The Frying Pan

Jay

02:57

@Cerberus Honestly? I was drunk enough that I didnt feel much pain. It was more of a surprise than anything. I lived there for like 2 years without incident.

Also this is great

oops wrong link

uproxx.com/webculture/2015/08/gay-couple-attack-revenge-soho

Also good new, my car is fixed 3 days ahead of schedule. I got it earlier in the evening. :D so happy

Cerberus

03:13

@Jay That's nice.

@Jay Congrats!

Gigili

07:55

@Jolenealaska Thank you for the link :)

Jolenealaska

08:42

Hi everyone, I'm moved in. No Internet yet. My car is registered.

rumtscho

10:35

@Jolenealaska good to know everything is moving along as it should

I just realized that your "Internet cafe during business hours" arrangement is somewhat inconvenient for Europeans who like to chat with you :(

Cindy

Hi @rumtscho.

rumtscho

hi @cindy, how are you?

Cindy

Good, and you? How is your ear?

rumtscho

still fluctuating within the usual range from quite bad to almost OK. But the situation with the doctors is complicated.

I'm visiting a neurologist today, and will ask him if he can determine the extent of existing damage to my vestibular system too (the appointment was initially made to exclude MS)

if he says he can't, I'll look into my options for a clinic specializing in Meniere

Cindy

I was so hoping that they would be able to help you more. Good luck today. Let us know how it goes.

rumtscho

10:42

There are such clinics, and patients say they are good. But Germany has a two-tier health care system, and I have to find out which of these clinics work with patients with standard health insurance. The best one is a private hospital limited to patients with a premium health insurance.

Cindy

A clinic that specializes is a good idea.

rumtscho

@Cindy The problem is that nobody can help much. I've read an entire book on it by now, and already looking into the source literature for the Cochrane reviews. Even the best specialists don't know what is the cause, or how to stop the damage from happening.

Cindy

Our healthcare systems are quite frustrating, too.

rumtscho

The good part is that it can take a very mild course all by itself, and I'm not on a severe course now. It can worsen, but doesn't have to.

@Cindy Oh, I'm sure yours is much worse than ours. I've heard enough about it.

Did they manage to help with your persistent pharyngitis from several weeks ago?

Cindy

@rumtscho Any time you are dealing with something without a known cause, it's a tough situation.

@rumtscho The meds didn't really seem to help much. But it seemed to move to my ear and sinuses and then ran its course (I hope). Much better now than I was. :)

rumtscho

10:49

The bad part is that the doctors are so certain of themselves! The senior physician at the university hospital decided to offer me a surgery a few minutes after hearing about my case from the junior physician (before even having seen me in person). And this is quite unconventional. The surgery itself is controversial, and it is usually done in much more severe cases.

The meta studies' abstracts leave one thinking that surgery is no use, but when reading the full text, it turns out that real surgery and sham surgery had no difference in outcome, but that both produced an improved outcome!

Frankly, if a surgery helps me, I don't mind it being the placebo effect which helps

so now I'm looking to find the studies they excluded from the review because they were not a randomised controlled trial

Cindy

Yes, I had a different but quite similar experience last year. I had a leg injury with a severe deep tissue infection and a very large hematoma. After many months I was sent to a surgeon for a consultation and first thing I was offered surgery.

rumtscho

the most on-topic one was published in an obscure conference in 1990 and it seems that a single library in Germany has a physical copy of the proceedings. The Internet lets one find the proceedings tome, but it does not even know of the existence of the article itself. It's not on Pubmed or on Google Scholar. I'm quite certain there is no electronic copy of it anywhere.

For a PhD student in computer science, who is accustomed that "if a source is not on the Internet, it doesn't exist", this is quite shocking. And hard to navigate. I might have to go to a physical library and ask about postal library service (gasp!)

@Cindy oh, this sounds bad. I hope you have healed by now?

Cindy

LOL. Yeah, it's hard to imagine anything not being available online.

@rumtscho It is essentially healed. But I didn't have the surgery so I do still have a noticeable knot and discoloration that may or may not go away. They said if it did go away it would take a very long time, but it may be there forever.

rumtscho

Well, that's not too bad. I got a knot in my chin from a bicycle fall when I was around 10. It was easily felt on touch for the first 10 years or so, then became less prominent. But the main point is that it did not bother me at any time since healing.

Maybe it's different for other people, but for me, a scar is not really interesting in any way, good or bad. As long as it does not cause pain, I just forget it.

Cindy

This still hurts or swells on occasion but it is very manageable. When I first did it I couldn't even get a shoe on that foot for ~2 months. So this is nothing to complain about!

@rumtscho Ditto. I don't think about them.

@rumtscho I'm off to fix breakfast. Good luck with your appointment today!

user116848

11:09

@rumtscho @Cindy Hello!

Faheem Mitha

@rumtscho What is sham surgery?

@rumtscho Doctors, in my experience, are frequently irresponsible idiots. Don't trust them. And I'm sorry to sound so negative.

Hello everyone.

rumtscho

11:24

@FaheemMitha a fake surgery

if you want to prove that a surgery is better than placebo, you assign half the patients to real surgery and half to fake surgery

because you want a double-blind trial, the patients have to get cut

for example, for the surgery I would have (saccotomie), they would normally drill through the bone behind the ear until they find the saccus endolymphaticus, then abrade some bone around it to give it more space (so it can expand and take up more excessive lymph), then close up

the sham surgery would involve drilling a bit in the bone but not even reaching the saccus

this is done by another surgeon, not the one conducting the study, so the surgeon doing the evaluation won't be biased by the knowledge that a patient had a real or a sham surgery

Jay

12:58

Yummy free bagel day :D. With garlic and herb cream cheese.

Fresh bagel is just so much better than the type of bagel you find in the grocery store

I wish there was free bagel every wednesday rather than just the first wednesday of the month

Jay

13:20

The autobody shop performs magic, I can't tell there was ever any damage to my car.

It is almost like i never had an accident

Well aside from my bank being fewer $500

Faheem Mitha

@rumtscho Wow, weird. I've never heard of this before. Double blind trials involving drugs, yes. But surgery?

@Jay Congratulations. Are you feeling better now?

Jay

@FaheemMitha A little bit. But i still have to be a bit thrifty for the rest of the month

Faheem Mitha

I think Buddhism teaches that one should not get too attached to ones material possessions. Or maybe it's another religion.

@Jay Less eating out?

What's an average monthly eating out budget where you are? Do you cook at home much? Lunch parties? Dinner parties?

Jay

@FaheemMitha Yea pretty much, and no alcohol money. So its not the worst

@FaheemMitha I typically eat out for lunch everyday

So ill have to pack lunch more frequently this month

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Oh.

Jay

13:25

I set $150 for lunch, ~$200 for groceries, ~$100 for alcohol and then I had like ~$250 misc budget to cover going over any of my other budget or for unexpected happening

So basically im taking the lunch, alcohol and the misc money out of my budget to pay for my $500 deductible on the car

And if worse comes to worst(if something else unexpected happens) I can pay less on my student loans this month. I have to pay at least ~$350 a month but I normally do about $800 a month.

Faheem Mitha

@Jay So a total of like $450 a month for eating out?

And I suppose food purchases for home are separate?

Jay

@FaheemMitha the $200 is just for groceries, not for eating out

i pretty much count eating out towards my misc/alcohol budget

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Sorry, I misread.

Jay

so if nothing random happens that month, i have $350 for eating out and alcohol

I also have left overs from some of my other budget. For example i set $150 for utilities but that varies from month to month

Faheem Mitha

So $350 eating out? But you specifically mention lunch, but not dinner.

Jay

13:34

but during the summer its usually cheaper

@FaheemMitha the $150 is for eating out at lunch. I count that separately

so i guess if you combined them itd be ~$500 a month

Faheem Mitha

13:46

If I could cook, I would have done in-home dinner parties. Or maybe even lunch parties. But I can't.

Actually many years ago, I did have people occasionally over to eat food I made, but it wasn't very formal. That was in Cambridge.

I just had a room at the time. No flat/apartment.

@Jay So $150 eating out for lunch, $150 eating out for dinner, $100 alcohol? Making a total of $500? If so, that actually seems quite modest for a month.

@Jay Is is better to pay off the loan faster? What kind of interest do you have on it?

Jay

@FaheemMitha $250 for eating out at dinner(if nothing unexpected happens)

@FaheemMitha There are different bundles of interests

some are 3%

others are 6%

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Sorry, apparently I can't add. I need to get a refund for my BA in Math, MS in Math, and PhD in Statistics, since they are obviously worthless.

@Jay Oh, that's quite high.

Jay

@FaheemMitha lol happens to us all

@FaheemMitha yes it is. But thats pretty typical for student loans

Faheem Mitha

So are you preferentially paying off the 6% one?

Jay

I have to pay a little of each month

but Im putting the extra payment in specific loans that have higher interests

Faheem Mitha

13:52

@Jay Yes, that makes sense.

Jay

Each month i pay a minimum of ~350 which is combination of the minimum payment for all of the different loans

and then hte $500 extra goes into the 6% loans

Faheem Mitha

@Jay So for each separate loan you have to make a minimum payment?

Jay

I actually had a 6.8% loan but i paid that off already

@FaheemMitha yea

Faheem Mitha

How many different pieces are there?

Distinct loans that is?

Jay

@FaheemMitha ~10? But its through a fedloans so they combine the payments for me automatically

Faheem Mitha

13:54

@Jay Oh, that's a lot.

Is that typical?

Jay

i dont have to go to 10 individual loans and pay each individually

Faheem Mitha

@Jay yes, I understand.

Jay

Each school year's loan count as a different "bundle"

Faheem Mitha

@Jay I see.

So 10 different years, 10 different loans?

Jay

but each year they calculate your loans/interests, grants, scholarships based on grade and parent's income

@FaheemMitha 5 years

~2 different loan each year

Faheem Mitha

13:55

@Jay Ok

Are college scholarships hard to get?

Jay

@FaheemMitha its a lot of work to get

but I did the scholarship stuff during highschool

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Lots of applying?

Like academic grants?

Jay

I was a finalist of the Lenfest scholarship which would have paid $10k a year

but unfortunately i didnt end up getting it

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Oh, that's too bad. Was that for HS or college?

Jay

They did give the 5 finalist $5000 lumpsum scholarship though

so my efforts werent toally wasted

one sec brb

Faheem Mitha

13:57

@Jay Well, that's not too bad then.

Off to dinner. Back in a bit.

Jay

14:32

@Jefromi can an OP comment on his own question with only 1 rep?

I was always under the impression you needed a certain amount of rep before you can comment AT ALL

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

Hey guys, this is a bit of a random one, but I'm starting a blog about pie and am trying to decide on a cool name - please vote in my poll! goo.gl/forms/QBFhlg1Mfp

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Which site is that? You can look at the rep rules for the individual sites.

Cerberus

Hi!

@FionaTaylorGorringe How about: Let Them Eat Pie

Referring to let them eat cake.

Let them eat cake

"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread. Since brioche was made from dough enriched with butter and eggs, making it more expensive than bread, the quote reflected the princess's disregard for the peasants. While it is commonly attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, there is no record of this phrase ever having been said by her. It appears in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, his autobiography (whose first six books were written in 1765, when Marie...

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

@Cerberus Ooh, that's one I haven't considered thanks. Although the domain name does look a bit like Let The Meat Pie on first glance: letthemeatpie.com

Faheem Mitha

Pierrific?

Jay

14:46

@FionaTaylorGorringe Lol thats a lot of option in a poll. I find polls with that many option generally dont give good results

you should personally narrrow that list down to 5-7 and then poll. But thats just my opinion

Faheem Mitha

Piexplosion?

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

@Jay Yeah good point, I've just been adding ideas in as I think about them lol

Faheem Mitha

Personally I'd just pick a name I liked. Why have a poll at all?

Live Free and Pie Hard

Though that sounds like the pies might be hard. Which you probably don't want.

Pie Another Day

Oh, sorry, you have that.

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

@FaheemMitha I like to over think things? And there's two of us running it so we have to decide somehow I guess!

Jay

@FaheemMitha Not everyone is as decisive as you are

Cerberus

14:50

@FionaTaylorGorringe Hmm maybe a hyphen...

Faheem Mitha

@Jay I'm not at all decisive. But I figure that the opinions of a bunch of people on the net isn't particularly useful. Even if they are food aficionados.

But don't mind me.

Everything and the Pie.

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

@FaheemMitha Part of the gathering opinions thing is to make sure that people get the puns as we came up with a few he thought were great but I had no idea what they were on about!

Faheem Mitha

@FionaTaylorGorringe For example?

Jay

yea there were one or two in that poll i wasnt too clear about

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

@FaheemMitha I can't remember because we didn't put them on the list!

Faheem Mitha

14:54

The Pie's the Limit

Jay

@FionaTaylorGorringe Are you using the blog for pie experimentation or is it more about posting tested and true pie recipes

Faheem Mitha

"Live and eat Pie" is presumably a riff on "Live and let Die".

Jay

You have "The Pie Dish"

But if your blog is primarily about pie experimentation. Maybe you can try the "Pie-tri Dish"

Faheem Mitha

@Jay That's not bad.

Jefromi

@Jay Yeah, OP can always comment. The 50 rep privilege is "comment everywhere", and the details say "Please note that you can always comment on your own posts, and any part of your questions. However, commenting on other people's posts is a privilege."

Jay

15:00

@Jefromi Ah i missed that. Thanks for the clarification.

Faheem Mitha

15:19

Pie and the World Pies with You.

"Piefectionists" is not bad, actually.

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

Sorry, the phone rang! It's probably going to be a combination of tried and tested recipes and coming up with crazy new stuff

Jay

@FionaTaylorGorringe I like "The Pie-tri Dish" but Im biased since i came up with it lol

Faheem Mitha

Pie Nation

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

@Jay Put it in the Other option on the form and I'll check if it has a domain name available etc :)

Jay

haha ok

Jefromi

15:40

stick that in your pie and bake it

When you branch out into other desserts and need a separate blog, ce n'est pas un pie?

pie-ping hot

piening away

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

@Jefromi Nice ones there, I'll be coming up with these all day now...

Jefromi

experimental test pielot

I hope no one pierates your recipes.

pieromania??

You must construct additional pielons.

Fiona Taylor Gorringe

15:59

haha

Faheem Mitha

16:14

pierates

Jefromi

Pies, whoopie.

Piep dreams?

Jay

16:30

So much pie. Now i just want to eat pies for lunch :(

Apple pie with a nice big dollop of vanilla ice cream

Faheem Mitha

16:43

@Jay Sounds nice. But unhealthy.

What about a chicken pot pie? I used to like those.

Just went out to get myself some chocolate. In breaking news, Bombay is still a hellhole.

Jay

17:18

@FaheemMitha Lalalalala I can't hear you Lalalala

I used to make a lot of cakes

Faheem Mitha

LOL

Jay

but I swapped over to pies because its minisculely healthier

Faheem Mitha

Well, I just got myself some chocolate, so I'm in no position to talk.

Jay

How dark is it?

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Milk chocolate. I don't like dark chocolate.

Jay

17:20

Dark chocolates have many beneficial properties

Ah,

well its still better than other types of sweets

Faheem Mitha

It's some sort of Indian premium brand. The regular stuff isn't that good.

@Jay How so?

Jay

cacao has beneficial aspects. Less so in milk chocolate since it has lower concentration but its still there

its very high in antioxidents

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Yes, so I have heard. But I don't eat chocolate because it's good for me.

Never developed the taste for dark chocolate.

Jay

@FaheemMitha But im just noting its "better" for you compared to if you ate a bunch of lolly pops

@FaheemMitha I dont like super super dark but 40-50% dark is good

does your bar say what percent is it

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Yes, I see.

@Jay Dunno. It's in the fridge right now. If I had it here, I would already have eaten it all.

I'll try to remember to look, but probably not. They're not terribly good at the information thing in India.

Jay

17:26

most milk chocolate is around 25%

Faheem Mitha

@Jay ok

@Jay Says Milk solids (25%), but otherwise no quantitative information is given.

And I assume Milk solids isn't relevant.

Jay

17:41

@FaheemMitha yea so its 25% chocolate

oooh milk solid

oops

Faheem Mitha

@Jay Shouldn't it be Cocoa (25%)?

Jay

i misread

Faheem Mitha

I think in the US they have regulations about reporting ingredients. Maybe because of Ralph Nader or someone.

Tom W

Ralph Vader

I FIND YOUR LACK OF COCOA SOLIDS DISTURBING

Faheem Mitha

@TomW That should be "I FIND YOUR LACK OF LABELLING DISTURBING", surely.

So, you're a hobby gardener? Is that a common UK hobby these days?

Tom W

17:56

@FaheemMitha Definitely, although perhaps declining. Always has been among old people, I think

29 year old bachelors with such an interest probably less common

Faheem Mitha

@TomW Yes, you should probably be out dancing or something.

Tom W

To a degree it's more about restoring a total mess to somewhere I'd like to spend time

although the vegetable plot isn't necessary for that

Faheem Mitha

@TomW You're growing vegetables?

Tom W

one kind :)

there was meant to be more, didn't get round to it

Faheem Mitha

18:15

@TomW what kind?

Tom W

Courgettes, I posted a picture the other day

oh; yes. It's alarming because the bigger they grow the more of them I have to eat :)

Faheem Mitha

@TomW Oh, right.

@TomW If you don't like them, why grow them?

Tom W

I do like them, just not for every meal

Faheem Mitha

@TomW Oh. Well, in that case I'm surprised you can't keep up with the produce of a vegetable garden. They grow very slowly, don't they?

Unless you have magic fingers. Or a really large garden.

Tom W

These things grow really fast, they're kind of notorious for it. They're quite large and productive plants, although I could slow them down by letting them grow to maturity

Faheem Mitha

18:25

@TomW Hmm, I see.

Maybe mix it up. Grow some other stuff? I'm personally partial to tomatoes. The stuff you get in supermarkets is terrible, though.

They're great with some bread and a little salt.

derobert

That's why I didn't post an answer - I'm not really at all sure how hot the OP's usual peppers are, but given that she's using 10 of them in a single batch of something, I'm suspicious they're not very hot. — Jefromi ♦ 26 mins ago

@Jefromi hah, I'll use 10 habaneros in a batch of something... but I'm crazy.

ElendilTheTall

19:03

@jolenealaska new series of Great British Bake Off starting now!

Tom W

@ElendilTheTall Facebook has erupted like an overly excited soufflé just now

On that topic

I need to unfriend some people

Jefromi

19:26

@derobert Are you cleaning them reasonably well, though?

And is it something that can handle the heat pretty well? Sounds a bit intense for a single batch of salsa or relish, but maybe not for a big pot of rice and peas.

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