NH: I suspect some of it is nostalgia as a condiment.Nothing breaks the culinary heart more than going to a place that's been a staple for most of one's life and they change their mainstay 'because it's cheaper this way' or 'we're having supply issues'.
Happened with a sandwich shop in the area that's been around for forty years. They went from 'subs you could make two meals out of if you were a BIG eater' to 'slightly more meat than Subway' while jacking the price by a third.
This happened to a place we used to love as a family, too. It's a much nicer building, now, but the food has distinctly lessened in quality.
*Puts clothes on! *
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm limiting my internet time because I was close to a panic attack the this week as well.After the near panic attacks of yesterday I've decided I'm forgoing the news today.
F*~@ it, if the world is going to end someone can text me.
I had one the other night, pulled me out of a dead sleep around 3 AM. Sat cuddling with dog and watching Looney Tunes for about an hour before I was calm enough to go back to sleep.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Internet hugs!Internet hugs will work as well :)I would send you apples if I could. I know how stressful things are right now.Work has been crazy. Since people now have to work from home and most people were not equipped / had to do it before. We now have to facilitate that.
So its endless back to back calls.
Some people barely know what the internet is.I've been dong a LOT of stress eating.
Thank you!
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
While the whole situation gave me quite a lot of anxiety this week, going to work did keep me in the groove of a set scedule.
Next week I'll also mandatory work from home.
I would rather not. Its been insanely busy, and it will be harder to coordinate. Also, it was good to leave all the stress behind when walking out the office door.
Wont have that now.
Yeah I saw it in theaters the day it came out I don't think I've ever been more disappointed with a movie. Still didn't walk out. Only movie I ever walked out on was elektra but avatar may have still been worse hard call really.I've decided to start a new thing.
Terrible Movie Tuesday.
Today's movie: The Last Airbender! I can't wait!
Wow! The terrible reviews do not do it justice for how truly terrible it is!
I've only watched 22 minutes... This might be a multi day affair.
Edit: Yes, I've decided since I can't afford a hazmat suit I'm going the other way in order to repulse the corona virus.
I didn't walk out on Elektra, but there was one scene where the makeup was so 'off' it made the actress appear to be in-transition to another gender. When it was 'okay' for the rest of the movie, it kind of messed with perceptions.
When we went to see Bram Stoker's Dracula at a theatre in Guam ages ago (in the Navy at the time) I'd just gotten off a 48-hour duty rotation. I remember the intro, and then I remember one of my buddies waking me up by throwing an empty popcorn container at me to wake up.
When I went to see Attack of the
ClownsClones, I'd pulled a double shift the night before. The 'romantic' music would put me to sleep, and then the action tunes would wake me up.So when we left the theatre, I was actually pretty impressed at how much *action* there was in a Star Wars movie (after Phantom Menace) and I couldn't figure out why people were disgusted and wanted their money back.
And then someone started talking about the 'romantic' scenes and I was like "Wait, what, there was WHAT in the movie?"
I actually kind of liked BS'sDracula because it was simultaneously the most faithful and the most unfaithful adaptation I've ever seen. At the same time. How do you do that?
For AotC, it was when I first started dating my wife. We thought it was a great movie, until we saw it again!
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm limiting my internet time because I was close to a panic attack the this week as well.After the near panic attacks of yesterday I've decided I'm forgoing the news today.
F*~@ it, if the world is going to end someone can text me.
Ordinarily, my anxiety levels would be sky high, but I think that part of my brain that still grew the occasional f!ck just went full 1930s Dustbowl a couple weeks ago. Which weirdly activated some dormant parts of my brain into channeling that energy into... customizing Transformers figures?!
Hope you both (and everyone else) find effective outlets for your stress, or at least non-harmful coping strategies.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Speaking ofworkinggaming from home. For some reason Discord doesn't seem to want to work with my laptop's webcamera, showing instead green screen most of the time, with occasional showing of the (poor quality, dark picture - apparently my LED bulb doesn't gives enough light for it even when it works) recorded image. I updated drivers, as far as I could, for the autoupdate shows the driver is up to date and the laptop producer site doesn't have any manually downloadable driver for the camera.
And today the camera worked fine (for a crappy laptop camera).
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Dream On! Changeling the Dreaming, 20th Anniversary Edition for free today!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I saw Attack of the Clones when I had swine flu, it didn't help.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
So, I have no idea whether the math would reassure or terrify people but here are some simple numbers if we do virtually nothing to stop the pandemic (which seems to be our current administration's focus, as money is more important than people):
The Spanish Flu of 1918 occurred at the worst-possible time, with men rotating in and out of close-packed, unsanitary ditches, and people working shoulder-to-shoulder for war efforts worldwide. It's estimated to have hit 33% of the world population. While we're not at war, we do have much greater population density and much easier worldwide travel. In spite of that, I'm going to say modern hygiene (as much as it is practiced) and convention (SOME people cough into their elbows) will make the total propagation no worse than the Spanish Flu.
So, countries that do nothing will have roughly a 33% infection rate.
At the moment, the mortality rate of those diagnosed is pretty high, but we have a dearth of testing kits, we're not testing people without symptoms, etc., so the current 4.06% mortality rate is a gross over-exaggeration. Let's be generous and say that we're somehow by miracle managing to recognize half the cases out there. That drops the mortality rate to 2%.
This gives each individual a 0.66% chance of being killed, taking no unusual precautions at all. That's 2.3 million dead in the U.S. alone, which would be the greatest catastrophe in our nation's history numbers-wise, but right in line with World War II percentagewise.
So it could have a fundamental effect on the way we do things (which in my mind would be a good thing at this point in our country's history), but it's not going to destroy society or anything remotely close.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I recall seeing medical estimates that COVID-19 is much-much more infectious than Spanish Flu (longer time it stays within infected organism and can be spread to larger number of people, longer time it remains infectious when spread in air, longer time it stays on surfaces). On the other hand, its real mortality rate is almost certainly below 1% because of large numbers of people who come through it mildly enough to not be counted among the infected. Also, it's much less dangerous to young people.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I recall seeing medical estimates that COVID-19 is much-much more infectious than Spanish Flu (longer time it stays within infected organism and can be spread to larger number of people, longer time it remains infectious when spread in air, longer time it stays on surfaces). On the other hand, its real mortality rate is almost certainly below 1% because of large numbers of people who come through it mildly enough to not be counted among the infected. Also, it's much less dangerous to young people.
Hey, napkin math is napkin math.
Hey! Freehold! That's my napkin! What? Don't! Oh, nooooo...
...no thanks. I don't want the napkin back any more...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't like the texture.Must. resist. evangelizing. vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes...I apologize for nothing. Never liked onions and tomatoes are only good after being turned into some kind of sauce.Burger get. Double bacon cheeseburger from Armandos,That's great!
hold the onion and tomato.You monster!
I am also on Team Dislike Raw Tomatoes.
Which is a terrible name for a team.
I rarely eat burgers. When I do, I put blue cheese on them, possibly some pickled jalapenos, maybe fried onions.
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Signs That You May Cook Too Much:
Last night I was using an inverted steel bowl to keep the heat in while grilling some frozen pork chops (you just don't want to know), and I got absent-minded and after about 10 minutes of this grabbed the bowl bare-handed.
Sign #1: I was barely burned. Considering the circumstances, I expected at least second-degree burns. My fingers were just, "Nah," shed all my fingerprints, and were happy.
Sign #2: Within half an hour, my fingertips had calloused over. I'm now typing with little finger pads that grew as a result of my burning myself. I showed GothBard, and she accused me of being a gecko.
Nope. I just touch too much hot stuff.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
I get to use a flamethrower sometimes.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Signs That You May Cook Too Much:
Last night I was using an inverted steel bowl to keep the heat in while grilling some frozen pork chops (you just don't want to know), and I got absent-minded and after about 10 minutes of this grabbed the bowl bare-handed.
Sign #1: I was barely burned. Considering the circumstances, I expected at least second-degree burns. My fingers were just, "Nah," shed all my fingerprints, and were happy.
Sign #2: Within half an hour, my fingertips had calloused over. I'm now typing with little finger pads that grew as a result of my burning myself. I showed GothBard, and she accused me of being a gecko.
Nope. I just touch too much hot stuff.
To answer you earlier question: Yes, you are different.
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
she accused me of being a gecko.
Sooooo, you're the guy we talk to about car insurance?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Love tomatoes, here.
Also onions (though unless grilled I often avoid for my loved one’s sake).
Jalapeños (and really anything spicy) are a sometimes food.
Too spicy and I’m just out.
Nnnnnot a mayo lover - it might be US brands, though.
I tend to prefer slightly les sweet foods and slightly more sweet drinks. This is a generality, though, not an absolute.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dream On! Changeling the Dreaming, 20th Anniversary Edition for free today!
As much as I loved the w20 and as impressed as I was by v20, c20 is the BEST of the series.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I STILL WANT MY H20 DAMMIT
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I recall seeing medical estimates that COVID-19 is much-much more infectious than Spanish Flu (longer time it stays within infected organism and can be spread to larger number of people, longer time it remains infectious when spread in air, longer time it stays on surfaces). On the other hand, its real mortality rate is almost certainly below 1% because of large numbers of people who come through it mildly enough to not be counted among the infected. Also, it's much less dangerous to young people.Hey, napkin math is napkin math.
Hey! Freehold! That's my napkin! What? Don't! Oh, nooooo...
...no thanks. I don't want the napkin back any more...
I apologize for nothing.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I STILL WANT MY H20 DAMMIT
Tac! Come back here and favorite this post! I want my game, DAMMIT!
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
It shall hence be known as the post that Tacticslion had not marked as a favorite.
"Oh, somehow the site didn't recognize when I clicked this, so I'll just fix-"
It shall hence be known as the post that Tacticslion had not marked as a favorite.
"... well now I'm just confused."
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
I STILL WANT MY H20 DAMMIT
I didn't realize NYC had a water shortage.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ow.
Ow ow ow.
Adding a debt cancellation from completing my student loans payoff agreement shot my taxes owed from $4 to $1000.
Ow ow ow ow ow.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I STILL WANT MY H20 DAMMITI didn't realize NYC had a water shortage.
I know what kind of unholy water Freehold had in mind.
And the answer is: REQUEST DENIED!
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Irony: I was reading an article about how people are ignoring the social distancing rules, and talking about what idiots they were. During a pause in the conversation, Impus Major asked, "Hey, I'm going to go out and go for a walk with a friend. Is that OK?"
*SIGH*
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Woooooow... now ALL of California is locked down, and the governor's claiming that we're projecting 25.5 million cases here (of a population of 40 million), for a 64% infection rate.
Color me skeptical, but coming in at nearly double any of the worst plagues in history would be a heck of an achievement for a virus, even taking modern population densities and movement patterns into account.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm sitting here and debating the ethics of online shopping.
Since I'm going to be home for a while, this would be a great time to teach myself to sew. I have no supplies for this. I could order things (I've been debating a sewing machine for a good while), but I can't help feeling at least a little like I'm part of the problem of encouraging businesses to keep more workers than necessary from self-isolating...but wouldn't it still be preferable to actually going to a store?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ow.
Ow ow ow.
Adding a debt cancellation from completing my student loans payoff agreement shot my taxes owed from $4 to $1000.
Ow ow ow ow ow.
Yeah...that ends up counting as income when you do that. Ran into that about 15 years ago.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Woooooow... now ALL of California is locked down, and the governor's claiming that we're projecting 25.5 million cases here (of a population of 40 million), for a 64% infection rate.
Color me skeptical, but coming in at nearly double any of the worst plagues in history would be a heck of an achievement for a virus, even taking modern population densities and movement patterns into account.
Some estimates predict even up to 80% infections. It's just that most of them might be indistinguishable without testing from colds, or mild to moderate flu. That's why isolation is essential - to avoid too many people being sick at the same time, not avoiding getting infected at all.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
By Saturday most of Savannah, GA should be shut down. Since tourism and education are two of our moneymakers, this will be hurting the economy a lot. OTOH it is needed to protect all of us.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Infection rate is something that is being hotly discussed. As is fatality. Data pools are still too small to have a good idea, especially since the implementations of quarantines and scope of testing have been so erratic between countries. And, with an admitted dose of tinfoil - there are some countries whose numbers may have been misreported either to save face or for other reasons.
As best i can find:
Korea has tested 274,504 people and confirmed 8236 cases, with 75 deaths. 75/8236 = .009, or 0.9% case fatality rate. That is 400% lower than China and 700% lower than Italy.
But, any given medical test has a false positive rate. You can read about that here as it applies to HIV testing: https://www.cdc.gov/…/cdc-hiv-factsheet-false-positive-test…
The accuracy of a test is called its specificity. The impact of any given specificity is determined by the number of people tested and the number of people infected.
According to one source I found at the Virginia Department of Health, the specificity of the test being used in the US is 95%. I don't know what the specificity is for South Korea's; if anyone can find it, let me know. 95% seems low; let's assume it's 99%.
If the specificity is 99% and you test 274,504 people you will get 2,745 false positives. That means that the real number of cases is not 8236, it's 5491. That means that the real case fatality rate is 1.4%.
If the specificity is 98% and you test 274,504 people, you will get 5,490 false positives. The real number of cases is then 2,745 and the case fatality rate is 2.7%.
Since *we don't know the specificity of the Korean test* we cannot judge what their case fatality rate really means. So we cannot rest easy on the assumption that with great health care the death rate plummets to less than 1%. We just don't know.
the graphic in the following link is a bit deceptive since some are country wide testing (USA) and some are region wide (the chinese province...an apples to apples would be california to guangdong - both are very loosely ~10% of nation's population)
https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/s960x960/90296307_10158343948 893708_7254362898686803968_o.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_oc= AQnIouXn-95SwiphK6qTFttJyHpbk_LaWFh_OSdJrPyWHDzCySS091LK0Y0I1sWRQEo&_nc _ht=scontent-atl3-1.xx&_nc_tp=7&oh=680797f1bccee9ceb2a336908a78831f &oe=5E9A9F54
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ow.
Ow ow ow.
Adding a debt cancellation from completing my student loans payoff agreement shot my taxes owed from $4 to $1000.
Ow ow ow ow ow.
What? That doesn't sound right.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I STILL WANT MY H20 DAMMITI didn't realize NYC had a water shortage.
I know what kind of
unholy water Freehold had in mind.And the answer is: REQUEST DENIED!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm sitting here and debating the ethics of online shopping.
Since I'm going to be home for a while, this would be a great time to teach myself to sew. I have no supplies for this. I could order things (I've been debating a sewing machine for a good while), but I can't help feeling at least a little like I'm part of the problem of encouraging businesses to keep more workers than necessary from self-isolating...but wouldn't it still be preferable to actually going to a store?
indeed.
There seems to be no way to know, truly.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah...that ends up counting as income when you do that. Ran into that about 15 years ago.Ow.
Ow ow ow.
Adding a debt cancellation from completing my student loans payoff agreement shot my taxes owed from $4 to $1000.
Ow ow ow ow ow.
Damn.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Infection rate is something that is being hotly discussed. As is fatality. Data pools are still too small to have a good idea, especially since the implementations of quarantines and scope of testing have been so erratic between countries. And, with an admitted dose of tinfoil - there are some countries whose numbers may have been misreported either to save face or for other reasons.
As best i can find:
Korea has tested 274,504 people and confirmed 8236 cases, with 75 deaths. 75/8236 = .009, or 0.9% case fatality rate. That is 400% lower than China and 700% lower than Italy.
But, any given medical test has a false positive rate. You can read about that here as it applies to HIV testing: https://www.cdc.gov/…/cdc-hiv-factsheet-false-positive-test…The accuracy of a test is called its specificity. The impact of any given specificity is determined by the number of people tested and the number of people infected.
According to one source I found at the Virginia Department of Health, the specificity of the test being used in the US is 95%. I don't know what the specificity is for South Korea's; if anyone can find it, let me know. 95% seems low; let's assume it's 99%.
If the specificity is 99% and you test 274,504 people you will get 2,745 false positives. That means that the real number of cases is not 8236, it's 5491. That means that the real case fatality rate is 1.4%.
If the specificity is 98% and you test 274,504 people, you will get 5,490 false positives. The real number of cases is then 2,745 and the case fatality rate is 2.7%.
Since *we don't know the specificity of the Korean test* we cannot judge what their case fatality rate really means. So we cannot rest easy on the assumption that with great health care the death rate plummets to less than 1%. We just don't know.
the graphic in the following link is a bit deceptive since some are country wide testing (USA) and some are region wide (the chinese province...an apples to apples would be california to guangdong - both are very...
interesting.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What? That doesn't sound right.Ow.
Ow ow ow.
Adding a debt cancellation from completing my student loans payoff agreement shot my taxes owed from $4 to $1000.
Ow ow ow ow ow.
Sadly, it's legit. As Vany said, it's counted as income by the IRS. So as far as their paperwork goes, I "made" an extra ~$8300 that I didn't pay taxes on, by not having to pay that portion of my student loans. That tacked on a bunch of income and thus a bunch of associated unpaid tax.
| 10 people marked this as a favorite. |
interesting.
Freehold tested positive to math!
This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!
Freehold tested positive to math! We need to isolate him now! He might still be saved!
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
interesting.Freehold tested positive to math!
This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!
Freehold tested positive to math! We need to isolate him now! He might still be saved!
Whoa, friend. Do we need to take such radical action already? Let's be rational.
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
So on the one hand, it's tiresome to see this administration's overt assault on the coastal states (the $10,000 deduction cap on state + property taxes here increased pretty much everyone's taxes by thousands, and now the $1200 per person check has what seems like an absolutely reasonable, "Unless you have a high income" exemption until you realize that yet again it's targeting coastal workers who tend to vote overwhelmingly Democratic).
On the other hand, it's nice to be able to help even a little bit.
We can't possibly save every restaurant on Solano; we just don't have that kind of money. So we decided to buy a bunch of gift cards to Rivoli, figuring we'd use them eventually anyway, and it would help them short-term.
The gratitude from the owner was just palpable and amazing. "It's people like you who help us keep our doors open! Thank you SO much!"
I just said, "Oh, don't worry! I guarantee we're going to use those things up."
GothBard, being GothBard, said, "Just name a drink after me and we'll call it even."
Loves me some GothBard.
EDIT: I forget whether I mentioned, but the 2018 tax "cut" raised our federal taxes by over 20%.
EDIT 2: And in a true "feel good" moment, when I was asking the owner about money his immediate statement was, "Yeah, we're exempted from rent for the month, but the health insurance bills are coming up..."
Yes. Rivoli is a restaurant that provides health insurance for its employees. Holy carp. I didn't think any restaurants did that.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So on the one hand, it's tiresome to see this administration's overt assault on the coastal states (the $10,000 deduction cap on state + property taxes here increased pretty much everyone's taxes by thousands, and now the $1200 per person check has what seems like an absolutely reasonable, "Unless you have a high income" exemption until you realize that yet again it's targeting coastal workers who tend to vote overwhelmingly Democratic).
On the other hand, it's nice to be able to help even a little bit.
We can't possibly save every restaurant on Solano; we just don't have that kind of money. So we decided to buy a bunch of gift cards to Rivoli, figuring we'd use them eventually anyway, and it would help them short-term.
The gratitude from the owner was just palpable and amazing. "It's people like you who help us keep our doors open! Thank you SO much!"
I just said, "Oh, don't worry! I guarantee we're going to use those things up."
GothBard, being GothBard, said, "Just name a drink after me and we'll call it even."
Loves me some GothBard.
Will it include St. Germain?
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Will it include St. Germain?So on the one hand, it's tiresome to see this administration's overt assault on the coastal states (the $10,000 deduction cap on state + property taxes here increased pretty much everyone's taxes by thousands, and now the $1200 per person check has what seems like an absolutely reasonable, "Unless you have a high income" exemption until you realize that yet again it's targeting coastal workers who tend to vote overwhelmingly Democratic).
On the other hand, it's nice to be able to help even a little bit.
We can't possibly save every restaurant on Solano; we just don't have that kind of money. So we decided to buy a bunch of gift cards to Rivoli, figuring we'd use them eventually anyway, and it would help them short-term.
The gratitude from the owner was just palpable and amazing. "It's people like you who help us keep our doors open! Thank you SO much!"
I just said, "Oh, don't worry! I guarantee we're going to use those things up."
GothBard, being GothBard, said, "Just name a drink after me and we'll call it even."
Loves me some GothBard.
Absinthe for sure.
The new bartender isn't as good as the old one at interpreting GothBard's requests. With the old bartender, she asked for something "dark and brooding" and he made her an amazing drink, then got quite flustered when nearly 1/3 of the people in the restaurant saw it and ordered it. I think GothBard dubbed it "Death in the Afternoon", but I could be mistaken and that could be an existing drink.
But she has a love/hate relationship with bartenders. Some of them absolutely love her vague descriptions of emotions and feelings and the challenge of making a drink that matches what she's describing, and some feel like, "Can you just tell me what kind of alcohols you want in your drink, please?"
It's always fun to watch her try to describe what she wants. And with Shiro at the table, nothing ever goes undrunk; he'll choke down anything for a laugh.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think I have it.
Woke up with a little tightness in my chest, my breathing is a little different and I have a dry cough. Temperature only a little elevated, not fever, a little bit lightheaded.
Could also be a combination of high pollen and a panic attack.
I am very, very scared.
Not so much for myself but for my children, and WW, and his mom, all of whom have been exposed if I have it.
And I felt perfectly normal yesterday.