[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

worry, on 13 December 2024 - 09:55 PM, said:

Either someone was monkeying around or they really slipped up.

I'm envisioning bunches of banana-squids drifting through the oceans of earthly slip-ups...

[worry]

Azath Vitr (D, on 13 December 2024 - 11:42 PM, said:

worry, on 13 December 2024 - 09:55 PM, said:

Either someone was monkeying around or they really slipped up.

I'm envisioning bunches of banana-squids drifting through the oceans of earthly slip-ups...

Can't offer you bunches of squids, but I can give you one Nannerpus.

[Tiste Simeon]

Mezla PigDog, on 13 December 2024 - 08:25 PM, said:

I ordered 5 bananas in my online grocery shop, as I do most weeks - 5 items of banana in my basket. They must have had someone new doing the picking because they interpreted a banana item to be a whole bunch. So now I've got, and paid for, 26 bananas.

🎶That story is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S!🎶

[Mezla PigDog]

I've still only had one banana. I don't really like bananas, hence normally getting 5 a week for a family of 3 and I don't eat any.

We went into town today and were in the town square and there was a Santas grotto. My son asked to go in. At 8 he was the oldest kid in the line by a good couple of years. He's bought into the Kevin McAllister theory that they aren't the real Santa but they work for him. When we went behind the curtain to see the big man, he was trying to act cool. Santa said "You don't seem very excited to see me". He managed to get into it enough for us to get a photo and we left with a little wrapped gift. When he opened it, it is ALMOST the exact Hot Wheels car that he asked for in his Christmas letter!!! He was absolutely bowled over. Such a coincidence.....or was it Christmas magic...??

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

lol mezla that’s how many bananas I buy every time I got to the store. I do have an eating disorder though.

My friends said they wanted to stop by and give me my Christmas present. I thought it was going to be a snack treat of some sort as I’ve been sick with pneumonia. Nope, they gave me a psvr2. We don’t do big presents normally but they said I deserved it? So that was nice.

[Macros]

Merry Christmas folks

[Tiste Simeon]

Yes merry Christmas to you all 😊

[worry]

Have a holly jolly Christmas everyone.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

worry, on 25 December 2024 - 06:36 PM, said:

Have a holly jolly Christmas everyone.

Quote

With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

[...] and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

[...] were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

The Journey of the Magi

Merry Xmas! (Ex + Birth = ?... hmm; "And what fell beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?")

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 25 December 2024 - 06:56 PM

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

My family is great.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

I'm generally not all that into the traditional local New Year's parade---it tends to be stuff like this:



Bleh. (Not sure if they're going for French or US. Stars imply US? If it's US, IMO they should have leaned harder into an explicit clownshow theme. Though in the past the parodic costumes have tended to be politically reactionary (Democratic politicians on chains), more or less overtly racist, etc.) Or (a little better) this:



(The colors and feathers symbolize the local football team. I do like the crowns and the feathers, but I'd like them a lot more without the silly sportsball reference. The umbrella with the green feather is a nice touch too. And the look of joy on that guy's face---bit less so on the child's, though they also seem to be enjoying themselves---is almost infectious (like probiotics that change your brain functioning by playing around with your guts).)

But I chanced upon this photo from a past year (forum won't let me post it, but the link should work):

Mummer's costume

... and I do kind of love that one. Especially to usher in the New Year. Even more appropriate now, on the cusp of the dawn of the Trumpire...

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 31 December 2024 - 06:21 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Happy new year to you all! Here's hoping that despite so many bad things in the world you all find a bit of peace and joy in the year ahead.

Being the hardcore party animal that I am, I'll be heading to bed with my cup of tea in a few moments (it's nearly 10pm after all!)

I'm waiting for macros to resurrect the New Years Resolution thread.

[Mezla PigDog]

I hope your cup of tea was good. I was already asleep by then. Pesky fireworks woke me up at what I assume was midnight. I celebrated by sleeping through the small hours for the first time in weeks. May that continue into 2025. A successful combination of being in my own bed, not having a sick person fidgeting beside me and no noisy air bubbles left in the new heating system.

[Macros]

Playing games and drinking till 4am

[Tiste Simeon]

Took part in the New Year's Day dip in a local town today. It was flipping cold but a lot of fun. I reckon a few hundred people were there!
https://imgur.com/a/iC9XA9B

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

You might want to prepare yourself for a year of "neo-medievalism."

That's the key takeaway from a new report [... examining] data from social media, Google Ngram, and other sources [...]

"The future is medieval," [...]

[... It's ] the next consumer trend set to sweep the internet.

Think

Spoiler

cloaks and blacksmithing, all washed down with lashings of mead, the ancient honey-based alcoholic drink.

[...] There were hat-tips to medieval fashion on runways and major entertainment events last year that hint at the growing trend[...]

[...] pop star Chappell Roan fashioned a sword as an accessory and later appeared in an outfit entirely made from chainmail. [...] Natalie Portman wore a chainmail-inspired Dior dress [...]

In a similar vein, Pinterest predicted last month that "castlecore" would be a big trend for 2025, particularly in home décor and fashion.

Why "Neo-Medievalism" Could be a Hot Consumer Trend in 2025

Of course, some of my biggest reservations about this are the anti-technology currents. Ironically a lot of that activity is still happening on the internet---or to be promoted and thoroughly documented on the internet. I expect cyber-medievalism and AI AR/VR to be larger overall trends. It's already very much not medievalism so much as neo-medievalism for the most part. Putting creative modern spins on it. But also doing some research into underappreciated aspects of medieval history, like mead production, or (I hope) the heavy use of spices. (All the potatoes and boring cuisine in the Riyria Revelations 1&2 irritated me a little. I mean sure it's a fantasy world, and maybe modern readers will find potatoes more relatable than, say, turnips, but if the goal is to make someone's diet seem very basic, other common crops could easily substitute. Oats maybe. Or onions. If those won't make too many readers waste their tears too soon...)

And of course "the embrace all things medieval", as the author of the report suggests, would just be ridiculous---well no actually not just ridiculous but really terrible---if taken literally. Though with Trump as Holy American Emperor...

Obviously another drawback is that attire may no longer be a reliable indicator of actual interest in medievalism or quasi-medieval fantasy. But the eye candy ought to be fruitful and multiply for a time. And then the trend will probably end, so they'll go back to being reliable indicators---and there will probably be plenty of cheap but high-quality creative variations on the secondhand markets.

[Macros]

I can finally assemble a good Aragorn costume for Halloween cheaply

[Tsundoku]

Macros, on 05 January 2025 - 08:46 AM, said:

I can finally assemble a good Aragorn costume for Halloween cheaply

Pics required of course.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

As I was reviewing my grocery list to determine what I should stock up on before Trump takes office, it occurred to me that tariffs could actually lower domestic prices on certain products for which there is a domestic surplus by reducing foreign demand. Especially if the domestic country in question is the primary global producer of said products. The theory and the data seem to bear this out. For example:

Quote

Tariffs affecting U.S. agricultural exports, 2018–19

All other things being equal, when foreign countries impose tariffs on exports of U.S. goods, the increased costs of these goods usually result in lower demand in the importing country, creating a supply surplus in the exporting country. As a result, U.S. prices of the goods typically decrease as supplies pile up, while U.S. producers attempt to find new markets for their products. Additionally, U.S. producers may lower their prices in anticipation of imposed tariffs to remain competitive in the global marketplace.

U.S. soybean exports
Soybeans are a major agricultural commodity that China usually imports from the United States in large quantities. In July 2018, China raised its tariff on U.S. soybeans from 3 percent to 25 percent. [...]

As a result of China's soybean tariff, inventories in the United States rose to 3.74 billion bushels in 2018, an increase of 18.0 percent from 2017 levels. This led to declines in soybean prices.

https://www.bls.gov/...%20marketplace.

... and yet the manufacturer of my dried edamame---despite being based in the United States---says that they import the edamame (not clear if pre-dried or not) from China. And if/when the mass deportations start---even when they seem as if they're on the verge of beginning---there will be a major shortage of farm workers... though it's been speculated that Trump may focus on deporting workers from blue states (like California, the world's primary producer of almonds (80% of global production, 70% of which is exported)) while leaving red states and those who sufficiently bribe him largely alone.

But in the longer run the replacement of exploited undocumented workers with automation should be cheaper (despite the larger initial investments) and more humane (well, unless the billionaire class "allows" the rest of us to go extinct... pumping more fuel into the gargantuan climatic trolleys headed for the intertwisted tracks (of systems within systems) we've been bound by).

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 09 January 2025 - 12:37 PM

[Mezla PigDog]

My yoga teacher farted in class the other day. She was showing the class a pose and when she strained to get up, out it popped.

You can't see other peoples faces when someone farts in class so I have this shame that I'm the only one trying not to fall into fits of hysterics.

Can you think of a regular situation in which someone farts and it doesn't make you want to laugh? Are there people in the world who don't laugh at public farts?