Things that make you go WTF? MkII

[mizzarrogh]

Is it realy only in sweden we are saying "Holding the thumbs" (håller tummarna)? 
(it means realy hoping for the best)

[rovingjack]

looking to thin my bookshelf a bit, pulled 40 books, and decided to see if I could sell them on amazon using the stupid adds I see all the time for how to make '1000s a month selling used books on amazon'.

the best price I could likely get from any of my books was likely about $3. Amazon will charge me $1 per item I sell and the 15-43% of the sale price (not the profit, the sale price, so the value including the $1 they take out and before taxes). This drops all but 3-4 of the books into the catagory of zero profit to costing me money to sell them on amazon. That's not counting the payment for my time in listing and shipping them. or the fact that they'd be sitting on the shelf for 1-3 months in most cases and sell one at a time every few days or weeks and I'd have to drive them down to ship them out for my $1 profit from the whole situation.

WTF happened? it bothers me as a book lover that most books these days are more valuble as heating fuel if you happen to have a fireplace in your home.

I don't imagine I'll do much better checking out e-bay, or the services that buy books in bulk (I strongly suspect they are just turning around and selling them on amazon, taking advantage of the fact that sales in excess of 40 items a month can cap the per item cost at 40$, meaning that I pay 40$ if I sell all 40 of my books of mine on amazon, but a bulk book buyer can sell 3000 books in a month and only pay 40$ and the percentage fee per book, which does mean that due to the volume of sales they can spread it out across and the not needing to identify and sort them since we do that to find out if they will pay us for the books in the first place... that a book that sells for 1.63 likely makes a 1.25 profit for them to just pull from a shelf package and ship). Some of them may also use fullfillment by amazon which means that box up a bunch of them and send them to a shelf in an amazon warehouse and pay some fees for the convenience.

it's all insane to me that somebody could have dozens of books that are decent books (not cheap romance or clearance rack pulp books) but  there is no way to exchange those books with somebody else who may be interested in them for a couple bucks.

[LukeHogbin]

Amazon is a company that's rotten from the rafters to the basement. I would rather eat my own arms than deal with them in any way, shape, or form.

[Sir Henry]

Amazon is a company that's rotten from the rafters to the basement. I would rather eat my own arms than deal with them in any way, shape, or form.

Which is how they destroy their competition: for instance, they bought up bookdepository.com (an excellent book seller who specialised in small press books, etc.) and are now closing it down. I refuse to believe that they didn't know that a lot of customers used it to avoid Amazon so went elsewhere once they bought it, but it makes a great excuse for shutting it down and wiping out a competitor. The joy of being a monopoly...

[J. Wilhelm]

Amazon is a company that's rotten from the rafters to the basement. I would rather eat my own arms than deal with them in any way, shape, or form.

Agree. They are the absolute worst place to try to sell anything. Even eBay doesn't suck as much. I had a really bad experience. They basically hold your money hostage too untill you become a reliable seller, which is never. The little that I sold it basically made no profit.

[SeVeNeVeS]

Trying to obtain an Enhanced DBS check, so I can do work in a care home/ childrens home/ nursery/ schools etc

How complicated could it get! I can't apply for one myself it has to be submitted by an employer, I'm self employed.

I think I have a work around, My accountant has other business interests, so he has applied as my "employer" on my behalf.

It seems to be working and is in admin. (I hope)

Then if approved it will cost me £13 a year to be on a safe register after the initial £70 required to get the thing in the first palce.

[von Corax]

Spotted this little guy at my sister's farm this evening:

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's a squirrel that thinks it's a skunk...

[rovingjack]

thought about a new catagory for absurdist wisdom, or similar idea like "Yogi-isms". but I'm not sure how much that has interest here, but the instigating Idea was a post I saw that said "If we just made years half as long, we could double life expectancy"

[Synistor 303]

thought about a new catagory for absurdist wisdom, or similar idea like "Yogi-isms". but I'm not sure how much that has interest here, but the instigating Idea was a post I saw that said "If we just made years half as long, we could double life expectancy"

I like it. Perhaps we could include absurdist questions as well?
"Who was the Henry Bolte Bridge named after?"
"What colour are Murray Grey cattle?"

[J. Wilhelm]

Spotted this little guy at my sister's farm this evening:

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's a squirrel that thinks it's a skunk...

Skunk or melanistic squirrel? I can't tell.

[von Corax]

Spotted this little guy at my sister's farm this evening:

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's a squirrel that thinks it's a skunk...

Skunk or melanistic squirrel? I can't tell.

It's a black squirrel with a white stripe on its back. I've also seen them with blond haunches and tails, and we have at least one in all white. (Not an albino, but an infinitely-pale grey squirrel.)

[J. Wilhelm]

Spotted this little guy at my sister's farm this evening:

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's a squirrel that thinks it's a skunk...

Skunk or melanistic squirrel? I can't tell.

It's a black squirrel with a white stripe on its back. I've also seen them with blond haunches and tails, and we have at least one in all white. (Not an albino, but an infinitely-pale grey squirrel.)

For a moment I thought that it was one of many illegitimate children fathered by Pepe LePew.

[Synistor 303]

Spotted this little guy at my sister's farm this evening:

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's a squirrel that thinks it's a skunk...

Skunk or melanistic squirrel? I can't tell.

It's a black squirrel with a white stripe on its back. I've also seen them with blond haunches and tails, and we have at least one in all white. (Not an albino, but an infinitely-pale grey squirrel.)

For a moment I thought that it was one of many illegitimate children fathered by Pepe LePew.

Oh, he was dreamy... My favourite character of all time.

[von Corax]

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[LukeHogbin]

Borderline politics ... Too borderline for my liking.

[von Corax]

Borderline politics ... Too borderline for my liking.

Fair enough. Gone.

[J. Wilhelm]

Is it realy only in sweden we are saying "Holding the thumbs" (håller tummarna)? 
(it means realy hoping for the best)

In the US it's "crossing your fingers" (index and middle finger). And in Mexico the hand gesture is the same but for unfathomable reasons they say "haz changüitos" (the ü is mute), it means "do little monkeys" 

[LukeHogbin]

The term in slovene translates as "holding your fists". 

[mizzarrogh]

Aha, maybe that is the origin of the thumbs?  The thumbs crossing over the knuckles of the fist.
(I have frankly no idea...)

The two other fingers are supposed to be the Cross as i understand; protection (or later also sometimes forgiveness) by God.

[mizzarrogh]

Interesting, when i only hold my thumb over the pointing finger from open up the fist it kind of reassemble a little cross. 

(Still no idea if i am right or completely off...  )

[SeVeNeVeS]

I found a bottle of  Moet & Chandon at Mums house so I thought a toast was in order.

Cracked it and honestly tasted disgusting........ watered it down with some lager to at least make it palatable.

And this is coming from a person who drinks Snakebite.

Who on earth thinks champagne is a desirable taste?................it is BLEEEH!!!

[The Bullet]

Who on earth thinks champagne is a desirable taste?................it is BLEEEH!!!

Now you might understand why some folks tie those champagne bottles to a rope and swing them against the nearest ship......

[Sir Henry]

Or shake them up and spray members of the press at medal ceremonies. Champagne's quite good for that.

[rovingjack]

I found a bottle of  Moet & Chandon at Mums house so I thought a toast was in order.

Cracked it and honestly tasted disgusting........ watered it down with some lager to at least make it palatable.

And this is coming from a person who drinks Snakebite.

Who on earth thinks champagne is a desirable taste?................it is BLEEEH!!!

the culinary scholars who decided snails looked like gourmet dining. lol.

[J. Wilhelm]

I found a bottle of  Moet & Chandon at Mums house so I thought a toast was in order.

Cracked it and honestly tasted disgusting........ watered it down with some lager to at least make it palatable.

And this is coming from a person who drinks Snakebite.

Who on earth thinks champagne is a desirable taste?................it is BLEEEH!!!

How old was the bottle (I'm assuming, since you said you found a bottle)? Unlike vintage wines, champagne can actually go bad after a decade. It's basically wine with added sugar that finishes a secondary fermentation in the bottle.