So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[LizzieMaine]

There are times near the end of the month when the lag time between when the check is written and when it clears the bank makes all the difference. I will be very unhappy when paper checks go completely away.

 

[Zombie_61]

There are times near the end of the month when the lag time between when the check is written and when it clears the bank makes all the difference. I will be very unhappy when paper checks go completely away.

That, and the old "But I mailed it to you last week!" excuse will no longer be viable.

 

[tonyb]

There are times near the end of the month when the lag time between when the check is written and when it clears the bank makes all the difference. I will be very unhappy when paper checks go completely away.

Just about all the grownups I was raised around did that all the time, and they weren't nearly so clever in their allusions to such matters as they thought they were. Little pitchers have big ears.

 

[Bamaboots]

Little pitchers have big ears.

tony, I grew up the same way. Avoiding the 'collection man' was a way of life for my mom and us for some years and she taught us well. It was survival. Thank goodness things improved. One of my favorite singer/songwriters used that phrase in one of his songs. It sticks with me to this day.

 

[Stearmen]

^^^^^
Why is the "regular" gas here at a mile above sea level 85 octane while the regular grade in Seattle is 87 octane?

I could look it up, I suppose. But I'm feeling lazy.

Because, you have to run your engine leaner the higher you go to prevent premature detonation or pinging. That is why piston engine airplanes with carburetors, have a knob to make your mixture leaner as you climb in altitude. Of course, modern computer controlled fuel injected engines can do that automatically.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Arrrgh. New seasonal poloshirts are already launched at the usual chain-stores. But I WANT THEM IN PIQUÉ, NOT IN JERSEY!!!! I want poloshirts, not rugbyshirts!!

 

[tonyb]

tony, I grew up the same way. Avoiding the 'collection man' was a way of life for my mom and us for some years and she taught us well. It was survival. Thank goodness things improved. One of my favorite singer/songwriters used that phrase in one of his songs. It sticks with me to this day.

I believe that song was the first I heard the expression as well, and I didn't understand to what it was alluding until I looked it up (this was back in the pre-Internet era, when researching such matters was much more effortful than it is now). I mistook "pitchers" for "pictures." I'm guessing lots of others did as well.

It turns out (if the sources I've read are to be trusted) that the phrase pre-dates Shakespeare, who used it as well. As you know, the "ears" refer to the handles on pitchers, which often have an ear-like shape, and that on smaller pitchers the ears will be proportionally larger (although near the same dimensions themselves) as those on larger pitchers, seeing how the handles have to be of a size to accommodate adult human hands regardless of the size of the vessel those handles are attached to.

JP has always been a clever lyricist. It's no surprise that he would be the one to put that phrase back into circulation.

 

[MisterCairo]

Flip-flops.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Flip-flops.

And Crocs.

 

[tonyb]

I'm in the minority in my liking Crocs, I guess. I like the style and the colors, and they have at least the appearance of practicality. I've never had any on my feet, though. Seeing how they've become objects of derision, perhaps it's time to get me a pair or two at fire sale prices.

 

[Bamaboots]

My feelings.

 

[Fading Fast]

There are times near the end of the month when the lag time between when the check is written and when it clears the bank makes all the difference. I will be very unhappy when paper checks go completely away.

But have you noticed that even that is faster. I mailed a check to re-up a magazine the other day (no other way to pay them - surprised me) - years past, that could take a month to hit my account, but it hit in under a week. The "float" time is all but disappearing.

 

[tonyb]

My feelings.
View attachment 73842

Socks kinda defeat the purpose, don't they? I was thinking they'd be just the thing for slopping around in the garden. Get them and your feet muddy and just hose 'em off.

 

[LizzieMaine]

But have you noticed that even that is faster. I mailed a check to re-up a magazine the other day (no other way to pay them - surprised me) - years past, that could take a month to hit my account, but it hit in under a week. The "float" time is all but disappearing.

Yep. A couple of weeks ago I had to shell out almost $500 to my dentist to replace the partial plate I had bitten in half in a blind rage (long story), and I paid with a paper check. When I got home and checked my account the check had already cleared -- that's less than an hour's time. I don't know what kind of technology they're using, but I'm going to be really really careful.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ Growing up, the "smarter" kids went into medicine and the "less-smart" ones dentistry.

Well, thirty years later, all the doctors I know hate medicine, complain bitterly and - while none are starving by any standard - have not experienced the financial success they thought was coming their way back in school in the '80s.

Meanwhile, the seemingly cast-off dentists are, well, rocking. They - most importantly - actually get paid for their work. When schlubs like you and I go to the dentist, we know we have to pay and do.

With medicine, most of us have some sort of terrible insurance that the doctor says they "accept" (we checked first), but all that really means is each visit, eventually, results in a convoluted three-way wrestling match amongst the doctors (hospital, lab, etc.), the insurance company and us. In the end, everyone feels cheated and angry.

But not the dentist. He or she gets paid, works reasonable hours and has a pretty good relationship with his patients. Every doctor visit - away from the actual pay gunfight - is one of them flashing into the room, doing some speed exam, maybe throwing out a complaint or ten about modern medicine and then blasting out, but the dentist comes in, asks how you are, pays attention, explains what he or she is doing, does it and leaves calmly without complaining.

Dial back the clock to the '80s, with today's knowledge, and our world now would have more dentists and less doctors.

 

[GHT]

What I'd really like to find is genuine 70 octane gasoline for the Plodge, so I could set the spark and timing to where they're supposed to be.

Lizzie, in the UK there's a popular conversion of the cylinder head and the valves, that allows an old engine to run on unleaded fuel without causing damage. I don't know, after the work is done, if there's a need any longer to set the spark and timing. I'm sure that we can't be the only country where this conversion is popular.
http://www.thevintagecar.co.uk/convertingvintagecarsunleadedpetrol.html

 

[LizzieMaine]

⇧ Growing up, the "smarter" kids went into medicine and the "less-smart" ones dentistry.

Well, thirty years later, all the doctors I know hate medicine, complain bitterly and - while none are starving by any standard - have not experienced the financial success they thought was coming their way back in school in the '80s.

Meanwhile, the seemingly cast-off dentists are, well, rocking. They - most importantly - actually get paid for their work. When schlubs like you and I go to the dentist, we know we have to pay and do.

With medicine, most of us have some sort of terrible insurance that the doctor says they "accept" (we checked first), but all that really means is each visit, eventually, results in a convoluted three-way wrestling match amongst the doctors (hospital, lab, etc.), the insurance company and us. In the end, everyone feels cheated and angry.

But not the dentist. He or she gets paid, works reasonable hours and has a pretty good relationship with his patients. Every doctor visit - away from the actual pay gunfight - is one of them flashing into the room, doing some speed exam, maybe throwing out a complaint or ten about modern medicine and then blasting out, but the dentist comes in, asks how you are, pays attention, explains what he or she is doing, does it and leaves calmly without complaining.

Dial back the clock to the '80s, with today's knowledge, and our world now would have more dentists and less doctors.

Dentists are the plumbers of The Professional World. Nobody respects them, nobody likes to see them, but when you need one, thank God for them.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

And Crocs.

I call them Barbie shoes because they look like the little plastic shoes that came with Barbie dolls.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Whenever there's a major housecleaning (usually because we're having guests) my stuff somehow ends up consigned to the garage. There's stuff from several previous housecleanings going back a couple of years that are still buried in the garage which I haven't found yet.

 

[tonyb]

Yep. A couple of weeks ago I had to shell out almost $500 to my dentist to replace the partial plate I had bitten in half in a blind rage (long story), and I paid with a paper check. When I got home and checked my account the check had already cleared -- that's less than an hour's time. I don't know what kind of technology they're using, but I'm going to be really really careful.

My guess is the dentist's office personnel scanned or photographed the check and deposited it online. Or they might've deposited it in a nearby ATM.

The human bank teller isn't yet extinct, but s/he's getting there.