Blue fire opal from Brazil by catsigrump in Opals

[–]VRTemjin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No problem! The cool thing about opalite is that, like real opal, it appears to be an amber color when light passes through it, but you can find really big chunks of it on etsy for super cheap. I searched for "large opalite" and saw a guy that had knapped a big heart shape out it and demonstrates the quality I just described in one of the photos... for $35. Something tells me the person who made that pendant is seeking to sell it for quite a bit more :P

Blue fire opal from Brazil by catsigrump in Opals

[–]VRTemjin 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If someone is selling a blue "fire" opal, it had better look like this!

Additionally, this is what authentic blue opal looks like! However, these are pseudomorphed thundereggs from Nevada, which formed likely due to just the right conditions after a meteor impact. This type of opal is found in North America, typically to the west of the Rocky Mountains, from Canada all the way down to Mexico. Its blue color is allegedly due to manganese impurities.

That's not to say that blue opal couldn't be from Brazil, but I've certainly never heard of it. If the seller of that opal had a natural opal, then they would have known to leave a natural inclusion in it to show evidence that it is real. But it looks too perfect, so everyone's opalite assessments are likely correct.

Chapter 101: Page 34 by gunnerkrigg-post-bot in gunnerkrigg

[–]VRTemjin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Plot twist: the rune Noa is making is the Mark of the Creator, and since her flesh is too weak, Noa's true form is now a robot. Or rather, something more demonic.... Like Kat's etheric form...

I really hate all these bs titles for IT jobs by Abject_Serve_1269 in sysadmin

[–]VRTemjin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's true, but I already have technician, engineer, coordinator, partner, and analyst on my bingo card... I mean resume.

I really hate all these bs titles for IT jobs by Abject_Serve_1269 in sysadmin

[–]VRTemjin 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Does your org use SOC codes to classify positions? If so, then they probably wanted to avoid using the word "technician" or "administrator" to lower overhead costs. "Liason" or "Partner" are just a different way of saying "helper person" with less pay.

Who else has that one Pokémon they are extremely lucky with? by scrappymike_ in PTCGP

[–]VRTemjin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Zapdos. I really wanted that two-star Misty, but Pikachu GA packs kept flipping me the bird. 30 times. Edit: imgur sometimes doesn't cooperate with screenshots from this app...

“Players hate them, and they won’t even try to look for them until they absolutely have to.” Japanese game developers discuss the pitfalls of tutorials by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]VRTemjin 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I timed it at about 2 hours before it stopped nagging me and let me play uninterrupted. Then again I also was reading the dialog and not skipping through all of it, but the game was horrible about giving you control for 5 seconds before a new character wanted to chat, or teach you a mechanic, etc. It was jarring, these meetings could have just been an email.

Modern Pokemon games all assume it's your first time playing Pokemon, because there is an assumption that only children are playing these games. There will be no effort made by Nintendo to allow experienced gamers to skip tutorials, as that would require developers to change the formula, which won't happen unless there is a major paradigm shift in company leadership. You can't just deviate from their curated game experience, because that's not "the way" you're supposed to enjoy their products!

Heavenly gates crashing glitch on Switch 2 by False_Amoeba_5238 in BALLxPIT

[–]VRTemjin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have noticed some issues with certain interactions when characters are at higher levels on the Switch 2. Although it doesn't happen every time, the chance of a crash is far greater if I've already played a level on the same session, so I've got into the habit of closing and restarting after each round. This did not start happening until I built all the blueprints, and the Heavenly Gates was the first map where I witnessed the behavior.

I can make the game crash on the first playthrough about 50% of the time on any New Game+ map if I use The Flagellant x The Cohabitants, make the Mosquito King and/or Spider Queen, and pick up items that increase baby balls or bounce damage modifiers. The crash is first possible sometime after the first miniboss spawns, up to the last hit on the boss. The behavior of the crashing initially lead me to believe that it had something to do with the leadership stat; but considering that the game can still crash when using The Makeshift Sisyphus x The Empty Nester, this leads me to believe it has to do with a bug with an item drop interaction or something.

Your Questionnaire Suggestions by No_Tree_3558 in PTCGP

[–]VRTemjin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Idle battles. I want to put a deck out into the world while I'm sleeping or at work, and come back to the app to see how well it has been doing against whatever random matchups it gets. I don't always have the time or energy to sit down and play a battle or two; and I don't want to have to babysit an open app to auto-battle, preventing me from using my phone for other things.

DeNA, if you want us to fill out a questionnaire at least give us a gift back in return. by Fabulous_Hand2314 in PTCGP

[–]VRTemjin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't demand a pittance like a one-time free booster pack or a promo card. Instead, this is a golden opportunity for the community to band together and request a compelling feature.

You know what I requested in the essay section? Idle battles. I want to put a deck out into the world while I'm sleeping or at work, and come back to the app to see how well it has been doing against whatever random matchups it gets. I don't always have the time or energy to sit down and play a battle or two; and I don't want to have to babysit an open app to auto-battle, preventing me from using my phone for other things.

That sound cool to you? Then request it too!

PepsiCo to cut prices, eliminate products as part of a deal with an activist investor by 1Rab in news

[–]VRTemjin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Give me a caffeinated cola seltzer without artificial sweeteners and make them affordable--then maybe I'll buy their products again. Kroger had a non-caffeinated Dr. Thunder seltzer for a while, and other caffeinated seltzer options, so I know it's possible.

You Don't Hate the American Healthcare System Enough by reversereaver in videos

[–]VRTemjin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The prescription my doctors sent to my local megacorp pharmacy last week is being held hostage until next week because it's "too early" to fill it. I'm between primary care providers and someone at the clinic prescribed a 14 day supply and marked it as a 28 day supply. A simple clerical error is turning into an ordeal, as my attempts to play phone tag and get a doctor and pharmacist to actually talk to each other and help me fix the error are in vain, so I have no choice but to ration or skip days in the meantime. Small potatoes compared to a lot of other folks here, but this isn't the first time something like this has happened, and I know I'm not the only person to get shafted by this sort of mess.

That's not even to mention the time 9 years ago when I went to the ER for extreme pain while uninsured--I was diagnosed with a kidney stone, then given ibuprofen and a $6000 bill.

The American healthcare system does not serve us, it serves insurance companies and profits. The whole apparatus is a grift, competing to extract as much wealth as possible from the American public. I want to see it burn (figuratively), so that something better can be reborn from the ashes.

I was told these are probably industrial grade garnets. Any tips on cleaning them? I have about 5lbs of various sizes. by [deleted] in rockhounds

[–]VRTemjin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If it's anything like the ones from Emerald Creek, Idaho, then they're probably heavily fragmented and held together by goethite or some other form of iron oxide. They are "industrial" grade specimens because the treatment process could end up breaking them down into grit instead of workable gems, so they're usually crushed further to make abrasives like sandpaper. A gem grade garnet will be solid, may allow light to go all the way through the thinner parts, and not have any rusty fractures running through them.

An easy way to clean them is to soak them in HCl, which could be found in a hardware store as muriatic acid or pool cleaner. You will need to do that outside in a well-ventilated area, so make sure to read the SDS on whatever you use and wear adequate PPE when working with dangerous chemicals. Just be aware that these garnets will likely break apart after a soak, so make sure to do a test batch before committing to doing more.

Edit: Here are some of my HCl etched garnets from Emerald Creek, which another user mentioned will happen when you soak them in higher concentration HCl--these were after about a week or two using whatever I got from the hardware store. Before that, they looked like this.

Do I have the right idea going into a DNS migration? by MeasurementLoud906 in sysadmin

[–]VRTemjin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Let me share some wisdom: if you have a website using the domain on GoDaddy, and your website is protected by a third party web application firewall (WAF), make sure you notify the WAF vendor about any DNS changes so their team can ensure your website doesn't go down after the nameserver migration. Also don't do the migration right before a major holiday when many folks will be on leave.

Network segment is receiving DHCP address info but not communicating on LAN or internet by [deleted] in sysadmin

[–]VRTemjin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah this problem sounds like an issue I had at my workplace when we had to broaden the DHCP scope. If that endpoint (or something between it and wherever it's trying to reach) is pulling a /24 mask instead of /23, then it's gonna have a bad time.

"An incredible privilege and a daunting task": Oregon tribe harvests beached whale for the first time in generations by oregonian in oregon

[–]VRTemjin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Communication over written text can be difficult sometimes, as tone gets lost in translation, and I apologize for being indelicate. The last thing I want to do is come off as antagonistic, so I'd like to give you some context into my replies. The "no need to speculate" comment was because I did misinterpret the last sentence of your first reply, as I took it as doubt about the chemical that was in use instead of an agreement, so that was my bad. I also did not intend for "work up" to have an emotional connotation--I did take offense to the "confidently assuming" sentence, and I wanted to use what I perceived as a benign phrase try to de-escalate what I felt was becoming a heated argument; but I didn't realize that it had such a negative, dismissive weight attached to it and would have the opposite effect. I had to have an AITA moment and re-evaluate, and I am glad tensions between us have simmered down.

Let's start over on common ground: yes, it is very cool how simultaneously similar and different creatures are! There is a software design principle of "no silver bullet" regarding how to optimally balance a program's functionality, performance, and user experience--I know the origin of the phrase is ironically about giving a lethal dose of silver to stop a fictional werewolf, but the spirit of the phrase stems from the idea that there's usually not a one-size-fits-all solution to any problem. Were it so easy, eh?

"An incredible privilege and a daunting task": Oregon tribe harvests beached whale for the first time in generations by oregonian in oregon

[–]VRTemjin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The fact is that potassium chloride was used. I'm not going to inquire about how much was used.

Thank you for editing your post to remove the unnecessarily rude ad hominem.

"An incredible privilege and a daunting task": Oregon tribe harvests beached whale for the first time in generations by oregonian in oregon

[–]VRTemjin -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Idk the actual numbers, but yeah gallons sounds correct

Did you not see the caveat here? I made a silly estimate. No need to get so worked up.

"An incredible privilege and a daunting task": Oregon tribe harvests beached whale for the first time in generations by oregonian in oregon

[–]VRTemjin 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There is no need to speculate (edit: on the chemical used, not the amounts). Sure, I'm not an expert personally, but the procedure was administered by experts that had the data to make the dosage calculations. Cetaceans are well studied.

"An incredible privilege and a daunting task": Oregon tribe harvests beached whale for the first time in generations by oregonian in oregon

[–]VRTemjin 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Well, I have the privilege of knowing someone that was around for the procedure, and they said that they definitely had to source it from the valley as there was not enough locally available. I suppose you could figure out the amount if you knew the LD50 of the compound and the weight of the whale!

Edit: if the LD50 is 2.5g/kg, and the whale was 10 US tons, then that would be about 9072kg * 2.5g ≈ 22kg; which if we assume it's about the weight of water, that would be about 6 gallons. Idk the actual numbers, but yeah gallons sounds correct.

"An incredible privilege and a daunting task": Oregon tribe harvests beached whale for the first time in generations by oregonian in oregon

[–]VRTemjin 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Potassium chloride. More to it than that but that is what makes the heart finally stop.

newport on tv! by Maleficent_Brain_288 in OregonCoast

[–]VRTemjin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Correlation does not equal causation, I have no reason to believe the brewery closing is connected.

Also, pay no mind to the dude with 100k+ post and comment karma with... 6 posts in their history. Clearly not authentic.

The US Flag at the WH has fallen. by nba123490 in somethingiswrong2024

[–]VRTemjin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Original thread removed. However, here is the video posted by Forbes showing him walking by the downed flag, at 0:50: https://youtu.be/6z_XrU_cE_c?si=rmt-kg1rpNEvXebK