DataNinja's Scintillating Digital Random Banter #231

[Tvtyrant]

I've been sitting on a poutine recipe for years and have never had an opportunity to make it.

Having the recipe is most of the battle, actually making it is just gravy.

[Form]

Having the recipe is most of the battle, actually making it is just gravy.

Just make sure you pout ine your best effort.

[Rater202]

Having the recipe is most of the battle, actually making it is just gravy.

♪As some day it may happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list, I've got a little, of society offenders who might well be underground and who never would be missed, never would be missed♪

You, sir, are now at the top of that little list because your pun is, despite its subtlety, quite criminal in its badness. Capitally criminal, if you will.

[Tvtyrant]

♪As some day it may happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list, I've got a little, of society offenders who might well be underground and who never would be missed, never would be missed♪

You, sir, are now at the top of that little list because your pun is, despite its subtlety, quite criminal in its badness. Capitally criminal, if you will.

So you are saying...
I'm going to fry.

[Anonymouswizard]

Si apparently companies think it's fine to make no actual attempt to deliver a parcel even when you point out that their driver provides no actual evidence of even getting near the house.

I've been avoiding doing anything that makes noise for eight hours, which has severely restricted the things I can do (couldn't even hoover), and despite promising there'd be a second attempt made today there hasn't even been a van on the street.

I'm getting pissed off, at least when RM failed a delivery it was on a day when I was legitimately out and they left a card as proof that they made the attempt. But here there's been no card, no footprints to show anybody walked to the door, and the driver was suspiciously uncontactable by the management at the depot. So yeah, that exercise bike I was going to start using today? Apparently it's off in fairyland.

Not impressed.

[LaZodiac]

I've been sitting on a poutine recipe for years and have never had an opportunity to make it.

Make it and show it to me I want to see! I love food pictures; I made bannock yesterday but in the aftermath and morning after I'm sick as **** so it may not have fully cooked I don't know.

Fahrenheit? Ok, now it's a horror story.

It's cold enough for air to start crystalizing into mist that will scrape your face if you're not careful!

Si apparently companies think it's fine to make no actual attempt to deliver a parcel even when you point out that their driver provides no actual evidence of even getting near the house.

I've been avoiding doing anything that makes noise for eight hours, which has severely restricted the things I can do (couldn't even hoover), and despite promising there'd be a second attempt made today there hasn't even been a van on the street.

I'm getting pissed off, at least when RM failed a delivery it was on a day when I was legitimately out and they left a card as proof that they made the attempt. But here there's been no card, no footprints to show anybody walked to the door, and the driver was suspiciously uncontactable by the management at the depot. So yeah, that exercise bike I was going to start using today? Apparently it's off in fairyland.

Not impressed.

I really just do not understand how the mail can do that sometimes. I've had such an awful time when ordering packages in the past, and this one particular parcel lady I knew would go up to the door, knock once, drop the package in the snow, and then just leave without waiting.

[Tvtyrant]

Make it and show it to me I want to see! I love food pictures; I made bannock yesterday but in the aftermath and morning after I'm sick as **** so it may not have fully cooked I don't know.



It's cold enough for air to start crystalizing into mist that will scrape your face if you're not careful!



I really just do not understand how the mail can do that sometimes. I've had such an awful time when ordering packages in the past, and this one particular parcel lady I knew would go up to the door, knock once, drop the package in the snow, and then just leave without waiting.

In the US you are supposed to do that, because people are terrible dog owners and let their dogs bite the package delivery people constantly. I've been attacked by a few dogs in my time, and most of them were during my time at UPS.

[Anonymouswizard]

I really just do not understand how the mail can do that sometimes. I've had such an awful time when ordering packages in the past, and this one particular parcel lady I knew would go up to the door, knock once, drop the package in the snow, and then just leave without waiting.

Weirdly, considering that London's in lockdown, dropping it in the snow would be relatively fine (not great, but in this case the expensive item would survive).

Tghe issue is that unlike Royal Mail, where I had full confidence they'd turn up on the redelivery date because I saw proof that they'd walked up to the door, I have no confodence that the driver will turn up on the rebooked day. Even worse if this happens twice more I have to break the law if I want my parcel, because I'll have to trek to the depot to pick it up.

Like, I have issues with RM, especially with how some posthumans will just leave your parcel on the doorstep sometimes without even knocking, but they're never this bad.

But yeah, there's a reason I prefer to go to a shop when I have the chance.

[Rater202]

I think I spend too much time analyzing works of fiction for small clues.

I just spent over two hours cross-referencing Tarot cards against the histories and characterizations of a group of super heroes depicted as such to try and make sense of a comic book cover and all I managed to figure out was "stuff happens."

Edit: On Parcels. The worst story I have is a case of a package of live animals being left on the doorstep without knocking when it was col enough that they damn well could have frozen to death.

Luckily I noticed before the animals were in trouble, but...

I hate it when the delivery guy shows up with my mother or stepfather aren't there. They're the ones that order stuff and I hate having to deal with it for them. Especially when it's something complicated.

[LaZodiac]

In the US you are supposed to do that, because people are terrible dog owners and let their dogs bite the package delivery people constantly. I've been attacked by a few dogs in my time, and most of them were during my time at UPS.

Totally understandable a problem but also we don't have a dog and are a small town so the person who runs the mail tends to be THE person who runs the mail. No excuse for that, I think.

Weirdly, considering that London's in lockdown, dropping it in the snow would be relatively fine (not great, but in this case the expensive item would survive).

Tghe issue is that unlike Royal Mail, where I had full confidence they'd turn up on the redelivery date because I saw proof that they'd walked up to the door, I have no confodence that the driver will turn up on the rebooked day. Even worse if this happens twice more I have to break the law if I want my parcel, because I'll have to trek to the depot to pick it up.

Like, I have issues with RM, especially with how some posthumans will just leave your parcel on the doorstep sometimes without even knocking, but they're never this bad.

But yeah, there's a reason I prefer to go to a shop when I have the chance.

It's beyond just packages getting damaged- you drop a box in front of someone's house, and SOME interprising little goblin child is going to steal that ****.

I think I spend too much time analyzing works of fiction for small clues.

I just spent over two hours cross-referencing Tarot cards against the histories and characterizations of a group of super heroes depicted as such to try and make sense of a comic book cover and all I managed to figure out was "stuff happens."

Edit: On Parcels. The worst story I have is a case of a package of live animals being left on the doorstep without knocking when it was col enough that they damn well could have frozen to death.

Luckily I noticed before the animals were in trouble, but...

I hate it when the delivery guy shows up with my mother or stepfather aren't there. They're the ones that order stuff and I hate having to deal with it for them. Especially when it's something complicated.

Ah, but sometimes you get the series that rewards you for diving that deep into it, and then don't you feel so good? Qwerty actually put me on a story called Katalepsis, and it's EXCELLENT. Content warning it is eldritch horror urban fantasy so it gets a little graphic at times.

[Anonymouswizard]

It's beyond just packages getting damaged- you drop a box in front of someone's house, and SOME interprising little goblin child is going to steal that ****.

Normally yes, but considering thr current lockdown... what goblin child?

[LaZodiac]

Normally yes, but considering thr current lockdown... what goblin child?

Fair, though I was speaking in general terms there. And yes plague time makes it harder for kids to steal your porch stuff while you're at work.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Around here, it's more likely somebody's mutt will decide to use it as a chew toy. Especially if it is light and somewhat squishable (so pretty much any soft pack with clothes).

[Qwertystop]

Ah, but sometimes you get the series that rewards you for diving that deep into it, and then don't you feel so good? Qwerty actually put me on a story called Katalepsis, and it's EXCELLENT. Content warning it is eldritch horror urban fantasy so it gets a little graphic at times.

I feel like "horror" is sort of a misplaced word in the genre name? It's called "cosmic horror", but most of what I've read in the category isn't actually scary – just, the genre conventions date back to when "people don't matter" was novel and disturbing as a concept, or at least it frightened Lovecraft. You know what I call the vast entity operating on rules beyond my comprehension that could ruin me on a whim, by accident, or without even noticing? My health insurance provider. Also the government. Also my bank. To a lesser degree, my telco, and my employer back when I was employed. I am quite used to the idea that I only exist because nobody in power cares enough to make me stop.

[Rater202]

Ah, but sometimes you get the series that rewards you for diving that deep into it, and then don't you feel so good?

Yeah, but the kind of analysis isn't my forte.

Like, all I managed to learn is that The Hulk is a disturbingly good fit for the Tower Arcana so if I ever decide to do a Marvel/Persona fusion fic...

Spoiler: Long ranty thing on what else I've been wasting my time with

Show

The Lazarus Formula is a serum invented by a fictionalized version of the Thule Society, who in the Marvel Universe were just the latest in a long line of groups of people who want to mass produce immortality, abolish death, and manufacture gods for what they claim to be altruistic purposes but are really just a desire for world domination. HYDRA is the successor group(though they've expanded past the original goal), and various previous incarnations date back to ancient Mesopotamia.

Officially it's considered a Super Soldier Serum, but it has nothing to do with Erksine's process and is more like a magic potion: It's one of several products of a millennia-long endeavor that involved study of the bodily remains of various immortals and semi-immortals, immortality elixirs, and so on.

Its effects on a living human are unknown: Captain America was forcibly injected with a small dose of it becuase its creator wanted to know how it would interact with his enhanced biology, but years of study have proven inconclusive on if it had any effect at all. It's been suggested that it might be why he survived being frozen alive and didn't drown in the hours he spent unconscious and fully submerged in seawater both before and after being frozen. It's also suggested to have contributed to his unaging body, but the fact that people like Isaiah Bradley and Protocide also possess biological immortality suggests otherwise.

Inject it in a fresh corpse, however, and the subject is brought back to life and has their body rebuilt to the peak of human potential and beyond: The known subjects resurrected in this way all gained a significant degree of muscle mass and had physical attributes equal to or greater than Captain America's, including explicit superhuman strength and toughness. They do not get tired, they do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, and continue to function no matter how injured they are. Broken bones or being riddled with bullets are no concern. At most they can be rendered into a temporary death-like state by sufficient trauma to the head, but they'll eventually get back up like nothing happened(though it's suggested that cremation will keep them permanently dead.) It is not confirmed, but the fact that Erlking's bullet wounds are hall healed the second time Captain America encounters him implies that they have a more potent healing factor than baseline humans as well.

Initially, these subjects seem to be rather... Frankensteinish in mannerisms, but by their third encounter Erlkonig is speaking eloquent sentences and is shown to be intelligent and capable of reason. It's unknown if this is because the formula takes time to fully regenerate the brain, if he'd always been like this and elected not to speak at first, or if he experienced further enhancements at some point. It's also not clarified how much, if anything, Earlking retains from life, but as other subjects have full continuity of self it can be assumed.

The resurrection is not perfect, per Hank Pym there are obvious signs that the body of a subject has been dead if you know what to look for. It would be accurate to call them undead.

Inject it into a not so fresh corpse and you get Zombies. Zombies who retain full memory of who they are and awareness of their agonizing state of being a rotting corpse that got up to walk, Luckily, unlike the "super soldiers" created by the formula, zombies can be rekilled and the process can be undone with magic.

I've spent the last several days on and off wondering how to rig the system to get the "Super Soldier" results without having to die first.

Since its effects combined with SSS seem to be negligible, my best bet would be to combine it with either the Infinity Formula--A straighter immortality elixir that brings the body to peak potential and restores youth but needs to be renewed yearly unless you get a sustainable dose or combine it with something else-, or mutant growth hormone: Literally the processed hormones of mutant, inhuman, or certain kinds of mutating. Can be filtered direly, or synthesized from a blood sample. Exact effects depend on who it's made from if it's natural or synthetic if it's pure or samples from multiple "donors," if it's laced with anything, and if the subject has powers or not. It's illegal to sell or manufacture, but that's more becuase it can be highly addictive or have nasty side effects if it's made wrong more than becuase it's made of people. There are ways to make it ethically.

A small dose combined with another power granting drug can make the power granting drug's effects much greater—notably, on multiple occasions, it's been used successfully as a substitute for some of the missing ingredients in Erksien's Serum, so find ethically produced MGH with a gifted power set.
Or just hedging bets and doing both.

I think I may be obsessed with immortality to a somewhat unhealthy degree, particularly since this is all fictional stuff that... Look, if I get my hands on this then we've got bigger problems to deal with.

[LaZodiac]

I feel like "horror" is sort of a misplaced word in the genre name? It's called "cosmic horror", but most of what I've read in the category isn't actually scary – just, the genre conventions date back to when "people don't matter" was novel and disturbing as a concept, or at least it frightened Lovecraft. You know what I call the vast entity operating on rules beyond my comprehension that could ruin me on a whim, by accident, or without even noticing? My health insurance provider. Also the government. Also my bank. To a lesser degree, my telco, and my employer back when I was employed. I am quite used to the idea that I only exist because nobody in power cares enough to make me stop.

Good point, horror is a misplaced term. It is definitely eldritch though, yeah, 100%.

Yeah, but the kind of analysis isn't my forte.

Like, all I managed to learn is that The Hulk is a disturbingly good fit for the Tower Arcana so if I ever decide to do a Marvel/Persona fusion fic...

Spoiler: Long ranty thing on what else I've been wasting my time with

Show

The Lazarus Formula is a serum invented by a fictionalized version of the Thule Society, who in the Marvel Universe were just the latest in a long line of groups of people who want to mass produce immortality, abolish death, and manufacture gods for what they claim to be altruistic purposes but are really just a desire for world domination. HYDRA is the successor group(though they've expanded past the original goal), and various previous incarnations date back to ancient Mesopotamia.

Officially it's considered a Super Soldier Serum, but it has nothing to do with Erksine's process and is more like a magic potion: It's one of several products of a millennia-long endeavor that involved study of the bodily remains of various immortals and semi-immortals, immortality elixirs, and so on.

Its effects on a living human are unknown: Captain America was forcibly injected with a small dose of it becuase its creator wanted to know how it would interact with his enhanced biology, but years of study have proven inconclusive on if it had any effect at all. It's been suggested that it might be why he survived being frozen alive and didn't drown in the hours he spent unconscious and fully submerged in seawater both before and after being frozen. It's also suggested to have contributed to his unaging body, but the fact that people like Isaiah Bradley and Protocide also possess biological immortality suggests otherwise.

Inject it in a fresh corpse, however, and the subject is brought back to life and has their body rebuilt to the peak of human potential and beyond: The known subjects resurrected in this way all gained a significant degree of muscle mass and had physical attributes equal to or greater than Captain America's, including explicit superhuman strength and toughness. They do not get tired, they do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, and continue to function no matter how injured they are. Broken bones or being riddled with bullets are no concern. At most they can be rendered into a temporary death-like state by sufficient trauma to the head, but they'll eventually get back up like nothing happened(though it's suggested that cremation will keep them permanently dead.) It is not confirmed, but the fact that Erlking's bullet wounds are hall healed the second time Captain America encounters him implies that they have a more potent healing factor than baseline humans as well.

Initially, these subjects seem to be rather... Frankensteinish in mannerisms, but by their third encounter Erlkonig is speaking eloquent sentences and is shown to be intelligent and capable of reason. It's unknown if this is because the formula takes time to fully regenerate the brain, if he'd always been like this and elected not to speak at first, or if he experienced further enhancements at some point. It's also not clarified how much, if anything, Earlking retains from life, but as other subjects have full continuity of self it can be assumed.

The resurrection is not perfect, per Hank Pym there are obvious signs that the body of a subject has been dead if you know what to look for. It would be accurate to call them undead.

Inject it into a not so fresh corpse and you get Zombies. Zombies who retain full memory of who they are and awareness of their agonizing state of being a rotting corpse that got up to walk, Luckily, unlike the "super soldiers" created by the formula, zombies can be rekilled and the process can be undone with magic.

I've spent the last several days on and off wondering how to rig the system to get the "Super Soldier" results without having to die first.

Since its effects combined with SSS seem to be negligible, my best bet would be to combine it with either the Infinity Formula--A straighter immortality elixir that brings the body to peak potential and restores youth but needs to be renewed yearly unless you get a sustainable dose or combine it with something else-, or mutant growth hormone: Literally the processed hormones of mutant, inhuman, or certain kinds of mutating. Can be filtered direly, or synthesized from a blood sample. Exact effects depend on who it's made from if it's natural or synthetic if it's pure or samples from multiple "donors," if it's laced with anything, and if the subject has powers or not. It's illegal to sell or manufacture, but that's more becuase it can be highly addictive or have nasty side effects if it's made wrong more than becuase it's made of people. There are ways to make it ethically.

A small dose combined with another power granting drug can make the power granting drug's effects much greater—notably, on multiple occasions, it's been used successfully as a substitute for some of the missing ingredients in Erksien's Serum, so find ethically produced MGH with a gifted power set.
Or just hedging bets and doing both.

I think I may be obsessed with immortality to a somewhat unhealthy degree, particularly since this is all fictional stuff that... Look, if I get my hands on this then we've got bigger problems to deal with.

I think you are better at it than you think.

I'll add to this a bit; Thor is The Chariot, absolutely.

[Rater202]

I think you are better at it than you think.

I'll add to this a bit; Thor is The Chariot, absolutely.

Well, he's not one of the options.

Spoiler

Show

2: The High Priestess—Red Harpy
4: The Emporer—Namor
6: The Lovers—Cloud
13: Death—Brunhilde.
15: The Devil—Son of Satan
16: The Tower—Hulk
18: The Moon—Moon Dragon
19: The Sun—Beast
20: Judgement—The Silver Surfer

I looked stuff up and compared to the characters depicted to try and determine what the went is going to be about... But all I got from it is that they were spot on when they made Hulk the Tower.

[LaZodiac]

Well, he's not one of the options.

Spoiler

Show

2: The High Priestess—Red Harpy
4: The Emporer—Namor
6: The Lovers—Cloud
13: Death—Brunhilde.
15: The Devil—Son of Satan
16: The Tower—Hulk
18: The Moon—Moon Dragon
19: The Sun—Beast
20: Judgement—The Silver Surfer

I looked stuff up and compared to the characters depicted to try and determine what the went is going to be about... But all I got from it is that they were spot on when they made Hulk the Tower.

So I don't know all the characters, and I won't flood the forum too much with my ruminating on this (mostly because I'm tired and sick today), but I can say that Namor as Emperor is PERFECT, and Silver Surfer as Judgement is absolutely spot on.

Also!: February 24th, I have an evaluation with the Edmonton Health Society! It's time!

[Rater202]

Also!: February 24th, I have an evaluation with the Edmonton Health Society! It's time!

Is this a congratulations situation or a good luck situation?

[LaZodiac]

Is this a congratulations situation or a good luck situation?

It's a mix of both honestly. Congrats on getting the evaluation, good luck on getting approved still.

[Rogar Demonblud]

So we light a roman candle for you?

[Wizard_Lizard]

Had a birb (pigeon) whack into my second story window and hurt it's wing from the fall. After a few days and some food (and a few scares from the cat and dog), it's better now and flew off!
Happy for the government drone!

[LaZodiac]

So we light a roman candle for you?

If that's your prerogative go for it. I do like explosions!

Had a birb (pigeon) whack into my second story window and hurt it's wing from the fall. After a few days and some food (and a few scares from the cat and dog), it's better now and flew off!
Happy for the government drone!

Aw, poor silly wing-rat. Glad it's okay. Assume it will come back.

I'm... going to assume that drone comment is for me and I'll note "not interview for job, interview for getting surgery".

EDIT: Oh wait right I get it now birds aren't real.

[enderlord99]

I'm... going to assume that drone comment is for me and I'll note "not interview for job, interview for getting surgery".

I'm pretty sure it-

EDIT: Oh wait right I get it now birds aren't real.

Yeah, that.

[Wizard_Lizard]

If that's your prerogative go for it. I do like explosions!



Aw, poor silly wing-rat. Glad it's okay. Assume it will come back.

I'm... going to assume that drone comment is for me and I'll note "not interview for job, interview for getting surgery".

EDIT: Oh wait right I get it now birds aren't real.

Yeah no it's been a couple of days and I assume the.. cat and the dog have discouraged it from returning.
and yeah birbs are government spies, duh, keep up with the news!

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm... going to assume that drone comment is for me and I'll note "not interview for job, interview for getting surgery".

I know so many in that situation. And far, far too many in the 'can't get the interview for the interview for the interview for the interview' stage.

[Peelee]

I know so many in that situation. And far, far too many in the 'can't get the interview for the interview for the interview for the interview' stage.

I passed a background check and then passed a test so that I can get to the interview stage. Assuming I pass (they haven't gotten back to me to schedule the interview yet), I get to have another test, and then an offer, and then quite some time of training.

Super excited about it, though. But yeah, I know the pain of just getting to the interview.

[Mystic Muse]

Spoiler: bit of bragging, feel free to skip

Show

the exam I passed, Security+ recommends 2 years on the job with a security focus, and Network+ before you take it. I failed Network+ (will be retaking it in a month or so) and I've had an IT job 5 months without a security focus.

I passed this exam with only 2 months of studying. I feel like the orc who managed to shrug off 3 shots from Legolas and blow a hole in Helm's Deep. In a good way.

Spoilered this because I know it probably comes off as obnoxious, but it's a self-esteem boost that delivered a solid uppercut to my depression.

I've been looking at IT job listings. What I'm seeing is really encouraging. If I stick with the company I'm with for another year or two, I should be able to get at least three more certifications under my belt, which will help getting a much better paying job down the line.

Saw one tonight. After a network administration-centered certification (a step above the one I need to retake) and having worked at my current job another year, I could make over double what I'm making now.

And even at my current job, I should be making $13 an hour by the end of the year, even if I only get the certification I failed on but almost passed (needed 80% got 76%)

[DataNinja]

Oh, nice, Muse! Sounds like things are heading up! It's good to hear good news in these times!

[Rawhide]

I remember the CompTIA Security+. Did it as an elective for my Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security. Didn't do any of the other CompTIA exams as only that one counted as an elective.