Random randomness

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 1:51 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:10 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:19 am SyFy Channel is showing some horrible movie called Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda. That is way way below laughable. I dont get it. When the channel started as The Sci-Fi Channel it was pretty great. Then as time went on they become dumber and dumber. They really dont do scifi any longer just stupid. Its the was the Science Channel and The History Channel and The Military Channel all started off amazing and then degenerated into bullshit...most of it not even relating to their channels name.
My guess is all the quality content has been gobbled up by the big boys leaving the lower tiers to scramble for crumbs.

i thought i read it was when the interwebz became a household thing and all the more educated viewers left TV to spend their viewing time web surfing, so the content had to be dumbed down for the remaining lowest common denominator

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:28 pm

Today’s pet peeve: people who leave a full car length of space between them and the next car...in the drive thru line.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:31 pm

The Meal wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2019 11:37 am I had my first kombucha on June 29, 2019. I'm already a tea drinker (mostly green teas for me, but I basically like all varieties). Our daughter had been brewing her own kombucha for about a year previous but couldn't ever convince me to try it (didn't seem like the sort of thing you jump into with the home made variety, TBH). But since I already liked tea and since I do have frequent troubles with my digestion, MHS convinced me to try a few bottles.

I know the date very well because I had brought my first bottle to a poker game (poker nights being a frequent concurrent event with my stomach troubles—I figure there's some stress component to my issue, though the times I'm most stressed is when MHS and I host poker games at our own home and I don't tend to have that same issue on those evenings so...it's complicated). This was a poker game at a friend's house that only goes off a couple times a year and is for the largest stakes of any the games we play (outside of casinos). With about 30 people each starting with about $100 on the table to start (and many folks digging into their wallets a handful of times as the evening goes on), there's many thousands of dollars at play. I cashed out from that game as the big winner at +$943. I gave credit to the kombucha (because the alternative¹ is just plain ridiculous).

From that point forward, I've incorporated 2-3 bottles of kombucha into my poker night routines. I discovered it goes well with gin. Since the end of June, my biggest profitable poker nights have been: $943, $903, $526, $102, and $99. My lesser profitable nights basically even out the nights I wasn't profitable. +$2500 in four months of home game play... well I hope the opposition doesn't buying the local stores out of the 'booch.

—————

¹ To that point, my home game results had been pretty stabilized. I'm a decent-size winner in tournaments, but my cash game play had been roughly break-even. In any given month we play 1-2 tournaments and 3-6 cash games. I think a reasonable expectation would have been for me to increase my poker bank roll by $20-50 per month. And its fair to say that I've made some adjustments in my cash game play (four of those five top winning numbers were in cash games), but I wouldn't think any of them would account for the significant uptick I've seen in my most recent 20 poker events. So, it's the kombucha.

Catching up on old Nat Geos and came across this...

How Trillions of Microbes Affect Every Stage Of Our Life From Birth To Old Age

Maybe I'm not so crazy?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 3:00 pm

Sounds like horse hockey as Colonel Potter would say but who knows.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:30 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 3:00 pm Sounds like horse hockey as Colonel Potter would say but who knows.

Parasites can influence and arguably control the behavior of crabs, crickets, cats and any number of other organisms on Earth. Is it so hard to believe that microbial fauna could be influencing our moods and possibly behavior as well? Your scientists have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception. Yet you somehow brazenly declare that seeing is believing!

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:44 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:30 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 3:00 pm Sounds like horse hockey as Colonel Potter would say but who knows.
Parasites can influence and arguably control the behavior of crabs, crickets, cats and any number of other organisms on Earth. Is it so hard to believe that microbial fauna could be influencing our moods and possibly behavior as well? Your scientists have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception. Yet you somehow brazenly declare that seeing is believing!

"Your" scientists?

Finally revealing your lizard parentage???

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:46 pm

I was trying to figure out if this was a movie quote or Smoove is an AI.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 5:03 pm

It's from the single greatest episode of the X-Files.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 5:28 pm

Sorry Smoove.

New Jersey accent is nation’s ugliest, New York is second-most attractive: Poll

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 5:38 pm

Which makes no sense because if you put someone from North Jersey in a room with someone from South Jersey I guarantee you'd think they were from different states. Also, I don't think I have a Jersey accent. When I went to school (with people mainly from South Jersey), they thought I grew up near Canada because of how how I say a few words. I spent the first six years of my life in Missouri and Indiana so who the hell knows what's happening. When I hear people referring to a Jersey accent it's one I associate with the people that in the far East counties near NYC.

Also, I spent a fortnight in the UK back in the mid 90s and ladies in the pub were picking up what I was putting down. Maybe I sounded like Paulie Walnuts to them; I have no idea.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:11 pm

Before I knew it, I was aboard the hover vessel and was not heading into outer space, but inner space, heading towards the earth's molten core. For that is the domain of the third alien, whose name, he soon told me... was Lord Kinbote.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:22 pm

Aussie girls like a southern accent. I like Aussie and Scottish girl accents.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:35 pm

Lots of planets have a North.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:07 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 5:38 pm Which makes no sense because if you put someone from North Jersey in a room with someone from South Jersey I guarantee you'd think they were from different states. Also, I don't think I have a Jersey accent. When I went to school (with people mainly from South Jersey), they thought I grew up near Canada because of how how I say a few words. I spent the first six years of my life in Missouri and Indiana so who the hell knows what's happening. When I hear people referring to a Jersey accent it's one I associate with the people that in the far East counties near NYC.

Also, I spent a fortnight in the UK back in the mid 90s and ladies in the pub were picking up what I was putting down. Maybe I sounded like Paulie Walnuts to them; I have no idea.

I love explaining my (non-)accent. I lived almost entirely in the South until I was past college, but people never believe it because I have a classically neutral American media voice.

My parents are both from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and my mother maintains a deep-Mississippi accent to this day. When my dad finished grad school, however, he was recruited by AT&T, and when I was a toddler he was transferred to Manhattan to climb the executive ladder. He knew that there was no way anyone in 1970 NYC would take him seriously with a Mississippi accent, so he affected a clean "radio voice" that he continued all through my upbringing.

We moved back down to Atlanta before I had finished 1st grade, so I don't believe I ever picked up Northern tones. Instead, I had my dad's continuing example (which served him well not only in AT&T executive terms but also as a very respectably serious public speaking voice in church).

I use plenty of Southernisms in my speaking (e.g. "y'all" is my consistent second-person plural pronoun), but the accent is usually undetectable. My wife (she's from Brooklyn) says she can hear it when I talk to old friends on the phone and also when I've had a few drinks. I think at some level, though, I've always been attempting that postwar radio voice that seemed to serve my dad so well.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:44 pm

Some crazy neighbor is firing mortar firework rounds off. I can hear the POOooof.....BOOM!...About every 15 seconds. Now I hear a starburst. WTF!?? Its Aug 27!!

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:46 pm

FREEDOM KNOWS NO SEASON!!!1!111!!!1

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 9:17 pm

Saw this bug zapper that looks like a badminton paddle on TV the other day so I had to get one.
Works great! It was like 4th of July around here this evening.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:03 am

Amazon finally made me change my six-character password to something a bit more secure.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 8:39 am

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:03 am Amazon finally made me change my six-character password to something a bit more secure.

I'm *not* messing around with Amazon.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:50 am

On Accents:

I have a virtually neutral accent myself, and I don't know who or what caused it. I don't recall ever having a specific teacher who taught it to me, and the crazy thing is, I do this in any language I know, which includes Chinese and Spanish... as far as I know, I have no accent. But if I speak or listen to somebody, I tend to imitate their accent.

On Amazon:

I have 2FA enabled for Amazon... with Authy. So nobody is hacking into my account unless I lose my phone.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 10:25 am

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:50 am On Accents:

I have a virtually neutral accent myself, and I don't know who or what caused it. I don't recall ever having a specific teacher who taught it to me, and the crazy thing is, I do this in any language I know, which includes Chinese and Spanish... as far as I know, I have no accent. But if I speak or listen to somebody, I tend to imitate their accent.

I took Spanish for two years with the same teacher. Once I tried to order a meal in Spanish, and the waiter asked why I had a Cuban accent.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 11:05 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:28 pm Today’s pet peeve: people who leave a full car length of space between them and the next car...in the drive thru line.

They are doing you a favor.

Imagine how fresh your food would be if there was only space for 1 car before the pickup window.

vs. If 20 cars could all have their order placed but then wait in line to get to the window.

The person(s) that don’t compress the line force the restaurant to deliver the food before they just keep taking more orders.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 11:29 am

The Meal wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:03 am Amazon finally made me change my six-character password to something a bit more secure.

I'm *not* messing around with Amazon.

Probably wise. I do have 2FA on it.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:46 pm

The Meal wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 8:39 am
Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:03 am Amazon finally made me change my six-character password to something a bit more secure.

I'm *not* messing around with Amazon.

Ditto. I cannot even recall when I last used a login password. I've relied upon KeePass to randomly generate the longest allowable passphrases for all of my accounts for at least 15 years, in a somewhat similar vein to the old XKCD take on password strength (though courtesy of KeePass, I obviously don't even need to bother remembering any of 'em):

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 8:37 pm

Was looking at some sale papers from a shopping center here in town that was built 1961. Been there since I was a child in the 70s. Anyways saw ground beef for .39 cent a lb. Daaaaangit.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:04 pm

I moved to Huntington Beach in 1962. One day my mother sent me to the butchers to buy some hamburger. I was able to buy three pounds of it for a single dollar bill.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:16 pm

Seems like after the 70s prices just jumped up.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:35 pm

I recently grabbed some High Plains Bison burgers from Costco for $16, and they're worth every penny. Just incredibly tasty, and a good deal healthier than beef, too.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 10:05 pm

Last time I tried bison was in the 90s from Walmart and those patties were extremely dry.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:45 am

Bison is like any other meat. Sometimes you'll get good meat, other times you'll get bad. That said, most natural meat (by which I mean not domestically bred for centuries) is naturally less fatty (in other words, drier) than meats people are more familiar with, and has to be prepared with that in mind.

I probably eat more deer corpse in a year than I do cow anymore.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 1:27 am

And farmers get pretty mad when you shoot their cows.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 1:30 am

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:45 am Bison is like any other meat. Sometimes you'll get good meat, other times you'll get bad. That said, most natural meat (by which I mean not domestically bred for centuries) is naturally less fatty (in other words, drier) than meats people are more familiar with, and has to be prepared with that in mind.

Indeed, it's definitely much leaner than beef (which is why it's also healthier). So it is worth being prudent to avoid overcooking. Because without the abundance of fat beef tends to provide there's obviously less margin for error. But I can attest that simply following the instructions on the box of High Plains Bison burgers makes for perfectly succulent, tender, and delicious burgers brimming with flavour. Interestingly, as far as I can tell, there are no added spices or ingredients at all.

In looking at their web site, I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of their products. Because if their burgers are that tasty and flavourful, I'd certainly love to try their bison ribeye steaks as well as their bison hot dogs, brats, and sausages. So if you happen to spot any products with this logo at a local store, I strongly recommend trying them:

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 1:55 am

There are two places that sell bison near us (by which I mean ~30 miles from here.) One is a store that also sells a variety of other meats - goat, elk, wild boar. The other is a farm/butcher that has fresh bison - at least occasionally.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:00 am

Haven't had deer steaks in over a decade. Was always good with gravy.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:33 am

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:46 pm Ditto. I cannot even recall when I last used a login password. I've relied upon KeePass to randomly generate the longest allowable passphrases for all of my accounts for at least 15 years, in a somewhat similar vein to the old XKCD take on password strength (though courtesy of KeePass, I obviously don't even need to bother remembering any of 'em):

What I sometimes do is think of a famous line from a movie (often a long one) or Shakespeare, turn it into an acronym, and then add the name of the character who said it, maybe adding the year it came out.

So, for example, say I've been teaching Julius Caesar so it's all easy to recall. The character Cassius says "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves."

I might turn that into the password "Tfdbiniosbiocassius1599". This apparent gibberish is easy to remember, since you're just saying the line to yourself as you type.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:22 am

If it is something I will need to type in regularly, I'll find three things nearby (or that are fresh in my memory) and use those, capitalizing each one. Otherwise I just let the LastPass generator handle it with an absurd alphanumeric.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:46 am

Do mail in ballots need to be notarized?

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 11:03 am

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:46 am Do mail in ballots need to be notarized?

I'm sure details vary from state to state, but in MA you put your ballot in an envelope and sign the envelope, then put that in a larger mailing envelope. That signature has to match the one on file with your voter registration (driver's license, for most of us). Once it's verified the inner envelope is separated from the ballot to protect the anonymity of your vote. If the signatures don't match I believe they notify you so that you can vote in person, assuming your ballot was received before election day. IDK what happens if it's received on or after that time...I returned ours weeks ago.

I haven't looked into all the details because we're not a swing state and nobody expects any shenanigans here. MA will definitely go to Biden in a landslide (probably 60/40, or thereabouts).

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:10 pm

They were mentioning something about it on the local news but I was interrupted and didn't hear most of it.
If true it kind of kills the whole reason for voting by mail.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 3:17 pm

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:10 pm They were mentioning something about it on the local news but I was interrupted and didn't hear most of it.
If true it kind of kills the whole reason for voting by mail.

A Google search indicates that Arkansas does not need it to be notarized. You can download the form right now and mail it in.

https://www.sos.arkansas.gov/elections/ ... tee-voting