Octopus Overlords

Daehawk wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:02 pm 1. I looked in Walmart and Food City. Both those are listed as carrying the non sweetener ones but they dont.

2. Ugh overpriced Amazon. $15 for something that should be $4. Then a $5 flat rate to ship. Ill live without.

Edit: I do see some cheaper by searching myself. Maybe next month I can get some.

I suspect you may be looking at a listing from a 3rd party merchant, because they typically cost ~$6.50 for a box of 100 unsweetened sachets w/ free Prime shipping when ordered directly from Amazon.com (e.g. True Citrus Orange, 100 count for $6.48 & True Lime 100 count for $6.48). You can also buy them at a discount by ordering via Subscribe & Save.

Also, when looking for their unsweetened products in a retail store, keep in mind they're often located in a completely different section of the store than ordinary sweetened powdered drink mixes like Crystal Light (e.g. you may find them with seasonings and spices or even in the tea section). So if the store locator suggests both Walmart and Food City do carry their unsweetened products in your area, it may behoove you to ask a CSR exactly where to find them.

Ya I looked only in the water area with those other ones.

I found the Cheetos brand mac&cheese. I got normal and hot. Shall see.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 11:07 pm I suspect you may be looking at a listing from a 3rd party merchant, because they typically cost ~$6.50 for a box of 100 unsweetened sachets w/ free Prime shipping when ordered directly from Amazon.com (e.g. True Citrus Orange, 100 count for $6.48 & True Lime 100 count for $6.48). You can also buy them at a discount by ordering via Subscribe & Save.

Those 2 are exactly what I ordered from Amazon.
Be forewarned.....it takes an easy 4-5 packets before you can get a decent taste of the flavor.

The animation studio that made the Ice Age movies is no more. Bought by Disney in 2019, closed by Disney in 2021.

I don't really care for any of their previous work, but I was kind of looking forward to their next film, an adaptation of the excellent webcomic Nimona. Now it will be never be completed.

We loved those Ice Age movies. The Saber Tooth Squirrel was our favorite.

Huh, I thought they were owned by Dreamworks/Universal.

Heinz mayo. Im not sure what I was expecting when I bought it but its really good. The jar is cool too.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:43 pm Heinz mayo. Im not sure what I was expecting when I bought it but its really good.

I certainly hope you were expecting mayo

Ever since I learned that Hellmann invented mayo, and that most professional chefs won't use anything else, I've been a Hell-man.

I grew up on and always loved Kraft mayo until about 15 years or so ago..maybe a little longer. They changed it and its awful to me since.(They also ruined Oscar Meyer beef hotdogs, Kraft mac&cheese, and a couple other items Kraft owns) I switched to Hellmanns and its my favorite but sometimes I like to change it up. So I get Dukes sometimes. I tried a bunch of others and just dont care for them ...Blue Plate is ok not great. Couple others are just nasty. Id heard of Heinz trying new items and this was the first time I saw any in stores so giving it a go. Its pretty good. Id say it and Dukes are a tie though they taste a bit different. Still like Hellmanns the most. Just wish they'd make it tangier or more tart. I like my mayo with lemon juice and vinegar.

I tried Just Mayo once thinking if thats all they do it must be good. Nope! All natural vegan to the extreme nastiness in a jar ewwww. One bite was enough but I took a 2nd to be sure. Yup was right the first time and tossed the entire new jar in the garbage.

Also despise Miracle Whip.

Sir Kensington's brand

https://www.sirkensingtons.com/

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:50 pm Sir Kensington's brand

https://www.sirkensingtons.com/

haha I just saw this in a review video. Never heard of it and never seen it. Bet the ketchup is good. I miss glass jars and metal lids.

nice dumping of snow here today. i went to the park and someone had (poorly) made a 4.5 foot snow phallus, so i took three hours to use that as a base and do this:

Nice.

and my project from yesterday:

random video game music that still gets stuck in my head decades later:
the 'shop' theme from Capcom's Forgotten Worlds

When I lived in Maine during the winter truckers and others would put cardboard sheets in front of their radiators. I guess to keep the engine warmer when driving.
Does this really work?

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:38 pm When I lived in Maine during the winter truckers and others would put cardboard sheets in front of their radiators. I guess to keep the engine warmer when driving.
Does this really work?

Yes, I had to do it with my Dodge P U truck.

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:38 pm When I lived in Maine during the winter truckers and others would put cardboard sheets in front of their radiators. I guess to keep the engine warmer when driving.
Does this really work?

I remember doing that with my Torino when I was very young. I haven't done it with any car since.

I can still hear DOOM II first and second level and Duke 3D

I got a small jar of sandwich spread to be sure I wasn't remembering the stuff wrong. Last time I tried it I was about 11 years old. Nope I was right. I could swear this is just Thousand Island Dressing in a jar. Same color, same taste. Looks to have pickle relish in it. Why this is supposed to go on a sandwich I dont know.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:13 pm I got a small jar of sandwich spread to be sure I wasn't remembering the stuff wrong. Last time I tried it I was about 11 years old. Nope I was right. I could swear this is just Thousand Island Dressing in a jar. Same color, same taste. Looks to have pickle relish in it. Why this is supposed to go on a sandwich I dont know.

Big Mac?

On that 1 hamburger its fine.

We made a big London Broil last night. It's never been in our repertoire, and I think it's only the second time the boys have tasted steak.

We made sure to insist that the only acceptable doneness was rare or medium-rare.

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:19 pm We made a big London Broil last night. It's never been in our repertoire, and I think it's only the second time the boys have tasted steak.

We made sure to insist that the only acceptable doneness was rare or medium-rare.

Oof, that borders on cruel and unusual parenting. No rib-eyes or even NY strip steak!? For shame.

It turns out that my mother-in-law's Buick has some sort of 'smart' traction control that applies the brakes if the wheels start to spin. That would have been really nice to know before I got it stuck - and I mean stuck - four times in five blocks in four or five inches of snow. I've been driving in snow since I was 13, and I've never had the kind of issues I was having tonight. As soon as I'd start to accelerate, the wheels would lock and I couldn't move. I couldn't rock. I couldn't accelerate. I couldn't reverse.

When I got home I googled, and apparently there's a way to disable it. I wish I'd known that before I sat through 12 stoplight cycles on a road that honestly wasn't all that bad.

Hey, Buick - how about you let me drive the fucking car?

Yeah, I hate driving cars with traction control in the winter. I usually disable it when I remember.
Problem is, they always re-enable it at startup.

Sorry for the swearing. I was fuming when I got home. Michelle got stuck turning into the alley to get to the back driveway (the front was inaccessible), I got her unstuck and offered to drive it to the parking lot at her mom's apartment literally two blocks away (plus a few blocks to get turned around.) Like I said, I've driven in snow, a lot, and the road wasn't that bad. It took 20 minutes, got stuck on the side street turning around, got stuck at the light for a dozen cycles while people passed me until Michelle came out to help push (the light is about 40 feet from the house), then got stuck when I got to the parking lot (Michelle had followed me on foot and was able to get in and drive while I pushed this time.) Five blocks, stuck four times. The car would simply stop in it's tracks the second the wheels lost traction, and nothing would get it to accelerate. It was like driving in neutral, and it was infuriating because it was obviously by design that the car was actively preventing me from driving it.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:52 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:19 pm We made a big London Broil last night. It's never been in our repertoire, and I think it's only the second time the boys have tasted steak.

We made sure to insist that the only acceptable doneness was rare or medium-rare.

Oof, that borders on cruel and unusual parenting. No rib-eyes or even NY strip steak!? For shame.

Now that you've seen the suffering, please give generously!

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:52 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:19 pm We made a big London Broil last night. It's never been in our repertoire, and I think it's only the second time the boys have tasted steak.

We made sure to insist that the only acceptable doneness was rare or medium-rare.

Oof, that borders on cruel and unusual parenting. No rib-eyes or even NY strip steak!? For shame.

I remember London broil from childhood. I don't think I've ever seen it in the wild. Wiki tells me it's "top round," so that explains that. Children aren't very discriminating -- at least I wasn't -- so a big slab of cheap steak was fine with me.

I only get steak when Wife goes away,* and she hasn't gone away in over a year. So when I do get to treat myself, I go for either porterhouse or sirloin tips, depending on whether I want a straight-up steak or a marinated beef.

*I could hypothetically get a steak on our weekly takeout night, but that definitely isn't worth the money. Restaurant steak is expensive and doesn't travel well.

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 9:04 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:52 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:19 pm We made a big London Broil last night. It's never been in our repertoire, and I think it's only the second time the boys have tasted steak.

We made sure to insist that the only acceptable doneness was rare or medium-rare.

Oof, that borders on cruel and unusual parenting. No rib-eyes or even NY strip steak!? For shame.

Now that you've seen the suffering, please give generously!

Touché, I can empathise with you there. But you've never served a BBQ'd steak dinner for your family even during the summer? Speaking as an ex-pat Brit, the generally more-affordable price of steak and beef here -- at least relative to many other parts of the world -- has long ranked among my favourite aspects of life in the US (all the moreso with a vacuum sealer + sous vide immersion cooker). Though I quite understand that purchasing a sufficient number of rib-eye steaks to feed an entire family still tends to be a hefty kick in the wallet.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:34 pm

Touché, I can empathise with you there. But you've never served a BBQ'd steak dinner for your family even during the summer? Speaking as a ex-pat Brit, the generally more-affordable price of steak and beef here -- at least relative to many other parts of the world -- has long ranked among my favourite aspects of life in the US (all the moreso with a vacuum sealer + sous vide immersion cooker). Though I quite understand that purchasing a sufficient number of rib-eye steaks to feed an entire family still tends to be a hefty kick in the wallet.

Agreed. We generally do NY or Ribeyes at least once every 2-3 weeks. I can't imagine never doing it.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:13 pmWhen I got home I googled, and apparently there's a way to disable it. I wish I'd known that before I sat through 12 stoplight cycles on a road that honestly wasn't all that bad.

My front-wheel drive Nissan Juke (manual) has the same feature and it drives me nuts sometimes on slick roads. There are times, believe it or not, when you need to accept a certain amount of slipping in order to progress.

My favorite is the hill I have to drive up to escape my property. It's a good incline, and some winters it freezes into a slick that re-slicks with every storm despite copious sanding. If I forget to turn off the traction control I lose all momentum going up the hill as the tires start giving the finger to going forward. There are times when I only get to the hill by the skin of my teeth, wheels spinning, and with about 0.5mph left in momentum. But I make it. Can't do that when the car won't let me.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:34 pm Touché, I can empathise with you there. But you've never served a BBQ'd steak dinner for your family even during the summer?

We really never have. We picked London Broil mainly because it seemed an easy start. We really have no household experience with steak.

(My wife and I are lapsed vegetarians who've allowed ourselves chicken and fish because they're healthier than beef.)

Ribeyes were my dad's favorite steak to buy in the store and cook. I think in the early 80s they were like $5 or $6 for two large ones. They are very expensive now. My favorite was ribeyes and t-bones. I still get a tbone every few months. I can eat the filet side but I cant chew the ny strip side. I have to shred it to little tiny fluff before I can get it down. All other steaks are too tough for me now.

One would think it would be a great idea to teach your pup to ring a bell when he wants to go outside to do his business.

One would be wrong.

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:31 pm One would think it would be a great idea to teach your pup to ring a bell when he wants to go outside to do his business.

One would be wrong.

Indeed, but maybe in many ways.

My mother tried this approach with a little dog she had for a year. By the end of a full year the dog would run over, ring the bell, and then urinate while you ran to the door.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:59 pm Five blocks, stuck four times. The car would simply stop in it's tracks the second the wheels lost traction, and nothing would get it to accelerate. It was like driving in neutral, and it was infuriating because it was obviously by design that the car was actively preventing me from driving it.

Walked over this morning, got in, turned off the traction control that I now know is a thing, and it drove perfectly fine.

The Meal wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 4:07 pm

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 9:00 am Civilization 6

the game itself is getting more customizable in allowing you to turn on and off different aspects like specific natural wonders and city states available each game—I don't remember if there is an opponent blacklist/whitelist which may help.

It's in the Feb 26 update: