Deals.meh.com 2017 March

@f00l
Still alive.

@narfcake

Kitty scratching post from

"Discount Cat Furniture"

@f00l Of which I just bought three, including one with Audible narration. Damn, the Paperwhite doesn’t do Audible.

@OldCatLady
Only the Fire tablets and the Kindles 1-4 did it. Then they took the audio out of the e-ink ones.

You can get a cheapie on EBay.

In that case I recommend the Kindle Keyboard (3rd gen) or Kindle Touch (4th gen) The 2nd gen old Kindles are also pretty good. But no Bluetooth in any of these Kindles.

The screens on the old ones aren’t as sharp, but they are fine anyway. No backlighting tho.

Why not just play the audible files using an iOS and android app? Those apps are terrific.

PS I’ll prob get back to the sale in a bit and discover I already own and haven’t yet read/listened to half of them.

So many books…

@f00l I have Sansas in plenty, a Samsung Edge phone with tons of storage, another Samsung Galaxy S3, a Fire, another Kindle (8.9"), a couple of Nooks etc. What I lack is time to organize everything. And more ears.

@OldCatLady
Having only two ears is a pisser, isn’t it?

(I would say use the android device to do over wifi and play over your Bluetooth headset. They make itidiot-proof.)

@f00l Need. Moar. Time.

@f00l
Dead, Jim.

@ruouttaurmind

@KittySprinkles, @DanaScully, and the rest of us can take out our revenge on Ghost-Of-@mfladd for not handling this himself, just as soon as he recovers from all that corporate Kool-Aid he’s drinking this week.

@ruouttaurmind but… once you add on the $80 shipping cost, and the $100 to have them installed once they get to you, they probably are about the same cost as if you bought them locally instead. Most garages offer free installation if you buy your tires there, and you would still get the $70 rebate no matter where you buy them. Small independent repair shops are often cheaper than Wal-mart, Online sources, or large tire chains once you do the math and you are supporting local small businesses.

Source: I sell tires for a living, including lots of Cooper CS5 Grand Tourings; depending on the size they usually run between $125 and $160 each, including mounting, balancing, disposal.

@Steve7654 The Cooper tires I priced out (225/60-16) included free shipping. My local Discount Tire Co. will allow me to ship directly to the shop, and install for $12 ea. mounted and balanced. So based on your price range, still a savings of $25-$50 per tire?

@Steve7654 I wonder if you’d mind pricing out the tires I mentioned above to give a better idea if the eBay deal is still really a deal? 225/60-16 Cooper CS5 Grand Touring.

I checked here where I live, but the stores I called would have to special order, effecting the price and making the eBay offer appear better than it may actually be.

@f00l
I think this is a Permadeal?

@somf69 I would upvote this 100 more times if I could.

@DaveInSoCal
@somf69
I so remember these.

His prices are INSANE!!!

August sale commercials

@f00l
Dead, Jim.

@f00l
Dead, Jim

It is important to note: not all items have to be from the same seller, or even in the same category. Just keep adding items to your cart until you reach the minimum purchase amount of $25 (or more) then head to the checkout. This is a one-time use offer, so grab all you can! (maximum purchase of $250)

@f00l
Dead, Jim.

@ACraigL
Dead, Jim.

@f00l
Forgot to mention: one of the e-books on sale at both Amazon and B&N is

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
by Irin Carmon (Author), Shana Knizhnik (Author)
$2.99 today
If you purchase this e-book from Amazon, the Audible audiobook is $3.95 in addition.

@f00l
Dead, Jim

@OldCatLady

I am looking at Texture. Have you tried it?

Do you know of any service that lets you aggregate subscribe to newspapers? So that I can get Wapo NYT WSJ and some local ones all in one subscription?

Audible channels has Wapo, NYT, WSJ, Vox, TNR, National Review, and others - esp science news. Updated daily.
For those who have Prime. Get the Audible app and go to channels, then news.

Re Prime: do you have to subscribe to the magazines, or is all this just part of Prime?

@f00l All magazines are part of the Prime subscription, even the back issues, and the ones I’ve tried can be downloaded. Best deal I know of, anywhere. If only it had an option for an additional couple of hours in the day to watch, listen, and read. I don’t know of any such aggregator; Audible comes closest, and I keep getting sidetracked onto new stuff. Alexa has the Flash Briefing skill, which lets you select which headlines and subcategories to include; some change hourly, some daily. Will try Texture later.

@OldCatLady
Ok now I have to figure this magazine thing out. I did not know Prime offered that.

By you “don’t know of such an aggregator”, you’re referring to newspapers, right?

Is Prime magazines basically the same things as Texture?

@f00l On Amazon, go to ‘Prime’ (right side of my screen), then go down to the bottom of that page to ‘Everything Included in Prime’, then ‘NEW- Prime Reading’. Your life may never be the same. BTW, once you d/l an issue, it’s on your Kindle forever, or until you delete it. (ha.). I need to rethink my storage organization. Yes, no aggregator known re newspaper subscriptions.

@f00l Ah, about those newspaper subscriptions: many universities give remote library login privileges to their alumni. Every university that I know of subscribes to every known newspaper online. Many large public libraries do the same. I’m out on both counts. Now if you want to know about historical newspapers, I have a long list of free sites.

@f00l Another Prime Reading benefit: some books are free with Prime (current books, not just out of copyright), and some of those include free Audible narration. It’s not as good as a live voice, but it’s free. BTW, Texture costs money. Prime Reading is included in Prime.

@OldCatLady

I know Prime comes with free books. I have Kindle Unlimited but I need to turn it off until I actually might use it. Right now I’m behind in my reading by more than 1000 books.

I am starting to use channels. Gotta understand stand this Prime magazine thing.

@f00l I just found out that you can only have ten magazines checked out at one time; you have to return them. Apparently they don’t stay on your reader forever. Whew.

@OldCatLady Can you point me in the general direction of where I get started with this? If I can get access to the magazines I currently subscribe to, I’ll change the delivery address of those to Dads place and he can read them while I read the online edition (my preferred option anyway).

@ruouttaurmind Not all magazines are available. See if this works: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/prime-pr?ref=pdp-d-eip&ms3_c=85611aa898f95503179ec26cf1550da8

@OldCatLady Many thanks! Three of mine are in there: Pop Mech, Nat Geo, and Teen Vogue. (Just kidding! Pop Mech is trash, I would never read that pulp rag.)

@f00l We’re all orphans now. @mfladd has abandoned his brainchild.
/giphy abandoned child

@ruouttaurmind

@mfladd will pay for that error.

@mfladd???!!! Listen up!

@ruouttaurmind @f00l Sorry, I just found this thread today. The topic bubble made me think yuou kids were still playing on the old one.

@mfladd I also mistook the topic bubble for the old one, but I immediately recognized the advantage of consistency and applaud @f00l for forward thought in using it. Though it might be useful to change the background color from month to month?

@ruouttaurmind
@mfladd

I had this mad thought that people could read the name of the month and year in the topic header.

Only if it weren’t my thread I might get careless also.

@ruouttaurmind I like that idea.
@f00l You give me to much credit to think that.

@mfladd
/image Dana Scully

@ACraigL
I want them to put the Oasis on sale. They’re messing w me.

PS the paperwhite is awesome. That’s a great deal. Perhaps good thru March?

@ACraigL I may have to send in a few of my extra Kindles if the kid wants a paper white. Thanks!

@sammydog01 Keep in mind the system will only apply the $20 promotion once per purchase, even though I had two. Makes sense, but I had to talk to a rep to get the additional $20 added in.

@ACraigL I see they will take my old Nook and another e-reader I have. They’re not doing any good where they are-. Now if the Oasis goes on sale.

@ACraigL Wait, $60 minus $18 is $48?

@OldCatLady Dammit Jim I’m a reader not a mathematician.

@ruouttaurmind
Wow and those watches work great too. So far.

@f00l That’s less than even the Martian Notifier watches. For twenty bucks I might even try one for myself. I’m on iOS and I don’t care for the appearance of the Apple watch. This thing is just as fugly, but it also costs 90% less.

@ruouttaurmind I’m a sucker for cheap electronics. Just bought a red one. Thanks, I think?

@ruouttaurmind uuuuugh, I haven’t worn a watch in like 10 years, but at that price I’m tempted to do it again for a new toy. @mikibell if I buy one, it’s your fault.

@Nuurgle I will if you will…

@ruouttaurmind Won’t these (and the Steel) brick themselves sometime in the future?

@ACraigL Good question. I haven’t heard that. Is this speculation because the company is defunct?

@ruouttaurmind Since Fitbit bought only the IP, they have no plans to keep the service available past 2017.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/14/pebble-fitbit-2017/

@ACraigL Similarly, I just read the Pebble team is working to migrate services out of the cloud, which would give the devices infinite life. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/12/pebble-watches-to-live-on-through-2017/

I didn’t realize Pebble was so heavily reliant on cloud services within their own exosphere. I guess I assumed they used the API infrastructure provided by the services they interact with (Google, Weather.com, Apple, etc) and handled traffic within the local app on the phone.

@ruouttaurmind I think we’re saying the same thing. They’ll keep most of the services available through the year, then who knows?

@ACraigL Thank you for being a voice of reason. I hadn’t considered the long term, and assumed it would work “off the grid” just fine for as long as I didn’t break it. Will do more research, and the sale will probably be off before I find out enough info, saving me from a toy I don’t need.

@ACraigL Will it still tell me what time it is?

@sammydog01 From what I understand… After @ACraigL pointed out the potential for bricking, I’ve read over a dozen articles from various (mostly reliable) sources. Through 2017 all services will work as they always have. During that time, the Pebble dev team is working towards the goal of moving all services out of their cloud and down to the app on your phone. Their goal being that most services will continue to work once Fitbit decommissions the Pebble cloud services.

That said, it’s my understanding that all basic functionality will continue to work, regardless how successful the dev team is with their de-clouding efforts. Telling time, basic notifications (SMS, email, etc) should continue functioning no matter what. I guess to test that theory, you can deny data access to the Pebble app and see what still works?

@sammydog01 You know, it seems unlikely it’ll “brick” on December 31st. But even if it does, it comes to about $2 a month during the time it did work. Not out of line in the bigger picture of things I guess. I’m still considering making a purchase even in light of this latest information. $2 a month for the experiment of a smart watch to see how it fits into my lifestyle… worth it I think.

@ruouttaurmind What would be stellar is if they just open sourced the platform. Would make a lot of people happy.

@hanzov69

@hanzov69 Of course the problem with that is Fitbit paid $23M for the Pebble IP. It’s unlikely they’ll want to give that away into the PD as Open Source.

@ruouttaurmind Stupid link didn’t paste correctly.

Here’s the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/112290516415

FYI, I received my SkyBell HD, and the image and sound quality blow away Ring Video Doorbell Pro HD. Although the SkyBell app has some quirks, it does what it’s intended for. I paid about $60 less for the SkyBell and so far feel like I will receive twice the value compared to Ring.

@ruouttaurmind I missed this deal when it was live, which is a shame because I’ve told several people at the office about it when my doorbell goes off around them and a few of them want one. I got one at $139 on black Friday and its pretty damn useful. They improved motion detection since I installed and the firmware update went through flawlessly and made it an even better product.

It’s pricy as hell for a doorbell but a nice thing to have. I like skybell for giving users free cloud storage rather than roping you into a subscription.

@djslack I had nothing but frustration from the Ring Pro HD. Despite the oddities of the SkyBell app (iOS at least, I haven’t tried Android yet), it’s well worth the price of admission. I had to send the Ring in for replacement. There was about a 2 week period before SkyBell showed up that I had nothing. I was surprised how much I had come to rely on it for a small piece of mind.

Now… to list the new (replacement) Ring Pro on eBay…

@djslack PS: I also installed a MyQ gateway for my LiftMaster/Chamberlain garage door opener. Simple 3 minute install, and works flawlessly. Also adds some great features and capability to my older door opener.

@ruouttaurmind One difference I’ve noticed between android and iOS apps is that Android has two alerts–wind chimes for motion and a doorbell for the button press, while my fiancee’s iPhone plays the doorbell tone for motion too so you can’t tell the difference. So it makes our Pomeranian bark every day when the school bus drives by at 7am (not all big vehicles set off my motion detection, but big yellow ones with strobe lights do).

I have a little lag in connecting to live view from a notification, maybe 5-10 seconds most of the time, but that’s only a slight aggravation.

Garage door control/monitoring is on my list. I haven’t actually sat down to research what I need for the model of openers I have yet, though.

@djslack I only infrequently experience connection delay. Compared to Ring where there was always at least a 10-15 second delay and very frequently up to 20+ seconds, your delay is manageable.

I’m frustrated by the SkyBell iOS notification tones. First, I should be able to specify my choice of tone, but barring that… how did a company release this app without recognizing the need for separate motion vs. ring event tones? Now I must check the app 12 times a day to see if it’s an actual ring event, or just another handbill being plastered to my door.

I’m assuming for the price you paid, you have the HD, and not the 2.0?

@ruouttaurmind Have the MyQ as well. That integrates with my Xfinity home security (one app that can access the garages as well). My only gripe with the MyQ is that the sensors are gravity based and stick sometimes, giving false positives on open doors.

I just pointing a camera towards the inside of the garage doors and now I know for sure if they are opened or not.

@ACraigL I did the same thing with a cheap $25 720p camera. Just for piece of mind. But my MyQ gets it’s open/closed status from my opener. No on-door sensors required. I’m guessing you have a non-Chamberlain/LiftMaster opener??

@ruouttaurmind Yes, I have the HD.

@ruouttaurmind Mine are branded but older so I added the MyQ as an add-on.
http://www.chamberlain.com/smartphone-control-products/myq-garage/model-myq-g0201

@ACraigL My opener is ca. 1998, so I was able to use this add-on kit: http://www.chamberlain.com/smartphone-control-products/smartphone-connectivity/myq-internet-connectivity-kit

@ruouttaurmind Not that great, however this one is a super spiffy deal:

Raspberry Pi 3 $34.99 or free with $77 purchase

The free with $77 order deal only lasts for a couple more days.

@hanzov69 Guess I should have spent my $33 as part of the $77 order at Arrow. A camera, case, couple of different HATs or a TFT would have made that mark.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@ruouttaurmind Yeah, but you still are one RPI3 richer for a sane amount. I call it a win

@hanzov69 I’ve already printed a case for it in anticipation of it’s arrival on Saturday. No looking back, no regrets.

@ruouttaurmind what sort of 3d printer do you have? One of my employees has a prusa i3 clone thing he built… I’ve been experiencing nerd envy.

@hanzov69 It’s an older model from FlashForge, the dual extruder Creator Pro. It’s essentially a high-end clone of the MakerBot Replicator. FlashForge took the MakerBot design, added some improvements like a steel frame and housing, and called it the Creator Pro.

@f00l
Dead, Jim

@f00l @narfcake

Horrible camera anyways.

I got one, and will be giving it away in the next Mehxchange.

@f00l
Dead Jim

@f00l I was wondering the same thing. After reading with envy @lisaviolet’s postings of the most incredible creations, me curiosity was piqued. I thought I might like to try this. Because what could possibly compliment me current hobbies of building hot rods, flying drones and collecting ex-girlfriends better than home crafting! Who knows? Maybe a couple well made greeting cards could slow the success of hobby #3.

@ruouttaurmind My latest:

A little leprechaun catcher. The leprechaun walks by, sees the gold coin and climbs up the ladder, goes through the door to grab the gold coin and falls into the bottom. (There’s actually a bunch of green foil Kisses and gold coins in the bottom - the top comes off):

And this year’s St Pat’s card:

@f00l If hubby wouldn’t kill me, I would upgrade… Great deal imho…

@lisaviolet, @everyone-else, now THIS is the kind of stuff that makes me think “wow, there are some really, really gifted craftspeople out there”.

So is the Woot! deal any kind of bargain? Is it a good machine, and the added extras are useful? I know absolutely nothing about the technology or equipment, but if I could make something just 10% as impressive as your stuff, I’d be beside myself with joy.

Tell me, do you ever finish something that even impresses you? Makes you step back and say “dang, that really looks fantastic”? I know I’m in awe.

@ruouttaurmind hahaha I bet you a Dollar @lisaviolet sees every flaw in those pictures… not that you or I or anyone else can see them, but as someone who makes stuff, I can tell you all the issues in the items I make. It is hard to be impressed sometimes by your own work. Hers leaves me in awe!

Yes, the deal is good, imho, and I have yet to use the pens and such… Depends on what you plan to do with the machine. I keep finding more and more uses for it. I only used it for vinyl lettering, but now, I have gotten into more fancy stuff – nothing as fancy as Lisaviolet. I would like to see how I can use if for sewing appliques, but I don’t have the time right now.

@ruouttaurmind The Woot deal IS a bargain. It’s hard to find the machine alone for less than $250.

And there are some of the projects I’ve done that I’m really happy with. Like the flowers and vase I made my MIL for mother’s day. And I’m really pleased with how this little leprechaun house turned out.

But I have to give props to Leo and Mary, who each have their own companies and have excellent step-by-step video tutorials. Mary is nothing short of a design goddess. Seriously.

@lisaviolet
So if you were getting your first one and you wanted to get a nice one, is the better one the Overstick one or the Woot one?

I don’t quite understand the differences since I have no experience with this.

@mikibell

hahaha I bet you a Dollar @lisaviolet sees every flaw in those pictures…

I get it. I build hot rods, starting with sheet steel and steel tubing I make the chassis, cut and weld all the brackets, etc. When I finish a car someone else sees a brand new Ford roadster. I see… every crooked weld, imperfect angle, uneven grind, paint flaw, scrape and scratch on the thing.

As far as what I might do with the Cameo… I have no earthly idea. I see the stuff you cats create and I think it would be awesome to start giving highly personalised greeting cards for special occasions. I spend an hour or two in the greeting card department trying to find just the right card anyway, I might as well spend two or three hours making them. Plus, I’d like to explore whatever else you can do beside making greeting cards and table center pieces, and there’s a chance I can use the lettering capability for painting stencils and lettering on my car projects.

@ruouttaurmind

Now your projects area sounds like it would be a very interesting place to visit.

@mikibell Sometimes I see things that aren’t so much flaws as something that could be done differently or better. Which usually means MOAR CUTTING!!! for extra pieces to strengthen walls.

Like this card. I added so much glitter embossing powder that the insert kept flopping over. But, but, but, those eggs were SUGARED!!! I remember how sugary they were! Needs moar GLITTER!!!

Now I know that I need to cut an additional piece to start with.

There are just so many variables to this stuff and I lay awake in bed wondering if this would work or how that would look (the bushes around the leprechaun building are actually from railroad scenery supplies…omg! a whole new world of embellishments!)

@ruouttaurmind A friend of mine invited me to join a facebook group and I was so surprised to see that most of what they did was vinyl or stencils.

Using freezer paper to paint on fabric, for Pete’s sake! Some of the projects are just phenomenal.

One of my first projects was for my husband. He rebuilt an old Case machine and he’d taken a photo of the old instruction decal. I made a new one with the silhouette (the SD that only did 8" wide).

Then there’s the Disney decals I did for the car. The Tinker Bell is one of my all time favorites that I’ve done.

There are just so many things you can do with them.

@f00l I’d go with the Overstock one. Because of the starter vinyl kit ($30), download card ($25) and dust cover ($10). And free shipping.

You can get the download card for less, though, maybe $17.

The machines are exactly the same. It’s the extras. Since I already have all the extras, I’d have gone with the Woot sale. But as a newbie, I’d go with Overstock.

I was pretty surprised with the dust cover since I’d already ordered one from Amazon. If I’d known, I’d not have ordered one. lol

@lisaviolet are you part of this group??
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SilhouetteCAMEOProjectInspiration/

They are very noisy, so I turned off notifications, but wow!!!

@mikibell No, I’m in this one:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SilhouetteDesignInspiration/

Same thing about the noise. I check in every so often, to see if I can help anyone.

@ruouttaurmind there are sooooo many things you could do with the cutter for the business… but I would also caution you that there is a different machine that you might be more interested in, but I don’t know much about…

https://www.silhouetteamerica.com/shop/machines/curio

This can emboss leather and stipple metal – @lisaviolet has one of these too, I think…

It is a terrible habit to start!!!

I just used my cameo to cut reflective vinyl, and it is coooool looking. I was just doing letters, but there is vinyl that is DOT rated… ohhhh the places we could go…

@f00l I’ll post a pic of my garage when I get home. The problem: too many projects, too small a garage. It takes me half a day to pull enough stuff out of the garage to make room to work!

@mikibell One year for Christmas I used stencils cut with the Silhouette to etch glasses for gifts.

@lisaviolet I’ve read about the CASE and Tinkerbell projects in another thread (I was sucked in by the machinery, stayed for the creativity!).

Looks like I should watch the product intro videos for each of the machines and decide which (if either) I might be able to make more use of. I like the plotting (drawing) feature. I admit, much of the literature boasts features I have no idea what they mean, so I’m hoping I can learn from the product intro vids. I went through the same when I was shopping for 3D printers…

@lisaviolet, @fool, As an Overstock noob, when I clicked on @lisaviolet’s link, overstock offered me a 15% discount on my first purchase. I’m assuming that would apply to this purchase. If you’ve already purchased from them in the past, kill the cookies in your web browser. It should give you the same offer. Then use an alt email address to make a new O customer account on checkout… you should be able to use the discount.

@ruouttaurmind

Thx!

And if you do manage to get pix of your garage, cool!

@f00l One of my previous projects

The one currently in the garage

@ruouttaurmind You’ve lost your head over your projects? (They are pretty cool.)

@Barney

You’ve lost your head over your projects?

A man has to keep some mystery, innit?

Thank you for the compliment. I really enjoy the build, and it’s nice to have a hobby I don’t usually lose buckets o’ money into. I’ll typically net back my investment, and occasionally even a modest profit for my labor.

@ruouttaurmind (@Barney)

Because a black shape (either half a circle, a full circle, or an oval) was put over the head in the first pic.

@ruouttaurmind wow…wished you lived closer…you could come to our touch a truck with those beauties!

@mikibell Thanks, but it’s mostly smoke and mirrors.

As we’ve already discussed, I can see every single flaw in each car I build or restore. It’s a curse.

@PlacidPenguin What? It’s a stunning likeness!

@ruouttaurmind
Thx for the pix. Gorgeous.
Reminds me a little of some kids I knew once …

Playing around with engines and wheels. If you start with a dune buggy, what can you wind up with? Some interesting things that move, it turns out.

Also they did a bunch of magic to an air-cooled Beetle and made it into a dune buggy.

The air-cooled Beetles are pretty air-tight at the bottom. I once saw one tooling along thru low still flood waters. The driver had attached something airtight to the exhaust pipe and stung the exhaust up to the roof of the Bug, kinda like a big rig might do.

Fun to watch it go down the street.

@f00l In the second pic you can see a bit of the '71 Beetle in the garage. A slow restoration project I mess with when I’m waiting for parts or motivation for the hot rod (a 1923 Model T roadster reproduction). It’s my first VW resto, but I did do a Baja mod a few years ago. VW’s can be fun, and they’re cheap, easy and quick to build. Not at all like the hot rods. I’ve got 8 years and around $20K in this one and still have to do paint and interior, and a few more misc. parts to buy yet.

@f00l

The Woot one is dead. The Overstock one may still be available.

Too early, this reply belonged in the post directly above.

@PlacidPenguin Woah, thanks!

@PlacidPenguin Grabbed it because, GoT.

Thanks for posting!

@PlacidPenguin Great find! Still valid as of 9 PM EST.

Dead 3/17 @ 8am MST

@OldCatLady Bought the Rendell one. Thanks!

@sammydog01 If you subscribe to their daily email, you get a really good selection. I don’t get anything, except glee when someone else succumbs.

@ruouttaurmind
Dead, Jim.

@ruouttaurmind dangit, we could have used these for work. We use something similar for industrial machines and I swear they eat the bastards.

@f00l You’re right, I had to buy Hamilton. Thanks very much. I put two others on reserve at the library, and downloaded one. I am seriously backlogged.

@f00l
Dead, Jim.

@f00l

More Jimmy Breslin books on sale today:

From @brnfl in the RIP thread:

@OldCatLady @f00l Appears to be $1.99 on the Play store as well - and several other books of his are at the $2.99 point.

Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Jimmy Breslin&c=books

Amazon and B&N have price matched The World According to Jimmy Breslin, but so far have not price matched the other books w google play.

Thanks!

@f00l
Typo for uid above. Sorry. Google play deal thanks to @brhfl.

Apologies!

@f00l That first one is a 96 page novella so not that good a price. I bought the second game be earlier in the month- I finished her first Gamache book a few weeks ago and really liked it. I may need to get the others at the library.

@sammydog01
You might be able to get the audiobooks from the lib if you wanna give audiobooks a try.

Via Overdrive. Instant download.

Louise Penny rocks.

@someRiverNoise Where does one obtain a “courtesy credit”? And the gift cert to pay the remaining balance?

@ruouttaurmind

Buy something else on Amazon. You have a nice change of having your order messed up.

(Apologies for the ‘deceptive pic’. It was supposed to just reflect the initial cost.)

@someRiverNoise No worries! The initial cost for hardcover is good, then when I saw what you paid… I was amazed. Thought you tripped into some kind of super-secret deal! LOL!

@someRiverNoise
@ruittayourmind

I decree this post not to be a thread hijack.

Newly to be published books by JRRT are not thread hijacks. Esp not this one.

I did not know this book was already available for pre-order. Thx.

@someRiverNoise

Ok, I didn’t understand at first: this is a genuine deal, a special price.

I don’t understand what restrictions exist on this special price. I have Prime, if that makes a difference.

Beren and Lúthien
Hardcover – June 1, 2017
by J.R.R. Tolkien (Author), Christopher Tolkien (Editor),
Alan Lee (Illustrator)

Hardcover pre-order special price
$15.39
https://smile.amazon.com/Beren-Lúthien-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/1328791823/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1490070320&sr=8-2

Hardcover pre-order regular price
$23.83
And
Kindle pre-order price
$16.99
https://smile.amazon.com/Beren-Lúthien-J-R-R-Tolkien-ebook/dp/B01MG2HOWD/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1490070320&sr=8-2

@ruouttaurmind @f00l

So… The price fluctuated.

Like @somerivernoise (who appears to have deleted their account not that that’s relevant), I also had a $10 Amazon courtesy credit.

I wonder when Amazon will give me the $0.03.

@PlacidPenguin Are $10 Amazon Courtesy Credits falling from the skies? LOL! I’ve never been offered one. Although they did price adjust a pair of shoes I bought last week because the selling price changed. I emailed customer service and asked for a $3.37 price adjustment. They credited my payment method $6.03. I don’t understand that Indian math, but I’m not complaining.

@mfladd

You turned off notifications because of poor little me?

@f00l Feeling special?

@mfladd
Always

/giphy special

@mfladd Better still, wait until you’re 62 and you get a lifetime pass for $10. What’s that you said? Go where and do what? http://time.com/money/4462051/national-parks-best-deals-passes/

@OldCatLady

Thx for the pass info. I did not know.

@f00l Great! I finally got myself motivated after I posted that. Filled out form, paid, uploaded document, and it’ll be here in a month or so. Now I have to motivate myself to go places.

@sammydog01
1st set of books got Pearl Buck a Nobel.

2nd book about the RJR Nabisco merger is excellent.

@f00l I checked out the Lenovo prices… I honestly couldn’t find a single deal there. Looked like full retail pricing for refurbished items to me.

@ruouttaurmind

I found it quite difficult to match exact models and specs on Amazon.

I did get what I hope is a decent price on an i5 13 " 8gb 32gb touchscreen chromebook. I hope. Was around $300, a tiny bit more.

As nearly as I can tell, THIS is the Samsung product page for the $50 camera. Part number difference: E6411 appears to be New In Box, part number E6413 appears to be identical item, factory refurbished. Woot specs lie. They say 30fps, in fact Samsung spec sheet says 20fps.

LOTS of features in this one for fiddy bucks.

And THIS is definitely the product page for the $55 camera.

Again, feature rich option for fiddy-fi bucks, including the ability to set motion zones, and user-controllable alarm sounds (not TOTALLY sure what that means, but kinda wanna buy one to find out). 30FPS on this model for sure. Worth the extra fiver.

@hanzov69, prolly not the keyboard option you’re looking for at work??

@ruouttaurmind Sadly no, they like the kind with the built in track pad. The wired version of this was their favorite one, but they seem to be discontinued.

https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Touch-Touchpad-Keyboard-Smart/dp/B003GU1082

@hanzov69 Funny. That link takes me to a picture of a lamp.

@ruouttaurmind Ha! either I somehow screwed up pasting the URL or amazon is trolling us.

@hanzov69 That would be door #2. Is this what you wanted? https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Multi-Touch-Touchpad/dp/B005DKZTMG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1490237387&sr=8-4&keywords=wireless+touch+touchpad+keyboard+smart

@OldCatLady Very close. He was looking for the wired version.

@sammydog01 nope, wasn’t me. Never heard of it.

I don’t read that much, unless it’s Stephen King. I have one bookshelf dedicated to him, and then my other bookshelf is random stuff. Sci-fi, manga, dystopian stuff, etc.

@RiotDemon Highly suggest David Wong. He’s the author behind ‘John Dies at the End’ and it’s sequel. I’m an avid King reader as well, and love the Wong books.

@ACraigL someone suggested I watch the movie. Haven’t gotten that far yet. Didn’t know there was a sequel.

@RiotDemon The movie is what got me interested, but like all things movie, the book is way better. And the sequel better still. He’s announced a third in the series, too, so yay!

He had an entirely separate (but no less crazy/humorous) novel called “Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits: A Novel”. Loved it was well.

@RiotDemon Oops, it was @moondrake. Dan Simmons writes horror which made me think of you. And she didn’t mention this book specifically. Hey, @moondrake, are you on the ship yet? Or am I confused once again?

@sammydog01 Well, that saves me having to post every time they have a really good deal. I haven’t bought one today. Possibly because I haven’t opened the email. n.b.- check to see whether you can borrow the ebook from your library first. -edit- I only bought ONE today.

@sammydog01 I like that I come to mind when people think of horror.

@RiotDemon did that work?

@Pantheist you rang?

@Pantheist I have notifications turned off. I just check my own profile to see when people mention me.

@RiotDemon Wow…you have the 40 min. it takes for a profile to load?

@RiotDemon aw well. they tell me patience is a virtue.

@mfladd @pantheist
When I was on my laptop, I clicked off all the boxes on viewing a profile except for when someone mentions whoever’s profile I’m viewing. When I view profiles on my mobile, it loads that way because I guess meh saved my preference. It works great when I look at my own profile. It’s annoying if I want to look at anyone else’s because I can’t actually see what they post, only mentions of them.

It still gets stuck loading a profile, but as long as I click on my profile, and scroll before it tries to start loading all the gifs, I can read what threads where I’m mentioned, and back out of the profile.

I’m not sure if that makes sense, but I’m too tired to screen shot the check boxes on the profile and another to show a profile example.

I look through meh pages many times a day. If I haven’t checked it recently, it’s because I don’t have time. I don’t like the email notifications to burn a hole in my pocket (so to speak) when I don’t have time to look at the site.

@sammydog01 Writing from the plane in between flights home. Song of Kali is a good one, dark stuff.

Ok, probably the best value available on this eBay offer (discount code C20SPRING):

Men’s Schwinn Sidewinder 27.5" bicycle with springer forks for $88 delivered (no tax, free shipping).

Hook that sucker up to a reproduction Wizzer motor and have an awesome retro neighborhood errand scoot that’s stylish and efficient.

Or you could just ride it, I guess…

@garyhgaryh, they have an extensive selection of bicycle components and accessories. Just up your alley, my long, lost friend!

@… uh, I guess I don’t know who to @. @shawn maybe? What happened to the formatting of my post (above)??

@ruouttaurmind markdown requires a newline before any reference style URLs. fixed it for you.

@shawn TY! I see my error… needed an extra line between the image and the @ tag, ya? Ya. Thank you!

Seriously thinking about that Schwinn with a Wizzer on it! Want!

@ruouttaurmind I found one of these that a cop had in his garage for my son. It was in great shape and needs only minor work. Cost me around $70.

Schwinn Orange County Chopper Bike (the chrome red was the most desirable)

@mfladd Great buy! Did your son dig it?

@ruouttaurmind He does. It’s a little big for him right now so we have some time to clean it up.

I am digging the Schwinn/Wizzer! What kind of monies are we talking about there?

@mfladd The bike I linked on eBay is $88 delivered (using that discount code). The motor kit is about $120 for 2-stroke, or double that for 4-stroke. Step up to electric for about $400ish.

My dad gave me an awesome Schwinn for Christmas this year. I was thinking about converting it, but it’s one of those late '90’s Cruiser Deluxe vintage style reproductions Schwinn did before the bailout/takeover (by the Questor conglomerate). It’s still brand new, never ridden. It seems it’d be a shame to molest one of the last true Schwinn bicycles out there. Seems more fitting to use that $88 one from eBay so I won’t feel bad about tarting it up and riding it into the ground.

My Schwinn looks just like this one:

@ruouttaurmind Ohhhhhhh, don’t touch that bike.
It’s

Use the $88 one for the conversion like you are thinking. Don’t mess with sweetness!

@mfladd Ha! Came across this last night…

@ruouttaurmind Nice find!

Well that was fast. Deal has ended, back up to normal $125 price. I guess they had limited stock at that price.

@ACraigL Already? Well, heck. I saw it last night and was going to order a couple copies for the office but didn’t have the company cc handy. Figured I’d do it this morning.

@f00l
Dead, Jim

@mfladd
Yeah but if you’re an old fart, @OldCatLady found some National Park stuff.

I am thinking we should start a PermaDeals thread. Just for stuff like this, that never goes away.

What do you think? I am too hungover to think right now.

@f00l re: hungover…Ha!
I wouldn’t say that this won’t go away, but it will probably last this season. The old (62) NP deal never goes away. Have at the Permathread!

@mfladd
They don’t do something special for 4th graders every year?

@f00l I very much doubt it…lol Why 4th grade every year?

@mfladd
According to Wikipedia, this is the 3rd year for the program. It’s a presidential initiative created by Obama in Feb 2015. At present, as far as I can tell, there are no plans to discontinue the program, which costs relatively little each year.

It would be hard to imagine a President or Congress wanting to do away with this, since that would get them no gain and all sorts of bad press. So for now, this program looks safe. Altho with things as is in DC, you can’t really predict.

I can’t tell how they verify that a given kid is a 4th grader. Perhaps they don’t.

Anyway, for the moment, this looks like a PermaDeal.

What parks might you visit? As I remember, all the east coast parks are seriously crowded in the summer. I used to like to go to Acadia during the spring. Still very cold, but gorgeous.

I liked to go to Baxter State Park a lot, but that was a long time ago. You didn’t need reservations then. Now I don’t know how far in advance you have to reserve a campsite.

@f00l The NPS site has a VERY heavy hint that the Senior Pass may be changing in the immediate future. Get it while you can.

@f00l Interesting. But why not 3rd grade 1 year, 5 grade another year? Why 4th grade every year?

@mfladd Same grade every year ensures no overlap? Start randomly mixing it up and you wind up covering the same children more than once, and maybe some kids not at all

@mfladd @f00l In California, there are a lot of local state history places that offer 4th grade discounts as well. In CA history, 4th grade is California history and 5th grade is US history, so a lot of CA history places do 4th grader discounts. Just have to ask.

@OldCatLady, come look at this.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg book.

@f00l I even read the email, but I missed it. Thanks. Have decided to make more time for books by quitting Pokemon Go after this month. This will free up at least an hour a day.

@OldCatLady Pokémon Go works well with audio books.

@sammydog01 My brain shorts out. Overload occurs. Besides, today I finally got my Gyarados, and life is complete.

@ruouttaurmind Keep it up. It helps my goat plan for you.

@mfladd Is it not counterproductive to your plan? If I work hard scouring the interwebs for deals, doing all the legwork, providing relevant details and specifications and even posting with a quick pic… I’d be turning in a better than meh performance. This will make folks think I’m trying to elevate this forum beyond mehness, innit? Who wants a goat who strives for continuous improvement?
/giphy continuous improvement

@ruouttaurmind Nah, you’ll just be goat. If you’re here, your meh.

@ruouttaurmind
I would say that you currently lack a full understanding of the concept of “Official Meh Goat”.

@f00l

@ruouttaurmind I ordered a pair just for fun. Thanks!

@ruouttaurmind Done! Code works as of 2:12 PM Tuesday. I chose no-rush shipping and got another $1. credit toward ebooks. Hey, @f00l - is this of interest to you?

@OldCatLady Shoot-I forgot to change the shipping. Although Amazon keeps offering me a $20 credit on home services instead of book money. Maybe I just need to take the home credit and then they will give me the good stuff instead.

@ruouttaurmind

If only they were over-ear, not on-ear. Trying to decide. So cheap. Ailey is decent stuff. But often I can’t wear on-ear for very long.

Hmmm.

@f00l
Not Ailey

Aukey. Aukey. I got autocorrected to hell again.

@f00l I have an Aukey dash cam and was surprised at the quality compared to most of the cheapo Chinese stuff. I also experienced great customer service as a bonus. Had a question about installation (not your simple cigarette lighter plug for this camera) and Aukey customer service responded within a couple of hours with an accurate, easy to understand answer.

@ruouttaurmind
have bought lots of aukey stuff. All good so far.

@ACraigL
Much thx!

Does anyone have a quick review that comes from having a clear sense of the advantages, or of from having handled them?

Why is the Voyage better than the Paperwhite, now that they match in resolution?

Why is the Oasis better than the Voyage or the Paperwhite?

@ACraigL
PS I think the Kindle Sale might be only for Amazon Prime customers?

@f00l Your are correct. Normals need not apply.

@f00l
It comes down to
Paperwhite: 4 LEDs, touchscreen
Voyage: 6 LEDs, adaptive brightneess, touchscreen and buttons
Oasis: 10 LEDs, adaptive brightneess, touchscreen and buttons, included charging cover

I can’t speak to the others, but the paperwhite is a big improvement over my old kindle 4. So far the manual brightness hasn’t been an issue at all. It’s fast, responsive and lightweight.

TL;DR: I have a paperwhite and like it.

The differences are here:

@f00l I’m sure the Voyage and Oasis are nicer than the Paperwhite but the Paperwhite is a huge step up from the basic Kindle. I think it’s probably the best bang for your buck.

@sammydog01 I still want one that will read my audiobooks. The Kobo screen is a huge plus for me, as well as its built-in Overdrive support. I have the Overdrive app on my Kindle, but it requires me to do things in a certain sequence. I’ve written the sequence on a damned sticky note because I keep forgetting. It’s like an incantation.

@OldCatLady
Audiobooks I do on my smartphone, with the headset.

The audible app is really good now, both iOS and android.

I don’t know if the Overdrive app is s good player app, but Overdrive files those used to be MP3 files. They prob still are.

So you can open them in any audiobook player. I’ve never tried opening MP3 files with audible.

Smart Audiobook player is a great player for android. Bookmobile is pretty good for iOS I think.

Kindle books that I want read aloud text-to-speech: Those you can do with the 1st and 2nd generations, with the Kindle Touch (4th gen) and Kindle Keyboard (3rd gen), with Fire tablets and with the Fire Phone.

Those old Kindles are cheap in EBay I saw a Touch on Woot a few days ago. Like $30 or something? I forget.

If you want text to speech with a Bluetooth headset, the Fire tablet and Fire phone are your only choices unless you use a Bluetooth dongle on the one of the older Kindles with an audio port.

Amazon’s text to speech is quite good.

@ruouttaurmind Cool!

@sammydog01 Agreed!

@ruouttaurmind The Darth Vader toaster is on sale too!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pangea-brands-darth-vader-2-slot-toaster-black/7036011.p?skuId=7036011

@sammydog01 @ruouttaurmind in the spirit of Meh, the R2-D2 Bluetooth speaker is also on sale for $14.99, $6 shipping: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/star-wars-r2-d2-portable-wireless-speaker-gray-silver/5641015.p?skuId=5641015

@djslack They beheaded R2-D2! The bastards!

@djslack I saw that one, but it’s a wee little 4" speaker (and it’s Bluetooth, and it’s a speaker) so I deemed it unworthy…

@ruouttaurmind Bleeeeeeet! Are you sensing it yet?

@mfladd

@ruouttaurmind Hahaha!!! Great gif. You will do well, padawan. Just remember to take the dark path.

@mfladd

@mfladd

/giphy "wanna be"

@ruouttaurmind So… Best Buy also has the XL millennium falcon for $90: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/spin-master-air-hogs-star-wars-millennium-falcon-quadcopter-with-remote-controller-white/5596602.p?skuId=5596602

Edit: Amazon has it cheaper https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019K8K3OK/

And Amazon has the one player X-wing vs autonomous death star for $30.15 with free Prime shipping. I think I might be more in for that one for solo play: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019K8K764/

@djslack In their usual style, Amazon eventually adjusted pricing on most of these items to complete with a big box sale price.

@ACraigL that’s cool.

@OldCatLady
Are you into Deborah Crombie books?

I don’t know how the hell she lives here and writes details mysteries set over there, but she does.

She’s really cool. I’ve met her a few times.

PS great deal. Grabbed it. Thx.

@f00l I hadn’t even heard of her. Now I have three of hers en route to my Kindle, and I’m taking tomorrow off. Whee! I can listen and read simultaneously. Sure I can. We have a few local authors, but I’ve never met them.

@ruouttaurmind That’s the GoaT’s job. Get to work, bitch!

@mfladd
It’s your job. Get to work, miserable one. I have a headache.

@mfladd Can you point me to the source of the original image used for the topic? I’m going to change the coloring a bit to differentiate April’s topic.

@ruouttaurmind here ya go.

But @somerivernoise already posted a thread. You could always have @woodhouse change the topic bubble once you altered the color (good idea) if SRN didn’t mind.

@mfladd

I was on the edit screen shortly after creating the thread, and I contemplated changing the pic.

I was outnumbered though.

@someRiverNoise I’d like to change the coloration a bit as a quick visual identifier that it’s a new topic. Your thoughts?

@ruouttaurmind

My thoughts as a whole are dangerous.

But sure, find someone willing to change the thread image and I won’t vocally argue.

@someRiverNoise
@ruouttaurmind

@thumperchick can do that. post the altered image here.

@ruouttaurmind
Can you edit this image to reverse the red and white and post that image here? I wanna create a separate @Permadeals thread.

For stuff - i think mostly incredible book deals - that doesn’t go away. Also, those places that will send you an email of daily free e-books or whatever. Altho other permadeals that are always good, but a bit obscure, and go there.

@f00l

@Permadeals
Hi Permadeals. Ought not you be the one to create the thread?

@f00l

Can you edit this image to reverse the red and white and post that image here?

Still on my to-do list

@ruouttaurmind
Cool