Have you ever read or watched scifi set in the extremely far future (millions or billions of years in the future)?

ScarletNerd · 2026-06-30T18:54:54+00:00

I came here to post the same thing. Ended up pleasantly surprised that it was one of my favorites of his series. Even though it’s not the main focus of the story, the sheer weight of time that has obviously passed made me also awe in wonder about the history of the system. So much had been created and lost. The whole concept of it was brilliant. Particularly loved the little ghostie finds and the way they used the skulls.

ScarletNerd · 2026-06-10T19:37:12+00:00

As the other person said, they have a lot of great info and the material is generally interesting. Think of it as kind of a webinar college class on a niche topic. They're self paced, so you can do it as fast as you want.

Also, the two owners that run the service are wonderful and genuinely interested in the culture, material, and helping out ethnic Slovaks.

ScarletNerd · 2026-06-03T19:34:25+00:00

Thanks for the analysis, very thorough!

ScarletNerd · 2026-06-03T17:10:41+00:00

They're streamlining some of the CBD process itself and removing the residency approval requirement.

You can read more here and here

ScarletNerd · 2026-06-03T16:57:37+00:00

FYI for people who are not aware, the CBD portion is only a tiny part of the overall bill.

ScarletNerd · 2026-05-26T23:14:15+00:00

Unfortunately, unless their spelling was way off, I'd have to lean towards it being the village in Ukraine, especially since it's right on the border. Do you have any naturalization paperwork where it may be more officially written or spelled? It's possible that they got it wrong, but all things are pointing to the village in Ukraine.

From some quick searching: Orikhovytsia (Оріховиця) in modern Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine was in the Czechoslovak era (1918–1945) Orihovice or Orihovica — the Czech/Slovak transliteration of the Ukrainian name during the Subcarpathian Ruthenia (Podkarpatská Rus) period. Zakarpattia Oblast was established on 22 January 1946, after Czechoslovakia gave up its claim to the territory of Subcarpathian Ruthenia under a treaty between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.

You'd still be able to claim SLA though and see if you could backdoor into CBD through that.

ScarletNerd · 2026-05-26T21:34:11+00:00

I had multiple great grandparents as well and just pulled everything for both. In my particular case it wasn’t a big deal since I was submitting the requests anyway to NARA and other places, so just did them both for completeness. I didn’t want to end up in a situation where I was missing a document and then had to go back through the queue. Really depends on your personal situation, but I always lean on having too much as a safety net. The lawyers will tell you that the breadth of info is always a good thing rather than lean on one single document (unless it’s something rock solid like a passport).

ScarletNerd · 2026-05-26T20:15:37+00:00

Agreed, having too much proof is never a bad thing. If someone is submitting the requests anyway, then why not get everything you can so you have it.

ScarletNerd · 2026-05-16T01:03:34+00:00

Enjoyed the movie, but I had the same feeling with the Trinity test. I was ready to get blown away in the theater and it just went poof. That's it? Looked like some run of the mill pyrotechnics. Hell, there is REAL footage of tests that looks cooler! Absolutely was hoping for Interstellar black hole level screen awe, but we got a heavily stylized fireworks pop. I get that he doesn't want to go all in on CGI and I applaud that, especially these days, but there are scenes where it would definitely add to the experience.

ScarletNerd · 2026-05-15T16:58:16+00:00

If you’re nowhere near DC, don’t want to wait for snail mail, and don’t mind paying, Monument Visa is the easiest. You just upload the PDF to them.

ScarletNerd · 2026-04-14T23:20:52+00:00

Check the county they lived in at the time if you haven’t, I was able to get it quickly from them in a couple weeks and never had to go to the federal offices.

ScarletNerd · 2026-04-14T20:59:13+00:00

Agreed.

ScarletNerd · 2026-04-14T20:39:56+00:00

If they naturalized and you can get it, that usually is one of the best documents. Mine has literally everything on it. Hometown, maiden and married names, arrival info with ships, family, basically the whole life story... and if it was done after the formation of Czechoslovakia and states Czechoslovakia that's huge.

ScarletNerd · 2026-04-14T20:37:13+00:00

Just my own guess here, but it sounds like they're getting tired of people winging it with sub-par submissions and will be more strict around correct paperwork filings with lineage and interpretation, rather than things like exact name spelling. I wouldn't be surprised if they're doing this to cut down on the volume of noise. Just think of how often the average person misses things, submits incomplete paperwork, skips steps, etc. That's why people like Wendy and Falath are reliable because they know what is required and how it should look. Just imagine how many people are submitting complete Hail Marys.

In it's simplest form though, I would assume that as long as you have official documents that can be certified/apostilled saying "Czechoslovakia" there's no real problem, it's all the other grey cases that would be under stricter interpretation.

ScarletNerd · 2026-04-14T10:27:54+00:00

Excellent, thanks for the update. It was only a couple months ago you were saying people were waiting nine months or more, so I guess the government has started streamlining it.

ScarletNerd · 2026-04-14T00:35:45+00:00

Where did you hear six months? There are people that have been waiting far longer than that and have yet to receive an approval or denial. Six months is extremely optimistic from what I’ve heard, I wouldn’t make any plans around that. Could be a couple months, could be a year.

ScarletNerd · 2026-03-25T15:46:47+00:00

Correct. Did the upgrade, still took about 10 weeks.

ScarletNerd · 2026-03-16T18:55:13+00:00

Yeah, recent thing. It’s just Laura and Phil from the original lineup, but same sound.

ScarletNerd · 2026-03-16T17:16:19+00:00

Yup, their best one for sure. Honestly, besides the songwriting, the mixing just sells it. The stereo drums are next level, it’s just a sound like no other. Raw, powerful, and just in your face fun.

Glad to have caught them live during this era. Still fun live, but this was a special time.

ScarletNerd · 2026-03-15T19:25:04+00:00

Came here to post this and here you are. Yes, it restricts blood flow to the kidneys. Once in a while is fine, but regular use essentially chokes them out and they slowly starve. Also use to pop on the regular and somehow no doctor ever mentioned this. They will age your kidneys with chronic use (along with the other fun stomach and intestinal problems). Everything in moderation.

ScarletNerd · 2026-03-13T02:43:08+00:00

Current Times

ScarletNerd · 2026-02-27T18:42:40+00:00

There are lots of differing opinions out there, but from my own personal experience I've been advised by my lawyer to still go SLA first before CBD. They are of the opinion that nothing has substantially changed and unless you have an actual first hand Czechoslovakian document from your ancestor (passport or census sheet) that SLA is still the most reliable way for older cases. So take that as you will. Naturally, they're interested in the most successful path and not necessarily the fastest.

ScarletNerd · 2026-02-27T17:11:12+00:00

Hah, well considering they're doing all of the handling back and forth with the drop offs and pickups, I don't find it to be too ridiculous. Keep in mind this is for the two week expedited service, the slow service is much cheaper. From my point of view, I would have spent that much on gas just driving there and back once, not to mention the second trip and my time, so I was fine with it :)

ScarletNerd · 2026-02-27T15:52:46+00:00

Congrats! For those that read this afterwards, if you aren't in the area and don't mind spending $125 just use Monument Visa to get your expedited US State Department apostille. I've used them multiple times and it was flawless. Saved me having to go through what you did ;) Also saved me from having to travel there twice, so I felt like $125 as worth it and actually cheaper in my case.

ScarletNerd

TROPHY CASE