The Vent and Rant Thread

[phenomshel]

Plumber's tape is the best stuff ever, but there's another fix, too. Our horizontal drainpipe had a massive crack on it - I don't mean pinhole. But there's an epoxy repair wrap kit out there that our landlord used on ours - it looks kind of like the stuff you see on casts on people, it hardens.

FiberFix is the brand name on the box we have.

[ApK]

<knock knock> Is the vent and rant thread?
Hi. May I use that soapbox over there for a sec...thanks.
<ahem>

ATTENTION WANNABE VIDEOGRAPHERS!

TELEVISION SCREENS AND COMPUTER MONITORS ARE ALMOST UNIVERSALLY WIDER THAN THEY ARE TALL, AS IS THE TYPICAL HUMAN FIELD OF VISION, and, for that matter, most VIDEO PLAYERS on the WEB!!!

STOP HOLDING YOUR FREAKIN' PHONES VERTICALLY WHEN YOU'RE SHOOTING VIDEO!!!!!

It LOOKS STUPID!!!!!! And NO ONE WANTS TO SEE MORE OF YOUR CEILING AND FLOOR while you shakily pan left and right trying to keep your cat or whatever in the shot!!!

Thanks,

ApK

[CRussel]

ROFLU!

Amen, ApK

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Decades ago, fresh out of college, I interviewed for a teaching job on the lovely tropical isle of Grenada (long before it was liberated by Ronald Reagan) - the recruiter glowingly described classrooms on the beach where you could lecture with your feet in the surf (translation: the buildings weren't done, and probably wouldn't be for quite some time), no US income tax, etc.

I asked about the political situation/safety and he replied: "Well, the governments do change more rapidly & frequently than you are probably used to."

A friend's first job was on Grenada. He got his graduate degree in Library Science, and went looking for work. He got a job there as a high school librarian, and moved.

His normal day began when a student shinnied up a tree, got him a coconut for breakfast, and woke him up. He staggered to school and fell asleep behind his desk until lunch time, when everyone went out for food and a couple of drinks. After lunch, he returned to his office, and napped until 3, when school closed and everyone went out for dinner and the nightly round of parties.

Actual librarianship? There was none. The school had budget for a librarian, but had no books in the library.

He realized that if he stayed there long enough, he'd become another drunken island sot, and moved back to the US. That was complicated by his island sojourn. At one point while he was there, a hurricane hit the island, and a casualty was the building at one tip where all off the government's records were stored. He abruptly dropped off the IRS radar. (He's still not sure he's forgiven his brother for pushing him to go through the process to make himself known again.)

He goes back to Grenada occasionally, and has long-term plans to buy a bar there and make it a specialist rum bar. That strikes me as "coals to Newcastle", but he's a serious rum fancier and thinks there's a market if he does it right.
______
Dennis

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

A friend's first job was on Grenada. He got his graduate degree in Library Science, and went looking for work. He got a job there as a high school librarian, and moved.

His normal day began when a student shinnied up a tree, got him a coconut for breakfast, and woke him up. He staggered to school and fell asleep behind his desk until lunch time, when everyone went out for food and a couple of drinks. After lunch, he returned to his office, and napped until 3, when school closed and everyone went out for dinner and the nightly round of parties.

Actual librarianship? There was none. The school had budget for a librarian, but had no books in the library.

He realized that if he stayed there long enough, he'd become another drunken island sot, and moved back to the US. That was complicated by his island sojourn. At one point while he was there, a hurricane hit the island, and a casualty was the building at one tip where all off the government's records were stored. He abruptly dropped off the IRS radar. (He's still not sure he's forgiven his brother for pushing him to go through the process to make himself known again.)

He goes back to Grenada occasionally, and has long-term plans to buy a bar there and make it a specialist rum bar. That strikes me as "coals to Newcastle", but he's a serious rum fancier and thinks there's a market if he does it right.
______
Dennis

Will he need a Scotch aficionado to help run the bar?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Will he need a Scotch aficionado to help run the bar?

I did say "specialist rum bar".

And if he felt a need to branch out into Scotch, he'd ask me, since that's my tipple. A friend has a book titled "100 Scotches you must try before you die." Looking through it, I realized that if you just specified distilleries, I had tasted about a third of them, and if you narrowed it down to specific expressions mentioned, it was about a quarter.

There are enough single malts that if I tried a different one each day, it would take a couple of years to try them all. If you add blends to the mix, all bets are off, and don't even mention bourbons and ryes...

(But then, he calls all the time because he's decided I'm the guy who knows all the things he doesn't know. That's a long list, and leads to interesting calls.)
______
Dennis

[badgoodDeb]

While we're name dropping (ref your friend) .... one of my cousins mentioned that he'd been offered a chance to work on some startup software company. But it was in a garage, run by a couple of Steve's ..... the cousin went in a different direction.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I did say "specialist rum bar".

And if he felt a need to branch out into Scotch, he'd ask me, since that's my tipple. A friend has a book titled "100 Scotches you must try before you die." Looking through it, I realized that if you just specified distilleries, I had tasted about a third of them, and if you narrowed it down to specific expressions mentioned, it was about a quarter.

There are enough single malts that if I tried a different one each day, it would take a couple of years to try them all. If you add blends to the mix, all bets are off, and don't even mention bourbons and ryes...

(But then, he calls all the time because he's decided I'm the guy who knows all the things he doesn't know. That's a long list, and leads to interesting calls.)
______
Dennis

That reminds me of Iain Banks' book "Raw Spirit". I guess you've probably read it, but it's a journal of his travels around Scotland tasting various single malt. A lot, if not every chapter starts with one of his friends calling him and asking him if he needs help

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by cromag

But ... but ... but ... according to your signature ...

Yes. I am. And you should see me zip up ePUBs with it!!!!

Hitch

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

While we're name dropping (ref your friend) .... one of my cousins mentioned that he'd been offered a chance to work on some startup software company. But it was in a garage, run by a couple of Steve's ..... the cousin went in a different direction.

I met a chap a while back who is a custom fabricator. One of his hobby projects was a set of Star Trek Fleet Marine combat armor outfits, custom molded from fiberglass to fit the intended wearers. They were premiered at the masquerade competition at Shore Leave, a popular fan run media convention, and the audience reportedly shit a collective brick when they came out on stage. No surprise. He had details like a guy with a hand-held Gatling mini-gun. It spun, and as each barrel hit the spot where it would fire, a red LED lit up at the tip to indicate it was firing.

He was contacted by some folks who wanted him to work on a project. They couldn't tell him what the project was or where it was located unless he signed on and signed an NDA. They did tell him he would be out of the US in a remote location for 6 months. He declined. He found out later that they worked for Peter Jackson, and wanted him to be an armorer working on kit for The Lord of the Rings trilogy Jackson was filming.

I think he made the right call, but others who heard about it said "They wanted someone to do things like make Glamdring and Orcrist? I'd pay them to get to do that..."

I know another chap in Boston with a similar story. He's an upholsterer by trade, but does costuming as a hobby. He's a Batman fan, and decided he would make a replica of the costume in the recent movies. But it would be a costume Batman would actually wear if he existed, so it included the Kevlar body armor and titanium fittings. (I've seen it in person. It's extraordinary work.) He got noticed by film people, and got an offer to move to LA and do FX for one of the production houses. He said "No. I like being an upholsterer, and my family and friends are here. I don't want to relocate." They said "Understood. But we're thinking of opening an East Coast office in Boston, and you'll be one of the first people we call if we do."
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

That reminds me of Iain Banks' book "Raw Spirit". I guess you've probably read it, but it's a journal of his travels around Scotland tasting various single malt. A lot, if not every chapter starts with one of his friends calling him and asking him if he needs help

As it happens, it's queued in my To Read set. The recently read books on that topic are a history of bourbon whiskey, and the story of Templeton Rye.

Templeton Rye took its name from the town of Templeton, Iowa, where it originated. It was a product of Prohibition, and the brainstorm of Joe Irlbeck, the son of a Bavarian immigrant that farmed in the area. He got the entire town of Templeton, population 428, involved, including the Monsignor of the local church and the head of the local bank. He wanted to make rye whiskey so good it would be asked for by name, and succeeded.

Local farmers had stills on their land. The deal was that they got fifty cents a gallon for spirits distilled (very good money in the 1920's, and often needed by struggling local farms), and if they got raided, they took the fall and didn't implicate Joe. At one point, a still got raided while Joe happened to be present, and the government was sure they had him dead to rights. The grand jury hearing where it would be determined whether there was enough evidence to prosecute was a preliminary hearing, and Joe was not allowed to attend. So he parked his Model T under an open window and listened. The farmer took the fall and swore Joe was not connected with the still. The head of the bank testified Joe was a good customer, and certainly not a bootlegger. The government's case collapsed, and Joe cranked up his Model T to drive back to Templeton and say "Okay, folks. Business as usual."

It's a fascinating picture of a time when an entire town would conspire to break the law and distill and bottle liquor, and why a politician of the time called Prohibition "legalizing the manufacture of intoxicating liquor without taxation".
______
Dennis

[Rumpelteazer]

I'm "starring" shops, museums and other points of interest on Google Maps before going on holiday next week (I download the map to my phone and tablet). Today I thought to check if there are any other Evans stores in Newcastle besides the one I starred. I check this on the Evans website only to find out that the one I starred on Google Maps isn't there (anymore?).

The closest one is in the Metrocentre shopping centre. Now I need to see if I can talk my sister into going there on Tuesday.

Now I'm going to have to check if the other stores I starred are actually where Maps say the are.

[Stitchawl]

I've got a problem...

A friend asked me to work out the auspicious Feng Shui directions for his employee who is planing to make a move shortly, and ready to look for a new apartment. In keeping with proper Feng Shui concepts, it's necessary for the front door to be facing one of the four auspicious directions, the bed room to have placement for the head of the bed in an auspicious direction without the feet pointing towards the door, and several other considerations.

These directions are based upon the person being in either 'Eastern Life' or 'Western Life' groups. Auspicious directions for Eastern Life group people are East, North, South, and South-East, with West, South-West, North-West, and North-East being inauspicious. Good directions for Western Life people would be West, South-West, North-West, and North-East, and their bad directions East, North, South, and South-East. It's all very simple, and very cut and dried.

To find out which group a person belongs in, it's also simple. Just take the month, day, and year of birth, male or female, plug the information into a set formula and get the group for that person. Simple... Unless, as in this case, the person is a Katoey! A Thai Ladyboy, and an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous one at that! 6 months ago she was runner-up in a Northern Thai beauty contest held here in Chiang Mai.

So the problem is... do I work the formula as if its for a male, as the employee began life, or do I work it as if it's for a female, as 'she' thinks, feels, and most certainly looks?


Stitchawl

[red_phoenix]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I've got a problem...

A friend asked me to work out the auspicious Feng Shui directions for his employee who is planing to make a move shortly, and ready to look for a new apartment. In keeping with proper Feng Shui concepts, it's necessary for the front door to be facing one of the four auspicious directions, the bed room to have placement for the head of the bed in an auspicious direction without the feet pointing towards the door, and several other considerations.

These directions are based upon the person being in either 'Eastern Life' or 'Western Life' groups. Auspicious directions for Eastern Life group people are East, North, South, and South-East, with West, South-West, North-West, and North-East being inauspicious. Good directions for Western Life people would be West, South-West, North-West, and North-East, and their bad directions East, North, South, and South-East. It's all very simple, and very cut and dried.

To find out which group a person belongs in, it's also simple. Just take the month, day, and year of birth, male or female, plug the information into a set formula and get the group for that person. Simple... Unless, as in this case, the person is a Katoey! A Thai Ladyboy, and an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous one at that! 6 months ago she was runner-up in a Northern Thai beauty contest held here in Chiang Mai.

So the problem is... do I work the formula as if its for a male, as the employee began life, or do I work it as if it's for a female, as 'she' thinks, feels, and most certainly looks?


Stitchawl

In Feng Shui is the most important aspect how one is living now or based on their birth information? In Numerology or Astrology, for instance, the most important aspects seem to be the time of birth. As opposed to any changes that may have occurred in life. Is Feng Shui similar in this aspect?

I know nothing about Feng Shui and apologize if this is a stupid question.

[ProfCrash]

She identifies as a female so you do it as a female.