Random randomness

[hitbyambulance]

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?

given where you live, this may not actually be a thing, but check to see if your local library has free streaming services. mine has Hoopla Digital and Kanopy. i pretty much use Hoopla only for music and comics and not their tv shows and movies, but Kanopy's selection is great (everything ever released as part of the Criterion Collection, for starters)

[Kasey Chang]

And the saga of the "semi-perm wall" continues.

My dad loves to yell at me about how "negative" I am when I told him it can't be done.

Since he doesn't really care about looks, he had decided to move down one of our existing "wardrobe" (it was previously used as a wine cabinet, not that we have any wine worth drinking) and my old bookcase (which has a door kit at the bottom, but the door's busted). that would give him two narrow bookcases These bookcases are 28 inch wide, the Ikea Billy I planned with is 31.5 inches wide. So he's going to be half a foot short, but he's going fuzzy logic here. If we do bookcases, we need EIGHT 31.5 inch wide ones, AND a 30 inch wide door, and that's WITHOUT a proper blueprint, just "winging it".

Then I remembered something... Surely I can find some USED bookcases... The question is... would they survive being carried and driven around town? You know, particle board and wood screws.

But the more important question: are there any for sale around San Francisco?

I can only find like... 2, which are sold as a set with two extra "ends" designed to be clamped together. But 75 for the set is better than NO bookcase at all (new Billy's are $50 each at Ikea) That still leaves 4.

I told my dad that maybe we can go checkout that office outlet I mentioned like 2-3 weeks ago in Berkeley (across the bay), as I know all he does is vegetate on his recliner. He refused. Apparently he needs to call in a favor on someone who has a pickup as he wants to go buy the door ASAP. Whatever! Yeah, he'll never remember this when he's yammering about me being "negative".

[Max Peck]

Amazon is so sleazy sometimes...

I'm fond of Lindt white chocolate bars (if for no other reason than white chocolate is the only kind that is OK for me to eat). Normally, Amazon sells the 100g bar as a CAD $1.97 add-on item.

A few days ago, I noticed that they had a 12x100g bar pack listed for $37.34, or about a 50% higher price per unit than if you bought them individually. Now I know why. As of today, the individual bars are "out of stock" with no price listed and the 12-bar pack is on sale for for $25.99 -- a 30%-off Cyber Monday deal, which happens to be only 10% higher than the normal price per bar. What a deal!

[Blackhawk]

given where you live, this may not actually be a thing, but check to see if your local library has free streaming services. mine has Hoopla Digital and Kanopy. i pretty much use Hoopla only for music and comics and not their tv shows and movies, but Kanopy's selection is great (everything ever released as part of the Criterion Collection, for starters)

Nope, not a thing. Last time I was in there they had a nice selection of VHS tapes, though.

[pr0ner]

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:

Just note that the PS4 Pro doesn't have a 4K Blu Ray player.

[Blackhawk]

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Just note that the PS4 Pro doesn't have a 4K Blu Ray player.
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That I knew. It would be for the streaming/4k games. Again, that's assuming a price drop. If I was going to pay the full current retail for it, I'd go with a PS5 instead.

[Daehawk]

Lego rolls out Colosseum, a model of the Roman amphitheater with over 9,000 pieces

9000+ pieces and $550.00 . For its size I dont see how they got 9000 pieces in it. Maybe when I was a kid the Lego pieces were just larger.

[Blackhawk]

It's got the whole interior, including the hypogeum and the passages within the walls. Legos are the same size, but for something with this much detail, they use lots of the smaller pieces.

[dbt1949]

Wish I had the money and the space for it.

[Daehawk]

Mysterious monolith in rural Utah has vanished, officials say

The bureau said it did not remove the monolith, citing the structure as private property. It also said it doesn't investigate matters involving private property and said any investigation would be handed by the local sheriff's office.

[Blackhawk]

It's work was done. Hugo Chavez took it back.

[dbt1949]

I was reading CBC news and came across a rather odd article.......
Weaker penis bones in river otters linked to oilsands contaminants in new study.
Canadians have a different outlook on news than we do.

[Holman]

I was reading CBC news and came across a rather odd article.......
Weaker penis bones in river otters linked to oilsands contaminants in new study.
Canadians have a different outlook on news than we do.

I seem to remember reading that polar bears were developing weaker penis bones due to pollution and/or climate change.

It's no joke. It threatens their ability to reproduce.

[disarm]

I spent some time over the past few days building this just-released Lego set...turned out awesome!

[Daehawk]

Ohh The Adams Family car. neat.

Really good looking Ecto.

[coopasonic]

Just note that the PS4 Pro doesn't have a 4K Blu Ray player.

That I knew. It would be for the streaming/4k games. Again, that's assuming a price drop. If I was going to pay the full current retail for it, I'd go with a PS5 instead.

I can give you a great deal on a PS4 Pro (with an SSD installed) right after I get my hands on a PS5 (looking to be spring at this point ). I wouldn't want, but a friend is giving me Ghost of Tsushima and I won't have time for that for a while.

[Blackhawk]

I can give you a great deal on a PS4 Pro (with an SSD installed) right after I get my hands on a PS5 (looking to be spring at this point ). I wouldn't want, but a friend is giving me Ghost of Tsushima and I won't have time for that for a while.

I'm interested! But it's highly dependent on whether I have enough money for even a great deal at the time.

[Daehawk]

Going to be 20 degrees tomorrow night and snow showers. Thats a bit cold.

[dbt1949]

Got down to 22 this morning. Brrrrr!

[Daehawk]

Was 71 yesterday. Today its 51. Tomorrow will be 42.

[Daehawk]

Vegan - These burgers are amazing. And you say they are plant based?
Cook - Yep.
Vegan - What type plant?
Cook - Meat packing plant.

[Skinypupy]

Scene: Skinypupy sees leftover taco meat in the fridge and makes a couple for his dinner. As he’s finishing eating, Mrs. Skinypupy walks in.

Wife: Did you make tacos for dinner?

Me: No, I’m having the leftovers from Saturday night.

Wife: Um, I ate those leftovers for lunch yesterday.

Me: Uh oh. When was the last time we made tacos before Saturday.

Wife: Probably a few weeks ago. I’ve been meaning to clean out the fridge...

Wish me luck, everyone!

[Jaymann]

Good luck. If it has been refrigerated all that time and didn't have mold or smell bad you are probably ok. Remember when he ate the sandwich in Minority Report.

[Daehawk]

You're a goner. I got dibs on any taco meat left over.

[Sudy]

And I thought I was toast when I realized I was snacking on eight-day leftover roast chicken yesterday....

Whatever you do, don't take Robaxacet to try to relieve the pain and discomfort from multiple bathroom trips.

[Daehawk]

Why? I take that...minus the acetaminophen part...every day for muscle relaxation in my back and legs.

[Jaymann]

Another monolith discovered:



I hate when stuff like this turns out to be promo for a movie.

[Daehawk]

Looked like the Unreal Engine.

[Paingod]

I hate when stuff like this turns out to be promo for a movie.

I expect unusual things to be movie promos and am pleasantly surprised when it turns out to be a rogue artist.

[Daehawk]

Romanian monolith now disappears also.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdan8/ ... e-of-night

[Daehawk]

You can tell its the holidays. I cleaned out my promotion email area of about 20 emails at noon and now I see it has 39 new ones.

[Smoove_B]

Dammit. I just realized I edited out my sexually transmitted seafood toxin slide by accident.

[Holman]

Dammit. I just realized I edited out my sexually transmitted seafood toxin slide by accident.

You're just going to have to run the experiment again.

So, Red Lobster at 8pm?

[Smoove_B]

[hepcat]

Another monolith discovered:



I hate when stuff like this turns out to be promo for a movie.

I don’t know, I like a little wonder in the world. Even if it is just for a little while.

[dbt1949]

Is my stepson's stepson my grand stepson stepson or what?

[Blackhawk]

If it remained, someone would have tested it, or identified the artist. It's better when it's mysterious!

(I do realize that as a skeptic who rants about fringe theories that I'm a bit of a hypocrite here.)

[Sudy]

Why? I take that...minus the acetaminophen part...every day for muscle relaxation in my back and legs.

Just my favourite TMI story. Several years ago I had intestinal cramps and had used the washroom several times. Being very sore, I tried desperately to think of a way to numb the pain. I remembered that we'd been mailed a Robaxacet sample. I had no experience with the drug. I thought... this is a muscle relaxant. The anal sphincter is a muscle, right? So I took it. Well, what followed was some of the worst agony I've ever experienced. For at least five or six straight hours, I had the pain and urgency of intestinal cramps without being able to pass anything. A constant feeling of distress during which I couldn't focus on anything else. I tried to play Angry Birds on my phone to pass the time but it felt like a fever dream. Eventually I took a pillow into the bathroom to huddle with on the toilet (it was the middle of the night by that point and I was exhausted), but of course I was too sick to get any rest.

I had always guessed that the Robaxacet acted on the smooth muscle tissue in my colon somehow and constipated me, in an opposite way to how coffee often stimulates my digestive system. I assumed I was experiencing a regular successive bout of diarrhea, and without the medication I would have just quickly gone again. However, I can't find any similar stories on the internet. I see mention of constipation as a side effect, but it doesn't seem to be immediate. So I presume this was either just a unique reaction I had to the drug, or something completely unrelated. But I've never experienced anything like that since, thank goodness.

[wonderpug]

I don’t know, I like a little wonder in the world. Even if it is just for a little while.

Light bulbs in video games are using actual electricity to light up.

[Blackhawk]

I don’t know, I like a little wonder in the world. Even if it is just for a little while.

Light bulbs in video games are using actual electricity to light up.

I... they...