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208 results for “jvschrag”
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@jvschrag Personally, I think Becky Chambers highlighted crown shyness as a commentary on how nominally competing groups of living beings can and do self-limit their own growth for mutual benefit with other groups in an environment. People from the self-destructive period from which robots emerged lacked this norm and so suffered until they reigned in their capitalistic ways.
This aversion to ambition is reflected in the plain language of “being shy to wear a crown”. #MonkAndRobot
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@jvschrag all I can think of is the #Anschluss 😑 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss
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CW: #onPoli #toronto #BikeLanesMatter 🤬
Why the hell is Ford meddling in municipal urban planning matters? Because he's obsessed with the "rights" of cars, that's why.
Meanwhile, Ontarians are dying from lack of medical care and shelter.Doug Ford is such a 🤬🤬🤬
Sorry/not sorry, I'm beyond civilised speech, at this point. 😤
https://hachyderm.io/@jvschrag/113359863501951745
#BikeLanesMatter #onPoli #toronto #torontoCityCouncil -
The cake flipped on the first try without a struggle, and No Fruit Left Behind. I’m happy with the outcome (pending the taste test later)
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Thirty-five minutes later, the cake is out of the oven. The toothpick came out clean, so it is officially done! Now waiting for it to cool a bit before I try to flip it out of the skillet.
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Eating the single remaining pineapple ring in the can while I’m waiting.
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First phase done — reduced the pineapple juice, made a brown sugar syrup in the bottom of the pan, then artfully arranged pineapple rings and maraschino cherries into a sort of doleful benzene ring formation.
When I poured the batter gently over the pan, the slow wave of batter flowing out from the centre dislodged all the external cherries, and they had to be reset into place by hand.
It’s all in the oven now.
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Okay, starting with the mise en place — as I pull out all the ingredients I realize what I’m missing (which is why I do this first!). No rum, but it’s optional anyway. Will use water. No buttermilk, but I can do my usual substitute for that — putting a teaspoon of lemon juice into a measuring cup and filling to a half cup with milk. Other than that, we’re all set.
I bought maraschino cherries for this recipe but honestly I despise them. Will be giving away the rest of the jar.
#EBTSC -
I have an old friend who is an engineer. His wife of many years is an “energy healer”. I was chatting with this friend today when he told me that his wife’s favourite hobby is… boxing.
Seemed a little off-brand to me, but what do I know?
I asked if she had to actually land a blow to do damage, or if she could just hover her hands over her opponent.
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A friend of mine has this antique bicycle advertisement hanging on his wall, and I cannot describe how much it delights me.
#bikes -
My husband brought home a big bag of limes, so I decided to make a pie. This led me to quite a few recipes on line for “key lime pie”. But all of these recipes say you can use regular (Persian) limes instead, and many of these recipes have never been made with key limes, since those are hard to find in many places.
But all the recipes are called ‘key lime pie’. It’s lime erasure!
Anyway, I made a Persian Lime Pie and it is delicious.
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My husband brought home a big bag of limes, so I decided to make a pie. This led me to quite a few recipes on line for “key lime pie”. But all of these recipes say you can use regular (Persian) limes instead, and many of these recipes have never been made with key limes, since those are hard to find in many places.
But all the recipes are called ‘key lime pie’. It’s lime erasure!
Anyway, I made a Persian Lime Pie and it is delicious.
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I’m finally watching season 2 of Andor and I have a question about Imperial Stormtrooper armour. What is it for?
It doesn’t stop blaster bolts. It doesn’t stop gunfire. It doesn’t even stop a good punch.
So what does it actually do? Lock in freshness?
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I’m finally watching season 2 of Andor and I have a question about Imperial Stormtrooper armour. What is it for?
It doesn’t stop blaster bolts. It doesn’t stop gunfire. It doesn’t even stop a good punch.
So what does it actually do? Lock in freshness?
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I’m finally watching season 2 of Andor and I have a question about Imperial Stormtrooper armour. What is it for?
It doesn’t stop blaster bolts. It doesn’t stop gunfire. It doesn’t even stop a good punch.
So what does it actually do? Lock in freshness?
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I’m finally watching season 2 of Andor and I have a question about Imperial Stormtrooper armour. What is it for?
It doesn’t stop blaster bolts. It doesn’t stop gunfire. It doesn’t even stop a good punch.
So what does it actually do? Lock in freshness?
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I’m finally watching season 2 of Andor and I have a question about Imperial Stormtrooper armour. What is it for?
It doesn’t stop blaster bolts. It doesn’t stop gunfire. It doesn’t even stop a good punch.
So what does it actually do? Lock in freshness?
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I just finished reading “The Pushcart War” by Jean Merrill. Written fifty years ago, it’s an amusing faux history of a war in New York City between the pushcart vendors and the big trucking companies. I first heard about this book when it was mentioned on the podcast “The War on Cars”.
In the story, traffic is getting worse and worse as thousands of trucks clog up the streets of NYC, and the trucking companies decide to deflect blame from themselves by vilifying the pushcart vendors, kicking off a war between the two. In spite of being a slightly silly book for young people, what it’s describing is pretty much exactly happening here & now (in Toronto where I live) where bicycles and bike lanes (which reduce traffic and increase road safety for everyone) are being blamed for road congestion caused entirely by cars.
It’s a short book at 233 pages, and I’d say aimed at young people (but not little kids). There’s no romance and no one dies, and while there is some violence it doesn’t result in much injury. It’s a quirky read and I enjoyed it.
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I have a relative who is getting old and showing some hints of possible cognitive decline. During a recent family visit he started talking about a girlfriend, and it quickly became obvious that he’s involved in a romance scam, that started from one of those random “Hi” messages on a texting app. The scammer has not yet asked for money. However, in spite of every person in the family telling this relative that it’s a scam, he is absolutely convinced that “she” is real.
I’m sympathetic; I can understand why a lonely 80-year-old straight man would want to believe that a much younger beautiful woman could fall madly in love with him based on their conversation alone, and the cognitive decline is not helping him reason sensibly about it. But it’s very frustrating to be unable to help.
We can only hope that when the inevitable money ask comes, that something will click with him. He says that she has offered to send him money, which I assume is a ploy to get his banking information.
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I rode my bike across town today to see the Sakura (cherry blossoms) in High Park. I knew it would be crowded on a Saturday at peak season.
What I was not expecting was the furries. Among the throngs of people there were at least 50 and maybe 100 people in fursuits, milling about with everyone else and enjoying the day. Mostly the non-fur-suited people let them be, but a few asked for photographs, which the fur suited were happy to provide.
I also thought I saw a woman holding a baby in a fursuit, which seemed excessive, but on closer inspection she was just holding her dog like a baby.
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For dinner today I made muttar paneer and bindi masala from scratch. (I make my own paneer, too, because I can’t find a lactose free version anywhere).
While I was making these two dishes, I couldn’t help but notice that aside from the “star” ingredient in each, the rest of the ingredients were pretty much the same, just prepared differently. But the resulting dishes were completely different from one another (in the best way).
I love Indian cuisine, but I need an Indian Auntie to show me how to do it without taking an hour just to assemble and chop ingredients, and without using every dish in the house.
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I just finished reading “A Desolation Called Peace” by Arkady Martine. This book is the sequel to the also excellent “A Memory Called Empire”. I like Martinez’s writing because alongside the main plot with space fleets, palace intrigues, a mighty empire and mysterious alien enemy, there is also a layer exploring deeper themes — in this case, what it means to be a person, and who is deserving of empathy. Martine also makes all of her characters relatable, flawed, and human, whether they are the Emperor or a low-grade functionary.
Bonus points for tons of strong female characters, including the main ones, some of whom are not straight.
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Was just rudely shocked awake at 2:30am by a screaming smoke detector. No actual smoke, just a “smoke sensor error”, whatever that is. Certainly the manufacturer’s web site has no information about it. (They do have some kind of chatbot for search but you can’t use it without providing your contact info and agreeing to a huge terms and conditions, so no.)
Over the course of my life I’ve been woken up a number of times by smoke and carbon monoxide detectors with low batteries, or other non-emergencies. I have never once had one go off during waking hours. Since I’m awake 2/3 of the time, this is highly improbable. Really makes me wonder if there is a light sensor on the unit and a psychopathic hardware engineer involved.
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Was just rudely shocked awake at 2:30am by a screaming smoke detector. No actual smoke, just a “smoke sensor error”, whatever that is. Certainly the manufacturer’s web site has no information about it. (They do have some kind of chatbot for search but you can’t use it without providing your contact info and agreeing to a huge terms and conditions, so no.)
Over the course of my life I’ve been woken up a number of times by smoke and carbon monoxide detectors with low batteries, or other non-emergencies. I have never once had one go off during waking hours. Since I’m awake 2/3 of the time, this is highly improbable. Really makes me wonder if there is a light sensor on the unit and a psychopathic hardware engineer involved.
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Was just rudely shocked awake at 2:30am by a screaming smoke detector. No actual smoke, just a “smoke sensor error”, whatever that is. Certainly the manufacturer’s web site has no information about it. (They do have some kind of chatbot for search but you can’t use it without providing your contact info and agreeing to a huge terms and conditions, so no.)
Over the course of my life I’ve been woken up a number of times by smoke and carbon monoxide detectors with low batteries, or other non-emergencies. I have never once had one go off during waking hours. Since I’m awake 2/3 of the time, this is highly improbable. Really makes me wonder if there is a light sensor on the unit and a psychopathic hardware engineer involved.
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Was just rudely shocked awake at 2:30am by a screaming smoke detector. No actual smoke, just a “smoke sensor error”, whatever that is. Certainly the manufacturer’s web site has no information about it. (They do have some kind of chatbot for search but you can’t use it without providing your contact info and agreeing to a huge terms and conditions, so no.)
Over the course of my life I’ve been woken up a number of times by smoke and carbon monoxide detectors with low batteries, or other non-emergencies. I have never once had one go off during waking hours. Since I’m awake 2/3 of the time, this is highly improbable. Really makes me wonder if there is a light sensor on the unit and a psychopathic hardware engineer involved.
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Was just rudely shocked awake at 2:30am by a screaming smoke detector. No actual smoke, just a “smoke sensor error”, whatever that is. Certainly the manufacturer’s web site has no information about it. (They do have some kind of chatbot for search but you can’t use it without providing your contact info and agreeing to a huge terms and conditions, so no.)
Over the course of my life I’ve been woken up a number of times by smoke and carbon monoxide detectors with low batteries, or other non-emergencies. I have never once had one go off during waking hours. Since I’m awake 2/3 of the time, this is highly improbable. Really makes me wonder if there is a light sensor on the unit and a psychopathic hardware engineer involved.
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Today I’m sharing a little word puzzle that I designed years ago. I designed this puzzle after a conversation with a friend who was complaining about a particular aspect of English that he found baffling when he was learning it.
Here it is: Each set of definitions below is linked by a single common word. Can you tell me what the linking word is for each set? (To be clear: each set has a different linking word)
First set:
- accept responsibility for
- doff (clothes)
- provide shelter for
- go on a date with
- conquerSecond set:
- board (like board a plane, not a piece of wood)
- climax sexually
- escape
- recover from
- deeply appreciate
- eke out a livingThird set:
- don (clothes)
- procrastinate
- agree to have sex
- contribute
- save for laterFourth set:
- arouse
- disgust
- go to bed
- result in
- gain and lose staffFifth set:
- mutually assured destruction
- be exceptional
- replace absent person
- await further instructionsSixth set:
- capitulate
- distribute
- emit (like a smell)
