A lot of men’s fashion, especially formal wear, takes styling cues from military uniforms, the modern necktie descends from the cravats by some military unit (I want to say it was some mercenaries involved in some French war, but I don’t feel like looking up the specifics right now)

I also don’t like fish

I find that sushi is less offensive to me than cooked most of the time, so that’s one place to start. Still not something I’d actively seek out but if it’s what’s offered to me I can deal with it.

I also overall find freshwater fish to be more palatable, I enjoy fishing so if I catch some decent sized trout worth keeping I’ll eat them (it’s more for my wife, but if we’re already cooking it I’ll eat it)

My mom’s also not a fish eater, but can stomach flounder.

And the n-word is synonymous with “black person,” doesn’t make it any more ok or less hurtful to use it.

I don’t have many gen z people in my immediate circles, but something I’ve noticed online re-emerging in the last couple of years is the use of “retarded” as an insult.

I can’t definitively point to gen z as the culprits, I can’t really know who’s behind a username in most cases, it could just be that older generations have found their way to the parts of the internet that I inhabit, or may I’ve migrated to theirs as I’ve gotten older, or that overall attitudes have shifted, but it does sort of coincide with when I figured the younger half of gen z would be hitting the sort of “grown-up” internet.

Maybe I was in some sort of bubble, but for around a decade it felt like that was something we managed to mostly scrub from our vocabulary. It was honestly a little jarring to see it again, like I’d suddenly been transported 20 years back in time surrounded by assholes from my middle or high school.

I do 12 hour shifts on a 2-2-3 schedule (one week I work Monday & Tuesday, then I’m off Wednesday & Thursday, then work Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, then the next week I do the opposite)

So technically I guess on average I work 6 hours a day/42 hours per week if we want to get mathematical about it.

I guess it technically gets even weirder since my shift is 3pm-3am, so I guess on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I actually only work 9 hours, and then on the ones where I “don’t” work I actually technically work 3 hours

But that’s all obviously kind of a stupid way to think of it.

There’s also the difference between how I think about it and how payroll thinks about it.

To me, I’d tend to say that the week starts on Monday, so I’d say that I either work 5 or 2 days a week for a total of 60 or 24 hour

But to payroll the week starts on Sunday, so they say either 4 or 3 days for a total of 48 or 36 hours.

Which is a bit of a bummer. 8 hours of “overtime” in my paycheck is pretty nice, but 20 hours would be even nicer.

Didn’t know that you could own stock in antifa and Luigi Mangione

Try looking for “cold brew concentrate” it’s not really syrupy because there’s usually no sugar, but it’s meant to be diluted.

I don’t think I’ve seen 2L containers specifically, I think I normally see it in 1qt bottles (which is roughly the same as a liter) but since you’re diluting it it works out to about the same or even more (some brands are stronger than others, and personal preference of course comes into play, but usually I think I’ve seen them call for a 1:1 ratio of concentrate to water/milk, others might be 1:3 and maybe even higher, so that 1qt might be roughly equivalent to a 2l bottle, or even a gallon (roughly 4l) jug.

And if you add hot water, most of them make for a pretty decent cup of Joe, you don’t have to drink it cold.

I remember one time I bought some, and my wife didn’t realize it was meant to be diluted and had been drinking it straight and was wondering why she was so jittery until I caught her pouring a full glass of it. Also solved the mystery of why we were going through it so fast.

Chameleon cold brew is a pretty common (and I think pretty decent, though I’m no coffee snob) brand at least in my part of the states.

That while I’m driving I’ll have to sneeze while driving across a bridge and during that split second while my eyes are closed and I’m distracted by the sneeze I’m going to drive off the edge.

If you got 2 doses of the MMR vaccine as a child, you’re probably fine. The vaccine is like 97% effective at preventing measles, and if you’re part of that 3% your symptoms will probably be milder that if you weren’t vaccinated. It’s a damn good vaccine. Even if you got only 1 dose that’s still considered to be 90-something percent effective.

Talk to your doctor, people with certain autoimmune conditions, the elderly, people born when they were only giving 1 dose of the vaccine or who received older vaccine formulas may need a booster. The rest of us who are vaccinated are almost certain to be fine.

The real risk is to children who haven’t been vaccinated yet because they’re too young, people who can’t receive the vaccine for health reasons like allergies or other unvaccinated adults, and people with compromised immune systems.

I can’t really find good numbers of what percent of the US overall is vaccinated, but if the current rates of children being vaccinated are anything to go by, it’s most of them. Even with all of the anti vax talk, it seems like somewhere north of 80% of children in the US are still getting their recommended vaccines from what I can find. This is mostly going to hit that 10-20-ish percent who aren’t vaccinated.

And the real tragedy that a good amount of the anti vax parents were actually vaccinated themselves as children and so get to enjoy that 97% immunity. They won’t be in much danger of catching measles but their children will be.

Otherwise, all of the usual advice applies, wash your hands, disinfect shared surfaces and equipment, cover your mouth when you cough, maybe wear a mask in public, do what you can to encourage your friends and family to get vaccinated if they aren’t.

Meant to reply a couple days ago but forgot

Yeah, unfortunately he’s a trump supporting, union busting asshole.

I’ve heard, but have been unable to verify, that his daughters who are set to take the company over someday, may have their heads on straight. I hope so. There are absolutely far better beers in and around Philly (I’m happy to give a long list of recommendations,) and Yuengling isn’t anything too special as a beer. But it’s special for being America’s oldest brewery, and it’s certainly carved out a special place for itself in this area. Like I said, I’ve drank a lot of Yuengling in my life, odds are I have a few cans in my beer fridge right now because there’s a good chance that it’s what my friends grab out of habit whenever they bring beer over for a party, I’ve been to more than a few bars with “Yuengs and Wings” specials (which rhymes for those who aren’t familiar with it) and it does it’s job adequately of being a beer that tastes like beer for when you just want to have a beer, so I do hope that when Dick retires or dies his daughters make up for some of his bullshit. I’d like to have my old standby cheap beer option back in the rotation someday.

Longer leg moisture wicking boxer briefs, I particularly like Duluth trading co’s armachillo bullpen boxer brief.

I have a really complicated relationship with coconut, because I really like the flavor, but hate the texture. The flavor wins out for me but not by much.

And come to think of it, I think a lot of the commercially made ones use some sort of coconut creme filling instead of cream cheese so it’s more shelf stable and doesn’t require refrigeration. I like the cream cheese ones slightly more.

I don’t really lack for motivation, I’ll take on some pretty wild culinary adventures, but occasionally I run into things that I just can’t logistically make happen.

For example, nowhere in my house has the right sort of temperature/humidity to cure my own salami and such (I’ve checked,) and I just don’t have the space to squeeze in another fridge with humidity controls and such to make a curing chamber.

I’ve made my own bacon, various kinds of sausages (including smoking my own kielbasa, andouille, and hot dogs) I’ve helped butcher chickens, I’ve made beef Wellington, sushi, I’ve baked bread and cakes in a Dutch oven in a fire pit, I’ve made ice cream, homemade pierogies.

Camden I think is the original location, but they have a couple other places now, Mt Holly and Medford I think?

I generally don’t let many people from Jersey know this, but you guys may have the best cheesesteaks with Donkeys Place. They’re a little heretical with the seeded Kaiser roll, but they’re damn good.

Ah fuck, can’t believe I forgot birch beer.

Any time I manage to get someone with any influence at a local brewery’s attention I try to put the idea for a hard birch beer into their mind. I don’t think it’s taken root anywhere yet, but hopefully someday.

Applejack to an extent, I don’t think it has quite as much cultural significance to Philly, but maybe to NJ with Lairds.

While I’m on NJ, the Taylor ham/pork roll debate is weird to me, it says pork roll on the package.

And while we’re talking drinks, I suppose honorable mention goes to Yuengling. Pottsville is a bit outside of the Philly area, but it’s ubiquitous in and around the city, if you order a “lager” you get a Yuengling. Its a solid alternative to the Bud/Miller/Coors big brand beers, but really nothing too special. I avoid buying it myself anymore because Dick Yuengling is kind of a dick, and there’s plenty of other great beers being made in and around the city, but I’ve probably drank more lagers in my life than any other single beer.

EDIT: On birch beer, if you ever find yourself up to Ulysses PA in, I think, Potter County, they have the Pennsylvania lumber museum, they have a birch still there, and at least the one time I was there they had a guy talking about it with a little vial of birch oil from the still you could smell. He had a lot of cool information about birch trees/oil, turns out birch trees contain a compound that’s similar to aspirin. And the birch oil does smell very much like birch beer.

Philly area

Yes cheesesteak, hoagie, soft pretzels.

But I believe strongly that a roast pork Italiano sandwich loaded up with sharp provolone, roasted long hots, and broccoli rabe is the best Philly sandwich.

Go a little out into the suburbs around Norristown, and you’ll also find the “Zep” a sort of pared-down hoagie, one kind of meat, cheese, oil and spices, tomatoes, and plenty of onions.

I’m not going to wade into the minefield of which sandwich shops are best except to say Pat’s and Geno’s are garbage, but maybe worth it for the experience if you’re a tourist. Avoid anywhere that advertises as a “Philly Cheesesteak” look for cheesesteak, steak sandwiches, or even just steaks. For a Zep I don’t think it’s controversial to say Lou’s ro Eve’s are the places to go.

Tomato pie- close relative of pizza, thick sort of focaccia-like crust, square, thick tomato sauce, dusting of Parmesan cheese, served cold. Staple of many parties here.

Also in the suburbs - Franzones pizza, Bridgeport is the original location, but the original owner sold it to a relative and opened the one in Plymouth/Conshy location and another in Manayunk. You’re going to either love or hate the pizza, thin crust, very sweet sauce in a spiral on top of the cheese. There’s a few imitators out there but Franzones is the original.

This is the right time of year for them so “Irish Potato” candies. Sweet cream cheese and shredded coconut, rolled in cinnamon. Nothing Irish about them but they kind of look like potatoes.

Zitners Easter eggs- chocolate candies with various fillings.

Goldenbergs Peanut Chews- chewy molasses candy with peanuts covered in chocolate

Mallow Cups- like a Reese’s cup but full of marshmallow and coconut instead of peanut butter

Scrapple - don’t ask what’s in it, just eat it.

Pork roll (kind of a jersey thing, but ubiquitous in Philly too) it’s basically round spam

Pepperpot soup- this is old Philly food, like revolutionary war Philly, it’s damn hard to find these days but every few years some local restaurant gets the idea to recreate it. It’s a hearty, slightly spicy beef and trip soup. There’s some Caribbean pepper pot soups that are kind of similar.

don’t use colloquialisms, or soft language.

Honestly, part of the problem with the current crop of right wing assholes, is that a lot of them are so fucking brainwashed that they don’t even realize that what they’re supporting is just outright fascist/Nazi bullshit, so if you ask them point-blank “Are you a Nazi/fascist” they’re going to answer “no” and truly believe that, even as they’re supporting rounding up immigrants into concentration camps and “ironically” making Nazi salutes.

They have absolutely mastered 1984-style doublethink and duckspeak. They’ll prattle on about being free speech absolutists while wanting to remove books about trans people from libraries or banning people with different opinions from their social media sites. They’ll talk about being fiscally conservative while absolutely fucking the economy. They’ll rant about draining the swamp and eliminating the deep state while they give some unelected goon unprecedented power to do whatever the hell he wants in the government with no consequences.

And they see absolutely no contradictions there.

So you kind of have to play fucking word games with them if you want to actually sus out what their actual thoughts are.

You got a typo for mastodon (mastadon)

I don’t really have any input on how it is to self-host, but I’ve been playing around with friendica a bit and I think that has a lot of potential and may be worth mentioning. I think it has a lot of potential as almost a unified fediverse portal in addition to its obvious purpose of being a Facebook alternative, from what I’ve seen it seems to play pretty nicely with a lot of other fediverse services, and also supports RSS feeds

It needs some polishing, I think the default UI is pretty wonky, but there’s a lot of functionality there if you can be bothered to figure it out.

I work in 911 dispatch, my job is talking to people, and often quite unpleasant people at that.

On my own time, fuck that noise. Live conversation kind of sucks. When it’s next based I can walk away from it, think about it, come back write my reply and hit send. Most of the time I can’t exactly walk away from a live phone, radio, or in-person conversation and say “hey, good question, I’m gonna go take the dog for a walk while I think about that and get back to you in like 10 minutes” there’s an expectation that I’m gonna be there engaged in the conversation and keep everything flowing, and most of the time that sort of urgency just isn’t needed. I want to be a part of the conversation, but I don’t necessarily have big chunks of my leisure time to set aside to just talking to people, but I can squeeze in a message here or there while I’m doing whatever else I’m doing.

Take this whole exchange for example, I saw your comment, decided I wanted to reply to that, but I had some things I needed to take care of, so I did them, thought about what I was going to say, and wrote it out when I had a few minutes. You’re going to see it when it’s convenient for you, and maybe write your own reply, which I’ll see and reply to when it’s convenient for me, and so we’ll have a back-and forth conversation that may span a few hours or even days, even though each of us only wrote a couple messages.