Wait. Chuck Mangione wasn't just something they made up for King of the Hill? Or am I misremembering?Sweet Jesus, the reaper has been busy this week.And now Chuck Mangione.
One of the few musicians who could actually get through my worst panic attacks. (Yeah, I'm old, I've got a thing about 70s horn players, sue me.)
no, he is real.
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To add insult to the injury, Steam suddenly doesn't accept PayPal (specifically) payments, so I can't get a game on a sale that I - after watching a review or two - decided to buy.
And no, I was not convinced by the game's shameless fan service. It was combination of promising combat system and being 88% off...
That's so annoying, as I put money in my PayPal specifically for covering Steam purchases (among other things) until my new accounts could be all set up over here.
...speak to me of this game.To add insult to the injury, Steam suddenly doesn't accept PayPal (specifically) payments, so I can't get a game on a sale that I - after watching a review or two - decided to buy.
And no, I was not convinced by the game's shameless fan service. It was combination of promising combat system and being 88% off...
It's Bloody Spell
That's so annoying, as I put money in my PayPal specifically for covering Steam purchases (among other things) until my new accounts could be all set up over here.To add insult to the injury, Steam suddenly doesn't accept PayPal (specifically) payments, so I can't get a game on a sale that I - after watching a review or two - decided to buy.
And no, I was not convinced by the game's shameless fan service. It was combination of promising combat system and being 88% off...
It seems that the issue is specific to various regions and not everyone experiences it.
Anyway, aren't you required to use Chinese version of Steam anyway? Or can you access your original account?
Anyway, aren't you required to use Chinese version of Steam anyway? Or can you access your original account?
I'm not having any trouble accessing my accounts, yeah.
When the inevitable comes, it is still sad, and the timing is always bad.
We've been battling the Fluffernutter's appetite for months now, but over the last few days she's just decided, "Nah. I don't need to eat any more." It's exactly how the Cranky Calico went -- she just suddenly figured it was her time, went off food, and passed away a week or two later.
The fluffernuter was a fantastic cat, and it's hard to remember that because over the last few years with her arthritis and kidney disease and high blood pressure her entire approach to existence has been, "Get the humans to let me outside. Sleep all day in the sun. Get the humans to let me back inside," so she hasn't been particularly social. And her reaction to the kittens has been the worst I've ever seen from a cat; she literally moved out of the house rather than deal with them.
So, I'll do my best to get her to eat, but it may just be her time. But of course we're going to Vegas in two weeks so the timing is horrible. Our "good" cat sitter is only available for half the trip, so the second half of the trip she'll be taken care of by someone who doesn't know cats well (no one else was available). And a coyote has been spotted in our neighborhood moving about during the daylight hours so she can't even get in her yard time until we eliminate the coyote. (And yes, coyotes are one of the few creatures I will kill without remorse if they move into my area. They have an entire wilderness area in the hills and typically learn that crossing the major road east of us is a death sentence. But this one didn't get the memo.)
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There is a new Control game!
It's a co-op...
Control 2 is still in the works, and as far as I know it will be a proper single player sequel, as the Old Gods Of Asgard ordained.
Question for BigNorseWolf: Being Californian, we can buy puma urine at pretty much any gardening supply store to scare off the deer. Do you have any idea whether it would also repel coyotes?
EDIT: Yes, pumas are native to the area, and as far as we know there's a breeding family in the park the coyote came from -- one was spotted there just a year or two ago, and considering in my lifetime I've only ever spotted one, seeing one is pretty much a guarantee of a family.
THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA SHINES ON US ALL!
I have finally bought a cheap (though not the cheapest) blender...
Yes, it works, though I made a 12 MPix photo of the receipt, just in case.
The first blending subject was a handful of a cocoa (barely)-flavored protein powder powder with milk. I bought it a few months ago, but it doesn't dissolve well in milk or water, so it ended staying on the shelf most of the time.
Did you get it from Lidl?
Did you get it from Lidl?
Auchan. The Lidl one was am occasional product.
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Fantasy Monster: Susinal Agathion, devourer of unclean things.
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Envy.....
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Yeah, 93F with 75% humidity is not doing me any favors. I'd rather do 105F in Arizona than this.
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I know that I've complained about the ens**ttification of the general delivery/transportation industry many times before, but this is really a trifecta that every exec should take into consideration:
(1) Food delivery: As I've mentioned, we will no longer have restaurant food nor groceries delivered. It had nothing to do with cost or speed. The failure rate was nearly 50%, and the companies kept trying to pull the, "Not our employee" crap. The final straw was when we ordered over $300 worth of sushi on a stormy night and it never showed up. Uber Eats told us we were ineligible for a refund because the driver insisted he'd delivered it, and linked the photo the driver uploaded to them. It was a photo of our house from around 100' away from inside the driver's car. So apparently a drive-by photo was plenty enough for Uber Eats. It took multiple phone calls to get the food refunded. They still paid the driver the tip and refused to refund it. So he got a significant tip for never delivering our food, and we had to wait another 90 minutes for dinner because it was such a huge order and we had to go pick it up ourselves. And that was the last in a LONG string of similar incidents. Grocery stores are similar. We say, "Buy this and do not substitute," and they throw whatever the heck they can grab into the cart. No. Just follow instructions. If that's too hard, find new employment.
(2) Taxi services: I detailed GothBard's nightmarish experience with Uber in the U.K. And I think it's worth pointing out that we're spending over $200 to park the two cars at the airport next week rather than trying to take an Uber because they're so unreliable. If you're trying to get to an appointment, you can't use Uber or Lyft. Which makes them next-to-useless. If I have time, I can take public transportation for 1/10th the price.
(3) Customer rewards programs: Having 4 cats, I paid $250 to join PetCo's Premiere customer rewards program, figuring that I'd track my savings against the $250 to see whether it was worth it. Considering that their implementation was so broken that you couldn't check your rewards balance and couldn't apply the rewards in-store, but only on online purchases, WTF was the point? I even wrote them a physical letter and they fixed the implementation so you could see your rewards online. Good on them. But next time I was in the store it was amazing. "That'll be $110." "OK. I have $15 in rewards." "OK, that'll be $95." I put in my card, signed, got the receipt, and went home. And found that I'd been charged $110. Even though the employee entered the discount, the system didn't recognize it.
Such basic stupidity that's costing these companies hundreds or thousands of dollars a year from me alone refusing to use them. Just how much are they losing in total because they can't get their act together? Has to be a staggering amount...
I know that I've complained about the ens**ttification of the general delivery/transportation industry many times before, but this is really a trifecta that every exec should take into consideration:
(3) Customer rewards programs: Having 4 cats, I paid $250 to join PetCo's Premiere customer rewards program, snip....
Re: (3)
And PetCo's competition is?
Microsoft is a $1x10^12 company, yet their products suck for the most part (Excel is surprisingly good though).
We have not one but TWO Pet Food Express locations perhaps an extra 0.5 miles out, and a PetVet another 3 miles out. So since we drive to carry the heavy stuff anyway, "Convenience of location" goes out the window.
Dammit, first Tom Lehrer, then Ryne Sandberg! This week sucks!
Absolutely note it. Make it clear to the newcomer that continuing their predecessor's failures is unacceptable.
When people come and visit and I ask, "What kind of cuisine would you like?", they ask, "What do you have?"
And I said, "Everything."
And apparently I'm not kidding.
(And FTR, Al's is our go-to burger joint, and Juanita & Maude's really is that good...)
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OK. I feel like I've done very well avoiding politics or politics-adjacent discussions since I came back. But this is so phenomenally, fundamentally, hilariously stupid that I simply can't let it go.
(a) are good economic policy.
(b) do not affect U.S. consumers, as foreign companies will apparently cheerfully eat the cost increases rather than passing them on to consumers.
(c) will reduce our reliance on income tax as a source of government income.
Whatever. Not here to argue the merits of his positions.
Josh Hawley, also a Republican, apparently views things differently and has proposed a $600-per-person "tariff relief fund" for all U.S. citizens.
So, um, at this point we're placing tariffs on goods. The presumption by economists is that U.S. consumers will pay these fees. To the U.S. government. Which will then turn around and take the collected money and return it... to those selfsame U.S. consumers.
There's got to be a cartoon about how this works somewhere.
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Dammit, first Tom Lehrer, then Ryne Sandberg! This week sucks!
Im afraid I dont know who these men are.
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NH, Vany, I found you at work!!!!
Other than the "buckets of money", that's pretty terrifyingly accurate.
Dammit, first Tom Lehrer, then Ryne Sandberg! This week sucks!Im afraid I dont know who these men are.
Tom Lehrer, the Weird Al of the 1960s. (As opposed to Allan Sherman, the Weird Al of the 1940s and 1950s).
Ryne Sandberg, baseball player. Have no idea why LM cares, but maybe she's a closet Cubs fan?
It was my wife's birthday today, so we went out for a curry, then watched the '80s low-budget cardboard and tinfoil fantasy cheese-fest 'The Sword And The Sorcerer'. The film was enjoyable enough, if you didn't expect too much out of it, and a very great deal better than its truly appalling novelisation.
It was my wife's birthday today, so we went out for a curry, then watched the '80s low-budget cardboard and tinfoil fantasy cheese-fest 'The Sword And The Sorcerer'. The film was enjoyable enough, if you didn't expect too much out of it, and a very great deal better than its truly appalling novelisation.
I loved that movie! And yes, I saw it in theaters. I was a cheese fiend.
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Dammit, first Tom Lehrer, then Ryne Sandberg! This week sucks!Im afraid I dont know who these men are.Tom Lehrer, the Weird Al of the 1960s. (As opposed to Allan Sherman, the Weird Al of the 1940s and 1950s).
Ryne Sandberg, baseball player. Have no idea why LM cares, but maybe she's a closet Cubs fan?
Actually yes, my whole family on my dad's side are big Cubbies fans. I saw Sandberg play at Wrigley a number of times in my youth and he was one heck of a ballplayer.
I guess the manager has been having trouble with housekeepers calling off at the last minute, and so she sent out a text yesterday saying that you "have to call off at least 2 hours before your shift starts." I know that she means that if you call off with less than 2 hours notice you can be written up for it, but my first thought when reading it was "Or what, you'll make me come in anyways?" How would that work?
Employee: "Hello, manager. I'm sick and can't come in today."
Manager: " Too bad, it's only 90 minutes before you are scheduled to work. You have to come in anyway."
Employee: "OK, I'll be there in 90 minutes."I don't think so. At least she didn't try to say that you are responsible for finding your own replacement.
I genuinely hate policies like this.
Facebook account is back. End of the detox?
I swear, living with Meatball is a new level of cat stupid. I mean, I've known much stupider cats. I've just never owned one.
Today's shenanigans? He learned that GothBard's makeup brushes are fun toys. First cat ever to jump all the way up to her dresser (nobody denies he's a muscular, athletic stud), find her brushes, and take them down for all to play with. So we locked him out of the bedroom.
And he was unhappy, so he managed to pull and finagle at the door, get it open, catch himself or something on it, and pull it closed behind him, locking him in the bedroom. Then he got very unhappy that he'd managed to lock himself up.
*SIGH*
Speaking of swearing, there's a d**ned good reason Spotify is crushing Pandora.
NobodysHome: OK, I admit it. The sound track to K-Pop Demon Hunters is really catchy. I'll add Golden to my Pandora seed.
Pandora: What's that? You like techno dance mixes! Ok! We'll blend in a techno dance mix every other song forever!
NH: WTF? Golden isn't even a techno dance mix!
Pandora: Too bad! It's what our algorithm says it is!
So, so far three days of hitting thumbs-down every time a techno mix comes on. I must have disliked 30-40 "songs" so far already.
And Pandora just. Can't. Get. The. Hint.
"OK. We just played How it's Done. You must now be in the mood for a dance mix!"
WTF, Pandora? No. Just no!
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'No wasps were found'
Hmm yes, very reassuring.
Where have the radiocative wasps gone, Clyde?
WHERE HAVE THEY GONE?!
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Speaking of swearing, there's a d**ned good reason Spotify is crushing Pandora.
NobodysHome: OK, I admit it. The sound track to K-Pop Demon Hunters is really catchy. I'll add Golden to my Pandora seed.
Pandora: What's that? You like techno dance mixes! Ok! We'll blend in a techno dance mix every other song forever!
NH: WTF? Golden isn't even a techno dance mix!
Pandora: Too bad! It's what our algorithm says it is!So, so far three days of hitting thumbs-down every time a techno mix comes on. I must have disliked 30-40 "songs" so far already.
And Pandora just. Can't. Get. The. Hint.
"OK. We just played How it's Done. You must now be in the mood for a dance mix!"
WTF, Pandora? No. Just no!
My kids LOVE that show.
When I asked Hermione about it, Reason #1 was the music.Reason #2 was the plot/writing.
I almost felt her forehead to see if she was feverish. If she gushes about something, it's *always* about the writing.
Speaking of swearing, there's a d**ned good reason Spotify is crushing Pandora.
NobodysHome: OK, I admit it. The sound track to K-Pop Demon Hunters is really catchy. I'll add Golden to my Pandora seed.
Pandora: What's that? You like techno dance mixes! Ok! We'll blend in a techno dance mix every other song forever!
NH: WTF? Golden isn't even a techno dance mix!
Pandora: Too bad! It's what our algorithm says it is!So, so far three days of hitting thumbs-down every time a techno mix comes on. I must have disliked 30-40 "songs" so far already.
And Pandora just. Can't. Get. The. Hint.
"OK. We just played How it's Done. You must now be in the mood for a dance mix!"
WTF, Pandora? No. Just no!
My kids LOVE that show.
When I asked Hermione about it, Reason #1 was the music.
Reason #2 was the plot/writing.
I almost felt her forehead to see if she was feverish. If she gushes about something, it's *always* about the writing.
Have you NOT seen it? It is worth your time.
The writing is trope-y as f***, because K-Pop formulas. I mean, it's perfectly watchable, but not a single thing surprised me or came across as fresh. But as far as I can tell, a poor woman who spent 10 years as a K-Pop trainee because her voice was da bomb but she was lacking in some other required area (beauty? Coordination?) was like, "OK, f*** you. I'm going to write a music track that only *I* can sing!"
And f***. She wrote a top 10 WORLD hit. Not top 10 in any one country. But yes, it's top 10 in the U.S. It's top 10 in Korea. And it's top 10 in the world.
Girl can write songs. And sing 'em. And more power to her.