douchebag's recent activity

  1. Comment on Tiny electric trucks are coming to a bike lane near you in ~transport

    douchebag
    Link
    This is hardly a bicycle and therefore doesn't belong on the bike lane. It's much slower and much heavier to begin with. Difficult to overtake and overall an obstacle to the road. I'd say in that...

    This is hardly a bicycle and therefore doesn't belong on the bike lane. It's much slower and much heavier to begin with. Difficult to overtake and overall an obstacle to the road. I'd say in that logic it has its place on a regular road, just like when bike lanes didn't exist. It'll have to become so popular that it deserves its own lane, but hogging the bike lane with no opportunity to overtake by those whom it's meant for is not a good solution. If bike lanes were double the width, I'd fully support it though.

    12 votes

  2. Comment on I'm at a loss on what to do about my backyard grass situation in ~life.home_improvement

    douchebag
    Link
    Question for clarification: how heavily is your lawn used by you and the dogs? If you get prolonged periods of wet/rainy weather during winter and early spring, all types of grass are very...

    Question for clarification: how heavily is your lawn used by you and the dogs?

    If you get prolonged periods of wet/rainy weather during winter and early spring, all types of grass are very sensitive to pressure. For example, you should be able to drive on a wet lawn one time with a car and then let the ground recover for several days. If you drive over it again, it's probably going to start to be a total loss and end up in a muddy mess instantaneously.

    The same concept goes for walking on the lawn. Some types of grass don't have deep roots, so walking on the lawn during wet periods may fairly quickly loosen up the dirt layer below and result in a similar muddy mess.

    Apart from the above comments: I've seen a neighbor bring in an entirely new lawn recently which was rolled up in several strips. The gardening company doing the work first removed the top layer of grass still present, and then just literally rolled out the new lawn, segment by segment. No idea what the costs of a lawn replacement are, but the quality can be really good. This is what professionals actually do in stadiums to replenish the playing field once in a while. I only learned this at a later point in life...

    6 votes

  3. How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment?

    ~life Ask (survey)
    I was wondering how people are currently dealing with inflation in everyday life. Since quite a while now, I found that I have fallen into a habit of excessively looking for discount deals for...

    I was wondering how people are currently dealing with inflation in everyday life. Since quite a while now, I found that I have fallen into a habit of excessively looking for discount deals for pretty much everything I buy. I feel pressured every day because prices have ballooned so much.

    At first, I only refrained from buying "unnecessary" goods like unhealthy snacks, and instead just go for basic staples and vitamin-rich vegetables. Then I started to cut down on meat consumption due to the high prices, and forced myself to only buy meat that is put on discount at the end of the day as it's about to spoil. And now, I even do the same thing for regular staples like rice or potatoes. It feels imprisoning, distracting and depressing.

    So I'm wondering, how are you dealing with inflation? Are you affected in a different way? Or not at all? Any advice on how I could realistically get out of this seemingly endlessly depressing spiral?

    In case anyone's interested why I decided to post today: I saw McDonald's popping up in the news these days, as apparently customers don't go there anyone due to their price increases far beyond inflation since 2019. Then, I passed a McDonald's billboard today thst advertised 2 Big Mac Menus + a happy meal for a whopping 30 EUR. The regular prices used to be a fraction of that... Now it's apparently a good deal...

    38 votes

  4. Comment on A Reddit-led boycott of Loblaws, one of Canadas largest grocers, begins today in ~finance

    douchebag
    Link Parent
    I think the bud light example is one that isn't applicable here. The beer market is known to be highly fragmented, with customers having a lot of choices from big players like ABinBev, Heineken,...

    I think the bud light example is one that isn't applicable here.

    The beer market is known to be highly fragmented, with customers having a lot of choices from big players like ABinBev, Heineken, Guinness etc., but also an endless amount of small, independent breweries. On top of that, there's an identically endless amount of choice regarding beer types. Boycotting one single company, with more or less one single brand of beer is ridiculously easy. (Note: I am aware that Bud Light isn't the only beer owned by the parent company, but you get my point.)

    Now look at grocery shopping: people primarily go shopping where they feel it's the most convenient for them. That means: distance, time and shopping experience are big factors. Pricing of course is another one. But while competitors may be cheaper than your regular grocery store, they may be far less convenient. And on top of that, the grocery store market is way more fragmented. It's an uphill battle to get people to go shopping elsewhere. And downright impossible to get them to do that indefinitely.

    tl;dr the Bud Light boycott worked out because it's a highly fragmented market. The market structure and convenience elements of grocery shopping are entirely different, so the success story of the Bud Light boycott is unlikely to repeat itself here.

    4 votes

  5. Comment on A Reddit-led boycott of Loblaws, one of Canadas largest grocers, begins today in ~finance

    douchebag
    Link Parent
    I think this point is far more relevant than the other three. Where I live, I have a grocery store available two minutes away on foot. Prices are ridiculously high because this is one of the...

    I think this point is far more relevant than the other three.

    Where I live, I have a grocery store available two minutes away on foot. Prices are ridiculously high because this is one of the market leaders who gets to juice the lemon incessantly. But will I go shopping at the cheaper alternative, a 10 minute car ride away? Absolutely not, unless I'm doing a weekly big grocery shopping. Given that there's just two people in our household, that's arguably not even worthwhile as we cannot buy food for more than 2-3 days anyway, otherwise it just spoils.

    So yeah, I'd love to boycott the shop next door, but it's way too convenient not to.

    5 votes

  6. Comment on A Reddit-led boycott of Loblaws, one of Canadas largest grocers, begins today in ~finance

    douchebag
    Link Parent
    Remarkable that Walmart has such a low market share in Canada. I expected a higher figure. But honestly speaking, five companies sharing 76% of the market seems quite fair. That means another 24%...

    Remarkable that Walmart has such a low market share in Canada. I expected a higher figure.

    But honestly speaking, five companies sharing 76% of the market seems quite fair. That means another 24% are fragmented with smaller players. I've looked into market structures for groceries in the past, and I've noticed that many countries have a much more consolidated market structure.

    Although I don't have the exact figures, for example, in Switzerland it would probably be 40% Migros, 40% Coop and the remaining 20% is split by Aldi, Lidl and small, local "Turkish" shops. The strong "duopoly" of Migros and Coop (and their various subsidiaries) results in almost zero competition and correspondingly ridiculous prices. Aldi and Lidl are mostly just present in industrial outskirt areas where only a fraction of people goes shopping, so their impact on lower prices is marginal.

    The effects of such a duopoly become really apparent when you go shopping in nearby France, Germany or Italy, and your grocery bill amounts to half. And on top of that you get to reclaim another 20% VAT, as cross-border purchases are consumption tax free. So that's about a 60% saving before factoring in fuel and time commitment to go shopping a bit further away.

    8 votes

  7. Comment on I made a mistake, I started using Reddit again in ~talk

    douchebag
    Link
    Had pretty much the same happen to me. I think it was also a 16 year old account. That's when I decided not to go back anymore. It's a low quality website at this point, with even lower quality...

    Had pretty much the same happen to me. I think it was also a 16 year old account. That's when I decided not to go back anymore. It's a low quality website at this point, with even lower quality mods. And they were shite to begin with.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on What do I do if I don't have any clothes? in ~life.style

    douchebag
    (edited )
    Link
    My opinion: forget all the fancy suggestions and the idea that you need to "build a wardrobe" or extend your current one. Just go to any of the following shops and pick out some sweaters,...

    My opinion: forget all the fancy suggestions and the idea that you need to "build a wardrobe" or extend your current one.

    Just go to any of the following shops and pick out some sweaters, t-shirts, pants, socks and underwears. In no particular order:

    • H&M
    • Uniqlo
    • Macy's
    • JCPenney
    • T.J. Maxx / TK Maxx
    • C&A

    There's loads of others, but I'm 100% sure you'll have one of these nearby. You're bound to like something. Just go with it, don't overthink, and pick whatever you feel like. For example, I love the sock and underwear section at Uniqlo. I love some of the branded jeans at JCPenney. I like the t-shirts at H&M. But honestly, mostly I just pick one of these shops maybe once a year and just buy everything there in one go.

    Edit: OP, you failed to mention you're in Russia earlier. In that case you can probably ignore my entire comment. Good luck!

    2 votes

  9. Comment on Write alternative text as if you’re describing the image to a friend in ~comp

    douchebag
    Link
    I honestly was under the impression that most websites just used alt text for... well... no reason at all. Often the alt text seems like it was filled in because whatever website builder was used...

    I honestly was under the impression that most websites just used alt text for... well... no reason at all. Often the alt text seems like it was filled in because whatever website builder was used provided the option for alt text, so whoever uploaded the image wrote whatever came to mind.

    And the rest of alt texts: they seem like they were written for SEO. Not sure if they actually help for SEO, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Does anyone experienced know?

    Funnily enough, I don't recall coming across an alt text in the style described by the article.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on How Quentin Tarantino’s ‘The Movie Critic’ fell apart in ~movies

    douchebag
    Link
    I'm quite glad that Tarantino decided to drop this movie. The plot honestly doesn't sound nearly as exciting as many of his "instant classics". Tarantino is my favorite movie director of all time,...

    I'm quite glad that Tarantino decided to drop this movie. The plot honestly doesn't sound nearly as exciting as many of his "instant classics".

    Tarantino originally confirmed his intention to make The Movie Critic last year, saying it was “based on a guy who really lived but was never really famous, and he used to write movie reviews for a porno rag.” While that character-study description hardly sounded as grabby as the ideas behind some of his fan-favorite titles such as the Kill Bill films and Pulp Fiction, few doubted the result would be anything less than an event picture.

    Tarantino is my favorite movie director of all time, but I feel like his "Once Upon a Time" fell flat, and that his envisioned "The Movie Critic" project would have experienced the same fate. Out of all his movies there's perhaps only 2-3 that have no rewatch value to me, and they are all ones with a plot and characters that are "artsy" but not captivating enough.

    Highly ranking on my personal list are for sure the Kill Bill movies, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight and Inglourious Basterds. Pulp Fiction is one of those borderline movies to me that is great, but contains segments that feel a bit too weird. Reservoir Dogs has a captivating plot but probably wouldn't quite fly anymore with today's audience, despite being a classic and career boost to Tarantino.

    If Tarantino really wants to go out with a bang, he'll have to deliver something as memorable as the movies I listed among Kill Bill above. I think he should take his time to get it right, and I'm glad to hear he's doing that. Better to wait a while longer than rush it. My respect for Tarantino only increased following this decision, and I can't wait to see what he'll come up with.

    11 votes

  11. Comment on Chrome/Firefox Plugin to locally scrape data from multiple URLs in ~tech

    douchebag
    Link Parent
    That's a smart suggestion! I'll look into this. After a quick test it seems quite promising!

    webscraper.io
    To do multiple URLs I create a spreadsheet on Google Sheets with multiple URLs and publish it and use it as a source to feed the scraper.

    That's a smart suggestion! I'll look into this. After a quick test it seems quite promising!

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Why Gen Z is quietly giving up in ~life

    douchebag
    Link Parent
    Had a similar thought like you recently. Pretty much everyone I know has been complaining about their job, pay, work environment and everything else related to their profession for several years...

    Had a similar thought like you recently. Pretty much everyone I know has been complaining about their job, pay, work environment and everything else related to their profession for several years now. Even the ones who are well off and objectively have nothing to complain about.

    It feels to me that this has led to unhappiness at the workplace being normalized for no other reason than people constantly talk about it (in some cases, not all).

    At this point I've even caught myself saying "I think people just need to get over the fact life at the workplace suck and it won't ever change, or they should seek help from a professional". I couldn't quite believe I came up with that statement... So your comment kind of rings true to me.

    3 votes

  13. Comment on Chrome/Firefox Plugin to locally scrape data from multiple URLs in ~tech

    douchebag
    Link Parent
    This is a helpful input, thank you for taking the time to test it out and sharing your results. I was guessing the extra loading of pages may be a core issue, but I wasn't aware it was caused by...

    This is a helpful input, thank you for taking the time to test it out and sharing your results.

    I was guessing the extra loading of pages may be a core issue, but I wasn't aware it was caused by the HTML format.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Chrome/Firefox Plugin to locally scrape data from multiple URLs in ~tech

    douchebag
    Link Parent
    Cheers for this reply. I think I'll put in the effort to try and figure things out using scrappy and/or another python based solution. I was rather just hoping there might be someone who had come...

    Cheers for this reply. I think I'll put in the effort to try and figure things out using scrappy and/or another python based solution. I was rather just hoping there might be someone who had come across a tool that may already suit the need.

    As for you other question(s): I usually delete my comments and/or posts several times per week and only leave them there if they are related to some sort of technical solution or advice that may help someone down the road.

    As for the scraping: I am putting together an overview of # of businesses in a certain sector and found that the online phone book would give a good indictor of this. However this only works by searching for specific keywords and later cleansing the data for duplicates, false entries, irrelevant entries etc. There's also other sources out there that I'll use for my statistic, but they are partially quite imprecise in other ways (industry reports, association reports etc.)

    Hope that answers the questions :)

    4 votes

  15. Chrome/Firefox Plugin to locally scrape data from multiple URLs

    ~tech Ask (recommendations)
    As the title suggests, I am looking for a free chrome or firefox plugin that can locally scrape data from multiple URLs. To be a bit more precise, what I mean by it: A free chrome or firefox...

    As the title suggests, I am looking for a free chrome or firefox plugin that can locally scrape data from multiple URLs. To be a bit more precise, what I mean by it:

    • A free chrome or firefox plugin
    • Local scraping: it runs in the browser itself. No cloud computing or "credits" required to run
    • Scrape data: Collects predefined data from certain data fields within a website such as https://www.dastelefonbuch.de/Suche/Test
    • Infinite scroll: to load data that only loads once the browser scrolls down (kind of like in the page I linked above)

    I am not looking into programming my own scraper using python or anything similar. I have found plugins that "kind of" do what I am describing above, and about two weeks ago I found one that pretty much perfectly does what is described ("DataGrab"), but it starts asking to buy credits after running it a few times.

    My own list:

    • DataGrab: Excellent, apart from asking to buy credits after a while
    • SimpleScraper: Excellent, but asks to buy credits pretty much immediately
    • Easy Scraper: Works well for single pages, but no possibility to feed in multiple URLs to crawl
    • Instant Data Scraper: Works well for single pages and infinite scroll pages, but no possibility to feed in multiple URLs to crawl
    • "Data Scraper - Easy Web Scraping" / dataminer.io: Doesn't work well
    • Scrapy.org: Too much programming, but looks quite neat and well documented

    Any suggestions are highly welcome!

    Edit: A locally run executable or cmd-line based program would be fine too, as long as it just needs to be configured (e.g., creating a list of URLs stored in a .txt or .csv file) instead of coded (e.g., coding an infinite scroll function from scratch).

    8 votes