@phendrick Wow, boomer, when was that, WWII? Anyway, they call them STIs now, that should come in handy when you need to decipher what your urologist is saying at your next checkup! You’re welcome.
@ircon96 Viet Nam, not WWII. If you thought I was that old, you should be treating me with more respect (and holding doors open for me).
@ 1DisabledWarVet gets more love than I do, though he works at being an ass, and apparently is several years younger.
Oh, STDs are STIs now? What next? STUEs? (Sexually transmitted unsafe environments?)
@phendrick Well, to be fair, i DID call you a boomer. But seriously, thank you for your service. If i had a hat on, I’d tip it to you. But I’m a lady, WWII veterans are gentlemen & were taught to respect & hold doors open for US. In any case, i hold doors open for everyone, that’s just the kind of gal i am! [blink blink]
So, are you saying you don’t have to work at it?
Yeah, i guess an infection has less of a stigma than a disease, although both are still used. Hmm, STUEs has a ring to it, esp if you pronounce it, “Stewie.” And, if that phrase ever becomes useful, we’ll take it under advisement!
I got these in an IRK a while back and had no idea what they were. Thought maybe they were sandbag weights to help hold down an ezup lol. My outdoor sun coverage sure does smell fine though!
@phendrick Don’t be a hater just cuz she’s got abs. Now that you mention it, I think her upcoming book is titled, “I’ll Snap You Like a Twig, Little Man” & she might dedicate it to you, if you play your cards right!
@ircon96 I’ve got abs too. I think. Somewhere. At any rate, I used to have such.
She’ll have trouble snapping me – I’m pretty thick around the middle now. And, she’ll have to find me first. I guess she could go to the Meh warehouse and follow an order to my house. (That should gain me a couple of weeks.)
Who is she, anyway? I don’t keep up with current culture/media personalities and that kills me on recent crossword puzzles.
@phendrick I’m not 100% sure, but i think she might be Bianca Belair, a WWE wrestler…? Even if she’s not, though, she could probably break SOMETHING on you! In any case, I’m assuming that won’t help you on your crosswords.
@ircon96 Well, I’m not all that well maintained anyway, but she probably could make it worse. I’ll try to keep the name available in my dusty trivia file, just in case. But more likely to get asked for a New Direction member or a Grammy winner from 1992.
@phendrick Yes, those cruciverbalists are always so au courant with the pop culture references, aren’t they? I picture them with several volumes of the OG Encyclopedia Brittanica spread out in front of them as they work.
@ircon96 I think the USA Today online puzzles are the worst of that ilk, but at least they can be worked without a subscription. When they have clues about pop culture, I try to get the answers by the cross words and guessing (even when I don’t know the answer to the specific clue, it often turns out to have as answer someone whose name I do recognize, so use that) before going to Wikipedia. The puzzle lets you know when it has all been filled in correctly.
When I subscribed to the local print newspaper, I used to do the NYTimes puzzle, though it appeared several months after the original. Theirs was in the middle as to pop culture references.
The WSJ lets you do theirs for free, and they are not too bad on the culture references, plus they tend to have some neat themes and wordplay.
My favorite ones are the “cryptic” type, and they almost never resort to flailing around pop culture.
IMO, the best of those were from the Atlantic Monthly and from Harper’s Magazine. I used to subscribe those just to get the monthly puzzler.
Good thing about my worsening memory is that I can rework those puzzles from years ago and it’s like I never saw them before. Heh.
@phendrick I haven’t done crosswords in ages, good to know there are some decent free ones out there for when i get the itch, the last thing i need is another subscription! Yep, I’ve found there are a few silver linings to senility, that’s one to add to the list.
@ircon96@phendrickWikipedia?
Snort.
I refuse to look up the clues. I’m just stubborn about it and if I get stuck I put it aside for a while but I’ve gotten pretty good at solving the NYT harder puzzles after doing them for a while. My faves are the puzzle-within-a-puzzle ones.
@ircon96@Kyeh I suppose you regularly beat Rex Parker at his game. If I just wanted to look up an answer, there are sites that will tell you directly, but I don’t do that. I usually use Wikipedia when I have an idea about the context of the clue and look up that context in Wikipedia to see if I am right. I also don’t see that being stubborn about it helps anything — if I don’t know the ex-lead singer of a band from the 90’s. being stubborn won’t get me that answer no matter how long I wait. I think of it as an opportunity to expand my knowledge about the whole situation. Trouble is, once I look something up on Wikipedia, I tend to stay there awhile.
@ircon96@phendrick It’s just my stubborn idiosyncrasy. I do puzzles at night to get to sleep so I don’t fret about it if I end up switching to a new one. I get the annual Page-a-Day puzzle calendars because they’re the perfect size.
@ircon96 If you want to dip your toes back into the puzzles, one I did a day or two ago was pretty mild (I did it much faster than my average time) and it was still pretty clever and didn’t have the usual things puzzlers like to fuss about. https://www.wsj.com/articles/wurst-case-scenario-tuesday-crossword-january-10-11673047377
(I’ve been catching up on them this month.)
They don’t require a subscription, and you can go back into their archived puzzles quite easily. I find these good mental exercises. They also have a few other types (acrostics, numbers, …). Once a week they have a contest puzzle to win a subscription to WSJ. You can fill them in online or print them out. Note the tools that are available for each puzzle.
@phendrick That sounds fun, I’ll have to keep it in mind (although with the senility thing, it’s dicey!). I have a massive pile of scat on my plate right now, so I’m easily distracted. Squirrel!! On a side note, a sub to the WSJ is the PRIZE?? If i win, can i opt to donate it to a needy Bitcoin investor?
@phendrick Update: i emailed the link to myself so it’ll be easier to find, thanks for the rec! Now i just need to remember we had this conversation… Squirrel!!
@ircon96 About donating it, IDK, haven’t been in the position of winning it. And it’s a national contest, so they get lots of entrants. IIRC they announced something just under 500 that were correct (and the one word answer is not that obvious on each puzzle
– in fact, that’s a puzzle in itself) on the last contest crossword I paid attention to.
Also, I’d be sure to disinfect all of your dishes.
@ircon96 Here’s a creative/clever puzzle that must have taken longer than average to come up with: Sunday, January 29, 2023
SCOTT HOGAN AND CHRISTINA IVERSON
It will only be available online for about 2 more days, but it (and optional solution) can be printed out for later.
@phendrick Thanks! Now i just need to get my crotchety old printer to cooperate! I think i might have to work up to a Sunday puzzle, but I’m intrigued by your description, so i saved it as a PDF for now before it disappeared on me.
@ircon96 The Sunday puzzles are usually about the level of a Wednesday puzzle, but longer and generally better-themed. I’ve done them under 20 minutes once-in-a-while – depends on proper names and obscure references.
I’m disappointed if I can’t do a Monday well under 2 minutes (I shoot for 1 minute and sometimes make it) and a Tuesday well under 3 (oft-times under 2). Those are if I don’t make a mistake that throws everything off. Correcting errors is a definite road bump.
There tends to be a huge jump in difficulty from Tuesday to Thursday. Wednesdays sorta vacillate.
@phendrick Yep, i already saved it as a PDF, which is what i have to do when my printer is on vacation. Sometimes doing that actually wakes it up for some reason, but not this time. I don’t think I’ll bother timing myself, since i have the attention span of a gnat on crack these days, I’d be glad just to be able to finish one at this point!
@ircon96 I don’t time myself to keep track of records or anything, but more in the spirit of my PCP who tells me whether my cholesterol is up or down. This is my brain atrophy test, and costs nothing moneywise. When I’m having a bad day, I like to be reassured that I AM having a bad day and it’s not just my imagination.
@phendrick Good thinking, although I’d be scared to test my level of brain atrophy at this stage of the game! Unfortunately, I get more than enough clues in the course of daily life.
So folks in Alaska should skip buying these then since they have over 3 months of darkness this time of year??
That means they can’t recharge these stink-removers!!
@srbuwsnyc The ones I bought one of the last times they were offered have no smell. I’m sensitive to fragrances/chemicals, etc., and they have not had any odors and I haven’t reacted to them. I do believe they did help cut down/remove this odd odor in my carpet that has been here since I bought this house 10 years ago. So, they do at least help in some manner.
@srbuwsnyc I’m a bit confused you stated “I’m sensitive to fragrances/chemicals, etc…” And “I do believe they did help cut down/remove this odd odor in my carpet that has been here since I bought this house 10 years ago.”
So you have lived with this order in your carpet for several years, with clearly no sensitivity great enough to cause you discomfort to a point to have the carpet removed. (I understand new carpet would have an odor, that could be worse than your old carpet) but if me or my family were that sensitive to it, I would have pulled it and put in hardwood floors ).
Just don’t get why you’ve been living with this for years.
Why would having a bag of charcoal sitting there do anything for the air quality? I mean, I definitely get it if there was something actively pulling the air through a charcoal filter. But when it’s just a small pile of charcoal sitting there, how’s that going to do anything?
I’ve already bought two sets of these. They sat in the sun for ~8 hours, then I put them in closets, drawers, chifforobe, car, etc. Can’t say I notice any difference, but I’m not detecting any stinky odors. You’re nose-blind in your own home anyway. I intend to recharge them in the sun every six months or so. I think their effectiveness is most likely psychological…
I bought these last year for stocking stuffers and they do work. The variety pack has served five families with cats and a couple of son and nephews shoes. My bro-in-law ordered more for his boat and shop.
Why not just use good old arm and hamming baking soda, you know you have it in your fridge.
Also : Consumer Reports advice: Keep charcoal in the grill.
@dtwsportsfan Because these can be reused, baking soda cannot (unless you like fridge smells in your baked goods). Also, Consumer Reports has been full of crap for decades now. If you give them a free item to test & enough $ they’ll say your product is top-notch. Despite their claims of impartiality.
@dtwsportsfan@marvelljones Just because Consumer Reports proved the rollover risk in the Suzuki Samurai by doing hard cornering at almost 40 mph doesn’t mean they aren’t the greatest testes…errrrrr…I mean testers in the industry.
Specs
Product: The Good Stuff Charcoal Air Freshener Bags (12-Pack or 18-Pack Variety)
Condition: New
12-Pack Large
Model: TGS-CHARXL-1R
18-Pack Variety
Model: TGS-CHARCB-1R
What’s Included?
OR
Price Comparison
$25.99 (for 2400-gram equivalent) at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Feb 2 - Monday, Feb 6
If I buy these and bury them, do I get a tax credit for taking carbon out of the environment?
@phendrick
@phendrick You’d probably have to buy a metric ton to offset the amount of hot air you generate. For a start, at least.
@ircon96
I’m wounded to the core!
@phendrick
Aww, I’m gonna have to save that cutie for V.D., i can’t believe it’s almost here! 
@ircon96 The military used to have shots to stave off V.D. Not any more?
@phendrick Wow, boomer, when was that, WWII? Anyway, they call them STIs now, that should come in handy when you need to decipher what your urologist is saying at your next checkup! You’re welcome.
@ircon96 Viet Nam, not WWII. If you thought I was that old, you should be treating me with more respect (and holding doors open for me).
@ 1DisabledWarVet gets more love than I do, though he works at being an ass, and apparently is several years younger.
Oh, STDs are STIs now? What next? STUEs? (Sexually transmitted unsafe environments?)
@ircon96 CORRECTION. I was thinking @ mellowirishgent not 1DWV but edit window has closed.
1DWV is relatively cool.
@phendrick Well, to be fair, i DID call you a boomer. But seriously, thank you for your service. If i had a hat on, I’d tip it to you. But I’m a lady, WWII veterans are gentlemen & were taught to respect & hold doors open for US.
In any case, i hold doors open for everyone, that’s just the kind of gal i am! [blink blink]
So, are you saying you don’t have to work at it?
Yeah, i guess an infection has less of a stigma than a disease, although both are still used. Hmm, STUEs has a ring to it, esp if you pronounce it, “Stewie.” And, if that phrase ever becomes useful, we’ll take it under advisement!
I purchased these without the $0.99 add-on. The great thing is they don’t expire. You can recharge them with the sun!
@Euniceandrich I’ve given up hope of ever seeing the sun again.
@Euniceandrich I checked them out on Amazon and it seems they do expire after which you can just dump them in your garden as fertilizer.
My wife is into essential oils. My house smells funky enough.
@hchavers You could have a battle with her using these, see how that turns out!
Or, if I buy these and put them on top of weeds, will they suffocate them for lack of CO2?
I got these in an IRK a while back and had no idea what they were. Thought maybe they were sandbag weights to help hold down an ezup lol. My outdoor sun coverage sure does smell fine though!
@scilynt What’s “ezup”?
/giphy was’ up?
It’s another author!
[joke for a limited audience…]
@phendrick Don’t be a hater just cuz she’s got abs.
Now that you mention it, I think her upcoming book is titled, “I’ll Snap You Like a Twig, Little Man” & she might dedicate it to you, if you play your cards right!
@ircon96 I’ve got abs too. I think. Somewhere. At any rate, I used to have such.
She’ll have trouble snapping me – I’m pretty thick around the middle now. And, she’ll have to find me first. I guess she could go to the Meh warehouse and follow an order to my house. (That should gain me a couple of weeks.)
Who is she, anyway? I don’t keep up with current culture/media personalities and that kills me on recent crossword puzzles.
@phendrick
I’m not 100% sure, but i think she might be Bianca Belair, a WWE wrestler…? Even if she’s not, though, she could probably break SOMETHING on you! In any case, I’m assuming that won’t help you on your crosswords. 
@ircon96 Well, I’m not all that well maintained anyway, but she probably could make it worse. I’ll try to keep the name available in my dusty trivia file, just in case. But more likely to get asked for a New Direction member or a Grammy winner from 1992.
@phendrick Yes, those cruciverbalists are always so au courant with the pop culture references, aren’t they? I picture them with several volumes of the OG Encyclopedia Brittanica spread out in front of them as they work.
@ircon96 I think the USA Today online puzzles are the worst of that ilk, but at least they can be worked without a subscription. When they have clues about pop culture, I try to get the answers by the cross words and guessing (even when I don’t know the answer to the specific clue, it often turns out to have as answer someone whose name I do recognize, so use that) before going to Wikipedia. The puzzle lets you know when it has all been filled in correctly.
When I subscribed to the local print newspaper, I used to do the NYTimes puzzle, though it appeared several months after the original. Theirs was in the middle as to pop culture references.
The WSJ lets you do theirs for free, and they are not too bad on the culture references, plus they tend to have some neat themes and wordplay.
My favorite ones are the “cryptic” type, and they almost never resort to flailing around pop culture.
IMO, the best of those were from the Atlantic Monthly and from Harper’s Magazine. I used to subscribe those just to get the monthly puzzler.
Good thing about my worsening memory is that I can rework those puzzles from years ago and it’s like I never saw them before. Heh.
@phendrick I haven’t done crosswords in ages, good to know there are some decent free ones out there for when i get the itch, the last thing i need is another subscription! Yep, I’ve found there are a few silver linings to senility, that’s one to add to the list.
@ircon96 @phendrick Wikipedia?
Snort.
I refuse to look up the clues. I’m just stubborn about it and if I get stuck I put it aside for a while but I’ve gotten pretty good at solving the NYT harder puzzles after doing them for a while. My faves are the puzzle-within-a-puzzle ones.
@ircon96 @Kyeh I suppose you regularly beat Rex Parker at his game. If I just wanted to look up an answer, there are sites that will tell you directly, but I don’t do that. I usually use Wikipedia when I have an idea about the context of the clue and look up that context in Wikipedia to see if I am right. I also don’t see that being stubborn about it helps anything — if I don’t know the ex-lead singer of a band from the 90’s. being stubborn won’t get me that answer no matter how long I wait. I think of it as an opportunity to expand my knowledge about the whole situation. Trouble is, once I look something up on Wikipedia, I tend to stay there awhile.
@ircon96 @phendrick It’s just my stubborn idiosyncrasy. I do puzzles at night to get to sleep so I don’t fret about it if I end up switching to a new one. I get the annual Page-a-Day puzzle calendars because they’re the perfect size.
@ircon96 If you want to dip your toes back into the puzzles, one I did a day or two ago was pretty mild (I did it much faster than my average time) and it was still pretty clever and didn’t have the usual things puzzlers like to fuss about.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wurst-case-scenario-tuesday-crossword-january-10-11673047377
(I’ve been catching up on them this month.)
They don’t require a subscription, and you can go back into their archived puzzles quite easily. I find these good mental exercises. They also have a few other types (acrostics, numbers, …). Once a week they have a contest puzzle to win a subscription to WSJ. You can fill them in online or print them out. Note the tools that are available for each puzzle.
@phendrick That sounds fun, I’ll have to keep it in mind (although with the senility thing, it’s dicey!). I have a massive pile of scat on my plate right now, so I’m easily distracted.
Squirrel!! On a side note, a sub to the WSJ is the PRIZE?? If i win, can i opt to donate it to a needy Bitcoin investor? 
@phendrick Update: i emailed the link to myself so it’ll be easier to find, thanks for the rec! Now i just need to remember we had this conversation… Squirrel!!
@ircon96 About donating it, IDK, haven’t been in the position of winning it. And it’s a national contest, so they get lots of entrants. IIRC they announced something just under 500 that were correct (and the one word answer is not that obvious on each puzzle
– in fact, that’s a puzzle in itself) on the last contest crossword I paid attention to.
Also, I’d be sure to disinfect all of your dishes.
@phendrick Oh, don’t worry, i have a designated scat plate.
@ircon96 Here’s a creative/clever puzzle that must have taken longer than average to come up with:
Sunday, January 29, 2023
SCOTT HOGAN AND CHRISTINA IVERSON
It will only be available online for about 2 more days, but it (and optional solution) can be printed out for later.
@phendrick Thanks! Now i just need to get my crotchety old printer to cooperate! I think i might have to work up to a Sunday puzzle, but I’m intrigued by your description, so i saved it as a PDF for now before it disappeared on me.
@ircon96 The Sunday puzzles are usually about the level of a Wednesday puzzle, but longer and generally better-themed. I’ve done them under 20 minutes once-in-a-while – depends on proper names and obscure references.
I’m disappointed if I can’t do a Monday well under 2 minutes (I shoot for 1 minute and sometimes make it) and a Tuesday well under 3 (oft-times under 2). Those are if I don’t make a mistake that throws everything off. Correcting errors is a definite road bump.
There tends to be a huge jump in difficulty from Tuesday to Thursday. Wednesdays sorta vacillate.
@ircon96 Also, if your printer is an issue, try “printing” them to an actual PDF file on your computer, to retrieve later.
@phendrick Yep, i already saved it as a PDF, which is what i have to do when my printer is on vacation. Sometimes doing that actually wakes it up for some reason, but not this time. I don’t think I’ll bother timing myself, since i have the attention span of a gnat on crack these days, I’d be glad just to be able to finish one at this point!
@ircon96 I don’t time myself to keep track of records or anything, but more in the spirit of my PCP who tells me whether my cholesterol is up or down. This is my brain atrophy test, and costs nothing moneywise. When I’m having a bad day, I like to be reassured that I AM having a bad day and it’s not just my imagination.
@phendrick Good thinking, although I’d be scared to test my level of brain atrophy at this stage of the game! Unfortunately, I get more than enough clues in the course of daily life.
Are these good for playing CornHole with?
@phendrick Depends on how you define cornhole.
@eeterrific I meant the game, silly.
@eeterrific @phendrick Only an a-hole uses non-regulation bags for their cornhole.
Colorado buying these. What smell could they be covering up?
Only if you fart on them
Do I need lighter fluid with these?
@awk Need? No. Want for more fun? Yes.
No server errors tonight … either meh finally fed the hamsters, or nobody is even bothering to click on this.
@awk And where is our “Oh shit” report over that ongoing issue???
@awk I was too busy killing aliens and watching Star Trek:TNG to even check at midnight.
So folks in Alaska should skip buying these then since they have over 3 months of darkness this time of year??
That means they can’t recharge these stink-removers!!
/giphy darkness
@IndifferentDude I don’t think odors are much of an issue when your nostrils are iced up.
y’know, some might take this kinda thing personally.
I wear HEPA panties so maybe I could load a few of these into the back portion of my panties for full fart filtration?
@bugger Guess you missed out on this sale:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/2-pack-butt-muffler-bamboo-charcoal-seat-cushions
Speaking of the sun, that rodent had better not see his shadow this week, or I’m gonna lose my shit!
@ircon96 Better swallow a few Trackers just in case.
@ircon96 Well, if they’d quit shining all those lights on him, maybe he wouldn’t.
@ircon96 My Mom always said: “Only 6 more weeks of winter?”
@marvelljones
Ikr??
Are these unscented? Thanks!
@srbuwsnyc Yes and no. The hemp or whatever the bags are made of definitely have a smell. Not strong but present.
@srbuwsnyc The ones I bought one of the last times they were offered have no smell. I’m sensitive to fragrances/chemicals, etc., and they have not had any odors and I haven’t reacted to them. I do believe they did help cut down/remove this odd odor in my carpet that has been here since I bought this house 10 years ago. So, they do at least help in some manner.
@srbuwsnyc I’m a bit confused you stated “I’m sensitive to fragrances/chemicals, etc…” And “I do believe they did help cut down/remove this odd odor in my carpet that has been here since I bought this house 10 years ago.”
So you have lived with this order in your carpet for several years, with clearly no sensitivity great enough to cause you discomfort to a point to have the carpet removed. (I understand new carpet would have an odor, that could be worse than your old carpet) but if me or my family were that sensitive to it, I would have pulled it and put in hardwood floors ).
Just don’t get why you’ve been living with this for years.
@dtwsportsfan that wasn’t me. I just asked if they’re unscented
Meh. After shipping it’s not really a bargain
@dmitch47 Shipping? What is this shipping you speak of?
Agree w/dmitch47.
Why would having a bag of charcoal sitting there do anything for the air quality? I mean, I definitely get it if there was something actively pulling the air through a charcoal filter. But when it’s just a small pile of charcoal sitting there, how’s that going to do anything?
I’ve already bought two sets of these. They sat in the sun for ~8 hours, then I put them in closets, drawers, chifforobe, car, etc. Can’t say I notice any difference, but I’m not detecting any stinky odors. You’re nose-blind in your own home anyway. I intend to recharge them in the sun every six months or so. I think their effectiveness is most likely psychological…
I bought these last year for stocking stuffers and they do work. The variety pack has served five families with cats and a couple of son and nephews shoes. My bro-in-law ordered more for his boat and shop.
Any ideas of what to do with the packaging after they stop working in 2 years? I guess it’s biodegradable.
Why not just use good old arm and hamming baking soda, you know you have it in your fridge.
Also : Consumer Reports advice: Keep charcoal in the grill.
@dtwsportsfan Because these can be reused, baking soda cannot (unless you like fridge smells in your baked goods). Also, Consumer Reports has been full of crap for decades now. If you give them a free item to test & enough $ they’ll say your product is top-notch. Despite their claims of impartiality.
@dtwsportsfan @marvelljones Just because Consumer Reports proved the rollover risk in the Suzuki Samurai by doing hard cornering at almost 40 mph doesn’t mean they aren’t the greatest testes…errrrrr…I mean testers in the industry.
DIY with aquarium charcoal: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00176BISO/