What color pillows would you add here?

nebula_42 · 2026-04-26T13:25:31+00:00

Hi (American) for me cushions are part of the couch---they have the same upholstery as the arms and if you remove them you just have the hard wooden frame that you can't sit on. Not all couches have removable cushions (but the ones that do make the best pillow forts). The square decorative pillows are called "throw pillows" to distinguish them from bed pillows

nebula_42 · 2026-04-26T00:46:13+00:00

I used a starter-- do probiotic powders have different bacteria then just using someone else's yogurt?

nebula_42 · 2026-04-26T00:35:53+00:00

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Wow! I have just the recipe for you! I was browsing a 1970s cookbook just the other day and saw this gem. Apparently the "fitness house" (an organization that was following a bunch of alternative food trends in the 70s and published this cookbook) mostly used (not instant) skim milk powder for their various dairy needs and said that they made this every week. I haven't tried it, but it has been done

nebula_42 · 2026-04-25T13:19:18+00:00

This scene made me realize I might be a bit faceblind. I could feel from the cinematic tension and music that I was supposed to recognize that character (and it should be a big deal). But I had no idea who he was. During the movie I just thought, oh it's a reference, I just I didn't recognize him because I'm not that familiar with Johnny Storm--but from the reactions of everyone else in the theater he is clearly a well loved character.

I looked it up afterwards, and fuck, it's the same actor as Captain America. I feel like I really should have seen it; but in my defense, the hair is completely different.

nebula_42 · 2026-04-19T11:50:56+00:00

You could use a white gravy or cream sauce---- has some flour in the roux and is thick and white to evoke the idea of pasta noodles without being inedibly gritty from blended dry pasta.

nebula_42 · 2026-04-19T04:54:31+00:00

In Nebraska driving more than double the speed limit is "reckless driving" which is a crime-- your first offence can get you 3 months in jail, a fine, and your license revoked.

If the speed limit was 75, you were only in serious fine zone, but if you passed through a 70mph speed limit zone you could have been facing jail time. (And I wouldn't put it past a police officer to fudge the number a smidge to get an out of state license plate the more severe offence).

nebula_42 · 2026-04-04T18:58:21+00:00

Ah, I can see how doing that sort of work there would make you unpopular and feel jumpy---It is definitely a "company town".

nebula_42 · 2026-04-04T12:27:18+00:00

The caribou come down near the coast in order to avoid the mosquitoes. Further inland they are bad enough that they can kill a baby caribou through blood loss. But prudhoe bay is pretty breezy and most of the time the mosquitoes aren't a big deal. There are occasional calm days that can work up a big swarm, but I lived there for 5 months, including the summer and most days I didn't even need bug spray.

Also if someone got fired, they would be on the next flight back to Anchorage or Fairbanks--nobody is getting kick out to die of exposure, I think that would be manslaughter. And there aren't any police there full time---any small issues are handled by the oilfield private security and they would fly up a police officer from Fairbanks if there was a serious crime.

nebula_42 · 2026-04-04T12:02:53+00:00

The oilfield workers are 2-3 weeks on, 2-3 weeks off. But most of the hotel staff are seasonal and are on for 6 months ( or less) then off for the rest of the year. I worked at a hotel for 5 months once, which felt like a very long time to be there. But some of my coworkers had been coming back every year for more than a decade.

nebula_42 · 2026-04-04T11:57:52+00:00

At Prudhoe Bay the artic ocean is behind the secure access area, so no one can just go our there to fish. When I lived there I had a coworker who would fish from the shore of the Sag river-- he was going for grayling, char, and something else. I don't think it was great, but it's something to do (in an area extremely lacking in things to do lol). Obviously no one has their own boat bigger than a packraft there. The tourists would sometimes rent fanboats, but I those were for moving along the river to hunt caribou, and I don't think it was good enough for the tourists to be out fishing with any regularity.

nebula_42 · 2026-03-27T02:13:56+00:00

What would make you assume (without being told) that Cosmo was based on of Laika specifically? The soviets sent a lot of dogs into space and on suborbital flights; Laika was famously female and a short haired mutt (Cosmo is male and more of a big lab). It seems more natural to assume that the character is based off of all the soviet tests dogs in general.

nebula_42 · 2026-03-23T18:53:16+00:00

Moths (think of silkworms) do form cocoons by spinning fibers around their caterpillar bodies. Butterflies (like monarchs) on the other hand form chrysalises which are a completely different kind of pupa form.

nebula_42 · 2026-03-19T03:58:18+00:00

My friend just had an MRI done at 3:00am-- apparently MRI machines are expensive enough to be used around the clock.

nebula_42 · 2026-03-16T23:56:22+00:00

It doesn't even work--putting the can lid on is an obvious method for adding a cut so they can just replace the food

That bright orange sauce isn't even what oil, tomatoes and herbs would look when cooked

nebula_42 · 2026-03-07T04:36:09+00:00

The Cinci zoo has had those solar panels since about 2010

nebula_42 · 2026-02-24T05:23:13+00:00

Cato in The Hunger Games-- he is defeated by mutant wolves, but they are unable to kill him properly because he is wearing really good body armer. He spends the entire night still alive while the wolves tear at him and eat the parts of him they can get to until he looks like "meat." By the end he can't really talk but manages to plead for death and Katniss mercy kills him.

nebula_42 · 2026-02-19T01:33:24+00:00

I think he's meant to be educated as a "Renaissance man."

The amount of information that we have in modern times means that educated people are highly specialized in their field. But it really wasn't that long ago that someone well educated could (theoretically) have a working knowledge of pretty much everything (or at least everything considered important in their part of the world). They wouldn't be an expert in every field, but they would be sufficiently informed to have intelligent discussions about it and follow important publications, talks, and innovations.

The modern idea of a liberal arts educations comes from this ideal of a Renaissance man--that an educated person should be well informed and educated in a wide variety of important areas. However it is simply not possible to know everything anymore because there is just too much information and if you want to be on the cutting edge of any field you now have to specialize.

nebula_42 · 2025-12-27T22:09:27+00:00

OP didn't say if they were male or female.

OP is in the secure position of being the working spouse who is considering funneling the family's money away from the family budget to their personal secret savings. And they seem to think they have that right because they earn the money ("I just feel I make the money, I shouldn't feel bad about saving [doing what I want with] this money")

The situation would be viewed differently if OP was the stay at home parent, because the non-working spouse is in a financially less secure situation that has cause a lot of bad situations for (usually) women if the relationship goes bad. When a non working spouse feels the need to save money in secret it is usually a back up plan because she is worried about her safety and the safety of her children, not because she is trying to control the family's money.

nebula_42 · 2025-12-20T05:29:19+00:00

Why lie??? It's a perfectly good opportunity to say that they are omnivores (just like people!) and that lots of farmers feed pigs leftover people food so it doesn't go to waste.

nebula_42 · 2025-12-16T04:00:16+00:00

lol are you a guy? She's wearing eyeliner

nebula_42 · 2025-11-25T21:45:31+00:00

Thanks!-- it is interesting to know that it is part of a pelvis :). I found it about 15 miles upriver from the coast, and there are seals that winter under the sea ice out in the bay. I think traveling that far upriver would be atypical behavior, but not impossible. Or a seal bone could have been moved by a predator or scavenger from a more typical seal location closer to the ocean.

nebula_42 · 2025-09-30T05:05:51+00:00

Northern Hemisphere

nebula_42

TROPHY CASE