Friday links of Horror.

by | Oct 11, 2024 | Cocktails, Daily Links | 128 comments

As I mentioned, I live in a neighborhood where quite a few people get very involved in their Halloween decorations. One of the nearby houses had a table set up with lawn chairs and skeletons with Corona bottles flipping off the nearby street. I was able to get a picture of it (if there are requests, I can share it, but I’m trying to be mindful of our Family Friendly designation), and I hope the homeowner doesn’t fold to the complaints that I’m sure are being made.

In local sports news, this bodes well for the season (not a usual location for me). On the bright side, the girlfriend starting to try fantasy football has gotten her at least somewhat interested in watching more games. There are other reports stating that the city is refusing the permits for that tailgate due to lawlessness. Always remember, there’s no open containers in the Muni Lot.

Break a leg Deshaun.

I’m pretty sure that even if I stayed here, I wouldn’t be using the pool.

I don’t entirely disagree, although I have yet to see tonka beans on any menu or recipe I recall.

[This link intentionally left blank]

I’m sure there were lots of projects cancelled before, but it seems they’re getting a lot more time and money wasted on them before the cancellation now. How do you not notice there’s nothing good in there until a brief time before Early Access (AKA paid Beta testing).

For those who have gone the way of the Steam Deck, an easier way to get those other game launchers is coming (through Steam). This again helps me think that Valve may be the least evil tech company out there. Even if they can only count to 2.

In case you needed a new excuse for being lazy this weekend, I give you second hand diesel.

Pretty sure it wasn’t because the captain was a woman, just incompetent.

Don’t believe your lying eyes. It’s POPULAR!

Let’s get back to some good news before getting into the drinking.

For the cocktail today, let’s stay with something in the fall theme, although not specifically Halloween related.

Applejack Rabbit

  • 8 parts apple brandy/applejack (2 ounces)
  • 3 parts lemon juice (0.75 ounces)
  • 3 parts orange juice (0.75 ounces)
  • 2 parts maple syrup (0.5 ounces, you want strongly flavored maple here, under the old grades, B)

You know the drill by now, add these all to a shaker, get them mixed and chilled, and strain into a chilled coupe/cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist if you want to be fancy.

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

Nephilium is a geek of multiple types living in the vast suburban forests of Cleveland.

128 Comments

  1. Brochettaward

    Firsting like I’m battling Milton.

    • Nephilium

      Frosty piss.

  2. Tres Cool

    Secondhand Diesel.
    Album or band name?

    • Nephilium

      Band name, Rockabilly obviously.

    • CPRM

      Spineshank cover band.

  3. UnCivilServant

    [This link intentionally left blank]

    (-.-)

    • Ted S.

      I thought that was his best link.

      • Nephilium

        Thanks?

  4. DEG

    [This link intentionally left blank]

    Same with this comment.

    • B.P.

      I guess “freedom” poll tested well, because that’s the new word over in Demland. They really only ever identify one freedom they support, though.

      “I remember all too well the feeling of waking up every morning during the Trump years and gingerly checking the news to see what unnecessary crisis Trump had stirred up while I slept. Let’s not go back, okay?”

      Harris/Walz 2024 — your eyes constantly deceive you.

  5. Shpip

    Research continues to show that diverse and inclusive teams are more innovative, make better decisions and have higher profitability rates.

    Acclaimed research from the Department of Rectally Sourced Statistics.

    This begs the question: is DEI backlash real or manufactured?

    Any time I see some aspiring midwit misuse the phrase “begs the question” I immediately discard anything else she says or writes.

    /PetPeeveRant

    • DEG

      #metoo

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Pretty sure it wasn’t because the captain was a woman, just incompetent.

    /em>

    Maybe the Kiwi Navy can’t afford depth finders. Or maps.

    • Homple

      If the captain is anything like my wife, she always knows a better route than the map or gps. Wife is often not right.

  7. DEG

    The Applejack Rabbit looks good.

    • Nephilium

      If all I manage to do here is interest people in new drinks, I consider it a win.

      • UnCivilServant

        If it’s more complicated than “open bottle, pour in glass”, I’m not likely to invest the time and effort to remember it.

        No, I won’t buy premade cocktails either.

    • EvilSheldon

      The Poet’s Dream you posted the other week has become my alterna-martini of choice. Plymouth, Carpano Bianco, Benedictine, and a thin slice of lemon peel, just because I just got a new peeler…

  8. The Late P Brooks

    I can’t afford tags.

    • Sean

      *sad trombone*

  9. The Late P Brooks

    is DEI backlash real or manufactured?

    Is reality real or manufactured?

  10. EvilSheldon

    Applejack? Not today, Satan, not today…

    (Seriously, I love the piney pop, but it gives me monstrous hangovers. I’m probably sticking to an Old Fashioned or three tonight. Gotta keep in training for Glibcruise!)

    • Nephilium

      You can go the apple brandy route…

  11. Shpip

    I count myself lucky that I’m yet to encounter a cocktail containing Red Bull

    For a while there, vodka + Red Bull was the highball of choice for the “sophisticated” FratDaddy.

    • Nephilium

      True, but not a cocktail. I recall a couple of others getting footholds in bars (Jones’ soda Whoop Ass being one), but only Red Bull managed to stick around and have their little fridge become iconic in most bars.

  12. rhywun

    I don’t entirely disagree,

    I love how it’s one after the next of “I can understand why people who aren’t professional bartenders would do this but zOMG like come on…”

    I can’t understand why people buy software when they could just code their own I mean come on.

    • Nephilium

      I do appreciate that they called out both high and low end.

    • EvilSheldon

      All of the truly iconic cocktails combine a stimulant with the alcohol. Jack and Coke, the Irish Coffee, the Steve Vai…

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Large majorities of Ohio voters reject protections for transgender people, according to Baldwin Wallace University’s new Ohio Pulse Poll released Wednesday.

    *blows whistle, throws flag*

    Illegal forward pass.

    People oppose special positive rights for made up special interest groups.

  14. Tundra

    Break a leg Deshaun.

    “We know the type of player he is and what he’s capable of and we’re going to just keep working.”

    Yes, we do. Head case who gets flustered with any serious rush and then goes home and rapes chicks. Get that resume polished up, Kevin.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Wasn’t Jaegermeister and red Bull a thing for a while?

    • Nephilium

      Jaeger bombs. I haven’t heard anyone order one of those in a while.

      • Tundra

        I don’t mind an Irish Car Bomb,

    • bacon-magic

      Irish Car Bombs make me hurl every time even though it tastes like chocky milk and the whiskey and beer I enjoy separately.

  16. Pine_Tree

    Mrs. Tree and I were out last Saturday on a no-kids night and a bar menu had a drink that mentioned “faba” as an ingredient. She looked it up.

    Imagine you go to the store, buy a can of chickpeas, and use the peas for something else. Take the liquid they’ve been sitting in, shake it up good, and that’s faba. Yes, really.

    It’s foamy-ish and evidently people claim it’s kindof an eggwhite substitute. She ordered something that looked margarita-ish and tried it just for curiosity. Light layer of foam on top. I tried a sip but couldn’t get past the thought of cold chickpea potliquor being something I want in a cocktail.

    • Nephilium

      Aquafaba, it’s a vegan substitute for egg whites. It’s also used by some cocktail bars to avoid using raw (or pasteurized) egg whites to avoid the minimal risk of food poisoning.

      • R.J.

        No risk, no reward. Drink the egg!

  17. rhywun

    jail management simulator Prison Architect 2

    There was a Prison Architect 1?!

    People will play absolutely anything, won’t they.

    • rhywun

      PS. The problem with Cities: Skylines and the like is that none of them were anywhere near as fun as SimCity 2000.

    • DEG

      People will play absolutely anything, won’t they.

      Like Wizardry remakes?

      (I might give that remake a try)

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Moral turpitude clause?

    Elon Musk’s tweets about the presidential election and spreading falsehoods about Hurricane Helene are endangering his ability to launch rockets off California’s central coast.

    The California Coastal Commission on Thursday rejected the Air Force’s plan to give SpaceX permission to launch up to 50 rockets a year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

    “Elon Musk is hopping about the country, spewing and tweeting political falsehoods and attacking FEMA while claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims with free Starlink access to the internet,” Commissioner Gretchen Newsom said at the meeting in San Diego.

    ——-

    “I really appreciate the work of the Space Force,” said Commission Chair Caryl Hart. “But here we’re dealing with a company, the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the presidential race and he’s managed a company in a way that was just described by Commissioner Newsom that I find to be very disturbing.”

    Unmutual!

    • Nephilium

      Here I thought this was about Deshaun Watson again…

    • juris imprudent

      The Coastal Commission, known for its sharp-elbowed defense of public access to the state’s 840-mile coastline, has been sparring with the Air Force’s Space Force branch since May 2023, when DOD asked to increase SpaceX’s satellite launches from Vandenberg from six to 36 per year.

      Things came to a head in August when commissioners unloaded on DOD for resisting their recommendations for reducing the impacts of the launches — which disturb wildlife like threatened snowy plovers as well as people, who often have to evacuate nearby Jalama Beach.

      So it really had nothing to do with Musk or his tweets, which is why the USAF should tell you to fuck off.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Carolla’s been doing some roasting of the Coastal Commission lately too. Esp. since it looks like he’s getting ready to move to Las Vegas.

        Not sure how Vandenburg on a USAF base has any association with the CCC – and how a state agency can exert any influence over a federal facility.

    • Shpip

      IANAL, but that seems like viewpoint discrimination to me.

      Maybe one of the attorney Glibs can set me straight.

      • R C Dean

        Oh yeah, it’s unconstitutional as hell.

        Nobody who matters cares.

  19. R.J.

    I like cocktail umbrellas. That author can F right off. I’ll hang an entire grocery store fruit section off my rum drink + umbrella if I care to.

    • Nephilium

      I don’t mind them, but they don’t add anything (except flair) to the drink, and I’m generally not a fan of inedible garnishes (on plates or in drinks).

      • Tundra

        What about the classy little swords for the cherries in your Brandy Manhattan (Wisconsin’s finest)

      • R.J.

        Yes! I like those too. And little figures on toothpicks. I Am Trash!

      • Nephilium

        Tundra:

        Those at least hold a garnish. I’ve got both plastic skewers, bamboo skewers, and some preloaded skewers (on plastic) of various pickled things. While they are inedible, I think of them more as a utensil than a garnish in and of themselves.

      • Tundra

        *raises a trashy toast to RJ and Neph*

    • Spudalicious

      My only gripe is that the umbrella and dry ice aren’t ingredients, they’re affectations.

      • Nephilium

        The dry ice does lower the temperature of the drink, but yeah… it’s more for the bubbling and vapor.

  20. Shpip

    Oh, yeah? Sixty million people (and twenty million corpses, housepets, and illegal aliens) disagree.

    I am going to disagree with Democrats. But, at least people like Bill Clinton and even the hard hard left wing Barack Obama were intelligent. They have intellect.

    Kamala exhibits none of this. She’s not any better than a vapid chardonnay drinking person you meet at a bar.

    • juris imprudent

      Can you imagine Kamala’s approach to diplomacy – I want to speak to your manager!

    • Suthenboy

      Obama is a typical lefty type…shifty liar, feral cunning, good strategist but not intelligent by any other measure.
      Clinton? Maybe a little bit.
      None of that cancels out their outright sociopathy.
      Kamala, all of the sociopathy without the smarts.
      I have to say, Hillary is not only an idiot but the most sociopathic public person I have ever seen. She is a real piece of work.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Transgender people are those whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    How very sciencey-sounding.

    • creech

      Gee, I thought sex was assigned when the sperm fertilized the egg.

  22. Tundra

    Neph, is your liquor cabinet actually a spare bedroom?

    Also, how long has the tailgate lot been “no alcohol?”

    • Nephilium

      It is not. The bar is in the basement, which is larger than any of the bedrooms in the house. But I do need to pick up more applejack, I’m just about out of the last homemade batch I made (introduced the girlfriend to the Jack Rose the other week).

      No open containers in the Muni lot is followed about as much as “No sodomy in the British Navy”. It’s a running joke among the fans. Any cop that thought to ticket someone would likely find themselves either beaten down or thrown into the Lake. People have buses with kegerators in them, Most people don’t even bother with solo cups or koozies.

      • Tundra

        Haha! I figured as much. I will say watching a cop get pitched into the lake would make a good tailgate great.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    So it really had nothing to do with Musk or his tweets, which is why the USAF should tell you to fuck off.

    But Musk is icky.

  24. juris imprudent

    Jesus, it’s like you expect these people to be professionals or something.

    People who are supposed to be there aren’t there, because they don’t know they’re supposed to be there. You call the disaster relief people in an emergency, and they show up to lecture you about your tone. They don’t see your suffering; they see your failure to treat them the way they wish to be treated. Their response is a response of appetite and sociopathy.

    • Tundra

      Excellent piece. Is this normal for him?

      • B.P.

        “In the opening moments of the disaster in North Carolina, the Secretary of Homeland Security took his security detail and went clothes shopping.”

        I’m going to give Mayorkas a break on this. Do you see the outfit he’s wearing in that picture? My God. Hopefully there’s something better in the bag he’s carrying.

      • B.P.

        Threading is apparently not my thing.

      • juris imprudent

        Is this normal for him?

        Pretty much.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Tool dresses like a tool

    • Ownbestenemy

      Nice piece.

    • EvilSheldon

      Cap’t Sullenberger, while he was bringing that 747 down into the Hudson, is a great example of this. On the cockpit voice recorder he literally sounds like he’s going to fall asleep.

    • R C Dean

      Good stuff. I subscribed.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    jail management simulator Prison Architect 2

    Do you score points by leasing out the prisoners as slave labor?

    • UnCivilServant

      If it’s anything like the first game, you build the workshop on-site and sell the products.

  26. groat scotum

    I could just quit my job. But I’d be betraying people I like. But it’s the worst thing in my life. But it’s the only thing in my life. I have no kids or wife or girlfriend. I’d be throwing away a great job, better than I’ve earned. I can’t believe the money they’re throwing at me. It’s not astonishing sums, but for my qualifications and limited capacity and few encumbrances? It’s a tidy living. But I hate it. I hate the people I work with. I don’t want to hate them. But they’re, I think, similarly situated, and we’re all at loggerheads. I couldn’t possibly quit this job. The ramifications for my partner, I mean my work partner, would be insuperable. There’s a certain inertia the projects gain and project managers maintain and once it’s flung you have to expend a terrible amount of fuel getting up to speed. I tell myself that, but let’s be honest, it’s horseshit. Everything I’ve done in the past five years could be taught to a new hire in a couple days. Who am I kidding, the only reason they haven’t fired me is inertia. They’ve promoted me above my means. I hit my Peter Principle limit probably two raises ago. Quitting would be doing them a favor, honestly. But not now. Not until the projects are done. Economic turndown, that’s what I need. Construction market eases. I’ll quietly slip out during the recession. I have savings, I’ll live. And the fact that I’m stepping away from the best job you can imagine, well, tough shit. I had to go. Probably should have waited for severance. Whatever. I go to sleep and wake up thinking about these projects, and I have no actual power, because I’m an uneducated drone who puts the lines on the screen for the actual authentically capable people who determine what those lines should be and where they should be drawn. I have trade partners hitting me up constantly for modifications that I can’t actually author myself, because I’m an untutored ignoramus, and I couldn’t possibly fathom, couldn’t even begin to adumbrate the silhouette of a solution, which is appropriate, given what a hick ignorant shithead I am. But! I have to respond to these emails. And the people I work for are as lazy, if not as impossibly stupid, as I am, and I don’t get answers. The contractor is excavating as we talk, forming rebar, putting cages in place, pouring concrete AS WE SPEAK, the steel fabricator is sending drawings out to their shops, welders are putting plates in places that we’re not sure are correct, the architects are on my ass constantly, and I have to answer. And my answer? I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t know. I’m too dumb and uneducated and likely ineducable for this. I’m sorry, I can’t authorize moving the slab edge, I’m an idiot who barely graduated high school and didn’t matriculate into anything worthwhile, I just run the stupid modeling software and I put the lines on the drawings where my betters tell me. But they sometimes often never tell me. I hate these projects with a passion but those projects are all I have in life and that passion is maybe the only thing I feel anymore. I can’t quit this job.

    • bacon-magic

      tl;dr

      • groat scotum

        I wouldn’t either, fuck that guy

    • Sean

      Take some of that unearned money and buy some paragraph breaks. 😛

  27. groat scotum

    As a sequel… My work partner is going on vacation next week. His big project goes to permit the day before he’s set to return. I’ve been so little involved in that building, I had to conference with him and the lead engineer to bring me up to speed. And we’re taking it to permit week after next. Next week? I’ve a deliverable due out for a new phase for the building I’m on. And the issuance instructions, my God. You haven’t any idea. It takes hours to work out how we’re meant to issue our drawings, what parameters need toggling, preparing the PDF and extracting the individual sheets as separate files because that’s how the AHJ’s software works. I’m too dumb for this. They should have fired me the moment I asked “How do I share a global parameter?”

    I guess what I’m asking is whether I can claim disability for being too dumb to work in this office. Not that I want to or deserve to, mind you. But I may have to.

    • groat scotum

      Oh, guy whose comfortable office work overruns his personal life has complaints

      Christ, I realized what a stupid bitchy person I am. Sorry.

      • groat scotum

        Felt good to write, though. Gonna forward to my boss. See you all on the other side

      • DEG

        Gonna forward to my boss.

        That seems unwise.

      • Sean

        Include a dick pic.

      • Ted S.

        I think we all realized that a while ago.

        [rimshot]

        /jk

      • Don escaped Texas

        what state are you in ?

      • Don escaped Texas

        ABQ….just remembered your old username

    • CPRM

      Michael Keaton found the answer to your problem.

    • Mojeaux

      Sounds to me like you’ve got a bad case of imposter syndrome.

      And don’t worry about the vent. That’s what we’re here for.

    • juris imprudent

      If you’re old enough, [early] retirement could be an option. If you’re not old enough for that, you’re young enough to figure out what you’d rather be doing – and let the money be a secondary concern.

      • Tundra

        This is excellent advice.

        Shockingly (not really).

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Christ, I realized what a stupid bitchy person I am. Sorry.

    Aaaah, don’t be (sorry).

    Sometimes it helps to clarify things in your own mind.

  29. Nephilium

    I would likely start with a 1:1:1 (dash of extract), and adjust from there. But I don’t believe I’ve ever had Jack Orange.

    • Nephilium

      This was actually meant for KK up there.

      /waves up at KK

    • R C Dean

      Chocolate liqueur, orange, and vanilla. Hmm. Chocolate and orange go together well. I would start with 2 oz of the Jack, 1 oz Mozart, 1 oz of half and half, and a drop or two of the vanilla (vanilla is one of those flavors where a little too much is way too much, IMO).

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        vanilla is one of those flavors where a little too much is way too much, IMO

        That’s why I’m kicking myself for not getting the vanilla vodka – I think that would have been mild enough. But I’m just gonna do a little drop of the extract

  30. The Late P Brooks

    re juris’ FEMA link-

    There seems to be an obsession with process and procedure combined with an utter disregard for results. And that doesn’t just apply to FEMA.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      It’s a belief in expertise and top down management. They are the experts and those peons on the ground don’t know what’s best. Of course the more centralized and isolated they become, the less likely they are to know anything. It’s the progressive mindset.

  31. Shpip

    I think there are some material benefits here, even if CNN can’t spot them.

    Ozempic-fueled slimming is blowing up the wedding dress industry

    If it’s any consolation, she’s guaranteed to put the pounds back on as soon as she gets hitched.

    • Sean

      As sure as death and taxes.

    • Suthenboy

      That’s a joke as old as time. Also, something about throwing dishes, screaming and bean jars as long as we are going with stereotypes.

  32. groat scotum

    Boss is unimpressed. I still have to go in on Monday. He also said paragraph breaks are key to eliciting workplace melodrama sympathy. I get it.

    • R C Dean

      I kinda Iike your boss.

  33. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Space X is finna launch Starship this weekend

  34. Suthenboy

    “We are going to break the glass ceiling! We are going to let a woman captain a ship!”
    *ship runs aground, catches fire, sinks*
    “You are all a bunch of misogynists!”
    *Neptune leans on his fork, facepalms and shakes his head”

    Of course it is silly, but I cant help but laugh. Yeah, I know, I am a terrible person.

  35. R C Dean

    “I don’t entirely disagree”

    Same here. Although I have never seen tonka beans, or even heard of them before today. And I occasionally use cocktail umbrellas for tiki drinks, because sometimes kitsch is fun. Also, I use store-bought lemon and lime juice (Santa Cruz organic) – I would never use those nasty plastic lemons or limes.

    • Nephilium

      I’m glad I’m not the only one who had never heard of tonka beans.

      I have (at times) resorted to the plastic lemons or limes when I ran out of fresh fruit. I’ve always said I’m a geek, not a snob.

      • Don escaped Texas

        I’m a geek, not a snob

        can confirm

      • R.J.

        I had no idea about tonka beans. I am also as hip as hip replacement.

      • Nephilium

        R.J.:

        Considering they’re banned by the FDA in the US, I don’t feel so bad for not having heard of them, and neither should anyone else.

  36. B.P.

    Babylon Bee has a new trailer, “January 6, the Most Deadliest Day”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klLEEl8_WNk

    It’s got one of those blue fact check-y banners at the bottom that reads “Wikipedia • On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of then–U.S. President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup d’état two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.”

    I’m not really sure what a “self-coup d’etat” is.

  37. LCDR_Fish

    4 day weekend here. I hit 3 different breweries this afternoon. Wasserhund first (amazing art/merch (bought a lot of stuff for gifts and myself and pics on twitter) – great menu, 2 beers I tried were good – will try and visit again). Then a long walk to Smart Mouth VA Beach taproom (need to upgrade the sidewalks) – had a couple beers there a few weeks back, still solid. Then walked another mile to Vibrant Shores (hadn’t visited since July 2022). Excellent beers (only managed a couple more) and the Salty Biscuit food truck – had a “reverse sheperd’s pie (ie. smoked chicken and gravy on a biscuit – so tasty). Uber was able to pick me up and drop me off on base today which was pretty handy.

    Will try walking from Little creek to the COVA brewery on Sunday afternoon. (uber back)

  38. LCDR_Fish

    I did have a really great lunch meet-up with Ron this week too. Thanks Ron! Hopefully I’ll have a definitive posting update next week.

  39. Brochettaward

    I’m Firstin’ Firstin’ Firstin’. Keep those Firsts a Firstin’. First yea.

  40. Brochettaward

    I have a confession. I prefer well done steak. Rare steak is frankly like chewing a piece of rubber.

    • R.J.

      I prefer rare. But I will remember your preference.

      • Tundra

        Medium rare. But you should all just sack up and get good thermometers.

      • slumbrew

        I had a most excellent steak tartar a couple nights ago, but go mid rare for actual steak.

      • slumbrew

        *eyes ThermoWorks probe and instant-read thermometers*

        I’m doing my part!