Leftovers & links & reviews without spoilers
ᐅ No diss intended, because I like and still read Reddit, but I’m having more fun here than I ever had there. On this site, there are fewer rules about what we can do or say. There are no ads. I like the colors and the layout, because I picked them. There are a few friends, but absolutely no assholes allowed, except me. |
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On this site, I assume is that someone is reading, because occasionally there are comments. But ...
• How many readers?
• Is the number going up or down or sideways?
• Is today’s post scoring higher or lower than yesterday’s post?
... it's not quantified with a number beside every post and every comment. With some digging I could find such numbers, but since I don't care, I don't dig. I’m just having fun here (hope you are, too), with no upvotes, no downvotes, and no numbers at all.
ᐅ What’s the deal with sparkling water? I drink two different brands of lightly flavored sparkling water, basically bubbling water with a sweet hint of fruit. But only those two brands — every other brand that calls itself the same thing, “fruit-flavored sparkling water,” has a hideous underlying taste like Alka-Seltzer. Who wants that taste?
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ᐅ I can’t send this company an email, because they don’t have email. I can’t complain on their website, because they don’t have a website. I’ve tracked down their address, so I could write ‘em a letter, but I don’t have a printer and I’m not going to handwrite a complaint to mail it to Quality Transparent Bag, Inc., 110 McGraw St, Bay City MI 48708.
If I did, though, it would say:
Hey — I’ve been using your “easy on the environment” ArmourBuilt plastic bags for years, and my trash and recycling habits haven’t changed, so I’m guessing you’ve changed your recipe to save ⅛¢ per package.
The bags now split about half the time when I’m taking out the trash, and often fall apart when I’m putting a fresh bag on the barrel. So I’m tossing your trash bags into the trash, and buying Hefty™ from now on.
ᐅ I’m trying to be a decent human. Not succeeding, but trying. Usually. Are you trying to, or is it just me? |
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I am certain that I wrote a full-length article a year or two ago, probably on Reddit, about a co-worker who was murdered — but now I can’t find the article anywhere. I frickin’ hate rewriting something from scratch, but it needs to be written. Sigh. Again.
ᐅ May I be a grumpy old bastard for just a moment? This article reviews an art exhibit at New York’s MOMA. I don’t know much about art, and less about Paul Cézanne, and the rest of the article isn’t quite as pretentious as the opening paragraph, but this is painful:
Some of us don’t like the inarguably great artist Paul Cézanne as much as we know we are supposed to. I, for one, have struggled with him all my art-loving life. Others, as I’ve confirmed in recent conversations with Cézanne devotees, are astonished and appalled to hear anything with even a trace of negativity said about him. “Cézanne Drawing,” at the Museum of Modern Art, with some two hundred and eighty works on paper (too many? Not really, because quantity intensifies the works’ qualities), has a cumulative impact that is practically theological for both believers and skeptics, akin to a creation story, a Genesis, of modernism.
ᐅ When personal computers were a new thing, my friends and I were fascinated by text-based games like this. Such wordy games are ridiculously retro now, but (to me, anyway) they’re still enjoyable. That one even has some pictures!
ᐅ Anyone even slightly interested in San Francisco’s movie theaters would enjoy San Francisco Theaters, a site I stumbled across yesterday. Looks to me like they have a listing for just about every building in the city that ever screened a movie or staged a play — and the listings aren’t quick and concise, they’re in-depth with photos from all through most theaters’ history. A whole lotta passion has gone into it, obviously.
ᐅ "Despite their ubiquity and pivotal role in the haptic experience of architecture, door handles remain oddly under-documented."
ᐅ Underwater can be really really deep.
ᐅ Some links work better as mystery links, so I'll offer no descriptions or explanations for these:
6/28/2021
Morning chuckles appreciated. I was on Reddit to read you and not much else. That art article, no...
ReplyDelete~~ALL fizzy water tastes awful to me. Once in a while, I get an urge, butit's very rare. The Alka Seltzer taste is the carbonation itself, I think. In strongly-flavored sodas, it's masked.
ReplyDelete~~Regarding the trash bags - I have had whole boxes of trash bags come with defects like that. It doesn't necessarily mean they've changed the formula, it may be a manufacturing defect. They may, of course, have changed the formula, but try at least one or two more boxes of the bags.
~~I tried looking for that article you wrote - if it was on reddit, it's gone, as the alts of yours that I know were all suspended.
~~You should Google AI Dungeon. It's a very advanced engine for text-based adventures.
There's good fizzy water, though. Walmart 'Clear American' and Aldi. Gotta be careful at Aldi, though, just get peach or strawberry and a few others. They also sell the seltzer slop, with similar branding and the same size bottles.
DeleteMaybe it's a manufacturing glitch. It would be easy to be a millimeter off on bag thickness or whatever. But I'm still switching brands. I don't mind paying extra for greener bags, but first they gotta carry the trash.
"AI Dungeon, an infinitely generated text adventure powered by deep learning." Thanks, man — now I have plans for the weekend.
I watched a documentary on the Neanderthals. How they had larger lungs than us and their noses were much larger to warm the cold air before inhaling. It has always been assumed that Neandertals cannot talk or they had no language. However, they have discovered that different Neanderthals had different techniques in flint mapping. Or making arrows and knives etc. They found this cave and found hybrid arrows that have techniques from 2-3 different groups of Neanderthals. So they had to be able to communicate someway. But also that the seas were a lot smaller then and much of the areas that existed as plains are now underwater. The cave where they found the hybrid arrows was at the bottom of this huge rock knoll. It is literally the tallest structure for like miles. Anyways the theory is that the various “tribes” of Neandertals met here and hunted together. Which is how they were believed to establish trust with one another. How do you trust a stranger? Invite them on a hunt for mammoths and then if you both survive you can be friends.
ReplyDeleteHeres the real kicker though just a crazy theory. Its going to sound like im changing the subject but it ties together…hang with me here.
Have you ever seen the movie Signs? Where Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix fight off aliens. Well if you have you are familiar with the little boys theory on why aliens would visit us. They would either be friendly, curious about us and our ways, or they would be hostile and using us as slaves to mine their resources. They hop from planet to planet taking what they need.
Still with me? If you are great!
Okay now, we know that Neanderthals arrived after the dinos, which I believe were wiped out by a “meteor” or a “comet”. Okay…here’s where it gets crazy. What IF dinosaurs were the original lifeforms on earth? Just for a minute lets pretend that we evolved from Neandertals. Where did they come from? Monkeys? No.
Stay with me here. What if WE were the comet? We have no hardline proof of where WE come from we just have an evolutionary theory from the bones we have found. Now scientifically the only difference between Homoserines and Neandertals is that neandertals were hunter gathering societies. That’s not much to hang your hat on as we have sapiens nomadic tribes. So, what if WE are from another planet making us the alien life form. We crashed here thus wiping out the native dinosaur population and thus we evolved to acclimate to the new environment and take its resources like a plague? We had to evolve to survive so we could “harvest”. Our resources are almost depleted and we are currently looking for other planets to populate. Coincidence? Possibly. Your thoughts sir?
I like science. I don't know science, but it's people dedicating their work time to figuring stuff out, and they've figured out a lot of stuff. I think they've figured out evolution, so I usually trust the science.
DeleteBut I know of no reason to rule out a space invasion, a crash landing, some cross-breeding or something similarly disgusting. Seems perfectly plausible off the top of my crewcut. Lots of things are plausible, though. Show me some evidence.
True. Its easy to make the link that when we crashed we crashed into a colony of ape like creatures that we modeled our DNA after. Thinking it was the local lifeforms. Not sure? Google Lanugo. All babies have this furry covering and some end up arriving into the world covered in hair. Look like little baby monkeys. It eventually falls out, but what do I know. I am not scientist just a theorist.
DeleteI never heard of lanugo and it’s cool!
Delete“Lanugo plays a vital role in binding the vernix to the skin; this protects the fetus from damaging substances found in amniotic fluid. Lanugo's interaction with the vernix also results in an increased rate of fetal growth during mid-gestation and a decreased rate of fetal growth at the end of gestation.” Nature is cool.
Ever see or read “Chariots of the Gods”. It's a wacky 1970s book and movie theorizing that humans are the spawn of aliens. The questions are interesting, but I never read the book and the movie was ridiculous woo-woo.
I went to an Antique store like I do most weekends, becayuse the past was so cool. I am currently collecting antique match safes and cook books. I have a cookbook from the early 1900s that will knock your socks off. Including a recipe for a concoction of Whisky and Molasses to soothe both a colicky baby and a constipated baby. Amazing anyone survived. Another recipe book from the civil war era that has the recipe for a rabbit stew that calls for 6 cubs strong coffee, ½ lb of lard and basket of potatoes and 2 small rabbits or a full size hare. I cant imagine what that tasted like. No wonder they died in their 40s. Their hearts were like…NOPE. MMMM…nothing hits the spot like caffeinated lard. Lol Although, lard in cookies…far superior to that of butter. Like Peanut Butter cookies made with lard…1000000000000 times better than the same recipe made with butter. Ashamed to admit that. Damn lard.
DeleteAre you gonna try any of those antique recipes? I’ve only seen kooky recipes from the 1950s and 60s, mostly weird things in jello. They loved their jello. I thought lard was just for cutting budgets on factory food, surprised it’s good in sweet things. My wife must have cooked something with lard, I remember seeing it in the kitchen, but I have no idea what. If you make anything from an antique cookbook *please* save me a small Tupperware container's worth. I’d be really curious.
Delete6 cups of strong coffee, lol. My mother has some old cookbooks she got from *her* mother, and the recipes I've looked at are all too rich for me, with ample butter cream sauces and calories. I am curious though.
DeleteFor the most part the old recipes are still good. There a few that have items or brands that no longer exist. Which I am okay with as there are alternatives.
DeleteThe biggest challenge was temp. Because folks used to have wood stoves or just plain kettle over a fire type deal the temperatures were like bake in a moderate oven. Moderate? What the hell is moderate? But then I found a cookbook from the 40s that had a translation of what “moderate” “mild” and “hot” oven temps were. So now I can use that book to translate the other earlier cookbooks.
There are a few cookbooks that I am really after, but they are way out of my price range. There are a few from early American days that Id love to get and civil war era. I did find one, but it was in rough shape and $680.
Anything pre-civil war is good the recipes are simple but crazy good. Earlyier recipes get harder to find or read. Cannot for the love of me read their cursive…its like..pretty but illegible.