Still here, and still providing some links for your entertainment purposes. Recently been playing the hell out of Unicorn Overlord (terrible name, game that is nearly perfectly in my wheelhouse). I’m sure I’ll get back to BG3 when I finish this one up. But enough about my interests and the games I’m currently playing, you’re here to ignore some stories. Let’s start off with some background music.
This piece of shit should not be hired as a cop anywhere (hell, I wouldn’t trust him as a mall cop), and I’m somewhat heartened to see the chief resign. But what kind of shit background check are you doing for your hiring?
Utah decides that having people make sure they made something correctly is illegal.
This is part of the reason I’m not getting more games like Deus Ex, isn’t it?
So you had one great movie, one mediocre movie, one tolerable movie, and this is how you want to reboot it this time? Can we just do a BPRD movie instead?
I’m sure this will be just as unimpeachable and accurate as the Breathalyzer.
Which one of you lot was this?
Our model predicts that the model will be important!
Nice pair of shoes you got there, too bad they won’t work without that app we’re killing.
/gives a long hard stare at Sonos (for the record, mine still is borked, after them claiming it was wireless, it’s hard wired in and the app is still garbage)
Yesterday was national mojito day (and the girlfriend and I went up to a local distillery for a class to master the mojito), so guess what cocktail you’re getting today?
The Mojito
- Sprig of mint (to taste)
- 2 parts simple syrup (0.5 oz)
- 8 parts white rum (2 oz)
- 3 parts lime juice (0.75 oz)
- Club soda to top
The mojito is a classic cocktail, being older than the US. Start by putting your mint in a cocktail shaker, and lightly muddle it (you want it bruised and aromatic, not shredded into pieces). Add ice, simple syrup, rum, and lime juice to the shaker. Give it a couple of quick shakes (you’re looking to integrate and chill it, not to dilute it), then strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Top with club soda (if you read last week, there would already be a small amount of club soda at the bottom), and garnish with a mint sprig and a lime wedge if you would like. What’s really nice about this drink is that it can be modified in many different ways. You can toss in some fresh berries to muddle with the mint, you can use a flavored simple syrup, you can add a dash of bitters, you can use a flavored seltzer water, etc. Never be afraid to modify a cocktail to something you think is good, and if you’re offering it to someone else, make sure to use a cocktail stirrer to taste it to make sure you hit what you were aiming for flavor wise.
The first song should be done, so let’s give you one where the vocalist (Caz Gardiner) can be heard.
The Hell? On Switch, PS 4/5, Xbox Series S…. but not PC? Sorry… guess they don’t want to make money. I don’t console game.
Oh, we found the Master Race PC nerd.
*raises hand*
I mean, I spent more on just the video card than you did on the whole console.
Oh just flash your cash around like a richer.
Q would certainly approve.
Hey! She’s clothed (and from memory, just a random model the band used for the cover). I figured the title of the song would get a comment faster than the album art.
Good point… I’m sure PPP would love to sniff her hair and taste her pudding pop too.
In more seriousness… catchy little tune, thanks.
They’re a lamentable forgotten band. I couldn’t find a single upload of just the one song I wanted to use (I did find ones of the whole album), and Caz is just an amazing vocalist. I have fond memories of seeing them live.
Another video block by work.
what is the song?
kinnath:
The band is the Checkered Cabs, the two songs I linked are Puddin’ Pop (an instrumental) and Darling Boy. The ones by them you can find the easiest is there cover of La Bamba and Can’t Hurry Love.
Darling Boy by The Checkered Cabs.
Tasty Ska.
thanks. I’ll look them up.
Another ska band swallowed up by time…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ag_NhFfUy4
B.P.:
Just got a chance to listen, they were a band I was unfamiliar with. Here’s one from Michigan that we got to know through their tours here. We went up to Michigan to watch them play at Bell’s the weekend of my 21st.
Oh wow. They’re great. Old school.
I am poorly versed in ska. Both of those are fantastic!
Thanks, boys. And thanks, Spotify.
Great Train Robbery was 1980s, from Buffalo.
Just not on Neph’s Sonos.
I’ve been enjoying the Sonos shitshow for how not to piss off loyal customers who buy high end electronics.
Jesus… talk about Nunya (as in.. this is Nunya Fucking Business, Utah…). Must these assholes micromanage every aspect of life?
(Yes, I know the unfortunate actual answer… allow me my delusions that freedom is actually a goal instead of Rule By Experts And Permissions… Sigh….)
The idea of working in a bar and not getting an occasional drink on the clock is insane to me.
“Must these assholes micromanage every aspect of life?”
Second time I am posting this today: “Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history, mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would boss the grass in the meadow about which way to bend in the wind are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.”
PJ O’Rourke?
Get off my lawn, etc., but if you paid $350 for shoes that need an app, you deserve what you get.
This is battlespace prep for shoes which the cops can use to track your movements, and somehow disable (or light up) remotely. Don’t fall for it.
Disable,
“Ouch why does it feel like walking on neeedles!”
I actually like the mojito sans sugar. But I love mint, so that helps.
I really like Utah, but some of their shit’s all retarded.
Personally, I’m a fan of using demerara and using that to help muddle the mint leaves, it requires shaking extra hard to get the sugar properly integrated going that route though. In those cases, I’ll skip the straining, and dump the shaker into a glass, top with ice, and then soda/seltzer.
*taking notes…&
I wonder if using superfine demerara sugar would work better than syrup? Let’s find out!
EvilSheldon:
Good thought… I may have to grind some sugar this weekend.
Sir, yes sir!
Thanks for (just) the tip!
Re: Deus Ex and that style of gaming…
I think this is the bigger problem. Part of it stems from the mobile / in-app purchase mindset of grinding, some of it via the “It will be easier to have procedurally generated maps / quests / whatnot”… but the end result has be formulaic fetch quests out the ying yang, leaving the worlds feeling empty regardless of pretty visuals (I know that’s how I quickly felt in Dragon Age Inquisition and Starfield and others.
Which is why I try to look for smaller studios doing labors of love — in the hope that they’ll really invest in the story and it will be playable (currently trying to get through Broken Roads for that reason. The devs are active and really do seem to be trying… but it just hasn’t caught that spark for me yet (got to the point after the tutorial / per-character origin where you have a “Fight Thou Canst Not Win, Player”… I just hate those. If you’re going to do it, make it a cut scene so I don’t use consumables in the first rounds thinking the fight might actually be doable…)
I must not be old-school because I don’t get the beef in the article. Objectives are a bad thing? Uh… okay then. Though to be fair, I generally dislike the genre in question there. Such games remind me of wandering around Breath of the Wild for fifteen hours before giving up at finding something interesting to do.
I hear that.
More that the objectives don’t have anything to hook them into the overarching story. And I agree completely with you – I don’t understand the love for open world games.
The idea that political speech can be censored for profanity is again one of those “Should be obviously not allowed even for total morons”… but Nanny governments (especially local AWFL-infested ones) keep trying.
And the lady should be careful — PPP and OMB might just come together across her aisle and take her up on it… (“Verbal contract!”)
Billy boy bringing new meaning to being a Reagan Democrat.
He does believe, as he argued last night, that he’s governed well, and that he can still govern well enough for the next six months. He’s right about that.
Jeebus Kristol just fuck all the way off already.
I don’t disagree but reading the story at that link just pisses me off all over again about how the incident was used to incite racial bullshit.
Honestly, the Rice case didn’t have that much of it. At least locally. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who defends the POS who shot the kid.
The fact that the entire country knows this story proves my case. It would have remained a local story otherwise.
I agree with you. I don’t think the hottie that got capped by the Somali cop in Minneapolis was featured everywhere.
I’m sure there’s a use for this crap in someone’s life (I personally think I could use a bit of it in trip navigating — that the current map apps don’t handle “I’m on this Interstate, going to XXX. I want to stop every 12 or 13 hours, find a hotel, preferably of these chains and reserve a room for Y people — oh, and find me gas stations along the route every 3 hours or so, then store it all so I don’t hear f’ing ‘Proceed to the route’ every time I stop…”).
There’s very little value add in my work from AI (and boy is management trying to push it anyway). I don’t need summarized articles. I don’t do PowerPoint. I know where I keep my own files, thank you. I don’t want you pawing through my data.
So TL;DR (too late!) — I still feel like this is the next VR / 3D TV / whatnot they’re throwing out to try to sell equipment as “the next thing”… but man, there’s a lot of KoolAid being drunk on it right now.
I got hooked on Diablo/Hellfire way, way back in time. Then I just walked away from all computer games.
Awful story, but I’m actually somewhat surprised they didn’t try to say the driver technically fled.
3-year-old girl killed, 2-year-old brother hit by SUV injured in Harlem; mother, baby not hurt
https://abc7ny.com/post/3-year-old-girl-struck-killed-car-crossing-street-harlem/15053309/
Awful. And it sounds like truly an accident. Fucking vehicles are like trying to see out of a tank.
Yes they are.
Also making right turns in NYC you have to really look out for pedestrians.
No idea if the mother had the signal.
It’s the A pillars, regardless. If the two little ones were tagging behind, I can absolutely understand not even seeing them.
Such a tragedy and one of those things that reminds me to fucking focus all the time.
Recently been playing the hell out of Unicorn Overlord (terrible name, game that is nearly perfectly in my wheelhouse).
I’ve been playing Timberborn of late. I prefer it to the traditional city builders because the mechanics aren’t so nuanced that you’re constantly behind the curve if you play casually, but it’s challenging enough to be worth picking up again and playing.
“lumberpunk beavers” lol
The screenshots are kewl
I’ve been playing Project Zomboid, which is a fairly open world game. But like a lot of open world games without a plot, you get to the point where your character has a protected safe haven, enough canned food and water supply to last out months and months. You can take up farming… but what’s the point?
You can drive/walk around and visit other (zombie infested) cities but there is little point if you have enough supplies.
Now the online version with multiple players means fighting factions/tribes fighting over limited resources. That would be a little more interesting than the solo play I do.
I forgot to add there are tons of mods for PZ. Right now I’m playing a “The Last of Us” mod which has a “10 years later” environment, fast zombies, and specials like Clickers. It is incredibly difficult, given the roads are now covered with trees, no electricity, no running water, and no fresh food to raid from abandoned houses.
Even the Babylon Bee would not have dared to predict that people would try to use mobile phones to lace their shoes.
For Tonio:
https://daily.jstor.org/historys-footnotes/
The history of footnotes.
I was gonna deploy the NERDS! gif, but that’s pretty cool!
A 165 page footnote, though? No way I’m reading that – I’ll take your word for it.
BIG BOY ZOOM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87821224358?pwd=eW55MTRDbDNtQkh2aHd3M1Nmenlzdz09
Bladwin walks.
Stupid cops. Again.
The question is whether or not they threw the case.
I don’t believe so. I think they were trying to be cute and got caught.
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/alec-baldwins-rust-trial-bullets-surprise-1236069357/
The prosecutors and the state wanted to win this given the spend and bragging rights.
Dismissed with prejudice? Or can they try again?
Nope. It’s over.
fuck
Yup. Note that it’s usually the only the wealthy who can afford to look at every piece of evidence and the procedures this way.
It’s why they get so sloppy. They are rarely reviewed like this.
I’m not reading it. It’s bullshit that he’s walking.
One can only hope he suffers a fatal negiligent discharge that penalizes him for his habitual poor handling by striking only his own face.
He either has really good lawyers or the prosecutor sucks ass.
Or both.
Both.
Dang
Gonna go back and watch Emily D Baker’s stream
And today is the birthday of the only politician to have a chain of smoothie stands named for him.
When I become God-Emperor, I’m naming myself Philip Screwdriver just so people will remember me for two thousand years.
You are not usurping my title of God Emperor!
*grumble*
I afew weeks (possibly months) ago, I bought a $150 Iwata Eclipse (made in Taiwan). Today I went “I really should actually use this airbrush I shelled out so much for” and decided I would test it out. The instructions said that the max air pressure should be 8psi. I didn’t believe it because the cheapo Master airbrush I’d started with didn’t like low pressures and only ran paint at much higher psi ratings. But I figured I should try the recommended settings first. It turns out it actually pushes a lot of paint at 8psi.
I was getting annoyed at an issue with an air leak, but I’ve isolated it. Turns out the generic quick connects I have don’t have the greatest quality control. (Made in China, who’da thunk it) By unluck of the draw, the one I’d attached to the Eclipse was impinging on the air flow switch inside the mechanism, causing a leak. I swapped it for a different quick connect and now it’s nice and tight, no leaks, no pressing the switch open when I’m not using it.
The shape of the paint reservoir is also cleaning nicer than the other air brushes I’ve got, fewer places that paint pools and refuses to rinse from. In fact, I’ve not had any paint yet require intrusive action to remove.
Turns out I’m still in the “You get what you pay for” range of airbrushes.
岩 iwa – boulder, rock, cliff
田 ta – rice field
It can be a rocky rice field.
Or a terraced rice field full of cliffs.
That is most likely it.
I’ve mentioned before that many Japanese last names describe locations or features.
Only royalty and nobles had lineages. At some point government demanded last names and Fred who lives on the green hill became Fred Greenhill.
How did Fred Wang get his name?
from a foreign language.
~ Woodie Allen, Side Effects, p. 57
So vote Trump in ’24?
Baldwin cleared of all charges.
Not cleared – dismissed for procedural error.
ie, got off on a technicality.
Prosecution withholding evidence is a bit beyond a technicality
I’m not going to say they were bribed to bury it for this last minute dismissal, but I lean towards somebody intentionally sabotaging the prosecution’s case.
This is interesting:
Lawsuit Alleges Hyundai Conducted “Secret Program” With Dealers To “Inflate” EV Sales
I’m not at all clear on how you could fake numbers, though. With floor plans and whatnot.
Clearly I care too much about the car industry. I’ll try to be better.
I tried to pop on Zoom and no go. deadhead was there but he couldn’t see nor hear me. Not sure about that one. I had audio the first time and I got my camera to work the second try.
Hrm?
Deadhead gets there early. KK will be on in a little while, I’ll get there about 9:30 EDT, CPRM and Whahappen late night.
Mojeaux, Swiss, and various other rogues and ragamuffins will pop in and out throughout the night.
Still having damn tech issues on my end. I did fix the vid issue, but this is the first time audio hasn’t worked as well.