[Tsundoku]

I'd go the extra cost for security and privacy, and sleep on the foldout couch if there was no hanky-panky. I definitely would not share a room with strangers, that's a recipe for disaster.

But yeah, I wouldn't be taking the Switch. Maybe the laptop to reasearch local stuff, and if I owned a Kindle ... meh, I'd prob get a tablet and combine the 2.

But to go to another country and spend any length of time doing stuff I can do at home like reading or playing games seems a bit pointless to me. It's like those idiots who go to the other side of the world just to hang out around a pool and get smashed at the bar, or go nightclub hopping and get drunk and/or take other substances. Or go shopping in the local markets for stuff that might as well be made in China.

[worry]

Or chase a kangaroo around the outback because the mob money you were supposed to deliver was inside the red jacket you put on the kangaroo for a photo op and it bounded away before you realized it.

[Tsundoku]

Sounds like a painful memory there. Care to share?

[Cause]

Yup it’s easy to get a twin bed room at the same cost. Privacy, own bathroom, security.

I will have so much stuff because it’s a 3 week trip. First week is work, second week is Scotland, 3rd week is South Africa at my old home just to see my mother.

[Abyss]

Tsundoku, on 13 June 2022 - 09:29 AM, said:

... like those idiots who go to the other side of the world just to hang out around a pool and get smashed at the bar, or go nightclub hopping and get drunk and/or take other substances....

I'll have you know it was all 100% LOCAL alcohol and/or other substances.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Abyss, on 13 June 2022 - 02:14 PM, said:

Tsundoku, on 13 June 2022 - 09:29 AM, said:

... like those idiots who go to the other side of the world just to hang out around a pool and get smashed at the bar, or go nightclub hopping and get drunk and/or take other substances....

I'll have you know it was all 100% LOCAL alcohol and/or other substances.

Every local spirit, each variant of rice wine... or in (much of Western) Europe, suckling wine fresh out of the terroir, or beer from the tap like a steady IV... too bad it now seems like a drink a day may shrink and age your brain significantly. I've gone down to 1 every other at most, since the average of half a drink a day had no significant (negative) effect.

Then again, these days it's so easy to order almost anything shipped internationally....

Part of the main appeal of going to other countries for debauchery and public intoxication used to be distance from any likelihood of blowback---but with smartphones cameras ubiquitous and the perpetually internet out for (fresh) blood that's become greatly depreciated. Of course part of it's also the psychological effects of new places (and possibly better weather...), novelty, 'vacation mindsets' (and excuses not to respond)....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 13 June 2022 - 03:40 PM

[Briar King]

Are you trying to channel your inner BK and don’t want the interruptions of strangers?

[Imperial Historian]

Cause, on 12 June 2022 - 10:33 PM, said:

Plan is to go to scotland for a week with a friend.

She wants to stay at a hostel in a 8 sleeper room for 40 dollars. For 60 dollars a night id rather the two of us share a room in 3 or 4 star hotel. I get a private room to keep my laptop, kindle, switch in without worrying about thieves, I get a private bathroom and I dont have to concern myselves with the coming and going of strangers.

She says the extra 20 dollars a night is too expensive for her, and I feel like for the difference to go from a private 4 star hotel room to a hostel is absurd.

I also think she sees the strangers as a possible source of adventure and meeting new people, I see them as just in the way. I dont want to tag along with them, or invite them on my itinerary either.

This sounds like a you need to just talk to your friend, if your friend is looking for adventure and you have a fixed itinerary in mind neither of you are going to have fun.

Most hostels will have smaller private rooms for pretty cheap, but I suspect price isn't the real issue.

If money is the real issue, and you want to stay somewhere more expensive you should consider paying the extra 20 dollars a night yourself.

[QuickTidal]

Cause, on 12 June 2022 - 10:33 PM, said:

Plan is to go to scotland for a week with a friend.

She wants to stay at a hostel in a 8 sleeper room for 40 dollars. For 60 dollars a night id rather the two of us share a room in 3 or 4 star hotel. I get a private room to keep my laptop, kindle, switch in without worrying about thieves, I get a private bathroom and I dont have to concern myselves with the coming and going of strangers.

She says the extra 20 dollars a night is too expensive for her, and I feel like for the difference to go from a private 4 star hotel room to a hostel is absurd.

I also think she sees the strangers as a possible source of adventure and meeting new people, I see them as just in the way. I dont want to tag along with them, or invite them on my itinerary either.

Quibbling over $20 extra per night on a trip to another country is weird to me. Like if you were saving hundreds I could understand your friends desire to stay at the hostel...but yeah, for an extra $20 a night I'd 100% rather have the safety and silence of a hotel room.

I would bet good money your friend wants to stay in the hostel for those other reasons and that's why she won't bend, as such you're probably planning two very different trips and need to chat it out.

amphibian, on 13 June 2022 - 01:50 AM, said:

Is there already a romantic dynamic to this or is this a friendship? Bc a private room may have certain pressures to it that a person who doesn't want that dynamic to evolve may want to avoid.

I don't think I would bring a laptop, Kindle, and a Switch on vacation to Scotland for a week. Too much to wrangle, don't do work on vacation, would rather go drinking or read than play Switch.

These are good comments too...and I agree about not bringing all that stuff. No work, and no switch...the kindle is fine for at night or whatever, but yeah you're in Scotland....there's SO much to see and do you won't have time to play Switch or do work.

Also if you are going to Edinburgh there are many VERY reasonably priced, but lovely B&B's off the Side of Calton Hill just up from the Royal Mile. I can't recall the exact price, but we didn't pay a lot to stay there, and on the morning we left for Ireland (at 4AM) the host got up and made us a To-Go Breakfast to snack on on our bus to the airport. It was lovely. Scottish people are so kind.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 13 June 2022 - 04:54 PM

[Mezla PigDog]

My favourite work colleague went and quit on me 😭

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Holy fuck:

'Shapiro and Mastriano are neck-and-neck for governor, poll says

Pennsylvania voters said they are pessimistic about the economy and disapprove of [...] Biden's leadership

[...] Shapiro leading State Sen. Doug Mastriano by 4 percentage points, just within the margin of error. In that race, 13% of respondents said they were undecided.'

Pa. poll shows Fetterman leading Oz in Senate race; Shapiro and Mastriano in tight governor's race (inquirer.com)

... there goes my complacency... and a great chunk of my optimism... hopefully when more people learn about just how extreme Mastriano is Shapiro will regain a (statistically significant) lead... my elderly parents (who live in Pennsylvania) had no idea a few weeks ago (until I told them).

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 15 June 2022 - 09:05 PM

[Cause]

My uk company HQ has over 100 employees, and apparently one has a very severe nut allergy. They just spend ten minutes explaining how the office will become a nut free zone.


Now I’m not in the UK, this doesn’t effect me at all but I really do find it odd to ask over 100 employees to stop bringing in nuts to the cafeteria, changing suppliers for the cafeteria, telling people to say no nuts in any delivery orders etc.

If your allergy is so severe that a nut could kill you, I feel the responsibilities should be on them to bring there own food and use their own utensils. The stakes are high enough that they shouldn’t risk anything else.

Anyway couldn’t think were else to post this thought so here it is

[QuickTidal]

Cause, on 16 June 2022 - 03:27 PM, said:

My uk company HQ has over 100 employees, and apparently one has a very severe nut allergy. They just spend ten minutes explaining how the office will become a nut free zone.


Now I’m not in the UK, this doesn’t effect me at all but I really do find it odd to ask over 100 employees to stop bringing in nuts to the cafeteria, changing suppliers for the cafeteria, telling people to say no nuts in any delivery orders etc.

If your allergy is so severe that a nut could kill you, I feel the responsibilities should be on them to bring there own food and use their own utensils. The stakes are high enough that they shouldn’t risk anything else.

Anyway couldn’t think were else to post this thought so here it is

The problem is that with nut allergies, if you touched some at home and didn't wash your hands, you can transfer that to someone else on an object. Like my son eats PB on toast every morning, and I make sure he does it in his pyjamas and not his school clothes, since it's a nut free care centre, and that he washes his hands and his face before he goes.

Like peanut butter, cleaned off a counter top with a cloth....the allergens can remain on that surface (without cleaners) for like 100 days or something.

It's not about them just keeping to their own meal and utensils...it's about the workspace being a threat in general to them.

Nut allergies are no joke.

[Malankazooie]

It's weird though, because when I was a kid nut allergies were not a thing. Like when did the switch happen to where it is so prevalent? Not meaning to come off as all conspiracy theory, tinfoil hat guy, but it seems like it just *poof* became a thing. Kind of like trans people grooming 3rd graders to embrace sexual reassignment surgery. Is that even a thing? When did "grooming" (of anything) become a thing also? I hear and read that word a lot these days. I groom my immaculate coiffed hair every morning and that's about the extent of grooming I'm aware of.

This post has been edited by Malankazooie: 16 June 2022 - 04:30 PM

[Abyss]

Malankazooie, on 16 June 2022 - 04:30 PM, said:

It's weird though, because when I was a kid nut allergies were not a thing. Like when did the switch happen to where it is so prevalent? Not meaning to come off as all conspiracy theory, tinfoil hat guy, but it seems like it just *poof* became a thing. Kind of like trans people grooming 3rd graders to embrace sexual reassignment surgery. Is that even a thing? When did "grooming" (of anything) become a thing also? I hear and read that word a lot these days. I groom my immaculate coiffed hair every morning and that's about the extent of grooming I'm aware of.

Nut allergies are nothing new. The internet means more awareness/discussion/hysteria and schools and camps have become more cautious but i had known nut allergic kids in school with me millennia ago.
Grooming has been a thing for years but it was applied to older men looking to take advantage of younger people/kids. Now it's directed at trans people (by a lot of the previously mentioned older men).

[amphibian]

Some people really have severe allergies to a specific thing - sometimes to the point of airborne allergens being dangerous enough to kill them.

In 2019, there was an eleven year old boy who lived in New Jersey and was visiting his grandmother in Brooklyn. He was severely allergic to seafood and inhaled steam from it cooking in the apartment. He died from the allergic reactions. https://www.washingt...es-father-says/

It's incredibly rare to be this allergic to something. At the same time, if that's the level we're talking about, I can shift to no nuts or whatever the allergen is (except dog dander, which I can't eliminate totally due to having two dogs). I'd rather someone be able to live and work with me than have nuts or seafood. It's a minor price to pay for giving someone a real seat at the table.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 16 June 2022 - 06:29 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Old friend of mine was doing her residency in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and is extremely allergic to almost everything, and demanded they ban all nuts and nut products from being brought onto the premises (peanut butter sandwiches in particular iirc).

They refused.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 16 June 2022 - 06:59 PM

[Cause]

I bought the Kindle oasis in 2018 for 270 dollars. Mostly because I read a lot and specifically I wanted the waterproof version because I enjoy reading in the bath, hottub, pools etc.

Recently I dropped it while reading, so cover was open and got a crack across the screen left to right. Its not under warranty and Amazon doesn't do repairs. They told me to trade it in and by a new one. Its trade in value is 5 dollars with a crack. Works perfectly but again for 300 dollars id rather not have a crack in my page. Id be willing to pay for a repair but apparently its not an option. I am truly shocked by this level of don't care attitude when noramlly I find amazon has always done a good job in the past.

The crack is noticable and annoys me, but not 300 dollars annoys me

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 16 June 2022 - 07:31 PM, said:

I bought the Kindle oasis in 2018 for 270 dollars. Mostly because I read a lot and specifically I wanted the waterproof version because I enjoy reading in the bath, hottub, pools etc.

Recently I dropped it while reading, so cover was open and got a crack across the screen left to right. Its not under warranty and Amazon doesn't do repairs. They told me to trade it in and by a new one. Its trade in value is 5 dollars with a crack. Works perfectly but again for 300 dollars id rather not have a crack in my page. Id be willing to pay for a repair but apparently its not an option. I am truly shocked by this level of don't care attitude when noramlly I find amazon has always done a good job in the past.

The crack is noticable and annoys me, but not 300 dollars annoys me

Guess the crack makes it no longer waterproof... wonder if there's a good way to restore the waterproofing without getting the screen repaired. (Clear waterproof tape? IDK....)

[Malankazooie]

That's the pits. I can't imagine my childhood without the ol' reliable pb&j in my brown bag school lunch. Remember how shitty the cafeteria school lunches used to be? Those gross slices of rubbery cheese pizza with the "there's something off" about the sauce situation, and the mystery meat hamburgers with the french fries that had been sitting in the fryer all morning so they were soggy and gross and tasted of oil that has been reused over a month. And don't even get me started on the green beans that were boiled to the point of having a mushy consistency and were sitting in a puddle of water in that section of your tray. Couldn't they have at least strained them or used those serving spoons that had the holes so the water drained off? For some reason the tots were good though. I think it was because all they had to do was put them in the oven and not burn them, so pretty idiot proof. But yeah, it was wholesome brown bagging it for me. And always a day of pb&j. And not some cheap option jelly either, like grape or strawberry, no-siree-bob, my mom made the sandwich with love and used black raspberry jam. Also, the whole spectrum of nuts were always a magical part of the Christmas holiday. Man, I couldn't live in a world where that was denied. Maybe I'm experiencing the Mandela Effect on this, but I don't recall one situation where we had to be careful about kids with nut allergies. I do recall a girl in 9th grade was screwing around on the wrestling mats and was attempting to do a back flip and she hit her head pretty hard. Even though it was on a wrestling mat, they are still not the most cushy, and so she went into convulsions and was having a seizure. I remember the Phys Ed. teacher yelling for one of the older kids to run to the cafeteria to get a wooden spoon so he could prevent her from biting her tongue. At the time we thought she was in danger of swallowing her tongue, but that's a falsity right? You can't swallow your tongue (I don't think you can anyway). Anyway, that's probably a story for another time.