Odd thing you saw today

[WildaBeast]

One of the cubicles at work has caution tape taped over the entrance and multiple posted around it that say "Do not remove anything from this cube."

[ChasFink]

Today I saw a school bus that had a string of multicolored lights running all around the edge of the ceiling and down to the driver's area.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

One of the cubicles at work has caution tape taped over the entrance and multiple posted around it that say "Do not remove anything from this cube."

If it were the first of April, this would not be odd.

On a more serious note, is the cubicle occupant ok?

Seaboe

[dfresh]

Seaboe, it is hard to tell since the whole cubicle is covered with red paint.

[WildaBeast]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

On a more serious note, is the cubicle occupant ok?

I assume I would have heard something if he wasn't, so I assume he is. What I think was going on was that the occupant quit/moved/left for some other reason, and the manager wanted to make sure that no one raided his cube (in this businesses possibly because some of the stuff in there was technically government property). The caution tape might have been overkill, but I guess it sends a strong message.

[Errata]

Tree piracy.

Apparently some rogue tree trimmers trimmed some of our trees without permission, and claimed to be affiliated with our gardener, which they were not. The person who spoke with them didn't think to get their license plates, because it's such a weird crime that nobody pieced it together until later. They weren't trimming the tree for the benefit of the tree or its surroundings, but to the detriment of those things in order to harvest useful cuttings for free and plant them elsewhere for profit.

[Richard W]

That is a weird crime. It's almost like software piracy (in that the item itself doesn't vanish when you steal it, and will regrow or can be reproduced - although in the case of a tree, it's possible the tree would be destroyed if somebody stole too much of it), but in the case of software, there's a lot more work involved in creating it in the first place. In the case of a tree, once it's planted it should more or less grow itself, if it's been planted in a suitable environment.

So it creates more short-term damage than software piracy, but it's less obvious who is being stolen from... I mean, you can't "own" a "tree", man...

[Gutter Monkey]

Spotted in a neighbourhood front yard:

[mbravo]

Originally Posted by Gutter Monkey

Spotted in a neighbourhood front yard:

We have a typewriter that is 50 or so pounds that my mom picked up from the side of the road. It is full of leaves and other detritus. We haven't gotten rid of it becuase I keep saying maybe I'll clean it up and restore it as a "project." I don't know if that will ever happen; I think the picture you have more adequately depicts the future of our typewriter.

[Gutter Monkey]

Originally Posted by mbravo

We have a typewriter that is 50 or so pounds that my mom picked up from the side of the road. It is full of leaves and other detritus. We haven't gotten rid of it becuase I keep saying maybe I'll clean it up and restore it as a "project." I don't know if that will ever happen; I think the picture you have more adequately depicts the future of our typewriter.

If you use it as a planter you still have the option to clean it out and restore it at some future point

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by Errata

Tree piracy.

While the motive is certainly different, the crime (here in Seattle) is sadly not unusual: Second lawsuit in West Seattle illegal tree cutting settled.

In my home town (a college town), some idiot college students decided the easiest way to get a Christmas tree was to cut one of the ones in the University tree farm. It didn't occur to them that scientists could identify the tree by its rings.

Seaboe

[DawnStorm]

Seen on a contractor's van last evening (paraphrase): ....we fix walls, ceilings, doors, floring.

Obviously spell-check is not one of the things the contractor can do.

[Gutter Monkey]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

While the motive is certainly different, the crime (here in Seattle) is sadly not unusual: Second lawsuit in West Seattle illegal tree cutting settled.

In my home town (a college town), some idiot college students decided the easiest way to get a Christmas tree was to cut one of the ones in the University tree farm. It didn't occur to them that scientists could identify the tree by its rings.

Seaboe

I've heard of several cases where rare, genetically important trees were stolen, most likely to be sold as Christmas trees.

Also apparently one in five Christmas trees in Sweden are stolen, not bought.

[thorny locust]

Originally Posted by Richard W

In the case of a tree, once it's planted it should more or less grow itself, if it's been planted in a suitable environment. So it creates more short-term damage than software piracy, but it's less obvious who is being stolen from... I mean, you can't "own" a "tree", man...

I think most farmers would disagree with that. You buy and/or graft the tree, you plant the tree, you water the tree, you fertilize the tree, you weed the tree, you mow the area around the tree, you prune the tree, you by one technique or another deal with pest prevention, often multiple times through the year . . . Trees in the woods "just grow"; though that doesn't justify randomly massacring the thing. Trees in an orchard, a Christmas tree plantation, etc. take quite a bit of continuing work.

In the case of the example given, nursery operators who are in the business of selling scionwood would drastically disagree with that. Not to mention that doing it improperly can seriously damage the tree.

Partial hijack: farms in some locations have a genuine problem with people who pull off the road, walk into the field/orchard/vineyard, and harvest items without permission and without payment (and, often, without any idea of whether they're ripe yet.) I used to manage a vineyard that had that problem; we called it "road blight", at least in that area. Nearly all of these people would throw a fit and probably call the cops if the farmers walked into their yard and took whatever they pleased.

Originally Posted by Gutter Monkey

Spotted in a neighbourhood front yard:

Hey, I've got one of those! -- it's in considerably better shape, and is sitting in its original case under the other desk in my office. It's functional, though getting ribbons for it is a bit of a problem, and I haven't actually used it in some time.

[mbravo]

Walking from work to the parking lot and going by a few multi-family dwellings. On the sidewalk and surrounding areas there were what seemed to be dozens of cigarette butts. If it had just been one or two I probably wouldn't even have noticed, but it looked like someone scattered handfuls of them around the sidewalk. I've never noticed that many of them in that location before. I wonder if a trash bag burst. Maybe a bunch of smokers had just been standing there the night before. It just seemed like a copious amount.

[Die Capacitrix]

I recently got a new store credit card and they sent me the PIN for on-line shopping.

It is the same as my first PIN for my first bank card, which I choose because it was the last four digits as my neighbor's unlisted phone number.

[dfresh]

Originally Posted by thorny locust

Partial hijack: farms in some locations have a genuine problem with people who pull off the road, walk into the field/orchard/vineyard, and harvest items without permission and without payment (and, often, without any idea of whether they're ripe yet.) I used to manage a vineyard that had that problem; we called it "road blight", at least in that area. Nearly all of these people would throw a fit and probably call the cops if the farmers walked into their yard and took whatever they pleased.

My wife works for an orchard and they have 10 foot high deer fencing along the road. The farmers said it was mostly for the deer, but also to keep out people who think that hey, the farmers wouldn't mind us taking just a few (dozen) apples. Turns out, the farmers DON'T like being stolen from.

[thorny locust]

Originally Posted by dfresh

people who think that hey, the farmers wouldn't mind us taking just a few (dozen) apples.

And who apparently think they're the only people going down that road who will have that (not) bright idea.

Such losses add up.

[WildaBeast]

This morning I was driving behind a pickup truck with some sort of writing and graphics in the rear window. From a distance I assumed the truck belonged to a contractor or other tradesman and that it was the name and logo of his business. But when I got closer I realized that it was actually a wanted ad advertising that the owner was looking for a 1960-66 Chevy parts truck, complete with graphics illustrating 1960s Chevy trucks. This wasn't some simple homemade sign; this was either professionally done or something the owner put a lot of effort into. Interesting way to advertise. Most people would just go to Craigslist (although I would guess this person is also advertising there).

[Richard W]

It probably makes sense to do that if you're into trucks (or cars or whatever) to the extent that you're doing up or maintaining old vehicles. If so, then the owner probably parks at conventions and motor shows a lot and it would be seen by exactly the sort of people who might have one available or know where to get it, and by definition the people who see it will be in the same area as the owner and at least somewhat into the same things. It's targeted advertising; probably much more reliable and cheaper than trying to target something like that on the internet these days. Or maybe I'm just old-fashioned and technophobic.