Random randomness

[LordMortis]

I can only assume popcorn chicken is meant to be a delivery device for some sort of sauce. Otherwise I don't get it either. I'm trying to remember the last time I've had such a thing and nothing comes to mind. I know I've eaten it but I can't remember why or when. It's surely not something I've bought or ordered.

[Rumpy]

It's the supersize mentality at work. But at the same time, Coke has put out these smaller bottles, which are less satisfying and cost more than a regular 6-pack.

BUT IT'S "FUN SIZE"

Fun maybe for the companies making money

[Daehawk]

Got a Faygo Orange soda and a Frostie Concorde Grape soda at the store today. They are both SO SO good. Maybe the best of those flavors out there.

[Max Peck]

As I understand it, popcorn chicken was invented by KFC in order to cater to people who like the skin/coating more than the actual chicken.

[Holman]

I can only assume popcorn chicken is meant to be a delivery device for some sort of sauce. Otherwise I don't get it either. I'm trying to remember the last time I've had such a thing and nothing comes to mind. I know I've eaten it but I can't remember why or when. It's surely not something I've bought or ordered.

Onion rings are way more fried batter than onion.

[Isgrimnur]

I don't like onion rings.

Spoiler:

[Daehawk]

Larry Wood, AKA ‘Mr. Hot Wheels’

Big read.

If you’re a Hot Wheels collector, Larry Wood needs no introduction. And if the name isn’t familiar, there’s really no way to summarize his extraordinary life that does it justice. He’s been working as a Hot Wheels designer for the last 48 years, graduated from Art Center, built many a full-scale hot rod, designed at Ford, drove a machine gun-equipped Jeep during the Detroit riots, was arrested for warning motorists about an unfair speed trap, drove a Corvette across the country on racing slicks, and so much more. Let’s get right into it, shall we? There’s plenty to talk about.

[Kasey Chang]

My dad is on his "crazy ideas" phase again.

His latest idea: create a "room" in the downstairs lobby by putting up some "temporary walls" and move all the crap we stored upstairs down into the new room, thus clearing out the premium room (the largest in the mezzanine level) for rent.

(Wait, who will rent in San Francisco in these troubled times?)

And obviously he can't do **** research, and it obviously falls to me to do research for him. "Delegation" my ***.

At first, he wanted some sort of accordion door/partition. Until even he realized that to make those structurally sound you need tracks installed on the ceiling. And the free-standing ones are just NOT secure at all, usually made of cloth. It's only good for temporary use in a convention.

And obviously, it's MY fault I can't think of something else that suits him. >-P

So I Googled a bit, and said we can probably make up something with a couple of Ikea bookcases if it's temporary. You can make it semi-permanent by nailing or clamping them together. Then add some quake-proofing, maybe.

THEN he insisted on an F***ing DOOR. Fine, an interior door. We can do that. Refigure all the dimensions.

THEN he kept saying something about it'll fall if you push it over. DUH. It's temporary. If you want a real wall, you have to build a REAL wall! It's not like office cube partitions! And those don't go up 7 or 8 ft! AND they cost a lot more!

Then he's like "we'll just anchor it on the ceiling". (WITH WHAT?!)

THEN he wanted a SLANTED corner (45 degrees). WHY?! Whatever... Found a home planner software. Put in the dimensions (went down and measured it with a tape measure). 8 x Ikea BILLY bookcases ($50 each), + misc hardware + one interior door ($100), + various fasteners, plates, a pound of wood screw, door knob, and some 2x4 just in case. I think we have a drill somewhere, but not sure if we have the right bits. May need a saw. Hammer and stuff, we do have. That's like $600 without counting delivery or labor.

And he's like "Wait for Black Friday Sale".

"Uh, dad, this doesn't go on sale for Black Friday. And who's going to pick it up?"

"Just have them deliver it."

"Ikea can probably deliver it for $50 or so (so the website says), but the door costs $70 to deliver (it's worth $100) because it had to come from scheduled truck instead of courier."

"Did you check Home Depot or Lowe's?"

"BOTH! Same price!"

*Grunt*

Couple of days later, i.e. today.

"I am leaving you my debit card. Get it ordered. We start next week."

"Sorry, can't do. Ikea has no stock of bookcases. Neither of the two stores within 50 miles has any so we can't pick them up either."

"Go on Amazon then."

"Ikea stuff is only on Ikea."

"So find something like it."

"NOTHING like it on Amazon. They cost a lot more."

"So backorder some."

"Can't, no such function on Ikea website."

"Write them an email."

"Can't, not accepting emails except order cancellation."

"So call them."

"And say what? Ask them when they will get new stock?"

"... Fine, find me prices on plywood sheets and 2 x 4's. "

"$30 a sheet for 8 ' x 4 ', 2 x 4 x 8' are $5 each. We need about 5 sheets, no idea how much lumber. Hire a real carpenter. Not counting paint and nails or whatever. "

Haven't heard back. :-\

[dbt1949]

Where's their bathroom going to be?

[Blackhawk]

Where's their bathroom going to be?

San Francisco.

[Sudy]

[Blackhawk]

2020. Now we know what happened.

A strange metal monolith has been discovered in the Utah desert by a helicopter crew, leaving local authorities baffled.

[dbt1949]

So that's where my metal widget went!

[Sudy]

What is that, stainless?? At least make it out of a material that seems ancient or futuristic. Something in vantablack, perhaps.

[Daehawk]

That crack in the rock behind it makes me think my Assassins Creed character or Lara Croft could squeeze right in there.

[Skinypupy]

2020. Now we know what happened.

A strange metal monolith has been discovered in the Utah desert by a helicopter crew, leaving local authorities baffled.

Only us Utahns know the true meaning of the ---++++CARRIER LOST+++++------

[Kasey Chang]

Where's their bathroom going to be?

One toilet and one shower (and one sorta working urinal) in the whole place.

[dbt1949]

Tell your dad not to ask too much for it.

[Blackhawk]

Tell your dad not to ask too much for it.

It's San Francisco. 'Not too much' is still more than a small mansion anywhere else.

[Daehawk]

Invasive, snake-like hammerhead worm popping up in Georgia

The snake-like worm, which can grow up to nearly a foot in length, gets its name due to its half-moon-shaped head. The mouths of hammerhead worms are located midway down the bottom surface of their bodies rather than on their heads, Murphy says.

The worms are carnivorous and feed primarily on earthworms, according to Murphy. However, they are also known to "prey on other soil-dwelling invertebrates," Murphy said.

The worms produce tetrodotoxin, the same deadly neurotoxin produced by pufferfish, according to a study from Utah State University.

[Smoove_B]

My skilled hands are busy!

[Z-Corn]

100% chance if one of those hammerhead murder worms kisses Daehawk in bed one night he has a new pet.

[hitbyambulance]

(they're planarians, not worms)

8 x Ikea BILLY bookcases ($50 each), + misc hardware + one interior door ($100), + various fasteners, plates, a pound of wood screw, door knob, and some 2x4 just in case.

this is the sort of plan doomed to non-fruition.

[dbt1949]

So I take this quiz that's going to tell me my accent. After taking 9000 questions asking me how I pronounce things it tells me I am 44% correct and am a junior questionnaire.
It just amazes me how accurate these quizzes are.

[LordMortis]

Mom just called to tell me she's doing thanksgiving delivery tomorrow. <3 <3 <3 You may not know this but I have the best mommy in the whole wide world and she makes it easy to be 50 year old mama's boy.

[Skinypupy]

Today’s completely random thing I learned bumbling through Twitter today: Richard Marx (the cheesy 80’s singer) is married to Daisy Fuentes (the MTV VJ).

Someday I’ll win Jeopardy with that knowledge.

[dbt1949]

The 6th Marx brother.

[Daehawk]

I was going to tell a time-traveling joke, but you guys didn't like it.

[Kraken]

I was going to tell a time-traveling joke, but you guys didn't like it.

We'd just heard it before.

[dbt1949]

Again and again and before and before.

[Kasey Chang]

I wrote an article about how to level up your video calls with free and cheap upgrades.

Then I realized what I wrote was already outdated, as NVIDIA has already replaced RTX Voice with NVIDIA Broadcast, and added VIDEO processing (like background removal) to it.

[Blackhawk]

So, I'm getting the family a TV for Christmas. We're moving from a decade-old, too small for our living room 1080 that I bought to complement our brand new XBox 360 to a brand new 4k/120hz/much bigger TV. Yay!

So... without having a next-gen console or a 4k blu-ray player, what are the options for getting actual 4k content to put it through it's paces? I see that Netflix will give me 4k content for an increased fee. What about the other streaming services? Are there any standouts?

[Kasey Chang]

Update on the "temporary room" situation...

At the end of last briefing, I gave my bad the prices for lumber and plywood sheets, and it happens that a couple of our tenants are sorta contractors. HOWEVER, building a TEMPORARY wall is actually more complicated than building a permanent one, since you have to build all the "stands" to make it stand upright. And all that hammering and sawing will obviously attract attention, since our landlord lives upstairs of us (separate entrance).

I think even he realized that's a non-starter, so it's back to bookshelves.

Except nothing has changed. There is no stock of Ikea Billy Bookshelves within 500 miles. (Entire California). Closest I see is in Texas. And there are no other bookcases that even come CLOSE in price.

Then my dad started naming impossibilities.

"How about... wardrobes?"

I facepalmed.

"Dad, those cost MORE because they have doors."

"What about that bookcase you got in that room?"

"Dad, that was a Saunders. That was like $60 15 years ago. It even has doors in the bottom. Now it's probably like $90. "

"Oh... Uh... find some shelving then."

"The DIY plastic shelves only goes up to 6 ft, and costs about same as bookcase... WITHOUT the back. 48 inch wide model for $50. And they don't exactly fit together."

"We need higher."

"They don't make them higher than 72 inches (6 ft), dad."

"Sure they do! Find some."

"The metal ones can go up to 96 inches high, but they cost 3 times as much."

"So how much?"

"We are going to need at least 5 units, at $150 each, at least. So that's 750, PLUS whatever we use to cover the back, and the door. Altogether, probably 1000+ with plywood back cover ($30 x 5)

"Uh..."

-----

I can get cheap plastic shelves for like $40-50 depending on the width, but they REALLY don't make them over 72 inches tall. But if you back them with 8 ft tall plywood... why does it even matter?!...

[Smoove_B]

Have you considered maybe just buying your dad the most complicated LEGO set you can afford? Ideally something with thousands of bits. It sounds like he needs a project.

[dbt1949]

Some of those Lego kits cost hundreds of dollars. Depends how long you need him occupied.

[Hrothgar]

So, I'm getting the family a TV for Christmas. We're moving from a decade-old, too small for our living room 1080 that I bought to complement our brand new XBox 360 to a brand new 4k/120hz/much bigger TV. Yay!

So... without having a next-gen console or a 4k blu-ray player, what are the options for getting actual 4k content to put it through it's paces? I see that Netflix will give me 4k content for an increased fee. What about the other streaming services? Are there any standouts?

PS4 Pro, Xbox One S and Xbox One X can stream 4k. Your TV is probably a smart TV with apps for the major services. Amazon Prime, Netflix and Disney Plus all have good 4k libraries. For a pure showcase, there are several free channels on Youtube that show 4k content. Sure, they're mostly nature and drone videos, but they can really show off 4k. Vudu sell 4k movies.

[pr0ner]

So, I'm getting the family a TV for Christmas. We're moving from a decade-old, too small for our living room 1080 that I bought to complement our brand new XBox 360 to a brand new 4k/120hz/much bigger TV. Yay!

So... without having a next-gen console or a 4k blu-ray player, what are the options for getting actual 4k content to put it through it's paces? I see that Netflix will give me 4k content for an increased fee. What about the other streaming services? Are there any standouts?

Amazon and Disney+ don't upcharge for 4K. On Prime, all of Amazon's original content has a 4K option, and they have a small handful of movies available in that format. On Disney+, quite a lot is in 4K. Just be wary of how much bandwidth 4K streaming can use if you have slow internet or data caps.

[Blackhawk]

Thanks! Since I won't be able to get any new consoles (or consoles newer than my release-day vanilla PS4, although they're at the top of my wishlist), I'll have to make due with the apps built into the TV. It's a Samsung, so I'm hopeful that they will have all of the services I use (Prime, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+ (until the free sub runs out.) I was mostly concerned with which streaming services will give me 4k, and I seem to have that answered thanks!

I'm really hoping to be able to pull off a cheap 4k Blu-Ray player in a few months, or maybe even a PS4 Pro if they drop in price as the PS5s become more common. This is the biggest expenditure I've made in quite a while, though, so I won't be doing any meaningful spending for a while.

I'm not to worried about the internet. That's the one thing I have going for me. I've got unlimited data and a good connection:

[Daehawk]

Sure didn't feel like Black Friday to me at all this year because I dont have a tv service. I saw no news on it at all...no commercials, no fights, no crowds other than a quick blurb on people here on the online news. Passed me by pretty much.

[dbt1949]

Today was one of the days my wife's nurse was supposed to work here but we gave her the day off with pay. And last Wednesday too.
Sometimes I'm almost human.