Keetons of the storm.
Keetons of the storm.
Around the house they swarm.
Around the house they swarm.
For that alone you get lifelong cookies.
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Where does white chocolate fall in that consideration?Do any U.S. companies actually make white chocolate? I think Hershey's produces... something... but I'm not sure what it is.
Probably fewer than one might think, I guess? In my neck of the woods, we import most of our chocolate from all y'all, and even before - *gestures vaguely at politics* - it's been surprisingly difficult to find even white chocolate chips for baking. For the past year or so most supermarkets near me have been stocking some abomination ("white creme," apparently) whose composition doesn't bear thinking about, I'm sure.
I'm hoping it won't take the collapse of the cocoa market, or a generation for whom even the worst North American chocolate is beyond the wildest dreams of the proletariat, to bring climate troubles home, but that would probably be much kinder than what it's actually going to be. :(
On a happier note, although weird supply chain nonsense still applies, I'm trying to fit running around getting materials to play with hippie witch foragings and whatnot into my schedule this week, but I've been faking it terribly, so results will probably be indifferent at best. :/
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Where does white chocolate fall in that consideration?Do any U.S. companies actually make white chocolate? I think Hershey's produces... something... but I'm not sure what it is.Probably fewer than one might think, I guess? In my neck of the woods, we import most of our chocolate from all y'all, and even before - *gestures vaguely at politics* - it's been surprisingly difficult to find even white chocolate chips for baking. For the past year or so most supermarkets near me have been stocking some abomination ("white creme," apparently) whose composition doesn't bear thinking about, I'm sure.
I'm hoping it won't take the collapse of the cocoa market, or a generation for whom even the worst North American chocolate is beyond the wildest dreams of the proletariat, to bring climate troubles home, but that would probably be much kinder than what it's actually going to be. :(
On a happier note, although weird supply chain nonsense still applies, I'm trying to fit running around getting materials to play with hippie witch foragings and whatnot into my schedule this week, but I've been faking it terribly, so results will probably be indifferent at best. :/
San Francisco is the home of Ghirardelli chocolate, which actually was quite good, high-quality chocolate until they got bought out by... get this... Lindt chocolates in 1998. They almost instantly went from, "We can compete with most European chocolatiers," to, "Why are you paying so much more for something that barely beats out Hershey's?"
I guess Lindt was just buying and killing the competition.
And after an hour of that, now they're napping.
Most of the animals have insisted on seeing what the weather was like at the other entrance to the house.
Where does white chocolate fall in that consideration?Do any U.S. companies actually make white chocolate? I think Hershey's produces... something... but I'm not sure what it is.
As for the Lindt balls, Talky already very carefully looted all the white chocolate from the first two bags. So we have a fan.
Smooth move talky!
Where does white chocolate fall in that consideration?Do any U.S. companies actually make white chocolate? I think Hershey's produces... something... but I'm not sure what it is.Probably fewer than one might think, I guess? In my neck of the woods, we import most of our chocolate from all y'all, and even before - *gestures vaguely at politics* - it's been surprisingly difficult to find even white chocolate chips for baking. For the past year or so most supermarkets near me have been stocking some abomination ("white creme," apparently) whose composition doesn't bear thinking about, I'm sure.
I'm hoping it won't take the collapse of the cocoa market, or a generation for whom even the worst North American chocolate is beyond the wildest dreams of the proletariat, to bring climate troubles home, but that would probably be much kinder than what it's actually going to be. :(
On a happier note, although weird supply chain nonsense still applies, I'm trying to fit running around getting materials to play with hippie witch foragings and whatnot into my schedule this week, but I've been faking it terribly, so results will probably be indifferent at best. :/
San Francisco is the home of Ghirardelli chocolate, which actually was quite good, high-quality chocolate until they got bought out by... get this... Lindt chocolates in 1998. They almost instantly went from, "We can compete with most European chocolatiers," to, "Why are you paying so much more for something that barely beats out Hershey's?"
I guess Lindt was just buying and killing the competition.
I heard that a long time ago. Lindt has a pretty poor history as a competitor.
This song randomly popped up in my head today after God knows how long since I last heard it, and I was thinking that, with the rise of AI "singers", I wonder if any of them would cover it.
So, weird thought popped into my head as I'm reading about all the flights being canceled and wondering whether Impus Minor is going to have to drive home from North Dakota: Why aren't airlines just paying air traffic controllers during the shutdown?
Doing the math, it seems like it would be much more profitable for them to step up and ensure full staffing at the airports than to stand around and say, "Not our problem."
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So, weird thought popped into my head as I'm reading about all the flights being canceled and wondering whether Impus Minor is going to have to drive home from North Dakota: Why aren't airlines just paying air traffic controllers during the shutdown?
** spoiler omitted **
Doing the math, it seems like it would be much more profitable for them to step up and ensure full staffing at the airports than to stand around and say, "Not our problem."
My guess is that they don't want to make a precedent, because once they start paying the controllers, the government forever removes that part of funding and it will stick to airlines to pay for controllers...
And that's even without getting into possibility of bidding wars for preferential treatment for airline that pays more than other.
Anyway, likely there is no legal way for them to pay. If controllers are government employees they can't receive money for third parties and third parties can't legally give them money... At least until US Supreme Court guts the antibribery laws even further...
...My guess is that they don't want to make a precedent, because once they start paying the controllers, the government forever removes that part of funding and it will stick to airlines to pay for controllers...
And that's even without getting into possibility of bidding wars for preferential treatment for airline that pays more than other.
Anyway, likely there is no legal way for them to pay. If controllers are government employees they can't receive money for third parties and third parties can't legally give them money... At least until US Supreme Court guts the antibribery laws even further...
Should I be disturbed that you are so amazingly well-informed on U.S. corporate policies, behaviors, and anti-bribery laws?
Even after 18 years in the U.S. education system, I didn't know about the whole, "Companies cannot give anything of value to government employees," until I had to take compliance training as a corporate peon. Seems like something I should have learned at some point in my life.
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You know it works like that in every civilized country, right?
That's what is one of key differences between a democratic republic and an oligarchic one...
You know it works like that in every civilized country, right?
That's what is one of key differences between a democratic republic and an oligarchic one...
That's very Eurocentric. There are countries that I would consider "civilized" where you are expected to provide gifts to the government officials in order to do business there. And since Global Megacorporation is global, the negotiations around what we can do for the country to do business there without benefiting a specific individual are pretty epic.
EDIT: But fair point, I do not know of any sort of democracy where bribes are an expected order of business.
There are some predictable areas of IT pain that enrage me.
California State Teachers' Retirement System is a HUGE pension provider. Their online portal will lock you out after a number of failed attempts to log in. All fine, well, and good...
*EXCEPT*
...there is *no* mechanism to unlock your account other than by writing them a physical letter (really?) or calling them. And, since they're one of the largest pension programs in the world, expect to be on hold for at least two hours. Oh, and they say, "Press 1 to receive a callback instead of holding," but that system is broken as well.
If you provide a lockout mechanism for accounts, you MUST have some reasonable way for people to unlock accounts without having to spend hours on hold. I mean, this is a system specifically for retirees; I expect they get several thousand calls a day for locked accounts. What a waste of everyone's time and money.
EDIT: Oh. My. Goodness. On hold for 35 minutes. Guy picks up. Gets my name and address, then asks how I'm doing. I say, "Frustrated." He says, "Oh, you must be locked out of the web site." It's apparently what he does now all day, every day. Yeah. THAT'S what I want to be paying someone full-time to be doing.
I had an epiphany about why I hate democracy so much:
Person seeking power: If you vote for me, in 6 months I'll develop a pill that will make you look like Brad Pitt!
General male population: Woo hoo! I'm gonna look like Brad Pitt! I'm voting for him!
General heterosexual female population: Woo hoo! All men are going to look like Brad Pitt! I'm voting for him!
The person gets elected and in six months you poll the public:
Question 1: Did the pill come out?
Public: No, but we all knew that it was just a campaign promise, so it's OK.
Question 2: So, can you name a single thing he's done for you?
Public: Nope!
Question 3: So are you happy with your vote?
Public: Heck, yeah! Our team won!
In short, people don't care whether their candidate did anything at all to improve their lives, or fulfilled even a single campaign promise. As long as their guy won, they're happy, because they won.
Ugh.
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Speaking of NobodysHome's incredibly simplistic view of the universe, I'm reviewing a colleague's content on how some companies manage time off and I am just... staggered.
If you're a service person who actually has to be physically present to do your job (chef, phone bank worker, etc.), then yeah, hopefully your company has some reasonable PTO policy like 1 day off per 15 days worked or whatever, and you schedule non-sick days with your manager and you're done.
If your physical presence isn't needed (CPA, tech writer, etc.), then if your work is on time and good quality we shouldn't even be discussing your hours or time off.
But I'm sitting here reading about buying and selling time off, donating it to other people, putting in a bidding system to list which days you'd like and your manager gets to pick and choose which ones to approve, and it's all just, "Holy cow. Why do people care SO much about time instead of production?"
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The trouble with Morrigan is that you always have to ask yourself, "Is she being sweet or clever?"
She begged to go out this afternoon. She has spent her time in the yard carefully parked 2' away from Nefret, following her wherever she goes.
OPTION 1: Morrigan likes Nefret and wants to be her friend.
OPTION 2: Morrigan knows that Nefret gets to stay outside for many, many more hours than she does, so hopefully by staying near Nefret she gets to prolong her outdoors time.
She's a clever, clever girl. I wouldn't put #2 past her.
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Managers need to be seen to be doing something, and their subordinates' time is an obvious target, especially if said subordinates can do their jobs perfectly well without much assistance from their manager...
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That's very Eurocentric. There are countries that I would consider "civilized" where you are expected to provide gifts to the government officials in order to do business there.You know it works like that in every civilized country, right?
That's what is one of key differences between a democratic republic and an oligarchic one...
it was already obvious I was American, I became an ugly one upon seeing this level of blatant corruption while visiting.
Yeah, "built different".
Brought the cats in. Mephisto proceeded to puke all over the mat, move to the litterbox, strain, and nothing came out.
Any other cat in the house would be at the vet already.
Mephisto? I expect him to be fine in an hour or two.
He's just that much of a force of nature.
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I had an epiphany about why I hate democracy so much:
** spoiler omitted **
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(He) took a nap for an hour, got up, took a ginormous crap, and is now wandering the house as if nothing happened.
Built. Different.
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I had an epiphany about why I hate democracy so much:
** spoiler omitted **
Yeah, an autocratic-kleptocracy is so much better.
Yeah, an autocratic-kleptocracy is so much better.I had an epiphany about why I hate democracy so much:
** spoiler omitted **
It's like they always say:
"Democracy is the worst form of government until you try anything else."*"Capitalism is the worst economic system until you try anything else."
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I don’t think we’ve really done any other “system” than Capitalism. It’s all just re-branding the same old thing. Which is: exploit the gullible to enrich yourself.
I swear, boy is part drow.
A night's sleep and breakfast and Mephisto is back to his dim, yowly, determined to get into everything state.
So he's back outside 'cause the alternative is a headache.
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We have to have two factor authentication. Se we've chosen to send a code to your email. And require a password. Which can be reset with your email.
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We have to have two factor authentication. Se we've chosen to send a code to your email. And require a password. Which can be reset with your email.
IT at its best worst.
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I set up TFA with Chase and it's not THAT bad, but it's, "Enter your password. OK. We send you a code. Enter your password and your code."
You really think you can make someone enter their password twice every single time they log on and they're NOT going to either put it in a text file so they can copypaste or choose something really easy to type?
Don't ask for the same information twice!
So, faking it with some woad was a mitigated disaster. Too many variables left uncontrolled, so I only got a very pale greenish-khaki out of it, but this year was just a first try to see if I could grow it at all, so we'll wait until next season to try to do things properly.
Not least, apparently dabbling in dyeing is so very niche that even in quite a large city by Canadian standards, it would take either a road trip or an exorbitant sum in postage to acquire the materials for the simplest mordanting or whatnot. Like I said, this year was just a first stab at growing the stuff at all, so I really didn't need kilos of supplies to lay up in storage, and anything less than that tends to be more in shipping than the actual materials or more complicated than being as casual as I was this time around.
Lessons learned for next time, though! :)
What was used traditionally for fixing dyes (alum?)? Whatever it is, it may well be horribly toxic and/or extracted painfully from an endangered species...
Steam showed me some very naughty game... And I mean very naughty...
Eh, it hits the level of naughtiness where I'd probably be better watching adult recordings on one of the free websites.
What was used traditionally for fixing dyes (alum?)? Whatever it is, it may well be horribly toxic and/or extracted painfully from an endangered species...
Traditionally? I'm not sure, since I was faffing about with modern recipes, some of which try to be gentler. For woad, I think lime and ammonia from "aged" urine might have been involved, and apparently that way of doing things takes forever, to boot. One of the recipes I saw suggested fermenting with yeast instead, but mostly these days I think it is mostly stuff that is even less recommended for use indoors.
*sigh* What are the chances that Wuchang: Fallen Feathers won't work in a level allowing for decent gameplay without a dedicated graphics card?
It's not on a reasonable sale yet, so I will worry about it in the future.
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Well, Chefwear stopped making all the pretty patterns, so I had to find some other way to convince my neighbors I'm insane. So I'm taking the kittens for walks. For two important reasons:
(1) They need to be familiar with the front yard in case anyone ever accidentally leaves the front door open, and
(2) I want to train them to hide from cars.
So the neighborhood watches this middle-aged guy walking his cat and hiding with it every time a car comes.
yeah...
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So this was my halloween costume this year
Which lead to two people thinking I was NOT a person.
The first one was more understandable. My neice bailed on me halfway around the block because other neice came by with a car. So I sat down on a rock to catch my breath for a bit. (then it turned out they were NOT going to go to EVERY house, and that will NOT do. we. hit.every. house)
2 six ish year olds "Oh hey look at the cool statue..." bonk bonk on the snout
"Rar?"
The other was a teenager. I was standing up, leaning on a stick, waiting for my niece to go to a house or two before walking again. And trying to get the jaw to sit right, so nom nom nom nom.
"Bonk bonk... hey..check this aniamatronic. wait. Is there a human in there?"
"No."
"ahhhhhhhhhhhh"
Despite two flashlights and three glowsticks i almost got run over. So when I saw a group without any lights I broke out a spare lightstick or two, and very deliberately handed one to dad.... who then made the mistake of handing it to his son. Well now they ALL need one... I had just enough but next year I buy in bulk....
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So this was my halloween costume this year
Which lead to two people thinking I was NOT a person.
Does anyone else feels that looks like a classical stop motion puppet?
Also, did you go to Halloween dressed as your bigger brother?
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Hey, I didn't know you could link Discord photos to non-friends! That makes life SO much easier!
The new donut.
(And yes, in that one be aware that Mephisto (the black one) outweighs the giant fluffy one. *SIGH*
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Hasn't Nobody warned us years ago against downloading unknown videos from dubious websites?
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Fantasy Monster: Words-In-Stone
The Words are set in stone! Obey the Words!
Hasn't Nobody warned us years ago against downloading unknown videos from dubious websites?
I *thought* that an .mp4 would show up in a new browser tab. Not my fault Discord decided to force you to download it.
Now I have to try to get a picture of Mephisto and Lenore side-by-side so you can see the hilarious comparison between muscle density and fat density...
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Making borscht for Impus Major today, and I'm convinced that the requirement to shred all the root vegetables was invented just to give the cooks something to do during those long, cold winter days. Pretty sure dicing would work just as well...
EDIT: Fortunately, I have a pre-ensh*ttification Cuisinart so the shredding is pretty darned quick.