General

Foxhack wrote:
16 years well spent.

Why don't they make vanilla twizzlers/licorice?

shadyfozzie wrote:
Gamepass it and pay the monthly fee for Ultimate? Just use a gaming PC or get a Series S or X.

I've been having some audio issues with my TV/soundbar setup. So, I bought a slightly better toslink cable (fiber optic line, out from the TV, into the soundbar). When I went to remove the old toslink cable, I realized/noticed it still had little rubbery plastic translucent covers over the inner part at the end of the cable. I had assumed it was just like that, but you're supposed to remove them. It's amazing that the cable still worked despite this. Not even sure if it is the cause of my issue, but I did switch to the new cable (removing its covers first).

Googled it and found a youtube video titled "Optical cable.... have you taken the cap off, moron?" Reading all the comments of people who did the same thing made me feel a little better.

bill wrote:

My guess is the rubber got breached so it was still making contact, or was it just that the plastic didn't stop the optical signal? Certainly possible that's what was goofing with it, but I'm assuming it was fine until it wasn't? Not sure why it'd get worse over time, maybe the rubber/plastic got cloudy with age.

Yeah, I think the light was going through the translucent covers. The audio signal must have been impacted, but I honestly can't tell the difference (I've never been much of an audiophile).

The issue I'm having may not have been related to the caps being on at all. I really don't know what's causing it. It's intermittent. It's like a buzzing sound that happens with some dialog, a kind of distortion. The soundbar is doing some processing to augment voices.

The soundbar has 2 optical in ports, so I switched to the other one and that seemed to fix it months ago. But, it came back last week. So, I switched back and that seemed to fix it again... but that doesn't make sense. Maybe some sort of grounding hum issue? So, I thought maybe the cable? The cable is the cheapest thing to replace. I'd also consider getting a new soundbar, but that's more money. It could be the TV too... expensive, but I could upgrade to 4k or whatever. Hopefully, it's fine now... or I'll just keep swapping the cable port.

Reading the 10TB drive thread got me thinking about the mid-90s, which another poster brought up. Back then, a few GB was a lot, because programmers could get great games to fit in a few MB. After all, FF6 was only 3 MB! And then I realized- you could fit both FF6 and Chrono Trigger on a standard PS2 memory card…

That's insane that FF6 was only 3MB!

What's really crazy to me is that a standard C64 floppy was 170 kilobytes and had thousands and thousands of games that were only one or two disks in size, with only 64k of RAM to run both the OS and game in. Some really great games in that era too.

ChrisKW1 wrote:

I remember the days of saving and loading games from tapes. We had a vic20 when I was a wee lad. I about flipped out when a friend brought over an actual cartridge and the game loaded almost instantly.

On the subject of c64, there is still a very active development scene for the thing. Really cool to see what people are STILL doing with those kinds of limitations.

benstylus wrote:

Yeah, I've played a few of them, got theC64 mini somewhere as well. Was my favorite computer back in the day.

Commodore was before my time, but I always thought having a Commodore PET would be neat.

I had a a Tandy Color Computer that the difference between pulling programs off cassette and floppy where crazy! My high school 'computer lab' was 10x C64's! My dad was the one with the passion for computers even in the early 80s and I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know why. He never played video games but was the first to get me a Odyssey 2 for Christmas and then the family always had a computer in the house.

lordly_llama wrote:

VIC-20 was fun. C64 was great. C128 was great. But the PET is not something I'd want except for a display piece maybe...

They were all great products of their time, some stand up better than others. But they were state of the art 30-40 years ago and started a lot of us onto careers in computers.

Some of the ingenuity on display in those simpler games makes them better than modern games that are high on flashy graphics and low on substance lol

I've messed around with those systems via emulators and... nothing makes sense to me. XD

It was a much simpler time, you had to load things from disks or tape with command line strings. Most modern emulators will let you attach a disk image and auto start them, though

GO 64
are you sure?
Y

I didn't have a 128 until I was already an adult so my go-to was:

LOAD"*",8,1
READY.
RUN

John wrote:

I had a boxed VIC-20 years ago! It didn't work when I initially got it, and I left it to rot in my garage for a couple years. A high school friend and I actually ended up reviving it, and getting it to work.

The thing literally just sat in my collection room untouched for so many years after. Last year that friend hit me up, despite years of no contact, asking if I still had the VIC-20. I ended up selling it to him.

It was a cool thing to have, but ultimately I don't have any attachment to these weird old PCs... meanwhile I have two C64s and an Atari 800 that I need to figure out WTF to do with. I MIGHT keep the CIB C64, but the Boxed 800 and other C64 should probably go.

Yeah....I get it Frank. I found a Tandy Color Computer app that could run in a browser. I spent hours upon hours on this system when I was a kid. I was done after 20 minutes. :D

This reminds me that I really need to clean up my NeXTcubes and get them listed for sale while there is still money in them.

rayzor6 wrote:

The Internet Archive actually has a ton of old computer games playable in the browser.

"You are likely to be eaten by a grue."

This really is a great place online. As I mention almost ad nauseam: I love modern board games and I spend a lot time on Board Game Geek. You cannot even have a conversation there without a witchhunt/playground mob following your posts and trying to censor you. What's worse is that they have no problem banning you from the site.

My position in a lot of matters are pretty clear...but I'd never EVER try to silence someone of an opposing view even if I could. I think it self defeating and a declaration that you don't have a point in your stance.

rayzor6 wrote:

I think part of the reason is we try to encourage people to keep politics and religion OFF the site. People generally can't handle adult conversations with different opinions on those subjects when they are with family and friends, so trying to do that with anonymous strangers who have no real reason to back down is going to be practically impossible.

And for whatever reason, some people hold grudges against random people on the internet they disagree with.

And I understand...but I still see it being discussed here on occasion and I think honestly, when it's an impasse HERE; it pretty much ends. I know most of us have a long history of interaction as opposed to over there and maybe that is a big reason.

When it happens here we mostly just lock the thread and tell people to cool off. Banning almost never happens, but we also have restriction as an option which I'm not sure BGG uses.

That might also be more a function of the exponentially higher number of users on that site where its easier to just ban and walk away than try to remember who has misbehaved in the past and increase penalties as appropriate.

You have good points. I just remember a time when being correct and truthful was important and that isn't directed to any of the typical divides except the cowards that simply try to silence you from the get go.

EDIT: this comment would be removed from BGG to give you an idea.

I’ve had some pleasant, or at the very least calm, interactions with folks over political/social situations on this site since the old guard of main users abandoned ship and stopped gaslighting folks in the main threads. I’m thankful/appreciative of that. Site may not be as crowded as it once was but it is a lot more understanding and a lot less obnoxious.

Edit: also appreciative of the negs in lieu of dorky thread fighting.

theJaw wrote:


I'm going to go ahead and neg you, but it's out of love. I may be way off base, but I've seen growth in you for not falling into the norms of the internet for quite some time most of the time. I think most of us need to take a deep breath and find our zen.

Lol I accept that neg and love @KCPenguins and offer nothing but love in return.

That’s what the world…

Needs now…

Is love…

Sweet negs.

BUT to be fair the growth that you’ve noticed is likely in part due to the fact that the folks who used to reign over the forums, who acted purposely antagonistic and elitist, have taken off. That or bill forced a block/I ignored certain folks lol.

Point being that the general crowd here on the good ol’ TZ seems a lot more nice these days. And I love yas.

Negs... sweet negs.

rayzor6 wrote:

Ngl, I was tempted to delete it to prove your point

One of the best things I ever did for myself on this site was have Bill hide negs for me. I only see the positive counts on scores. And it really made a difference for me.

John wrote:

Not for John's eyes:

benstylus wrote:

You could the revoke my posting/thumbing/geekgold giving privs and send me this msg (bold emphasis is mine):

"Disruptive comment removed

The above post is unwelcome in our forums and has been removed. This is not intended as a punishment and we do not think you are a bad person. Moderators remove potentially disruptive comments so the rest of the thread can continue without interruption.

Please see https://boardgamegeek.com/community_rules to review the expectations for members of our community.

Please also note that commenting on or complaining about moderation in a thread not specifically discussing moderation is also unwelcome, as such comments can quickly disrupt the thread.

Our moderators may disable the account's posting privileges to prevent continued disruptions if an account commits frequent or severe violations of site rules. (If this is the only moderation note you've received recently then this likely won't be an issue for you).

Please use https://boardgamegeek.com/contact if you wish to discuss this message

I once got suspended for saying "fu" in chat.

lordly_llama wrote:

If it was preceded by Shaq, you got exactly what you deserved

benstylus wrote:


Can we rock?
Yeah, what's up doc?

Just had a fairly large anxiety attack. I had to get up, pace around and take deep breaths. Now I’m just exhausted.

Anyone else get anxiety/panic attacks? If so, how do you deal with them?

I had a really bad one in 2017 a bit after a family member died. Went to the hospital and the doctor asked me how I even got there with my blood pressure where it was at. Hasn't happened since. Wish I had a good answer for you but I just had to work myself to a better place mentally. Have you tried therapy at all?

Cbd is good for anxiety.

theJaw wrote:

Well I'm coming up on 25 years, still hasn't stopped.

Why did I receive mail from Chewy? We don't have any pets here and I've never ordered anything from them.

nonamesleft wrote:
Is it the wrong address, we need details.

ued222 wrote:
:)

So I checked the envelope. Not the wrong address. Hmmm, maybe they sensed that some of us here want a pet?

Casinos/slot machines are the worst. Thankfully cashed out ahead (+$1100). Rarely have we left above. Gdamn machines know how to keep ya in the seat! Shoulda walked out with at least another $400, but oh well, a win is a win!

In Maricopa Arizona. We stole land from Native Americans, gave them land in the desert, and they built casinos and have lots of great tribal laws for protection and tax exemption yeah? But now, those casinos are run by mega Vegas empires, but retain tribal names. We're at Harrah's Ak-Chin which is owned by Caesars.

Are we screwing the Indians yet again? Survey says... yes.

MrBean wrote:

In a brief Google search, it looks like Caesars is the management partner, but the tribe owns it (and has been putting the profits to a lot of good use, both in expanding and improving the casino, and on the reservation itself.

If you are going to run a casino, may as well let the guys in Vegas who know how to do it best handle the day to day stuff

Many years ago I watched a Native American comedian. He said the US government would move NA tribes west and then sign a treaty saying the land was theirs "as long as the water flows and the grass grows". As white people moved further west and wanted the fertile land for farming, the US government would move the NAs again with another treaty saying again the land was theirs "as long as the water flows and the grass grows". He said the US government finally solved "the Indian problem" by moving them where the water didn't flow and the grass didn't grow.

Proposing in a month. Been with her for almost 12 years and have been living with her for like 7, so I certainly shouldn’t be anxious but boy, am I anxious.

Congratulations! That is awesome!

theJaw wrote:

Hell yeah man, that's awesome! Any special planned on how to do it?

theJaw wrote:

MrBean wrote:
He's going to ask her to sign up to GTZ and will send her an offer :)

nonamesleft wrote:

Or

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WfsXo1i75Rg

@BloodPuppetX - haha, classic!

theJaw wrote:


Go for it!

My wife and I had been together ten years before I proposed. The scariest thing was asking her father permission before I did it and that scared the crap out of me. I was a nervous wreck leading up to asking him.

nonamesleft wrote:

Snarky reply #1:
Careful, you don't want her to file a btr over the rock on the engagement ring!

Snarky reply #2:
Trades have to be something of value. What's she getting out of it?

Snarky reply #3:
Great idea! That way if you change your mind later you don't need a divorce, you can just cancel the trade

Lol thanks for the words of encouragement (and snarky replies) yall. Appreciate my GTZ buds.

DST started today, and absolutely NO ONE IN TOWN said anything about it. So I woke up and apparently it's 10:30 now. The entire week is going to be soooooooooooo much fun.

Sometimes I feel like there's just not enough hours in the day to do the things I want to do. The day ends too soon.

I once asked someone if he could have a superpower what would it be. He didn't say super strength or super speed or teleportation. He said the ability to not have to sleep. Because he'd be able to accomplish so much more. At the time, I really didn't understand it. I was surprised he didn't want teleportation or something awesome. But the ability to not have to sleep? It's more useful than I thought.

(Though I'd still choose teleportation )

nonamesleft wrote:

This is me basically every day. Between work, school, coaching, keeping up with things around the house, and trying to spend a lot of time with my wife and kids....there's never enough time to do as much in each of these areas as I would like to.


I like the way this guy thinks, I'm with him.

Yeah I also was blindsided by DST the other day.

Anyway the snacks thread is closed so I'll put this here. Someone in that thread mentioned Magic Spoon cereal. Well I ended up buying some after all. I got the choose-your-own bundle where you pick out any 4 flavors and I got Maple Waffle, Cinammon Roll, Peanut Butter, and Cookies & Cream.

some things to know: The cereal is kinda like Cheetos. The inside of the cereal is white. The flavoring is coated on the outside. So a lot of the "sugar" falls to the bottom of the bag and it can be kind of nasty. Also, when picking up each box you can smell the cereal inside even before opening the bags inside, which I'm pretty sure doesn't happen with cereal at the store.

What I found interesting was that the boxes say the cereal contains allulose which is a "rare sugar" found in raisins, figs, and maple syrup. So is it just sugar in the end? I wonder how much of the sugar-free stuff out there is merely taking advantage of loopholes as to what the FDA does or doesn't count as sugar.

egg wrote:
Oh, the snack thread got closed?

What are the benefits to allulose?

Saw that recently in a yogurt.

The thread got automatically closed bc nobody replied to it in a while. It's my fault, I should have posted sooner about Magic Spoon haul and other delicious things.

Allulose is considered a low-calorie sweetener. It also doesn't affect your blood sugar, supposedly.
I also just found this: "Unlike sugar, allulose isn’t metabolized in your mouth, which can help keep cavities and other dental problems at bay."
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-allulos...

That actually doesn't sound too bad. I just thought it was weird that it was technically a sugar.

We can re-open threads -- just FYI. Just tell me where it is.

John wrote:
Cool. It's titled "let's talk snacks" followed by several food emojis.

It's in general, about 2 months back.

egg wrote:
😆


Interesting that it's a sugar, because the yogurt I saw it in claims to have no sugar. "Chobani Zero Sugar."

Maybe the body doesn't process it like regular sugars?

What caught my attention was the flavor: Strawberry Cheesecake. But, imo, it didn't live up to its name, not at all. Was pretty disappointing actually. I'd say the regular strawberry was better.

nonamesleft wrote:

Re-opened!

John wrote:
:) thanks John. Appreciate it.

School buses are way too loud for when you're trying to listen to a message on your phone outside. On that note, I wonder what things would be like living out in the country or a more remote place, and not in a busy city.

Welp, I want to go cry in a corner with a bottle of bourbon.

Facebook just reminded me that 12 years ago today, I landed a job with Microsoft - that was later pulled back due to a technicality (still salty about it).

12 years ago, the stock was $20. The absolute insanity of what I'd have in investments right now, J.F.C. that hurts.

MrBean wrote:

I worked in a McDonald's in the mid-70s. Somewhere in the mid-90s I recall reading an article that said if I had invested something like $2,000 in McDonald's in the mid-70s it would be worth $250,000.

While I was getting a haircut yesterday, a call came in that the woman cutting my hair said was some Google AI (Google Duplex?) trying to make an appointment for someone. She said it was pretty strange, but it seemed to work. She regretted saying "thank you" at the end, because she was talking to a computer.

I'm not into Siri, Cortana, Google Assistance, Alexa or whatever. But, I figure: to each his own. I just turn them off and I'm good. But, now users of these products are inflicting it on other people? Seems rude.

Hmmm... Interesting. It doesn't actually strike me as rude. Most of them work pretty well. They just call and make an appointment for stuff -- and you can say no if it doesn't work.

That being said, I don't use those features either -- I have most of it turned off. Now and then, while driving, I do like to go "Ok Google, play my playlist from Spotify" and it just does it -- so that I can be touch-free while driving. I like that.

The only other thing I've used a couple of times to try it out is Google's "on hold" stuff. Like, when you call an 800 number, it gives you a text version of the options so that you don't have to listen for everything -- and then, it detects when you're on hold waiting, so you don't have to sit and listen to the entire thing. It listens for you and lets you know when someone actually picks up. And it is even smart about knowing when the music stops and it breaks into a "We want you to know that you are our number one priority and will be with you as soon as we can!" sort of message and then goes back to music. Like, it knows that isn't the real person.

Of course, all of those features are just me interacting, not forcing it on others, so a bit different.

Oh, if I get an unknown caller, I do sometimes use the option to have Google answer it. It plays them a message saying that the call is being screened and to say who they are and why the are calling -- and then it transcribes it for me so that I can then decide to pick it up or send it to voicemail (or just hang up). 9 times out of 10, it is a spam caller and they just hang up as soon as the screening starts. So, I guess I'm forcing that on people -- but that's why people get for calling me when I don't know them.

I saw a bumper sticker that said "It's OK if I drive like an animal - I'm a veterinarian!"

A while later, it dawned on me. I had no idea there were so many proctologists around here, but it would explain a lot.

I was already familiar with all of the other features John mentioned, but I didn't know you could use Google Assistant to make appointments too. That's kind of wild, I may have to try it out some time. I hate calling to make hair appointments in particular, for some reason. I'm actually overdue for a cut right now.

Seriously...I think the the whole world needs to watch Black Mirror's "Metalhead" and then tell me that pushing for this kind of AI is a good idea.

I found out yesterday that my biological father died. I don’t know how to handle it. I feel a sense of loss, but at the same time he abandoned my mother and I right after I was born and when I tried to connect with him after turning 18, that lasted about a year before he ghosted me again. I haven’t laid eyes on him in 20 years, and obviously he didn’t want anything to do with me… but I still feel loss. I’m at work trying to just get through but I feel this… remorse? Like, I could’ve done something different or better or whatever… but my head knows that wasn’t possible since he clearly didn’t think anything of me or else he wouldn’t have left twice.

I do feel a stronger sense of appreciation for what I have in life, and I damn sure will be a better father to my kid than he ever was.

This kind of sucks hard… but I don’t know why.

@BucketofJustice Sorry for your loss brother, or more specifically, sorry for the way this particular loss is making you feel. Doesn't seem like the easiest of situations, and I imagine it's tough to have a sense of "what could have been" at this point. Sending good vibes your way.

@BucketofJustice

Sorry to hear about the toughness of dealing with that. It can be extremely difficult to deal with thoughts of what if things had been different.

The following isn't the same, but a relative I've known since childhood isn't in a very good place currently, hasn't been for awhile. I'd say either depressed or something similar. Difficult to be around because of constant moping. Imagine a lot of the time you see a certain person they barely talk and look sad and sometimes keep their eyes closed. Every time I see this person I wonder if things would be different had we been closer growing up. If there's something I could have done. No way to know. And it saddens me every time I think about it.

Maybe there will come a time where I'll get over the sad feeling. My point wasn't to talk about the above. It was that I hear what you're saying about that sad feeling. And I don't have answers here. (Though that doesn't mean there aren't answers)

@BucketofJustice I hope you're able to get through this with a good and happy outcome. 💪

Very sorry Bucket....I cannot imagine what you are dealing with right now. It sounds like you were the only adult in the situation, even at 18.

I have a good friend who has three sons...and their biological father left them at an early age. Only 1 out of the three hasn't done the same to their kids. I hope he wasn't a link in that chain...and I know that link will die with you.

As a father, I can tell you that the son should NOT feel responsible for trying to cure the sins of the father. I view anyone that abandons their children as less than a man. How one feels about their child's mother is unrelated.

I feel like I might be rambling, but the points I really want to make are:

-It's not your fault or responsibility on fixing that relationship...I understand your grief at the end of these possibilities, but don't you dare blame yourself.

-I greatly admire your courage and dedication to your role as a son...I know that will tranlate to you being an excellent father. Good or bad: we can always LEARN from our parents and never underestimate traits that are in our DNA we get from our bloodline that push us to certain behaviors (good and bad)

-He lost out.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words. I’m still processing, and I might be doing it for a while, but this helps. Thank you.

My biological father was an alcoholic and he and my mom split up before I even knew him. He was in and out of the lives of my older brother and me through the years until he died when we were in our early 20s. Our mom never said bad things about him to try and turn us against him and we had a decent relationship, but even though we called him "dad" it was not what people think of as a "father and son" relationship. He got hurt when he was in the Navy (non-combat related) and self medicated his constant back pain with alcohol. Even when he was around us or living with his mom (our grandmother) he never gave up drinking. It was hard to be around him when he was drinking and because of it he couldn't hold a steady job. He tried more than one program to try to quit, but was never successful. He made his choices and was responsible for his own actions.

Your dad gave you life and some inherited physical characteristics, but apparently little else. He made his decisions. Mourn his death, but don't mourn what you imagine could have been.

BucketofJustice wrote:
Losing a loved one or family member in this case regardless of the scenario can be heart breaking. I didn't know my father well and he was fairly abusive both verbally and physical but I have a feeling even if he did pass away, I would feel something. He helped in your creation and you perhaps have a hole left within you from his absence. Please understand you are not alone in this.

@BucketofJustice - sorry to hear man, but briefly reading your story and reflecting upon my own, sounds like it was for the better. Sadly, I think you'll always have that want for a sense of closure, but sadly ... won't ever have it. I had the same with my Dad after he recently passed, that I never had closure for all the bad things he did to me/my family, but ultimately I had to forgive him and move on. I can only imagine the challenge of living with what you went through, just know there's always another side to the story that you may never fully know/understand. Hopefully you will ultimately be stronger and better because of your own growth through the years due to his poor decisions. Stay strong man, and it's always healthy to talk about it!

I just want to say....my hat is off you guys and anyone who had a really bad parent. I cannot imagine the uphill battle your heart, mind and soul have to fight against with everything you must be feeling.

I don't want to come across like I understand how you feel...just know that I have full on respect for you all and all the men and women that dealt or have to deal with that.

Thanks guys for all the kind words. I still have a lot of different feelings going on, and I’m still processing everything. It’ll all be back to normal soon enough I think.

BucketofJustice wrote:

So I find this interesting because I was in a similar situation. Wasn't abandoned as early but he was a crap head and I think the last time I heard from him at all was 2002. It's hard to remember exactly, and that point was already several years after he was functionally out of my life. I actually have no idea if he is still alive or not and will probably never know. I periodically search his name but he's always been a "hustler" type and lived a bit off grid, didn't pay taxes etc Last I could find he was still alive in 2017 and living in Kansas City. The phone number listed on an account for him belongs to a woman officially which is no surprise, he's always been a mooch.

Anyway it's something I've thought about before and I'm really not sure how I'd feel if I found out he was dead. Probably torn like you are now. Best of luck trying to process this, it's always difficult.

A friend of mine made me a very very generous offer. He knows that I mainly game handheld and the occasional PC game. But my current PC specs are really not great, so I'm really just playing mostly handheld games. In order to broaden my gaming accessibility, he offered to sell me his relative's like new PS5 disc version for $280 (was hardly being used, so it was going to be sold).

But since I know that I tend to game handheld, and have a large gaming backlog, I thanked him for the amazing deal but said no thanks. He was surprised, understandably, and even offered to let me pay in installments. He feels that I'm missing out on a whole side of gaming, since I tend to game handheld and my PC can't reliably run higher performance games, so he really wanted me to have that PS5. Nice of him.

As good of a deal as it was, sometimes you need to be practical. It probably would have sat unplayed for a long long time.

I'm old enough now to know: you like what you like and just because you might "want" to like something...it will often go wasted. I'd really like to get into PC gaming, ironically...but I know I will never ever learn FPS with a keyboard and mouse. I just don't like it even though I fully understand it's control and precision benefits.

rayzor6 wrote:
This. Exactly. Well said.

I'm satisfied with the types of gaming I generally go for. True there are other games out there and I know that I might be missing out on some great PlayStation and PC games, but if I'm satisfied with what I'm playing, doesn't make sense to me to go for a different console. Games are meant to be played and enjoyed, not feel like a forced experience.

Devs are realizing this and starting to make more console like experiences for the PC. The Steam Deck is the first handheld PC to really make this somewhat affordable and I'm hoping the ASUS Ally is somewhat competitively priced. I'm currently playing through God of War on my Steam Deck and the experience is pretty solid.

Just spent several hours sorting through a 2TB hard drive that's been lying around for like 10 years. I've been pushing this off for ages, but it's been something I've wanted to do.

I went through all the folders, transferring what I wanted, and deleting a lot of things that I simply didn't need.

Felt great, like I made some space in my mind. The mind is complex. Perhaps it was holding onto all those folders somewhere in mental storage. But now that those folders actually were sorted, and many deleted, perhaps space was freed up mentally. Who knows. But it certainly feels like that.

nonamesleft wrote:

Human memory is complex and at times incomprehensibly frustrating. There are facts and figures from my college classes that I worked hard to put into my memory, but later could not recall them if my life depended on it. Other trivial things quickly come to mind years later even though I only heard them one time. Family and friends can tell a story about something I did or was involved in that I have no memory of or a completely different recollection of.

Tony wrote:

Memory is a strange thing. Think about your earliest memories. Can you see yourself in them? I bet most people can see themselves in their memories instead of remembering them from a first-person perspective. Isn't that weird?

Tony wrote:
You're right. It's incredibly complex. Something interesting is that the sense of smell is supposedly a very powerful memory trigger. So even if you don't have an active thought about something, you might just walk past a store and smell a certain store and you're suddenly transported back to a memory associated with that smell.

citizen_zane wrote:
Hmmmm. Interesting observation.

I wonder what that means regarding the mind when it's really young. Are earliest memories stored in a different place in the mind, and therefore treated differently?

I haven't seen my dad in person for about 9 years, and he just 'unexpectedly' RSVP'd to my daughters quinceanera in May. oof! I don't have any qualms with him, but it's just not my comfort zone. I'm the only one who is "less than excited", but I can't quite pinpoint why that is. I feel guilty about not being hyped.

akfa wrote:
Does he live far away, to have been away for 9 years?

nonamesleft wrote:

I live in Texas, he lives in Nebraska. Not super far, but we've just never been that close as a family, really. When I had kids I always wondered why my dad didn't do stuff with me that I LOVE to do with my kids, and realized he just wasn't that into being a dad I guess, so it's just been weird feelings all around.

akfa wrote:
So then why would he suddenly come to the quinceanera? Did he used to hang out with your kids and then one day just stopped coming over?

nonamesleft wrote:

He's retired, doesn't have much to do, I sent an invite to both my parents "as a memento" but my dad actually RSVP'd and said he booked a hotel for that day. Lol.

akfa wrote:
Well, you did send the invite 😅
Hey, maybe it'll be great. It's not like you're going to uninvite him, right?

nonamesleft wrote:

Yeah, I wouldn't uninvite him. What will most likely happen is I will dread it internally, be anxious, then everything will work out fine and I'll think, "That wasn't bad afterall".

akfa wrote:
Hopefully it's that at the least, or maybe even better.

You often lose 1/2 of the eraser of a pencil. Half sticks out, and the other half is being held in place inside that eraser holder. Once you use up the eraser, there's still 50% of the eraser stuck inside. What a waste. I needed an eraser earlier, but the protruding part of the eraser had been used up. I had to dig out the other half with a sharp thin metal stick.

I understand the design and function, but it's a shame for every eraser inside a pencil to get used a maximum of about 50% (I'm sure some people dig the rest out to use, but I doubt the majority do)

So, I started reading that thinking it was going to be some analogy about @akfa's Dad. Just thought it was a continuation of the conversation. Forgot I was in the Random Thought thread for a minute.

lol yeah, that was just some weird thing I needed to get off my chest to people who don't really know me, thus less judgment about my anxiety about it all. Lol. When I told a couple people I know in real life, they're like, "But that's your dad." It's easier to tell strangers some things.

John wrote:
Yeah, it was all pencil eraser. 0% analogy.

akfa wrote:
Definitely true sometimes. Certain things are easier to tell to certain people. For sure.

nonamesleft wrote:

I had that not to long ago. The pandemic and overall world being so hostile has really messed me up. There was a point for the first time in my life that I really didn't want to be here anymore. I wasn't looking to do anything to myself, but those thoughts of hopelessness were all consuming and I just felt that if I could verbalize it outloud ANYWHERE; that it would help. And it did.

rayzor6 wrote:

For sure. I had this happen with my divorce too, I bottled up tons of stuff inside, and wasn't speaking my problems outloud to anyone. One day I was having lunch with a friend and I think she could sense my anxiety and tension, and she asked me, "Soooo, tell me about what's going on at home." And just being able to verbalize a lot of my bottled up feelings to someone actively listening helped me a lot more than I expected or realized it would.

Swiss cheese really isn't supposed to have holes. The first person to make swiss cheese panicked when he noticed mice nibbling at his freshly made cheese and causing holes. So he told everyone that it's a natural part of the process of making swiss cheese. And to this day, the mice all nibble holes into swiss cheese and everyone thinks the holes are supposed to be there.

But if you look really closely at the edges of the holes in swiss cheese, you'll notice teeth marks.

And if you look really closely at the teeth of mice in the area, you'll notice bits of cheese :)

Push-ups burn 7 calories a minute, according to Google (accurate? Idk)

So if you can do push-ups for an hour non stop, you'll burn 420 calories. That's a lot. But can anyone even do push-ups for an hour?

nonamesleft wrote:
Yes, 21 hours was the world record.

ued222 wrote:
Wow. Just non stop? 21 hours of push-ups? That's 8,820 calories spent. Person was probably ravenous after the 21 hours.

Here’s a random thought, I wish people would stop bumping their post 200x!

Bump

Who would win in a fight a ninja or a Yakuza?

TBRANIK wrote:
Everyone has this image of Japanese ninjas that are these incredible silent, invisible, human killing machines. What if every country has ninjas, but we only know about Japanese ninjas because they are the worst and therefore the only ones we've discovered?

Tony wrote:

With that said Japanese ninja

It's a funny coincidence the guys are talking about ninjas. I specifically came in here today to talk about ninjas after my experience at an asian restaurant last night. So my wife and I are enjoying our meals when a waitress slyly removed my wife's empty soup bowl without her noticing. I thought, "hey, wouldn't it be cool if there was a ninja-themed restaurant?" Think about it - they could shimmy down poles are do a flip over a low wall, directly to your table, take your order and then disappear in a cloud of smoke. They could place some bread at your table by throwing it in the air and slicing it up, with the pieces falling directly in front off each diner. They can do that, right? Ninja movies would be playing on TV's all over the restuarant. You know, a classy dining experience.

Joeya2001 wrote:
Was that directed towards me. Just bumping every 4 days till I get rid of my last $1500 in Gift Cards.

citizen_zane wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't a Ninja theme restaurant in Japan. If you want food and a show there are Japanese flat top grills. I believe the risk of injury and OSHA may prevent something like that working and slicing bread like that rarely works out. Trying tossing something up and slicing it with something sharp it flies everywhere.

I say a versus battle would vary. Are we talking fictional Ninjas else wise they win easy. If your talking more real world then probably the Ninja. Yakuza rarely use or carry guns due to the legal nature of them and the Ninja would most likely have a sharp tool on them. Of course a well trained Yakuza might be able to win simply due to the evolution of hand to hand combat. So to sum it up
Yakuza with gun wins
Ninja with sharp tool will win against Yakuza without gun.
Yakuza with hand to hand combat training will probably win if going hand to hand.

ued222 wrote:

But tossing something up in the air and slicing it is like Ninja 101. I don't think you can progress in your training until you have that part down.

ued222 wrote:

No one specific, I frequent video game forums, sport card forums, funko pop forums and such, but I like to see new posts just not the same one always being pushed up. It gets to the point of 20 pages of “bump”. Just a peeve of mine.

Joeya2001 wrote:

You could ignore posts that you're not interested in seeing.

SwiftJAB wrote:

Why didn’t I think of that???

I remember a time at a diner when someone dropped a spoon and a ninja was there...he flipped out and killed the whole town! :D

I miss that site

Still around!

http://www.realultimatepower.net/index4.htm

shadyfozzie wrote:
I've seen some giant reclosable cereal bags that have a sort of Ziploc system. It doesn't have the pull piece Ziploc, but it does have the Ziploc closure. Maybe cereal companies don't do it because cereal gets finished more quickly than the rate of turning stale?

Cereal packaging is just meant to get it to your house. After you open it: they don't care. If it's stale: you'll possibly buy more and you'll blame the fact that it's been opened and old.

In other words: there is no financial reason for them to spend the money for a ziplock solution.

nonamesleft wrote:

At one time (80s or 90s), Post cereals did have recloseable bags inside their boxes of cereal. As I recall, they worked well. I don't know when or why they stopped using them.

Tony wrote:
Cost if they can make 1 cent more by not including it they will. Cutting material costs is important.

Tony wrote:


So does not being a monster and rolling the bag down.

KCPenguins wrote:
Ha. I have seen an alternative. Tall plastic reclosable containers that you pour the cereal into after you open the box.

We did that for a while. Now we just use those to store cat food though.

John wrote:
Ever tasted the cat food?

A character in a game I'm playing offered to sell me orange juice. I said no. He seemed disappointed. I felt bad about him being sad. So I bought the orange juice. He seemed happy at that.

nonamesleft wrote:

I've always wondered: Whose job is it to taste pet food in order to declare it is "chicken flavor" or "beef flavor"?

$5 a scoop and I’d do that job so fast.

nonamesleft wrote:

To see if it was fresh? :) No.

And we've not gone back to using them for cereal, so I can't say if I'd test it there either. :)

This is an important conversation for literally anybody to have, no matter how comfortable you are with yourself. I salute this dude for being able to tap into what traumatized him and relay what trauma really is, on a core level, in such an easy way. Be nicer to folks, yall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBvc7Ny4iUk

Pretty cool.. too bad she's not alive to be there :(
https://walkoffame.com/press_releases/22862/

Gotta love my hometown being really damn close to a couple of earthquake epicenters.

2.4 and 3.1 quakes aren't that bad - for us - but my house might end up collapsing on top of me so uh, help

DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I HATE EARTHQUAKES

ESPECIALLY 4.1 ONES LESS THAN TEN MILES AWAY FROM ME

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/...

Woah! Hope y’all are OK.

Foxhack wrote:

I wonder if gold has nutritional value.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

We've been getting at least one earthquake every half hour. A 3.0 one hit less than 15 minutes ago.

I'm tired.

That’s intense.

Foxhack wrote:

Why does my keyboard constantly autocorrect "were" to "we're"?

Mine does that too. So annoying.

It's time to make some life changes and shift things into a different gear.

Frank wrote:
Regarding the keyboard autocorrect?
I think it's beyond help.

I've tried turning the feature off. It doesn't listen.

Turning off autocorrect is like pressing those buttons in the street at the crosswalk, thinking it'll make the light turn green. It's just to make the user think that there's any amount of control on their part.

"Turns off autocorrect"
Autocorrect feature laughs to itself, thinking "oh, I'm still here, that off button is fake"

Porksta wrote:
I'm not joking with the following. I just texted someone and my keyboard changed we'll to well. 😅
It changes were to we're, but we'll to well? Keyboard, at least be consistent with your changes for the usage of the '

😵

Which keyboard are you guys using? I don't really have that problem with Gboard.

Whatever comes with my Samsung Galaxy.

Yeah, I always have Samsung phones and immediately install Gboard, the Samsung keyboard blows.

ChrisKW1 wrote:
I'm using Gboard.

I have Swiftkey and one time I was in a hurry and instead of "please" I wrote"plaese", I like swiftkey because it's predictive text but now I have to double check and make sure it's not suggesting that crap. It's done that to a couple other words too.

LOL...I still remember NOT wanting a phone without a physical keyboard because it would be 'so inaccurate'. Who would have thought that it IS that way because of ME! :D

Man, tiny kitties sure make me anxious. Just took in a kitten who was found on the side of the street and she's cute as hell but stresses me out so hard. She's at the phase where she wants to explore everything but she's so tiny that I'm afraid she's gonna get stuck somewhere, or one of our other pets is gonna obliterate her, so she needs to hang out in a confined spot when I'm working (from home) and it makes me feel awful.

theJaw wrote:
Planning on keeping it as a pet?

What color is the kitten?

@nonamesleft She's hot fudge sundae-colored... primarily white with varying levels of brown haha. I dunno, is that technically calico?

And yeah, we do plan on keeping her and I know it'll only be a few weeks before she chills out, but it still stresses me out big time. Especially because I have a daily quota to meet for work but am roughly 85-90% distracted by her haha. We went through a similar situation with a kitten last fall but she was a little bit older by the time we took her in, and had a family nursing her along beforehand. We don't know the story for this kitten other than she was abandoned near a highway and was on her own (or with other abandoned cats) long enough to catch fleas.

I would like to see the baybee kitty.

Foxhack wrote:

Ol’ sneaky Louise

image

Sneaky baby! You give her all the pets right now~

Foxhack wrote:
😆

theJaw wrote:
Cute. And such blue eyes.

theJaw wrote:

I read this and my mind automatically changed fudge to the F word since I'm not a subscriber anymore, and I was thinking... That's a weird way to describe the color of cat lol

nonamesleft wrote:

They're green today! Looks like her pigment showed up to the party. Glad I snapped that photo to remember he goofy little blue eyes.

EDIT: looking at them in the daylight & they’re still blue, just a bit darker blue. Also, she’s cute.

Foxhack wrote:

Seconded

All the pets: delivered.

Pretty cool and somehow chilled me out. Heard a noise outside I was unfamiliar with. Brought the spotlight out and saw eyeshine that didn't belong to any of ours. Very likely a fox that has been harassing cats and chickens. It had two cats treed and was contuing to lurk despite the spotlight. Took a few shots over a series and scared it off at least a quarter mile. It kept looking back. Previously it went after the chickens in the early morning hours unabashed in full sunlight. Life living rural.

Edit: Side Thought - I love hearing coyotes in the distance. Could listen to them half the night. Close to the house?... not so much.

More and more... I am becoming Mr. Pink. The amount of jobs that tipping is becoming expected, for simply doing your job, is bat crap.

Only in our culture is this normal, elsewhere, companies pay their people properly. Why in the fudge does a service tech need tipping that is analyzing your phone? "Yep, that's a cracked screen right there. Wanna tip me for my awesome work today?".

My God, we just ordered pizza last night. The same combo that was $25 less than two years ago, is now $40. Not only is there a $5 delivery fee, but a new $2 service fee, and ya still gotta tip for paying someone to do their job. There's no real quality difference on how someone drives from point A to B.

At a sit down restaurant, where the waiter/waitress goes above and beyond, and/or the food is fantastic... Please, take my 20%++. We gladly over tip when the service, atomoshere, quality, experience is worth it. For all this other modern bullcrap of simply doing your job... No, I don't need to tip you for making a cup of coffee.

It just sucks, because the consumer can't fix this. If we don't tip, we dick over the employee, not the company, which is screwing over the employee.

Mr. Pink, I feel ya.

https://gizmodo.com/unionized-apple-workers-seek-t...

Also, having my first ever surgery in 30 minutes. First time I've ever been put under... Lots of firsts. Fixing my nose /deviated septum), don't get enough air, explains why I've been a mouth breather my whole life.

Ugh, nervous. Also next few days don't sound fun.

If I don't wake up, been fun ya'll!

Be sure to tip your surgeon.

It is impossible to discuss tipping without getting into the whole political discussion about pay disparities in America. One group would have you believe that increasing wages would mean increased consumer prices, but don't seem to notice that executive wages and prices increased significantly while line workers wages were pretty much stagnant. At least one state recently lowered the minimum age for working (going back to child labor) in order to allow employers to keep their wages low. Employers can justify paying a child a lower wage because children aren't having to support themselves. Employers used to justify paying women less because the woman's income was just supplementing the income of the primary "breadwinner".

I think I've told this story here before, but in the mid-70s I worked for McDonald's when Congress passed the law increasing (in steps) the minimum wage from $1.65 to $2.25. McDonald's lobbied Congress for an exemption by claiming how much it would harm their business. They lost. A few months after that, I read a restaurant magazine the left in our breakroom that included an article which stated "McDonald's expects to MORE THAN MAKE UP for the increase in minimum wage by increasing the price of their soft drinks by $0.05."

Old story about Lou Holtz. Notre Dame got a post-season bowl bid that many people didn't think they deserved. When Holtz was eating breakfast, his waiter asked him "What is the difference between Notre Dame and Cheerios? Cheerios belong in a bowl." Holtz replied, "What is the difference between Lou Holtz and a golf pro? A golf pro would give you a tip."

Hope it is all going well, Bean!

Porksta wrote:

Hahaha, well played!

Tonight's the night. Popping the ol' question to the lady. Her sister has a bit of an elaborate shtick set up which I'm not wild about but I'm sure it'll make my soon-to-be fiance happy so I'll live. Not really "nervous" more than I just want to get it over with lol. I know, pretty romantic of me.

@MrBean hope the surgery goes well. I'll probably be doing the same one in a couple months.

@theJaw good luck! Hope it's a fantastic experience for both of you!

@SwiftJAB Thanks brother

@MrBean I may not ENTIRELY agree with your stance on tipping (the billion dollar companies should probably just stop being garbage to their employees), but I do hope the ol' surgery goes well my friend. You're gonna come out of it stronger than ever.

theJaw wrote:

Hell yeah man, good luck and congrats!

Surgery went well. I was amazed at how quick and easy I was under and then awake, so crazy!

Now I'm dealing with a non stop, stuffy, mucusy, bloody nose... It's awful. Gives me an excuse to not work and be super lazy though!

Sitting here working on Jedi Survivor as I constantly have to ignore the awfulness going on in my nose. It's not the worst thing, just awkward and uncomfortable. Just trying to ignore it and keep taping up new bandages to absorb the blood... Super fun!

Have fun! Hope it all goes smoothly!

theJaw wrote:

MrBean wrote:


Yes, cause it's so much nicer elsewhere outside of a handful of other countries.




You can put a 0 in the tip section.

Tipping: tip where you feel it is deserved and not when it isn't. Tipping was once a signal for great friendly service. I love to reward that. If I get bad service...no, I'm not going to tip that.

Anyhow she said yes yall.

Let us know when you are selling your stuff.

Oh you know I will.

theJaw wrote:

Oh the regret she'll have!

Haha congrats man!! How old are you two? Are kids in the future?

Congratulations Jaw!!

Congrats!

theJaw wrote:

rayzor6 wrote:

This is a huge over-simplification, unfortunately. That is what people are mentioning here -- that it simply isn't like that any more. People are expecting tips for "average" service now -- it is just part of their pay. So, whether or not it is "deserved" varies greatly. Is it "deserved" based on "great friendly service"? In many cases, no. But many would argue that it is still "deserved" so that they get closer to a living wage. Of course, the flip side of that is, as said above, their employers should pay them a living wage without relying on tips for just doing their jobs normally.

So, it is an over-simplification today to say "tip for great/extra/special service, but don't tip for bad service." Pretty much everyone agrees with that already. It comes down to what you do about being asked to tip for service that is right in the middle of "great" and "bad". The average/normal service. Tipping has become expected for that in many situations now. And whether or not that is "right" is the complex part.

Well said @John

TIP originally stood for To Insure Promptness

Several years ago I was a Secret Shopper for a restaurant chain. In order to get my payment, I had to fill out a survey after each visit. The survey essentially defined each level of service from the minimum requirements to outstanding. After a few months, they apparently caught on to me and my service was outstanding.

theJaw wrote:

And now begins the three ring circus: Engagement ring, wedding ring, suffering.

MrBean wrote:

Good to hear that everything went well.

When I was young and had my tonsils removed, they told me that I was fighting them on the table so they had to give me a second dose of the anesthetic. In recovery I was told that most people throw up after the surgery and this helped get it out of their system. I never quite felt like throwing up, so it took me longer to recover.

When I had my first colonoscopy a few years ago, they explained the new anesthesia (at least for this procedure) started working almost immediately and you began to wake up almost immediately after it was stopped. Compared to the previous times I had been put under, it was great.

John wrote:

I agree that I missed the basic notion of the post....my apologies.

Question: should their false expectation of compensation be carried out in peer pressure style for all of us? You say it isn't like that anymore...why not? You are completely in the driver seat on whether you tip(yes, including asking at restaurants if they automatically put in the tip for certain sized parties or just in general). So make tipping your own again and don't worry about clashing with false expectations. For the record: I'm very PRO-tipping, but I'm not going to be pressured into when it isn't something I feel should be tipped.

I got help at Home Depot the other day...I'm not going to give him a fiver for telling me where the drywall supplies are.

rayzor6 wrote:


This is what's happening though. The article is stating that the Apple union workers are trying to implement a tipping system. Same concept as home depot, same as Starbucks. Why should we have to offset a low wage employee, doing their job, when their company should be paying them adequately? Regardless of that scenario, the expectation is set to tip when it's visible. Christ, even subway now has a tipping mechanism at check out, and you feel obligated to do so.

Now sure, in any one of these scenarios, if the employee was amazing, and there wasn't a tip system, I'd still tip. Dude came to my house last week to honor my Herman Miller chair warranty. He fixed the problem and replaced crap he didn't need to, just so that I could get the most of my warranty. Gave the guy $20 because that's going above and beyond.

Making a standard cup of coffee, telling me my phone screen is broke, dropping off a pizza? Yeah, none of these are above standard quality, it's your job. Don't push the agenda and make tipping expected, then offsetting emoloyee wages. Sadly, that's what's happened and continues to get worse.

theJaw wrote:

Congratulations!

MrBean wrote:

I understand now. Yeah...I'm not doing that. I just won't support any company that is going to put the burden on ME to 'tip' regular employees because you don't want to pay them

Porksta wrote:
😅

Deleted my Twitter the other day. I made the right decision. It’s a total time waster, and a cesspool.

Went to go see Jurrasic Quest today with my Wife and daughter, my sister. We left the restaurant and I was following my sisters, I noticed as we were turning a cloud of dust and traffic slowed. Seen 4 vehicles pull over and 2 others on from the other direction and people were running towards the cloud. As we got closer we seen that it was a motorcycle and a body laying next to it not moving. We kept going, to many people were stopping and it was going to cause a headache when police and medics showed up. We got to our destination maybe 5 min later and I asked my sister what she seen, and she said that a smaller white car (I seen pulled over just passed the accident) changed lanes and hot the motorcycle. She said he was likely dead. That was also my thoughts since he basically lost control and right into a concrete column. I am sitting in bed now thinking about it, thinking about this person that was on his way someplace and in a blink was gone. Earlier I was at Costco with my wife, daughter and sister and I made a dark joke about it and realized I tend to do this to cope.

Thanks for all the congrats and mildly horrifying warnings yall. @MrBean I’m 33 and she’s 29, we’ve been dating since I was 21 and she was 18. As for kids, time will tell. We only want one if so, but considering I get anxious by having a kitten I imagine I’ll just exist as a human panic attack if I had a real child. We’ll see!

rayzor6 wrote:

I don't think so myself, no, but lots of people do. Especially those getting those tips who are underpaid in their normal pay. In other words, they recognize that they are not getting enough, so tipping requests are their only options. So, I don't WANT to encourage that or support that, of course -- but then again I don't want those people to be so underpaid. It's a tricky situation. In general, for me personally, I don't tip at fast food places.


Because corporate greed has managed to shift the blame for their underpaying onto the consumer.


I tend to agree -- but I also support the plight of the workers who seem clearly underpaid in many positions today who have to rely more and more on tips to get them closer to a living wage. That is why I argue that it is "more complex" than just deciding that you're not going to do it. If you don't, that's fine -- but in many cases it also isn't the employee's fault either. Their employers are underpaying them with the hope that they get tips. Again, their employers have shifted that blame to us. Some of them see it that way. Some do not.


Yes, I tend to feel that way too -- but the reality is that I DO "support" some of those companies. I kinda have to if I want to eat. My close places to eat at lunch if I go out are Qdoba, Noodles, Panera Bread, and a few others. ALL of them give the option to tip now at check-out. My stopping going there often hurts those employees more than the employer.

In other words, as I said, it is indeed more complex than just "I won't support any company that does this." They ALL do this now.

Well said John...it's definitely not a black and white issue on any of those fronts and I poorly presented it that way. I think we all need to do what is best for us BUT I really would hate to 'teach' those companies that when they unfairly pass me their expense: that I need to cover it. I feel for the people there but like you said: I feel they are passing that onto us in order to NOT have to raise prices themselves.

Indeed -- that is exactly what they are doing.

This article includes two phrases that sum up the current state of tipping: "emotional blackmail" and "tipping fatigue"

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/customers-being...

I feel the way they do it in Taiwan is a great system, if you get takeout or delivery, nothing is expected. If you eat in a restaurant, they charge you a 10% service fee for eating in, and make sure you agree with it before you even order.

That way you aren't paying for service if you go pickup your food etc, everyone gets paid a normal wage, and they have a small delivery fee if you get delivery (about $1.50 US or less) and the drivers are paid a normal wage plus cost of gas etc.

Nowhere else to post this… fudgein Celtics, atta boy.

When you can't sleep because it's uncomfortably warm, you know it's time for the AC.

I was texting and wanted to write the word "have." I just barely missed every letter somehow and instead wrote "jsbr." I sent the text anyway. Wasn't in the mood to deal with another keyboard change. When I want to write something, the keyboard changes it. But when I type a mistake, the keyboard doesn't correct it. Well, at least the keyboard's behavior is somewhat consistent.

So I was making a salad and was going to use ranch dressing, but there just wasn't quite enough in the bottle for my liking, but then I realized that I also had some blue cheese dressing in the fridge, so I just mixed the two together and it was wonderful! Why didn't I think if this sooner? Now I want to try mixing other dressings.

citizen_zane wrote:
Sounds good. I could see ranch pairing well with blue cheese. They both have that 🧀 yness flavor. To me, ranch has a cheeselike flavor going on. And blue cheese well, it's already 🧀.

Go for it. Make other mixtures. You can discover great combos by experimenting.

A relative of mine asked me if I could order something for them. I ordered it, but instead of their name I addressed it to: Dragon drinking from a flagon.

The last time I ordered something for them I addressed it to: Broccoli

It's just more fun this way.

I once sent things to my brother addressed to McButtock and Son.

I didnt think much about it until he texted me and said he had an urgent question, and when I asked him what was up, he said he needed to know whether he was McButtock or whether he was Son.

benstylus wrote:

I do this with checks and Venmo.. If I send someone money, i put int he notes "penis enlargement surgery help" or "boob job fund"... just makes it more fun for the banker

shadyfozzie wrote:

I used to put "sensual massage" in the notes field on checks (back when you used to send checks to buy stuff on ebay!) until someone sent his wife to deposit it and she noticed and he had some 'splainin to do.

So now I try to be a little more careful to not do things that could have ramifications beyond a harmless joke.

benstylus wrote:
Yeah, if you can make a harmless joke at nobody's expense, then why not.

shadyfozzie wrote:

I'd be careful with this. PayPal / Venmo don't allow using their services for "adult content" or services of any kind, and sending joke payment comments can get accounts flagged, limited, or banned. I know several artists who were affected by that crap. It's not fun.

Imagine if you die in a game, the cartridge (or file if it's digital) stops working immediately.

You can either keep buying copies of the game, or up your skill so that you don't die.

nonamesleft wrote:

You have just described the concept of free to play mobile games

Actually, hasn't he just described 80s stand-up video games that took a quarter...

Hrm ... I think it's time for me to buy a new softball bat. I haven't bought one in years as I tend to miss ~40% of the games and just use everyone elses bats like a jerk.

https://smacrapsports.com/products/2023-easton-mar...

Man, I had a great place of emotional growth recently. My wife and I got into a spat over mowing the lawn and my not wanting to do it because I had just fixed my deck belt and I don't trust my handy work that something wasn't going to fly out. My wife was worried it was going to rain and that I was not going to mow at all and got upset, especially because our neighbors with the exception of the husband and 1 grandchild: they treated us like CRAP when we kept trying to reach out and be friendly...but that's a whole other thing.

Anyway, I felt like I was being treated like my opinion was nothing and I got mad because I won't talk to her the way she was talking to me. I blew up and I just felt trapped...not in my marriage but just in life because work is still up in the air as far as whether this company is going to work out and I can take EITHER work or home being chaos, but not both.

So my wife and I start talking about it and I realize that I was a total hypocrite on many things I claim are important. My communication sucked. I gave 20% of the info and expected her to just trust me on the rest and then didn't communicate at all once she pushed back.

I realized that getting mad all the time sucks and is the catalyst for how I feel miserable all the time. It's pride. My work shouldn't treat me this way, my wife shouldn't talk to me this way, etc, etc.

I have created this tendency that says "I will show you respect and YOU need to show me the same or else" and honestly: some of the things I considered disrespect towards me are stupid. Like at work, I cannot create a quote in Salesforce without it going to another pricebook that isn't applicable and it ruins the whole thing. I'm mad because no one seems to consider it important and I have to keep bringing it up. Yes, Ray...you can do that. You aren't that important that people are going to rally around you and try to fix your problem.

Anyway, once I saw how hypocritical and wrong I was...when I thought I was in the right: I've really changed. I don't get mad anymore because I don't like that feeling. I used to joke around ALL the time and it's been nice to getting back to that and feeling like I'm enjoying each day rather than wanting to be ended.

TL:DR: I was wrong and seeing myself be wrong taught me that my approach in life sucked and to stop being a douche. I'm happy for it! :D

Pride is the worst. Definitely been blinded by it in the past and it's taken it's toll in some of my relationships. Hope your new perspective brings you a much more joyful life.

Ever see a school bus rumble by and leave a large cloud of smoke in its wake?

That can't be good.

Cherry tomatoes are the Crunch Berries® of salad.

They even sell the oops all berries version!

bill wrote:

Cherry tomatoes are tasteless water balloons.

That was one of the craziest finishes to a Celtics game I've ever seen. gosh darn.

After eating about 1/4 of my food from Buffalo Wild Wings, I started feeling like I can't eat anymore... that's when I started thinking "I'm going to start eating like a rabbit now and just eat veggies," but then I thought "Wait a minute... I've seen quite a few fat rabbits in the wild.... HOW are they fat rabbits if they only eat veggies?"

HybridCRoW wrote:
Ha. Maybe their bodies process veggies in a different way and they're able to gain weight from vegetables much more easily than compared to if a person were to eat carrots and celery?

nonamesleft wrote:


Gorillas are vegetarian and you never see one working out.

Tony wrote:
There muscles are made like that. The issue is as a result, they need more calories and eat more. Humans on the other hand can change muscle mass overtime. Also vegetables can be high in fat and calories at times.

Well didn't know that Steam releases new games at 11AM instead of midnight. Kind of find it odd they do that or is that title to title.

HybridCRoW wrote:

I'm a fat (-ish) vegetarian. It can be done pretty easily.

Oreos are vegan. 🤷‍♀️

I’m diabetic. That was a diagnosis today, but I’ve thought it was going on for awhile. The constant thirst, the need to pee every couple of hours, random napping that I found wasn’t so random but it was happening after I ate. I have a circle thing on my arm and I need to scan it every whenever, apparently. Oh and I get to shoot myself in the ab once a day.

I have a lot of food and drinks that aren’t diabetic friendly. This will be fun, except for the part where I actually have fun. It’ll be a whole lot of change awfully fast, but I need to do it. If anyone has tips let me know.

Maybe I can eat carrots and ranch from B Dubs and be alright.

John wrote:

Oreos are just sugar and vegetable oil pressed into a cookie like shape.

Well, yes, I know. My point was that it is easy to eat vegetarian ("like a bunny") and still end up fat.

BucketofJustice wrote:

I use a Libre sensor as well... I like it because I type a lot so less painful with my fingers.

I'm on once weekly injection and 2 oral medications right now. I've been losing weight for the past 2 years... I'm now no longer able to drink alcohol, even though I rarely drink alcohol anyways but due to medications, have to avoid alcohol now.

Food-wise I also struggle, but I have been limiting to HOW MUCH I eat and it has helped with blood sugars. You're going to feel like crap for awhile when your sugar levels go down, so just push through it. I struggle on the food because I'm single, live alone, and every time I get fruits and veggies, it all goes bad before I have a chance to use it all... Also, I'm not consistent on my eating habits such as I'm not a breakfast person, so I don't have a meal in the morning... and it's difficult to have my breaks and lunch meal at work because of how they keep making all these rules and crap.

HybridCRoW wrote:

I’m pretty much in the same situation. Single, but with a roommate. We have separate food setups and refrigerators and stuff, so I pretty much get to do what I want and that hasn’t been great for me food wise… with pretty much the same issues as you seem to have. I’m with once daily injections and some pill I have to take once a day with food. I just went grocery shopping yesterday and I apparently have a bunch of crap I shouldn’t eat. That is a problem I never thought I’d have. I’ll do what you’re saying though and limit how much I eat, since I haven’t been doing that ever.

When LED light bulbs came onto the market many years ago, my wife and I were excited and converted over to using them in many places in the house. Years later, I ended up unhappy with a couple situations using a dimmer that LEDs didn't work great for. The other day, I went to the store to find some incandescent bulbs and I couldn't find any. Eventually, I realized they are basically illegal now. *pout*

Yea, Easy Bake Oven lovers are in the same boat.

I believe that dimmable LEDs have come a long way though -- so you can get those now and they seem to be decent?

I did get some new dimmable ones, but I haven't tried them yet. Previous dimmables have had issues (e.g. they are inconsistent and low-light levels), so I'm not expecting much. Maybe it has been years though and they are great now. I will try again.

So, I can safely say that I've had Popeye's Chicken and I'm sad to say that it is NOT the shiznit. It's not bad, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's "the shiznit."

HybridCRoW wrote:

Popeye's quality REALLY varies by location. The one near me is awful, but the one in Evansville is pretty decent

benstylus wrote:

Quality in all fast food restaurants varies greatly between locations and even within the same restaurant. If my most recent experiences at McDonald's, BK, and Wendy's were my first time, I would not return to any of them. Most of the time I order the Quarter Pounder from McDonald's because it is the only item they make to order. The last several visits to both Qdobas in my city have been so poor that I won't be going back for awhile. For my tastes, Popeye's is one of the better fast food restaurants. I've never gotten lukewarm food in a Popeye's meal. In my opinion, the red beans and rice is one of the best side dishes available at any fast food place. When I use coupons or the "free two piece snack" deal from completing the survey, it is one of the best values available today. The only complaint I've had with Popeye's is that sometimes the pieces are pretty small, but often I'm given three small pieces in a "two piece meal" without asking.

Popeyes is inconsistent as crap. There’s a few here in OKC and none some are good and some are not. Some that were good, aren’t the next time and vice versa. They all look like their building could use a good washing, too.

Remember when people were buying a ton of the chicken sandwiches and putting them on ebay?? I mean, yeah, the sandwich is pretty good, but people went INSANE for them...

I find that hilarious as the Popeye's that used to be in my area was so bad...I had a friend who was a notorious cheapskate and even HE threw his sandwich away because it was so bad.

Yeah the Popeye's near my spot is absolutely awful. McDonald's may be terrible for you, but at least the food tastes alright. My Popeye's absolutely doesn't.

Raspberries are part of the rose family. I wonder if there are as many colored raspberries as there are roses.

You guys hear about this David Grusch fellow? Apparently a whistleblower from one of the highest military ranks who alleges that the military has a "UFO retrieval program" and that they have an intact "non-human craft". I haven't looked too deep into it yet so I'm not sure if this is all nonsense but he apparently plans to have an interview on Sunday. Some lawmakers are urging info from the Pentagon who are, of course, denying it.

Pretty fun stuff, real or not. Will be interesting to see what he says in the interview if it really happens.

Years ago I lent Sword of Mana and Children of Mana to a friend of mine. We used to lend each other games. I remember borrowing Oracle of Ages from him. I was pretty bad at the game. Couldn't figure stuff out.

Never got the Mana games back. Every so often I wonder if he still has the games. No idea if I'll get them back. Would be cool if I did though. You never know.

Haven't seen this guy in years. I think he moved to England. Had some great times with this friend. I wonder what he's up to.

nonamesleft wrote:

He's somewhere in England... playing your Mana games.

BloodPuppetX wrote:
Ha. Made me laugh.

He was a good friend though, so I hope he's at least enjoying the games.

theJaw wrote:

I have heard about it. There is some hope that this is one of the better "whistleblower" situations. The problem right now is that everything he has is what he has heard from others. He has no direct contact/sight on anything that he's talking about, unfortunately. It is all "I have a high-up friend who told me..." stuff.

That being said, because of him, there are OTHERS that are allegedly going to come forward who DID have direct sight on these alleged objects. So, that will be the "real" story if we get that far. Everything else is basically hearsay.

Yeah, all I've been able to gather from this particular story so far is that, for once, the UFO community seem to actually be on board with what this guy's saying and aren't immediately poo-pooing it, which is apparently the common way these things pan out. Why that is, I have no idea, but it's interesting nonetheless.

I agree. This seems more "hopeful" even for many of the skeptics than in the past. It's kinda neat. We'll see what comes of it.

I don't understand something about ads in middle of videos. If I'm watching an episode of a show, and there are a bunch of ads, when the ads start playing, I do something else. I typically don't stay for the ads, nor am I interested in them. Who are the ads targeting?

Superbowl ads can be fun, but that's different.

Your typical everyday ad. I don't get it.

Yeah, I don't understand how advertising is profitable. Everyone seems to hate ads and skip them whenever possible. I'm more likely to NOT buy something if I'm forced to watch their ad too many times.

Ads have been around through ages... The companies pay other companies to place their ads where they place them. Then it becomes a whole psychological thing, sublminal messages, whatever you want to call it to get you to buy products and that's how companies make their money back and then some.

If it's a product by the same company you're watching the videos from, could be another division of the company, kind of like how the tobacco companies and the snack companies are actually one company.

What gets me about advertising is how much profit a company has to be making in order to pay for running a commercial. Does a commercial, in a particular time slot, really increase sales sufficiently to pay for itself and generate additional revenue? A 30 second commercial time slot during the Super Bowl costs over a million dollars. Budweiser probably pays about a million to get a Super Bowl worthy commercial made. How many additional cans of beer do they have to sell to pay to pay for the commercial and the one Super Bowl time slot? How many cans would they have sold without that commercial?

I never noticed a difference, but when I worked at McDonald's the manager told me that he could see a difference in sales of whatever product was being promoted in the current commercials.

I sold radio advertising as my first job. It works. The constant of any message over longer periods of time is going to increase sales. And at some point...a LACK of advertising will hurt sales. Out of sight, out of mind.

If you don't believe you can be affected by constant messaging: those old enough...think about your own politically charged feelings now versus 15 years ago. Advertising IS trying to create or keep an 'agenda' and we all fall prey to it.

Yep. It matters. It makes a difference. I used to write the scripts for commercials for local advertising.

hahaha...weak minded neg just proves my point

This is late to the tipping discussion. But I don't think it is feasible for the restaurants to pay a living wage without raising the prices to where the couldn't compete with the other restaurants. I have two jobs one as a bartender and one as a manager at a fast casual restaurant with counter service, where tips are pooled and split between everyone working on the shift, those that cooked the food and did the dishes as well as the person who took your order. Why are people against tipping a barista pouring them a coffee but will gladly tip a bartender for pouring them a beer, other than that it is the culturally accepted norm in the United States? In other countries where tips are not the norm you don't get as good service in my experience, and every time someone doesn't tip it feels like a personal insult because it is now becoming normal to tip at a counter restaurant or coffee shop. The restaurant industry is underpaid but those that make a career out of it are passionate about it, and / or are unable to hold down any other job due to mental health issues etc and deserve a living wage which is currently gotten via tips

I think it's all the 'new' entries to WHO put out the expectations of tips and the concern that companies are claiming to pay X+ "you get tips" when in reality; you aren't going to get tips.

That is putting the burden of offering good pay directly on us: the consumer.

And for me, the tipping automatically before any tip-worthy service has happened is becoming a problem. I was at an Everbowl last week and and as soon as the big screen that says what to tip came and gone (and I tipped 20%); the person who was serving me (NOT the one who made the 2 bowls I order) IMMEDIATELY stopped doing things. She was putting the lid on my bowl and stopped and turned around and went into the kitchen the second I was off the tip screen and it was given. If the other person wasn't so nice and did a great job with our two bowls: I would have probably called corporate. But I knew the good one was splitting it with Ms. Lazy; so I just let it go.

Tipping is meant to be a gratuity, not a requirement. When you have the services like DoorDash and such requiring the tips up front and then the person delivering your food doesn't deliver as expected, such as handing it to you, or communicate that you've arrived, or whatever it is that they did wrong.. you're rewarding them for bad service? That's essentially "participation trophy," and "entitlement."

I'm not against tipping, I'm just against mandatory tips. I've worked a job as a teenager where I got tips and I didn't know I was going to potentially get them. I appreciated them when I got them because it proved I was doing a great job and it pushed me to do better every time. I never expected them either and still pushed myself to do a better job in any way I can.

Tips wouldn't have to be mandatory if restaurants actually paid a living wage.

Also Doordash and similar companies often pocket much of the tips you "give" through the apps. I just give people tips in cash instead whenever I can.

Why does tofu have a semi bad reputation? It doesn't have a bad taste, and is a great addition to things like soups. But I've rarely heard anyone get excited for a tofu based dish. Well, except for the guy in the recent ad I saw. He claims to use tofu in a certain dish. (And then a woman says that she gets a hummus wrap for lunch, something like that.) The ad wasn't even selling a product. It was saying to eat more veggies.

Can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm actually going to look for the ad. Yeah, you read that right. I'm purposely looking for an ad. I'm curious what the dish was that the guy made. Some sort of tofu veggie stew.

I've actually had fried tofu before... it was YUMMAY!!! At least I think it was fried... there was also some kind of spicy sauce involved as well... kind of gave it a sweetness moreso than spicy.

Tofu stir fry is awesome

@rayzor6 @HybridCRoW

Two people who have good things to say about tofu. Nice.

Aside from not seeing tofu served that often, I hardly see it on menus either. Occasionally you spot a dish or two, but that's it. Maybe it's just that it's more known/widely used in Asian cultures?

Fun fact: Soy is one of the most genetically modified crops in the world.

I had stinky tofu in Taiwan. No thanks.

Porksta wrote:
I haven't had it, but that seems different than having something like hot and sour soup with bits of tofu in it or stir fried tofu. I would think stinky tofu is an acquired taste.

Martha Stewart has a pretty delicious Tofu dessert recipe. It's basically a lemon creme (with the tofu being the bulk of the creme) with berries on/in it

I've had a Korean breakfast.... kimchi, rice, spam, fried egg.... DELICIOSO!!!

I don’t have a lot of experience with tofu outside of miso soup. It’s delicious in miso soup.

There’s a pop culture con thing here next weekend. There’s a few wrestlers that are going to be there. Jerry Lawler was supposed to be there, but he pulled out because he had a stroke a few months ago. They replaced him with Scott Steiner. I hope he’s cool about being asked to autograph 141 2/3 per cents chance of winning on the picture I buy.

There’s some other anime people that are supposed to be there, and a few of the actors that have been in the Ninja Turtles costumes for movies or whatever. I’m sure it’s gonna be great.

benstylus wrote:
I think someone mentioned this one to me. Is it a recipe that gets blended?

nonamesleft wrote:

So, I'm a vegetarian, so I've got quite a bit of experience with tofu -- both making some things myself and, more commonly, seeing it on a menu at a restaurant with limited veggie options. And I think I can answer your question about it getting a bad rep like this: Because people don't know how to prepare it.

Like you said, tofu doesn't taste bad. In fact, to me, it pretty much tastes like nothing. It's just a blank taste to me. You have to DO something with it. Also, unless you do some prep work, tofu kinda has a horrible texture to me and many people. So, by default, it is a non-colorful, non-tasty, bad-texture food. That's not good.

So, GOOD tofu has this:

It is prepped right so that the texture is more firm -- like biting into chicken kinda. (You do this by buying extra firm and then freezing it before you use it.)
It is soaked in some sort of SOMETHING for flavor.
It is often breaded or coated with something.

My two favorite uses for tofu: hot/spicy "chicken" wings (where I do them in strips with Soy Sauce and Frank's RedHot) or Peppered tofu (breaded and pepper-coated cubes on rice).

All that being said, I'm NOT really a fan of tofu in soups like many others. Because, again, it usually ends up being just cubes of tastelessness.

The one time I attempted to make tofu, I was too excited to give it a try and ended up rushing the prep. My pal told me how to do it but I just got it, placed it in sauce, let it soak in the sauce in the fridge for a while, and then tried to cook it. It came out mushy, as I assume most folks who dislike tofu have experienced.

I definitely want to give it another try because I definitely need to eat healthier, and by all accounts tofu is great when prepared correctly as John said.

Yup. That's the key to the prep. Buy it and put it straight into the freezer (water and all in the normal container it comes in). It'll freeze into a solid brick. When you want to use it, put it in the fridge a couple days beforehand to thaw. Once thawed, open and drain the water -- and then squeeze all the extra water out (preferrably with a Tofu press, but you can just put like a plate on it and some heavy books or something).

THEN you cut it up into whatever (cubes, strips) and use it. MUCH, much better texture.

John wrote:
Freezing it changes the texture even upon it being fully thawed?

How do you make those two dishes you mentioned?

nonamesleft wrote:

Yes, absolutely.


Here's the Black Pepper Tofu recipe. Just note that this is a UK site though and it assumes a weird (for the USA) sized Tofu! It says "800g firm tofu" and the typical USA store-bought is HALF that. So you'll either need to HALF this recipe or do two normal USA tofu containers. The first time I made it, I didn't notice that and it was WAY too much pepper! Also, I don't always stick to the recipe. I make it with whatever I have. So, I never have the 3 different soy sauces it mentions, for example. I just use a normal soy sauce (like Kikoman or whatever) that you'd buy in the store. And I used some dry shake-on onions and chili pepper flakes instead of all the fresh stuff. So, again, really pretty modified and it was still very good. My wife loves this one.

And here's the Crispy Baked Buffalo Tofu Wings one. These I do just like it says -- minus the parsley because that isn't my thing.

Huh. Kikkoman sells a Black Pepper Noodle Kit that's probably close to that. (You add the protein and veggies to it, the ingredients imply that it's actually vegan. It says you have to use 4oz of beef, but I use a lot more since it has way too much sauce for a single meal. It should work with prepared tofu...)

https://kikkomanusa.com/homecooks/products/black-p...

John wrote:
Thanks! Looking forward to trying these out some time.

I lived in Taiwan for many years, there are different types of stinky tofu, some of them even tolerable. That said, it'd never be something I chose first to eat, we haven't been back for 4 years, going back this summer and my wife has been terrorizing my son with how they're gonna try it. (I'm terrorized, he doesn't understand yet so he's excited to try it haha)

I lived next to a night market and you could smell the stall more than a block away before you could even see it. Luckily not at my place but I had to walk by it every night, kudos to whomever was starving enough to first eat something that smells like an open sewer lol

ChrisKW1 wrote:
Never had stinky tofu. Smell aside, how's the taste?

Today there was this endless stream of cars during the afternoon. Just cars, and cars, and more cars, then more cars. And then more cars. Then some more. They just wouldn't stop.

I thought to myself "This non stop flow of traffic tastes like sad"

nonamesleft wrote:


There are two main common types in Taiwan (at least in Taipei where I lived): fried or stewed. The fried is far milder in flavor, almost a cheese like flavor, if you can get past the smell. If you load it up with the pickled cabbage etc they sell it with, it's passable, to me at least. The stewed stuff is 100x worse smelling, and way stronger in flavor, to me it tasted like cheese that had gone way bad, almost a rotten meat after taste. 100/10 would never try it that way again.

The only time I had tofu where the texture wasn't off putting was in a tofurkey where they actually layered the tofu in very small strands to simulate the texture of meat. That said it was salty as hell and I'd much rather just had turkey which was probably healthier considering the additives. Nothing against tofu, but I'm very much a textural eater, and the 6 or so times I had tofu only the once was it edible for me. With 3d printing of food perhaps that will one day change.

I went to the Taylor Swift concert in Pittsburgh this past weekend and can't stop thinking about how good it was. It was a huge crowd at over 73,000 (set the record for the stadium) and the show rocked harder than any actual rock band I have ever seen. I was sitting in an upper section and could feel the stadium shaking for nearly the whole show. Taylor played 44 songs over a 3 hour period without any kind of an intermission which was impressive in itself. The lines for food, drinks, etc were also very manageable once the show started. Even if you aren't into her music, I would highly recommend seeing her live if you ever get the chance. What an entertainer!

Dang, 44 songs over 3 hours? That's insane!

sa330206 wrote:

any surprise/special guests??

shadyfozzie wrote:

She brought out Aaron Dessner to play "August" on the Piano. Her other "surprise" song was The Story of Us. I really want to see her again but she just announced international dates through August 2024 so it will be a long time.

ChrisKW1 wrote:
100/10? . It's that pungent, huh? Do people enjoy it, or is it the kind of food that's simply easy to make and plentiful?

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