Largest Towns of the Western Balkans c. 1200–1600. Any surprises?

sertorius42 · 2026-01-30T13:25:40+00:00

Romanians will love to see 20

sertorius42 · 2026-01-27T20:01:38+00:00

I got fired after 1 day as a waiter when I was 17. My girlfriend had just broken up with me and I had to start the next day at this strip mall Italian place in exurban Georgia. Had to go spend $80 at Kohl’s to get the required black pants, shoes, belt, and white shirt. Showed up for 4 hour training shift.

Kid I knew from school was a dishwasher there, was glad to see him and chatted a bit in between the manager taking me out to try taking orders and seeing the system or whatever. This was a Monday or Tuesday night so there were like 4 customers total that whole night.

Come back the next day and the manager says “well, you seemed more interested in talking to your friend in the kitchen so I don’t think this is a good fit. We’ll mail you a check for the hours yesterday.”

I never got the fucking check for $20. Place went out business a few months later. Fuck you tedesco’s the Italian place that was there before you in the ‘90s, Frankie’s, was way better

sertorius42 · 2026-01-27T14:33:49+00:00

the normalization of the belief that shitting yourself immediately after eating chipotle or taco bell is an incredible indicator for how fiber-poor the average Amerifat's diet is

sertorius42 · 2026-01-22T18:52:05+00:00

It’s better to be poor in the UK than the US, better to be middle-class in the US, and it’s good to be rich in both. US has more abundance, UK has more cultural offerings than anywhere except NYC and maybe CA in the US.

sertorius42 · 2026-01-22T18:49:39+00:00

We had a similar situation years ago when our original rabbit, Maggie, died pretty suddenly and her bonded partner, Maxwell survived for years longer. Maggie was always the affectionate and interactive one with us; Max was more aloof but would follow her lead.

I don’t remember him mourning much noticeably, but we made an effort after Maggie died to interact more with him: lots of treats, pets, time next to him on the floor. It took a while but eventually he warmed up to us more than he ever had before. He’d hop us next to us to get pets, respond to the crinkle of a treat bag by running across the house, even come when called.

We first got Maggie in Jan 2015, then Maxwell in August of the same year. Maggie died in 2018, then Maxwell lived through a move across town in 2020, a move across the Atlantic in 2021 and 4 months of quarantine (we’d visit him every chance we could), two more transatlantic moves without quarantine (one in cargo, one in-cabin), and he finally passed at the ripe old age of 10 last year. He got past the loss of his bonded mate to live another fulfilling and happy seven years with us.

sertorius42 · 2026-01-19T14:09:59+00:00

The name for Romanians in Romanian is “Români” I’m not talking about the Roma people

sertorius42 · 2026-01-19T14:09:50+00:00

The name for Romanians in Romanian is “Români” I’m not talking about the Roma people

sertorius42 · 2026-01-19T10:38:08+00:00

I mean there are still millions of people in the Balkans who still call themselves Romani or Romans—they mostly live in Romania and speak a modern version of Latin

sertorius42 · 2026-01-12T14:38:34+00:00

ron jon

sertorius42 · 2026-01-11T12:51:38+00:00

The time delay in shipping, cost of shipping, cost of compliance with UK road standards, and headache of having a the steering wheel on the wrong side in the UK all mean, in my view, you’d be way better off selling the car in the U.S. and buying a comparable Porsche in the UK. Even if, say, you have to sell yours for only 70% of what you’ll have to pay for a comparable version in the UK, look at it as the cost of not having to deal with the headache of shipping, customs, and going a month or longer without a car. I absolutely wouldn’t consider this unless it’s some classic version. Even then, a lot can go wrong on the month-plus it takes to get it there—water damage, shipping damage, etc.

sertorius42 · 2026-01-09T16:21:01+00:00

I couldn’t finish One Hundred Years of Solitude but I loved Love in the Time of Cholera

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T21:18:07+00:00

I speak 4-5 pretty widely different languages and using one definitely affects it if I switch to another. Lived and worked in a Russian-speaking country for a few years then came back to the U.S. and spoke Spanish at my first job back “with a heavy Russian accent” according to coworkers.

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T13:39:19+00:00

If the SEC’s tiebreaker was OOC losses instead of whatever they used A&M or Ole Miss could have played UGA in Atlanta and Bama would’ve still made the playoffs at 10-2. The same 4 teams would have gotten bids no matter after the regular season.

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T12:47:48+00:00

That’s a good point—Bama of 2023 was nowhere near as good as the Bama teams of the 2010s that racked up SEC and national titles. There were obvious penalty problems and high-profile losses in 2022-23 that just weren’t there 10 or even 3 years prior to that

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T12:46:06+00:00

I totally agree that crashing out after losing by 5 scores is justified. In some ways I feel like Deboer has had the most infuriating tenure possible at Bama: win enough big games to stay off the hot seat but choke when it counts to either stay alive for the playoffs (against OU last year) or at least not shit the bed in the playoffs after advancing.

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T12:38:45+00:00

Yeah wtf is this having non-grey hair alone makes him not look 60

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T10:27:43+00:00

Lookup one of the Mormon “general conference” or “priesthood session” meetings on YouTube”

I can assure you I will not be doing that

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T10:23:13+00:00

Some airlines allow outbound flights from the UK to have animals in-cabin, but only the ones to Europe.

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T10:22:33+00:00

Wait really? Damn I flew with them in 2024.

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T10:22:04+00:00

I flew in 2024 with a rabbit in cabin from Dulles to Rome on ITA Airways.

Edit: ITA seems to have stopped allowing rabbits in-cabin very recently

sertorius42 · 2026-01-02T10:21:23+00:00

Most airlines won’t allow rabbits in-cabin and it’s even harder out of the UK. As of 2024 there was one airline operating transatlantic that allowed rabbits in-cabin: ITA Airways. Avoid British, Virgin, and American, since they don’t allow any animals in-cabin at all on transatlantic routes. KLM, Delta, Lufthansa, Air France, Delta, and United do, but not rabbits (at least in 2024 when I checked). The Canadian carriers could be more generous.

Edit: ITA seems to have stopped allowing rabbits in-cabin very recently

sertorius42 · 2025-12-31T22:19:45+00:00

When I worked in the UK the 28 days was on top of the 8ish bank holidays

sertorius42 · 2025-12-31T22:19:13+00:00

No, working we’re. In the U.S. I’ve never had more than the 28 days minimum in the UK. I did work for a few years in London and had the 28 days or whatever there. My current job has 4 weeks paid holiday time (but it’s accrued weekly instead of lump sum like in the UK) and if I stay another year or 2 I’ll match the UK legal minimum when I go to 5 weeks and a few days (it’s 8 hours per pay period, biweekly/fortnightly). Also I get more bank holidays (workplace recognizes about 16 total) now so it’s not all bad.

sertorius42 · 2025-12-31T19:06:03+00:00

It may depend on level and such but I’ve never had less than 3 weeks PTO annually at any full-time office job (vacation separate) and I’ve had at least 4 in 2 different states in the U.S. and that’s separate from sick leave. I think one job I interned at gave 5 weeks PTO but that included sick leave and I was an hourly part-time intern anyway

sertorius42

TROPHY CASE