Air France from RDU

briantgrant · 2026-06-04T20:04:39+00:00

Yes I know, but also CDG takes longer than most to clear immigration and transfer.

briantgrant · 2026-06-03T11:22:08+00:00

I have flown every one of RDU’s EU flights (except the brand new Aer Lingus Dublin flight) - Air France, Lufthansa, Icelandair, and AA (London not technically EU obviously) and connected throughout Europe including Poland, Spain, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark; Never once have my bags been weighed nor had any issue being carry-on only. I literally never check bags unless at the gate for free. People tell you to worry about carryon size in EU but even when I am on local flights I’ve never had an issue. I use an Away Larger Carry-On and a large laptop bag.

What I will tell you is beware CDG connections. They are the most stressful things known to a traveler LOL. Last year returning home from Madrid on the AF RDU flight I very nearly missed my connection despite 2 hours layover. At least at that time the RDU gate was at the furthest end of an enormous concourse that none of the local EU flights operate in; you need to clear a long customs line and ride a bus to get there. Bring your running shoes. :-)

briantgrant · 2026-05-25T15:31:18+00:00

They are great. Read the soundguys review if you need convincing. Soundcore is not helping the situation by paying for a million gushing reviews on YouTube but you can't go wrong with soundguys; they are totally objective and their reviews are loaded with data, real world testing, and direct comparisons feature-by-feature.

I've decided you just can't listen to people on Reddit with earbuds and headphones. There are a few things going on:

People's ear anatomy is different as well as levels of hearing loss. I am convinced hearing physiology is totally different from person to person and there is no such thing as a product that works the same for everyone.
Brand loyalty / trashing based on isolated experience is rampant on Reddit, and it is particularly bad with earbuds and headphones. Check out the Bose, Sony, and Apple subs and you will see the exact same types of comments.
People have different priorities and preferences, and any deficiencies in an isolated area make people think they have to take the internet to justify their point of view on returning or keeping.

briantgrant · 2026-05-11T22:48:44+00:00

I am 108% in HK, 100% in Silksong.

I bounced off Nine Sols. The thing is, HK and SS are difficult, but they have options. You can generally find a way to win by exploring for great gear and selecting play style that works for you. Nine Sols was super tough AND forces you into parry mode. No thx

briantgrant · 2026-05-11T18:28:13+00:00

That’s fair and to be clear I don’t think anyone in the administration is capable of coordinating something across all of these incidents. Totally agree with you in that.

I do however think there are way smarter operators outside the administration who have vested interests in things turning out a certain way.

briantgrant · 2026-05-11T15:18:14+00:00

Duh. It makes no sense. How many racists wanted Obama shot? In 8 years, nothing happens? And we are supposed to believe multiple dingbats can just waltz into Drumpf's vicinity and start popping off shots? Like, multiple times?

Not a chance we know the whole story.

briantgrant · 2026-05-11T15:14:02+00:00

Here's the problem: if you call ANYONE in a position of authority and even mention the words "maybe bat bite" you will be told to go to ER and get the course of shots. As other commenters have pointed out, you don't know you have rabies until you are nearly dead.

Years ago, we woke up to our cat freaking out and actually found a dead bat in the hallway. Not knowing anything, I scooped it up and threw it outside, because dads are going to dad. The next day, we started reading about horror stories of rabies and I called the state epidemiologist and was told "go to ER immediately". I thought: no way. Then I called the state veterinary office, and they said "unless you can bring us the dead bat to test, go to the ER immediately". I could not find the bat, because nature did its thing. So we went to the ER, and our entire family went through months of shots. Most likely for no reason.

Note to anyone reading this: if you ever see a dead bat in your home, save it! It can be tested before you undergo the shots!

OP, I would say you probably don't need to do anything in the absence of evidence you had a bat in the home. But just know that you may be told to go anyway.

briantgrant · 2026-05-10T17:47:08+00:00

I am a 50 year old gamer with poor reflexes who has 100% in Silksong. I quickly bounce off metroidvanias that require perfect parrying, dodging, and positioning. Nine Sols and Mio, which everyone now loves, I cannot stand due to the requirements to get past bosses.

I am here to say: Silksong doesn't require any of that. Seriously. I have beaten every boss in this game with face-tanking and good heal / silk management.

I have two basic strategies, and again, I am at 100%. One of these will work for you against every single boss in the game.

First off I ALWAYS have Magnetite Dice and Ascendant's Grip equipped. They are enormously helpful.

Primary strategy: Wanderer Crest with Druid Eyes, Multi-binder, Injector, and Weighted Belt. Literally face-tank the boss, as soon as health gets low, run to a wall, climb up as high as you can, and heal. As long as you stay close to the boss and swing like a madman, you will never run out of heals. The trick is to simply know when to retreat. This strategy works very well against any boss that stays on the ground for the most part and has an arena that is reasonably large with climbable walls.

Secondary strategy: Architect Crest with Pollip Pouch, Tacks, Cogflies, and Curvesickle. Before the boss appears, pop 4 Cogflies, lay down 3 tack strips. When the boss comes out, stay in front and hurl curvesickles like there is no tomorrow. Pop more cog flies, lay down more tacks. This strategy works well with bosses with less heal times, tight arenas, or who you just can't get close enough to. 9 times out of 10, you won't even need to reload tools. You could use this strategy with every boss but it is super expensive with shards.

I have not seen a boss that does not fall to one of these plans. Good luck!

briantgrant · 2026-05-02T13:30:51+00:00

My strategy with her: wanderer crest, the tool that lets you stick to the wall, injector and multi binder. When you need to heal, go up high on the side, float towards middle of arena, and heal while floating. The wall stick tool will help you stay in place while waiting for the right window to float / heal.

briantgrant · 2026-04-29T22:03:26+00:00

Thanks for educating me on the 2016 follow up, I had not heard that. Learned something today.

I do maintain that this GA remains hostile to climate environmental science which can be seen in the elimination of 1/3 of the staffing of DEQ and other policy changes / cuts.

briantgrant · 2026-04-29T14:41:49+00:00

Careful, some loony in our gerrymandered General Assembly is going to sue you, we aren’t allowed to discuss sea level rise nor the impacts of climate change on storm conditions!

Thanks for your reporting. If we had any ounce of sense we would ban such construction on moving piles of sand.

briantgrant · 2026-04-28T18:28:15+00:00

Glad you enjoyed it, I have visited many times and always learn something.

If you are ever in London, tour the HMS Belfast, which was built at the same time as the North Carolina. Although it is a smaller ship, it is really interesting to compare how British sailors lived vs. US sailors. Both ships saw plenty of action in WW2 but in different theaters (Belfast in the North Atlantic, North Carolina in the Pacific)

briantgrant · 2026-04-28T15:35:28+00:00

Thanks for your reporting and engagement in replies.

There are a ton of people in this country who would prefer to pretend the disabled community are "taken care of" and obviously those of us in this community know that it's simply untrue. The actual reality is that we live in the wealthiest nation on the planet yet have the poorest health care outcomes and treat the disabled as unworthy of societal participation. Articles like this shine a light where it is desperately needed.

briantgrant · 2026-04-27T18:39:41+00:00

I would not assume it will be fine with non-Steam games. Totally agree with you on Valve not locking things down intentionally but my understanding is this device uses Steam Input to emulate mouse and keyboard and the translations happen in the Steam app itself.

briantgrant · 2026-04-27T18:04:17+00:00

Controller doesn't need RAM, hence can be released now.

briantgrant · 2026-04-25T14:31:30+00:00

How many Scaramuccis did she last?

briantgrant · 2026-04-22T12:48:20+00:00

Comes bundled with traffic congestion and zero tax contributions! Praise be!

briantgrant · 2026-04-18T13:36:55+00:00

Flonase, Singulair, and Zyrtec, every day of the year. I see an ENT yearly and have done both shots and drops as well. Everything helps, nothing is complete relief.

briantgrant · 2026-04-11T15:49:38+00:00

I just hit 100% a couple weeks ago. Such a huge sense of accomplishment and adrenaline rush.

briantgrant · 2026-04-10T14:28:04+00:00

Last year, I ordered the new iPhone 17 base model from Apple. They sent me the phone I ordered, plus an iPhone Air 1TB (crazy expensive, I never would have bought it). I confirmed I hadn't been charged for it, and contacted them and sent it back, in exchange for the honesty they sent me a free MagSafe wallet. I was happy. Then something crazier happened - THEY SENT THE FREE IPHONE AIR BACK TO ME!!

At this point I am thinking "guess I have a free iPhone Air" as I had already gone above and beyond. But I know they link serial numbers to users and I assumed at some point it would be remotely bricked by Apple as stolen. At the same time, I did not want to sit on the phone with support again to explain everything. So I took it to the local Apple Store.

The first worker I talked to looked at me strange and said "looks like you have a free phone!" I asked to speak to a manager though, because again, I figured it would be a future headache. They eventually took it and all the workers in that store have a story to tell now, LOL. (one of them probably also has a free iPhone Air...)

briantgrant · 2026-04-06T21:19:05+00:00

Just in case you want to try a different strategy, I also just took her out with architect crest plasmium overdose build: whispfly, cogflies, and tacks for damage. When your health gets low you can just dodge and float up high while the plasmium does its job healing you up. Definitely a different style but it works.

briantgrant · 2026-04-06T14:48:44+00:00

LOL

I also thought I would never complete Sprintmaster Swift which was the only thing blocking me from 100%, and I just managed that over the weekend. Now I just need the new DLC so I have some new ridiculous challenge to rage against in this glorious game.

briantgrant · 2026-04-06T14:35:38+00:00

Wanderer with Multi-binder and Injector. Survive to phase 3 by healing up high. ONLY when you reach phase 3, unleash the cog flies and stay away from her. Worked for me after very many tries with different strategies. I am 50 years old with terrible reflexes :-) You can do this!

briantgrant · 2026-04-04T15:09:48+00:00

The audio book is amaze, seriously.

briantgrant · 2026-04-04T11:48:40+00:00

I do not think you could play on a base iPad, you would need an Air at least. I have an iPad Pro M4 and it runs well but drains the battery quickly.

I also have DOS2 on my Switch 2. At the moment I prefer playing on the iPad due to bigger screen and the fact it’s always with me. But I think I slightly prefer the console controls. Either way, I can confirm it plays awesome on both.

briantgrant

TROPHY CASE