I got an email from (e:enknot) today morning. He is getting Amazon prime membership. He wants 5 more folks to join so that costs could be lower for everyone for the same kind of benefits. Sounds pretty good, but I am unfortunately passing on this very generous offer.
I had Amazon Prime for the whole of last year. It made me buy all sorts of irrational things, really. There was an element of thrill in getting something delivered in 2 days flat.
Then the wok drama happened (e:tinypliny,54693) I know this is probably going to sound petty. But the wok was in my shopping cart and I was definitely going to buy it that day. The price suddenly spiked up more than 2x the original cost just as I was taking the preliminary steps to go through the checkout process (And no, I don't have the one click magic phrase because I think it's such nonsense)!
I sent a nasty letter of complaint to Amazon and heard back from the customer service team. According to them the prices on Amazon are fair market prices (or something to that effect) and it's not under their control. I was annoyed and deleted the wok from the shopping cart. Needless to say the wok magically sprang back to its original lower price when I did.
If this had happened once or even twice I would have overlooked it but this kind of price jumping has happened quite a few times for me in the past. They definitely monitor the shopping carts of people in general (because I receive target email that explicitly says that it is for things related to the ones in my shopping cart). I think that when a critical mass of people have some item in their shopping cart, they try and increase profits with some atrocious price change. Of course, this is only a theory and a bitter one at that. I have no evidence but that is what the whole thing feels like to me.
I think most people research to at least some level before they buy things (unless it's a hasty impulse buy). ALL of my "big" purchase (above $80 for me) are well considered. Unless it's for necessary travel or something related to my immediate family I don't make impulse buys, on principle. I am morbidly scared of the "accumulation tax" that follows me around if I accumulate ridiculous junk with little purpose. So I know exactly what I am going to be spending on anything ages before I actually buy it. If I am not careful and just spend willy-nilly (I have in the past), the consequences are sometimes quite embarrassing (for e.g., rent cheque bouncing or some such stupid financial faux pas).
Given this level of thought that goes into what I buy, I appreciate it if the prices are stable. If Amazon or any other merchant thinks they should charge something for an item, they should just go ahead and tag it with that price instead of changing prices all the time. Unfavourable price changes makes customers who research annoyed and gives them an unsettling sense of not buying well. Favourable price changes makes them feel like they got a bargain - a kind of shifty emotional maneuvering to make them buy more impulsively. I know Amazon is not the only one that engages in all the price jumping but I just wanted to blow off some steam about the wok incident. ;-)
I ended up buying the wok from Overstock and not renewing my membership with Amazon. Thus far, I have bought 2 other beautiful fry pans and a sewing machine from Overstock. Each time the customer service has been exemplary and flawless. Sure, the deliveries take longer than 2 days but seriously, my kitchen is not going to implode if a frying pan (or really anything) that I have wanted for 3 or more months takes a few more days to arrive.
I have a massive paleolithic joke of an internet speed to even consider video on demand. Plus I don't like watching anything passively for more than 15 minutes anyway. I have some kind of an attention deficit when it comes to television. It's too impersonal and I am too guilt-ridden.
Tinypliny's Journal
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10/07/2011 09:16 #55259
Why I don't like Amazon anymore.Category: opinion
10/06/2011 08:36 #55245
Moroccan CuisineCategory: eating in
I read this article with interest:
To me, it represents a global dilemma. Would you rather live in the past and insist that change is disturbing because you don't quite understand it (or want to take the pains to understand it) or would you just accept that the future is here and evolve with it?
The way I have phrased it above makes it sound as if the right answer is choosing the future and evolving. That is because I want to choose that answer. I want everyone to choose that answer. But sometimes, there is no right answer to a question like this. The article about Moroccan cuisine cookbooks illustrates this point so well.
On an aside, I really want to make this bread someday:
Maybe I can this weekend.
To me, it represents a global dilemma. Would you rather live in the past and insist that change is disturbing because you don't quite understand it (or want to take the pains to understand it) or would you just accept that the future is here and evolve with it?
The way I have phrased it above makes it sound as if the right answer is choosing the future and evolving. That is because I want to choose that answer. I want everyone to choose that answer. But sometimes, there is no right answer to a question like this. The article about Moroccan cuisine cookbooks illustrates this point so well.
On an aside, I really want to make this bread someday:
Maybe I can this weekend.
tinypliny - 10/07/11 03:12
:) if only that article was 1/18th as deep.
It was just about how modern Moroccan moms (alliteration!!!) don't slave in their kitchen like in old days and how their cooking practices have evolved because of wider food availability and cross-cultural influences. Two chefs, one American and one Moroccan have released parallel cookbooks. The article is a well written review of their books together as a study in contrasts.
While the Moroccan writes about the adaptation of traditional Moroccan cuisine under the influences of modern cultural and agricultural innovations, the American insists on rigid recipes that stick to what she thinks is traditional Moroccan - having observed many cooks in the 70s while living in Morocco.
:) if only that article was 1/18th as deep.
It was just about how modern Moroccan moms (alliteration!!!) don't slave in their kitchen like in old days and how their cooking practices have evolved because of wider food availability and cross-cultural influences. Two chefs, one American and one Moroccan have released parallel cookbooks. The article is a well written review of their books together as a study in contrasts.
While the Moroccan writes about the adaptation of traditional Moroccan cuisine under the influences of modern cultural and agricultural innovations, the American insists on rigid recipes that stick to what she thinks is traditional Moroccan - having observed many cooks in the 70s while living in Morocco.
metalpeter - 10/06/11 18:20
I started reading the article and didn't really get it so I stopped but here is what I will say.......
Going forward isn't all ways right just like going back isn't either... Here is the best example I can come up with quickly..... Doctors and all the advances in health are great and people live longer now a days.... Yes that means some people can know 4 generations of Grand Kids or what ever... Great for humans... But not so good for people living 40 years past retirement and being healthy but not being able to work... All these extra humans will at some point destroy the earth... If it doesn't cause us all to kill each other first.... Now back when people didn't have all this medicine you would have some virus that would wipe out around a country of people and help keep the earth balanced... HIV being sexually transmitted had the chance to cut down populations but it wasn't really deadly enough and what I mean by that is you could only spread it sexually but that being said you could still give it to a lot of people and so on and so forth but then we got not a cure but a way to battle it pretty good and condoms pretty much stop the spread of it.... So good for Humans bad for the earth.....
I started reading the article and didn't really get it so I stopped but here is what I will say.......
Going forward isn't all ways right just like going back isn't either... Here is the best example I can come up with quickly..... Doctors and all the advances in health are great and people live longer now a days.... Yes that means some people can know 4 generations of Grand Kids or what ever... Great for humans... But not so good for people living 40 years past retirement and being healthy but not being able to work... All these extra humans will at some point destroy the earth... If it doesn't cause us all to kill each other first.... Now back when people didn't have all this medicine you would have some virus that would wipe out around a country of people and help keep the earth balanced... HIV being sexually transmitted had the chance to cut down populations but it wasn't really deadly enough and what I mean by that is you could only spread it sexually but that being said you could still give it to a lot of people and so on and so forth but then we got not a cure but a way to battle it pretty good and condoms pretty much stop the spread of it.... So good for Humans bad for the earth.....
10/03/2011 19:57 #55236
Clueless about regexCategory: goals
What I want to do is match strings with regular expressions.
Now I can't even write code for matching a variable length sentence or phrase in curly brackets for example:
{A quick brown FOX jumps over a sprightly hare}
Hmm... this does not work
(\{)[.*?](\})
This doesn't work
(\\{).*?(\\})
This doesn't work either.
\\{.*?\\}
ARRRGH.
It's funny how it's called regular.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
^ : start of string [ : beginning of character group a-z : any lowercase letter A-Z : any uppercase letter 0-9 : any digit _ : underscore ] : end of character group * : zero or more of the given characters $ : end of string
Now I can't even write code for matching a variable length sentence or phrase in curly brackets for example:
{A quick brown FOX jumps over a sprightly hare}
Hmm... this does not work
(\{)[.*?](\})
This doesn't work
(\\{).*?(\\})
This doesn't work either.
\\{.*?\\}
ARRRGH.
It's funny how it's called regular.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
tinypliny - 10/06/11 17:12
Thanks!! :) I am going to bug you with regex questions....
Thanks!! :) I am going to bug you with regex questions....
paul - 10/05/11 00:37
Matches result is shown in the first comment.
Matches result is shown in the first comment.
paul - 10/05/11 00:37
Sorry it did not come out:
$str = '{A quick brown FOX jumps over a sprightly hare}';
preg_match("/\{(.*?)\}/", $str, $matches);
print_r($matches);
Sorry it did not come out:
$str = '{A quick brown FOX jumps over a sprightly hare}';
preg_match("/\{(.*?)\}/", $str, $matches);
print_r($matches);
paul - 10/05/11 00:36
I use \w (letters and _ ) and \d (digit) a lot. Here is some PHP for what I think you are trying to match. PHP uses PERL Compatible Regular Expressions. You have to have a begin and end delimiter in PHP and you have to escape the curly brackets because they are used to mark repetition. e.g. \d{3} means any 3 digits or \d{1,2} any one or two digits.
Array
(
[0] => {A quick brown FOX jumps over a sprightly hare}
[1] => A quick brown FOX jumps over a sprightly hare
)
I use \w (letters and _ ) and \d (digit) a lot. Here is some PHP for what I think you are trying to match. PHP uses PERL Compatible Regular Expressions. You have to have a begin and end delimiter in PHP and you have to escape the curly brackets because they are used to mark repetition. e.g. \d{3} means any 3 digits or \d{1,2} any one or two digits.
Array
(
[0] => {A quick brown FOX jumps over a sprightly hare}
[1] => A quick brown FOX jumps over a sprightly hare
)
10/01/2011 15:53 #55222
NyQuil dramaCategory: whine
The cold, fever and chills got out of hand so I had to go out in the rain to Walgreens at around 1:00 AM yesterday night. It was like one of those descriptions in the Wuthering Heights of wild rainy miserable nights but without any of the fun.
The Walgreens on North has undergone some kind of ludicrous rearrangement of shelves. It took me a whole 5 minutes to realize that everything had been shuffled around. The cold and flu medications are not with the other medications on the far wall anymore. I finally found them in the next aisle. It made no logical sense. I am convinced the whole point of the rearrangement was to make sick people suffer even more in their misery.
And that was not all. The walgreens brand was nowhere to be seen. The shop is aggressively promoting some new hippie form of the Nyquil concoction called Nature Fusion I looked at the ingredient list:
Basically what I had been eating along with "flavor" (surely a taunting joke on people with colds), two different glycols, high fructose corn syrup AND Honey. I got it anyway.
And Walgreens was out of Biscoff Speculoos. How unbelievably unkind is that??
When I came home I couldn't open the stupid Nyquil bottle. I tried so hard for nearly 1/2 hour. It was the hardest bottle to open. You need to press down the lid while twisting it anti-clockwise. You can tell it's not going to open because it makes this annoying rachet-like noise. At that point I was almost livid with rage. I took a knife and ran it all round underneath the rim of the hideous cap and tore it off. It probably won't close well again, but who cares at this point?
I think I must have gone past 104 degree F with all that anger. When I was brushing my teeth later, my eyes looked completely bloodshot. They are still kind of murky now. I can only guess that I must have split many minor vessels in my conjunctiva. When I finally got at the syrup, it was extremely sweet. Sweeter than any other cough syrup I have ever had my entire life. This is what happens when people think that honey is not enough and go ahead and lay on the high fructose corn syrup.
So the point of this post is that NyQuil's new bottles are so hard to open that you need a knife. At 3:00 AM, anger got the better of me and I composed a nasty letter to Vicks, but in my hurry, I didn't save it and it got deleted. I have no idea now what I wrote in it. All I can remember that it was a page long before the Nyquil knocked me out. Now it seems silly and trivial but I was so unbelievably wretched and murderous last night. Illness does strange things to people, especially to me.
Update: 26th February, 2012
I received this message from a guest:
So it's not just me!!!!! Vicks should be ashamed of its design team. Making sick people suffer even more in their misery! I am glad I was able to spread the hatred around. ;-)
The Walgreens on North has undergone some kind of ludicrous rearrangement of shelves. It took me a whole 5 minutes to realize that everything had been shuffled around. The cold and flu medications are not with the other medications on the far wall anymore. I finally found them in the next aisle. It made no logical sense. I am convinced the whole point of the rearrangement was to make sick people suffer even more in their misery.
And that was not all. The walgreens brand was nowhere to be seen. The shop is aggressively promoting some new hippie form of the Nyquil concoction called Nature Fusion
I looked at the ingredient list:
Acetaminophen
Dextromethorphan
Doxylamine Succinate
Citric Acid
Flavor
Glycerin
High fructose corn syrup
Honey
Polyethylene Glycol
Propylene Glycol
Purified Water
Sodium Citrate
Basically what I had been eating along with "flavor" (surely a taunting joke on people with colds), two different glycols, high fructose corn syrup AND Honey. I got it anyway.
And Walgreens was out of Biscoff Speculoos. How unbelievably unkind is that??
When I came home I couldn't open the stupid Nyquil bottle. I tried so hard for nearly 1/2 hour. It was the hardest bottle to open. You need to press down the lid while twisting it anti-clockwise. You can tell it's not going to open because it makes this annoying rachet-like noise. At that point I was almost livid with rage. I took a knife and ran it all round underneath the rim of the hideous cap and tore it off. It probably won't close well again, but who cares at this point?
I think I must have gone past 104 degree F with all that anger. When I was brushing my teeth later, my eyes looked completely bloodshot. They are still kind of murky now. I can only guess that I must have split many minor vessels in my conjunctiva. When I finally got at the syrup, it was extremely sweet. Sweeter than any other cough syrup I have ever had my entire life. This is what happens when people think that honey is not enough and go ahead and lay on the high fructose corn syrup.
So the point of this post is that NyQuil's new bottles are so hard to open that you need a knife. At 3:00 AM, anger got the better of me and I composed a nasty letter to Vicks, but in my hurry, I didn't save it and it got deleted. I have no idea now what I wrote in it. All I can remember that it was a page long before the Nyquil knocked me out. Now it seems silly and trivial but I was so unbelievably wretched and murderous last night. Illness does strange things to people, especially to me.
Update: 26th February, 2012
I received this message from a guest:
21372 02/26/2012 @ 21:08 guest @ 75.142.240.232 says:
Nature Fusion Drama
I loved the previous NyQuil drama. Walmart must have pulled all of the regular stuff off the shelves so you were guided to purchase the new (green) version of cough syrup. Got it home to my ailing husband and heard him cussing and grunting and whining about getting the damn thing open. Thinking he was inept and just felt to crappy to get it open. I asked to try.....needless to say I wore my hand out and tried using the can opener notches on my kitchen shears and only managed to strip all of the outer lid threads. So I went to the web to see if anyone else was so inclined to cut the top off. Oh boy! There is a ton of folks that would like watch the makers of Vick's products open their own designs. After reading NyQuil Drama and other similar complaints, my husband used a knife to break the child protection and was able to finally take the dosage.
So it's not just me!!!!! Vicks should be ashamed of its design team. Making sick people suffer even more in their misery! I am glad I was able to spread the hatred around. ;-)
tinypliny - 10/07/11 18:44
I got one more bottle of Dextromethorphan and Guaiphenesin for the residual mucus today. I had the walgreen clerk open it after I bought it. He probably thought I couldn't even wait to get home to start chugging on it. Oh the misery of being a weakling.
I got one more bottle of Dextromethorphan and Guaiphenesin for the residual mucus today. I had the walgreen clerk open it after I bought it. He probably thought I couldn't even wait to get home to start chugging on it. Oh the misery of being a weakling.
tinypliny - 10/01/11 17:54
Me, murderous? What are you blokes smoking??
The nyquil pills are not without their own evil set of additives. Take a look. This is the complementary Natural Fusion pill:
Active: Acetaminophen 325 mg (Pain reliever/fever reducer), Dextromethorphan HBr 10 mg (Cough suppressant), Phenylephrine HCl 5 mg (Nasal decongestant)
Inactive: EDTA, honey, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, medium chain triglycerides, microcrystalline cellulose, natural flavor, polydextrose, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, propylene glycol, starch, stearic acid, sucralose, talc, titanium dioxide, yellow iron oxide :::link:::
This is the regular NyQuil pill:
Active: Acetaminophen 325 mg (Pain reliever/fever reducer), Dextromethorphan HBr 15 mg (Cough suppressant), Doxylamine succinate 6.25 mg (Antihistamine)
Inactive: D&C Yellow No. 10, FD&C Blue No. 1, Gelatin, Glycerin, Polyethylene Glycol, Povidone, Propylene Glycol, Purified Water, Sorbitol Special, Titanium Dioxide
Maybe there is a old fashioned Nyquil pill that I am missing...
They used to have this mint-flavoured vaposyrup with phenylephrine and guaifenesin that I miss so much. I was so unhappy that I coudn't find it yesterday.
(e:metalpeter): yes, this has no alcohol. I don't do well with alcohol at all. It makes me sicker. And you are right, look at this whole discussion about how hard they can be to open!! --> :::link:::
Me, murderous? What are you blokes smoking??
The nyquil pills are not without their own evil set of additives. Take a look. This is the complementary Natural Fusion pill:
Active: Acetaminophen 325 mg (Pain reliever/fever reducer), Dextromethorphan HBr 10 mg (Cough suppressant), Phenylephrine HCl 5 mg (Nasal decongestant)
Inactive: EDTA, honey, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, medium chain triglycerides, microcrystalline cellulose, natural flavor, polydextrose, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, propylene glycol, starch, stearic acid, sucralose, talc, titanium dioxide, yellow iron oxide :::link:::
This is the regular NyQuil pill:
Active: Acetaminophen 325 mg (Pain reliever/fever reducer), Dextromethorphan HBr 15 mg (Cough suppressant), Doxylamine succinate 6.25 mg (Antihistamine)
Inactive: D&C Yellow No. 10, FD&C Blue No. 1, Gelatin, Glycerin, Polyethylene Glycol, Povidone, Propylene Glycol, Purified Water, Sorbitol Special, Titanium Dioxide
Maybe there is a old fashioned Nyquil pill that I am missing...
They used to have this mint-flavoured vaposyrup with phenylephrine and guaifenesin that I miss so much. I was so unhappy that I coudn't find it yesterday.
(e:metalpeter): yes, this has no alcohol. I don't do well with alcohol at all. It makes me sicker. And you are right, look at this whole discussion about how hard they can be to open!! --> :::link:::
metalpeter - 10/01/11 16:25
1. I agree with #1
2. I was going to say the same thing.... Not that they are all ways easy to open...
3. Now most of these have Alcohol was it Alcohol free or isn't it listed?
1. I agree with #1
2. I was going to say the same thing.... Not that they are all ways easy to open...
3. Now most of these have Alcohol was it Alcohol free or isn't it listed?
paul - 10/01/11 16:17
1. You are always a little murderous, that's why I like you.
2. Why not the nyquil pills. Same medicine minus to corn syrup filler and crap.
1. You are always a little murderous, that's why I like you.
2. Why not the nyquil pills. Same medicine minus to corn syrup filler and crap.
Well what I can say is this... In NYS there is or atleast was a law that anything that goes on sale 30 days after you buy it they have to give you that price... So you go out and buy a $1,000 TV and it goes on sale next week take in your prof of payment and the store has to give you the difference... Now if it has to be cash or credit on the card or store credit I'm not sure.... I have no idea how you would do that online though... But I would assume as long as you are paying the NYS tax you would be covered... Just like certain items can't be shipped to certain states and every online place has to know all those laws of the different states and follow them....
I just started my prime account today and I already ordered 4 things. We all have 3 batteries each for our cell phones now. No more downtime ever.