This topic is closed.
I read a ton of sci-fi when I was a kid. I recognize at least 5 from that picture. For some reason the one that stayed with me the most was The Stainless Steel Rat. There was a small sex scene in that, and it riveted my 12-year-old brain. I think they sprayed on their clothes and washed them off at the end of the day. Lol.
Quoted from DCP:I have shelves full of science fiction (parents' collection) - some of my favorites are the future predictions with dates (i.e. 2076 - the American Tricentennial in 1st pic). I think Koontz' book just proves that scientists and smart people like sci-fi writers knew 40+ years ago that it was only a matter of time before we would be hit by a big pandemic virus. This didn't come out of "nowhere ".
Many of these books filled my imagination growing up. I'm especially grateful to be the curator of the collection now that we're shut in. Any other fans of 1940s-70s sci fi on Pinside? My Dad actually published several stories in Analog and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in the 50s through the early 70s. I plan on publishing his stories in an anthology at some point...(pics show maybe 10% of the SF portion of Mom and Dad's collection. There are several other sub-collections).[quoted image][quoted image]
Cool stuff. I'm a sucker for books. If I had to choose between books and pinball, I'd choose reading. These pandemics fascinate me. During the last Ebola outbreak, I read Richard Preston's The Hot Zone. Also bought his Demon in the Freezer book, but I haven't read it yet.
Quoted from arcademojo:Just a friendly reminder.[quoted image]
Cart wipes as well.. and the floor is bad enough I'm constantly finding them on displays of food
Quoted from loneacer:If I had to choose between books and pinball, I'd choose reading.
Tsk, Tsk! 
Quoted from loneacer:Do I get moderated for trolling?
Believe me...i looked
Quoted from Honch:https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
Sometimes it's better to have an international perspective. The facts make this pandemic a lot less scary IMO.
Fantastic read... thanks for posting; bookmarked!
Quoted from loneacer:I love jigsaw puzzles, but after finishing this one a couple years ago it burned me out.[quoted image]
That Black Cat looks tough. And cool.
I ran into this now vintage puzzle in the 80's in a hospital waiting room. I did not last too long.
Brand New* VTG 1982 Hoyle Hay In A Needle Stack Jigsaw 550 Piece Hard Puzzle
Here’s a picture of my hero (L&D nurse) wife taking care of mothers getting ready to give birth.
Most are healthy but some do have the virus.
Some are intubated and the virus is ravaging their bodies as the baby fights for his/her own life.
Words can’t explain what they’re all going through.
I’m crazy with anxiety right now.
Please pray for my wife
9C0E57CD-BB14-422E-BDAA-44CBCCEE6465 (resized).jpegWould you like Covid-19 with that. No cost. 
Supermarket staff member tests positive for COVID-19, shoppers urged to check on health
Quoted from Zampinator:It's called predictive programming. Look it up!
Exactly.
Kinda like the movie Enemy of the State from 1998.
Quoted from wrb1977:Bad idea in my opinion. Historically speaking, unions were a big reason for the downfall of the steel industry and the automobile industry among others here in the US. The railroad I work for here in Pittsburgh is privatized and is non-union, which is a rarity in that industry. We are a very profitable and stable railroad and have many railroaders from the big Class 1 railroads trying to get employment with us. Many of our current employees came from Class 1 railroads and one of the biggest reasons they left is because of the unions. They paid their union dues and got very little representation or benefit from them. The general consensus is the union was not helping those guys and was just a money making entity that was not looking out for them. Their quality of life on a Class 1 railroad left a lot to be desired.
The original intent of a union was a great idea...but I feel those days are long gone. I know this is a polarizing subject, just as polarizing as politics, but when I used to work as a construction inspector for a construction management firm, I saw the downside of unions first hand. I’m sure some of you are in unions, support them, and have had great experiences. That’s great! I am far from an expert on unions. In my experiences, I just haven’t seen or been exposed to the positives of them.
As union density has dropped over the past few decades, so has pay, benefits, quality of life, etc. Hard not to see the correlation.
There’s a reason big business / rich people hate unions, and is not because they care about the welfare of their workers.
My 2 cents. This seems like a political discussion however so I’d guess we shouldn’t make a big thing out of this.
Quoted from goingincirclez:The problem is, in many cases landlords still have their own obligations to pay upstream. It's easy to pin landlords as evil as if they own the buildings free and clear... and while that may be true in some cases, it's far more likely that the landlord needs the rent to pay his own mortgage, insurance, utilities, security, etc on the building. So tenant negotiates with landlord... landlord negotiates upstream... etc etc etc...
The real keyholders in all this mess are the banks. Sadly you don't hear them promoting calm and amnesty and stimulus and forbearance now, do you?
In 2008, the banks were a big part of the problem. Now I read the banks are healthy.
But I agree with you. No rent to the landlords means no payments to the banks. And now the banks will have problems, too.
Quoted from cottonm4:In 2008, the banks were a big part of the problem. Now I read the banks are healthy.
But I agree with you. No rent to the landlords means no payments to the banks. And now the banks will have problems, too.
Per stats from last year, ~70% of new car loans were 6 years or more. If you were financing a car for a term greater than 5 years, I’d guess your finances were already somewhat precarious. Are they offering any car payment relief?
Quoted from Jaybird815:I went out and bought me one these bad boys today, keeping it simple for the first use, but it’s Hibachi season from here on out![quoted image]
Looks good. !
Quoted from Jaybird815:I went out and bought me one these bad boys today, keeping it simple for the first use, but it’s Hibachi season from here on out![quoted image]
Blackstone? Those are cool. I just don’t have any room.
Quoted from Jaybird815:I went out and bought me one these bad boys today, keeping it simple for the first use, but it’s Hibachi season from here on out![quoted image]
Larger than some nyc apartments
Quoted from mcluvin:Blackstone? Those are cool. I just don’t have any room.
Yep, they’re awesome, my buddy has about $10k in outdoor cooking apparatus and he only uses the blackstone $300 and the big Weber kettle $300
Quoted from mcluvin:Per stats from last year, ~70% of new car loans were 6 years or more. If you were financing a car for a term greater than 5 years, I’d guess your finances were already somewhat precarious. Are they offering any car payment relief?
Car manufacturers are pushing for another cash for clunkers program. Most dealers have 0% for 7 years right now.
Quoted from TheLaw:Jesus start a thread aboot that one and watch it blow up; it's a hot button topic for some weird reason.
Haha, yeah the hard core grillers are anti for some reason, it ain’t grilling, it’s cooking outdoors without pots, pans and lingering bacon odors, FFS.
I know they have been struggling for what seems an eternity , but could the bug finally break the USPS??
Quoted from CrazyLevi:As union density has dropped, so has pay, benefits, quality of life, etc. Hard not to see the correlation.
There’s a reason big business / rich people hate unions, and is not because they care about the welfare of their workers.
My 2 cents. This seems like a political discussion however so I’d guess we shouldn’t make a big thing out of this.
Levi, I am going to relate a story I read years ago, in Readers' Digest, of all places. I think I can do it without getting political. All I can remember is that the name of the story was "Mother is gone". My mom had this issue of RD at her house in 1979 or 1980. I had just started my job at Boeing Aircraft a few months before. Boeing was union; I had mixed feelings about that. Through the years I have tried to find this issue of RD with no success, so I can't back up what I am saying.
The author's mom had died, he wrote about his life, and RD picked it up.
He talked about how his grandfather was a carriage driver for a steel magnate/tycoon. I'll paraphrase.
" It was winter. Bitter cold. One day, as the carriage driver/grandfather was transporting the magnate around the property, the carriage stopped and the boss and driver started watching some workers huddled up to a fire an a barrel to stay warm. In a little bit, the doors to the coke furnace were opened and these men starting shoveling coal/coke into the furnace. Heat blasted out from the doors and in a little bit the men took off their coats. Eventually, they are bare waisted and sweating as they continued to feed the fire. When they were done, they closed the doors and starting putting their clothes back on over their sweating bodies.
The author's grandfather said to the magnate that "It seems that many of the men would catch their death from the cold." To which the magnate replied, " Many of them do, but there are more of them where they came from."
As stated, I cannot find the article so I can not support any of what I just said. Be that is it may, reading this article is what opened my eyes and I have been pro-union ever since.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There have been only two steel magnates in this country that I know of. One was Andrew Carnegie. The other was J.P. Morgan, who Carnegie sold out to. And I have always wondered who the magnate that was being written about.
Quoted from Honch:https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
Sometimes it's better to have an international perspective. The facts make this pandemic a lot less scary IMO.
Nice little read. Wonder why the media isn't focusing on those facts?
Quoted from chad:I know they have been struggling for what seems an eternity , but could the bug finally break the USPS??
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/us-postal-service-could-shut-down-by-june-lawmakers-warn/ar-BB125w?lBBnbfcL
What am I missing here? How can the USPS being doing worse in a time when the amount of internet sales has to be going up?
Quoted from loneacer:Car manufacturers are pushing for another cash for clunkers program. Most dealers have 0% for 7 years right now.
With great credit. I’d argue most folks with great credit aren’t terribly interested in a 7 year car loan.
Quoted from Jaybird815:I went out and bought me one these bad boys today, keeping it simple for the first use, but it’s Hibachi season from here on out![quoted image]
Been thinking about one of these....
Quoted from mcluvin:With great credit. I’d argue most folks with great credit aren’t terribly interested in a 7 year car loan.
And I’ve been in business long enough to know that they’ll make their money elsewhere. I don’t see you getting a rock bottom price and 0% for 7 years. Honestly, I might take them up on it if I got both.
Quoted from mcluvin:With great credit. I’d argue most folks with great credit aren’t terribly interested in a 7 year car loan.
Depends on where their money is. Get a loan with a low payment, use that money elsewhere making more money than you're paying on interest. I can tell you that as someone with great credit I have never once been able to get 0% interest for any amount of time.
Quoted from mcluvin:Per stats from last year, ~70% of new car loans were 6 years or more. If you were financing a car for a term greater than 5 years, I’d guess your finances were already somewhat precarious. Are they offering any car payment relief?
Car loans used to be for 36 months. And in the early 70s Detroit was putting out junk. A popular bumper sticker at the time was, "This car self destructs after the 36 payment.
In the early 80s, Detroit was working to clean up its act. It starting working toward making better cars. Whether they succeeded in doin that in the 80s is a point of debate. Nevertheless, Detroit started working to up its game. And what happened is that car prices doubled. In 1983, a midsize sedan would cost you around $7000.00. IN 1984, the same car was now priced at $14,000.00. It was called sticker shock.
And car financing left the 36 month program in the dust. I think the next payment schedule was 48 months in an effort to keep the monthly payments down. And more and more pollution control items were added and the prices went up. Government mandates caused prices to increase even more. etc.
Also, in the 80s, car leasing became the big thing as a way to make a car affordable for Joe Suburb. But leasing can be a big trap for Joe if he does not pay attention to the leasing contract.
So now we are living with car payment schedules of 6 years plus in an effort to keep the monthly payments "affordable". With out creative financing there is no way the automakers could survive.
Is the government helping with car payment relief? I don't know. But it will suck for a lot of people if they lose their car because they lost their job.
That is a good question you ask.
----------------------------------------------------------
I was in the used car biz in the early 90s. And every once in awhile, at the dealer only auction, it would be repo sales day when the banks would bring all of the cars they repossessed for non-payment. There would be a couple of hundred repo's coming through.
Bankers like to present this genteel appearance with neckties and manicured fingernails, but the bankers that work in car financing can get down and dirty with the best of the repo men.
SIDEBAR to the above. It has been almost 20 years ago that my uncle and I were out west in Sydney, Nebraska., the town where Cablela's was founded. I was walking around looking at all of the fishing boats and trailers. They are priced at something like "just $130.00 per months/ for 120 months.
120 months is 10 years. 10 years of boat payments. I cannot imagine.
Quoted from Zablon:Depends on where their money is. Get a loan with a low payment, use that money elsewhere making more money than you're paying on interest. I can tell you that as someone with great credit I have never once been able to get 0% interest for any amount of time.
Or use that extra money to make the minimum payment on a high interest rate credit card. I tend to think most 7 year car loan folks are doing this. Credit card payment relief anyone?
Quoted from Zablon:Depends on where their money is. Get a loan with a low payment, use that money elsewhere making more money than you're paying on interest. I can tell you that as someone with great credit I have never once been able to get 0% interest for any amount of time.
That was my thought. Right now, I’d rather put my money in the market. Well, actually, I’m hoarding cash at the moment. But soon enough I’ll put it into the market....
Quoted from PinJim:Nice little read. Wonder why the media isn't focusing on those facts?
this is not really considered a credible news organization...at least to my German friends.....You can take that however you want.
Lets just say that if I cited it in a paper...I would get an F
Quoted from chad:I know they have been struggling for what seems an eternity , but could the bug finally break the USPS??
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/us-postal-service-could-shut-down-by-june-lawmakers-warn/ar-BB125w?lBBnbfcL
You got me to thinking. My quantity of junk mail, that is the post office's bread and butter, has gone way done in the last few weeks.
Quoted from wrb1977:The original intent of a union was a great idea...but I feel those days are long gone.
Considering we have labourers deemed essential risking their lives for meager wages and a "gig economy" intent on destroying all labour laws and evading all regulations, I'd say the days for unions are back full steam.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:As union density has dropped over the past few decades, so has pay, benefits, quality of life, etc. Hard not to see the correlation.
There’s a reason big business / rich people hate unions, and is not because they care about the welfare of their workers.
My 2 cents. This seems like a political discussion however so I’d guess we shouldn’t make a big thing out of this.
Well said Levi and good point. I won't comment further on that topic.
Quoted from cottonm4:You got me to thinking. My quantity of junk mail, that is the post office's bread and butter, has gone way done in the last few weeks.
I treat it as hazardous waste, and act accordingly.
I’m not a big fan of unions at all.
I believe it was Hostess many years back that had 2 half empty/half full trucks but union rules stated that they couldn’t consolidate into 1 truck to save money? How insane is that?
I believe it was also Hostess who warned that the factory would close and everyone would lose their job if the union members didn’t agree to concessions. They refused and all lost their jobs.
Why would I want someone else to negotiate my benefits and my salary for me when I know what’s best for me?
Quoted from beergut666:I'm still out working Monday-Friday, I'm in grocery stores daily. It's crazy how much of these things are being thrown on the ground, masks too.
Are you a vendor? The parking lot at my store isn't too bad. But I'm in the suburbs. One of our other stores in close to in-town Harrisburg and it's a pigsty. Everyone just pulls them off and throws them in their cart when they walk away.
Quoted from Cmjb13:I’m not a big fan of unions at all.
I believe it was Hostess many years back that had 2 half empty/half full trucks but union rules stated that they couldn’t consolidate into 1 truck to save money? How insane is that?
I believe it was also Hostess who warned that the factory would close and everyone would lose their job if the union members didn’t agree to concessions. They refused and all lost their jobs.
There are certainly things that need to be fixed regarding unions...but then...the same can be said for jobs and employers in general. Few change their ways unless forced to. You can't really blame the 'workers' alone for that. Bad management and overpaying bad CEO's is usually the reason for companies going under.
Quoted from cottonm4:You got me to thinking. My quantity of junk mail, that is the post office's bread and butter, has gone way done in the last few weeks.
If I get two or more pieces of junk mail that include postage paid return envelopes, I swap the contents into each envelope and drop them in the mail.
(I don't but its a fun idea)
Quoted from arcademojo:Are you a vendor? The parking lot at my store isn't too bad. But I'm in the suburbs. One of our other stores in close to in-town Harrisburg and it's a pigsty. Everyone just pulls them off and throws them in their cart when they walk away.
Yes, I am a sales rep for a local craft brewery. Liquor stores have been deemed essential so I'm going to keep doing what is asked of me until I am told to stop or until I no longer feel I can safely do my job.
Quoted from beergut666:Yes, I am a sales rep for a local craft brewery. Liquor stores have been deemed essential so I'm going to keep doing what is asked of me until I am told to stop or until I no longer feel I can safely do my job.
Username checks out.
Quoted from Cmjb13:I’m not a big fan of unions at all.
I believe it was Hostess many years back that had 2 half empty/half full trucks but union rules stated that they couldn’t consolidate into 1 truck to save money? How insane is that?
I believe it was also Hostess who warned that the factory would close and everyone would lose their job if the union members didn’t agree to concessions. They refused and all lost their jobs.
Quite a few years ago, one of the local beef packers put the same deal to the workers who were planning to vote to strike. They voted to strike and the company closed up shop and moved father west to Dodge City. They reopened and hired immigrant labor from Mexico.
All of the beef packers along I-30 in Nebraska employ immigrant labor from Mexico.
All of the roofers around here are Mexican labor and the boss will be an English speaker.
And you are right about Hostess.
And some times the unions bosses look to feather their own nests. They would rather a weaker company would shut down and leave the workers hanging instead of being a threat to the pattern bargaining practices.
Quoted from Zablon:Been thinking about one of these....
Quit thinking and do it, you’ll thank me later.
Quoted from cottonm4:And you are right about Hostess.
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