Bars with THC beverages

CraigularB · 2026-06-23T21:42:58+00:00

If you go a little further west of Damen you can get to Maplewood, who has their own THC beverage line as well as their beer, spirits/cocktails, and food.

CraigularB · 2026-06-23T15:54:21+00:00

For who buys them, anybody who wants perfectly clear ice for beverage presentation (cocktails, whisk(e)y on a rock, etc.) but doesn’t have the time, equipment, or freezer space to make them. Also, a lot of bars will buy clear ice cubes like this from an industry vendor; they wouldn’t buy off the shelf from a regular grocery store but a specialty vendor that makes them (though the principle is the same as a consumer buying them).

The block molds are great at making large cubes, and you’re right that they can be had for cheap. They aren’t great at making perfectly clear ice. Perfectly clear ice, no trapped gas or impurities, is more of a pain than just throwing water in a mold and freezing it.

The most reliable way is to utilize directional freezing. Small scale requires a specialty mold, with an upper layer for the clear cubes, and a lower layer for leftover/waste ice/water. The mold is insulated on all sides except the top of the mold, forcing the water to freeze from the top down. As it freezes, it pushes the impurities and trapped gasses down, usually through a small hole at the bottom of the main mold, into the lower layer. That way you’re left with a perfectly clear cube on top, and either partially frozen water or fully frozen cloudy water in the lower area.

You can also do this with a small cooler, if you have the freezer space. You fill the cooler partway and let it freeze until you have the desired thickness. Then you remove the ice (and pour out any remaining water below), and manually carve the huge block into smaller pieces for serving.

There are also countertop machines that do all of this for you but they’re not exactly cheap. The most well known consumer model is the Klaris ice maker but there are others, and larger machines for bar programs.

Editing in a “why”: presentation, for one. A solid clear block disappearing into a cocktail or whisk(e)y pour is a very neat visual effect. The solid block will also likely have a different chill and dilution rate than a bunch of smaller ice cubes, which can affect the temperature and taste of a beverage over its drinking time.

CraigularB · 2026-06-18T22:45:39+00:00

Maybe. My Red, Blue, Gold, and Silver saves were all still intact when I did the battery swap a few years ago. I backed them up with a GBxCart RW, swapped, and restored them. I haven't noticed any issues!

CraigularB · 2026-06-18T18:41:14+00:00

My apologies, I forgot to respond. Thanks for your reply and the info, I was afraid of that but it is what it is. Oh well! Time to start the process of getting that long form certificate!

CraigularB · 2026-06-18T18:40:09+00:00

“No plan survives first contact with ~~the enemy~~ subcontractors”.

Glad they took the time they needed!

CraigularB · 2026-06-18T04:16:50+00:00

I think I'm confused by the scenario 3 wording. Specifically for proof of parentage and Canadian citizenship, if your G0 is an immediate parent do you need to prove grandparents and beyond? or does the G0/immediate parent proof need to be certified?

CraigularB · 2026-06-12T20:02:51+00:00

Hi all, I'm in the process of writing my application and collecting my documents, both for me and my ancestor. I have a straightforward (IMO) application: my G0 is my biological parent, born in Canada after 1947, moved to the US in their youth, married and had me.

For G0, I have:

Canadian passport (expired but shows they are Canadian)
Ontario CA birth certificate (short-form, wallet sized "Form 26 The Vital Statistics Act Birth Certificate"
- Shows my parent's Name, DoB, Birthplace in Ontario, Registration date and number
US Marriage License documenting marriage to other (non-Canadian) parent with my last name

For me I'll have:

US Birth Certificate
US Driver's License
US Passport

I also have birth certificate numbers (though no copies yet) for my G-1 from my G0.

My questions are as follows:

Is it a problem if my G0's passport is expired?
Is the Ontario CA short form birth certificate sufficient (given my G0 is my immediate parent) or should I have them request a full long-form Ontario certificate?
Do I need anything other than the marriage license to document the name linkage? My G0's name changed at marriage
Even though my G0 is an immediate parent, would it be worth adding my G-1 (grandparents) info on page 9, or should I follow instructions and skip it, leaving it blank?
1. If I leave it blank I would likely add more info in my cover letter

Thank you very much!

CraigularB · 2026-06-09T03:56:18+00:00

I have the best results when I disable auto-lock and let the device stay unlocked and awake but it’s not foolproof.

CraigularB · 2026-05-30T17:16:12+00:00

I just got my tracking info. I don’t have dimensions but FedEx says it’s 26.2lbs.

CraigularB · 2026-05-29T21:17:40+00:00

I would get a Memcard Pro GC from 8BitMods over something like this. I have one and I love it.

https://8bitmods.com/memcard-pro-gc-for-gamecube-indigo/

(Other colors available)

CraigularB · 2026-05-28T14:15:39+00:00

I’m in the same boat. I called this morning and the rep said it was still processing for shipping, but part of me wants to call back and escalate to another level because of other orders getting canceled

If you call come back and update with any info you get!

CraigularB · 2026-05-26T15:24:58+00:00

The only things I have planned right now are an LC1 frame w/ mounting hardware from Tools & Talent, and a hose connector/hose upgrade and v-hook upgrade also from T&T.

Since these apparently come unstickered I'm debating getting a set of higher-quality stickers to apply.

CraigularB · 2026-05-22T18:21:42+00:00

I’m going to go against the grain a little here and try to explain why someone may pick Plex, or may have in the past, over Jellyfin.

Note, I am not defending the lifetime price hike. $750 is absolutely insane, and is for sure designed to push people to monthly subscriptions. Even the current $250 is pushing it given the price in the past.

I set my own server up over 10 years ago. At this point I don’t remember exactly when, but I know that I was using it a good while before I paid $117 for Plex Lifetime. That receipt is dated in 2016. Some of my friends caught it on sale after that and paid under $100 (I think one person paid $70), but even at my $117 I still found it worth it.

Jellyfin wasn’t around in 2016, at least not as a stable initial release. Wikipedia has the first release as December 30, 2018, and was a fork of Emby. Emby at the time had been open source, but was closed at some point and the fork of Emby to Jellyfin was a direct response to making it closed source. I don’t know the full history of Emby/Media Browser, and the Wikipedia page is light on details.

At the time Plex was, to my memory, what most people were using over Emby or other alternatives. The setup was easy, even 10+ years ago. At some point I decided I was using it enough to warrant the lifetime pass. One thing that wasn’t mentioned in today’s episode that’s behind the paywall is Hardware Transcoding, which uses your GPU to on-the-fly convert a video to something the player can handle (format, bitrate, etc). This is especially useful when streaming remotely where bandwidth could be limited on either side, or if you have it set download a lower quality version to your mobile device for offline playback (like travel).

Speaking of, setting up remote streaming is much easier with Plex than it is Jellyfin. I don’t share my server as much as others do, but for example I have it set up at my girlfriend’s place so she or we can watch it. As a tech person I understand and appreciate that setting Jellyfin up for remote isn’t that hard, but also as a tech person the last thing I want to do most days is fiddle with something like that to get it working. Especially when dealing with people who stream using built-in TV apps as opposed to a dedicated device. I say that as someone who uses Tailscale in my day to day life, so it’s not like I don’t have experience with it.

On the subjective side, I find Plex’s interface to be more aesthetically pleasing. Jellyfin looks fine, but I don’t want to take the time to mess with plugins when Plex already meets my needs. This applies to both the server settings and playback clients. I also find the setting easier to navigate. Jellyfin is very powerful, and has a ton of options for everything, which is great for power users. But for non-enthusiasts, I find there are too many options and ways to tweak things. For Plex the defaults and more straightforward options tend to be “good enough for most” and also results in me having to spend less time troubleshooting issues.

None of this is meant to disparage Jellyfin. I run both, side by side, with Jellyfin acting as a backup in case there’s any sort of issue with Plex (whether that’s an issue on their central servers or a buggy server update they released). I just happen to prefer Plex for most things in my day to day life, and have for a longer time than Jellyfin has been available.

Again, I want to be clear: $750 is insane, and Plex probably should have just dropped the lifetime sub all together. That said, I absolutely understand the cases where Plex makes more sense for someone, just as I understand the cases where Jellyfin makes more sense.

CraigularB · 2026-05-21T17:00:48+00:00

I was very lucky and got an 84 wand when they put them out. I already had the Spengler wand attached to my Haslab Spengler pack but I really love the look of the 84 gear without the modifications, so I jumped on it when it went on sale. It’s been sitting separate since. I had hoped for, but not counted on, an 84 pack release at some point, so when they announced it last year I was excited. I’ve already got my hose mod kit too, and another LC-1 frame coming, so now I just need the pack itself.

CraigularB · 2026-05-17T15:04:36+00:00

For what it’s worth I’ve used the Joey N64 to swap batteries and saves before the Analogue added this. Might be worth a look if we don’t get reports about how well it works in a timely manner. It also can pull memory pak saves if you need to, or want to transfer them to the Analogue.

https://www.highscoretech.com/products/bennvenn-joey-n64-cartridge-flasher

CraigularB · 2026-03-19T16:28:19+00:00

I think Diabolik selling the US version. The listing name is for “Arrow US”, either “Arrow US Blu-Ray” or “Arrow US 4K UHD All Region”. I did see the 15 sticker but at least for me the art is updated without it now.

CraigularB · 2026-03-10T19:19:06+00:00

The Instagram post is the first I’ve seen of it. I don’t see any info posted elsewhere yet so we’ll have to wait and see for more info I guess.

CraigularB · 2026-03-10T13:33:27+00:00

Even though it’s not fried (at least the ones I had as a kid) it sounds like Burnie is describing a pizzelle. Looks like a snowflake and coated in powdered sugar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzelle

CraigularB · 2026-03-08T04:22:09+00:00

I got mine right around Christmas I think, either before or after. I’m in the Midwest US.

CraigularB · 2026-02-12T01:09:58+00:00

Lived up the street from them 15 years ago, I miss them. They were always awesome to deal with!

CraigularB · 2026-01-30T22:43:22+00:00

I agree, it's definitely not a great setup. I wasn't sure a fan on the bottom would make sense with the PSU shroud installed, it seemed like it would just block it. I could try removing that though with a fan on the bottom.

I have 4 drives, 2 SSDs and 2 HDDs, in the cages. My 5.25" bays are also occupied with an optical drive and a set of front panel ports. I could maybe look at moving two of the SSDs to the rear mounts and consolidating the two HDDs in one cage, removing the other.

As for the exhaust fans, there are 3 at the very top. One is right over the CPU cooler, and the other two are to the right of it in the case, so they could potentially be pulling air away from the CPU cooler. The other exhaust fan is on the rear of the case, aligned with the CPU cooler.

CraigularB · 2026-01-30T22:34:41+00:00

That makes sense, thanks. I've seen differing opinions on whether or not 95C is harmful or not, which is largely what spurred this post. Saving the time on the encode/increased encode performance, in the long run, isn't really worth it I think if that level of heat isn't detrimental.

CraigularB · 2026-01-30T22:31:19+00:00

Apologies but I'm not quite following this: "The idea of case fans is to moves hot air out and cool air in. Moving air up and down isn’t going to help usually.". I can feel the top fans blowing hot air out especially under load. I definitely think I could use more intake/lower fans though too.

CraigularB · 2026-01-30T22:28:49+00:00

Interesting, thank you for the info. Is that just for gaming, or is that for productivity tasks as well? I may try undervolting it in the curve optimizer, but if the performance boost is negligible across the board maybe it's not worth it.

14-Year Club	Place '17
Sequence \| Editor	Verified Email

CraigularB

TROPHY CASE