what's the last thing you bought?

[Tank]

Knipex are top quality kit.

[Tom62]

Lots of cat food.

[Randy]

Lots of cat food.

Either you have a lot of cats, one very large cat, or you are stocking up for the apocalypse.

[Icarus]

New roof for my house..........Almost $14k.  May have to apply for food service charities.  My whole house and the property it sits on did not cost that much in the year that I indentured myself to the mortgage company.

The basic problem is that inflation has demolished my long term savings.  Way back in the day, I was well paid at the equivalent of six dollars per hour.  Modest savings from that six dollar base does not even come close to  translating to parity of the inflation rate.

I am trying not to be bitter about the inequity.  Today the minimum wage for many hamburger flippers is twice what I was paid to do do design work for projects such as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, The Pan AM building, Cuban crisis Bomb shelters, and a few other things  that seemed important at the time.

In no case am I disparaging hamburger flippers.  Most of them are good people who are trying to make a living.   

[hermes2015]

Icarus, how many minutes did you have to work back then to buy a McDonald's hamburger? How long does today's hamburger flipper have to work to buy the same type of burger? That would make an interesting comparison.

[Tom62]

Lots of cat food.

Either you have a lot of cats, one very large cat, or you are stocking up for the apocalypse.

Both. I have two big Maine Coon cats. I order a lot of cat food online, because I've got a better choice; the shop has lower prices and special offers/coupons; it is convenient because they deliver it to my door and they don't charge for transport if I order for more than 29 Euro.

[Dark Lightning]

There is a chap a couple of houses along from me who rides one in this condition but black. He's single and gay so has the time and money to spend on it

:admire: That's one nice looking scoot!

[billy rubin]

New roof for my house..........Almost $14k.  May have to apply for food service charities.  My whole house and the property it sits on did not cost that much in the year that I indentured myself to the mortgage company.

The basic problem is that inflation has demolished my long term savings.  Way back in the day, I was well paid at the equivalent of six dollars per hour.  Modest savings from that six dollar base does not even come close to  translating to parity of the inflation rate.

I am trying not to be bitter about the inequity.  Today the minimum wage for many hamburger flippers is twice what I was paid to do do design work for projects such as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, The Pan AM building, Cuban crisis Bomb shelters, and a few other things  that seemed important at the time.

In no case am I disparaging hamburger flippers.  Most of them are good people who are trying to make a living.

my wife is clozi g manager at tbe local mcdonalds. tomorrow she haz a scheduled interview with the general manager to inform him how restaurant is being mismanaged

low wagez understaffing and lack of respect for workers is on the top of the list

btw minimum wagez flipping burgers mean you alzo need food stamps

[Icarus]

Billy, and Mrs Billy, I am fully aware that the wage rate for McD's and other franchise businesses do not pay a livable wage.  My state (Florida) just voted a constitutional mandate that increased the pay scale to 10 dollars beginning next year. The wage rate is to increase one dollar per year until 15 dollars per hour  is reached in 2026.

That is a noble effort to allow the lesser of we mortals to  live a  marginally comfortable life.  Problem is that the cost of living will increase at least in proportion to the gain in income. 

[billy rubin]

her mcdonalds franchise managers always used to announce that everybody would be getting raises . . .yippee!!

until everybody realized that th eraises were just mandated by minimum wage increases . . .

she had her interview. i have only a sketchy outline. will see what happened later

[Dark Lightning]

her mcdonalds franchise managers always used to announce that everybody would be getting raises . . .yippee!!

until everybody realized that th eraises were just mandated by minimum wage increases . . .

she had her interview. i have only a sketchy outline. will see what happened later

Not long after I got out of the Navy, I worked at an auto parts store. My one raise was when minimum wage went up. I left there not much later for another job that paid a buck and a half more per hour. That was one cheapskate millionaire SOB. I guess that's how he got that way. He tried to guilt trip me when I quit for the other job. Didn't work.

[billy rubin]

jeff bezos is the richest man in the world and tries to cheapskate his employees for wages

someone erected a guillotine in front of his house during a protest

quite appropriate

[Bad Penny II]

The Aus rate:

The national minimum wage is currently $19.84 per hour or $753.80 per 38 hour week (before tax). Casual employees covered by the national minimum wage also get at least a 25% casual loading.

Exchange rate today AUD to USD is US $0.73 so minimum is equivalent of  about US $14.50 per hour if full time, add 25% if casual.  Four weeks holiday is also applicable for permanent employees.

[Bad Penny II]

Last thing I bought was a scam.  I succumbed to an ad for a computer clean up deal from Avast.  OK 20 dollars is alright if the cleaner upper does as promised.  After giving them my credit card information. I had to wait for an authorization number.  Soon, I learned that Avast uses an outfit called River Digital of Ireland Ltd. to process the transaction.  Two days later I found that River Digital had billed my credit card for $60 not $20.

After a bit of searching it became clear that River Digital does this stunt regularly.  Now I have to go through all sorts of aggravation to contact my credit card company to cancel the whole transaction. It turns out that the twenty dollar part only paid for a Driver update feature. Bullshit!  I can get the driver updates for free from sources such as Canon whose printer I am using.

Free software should be free, ignore all pop up crap.
If you don't want Chrome watch for the pre ticked box.
I've used Avast Free for ages, there's crap they push like software updater, just ignore it.
There is always the built in windows anti malware, windows defender, It's probably sufficient.

[billy rubin]

score! an original ARD belt drive magneto!

this wass mailed from new york on 25 november, and arrived in ohio on the 26th. because of covid, and the corrupt american chief of our postal service who was trying to sabotage the 2020 election,, it's been sitting in
 the post officeae 100 miles away, waiting for delivery. for 27 days.  but today it showed up.



back fifty or sixty years ago, american flattrack motorcycle racers on s triumphs would fit an ARD magneto:



the ^^^magneto is the thing with the oval cover on the right side behind the exhaust pipe.

the magnetos replaced the entire electrical system -- battery, alternator, coils, wiring, switches, all of it-- with a single mechanical unit and one (1) 18-inch wire to the kill switch. also, because it was inboard, you could crash the bike on the right and the electrical system would be protected. plus, the faster the motor went, the hotter the spark th emagneto will produce. old aviation engines still use them because they're so simple.

today, an ARD magneto from the 1960s will cost you around US$1500-$1800, for one with missing parts, worn out bearings, and crash damage to the aluminum housing to boot-- if you can find one. i have one in my land speed race bike, and it did cost that much, plus another seven or eight hundred bucks for parts. i don't have much money, but this machine is all i spend my money on, after the kids:



so when i found an original ARD for sale for US$440, i checked my paypal balance and was on the phone inside of ten minutes. and i was first:





this one was a take-out many years ago, and has been sitting on a shelf. it has all the parts except the oval belt drive cover, includes the rotor and a coil for distributor-style single-fire mode, and has a brand-new exhaust cam pulley . . .

the bearings seem good, and i might get this thing running on my road race bike for nothing other than what i spent to snag it. still have a bit of work to do on that:



i've wasted lots of money on motorcycles in the past years, and it's nice to actually come across a genuine bargain for once. if you're running an old triumph, tese things are golden.