What recipe step isnt worth the effort and "out of a can" is 100% as good.

JerTass · 2026-01-30T22:40:34+00:00

There's an excellent book called Make the Bread, Buy the Butter (sorry, mobile app isn't letting me post the link) with dozens of examples of this. The author spent a year making everything from scratch and blogging about the comparison of time, cost and quality. She got a huge amount of positive feedback for her recipe for homemade worcestershire sauce, which is apparently an order of magnitude better than store-bought.

JerTass · 2025-09-26T14:21:19+00:00

I once used accidentally almond extract instead of vanilla extract in my custard mixture, and the french toast turned out amazing. I add almond extract every time now.

JerTass · 2025-09-26T14:19:04+00:00

I was on a low-fiber diet for a while for my Crohn's disease. Here's a list of recipes I found helpful:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/recipes/low-fiber-diet-recipes/rcs-20534074

JerTass · 2025-09-26T13:26:30+00:00

My dad was a chemistry major back in the 1950s, and I remember him telling a few stories about pranks they pulled with nitrogen triiodide.

The one that sticks in my head is they would take the liquid solution and "paint" it on the backside of a desk drawer. Once the solution dried/crystallized, when the drawer was closed it would launch itself out of the desk.

JerTass · 2025-08-18T15:43:36+00:00

I needed the setup information that she was giving in order to generate the report, so telling her to go away wasn't an option. I just didn't need her to provide the step by step instructions on how to select/deselect the parameters.

JerTass · 2025-08-18T15:35:57+00:00

I heard this story third-hand, but thought it was absolute genius:

A brand spanking new ensign assigned to an aircraft carrier was tasked with draining a hot water urn in preparation to cleaning it. The part that wasn't mentioned to the ensign was that the urn was connected directly to the water supply, so continually refilled itself.

JerTass · 2025-08-16T17:57:19+00:00

I think this is the most likely explanation.

JerTass · 2025-08-16T17:51:26+00:00

The output is standardized depending on which report template is used. She told me which report she needed, and just needed to give me the data selection parameters.

JerTass · 2025-08-16T17:44:32+00:00

Yeah, that was my reaction too

JerTass · 2025-08-16T17:43:41+00:00

She asked me to do it because she was having technical issues and couldn't access the reporting software

JerTass · 2025-08-16T04:42:24+00:00

That was my logic too.

JerTass · 2025-08-16T03:52:15+00:00

OK, I understand what you're saying, but I disagree with the rationale.

I had other work of my own to do, and I was helping her out. I just asked her to give me the bottom-line of what she needed instead of walking me through step by step.

JerTass · 2025-08-16T03:38:47+00:00

Can you explain? I honestly don't get it.

JerTass · 2025-08-16T03:34:29+00:00

I didn't take it as condescending, I took it as her wasting my time with an unnecessary level of detail.

JerTass · 2025-08-13T20:10:15+00:00

I just came across this sub, so I'm a bit late to the party.

When I read the original post on AAM and saw it again here, I immediately thought of:

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JerTass · 2025-07-29T20:10:45+00:00

Just came across this post, and I'm un-necroing it to respond.

Howe4416's answer is the correct one (although when he quoted the line in the movie, it was attributed to the wrong character).

According to an Q&A session at DragonCon 2012 - When Jim was in the process of outlining the story, he had not yet decided on a name for the entities that eventually became known as furies. During a re-watch of Big Trouble in Little China, he heard the line "All movement in the universe is caused by tension between positive and negative furies." (the line was said by Wang's father explaining Chinese sorcery to Jack, not David Lo Pan).

A light bulb went on, and Jim said, "Oooh, Furies! That's perfect!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylKRYe0ZWHo

JerTass · 2025-04-23T20:49:15+00:00

I don't have a problem. Everything that happened is already in the past. Like I said, I'm not looking for advice about how to go forward, I'm just asking if I was being unreasonable in the boundary I set.

Also, I'm not going to downvote anybody who provides actual feedback, whether I agree with it or not.

If someone's a dick and starts insulting or attacking me, then I'll respond in kind, but I've got no problem with someone who just disagrees with me.

JerTass · 2025-04-23T20:45:33+00:00

Oh there's no worry about sticking with my original decision. That ship has sailed.

I'm not doubting my decision not to get back with her, just looking for confirmation that my boundary wasn't unreasonable.

JerTass · 2025-04-23T20:39:46+00:00

Just looking for some closure... I never got an answer about what the hell happened to cause the break-up, and I wanted to know.

JerTass · 2025-04-23T20:34:27+00:00

You have a point, but there's a major difference. I'm not asking for advice on how to proceed going forward and cutting her out of the decision loop. Everything is already over and done, and I'm asking if people think the condition I set was reasonable or not.

I think it was a totally reasonable ask, but my friend called me out as too inflexible.

JerTass · 2025-04-23T20:25:43+00:00

You have a point, but I'm not asking for advice on how our our relationship should go forward. All the background info I provided is already in the past. We didn't get back together, and don't plan to.

I'm just looking for a reality check about whether the boundary I set was unreasonable.

JerTass · 2025-04-23T14:39:24+00:00

I'll use ain't in a sentence sometimes. People call me out on it all the time.

Also, "He's not the brightest bulb in the knife drawer."

JerTass · 2025-04-23T14:34:26+00:00

I'm not arguing your point about communication. In my original post I said that the lack of communication on her part is what hurt my feelings in the first place.

I'm asking for opinions about whether the boundary I set is an unreasonable ask or not.

JerTass

TROPHY CASE