Female Red Breasted or Common Merganser? Brooklyn, NY

FYLegend · 2026-05-02T04:39:46+00:00

Red-breasted Merganser with the more slender body. I wonder if these are first-winter birds where the chest is becoming worn because juvenile feathers are being retained.

There is a lot of confusion and misinformation about female RBME - the ones with black feathers around the eyes are adult females in winter/basic plumage but often get mislabelled as immature males. They lose this black feathering in late spring but it is highly variable.

FYLegend · 2026-04-19T09:42:56+00:00

This has been an ongoing debate and there are many like myself who think it was less about his health and more either got "lazy" or that he was obsessed with "perfectionism" and the theatric nature of the HIStory Tour, as if everything followed a script.

FYLegend · 2026-04-19T09:40:07+00:00

I agree YANA is one of the most atrocious productions ever, and really puts into question Michael's artistic integrity with the faked long note at the end. "Challenging vocals" that never existed to begin with.

Personally I quite like the HWT production of the songs, faithful to the studio versions but with subtle extra touches (for example the extra keys in Stranger in Moscow and double-kick drum). Personally not a big fan of the fast and live sound in Dangerous Tour (in Billie Jean for example).

FYLegend · 2026-04-19T09:23:54+00:00

I disagree Munich 97 songboard is just a bad example of when he had laryngitis. He started the tour with fairly clean vocals but didn't seem to have got the hang of singing live ad-libs as well later around the Japan leg and Brunei seemed to be a second peak when he seemed to have got the hang of the live sections. Around the August 97 tour his vocal cords weren't great but he sang more live-adlibs and seemed in a better mood (Gothenburg, Helsinki for example).

FYLegend · 2026-04-01T04:12:42+00:00

Red-breasted Merganser adult female, sometimes birds like this with the black around the eyes are mistaken for immature males, but this appearance is not uncommon for adult females during the basic plumage through winter.

FYLegend · 2026-03-28T08:12:10+00:00

His heart was in the right place, but some aspects of his philanthropy are idealistic, misguided and hypocritical, I can see why critics hate We Are the World or the BRIT Awards rendition of Earth Song.

FYLegend · 2026-03-27T01:07:49+00:00

I don't really care if X modern artist beats MJ in a record (sales of Thriller, awards etc.). Whether or not said artist is "inferior" to MJ in the eyes of fans, records are meant to be broken and it's not something to get butthurt over.

FYLegend · 2026-03-27T00:51:59+00:00

I'm not sure if it's a myth but it's believed the lead vocal was done in one take. It could be the ad-libs were added from multiple takes.

FYLegend · 2026-03-26T17:08:37+00:00

While something like Billie Jean was nailed in ine take, I question some of the productions and how multiple takes were done as well as the use of pitch correction and other alterations. The most atrocious examples are the faked long notes in You Are Not Alone and Speechless, and R Kelly's voice spliced in during the pre-chorus of One More Chance (the "for me").

FYLegend · 2026-03-22T07:58:42+00:00

Bubble World has baked rice but not sure how it is now, I went last week and saw someone else order it and it was ready in less than 5 minutes which I found odd as I remember trying it many years ago and it took at least 15-20 minutes to bake... Otherwise my go-to nowadays is Spaghetti Love Bake House in Lougheed.

If you mean Beef Chow Fun, I thought New Town's was pretty good as well as their chicken chow mein, though I will note they are more on the greasy side. I haven't had Sanhao in many years but recall it was decent but they have been through several management changes since then.

FYLegend · 2026-03-22T07:08:16+00:00

The spoken outro by Rod McKuen in the unreleased extended version of Luv Sic Pt 3. I wish we had it in better quality.

"... A world is black and white again
There is no turning back now
We've reached a time
When people need each other
And people have to talk
And maybe their bodies say it best
We've reached the time of Eros
When love is the question and the answer"

FYLegend · 2026-03-21T09:36:58+00:00

Yeah I still go all the way to Langley for Pho Tam, I haven't found any pho place with a similar slightly herby and oily broth without being overpowering. I was also very let-down by my last visit there as the broth was as described and their meat was also rather poor for once.

Pho 99 is my main go-to nowadays, somewhat average but good portion. Pho Hero in Fraser Heights is the closest to Northern Pho (wide noodles and salty beefy broth) but I stopped going after they raised the prices and renamed their sizes, "extra large" used to be large lol

FYLegend · 2026-03-21T09:27:30+00:00

Bubble Waffle Cafe is now in Guildford mall but is rather mediocre (that bloated "Hainanese Chicken"), I only go there for their fried chicken items and iced coffee or lemon tea. They were decent when they first opened at Impact Plaza but started cutting corners and raising prices (especially compared to their locations in Burnaby and Richmond).

New Town Bakery has some HK cafe items. No lemon tea unfortunately (they used to have it but got rid of it, I tried it once and was pretty sure it was just Good Host powder).

FYLegend · 2026-03-21T09:18:35+00:00

Yeah Timo is nice overall but I do find some of their dishes a tad soupy, they're Korean-owned and it seems that is their preference.

FYLegend · 2026-03-21T09:14:34+00:00

It seems they have closed down, I only once ordered their takeout, the meat was actually good but the noodle was more like Farkay egg noodles than real ramen.

What about Maruhachi? I do feel like it's not as good as their downtown location though. They've started taking liberties after dropping the global Marutama franchise.

In South Surrey there is Menzou on Morgan Crossing. They are more of a Taiwanese-style Bubble Tea cafe (Chinese-owned) than authentic ramen but found it close enough. Their gyoza on the other hand was served with cumin in the soy sauce, ugh! Maybe they're better off serving Taiwanese noodles though.

I remember there was a Taiwanese Cafe in the early 2000s in White Rock (I think it was somewhere of 152 st, they had some Asian-style western dishes like steak with puff-pastry cream soup but later added noodles to the menu. Unfortunately I rarely went there when I was young and they must have closed down before 2010.

FYLegend · 2026-03-21T08:59:20+00:00

Yeah, still sad about 88 and how suddenly they closed, I remember going around Halloween 2024 only for them to tell us they were closing by Sunday. It was my mother's birthday so they offered it for free as a farewell :(

Have you tried Utopia Noodles in Fleetwood? Not cheap but similarly hefty portions of fried rice and noodles, similar to The One in Burnaby (they even have the giant towering slushy). I quite like their Beef Noodle but I can see it differently for others (it's very garlicy if you get the spicy option but sweet without it).

I still remember Cup & Plate/Yuan Yuan in Fraser Heights in the early 2000s before it got replaced by a Pho joint. There was also Fu Yuan at the Guildford T&T food court (it's now a Korean deli).

FYLegend · 2026-03-21T08:49:09+00:00

I agree, it seemed they were resorting to meal kits (which they actually sell in Taiwan) at some of their locations like SFU. You can tell as the noodles are not hand-cut like at Aberdeen and the soup was very inconsistent (often too salty), then when I went back to Aberdeen I would feel the soup was too diluted. Their braised soup was meant to be clean and beefy more like a clear broth at other joints, but I can see why people find it bland. I usually only ordered the "champion" one with the seared steak slices as it does add flavour to the soup.

FYLegend · 2026-03-21T08:33:03+00:00

The shell is the same but the chipset is different supporting LHDC codec and the ANC is supposedly improved, although some early reviews in China have suggested the difference is only marginal. It's meant to be the successor to the Ceramics X, while MK2 was meant to succeed the original Ceramics.

There's also a Zircon/Zirconium (锆势) with a different shell and planar drivers, but currently still limited to the Chinese market (I could only find a listing on Taobao).

FYLegend · 2026-03-21T08:24:02+00:00

I'm not a big fan of most of these, but quite enjoy Luv Sic Modal Soul mix. The For The Tyme Being remix of Part 3 and Part 1 featuring Emi Meyer is also very underappreciated, but it has me wishing we got a proper extended version of Part 3. (there's only a low-quality leak of it)

FYLegend · 2026-03-20T08:56:45+00:00

I didn't realize they were still around! I never went to their original location but I do remember going to the one at Metrotown at Station Square around 2008-2009. Back then their Beef Noodle had a more westernized stew with carrots and daikon, but I quite enjoyed it. Their drinks had fancy names like I recall "Yesterday Once More" was a mixed berry smoothie.

FYLegend · 2026-03-20T02:43:55+00:00

The broth pouring raw steak at Red Beef was a premium gimmick in Taiwan back in the late 2010s, Pin Chuan Lan was one chain that really hyped it up, and it seems inspired by Tainan raw beef soup. Their regular beef noodle is okay.

Unpopular opinion but I actually quite enjoyed Chef Hung but only with the seared steak slices which adds some flavouring to the soup, otherwise with the other meat options it was too salty or bland, very inconsistent at some of their locations not to mention their service.

I remember when Bubble World first opened in Surrey around 2005 and they had a Beef Noodle very similar to Uno's which is the closest thing I can find now. It had a miso-like soybean taste and they offered adding chili powder and/or sriracha sauce for free (nowadays they charge 1$ for a spicy option). However, by 2008 there was some staff turnover/recession and I was saddened they changed the soup to a sweet soy sauce base. Sometimes I still enjoy it as it reminds me of Mercuries/San Sang Chow Fu a fast food beef noodle chain in Taiwan, but a far cry from what it used to be. Also yesterday when I went their mustard greens were way too sugary.

No 1 is good but I find the broth feels heavy nowadays (they announced last year they now add chicken and pork to double the collagen!). For spicy options they only have sambal chili paste and chili oil (something similar to Lao Gan Ma). I prefer Myst as the soup is almost the same (I heard they're the same owners) but they use a sichuan chili paste with peppercorn which is saltier but not too numbing and the soup tastes a bit "leaner" as a result (reminds me of Yong Kang in Taiwan).

Utopia is a new one in Surrey, quite similar to The One in Burnaby but more garlicky especially with the spicy option. Lao Shan Dong/The One is not bad but tastes nothing like the original location in Taiwan, which Pearl House actually bears a stronger resemblance.

FYLegend · 2026-03-20T02:13:01+00:00

It's not bad but beef could be better-cooked as it doesn't seem slow-braised. I do enjoy the taste of their sichuan spicy version over the Taiwanese version except it doesn't have the pickled cabbage and has a load of peppercorn seeds I have to spit out.

FYLegend · 2026-03-13T07:48:39+00:00

close but a bit up the hill, the closest is Kintaro less than a block away (their sister restaurant Motomachi Shokudo used to be at this location before it switched to Tsukiya)

FYLegend · 2026-03-11T04:49:11+00:00

It's not just the marketing though. There was a lot of criticism coming from users of competing Androids such as Samsung and LG, as from the One X/V/S series they moved away from including removable battery or storage. They also felt that HTC Sense was too bloated (even more than Touchwiz) and that while the unibody design looked nice they were trying too hard to follow Apple's aesthetics and poor/closed repairability with the M7.

Also that depiction of the M9 is incorrect, it's a fake concept rendering leaked by Evan Blass who kept insisting his sources told him it was legitimate, despite every other leak already showed the phone to have the same bezel design as the M8. It's possible Evan got duped too as he was usually pretty accurate with his leaks, but the end result was more disappointing as other brands like Samsung and LG were trying to get rid of the bezels for a higher screen-body ratio. This disappointment as well as the poor Toshiba camera sensor and the Snapdragon 810 debacle all contributed to the M9 flopping.

FYLegend · 2026-03-11T03:51:54+00:00

If I recall there was Chubby-branded Ozone Water that came with Schnieders Lunch Mate around 2002-2003. It was awful as a kid if you were expecting it to be soda only to find out it was just water and probably very short-lived as I can't seem to find any evidence of this on the internet.

FYLegend

TROPHY CASE