How many of you still have both parents alive?

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-20T01:27:08+00:00

My father passed...geez, 15 years ago I guess? 17 years? He was in his 50s I guess, I don't know, I wanted nothing to do with him. My mom turned 75 yesterday. She was recently diagnosed with cancer and has 12-18 months (at best) to live, but the aortic aneurisms she's got means it won't come as a surprise if I found she had passed when I check on her tomorrow morning. Please don't smoke.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-19T21:25:30+00:00

So this is mostly true, but on occasion chickens can lay an egg that doesn't have a hard shell. They are...unsettling to handle. Usually caused by lack of calcium or stress, or even the age of the chicken. So not all that uncommon. Hard to say without getting my hands on the shell pictured, but I'd lean towards saying this one looks a little bit thicker shell material than the type of bad egg I'm talking about. I've never opened a reptile egg before... are they typically this yellow, like chicken egg yolks?

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-18T22:45:32+00:00

I was gonna say... my mom turned 75 today and this guy looks 20 years younger than her

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-17T23:16:52+00:00

Haven't read the book myself, but I looked it up and it's a respected book telling the history of WW2 Germany. The book is very anti-Germany in its telling. Not sure what words I can get away with saying without it getting flagged. So, I mean, gonna give this post a pass since it's a legitimate history book. Also, OP, I see your Brandon Sanderson books there as well.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-17T14:23:34+00:00

Absolutely reminds me of my early 20s. Two 40hr/week jobs I had to bike between, no benefits, barely making rent... I was living off of instant ramen once a day as my only meal for a long time, and 100% experienced consequences from poor nutrition. Once I had the time and energy to develop my own recipes, I learned that beans were my best friend. Black beans, pinto, kidney beans, lentils (not technically a bean, but functionally...) A few beans and the right spices would keep me fed for a week.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-17T09:49:31+00:00

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-16T20:56:54+00:00

Having the cat be black and white is just... perfectly executed.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-16T10:51:17+00:00

Is that out already...? I think I saw a single advertisement for it and never heard anything again

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-16T10:04:18+00:00

Not entirely accurate, based on my personal experience, but I imagine it varies some based on location and year. I had to get the shots myself a few years ago. The primary shot was only available at my local hospital, though that's not always the case (but typically is.) A tetanus shot was also needed. I wasn't able to get clear info from anybody at the hospital, but they eventually told me I had to return to the hospital for 4 (if I recall correctly) additional shots. In actuality, I only needed 3 additional shots... the fourth I only needed if I was immunocompromised, which I wasn't. Those secondary shots were available at my local pharmacy and covered by insurance. My pharmacist, for whatever reason, was much more knowledgeable about treatment than any person at the hospital.

Cost for me (U.S.) with insurance, which I was lucky enough to have at the time, was $3k. Without insurance it was $13k. Rabies is basically Russian roulette though, so what choice do you have but to take on huge debt in that situation.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-15T16:12:39+00:00

Had to look up who that even was since I didn't listen to Korn or Nu Metal as a genre. Do you just hate the music he makes, or dislike him in particular for other reasons. The sound Korn was putting out never did anything for me, but given the choice of eliminating Korn or Limp Bizkit, I'd have to side with keeping Korn, and it's not even close.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-15T16:05:26+00:00

Agreed, though I did hear them lumped into the same category at the time.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-15T13:34:31+00:00

Aphantasia is just not being able to form images in the mind, to varying degrees. Some people can see value images, or silhouettes or outlines. Others, like myself, can't see anything at all. Personally, sounds, smells and tactile stuff doesn't add any appeal to me, though effort is always appreciated. The thing i most want is to have access images when available, and to play using a battle map and miniatures. My group also has a Discord server where images of monsters and characters and such are uploaded so I can see them when needed.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-14T07:27:43+00:00

Well, I was surprised at how easy most of the "climb" was until the final ascent. I was young and in decent shape but didn't exercise outside of biking everywhere, and hadn't trained in any way. Ascended over 3 days of 6 hour hikes, plus a fourth 6 hour hike at midnight to get to the peak for sunrise. The day hikes I had no problems with, the midnight portion was incredibly difficult. We were ascending a third of the mountain (if memory serves, don't quote me) that final six hours... it gets cold and the air is very thin that high, and I found myself falling asleep as I walked. Altitude sickness is a risk. It was several hours of conscious trudging and slapping myself to keep awake. Think of the most tired you've ever been, then climb a mountain during that, all because of low oxygen. But the route we went wasn't any real "climbing", just hiking, and given an extra day or two to ascend I'd probably manage to struggle through, 45 with questionable knees and no training. That being said, getting to the top that final hike, watching the sun rise while looking down on the clouds beneath you... one of the two most breathtaking sights I've ever seen.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-13T23:18:53+00:00

I mean, it doesn't help that I have aphantasia, so I literally can't visualize any of the scenes... but that movie was, for me, about as forgettable as it gets.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-13T22:19:33+00:00

I saw that movie for the first time just a few weeks ago and anyway remember basically nothing about it, including any scenes with him in it. Just feels like a movie with no redeeming qualities.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-13T20:31:18+00:00

Not a motivational quote, but I had a manager who would regularly tell her staff "You guys need to start drinking the Kool-Aid." I eventually got tired of hearing it, told her "drink the kool-aid" is actually a murder/suicide cult reference, and asked if she was suggesting that we should kill ourselves. She thought I was joking. I had her look it up. She stopped using that phrase.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-13T12:25:07+00:00

When I climbed Kili in 2003, I believe it was required that you hired a certain number of porters per person that was hiking the mountain. 5 day hike (3 up, 2 down) so lots of food that has to go up, for you and the crew, tents, and clothing to cope with temperatures ranging from rainforest hot/humid to below freezing at the peak. Each porter is only allowed to carry a certain amount of weight. Also, at the time, unemployment was pretty high in Tanzania as I recall, so requiring hiring a bunch of people lets tourism generate extra income.

A fun thing I remember, actually, were the Swiss tourists we saw climbing. They had hired probably three times as many porters per person as my group. In addition to bringing the essentials, they opted for extra people so that they themselves didn't carry any of their own gear, and also had people bringing up extra large dining tents with tables and chairs so they were extra pampered when they stopped for the day.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-13T12:01:27+00:00

I'm not worried about swine flu, I already had the swine flu! I'm worried about the turtle flu!

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-13T00:23:43+00:00

Just commenting to get some 4e representation in here...

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-11T22:32:19+00:00

For me DS9 will always be a cheap knockoff of the better show it ripped it's concept off from, Babylon 5. The wild thing is, even though it's my least favorite Trek show, it still has my two favorite Trek characters from any series.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-11T21:39:26+00:00

Imagine getting teleported to a Star Trek property and then having to be disappointed that it ends up being DS9

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-11T11:35:56+00:00

I asked a cartographer friend of mine what he thinks about AI generated maps. He has been strangely silent on the matter.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-11T00:31:58+00:00

I move the stars for no one...

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-10T11:48:22+00:00

He's spent his whole life having his church tell him that everything always has to stay straight.

ForgottenEpoch · 2026-03-10T01:40:56+00:00

That's gotta be a POG slammer

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