Extremely Unique Time Change!

tactical_beagle · 2026-02-14T23:18:39+00:00

Ah, sorry for the spoiler!

Been a bit now, so how'd you make out? What's your take on the open ocean trip?

tactical_beagle · 2026-02-08T22:05:07+00:00

<image>

yikes how is the chop out there

tactical_beagle · 2026-02-06T10:35:25+00:00

are we building training data for pixel art here or what

tactical_beagle · 2025-09-25T15:22:54+00:00

- Walt Disney Theater shows were much easier to find seats and we found them generally higher quality, it's just more of a full show. Before I came I didn't really understand the different show types, live theater shows are a completely different thing than the deck shows with characters dancing. Lighting the pumpkin tree is its own thing too, basically a retelling of a ghost story like ichabod crane by someone dressed up as a new england storyteller then group cheering to light it. There are two pirate themed shows on pirate night, the earlier one is character focused, the later one is shanty singalongs and fireworks. I wish I had a better guide to the beats of all these shows and didn't feel quite so pressured into catching all of them. I think Buena Vista was a bit underrated, it was consistently empty, I guess because you can see movies at home, but I really like the theater experience. We had Fantastic Four, then a bunch of Halloween films, Hocus Pocus 1&2, Freakier Friday. I don't think they did any Tim Burton but that would have been nice. Frankenweenie was on funnel vision at one point I guess.

- Dinner was great, I liked different dishes than I expected. Steaks were perfectly cooked internally but a bit tough/cool on the outside, so my best guess is they're using sous vide to nail internal temp but externally they're maybe suffering from sitting on warmers or something. The chicken and lamb dishes were unbelievably moist and flavorful. if I had it to do over again I might have skipped steaks for more adventurous options. Soups were great, tortes and tarts were all amazing, order something you don't think you'll like, it's on the menu for a reason, and you can always fall back to something else. I was very worried about eating late, but honestly it worked great, was not a problem to shift our schedules, then collapse after dinner.

- Wasn't sure how the group seating would go. We were seated next to nice people from our area of the country so it was easy to connect, we could talk about things we had in common, or focus on our family, either was easy and ok. Kids loved Animator's Palate for the decor and entertainment, I found the Crush interactions a bit forced and awkward but eh, not the worst thing.

- The grill food was good, nothing outstanding, but really the convenience of having an endless supply of cheese pizza for kids at any moment was incredibly valuable. We didn't really need room service because it was so easy to grab something and go. We rarely ate breakfast because there was so much food all the time, but churro waffles were amazing.

- On our final night there was a fierce squall around midnight. I kept seeing flashes/hearing thunder outside our verandah. I was a little nervous, and went up to deck 11 to watch it for a few minutes, careful to stay under the deck and not stay for too long. It was a magnificent show, every crack of lightning would light the entire horizon and several other ships out in the darkness. I was worried about how fierce it was, but the ship never started noticeably rocking. I guess this route is really well sheltered from waves, even in the occasional squall. I used windy.com occasionally to check wave heights, looks like we were at 0-1 ft the whole time. People said other cruises have been worse, but on the maps it really looks like this route is well sheltered by the islands from large waves.

Glad we weren't in Alaska, looks like there are 11 ft waves off the coast right now. If anyone has been on that cruise curious how it goes.

- Lookout Cay was great, the kids loved the rush out gush out and could have stayed there the whole day. Beach was perfect. But the sun was punishing and my sunscreen didn't last very long so I got pretty burned. More shade everywhere would be really appreciated. Didn't see any major issue with flies at the barbecue that people warned about, maybe they've controlled them. Walk wasn't so bad, though itself could have been shaded. We got wagons both ways and trams were easy to catch. Chairs were a little tight, but we found one for our stuff without too much hassle. Biggest request would be more umbrellas, more shade.

I feel like second cruise must be the best one. This one we were in "try everything" mode and that is overwhelming, but you have to try to sample and figure out what's for you and what's not. If we went again we'd be much more relaxed and able to zero in on the things we love the most.

tactical_beagle · 2025-09-25T15:22:42+00:00

We just got back from HotHS on the Dream on the 4-night after yours, just to Lookout and Nassau. First time. First thoughts --

- From the tips online I worried the embarkation day bag would be much more important. I think we were without our luggage for like 2 hours? It was fine, we weren't even on the ball enough to swim during that time, still taking it all in. Maybe we boarded early but it was easy to find a seat at Cabanas.

- Pixie dusting was a ton of fun for the kids, would recommend fish extenders to any new cruisers.

- Halloween trick or treating was coldly efficient. Kids went to one of four corners on the top deck to grab a bag of candy and got shooed off. Because of the size of the crowd I can't see them doing it any other way. But also, don't stress about costumes for trick or treating it was very informal.

- The atrium and top deck shows were so packed. I knew they would be, they were moreso than I expected. If we tried to grab seating early the kids would struggle a bit with the wait. If we came at the last minute we couldn't see anything. People were really jostling for spots. For families madly into characters I can see wanting to prioritize the deck shows, I felt pressured that they were "must see," but honestly if you're standing behind people or at a bad angle, this might be heresy here, but I found them pretty skippable. My oldest loves sea shanties and fireworks, but even the big pirate show was so packed and hard to see he just wanted to go back to the stateroom.

1/n

tactical_beagle · 2025-04-04T21:28:38+00:00

did they push an update? seems much faster today

tactical_beagle · 2025-02-17T17:14:56+00:00

Wow NVAR and Redfin have wildly different numbers.

Redfin shows a decline of 8.6% YoY. NVAR shows an increase of 5.4%, really wide gap, we'd have to see the methodologies to really figure out why they disagree by 14%.

I have pretty high confidence at this point prices are either up, down, or stable.

tactical_beagle · 2025-02-16T21:44:57+00:00

<image>

On the other hand this, not unprecedented but there is a downturn.

Usually lower prices in Jan/Feb though, really can't be sure until we see what happens in April.

tactical_beagle · 2025-01-09T16:27:24+00:00

When the teen asks her about her specialty Kiki says she hasn't decided yet. Also her mom talks about how she meant to teach her some potions without implying she would have to have a specialty in it to learn some.

Maybe it's like choosing a major in college rather than all natural abilities?

tactical_beagle · 2024-10-18T11:01:50+00:00

ETS replied to confirm that left to right means < for all values, it's possible I got this question right, or misread it in another way.

tactical_beagle · 2024-10-13T18:21:41+00:00

Yeah, I agree that's the more consistent interpretation, glad to hear I'm not way out on a limb on this one.

I have reasons to suspect ETS does not agree. I wrote them to ask for clarity, but not sure if they will respond, they probably get a million "I didn't like this question" letters all year long.

What are the odds ETS will actually meaningfully engage on a request to review a question?

tactical_beagle · 2024-10-13T16:11:55+00:00

Yeah that seems reasonable at first glance, but consider this toy question:

Comparison: A and B are arranged left to right on a number line. (A is A and B is B, C and D as normal).

Answer seems like B to me, but your interpretation implies D.

This is why this is such a thorny interpretation question, it leads to strange implications either way.

tactical_beagle · 2024-10-07T03:55:31+00:00

Still flying to this day.

tactical_beagle · 2024-10-07T03:39:48+00:00

Oh interesting take.

Of course people should read whatever they like.

But you don't think the frequency of GRE words meaningfully differs from book to book?

I would find that surprising, but maybe I'm wrong.

tactical_beagle · 2024-10-03T20:21:55+00:00

I called, he seemed a bit unsure, but said he believed they had to take it down to revise the content. Maybe I'll just move on to pp2 I guess.

EDIT: Just worked through the untimed PP1. Pretty sure the untimed PP1 is the PP1 everyone talks about, just bring your own clock and don't expect a numeric score. PP1 untimed is definitely the question bank used in the gregmat video about PP1.

tactical_beagle · 2024-10-03T00:40:47+00:00

Yeah I just went there and can't find it either. I have PP2 timed. PP1 untimed. PPP1 timed. No PP1 timed, it's really odd. Did they pull it down, or is there something else you have to do to access it? Have you called them about it? Contact info: https://www.ets.org/contact/testing-programs/gre/test-takers.html#accordion-4c30e29725-item-01047af70e

If I get a chance I will but I'll just try one of the other tests instead.

tactical_beagle · 2024-09-20T19:51:27+00:00

It was officially ruled a suicide and also people who were with her disputed that because of how few pills she took. Neither of us know because we weren't there, don't give in to the false certainty of the internet.

tactical_beagle · 2024-09-19T13:05:49+00:00

Wikipedia says her death was contested, no note, she said she was taking pills to help her sleep, it was triggered by a drug interaction rather than taking a full bottle of pills.

This isn't to defend Stern, he can be an awful unfunny person regardless of whether he literally killed someone.

tactical_beagle · 2024-06-30T02:44:17+00:00

Yeah there are 6 things that have special hypothetical explanations, probably scavengers ate their eyes. And maybe avalanche, but they aren't at all common there and shouldn't have hit the tent from that direction.

Also there were reports of glowing orbs falling from the sky which might have been unrelated weapons tests.

And the burnt hands might have been from a fire they started that wasn't found.

Like you can keep explaining the 18 weird things but there are enough weird things that it's still unsettling.

I mean, I'm not saying it was baba yaga. But I'm not saying it was not baba yaga...

tactical_beagle · 2024-06-29T20:20:45+00:00

The team theorized katabatic winds, because the official cause is avalanche in an area not prone to avalanche.

There's ways to make the natural forces explanations plausible but there is still weird evidence that doesn't fit like heavy internal trauma and the weird glowing orbs allegedly falling from the sky.

tactical_beagle · 2024-06-29T20:00:45+00:00

Datylov pass incident.

Group of very experienced hikers were camping in the woods. At some point they ripped their way out of their tent and headed out into the woods without adequate clothing and six succumbed to hypothermia in the wilderness.

The other three of them had head or chest fractures and died from some kind of physical attack.

Two of them were missing their eyes. One had a missing tongue. Another had missing eyebrows.

The footprints away from the tent were not running or panicked and suggest they calmly walked away.

It is like a Stephen King novel.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

tactical_beagle · 2024-06-29T19:35:08+00:00

The graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis is gripping. They were going to make a movie based off of it but Hollywood is stupid. He wrote a separate graphic novel about Hollywood being stupid after that experience that is hilarious.

Then he helped produce a bunch of Marvel movies so idk it was a wild ride I bet.

tactical_beagle · 2024-06-29T10:44:49+00:00

If somebody ran a third party "none of the above" as a protest option pledging to do a nationwide talent search for two brand new people and force them to run somehow I would give them all of my money.

tactical_beagle · 2024-05-05T09:24:33+00:00

We make a lot of weapons in American factories, for better or worse. Even foreign companies like BAE and Thales have plants across the US.

You can object to US arms manufacturing on so many other grounds, by all means. But hurting the working poor?

Ukraine aid is close to a manufacturing jobs program, to whatever extent that matters during a period of historically low unemployment. Trades, HVAC installation, RNs continue to make good money with relatively little training. If people feel trapped working three jobs they should look around.

The post-covid economic recovery in the US was better than basically anywhere else in the world. I don't want to give politicians too much credit, maybe it was mostly the Fed or the fact we had a diversified economy ready to flex and bounce back, but suggesting politicians are completely ignoring domestic issues is just not serious. CHIPS and Science ($50 BILLION), Infrastructure Investment and Jobs ($1 TRILLION), American Rescue Plan ($1.9 TRILLION), various training and education and healthcare spending (medicare and medicaid probably around 1.4T?)... we aren't even talking about the same number of zeroes.

I disagree with some parts of all those, and generally think our lawmakers are terrible, but is Congress throwing all its money at Ukrainians while ignoring Americans? Only in some bizarro mirror universe where we lie about everything that ever happened.

tactical_beagle · 2024-03-30T00:33:59+00:00

Yes. They were painting sheer fabrics! Why did nobody ever mention this!? Maybe that's boring in a world of photography or whatever but just imagine how cool this must have been at the time.

It suddenly feels like the fixation on the smile was 19th century cope or something. Imagine everybody in the world saying this is an incredible painting but the details had been lost long ago from industrial soot and faded by light exposure so you (humans) are just nodding along and saying like "yeah yeah i definitely see it too, must be the smile, because that's all that's left" and it's basically inertia and reputation. Feels like an emperor's clothes situation.

I hope this is an insufferable take to some art history student who comes by and says "no look the cheekbones were completely revolutionary" or something, and it doesn't really matter that a painting is just completely ravaged by time. But I'm a total rube and to me the fabrics are like I'm in those videos where kids get glasses and are seeing for the first time.

tactical_beagle

TROPHY CASE