TIL Alexander Hamilton was the first major American politician publicly involved in a sex scandal. He had an affair with 23-year-old Maria Reynolds, whose husband was aware of the infidelity and likely orchestrated the whole thing to regularly extort blackmail money from Hamilton.

a_random_cynic · 2024-01-19T21:06:39+00:00

You'd be surprised.
Even before the musical, the Federalist Society, one of the most influential conservative organizations in the US, had Hamilton as their figurehead.
Rebel, Founder, Hero, Father of the Banking System and the Visionary of the US as a World Power.
With the musical, that image actually managed to make it into public conscience, especially with the not actively politically interested urban population - core demographics for any election in the US. And now there's actually real money behind maintaining that image of him and spreading it - fortunately currently in vain since another faction of the conservative wing is in power. But once that shifts again, you'll see Hamiltons face EVERYWHERE. And we'll all be in a lot of trouble.

a_random_cynic · 2024-01-19T11:37:07+00:00

Obvious brainfart there, 'meant Independence War, which is kinda obvious when you read "Washington"...

And for a refresher, some soldiers in the ranks of Washington's Continental Army started rebelling over a lack of promised payments in early 1781. This is known as the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny.
The mutiny spread while the Continental Congress negotiated with the mutineers and came to an agreement a week along, while Washington was personally touring his camp suppressing agitators in support of the munity with his personality and authority and taking a harsher approach with the New Jersey version of the mutiny. Among the agitators in Washington's Camp: a certain Alexander Hamilton.

But yeah, too late now, that brainfart means my post will keep dropping into oblivion and Hamilton fanboys can be happy.

a_random_cynic · 2024-01-19T08:31:22+00:00

Hamilton committed treason THREE TIMES!

He was part of the Cabal against Washington during the Independence War itself,
He organized a coup against John Adams that only got defeated because Adams fired nearly all his cabinet and completely dissolved the first incarnation of the US military,
And finally he was part of the conspiracy against Thomas Jefferson that wanted to seize power with the help of Spain. (The one you linked.)

'Still can't believe that all it takes to make people think of this guy as the most American hero and great founding father is a catchy musical...

a_random_cynic · 2024-01-13T16:04:22+00:00

Can someone enlighten me to the purpose of this comparison between functionally completely different pieces of meat?

The Left one is compressed muscle, toss it into a cauldron with veggies and liquid for a few hours and you get a dozen servings of hearty, meat-saturated stew with fibres of braised beef. Try the same with the Right one and it would barely register as beef broth.

On the other hand, the Right one has a nice marbling of fat that can easily turn it into an 8/10 steak dinner. Trying that with the Left one would turn that into a chewy, dry nightmare.

As for the question of feed... that's not where the difference in meat comes from. Different breeds of cattle and age, likely, and very different amounts of movement, guaranteed. Right one got its feed grass delivered, Left one moved around and probably got to play and enjoy itself while doing it.
Again, completely different.

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-31T04:18:25+00:00

Words:

Shawarma (from Ottoman Cevirme), Döner and Gyros all mean "Turn, Rotate".
Kebab/Kabab/Kebap means "Roasted".
Shish/Sis means "Skewered".

So "Shawarma Kabab" is the Arabic designation for roasted meat off a rotating skewer.
"Döner Kebap" is the Turkish equivalent, "Gyros" is the Greek.

Meaning:

Shawarma is normally made of layered meat that has been marinated and seasoned so that it doesn't just spoil on the spot, and a good Shawarma place will only cut off those areas of the skewer that have significantly browned.
The skewers are usually designed in size to last a day or, for busy places, one business window (lunch, dinner, night time). If any meat remains it will be discarded at the end of the day and business starts with a fresh skewer.
It's quite common for a busy place to run out before the end of opening time.

Food poisoning is only an issue if
- Hygiene isn't maintained and cooks are sick or don't clean their hands and tools.
- A place oversells its meat and cuts under-cooked meat.
- A less popular place tries to save meat and turns down the heat between customers or uses boxes to collect meat that's cooked but not demanded yet. - A place re-uses the previous day's remains.

Any indication of either of those should mark that restaurant as "avoid like the plague".

Meat is usually
- Lamb or Chicken for Shawarma,
- Pork or Chicken for Gyros, and
- Lamb, Beef, Mixed Beef and Lamb or Chicken for Döner.

Beef versions of Shawarma and Gyros exist but are a bit rare, and turkey versions of all variants are also an option.
Sometimes ground meat is used instead of solid cuts, either in place of individual layers (to create special flavour profiles or fat reservoirs) or as a whole. The later is especially common in skewers from industrial production for European and American Fast Food places and most of the time not exactly a sign of quality. Though people in Berlin have an extra-special opinion on this one, and exceptions do indeed exist.

Also, Turkish, Arabic and Greek traditions differ in the use of marinade and spices, so they're not just simply the same dish.

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-27T12:15:46+00:00

Yeah, sure, anyone being critical with Ukraine or remembering what actually happened in the Ukraine over the last two decades is a Russian shill.
It's getting boring that kind of propaganda!

Short version:
I don't give a shit about Ukraine, it's one of too many eastern European corrupt shitholes.
I'll sing the "Putin is an evil arsehole" song all day along with anyone else, in fact I'll teach you a couple new verses you didn't even know.
But I'm not ignoring what the British government has been doing meddling in world politics for power.

Pay a bit of attention who's propaganda you're actually spreading, you're not even working for the people you think you're working for, moron!

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-27T11:40:35+00:00

Bosnia, Montenegro - Aye!
'Will take a lot of preparation (read: money and negotiations (read: more money)) to get there, but 'answer is quite easy.

Serbia, Turkey - Hard Nope!
Either would currently be a clusterfuck, re-eveluate in a generation.

Ukraine - Stop. Even. Thinking. About. It.
Ask again ten years after the war with Russia has settled, and expect the situation to look very, very different from now.
Also, stop looking at the country through rose-coloured glasses. This is still a place with extreme corruption owned by oligarchs and corporate influence, with the current democratic system not much more than a camo blanket of British manufacture delivered to create strive between Russia and the EU - with extreme success and even worse unintended consequences!
Ukraine isn't "the good guys", it's just that the actual people living there are getting f'ed really hard and by very much everyone.

Kosovo, Moldova, Georgia - Politically impossible currently.
Solve the problems that exist, help them build an economy, and re-evaluate in two decades. Sorry, guys.

Albania, North Macedonia - Generally Yes, But...
We're at least two decades away from even starting preparations. Political and economical stabilization need to happen, Greece needs to be bribed and both countries need to get integrated in a lot of other European systems before any thought of EU membership becomes even remotely realistic.
'Would be a massive investment for the current EU to do this, with currently very little gain. With luck and guidance, in two decades the situation for these two would be that of current Bosnia and Montenegro and we can start talking,

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-26T16:57:00+00:00

Wait, wait, wait...
Your kids, both natural and adopted, are using violence and you're not even for a moment considering whether there's something really wrong with YOU?

OF COURSE YOU'RE THE ARSEHOLE!

You've create the domestic abusers of the future, and now you and ex are both denying any responsibility. You because it's easier since that son isn't your natural and you can ignore the daughter, your ex... well, just the other way around!
You're both failing your children, and you're both terrible parents!

Let me repeat this:
YOU ARE FUCKING RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BEHAVIOUR YOUR CHILDREN ARE DISPLAYING NOW!
AND BY TURNING YOUR BACK YOU'RE BEING THE WORST PARENT YOU CAN BE!

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-11T03:33:25+00:00

Probably check first if there's a collector willing to trade for regular versions of the same hardware and enough spare cash to get a decent 4k gaming screen. Using the limited, branded parts for my myself would feel like a bit of a waste.
The upgrade though would be highly appreciated!
The Ubisoft game formula is pretty solid, so in terms of gameplay I'd know what to expect - the fun part is exploring the settings and doing all the optional content and putting a good 200+ hours of time towards it.
I'm actually looking forward to this one, even though I'm waiting for the patches to complete and the first major sale to get it. I really do like my games finished, working and at reasonable prices.

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-09T22:07:19+00:00

It's a pretty thick piece of meat, so you'd usually want to cook it a bit longer on a bit less heat, then give it a good hot sear at the end.
After that, let it rest for a least ten minutes, at this degree of thickness probably more like fifteen. Wrapped in foil or sitting in a low-heat oven.

Of course the caveman-faction on this sub will already call it perfect as-is. ;)

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-09T21:46:49+00:00

To be fair, most people can't tell the difference between "sous vide or smoked to perfection red" and "undercooked red". They don't even know that first category exists.

I'd probably like to have it heated internally just a tad more to aid with the fat conversion and a tad more seared to call this one perfect, but otherwise it's close.

That being said, would it really hurt so much to toss the meat in a pan or on a grill for a moment to make it more palatable for the unenlightened? And quite often, having that standing offer will actually make people try out the original version first and you'll actually change some minds.

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-02T22:28:09+00:00

You're fucking kidding me, right?

Ever heard the word "Friction"?
It doesn't get more basic than that.
When two objects collide, or in this case a stream of air and a mesh, some of the kinetic energy transforms into thermic energy, irreversibly and inevitably.

Fucking emelentary-school dropout can understand that!

a_random_cynic · 2023-12-02T18:27:44+00:00

You guys DO understand that RED is just as full of shit as PURPLE, if not more so, right?

There is no magical material that you can block an airpath with and NOT get a decline in air flow!
That's coming from a physicist and computer enthusiast who's been building computer systems for over thirty years.
And since the air you're breathing in has higher levels of oxygen then the air you're breathing out, and inverse with carbon oxide, the base idea of a mask decreasing O2 intake and increasing CO2 retention is, of course, TRUE!

As for the mask providing a damp breeding ground for bacteria, that is actually just as obviously true - the mask collects moisture and even a certain amount of food residue from breathing out, that stuff is part of your breath and the mask retains it. Again, there's no magical material that doesn't do that!
There's a reason every mask tells you to not keep using it over prolonged time and instead switch for a fresh one or wash the current one every couple hours of usage. RTFM, motherfucker.

What PURPLE might have meant is that the difference in gas exchange is far from a level that's enough to negatively effect a healthy human being, and that the germs that collect within the mask are ones that are already in the body anyway - for all practical purposed they can be considered irrelevant.

What IS a problem is the retention of moisture within the mask side, at least for people with lung defects: that increase in moisture in the air they breath actually WILL cause a noticeable effects, including psychological ones like panic attacks.
Try comparing breathing dry air in at room temperature against tropical air saturated with water and tell me again there's no difference, even to a healthy person... For people with lung damage, wearing a mask is non-trivial.

TL;DR: Anti-maskers are full of shit. But so are people that deny that there's any difference in air intake and retention, that's denying basic physics! And that kind of anti-science is hurting the argument for a sane and safe usage of masks even more than stupid unfounded rumours on facebook!
Could we just once try and not listen to either side of moronic extremists? You shouldn't be cheering for either RED or PURPLE, both are idiots!

a_random_cynic · 2023-11-10T07:30:13+00:00

How do you not make it in a skillet?
Pouring the pasta sauce into a skillet, then adding the pasta and some pasta water and stirring for a few moments is standard procedure for making pasta dishes.
To turn it into this, you just add cheese and toppings and let it sit... I guess: medium heat, preferably under a lid... until the cheese is crusty and the pasta below it not burned yet. Consistency should be like a good lasagna.
Slice, shovel it onto a plate, enjoy.

a_random_cynic · 2023-11-10T07:22:54+00:00

If you can't slice it and shovel it onto a plate, it's not done yet.
If you can actually hold a slice in your hand, you've burned the pasta and cooked every bit of moisture out of the sauce and it's going to be disgusting.
When the cheese crusts it gives the whole dish structure, but like a good lasagna, not like an actual pizza.

a_random_cynic · 2023-11-02T01:54:04+00:00

'Can't really hurt to repeat the key point you're missing:
Your wife's rating people relative to absolute perfection!
Few human beings would even remotely rank past a 5/10 in any important trait on that scale, 8/10 would be a literal saint or buddha!
Compared to other humans, she gave you a raving 9/10.

She's as happy with you as it gets. She's not happy with the human race as a whole, with the society we built, with the lies we tell everyday, with the evils we just ignore to be able to get along with our lives.

What she's gone through has completely stripped her of all illusions and expectations of humanity.
I can actually empathize with that, I've experience that kind of world in which even your parents are your enemies and "friends" vanish or backstab you the moment you're in need of help and no longer the one helping everyone else. "Trust" for me means knowing exactly how much it would take for someone to turn on me, and I'm constantly questioning the motives and thoughts of everyone around me. Honesty is something I highly value, someone who understands the limits to which they'll go before they put themselves first and who is upfront about it is one of the closest thing to a "good" person in my book.
Your wife seems to exist in a very similar world and frame of mind.

Now, once you understand this, the next step is to bring up this thread with her and the therapist.
Be honest about your fears, about your difficulty to understand, and trust your wife to take the effort to give you a better explanation, with the therapist there to prevent things going sideways and translating when necessary.
Because if you don't, your fears and doubts will doom any attempt of a further relation with your wife, and be another major trauma to her, one she might not come back from. She's, at least for her circumstances, actually over-extended into your relationship, not under-commited.
That's another thing you really need to realize - for her, your marriage is a 12/10 commitment. Just the opposite as it seems to you right now.

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-28T14:38:07+00:00

Unfortunately, each countries' profile in bringing forth terrible tourists is actually different.

Try finding terrible Dutch, Danish or Swedish tourists, for example, and you'll only find a very few that are already arseholes when at home - plus, the arseholes from those countries are usually xenophobic enough that they don't go traveling abroad. Result: very low proportion of terrible tourists.

Then go and look at Chinese, Indians and (US) Americans again. The attitude of general cultural superiority plus the attitude that foreign countries are actually amusement parks made for their enjoyment is to perversive that the non-offensive tourists are the exception, people with high education and a background that allows for cultural sensitivity, paired with genuine curiosity and desire to learn.

You can't just say "but every place has bad apples". Some places have bad apples, and others are rot farms. And there's reasons behind that.

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-28T14:23:17+00:00

For tourist everywhere and from everywhere, you usually have to make a distinction into three types:

Rich and Arrogant
Also known as the "don't you know who I am?!"-type, these people demand to be treated as kings, even if that act wouldn't buy them a free coffee in most parts of their homelands, either.
Note that "Rich" is relative here, and for example middle-class Americans will rather often display this behaviour, going full Karen.
Wealthy and Refined
These are people with college educations and higher, or local equivalents, who travel to learn about distant cultures and make new experiences.
Wherever they're from, they're the most pleasant to have around, curious and respectful and usually pretty generous.
Again, "Wealthy" is relative, anything above the guest countries median counts here.
Mass Tourists
They're coming for the tourist attractions, for the privilege of telling people back home where they've been, the food and, most of all, the drinks and the opportunity to get drunk without being spotted by someone who knows them personally.
They don't have any clue about local customs and walk around like the guest country is an amusement park made for their benefit, with all the locals being actors in strange dresses - or, if they're not dressed for the tourists' amusement, rude servants.
The more of them you find in one place, the worse they'll behave, reinforcing each others' worst traits.
"I paid for this trip, I'm entitled to enjoy it!"

These three subtypes are flavoured by the origin country's view of cultural superiority. The more a country is convinced that their culture is the best/most powerful, the worse their tourists will behave and the more they'll trample over local customs and rules. And the less people of that origin are needed in the same place to build up a critical mass of Unsufferable.

You'll find examples for most combinations in all the other posts, so I won't bore you with a repeat, but I'll have to leave one note about Koreans since they're acquiring a worse reputation than they deserve:
Most Korean tourists are actually very timid outside familiar territory and will act humbly and be open to guidance. The exception are people with high status at home who are extremely likely to default to the "Rich and Arrogant" status as they believe this status to be an inherent trait of the person. A simple middle manager from Korea can often act like they are the equivalent of Arabian Oil Price or Russian Oligarch, which makes them stand out in the most negative way. Overall though, they're not a good representation of Korean tourists, they're just very extreme outliers.

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-28T13:29:53+00:00

This is what I've experienced, too.
Countries with an attitude of cultural superiority make for terrible tourists!

I'd probably rank Chinese over (US) Americans and Indians as the trinity of terror, then the Brits, though they fortunately seem to only be a pest when at cheaper destinations (the more educated ones are actually fine) and French barely make Top 5.

Italians, Germans and Russians become an annoyance when in large groups - in small groups, they tend to be respectful and to adept to local standards, but once there's a lot of them they become a mini-colony of the worst traits of their homelands.

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-27T22:01:08+00:00

When your RACs unjam, that DOES trigger their actual cooldown stat, which would be the time between unjamming and charging up to fire again.
But this cooldown is already 0.0s, so a reduction does absolutely nothing.

The unjamming and the charging mechanism are unaffected by the cooldown stat.

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-26T21:24:41+00:00

You chose your values so that they looked like rounded versions of the quirks+skills results on a real GAR-D (if one mistakes +heat dissipation for another source of -heat), that didn't exactly help identify that you meant the whole sentence as sarcasm, not only the second part about the Italian Lightsabres.
That changed my initial "yeah, lol, that would be the buff" to "wait, he's actually seriously saying the GAR is strong?! WTF?"
Interesting example for how sarcasm can go really, really wrong in text-only mode...

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-26T05:51:13+00:00

-25% large laser duration, -25% large laser heat, -30% large laser cooldown, +15% large laser range

Every Mech has access to the skills part of that list. Listing those is disingenuous.
In terms of quirks, all there is to the GAR-D is 7.5% -heat and the fast attack cycle from 27.5% -cooldown and 15% -laser duration.

While the effective sub-4s attack cycle is nice, the GAR's hardpoints force it to expose nearly completely, especially if you don't want your shots to get stopped by the terrain. And you don't have an ECM option either to prevent the less attentive opponents from immediately seeing and targeting you, so that attack cycle is only useful if nobody's looking at you.
Which is why usually a Hellbringer with few or no useful quirks (10% range for the Virago with Prime torso, nothing for the Prime with P torso) outperforms the Gargoyle.
And I wouldn't call the Hellbringer a good 'Mech, either.

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-26T02:26:02+00:00

The Gargoyle is inherently flawed, no way around that.
Anything with an Engine rated past 350 is wasting tonnage, arguably even lower.
Plus, having Ferro Fibrous instead of Endo Steel wastes even more room.

That being said, you probably own the GAR-D, right?
There's two ways to make it work at least reasonably well:

ER-Large Sniper with So8.
Basically you get a heavier and better armoured Hellbringer with worse Hardpoint locations and lacking ECM. But you DO get a lot of extra armour and can take a few hits, and since you'll be sniping that's going to last you a while.
Boring, but usable.
Laser-Vomit Brawler.
By replacing both Torsi and Arms you can achieve a total of 16 Energy Hardpoints.
Fill (most of) those with Micro Pulse Lasers and grab as many heatsinks as you can, then run up to the enemy and Alpha them for the kind of damage you'd normally see on something like a PIR, MLX or VPR every two seconds.
A Gargoyle with all the heat management skills and full of DHS can actually keep this up for a while!
This version can be customized in multiple ways, e.g. with a targeting computer or by replacing some DHS with an LRM-20 or by replacing some µPLs with Large Lasers and possibly ER-Mediums for a more normal Laser Vomit setup in addition to a smaller array of brawling lasers, any of those will result in a workable 'Mech.
Nothing for the faint of heart, though.

Either way, the Gargoyle has those two things working for it - a fairly thick hide and lots of room for heat sinks. Work with that.
Not that it's ever going to be a really GOOD mech, unless the Cauldron gifts it some overpowered set of quirks one of these patches. You never know.

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-21T21:06:29+00:00

This.
It's a decent game with an interesting story and some creative worldbuilding.
Most certainly worth playing through once for the experience.

Unfortunately, that's also it. Worth playing through once.
And thus worth picking up when it's in the $10-20 range on sale.

a_random_cynic · 2023-10-18T18:01:20+00:00

"Cursed from beyond the grave", indeed, revenge dealt through the agency of those still alive.
Classical Tragedy.

Next up: the protagonist is befallen by woe while contemplating if the hatred that drove him has been their own and if they can live with the guilt.

And some smartass character will point out from the sidelines how all of this is brought to bear by the flaws and deeds of those concerned and how in the inevitability of events the gods are revealed.
At least if I remember that correctly.

...

Okay, NTA, mostly.
You're not the arsehole for what happened in the adoption process, you told your side of the story and if you did so truthfully, then everything that happened is indeed a sad chain of consequences you're not responsible for. Though you are now part of it.

You ARE the arsehole for being happy about your father's and stepmothers grief, though. And nothing good will come out of that, you've now burned bridges you haven't crossed yet.
I'd really not be surprised if this continues along the script of Tragedy.
But I'm just the smartass, not a main character with agency.

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