs a catheter and bedpan, too.

"I have a dresser and am looking for someone to repaint it. does anyone know who can do that?"

[Dollar Slice]

Hey, don't blame us that you guys cannot afford a real set of 50 states and have to make do with 6 or (shudder) unlucky 13...

Maybe they should do like some office buildings and hotels do when they number floors. Instead of the unlucky thirteenth province, you could have province #12A.

[KittyCat]

Maybe they should do like some office buildings and hotels do when they number floors. Instead of the unlucky thirteenth province, you could have province #12A.

I did not know that! I do know that buildings East Asian countries often do not have the 4th floor named as such.

[SwordGuy]

You can only skip so many in-home parties until people start getting annoyed you are a hermit; and it appears women my age only socialize through sales...so I'd rather not lose friends.

You need better quality friends.

[Rural]

Lady in a neighborhood community message board complaining (in the crime and safety section) that her middle-schooler's iphone 6 was stolen for the second time at school.

Lady, the only crime here is.. Oh whatever...

My school had a policy that if they saw you with a phone or game device, even if it was turned off, they would confiscate it and you weren't allowed to have it back until the end of the year. It caused a few lawsuits from parents wanting the devices returned and the school stating that they have a right to enforce whatever policy they want. I can't believe that buying iphones for your kids to take to school is normal now.

Wow, in a case like this I would love to lure a school administrator to my house and have them park in my driveway. Once they did that I would confiscate their car, briefcase/purse, and phone.  I would tell them I had a right to enforce whatever policy I wanted.  Maybe I'd even confiscate their clothes.  Possibilities are endless.

I'm assuming the school informed people in advance which items were contraband and would be confiscated.

The students were informed of the policy. Any parents that attended the orientation knew about it. We all received paperwork to take home that had the policies for parents to review if they didn't come to orientation. It's possible that some parents didn't know about it just because not everybody reads everything. I remember several parents were angry because their kids had taken the parents' cell phones to school and the school had taken them and refused to give them back.

This lasted for quite a while before they had to change their policy to return the items at the end of the day instead of the end of the year.

Yeah, I'd think they did have to. In such a case (not that I have kids or would give them iPhones, but just in theory) I'd skip the lawsuit and go straight to reporting the theft to the local police department. I'd go to a magistrate judge, too, if the cops wouldn't.