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"all natural" cheetos?Yeah, he got me lost at it too.{adjusts foil-lined "Hisstoree Teechur" hat} While many are aware of Indigenous Americans pioneering agricultural achievement of planting The Three Sisters crops, few are aware of the similar discovery by goblin agriengineers to simultaneously grow the complementary Three Gamer's crops: the stalky Cheetous dangerousi cheesus plant, the climbing Doritous tortillamus vines, and the mini-ground vegetable, Porkita rindus. These crops alone are the backbone of the US national agribusiness economy, with annual net profits of over $148 a year.
There is no truth to the rumor, however, that Cheetos are Shub-Niggurath tendrils summoned into this dimension by erecting specially-attuned natural stone sundials. None. So eat all you want. Eat.
CONSUME OF HER DARK MAJESTY'S FLESH
O no.
EDIT : O NUUUUDE.
EDIT 2: The wonderful sound of the Fender Rhodes electric piano
That's good stuff, Limey.
Be safe, John.
Different topic:
When you wake up to this coursing through your brainmeats and can't get back to sleep... :>
*looks at his deep dish 5 dollar lunch combo* >_>
Would that I could bring you real pizza.
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Last night for mother-in-law's birthday we took her out to Corso, both because Rivoli is no more and because we wanted to give it a second chance. And for better or for worse, we figured out what's wrong with the place:
- The service was excellent.
- The food was quite good.
- The prices were comparable to Rivoli.
- The noise level was such that mother-in-law and I couldn't even converse at a yell from two seats apart.
It really was astonishing. The place was no more crowded than Rivoli usually is. There wasn't background music that you had to raise your voice to speak over. Yet somehow because the place was near downtown Berkeley instead of Albany, every single patron was trying to yell over all the other patrons.
What really amazed me is that we had a group of regulars next to us, and they were yelling so loudly that I could hear their conversation clearly from 8' away, when my poor mother-in-law couldn't make herself heard over them from only 3' away. Yet when they finally packed up and left, the noise level didn't abate.
I don't know whether it's the building design, or the clientele, or what, but Corso is a deafeningly LOUD restaurant; so much so that conversation with anyone not immediately next to you is impossible.
So we won't be going back. I feel bad for the place; there's nothing they can do about it. But holy carp, this morning my ears feel like I was at a concert last night, and I was just out to a "quiet" dinner.
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Last night for mother-in-law's birthday we took her out to Corso, both because Rivoli is no more and because we wanted to give it a second chance. And for better or for worse, we figured out what's wrong with the place:
- The service was excellent.
- The food was quite good.
- The prices were comparable to Rivoli.
- The noise level was such that mother-in-law and I couldn't even converse at a yell from two seats apart.It really was astonishing. The place was no more crowded than Rivoli usually is. There wasn't background music that you had to raise your voice to speak over. Yet somehow because the place was near downtown Berkeley instead of Albany, every single patron was trying to yell over all the other patrons.
What really amazed me is that we had a group of regulars next to us, and they were yelling so loudly that I could hear their conversation clearly from 8' away, when my poor mother-in-law couldn't make herself heard over them from only 3' away. Yet when they finally packed up and left, the noise level didn't abate.
I don't know whether it's the building design, or the clientele, or what, but Corso is a deafeningly LOUD restaurant; so much so that conversation with anyone not immediately next to you is impossible.
So we won't be going back. I feel bad for the place; there's nothing they can do about it. But holy carp, this morning my ears feel like I was at a concert last night, and I was just out to a "quiet" dinner.
I went to Corso once. The antipasti/salumi platter was amazing. The ambiance not so much.
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Working on making some sense out of Hermione's Superfund site bedroom today.
I'm ready to kill her.
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Overall, I complain about noise levels a lot.
And it's because my rule of thumb is very simple: Unless I'm at a concert, movie, construction site, or other area where you'd expect significant ambient noise, I should be able to speak to a person standing face-to-face with me at a normal distance (2 feet or so) at a normal tone of voice and they should be able to hear me.
If they can't, the ambient noise is too loud for my comfort.
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Overall, I complain about noise levels a lot.
And it's because my rule of thumb is very simple: Unless I'm at a concert, movie, construction site, or other area where you'd expect significant ambient noise, I should be able to speak to a person standing face-to-face with me at a normal distance (2 feet or so) at a normal tone of voice and they should be able to hear me.
If they can't, the ambient noise is too loud for my comfort.
Im very noise sensitive and have trouble separating sounds from eachother so high background noise it a big no no for me.
Im very noise sensitive and have trouble separating sounds from eachother so high background noise it a big no no for me.Overall, I complain about noise levels a lot.
And it's because my rule of thumb is very simple: Unless I'm at a concert, movie, construction site, or other area where you'd expect significant ambient noise, I should be able to speak to a person standing face-to-face with me at a normal distance (2 feet or so) at a normal tone of voice and they should be able to hear me.
If they can't, the ambient noise is too loud for my comfort.
For me it's far more, "If this is an environment where normal conversation is expected, you should be able to have a normal conversation:"
- A Farmer's Market, where the primary purpose is buying from vendors- Honestly, any shopping area where you need to converse with a salesperson to complete a transaction
- A restaurant, where the secondary purpose is to converse with your friends while dining
I'm a bit worse than that -- places like fairs, festivals, and theme parks (the Ren Faire, Solano Stroll, Disneyland) should be quiet enough for me to converse with my neighbor.
Thus, when one of these places grossly violates this basic requirement (Corso, the Farmer's Market, the Solano Stroll), I gripe about it.
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I can completely relate to that, Woran. My hearing tests as normal, with very little lasting loss, according to the routine hearing checks performed by a contractor hired by my employer. But I cannot discern certain sounds from others with any reliability. Generally, if there is any background noise at all, you must look me in the face and speak with clarity and force for me to understand what you're telling me (This means that song lyrics are *nightmarish* for me. Got to have that transcription, thanks.). One of my new coworkers is, perhaps, the most soft-spoken fellow I've ever met -- I have had to ask him to repeat himself an embarrassing number of times, and from a distance of less than two feet apart.
Whatever technique or gift it is that allows some people to filter out background audio to focus on the voice of one other person, I either lack the capability altogether, or never learned it.
Most frustrating.
If we ever have a FaWtLcon, just listen for "Pardon?" and "Huh?" in a Tennessee baritone, and you'll know it's me.
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Yeah, it's also my birthday.
Probably should have led with that.
Happy birthday.
Also nice ploy to turn everybody into smurfs.
In fairness, the alias was an experiment to see if I could turn myself into a Smurf without the effort of working it into every conversation (which was the style at the time).
But it turns out it just smurfs anyone that replies to me.
And it also turns out, people either love it or hate it (I get way more angry private messages over getting smurfed then anything else).
I'm not noise sensitive, I just hate being indoors for prolonged periods and crowds.
Music concerts however don't trigger either response.
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(I get way more angry private messages over getting smurfed then anything else).
What a silly thing to get upset over.
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(I get way more angry private messages over getting smurfed then anything else).What a silly thing to get upset over.
It is!
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Yeah, it's also my birthday.
Probably should have led with that.
Happy birthday.
Also nice ploy to turn everybody into snvrphs.In fairness, the alias was an experiment to see if I could turn myself into a Snvrph without the effort of working it into every conversation (which was the style at the time).
But it turns out it just snvrphs anyone that replies to me.
And it also turns out, people either love it or hate it (I get way more angry private messages over getting snvrphs then anything else).
People are angry over being turned small and blue?
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It is!(I get way more angry private messages over getting smurfed then anything else).What a silly thing to get upset over.
They need to get over it. It's a smurf. That's all.
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They need to get over it. It's a smurf. That's all.It is!(I get way more angry private messages over getting smurfed then anything else).What a silly thing to get upset over.
I like to hum or whistle at work occasionally to combat the doldrums, so that gets other people humming or whistling, so last year I hummed or whistled the Smurf theme song almost exclusively (that and Jurassic Park) which got a bunch of the younger guys whistling it. But, because of how time works most of the younger guys had no idea what song they were humming or whistling, so when one of the older guys would hear it they'd ask amusingly "did you get them whistling the Smurf song?!" "Yup!".
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This year I started working "Like a peasant" into things, like "great, now I have to shovel my own rock, like a peasant!" So that got the other lead foremen saying it.
Also, my first year I got everyone saying "Alright, alright, alright!" Like Matthew McConaughey.
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I can completely relate to that, Woran. My hearing tests as normal, with very little lasting loss, according to the routine hearing checks performed by a contractor hired by my employer. But I cannot discern certain sounds from others with any reliability. Generally, if there is any background noise at all, you must look me in the face and speak with clarity and force for me to understand what you're telling me (This means that song lyrics are *nightmarish* for me. Got to have that transcription, thanks.). One of my new coworkers is, perhaps, the most soft-spoken fellow I've ever met -- I have had to ask him to repeat himself an embarrassing number of times, and from a distance of less than two feet apart.
Whatever technique or gift it is that allows some people to filter out background audio to focus on the voice of one other person, I either lack the capability altogether, or never learned it.
Most frustrating.
If we ever have a FaWtLcon, just listen for "Pardon?" and "Huh?" in a Tennessee baritone, and you'll know it's me.
Oh I feel you so much on this. I have actually sensetive hearing fome noises (hello electric whine my old friend). But if, for example, I have water running for doing the dishes, I cant understand a word you're saying.
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Yeah, it's also my birthday.
Probably should have led with that.
Happy birthday.
Also nice ploy to turn everybody into smurfs.In fairness, the alias was an experiment to see if I could turn myself into a Smurf without the effort of working it into every conversation (which was the style at the time).
But it turns out it just smurfs anyone that replies to me.
And it also turns out, people either love it or hate it (I get way more angry private messages over getting smurfed then anything else).
Those people must be secret gargamels.
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I upgraded my Ghost of Tsushima to the Director's Cut.
So that's what I'll be doing this week after work.
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Movies:
Free Guy: I was dragged unwillingly to see this movie, because it looked astonishingly dumb in the previews. I really didn't want to see it, and did just to be social.
And it's a really good movie. Not in the realm of Tremors or Terminator where I'm going to own it so I can re-watch it once every couple of years, but if another group of friends wanted to see it next weekend, I'd happily go with them and pay for it myself. It's worth re-watching. A great big love note to gamers. The little touches are SO believable, such as the main characters talking in the foreground at the noob spawn point and you see a noob practicing jumping in the background (we've all done that). The "evil" corporate game company owner resonates too much with those of us who hang around people who work for gaming companies.
Excellent movie. Don't hesitate to go see it if it interests you at all.
Fear Street 1994, 1978, 1666: Shiro and GothBard watched the first movie while I was on my "backpacking" trip, and GothBard put it quite well, "It was a pretty crappy slasher flick, but it had a fantastic soundtrack, and it made me want to watch the second one."
So they watched Fear Street 1978 with me, since I didn't figure I'd need to see Part I of a slasher trilogy. Turns out Part 2 (1978) was remarkably good for its genre. Watching Part I (1994) after Part 2, I had to agree that Part 1 really isn't very good, even when you're looking for clues from the 1978 movie.
But the 1978 movie was good enough we're looking forward to watching the 1666 movie next weekend -- if it's as good as the 1978 one, it'll be a solid trilogy.
Movies:
Free Guy: I was dragged unwillingly to see this movie, because it looked astonishingly dumb in the previews. I really didn't want to see it, and did just to be social.And it's a really good movie. Not in the realm of Tremors or Terminator where I'm going to own it so I can re-watch it once every couple of years, but if another group of friends wanted to see it next weekend, I'd happily go with them and pay for it myself. It's worth re-watching. A great big love note to gamers. The little touches are SO believable, such as the main characters talking in the foreground at the noob spawn point and you see a noob practicing jumping in the background (we've all done that). The "evil" corporate game company owner resonates too much with those of us who hang around people who work for gaming companies.
Excellent movie. Don't hesitate to go see it if it interests you at all.
I saw the trailer in cinema before The Suicide Squad and I was immediately hooked. I plan to see it, though maybe not this week because of rain. We'll see.
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Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
(2) If you abandon your U.S. citizenship and you want to collect your social security, you have to be careful which country you move to.
(3) While I'm 99% sure you quality as a "Non-Covered Expatriate", make 100% sure you are -- the tax penalties for being a Covered Expatriate are brutal.
Huh. Apparently if you became residents of Poland you could still collect your social security payments.
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** spoiler omitted **Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
At present, still looking into documentation required (like figuring out how to transfer my licensure), but it's almost certainly going to be Canada.
** spoiler omitted **Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
At present, still looking into documentation required (like figuring out how to transfer my licensure), but it's almost certainly going to be Canada.
** spoiler omitted **
GothBard really wants to retire to Scotland so we can spend our retirement touring Europe, but:
(1) Scottish winters(2) Brexit
(3) Exit taxes
After visiting Woran, the Netherlands is a strong contender as well, but the whole, "Global Warming is turning it into the Central Valley of Europe" is an issue.
Sorry, Drejk; I know you want us to retire to Poland, but that's too far east of Paris and London for us...
Honestly, you would get better results with picking more Western European country anyway.
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I shouldn't be entertained that one of the requirements is an English proficiency test.
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I shouldn't be entertained that one of the requirements is an English proficiency test.
My favorite is how flagrant Scotland is about "bribery". You have to satisfy condition A, or condition B, or condition C, or heck, just give us $2 million and you can move on in, no questions asked.
Somehow even my rosiest fiscal predictions don't have me satisfying that particular requirement.
Speaking of $2 million, there is a lovely house for sale in Northern California for nearly that much.
It includes working water mill. Not sure if the pond (or is that a small lake) on the photos is part of the estate or not.
Speaking of $2 million, there is a lovely house for sale in Northern California for nearly that much.
It includes working water mill. Not sure if the pond (or is that a small lake) on the photos is part of the estate or not.
Hang on... there was a great article in the New York Times about "What will $1.7 million buy you in California?", and in Berkeley the answer was a 1246 sq. ft (118 sq. m) house on a 0.1 acre (405 sq. m) lot.
Which doesn't seem like a heck of a lot.
Caveat: I have NoScript always on, so I have no idea whether or not the article is hidden behind a poorly-configured paywall. "If you don't want people reading your article, try actually securing it."
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** spoiler omitted **Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
At present, still looking into documentation required (like figuring out how to transfer my licensure), but it's almost certainly going to be Canada.
** spoiler omitted **
GothBard really wants to retire to Scotland so we can spend our retirement touring Europe, but:
(1) Scottish winters
(2) Brexit
(3) Exit taxesAfter visiting Woran, the Netherlands is a strong contender as well, but the whole, "Global Warming is turning it into the Central Valley of Europe" is an issue.
Sorry, Drejk; I know you want us to retire to Poland, but that's too far east of Paris and London for us...
Scottish independence is far from unlikely in the relatively near future, and they'd pretty much have to rejoin the EU if they did leave the UK...
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I finished The Suicide Squad today, on account of the surprise rain day.
It was actually really good, not as good as Guardians of the Galaxy (which is barely a super hero movie) but better than most Marvel movies and way better than anything DC has put out to date.
Speaking of $2 million, there is a lovely house for sale in Northern California for nearly that much.
It includes working water mill. Not sure if the pond (or is that a small lake) on the photos is part of the estate or not.
Hang on... there was a great article in the New York Times about "What will $1.7 million buy you in California?", and in Berkeley the answer was a 1246 sq. ft (118 sq. m) house on a 0.1 acre (405 sq. m) lot.
Which doesn't seem like a heck of a lot.
Caveat: I have NoScript always on, so I have no idea whether or not the article is hidden behind a poorly-configured paywall. "If you don't want people reading your article, try actually securing it."
Huh. I just discovered that I have No Script but it was disabled.
I finished The Suicide Squad today, on account of the surprise rain day.
It was actually really good, not as good as Guardians of the Galaxy (which is barely a super hero movie) but better than most Marvel movies and way better than anything DC has put out to date.
I am not sure if I liked it more than Birds Of Prey... I think that Birds win, a bit.
Ah. Now I see why I might had No Script disabled. It messes with Paizo's font replacing it with an uglier one...
Hmmm, set to trusted, reload. Close chrome, open again and reload.
Ok. Now it looks fine.
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GothBard's take: Free Guy is "Elf meets Ready Player One".
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I didst notte thinke that we could have maces thatte were sayfe withal to thumpe one another, but lo, they were brought in tonighte, and were quite funne, even if they do bende most alarminglye when thou dost use them for more that iv minuitess.
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** spoiler omitted **Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
At present, still looking into documentation required (like figuring out how to transfer my licensure), but it's almost certainly going to be Canada.
** spoiler omitted **
We would welcome you most cordially! However, in immigrating to Canada remember three things:
1. The Immigration process can be a convoluted mess. Patience will most definitely be your friend.
2. We have all the crap you guys have: racism, murderers, jerks, corrupt politicians, bad cops, pollution, etc. We're just more polite about it.
3. Be prepared for five to seven months of winter regardless of where you settle. Seriously.
Other than that, welcome! :D
