The Factory Floor

3:19 AM

nobody heree?

I'm here but not for much longer

Journeyman Geek

but us sheep

5:16 AM

What did I just read

@dot_Sp0T I don't know.

I tried catching up on the conversation but I saw clowns and dead people

@dot_Sp0T Oh, that's where I used to work.

Read any more of my scratchings?

I wish I'd get through more than a few tidbits at a time :(

@dot_Sp0T I thought it would only take a couple minutes to read a few pages.

5:22 AM

That's what I did as well, but each time I opened the link during the last few days, someone started talking to me about class xy or problem z or just stuff in general.

Currently on the bus and prepping for my next class

I'm manure at time-management

The bits I read were good though, alas I can't give more specific feedback as I barely remember anything

What class?

It just read well - which I consider a gooood thing

Information and Coding Theory

as in Encoding/Decoding

@dot_Sp0T If you download the PDF and read in Acrobat Reader, you can make annotations and comments right on the page.

@dot_Sp0T cool.

@JDługosz will try that then

My degree is in computer science.

And that's the kind of stuff (non-fiction) I'm good at writing.

5:36 AM

My degree is in celsius

Journeyman Geek

That's relative. Now, if was absolute, it would be in Kelvin.

6:01 AM

Well, I just got to the end of another scene. 10 pages.

Whew, it's getting warm in here. My desk shows 80°F.

Currently thinking about a color scheme for some RPG magic thingy

and orange shades always give me headaches

The issue is that fire is already assigned to reddish shades, lava and volcanic magic is already assigned to red orange shades, an bright yellows to electricity and lightning

yet it is very clear that amber often has a very special significance in magic commonly found in some fictional media, often in the form of some magic dust

thus leaving orange shades kinda problematic to assign an attribute for them

Bellerophon

6:44 AM

Citrus fruit magic.

Street lamp manipulation.

why do you need colour?

because color coded magic trope is a common thing in RPG games

So you want to adhere to the trope, but you don't want to adhere to the trope?

more like: Most magic games has only one shade of orange (often assigned to fire). But the issue here is that I have 3 shades (red orange, orange, amber), and the trope (at least for TV trope's page) seemed insufficient to assign attributes to all orange colors

7:00 AM

so..?

I mean, I already have red assigned to fire, thus it is not very clear what else can fit into the orange shades above

you can fit whatever you like in there

what are the most logical fits, i.e. what kind of concept is commonly associated with those shades?

from my experience with the visual industry (videogames, movies, etc.) most commonly magic particles are coloured in reference to what natural element the magic influences

7:15 AM

hmm, so that means if I already have assigned lava and fire, there is nothing left to be assigned?

I don't really know - maybe you have magic that changes the colour of tree-leaves > that would be orange/brownish wouldn't it?

But approaching the problem from the colour-scale is probably a bad idea. It's easier to decide what magic you have and then assign colours instead of deciding what colours you have and try to figure out fitting magic

You could use the color more as a degree of magical power. So that red-orange becomes weaker fire magic for example.

I see, thanks for the advices. In that case, I should think of the type of magic I want before assigning colors

At least that's how I would approach it. There's no point in designing a chassis that won't fit your motor

If you are bent on using the colour scheme you might want to think about special circumstances that allow the magic to be used. Dawn and Sunset maybe allow orange magic to be used while the sun looks orang-ish

7:21 AM

(hmmm... seems I have this "thinking backwards" problem not only in physics and maths, but also in world building. I am starting to wonder whether my brain is flipped inside out, lol)

Secespitus: That's an interesting thought. Will definitely add more strategy elements to such games

Everyone has his own style, especially in gaming this can be quite interesting.

Some games make all magic the same colour; some make magic instantly spawn associated objects (nature magic trail of leaves, etc.); some make magic the colour of the user's aura (bad person black particles, good person white particles)

there's 1001 ways to approach everything

8:34 AM

@dot_Sp0T My favourite magic system has to be Lev Grossman's :)

@Mithrandir24601 How's that one working?

@Mithrandir24601 yuck

@Secespitus To start with, only the most unbelievably talented people can do magic to any level. Then it takes several years of extremely rigourous study of languages and exceptionally difficult hand and finger manipulations to get a decent grasp of the simple things that humans are able to do

@Mithrandir24601 That sounds boring. I wanna wave around my arms, say Fire! and fling fireballs at puny goblins! :D

If you can only do what you can do anyway - why would you bother learning it? Especially if you are extremely talented.

In other words, you have to learn it. Only instead of learning incantations and gestures like Harry Potter, you have to understand things like thermodynamics and adapt every spell to the situation, which is really hard, as well as the incantations and gestures are many orders of magnitude harder. Essentially

@Secespitus Oh, as in maybe ~0.0001 - 0.00001% of the population can do magic at all (that's my guess)

8:48 AM

That's a cool idea because it adds some sort of "realism" to magic, but I still fail to see the motivation.

@Secespitus It's a phenomenal series. It feels real. Life happens. Things go wrong. The main characters get depressed. More things go wrong. The characters truly grow up, in the most accurate way I've ever seen Ever. Adding a non-real magic system to this would have ruined it, but it's because it's so hard to learn that it's so, so good

@Gandalf You mean The Magicians trilogy dont you?

It doesn't just add realism, but the way it's done makes it feel real, not just realistic

@dot_Sp0T Yes. Not the TV series - that's very different. Also, don't judge based on the first book

@Mithrandir24601 I read 3 books iirc; of 3 books that exist

@Mithrandir24601 That sounds good. But how do the people get started with magic if it's that bothersome and doesn't give you any benefit?

8:58 AM

been looking for some good realistic fantasy after marathoning harry potter last summer when i spent time in sweden on a farm

@dot_Sp0T yeah, there are. I'm half-way through the third :)

@Mithrandir24601 I can spoil you

@dot_Sp0T Nah

Also I just found out about SFF.SE's story-identification tag so I probably won't have time to read other series - I've got a whole lot of older series I've got to finish

@Mithrandir24601 I gotta admit I forgot most of the content, just remmebered there being a guy without hands

8:59 AM

@Secespitus I didn't say there aren't any benefits... It just takes a while to get there

@dot_Sp0T Yeah - that would probably be Penny you're thinking of

@dot_Sp0T That probably makes the required gestures a bit complicated

A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

@Secespitus Minor spoiler in the answer to that

Feeds

9:59 AM

0

We live on the body of a god. How does gravity act? We live on the skin of a cosmic being, fleas being transported through eternity. The being (variously called The One, Allfather, The Lord of Days and Barry) is a gigantic human, mysteriously held against it's own gravitational pull by what we c...

It's beginning to feel like magic is the gap between gravity and quantum physics. That's how insanely real it feels

Lev Grossman, you're an utter genius

11:05 AM

I think this is the best thing I've read since Name of the Wind

@Mithrandir24601 Never heard of that one either.

@Secespitus You're missing out on the best fantasy books of the generation...

@Mithrandir24601 I'm reading a lot of pretty funny fantasy books

@Secespitus Discworld?

@Mithrandir24601 Always wanted to read that series, but no.

Stuff like Bartimäus, Iron Druid, Rachel Morgan

11:15 AM

@Secespitus It's very good :)

Tim B

One of my adventures just got a glowing review. This makes me happy :)

drivethrurpg.com/…

11:35 AM

hey there @Secespitus @Mithrandir24601 @TimB

@Shalvenay Rytsas!

how're things going?

@Shalvenay Really good, thanks :) I'm just reading the Magician's Land, which is one of the best things I've ever read for a few reasons (see above) :D

ah. I have a GoT question for you btw -- what's the deal with Brianne and Renly?

11:51 AM

@Shalvenay Good afternoon @Shalvenay. It's kind of a slow day here and I am wondering which series I stopped a few years ago I should continue reading again. SFF.SE's story-identification tag is really cool.

@Shalvenay SFF might have the answers for example here (probably contains spoilers)

12:28 PM

@Secespitus Yeah, sounds about right

1:35 PM

@Mithrandir24601 The Magicians is in my book queue. So far I've only seen the first 2 seasons of the show... I think one of my favorite magic systems is the one from the King Killer Chronicles, which is essentially sympathetic magic.

Though if I were to design my own system it would be very different

my favorite everything is from Kingkiller Chronicles

Anyone who hasn't read Discworld needs to.

@sphennings Agreed.

I have the whole series... which makes me sad because there won't be any more to get.

2:09 PM

@AndyD273 The book is so much better than the show

Though, yeah, Kingkiller is still the best :)

(although I do prefer the magic system of the Magicians. That alone shows how astoundingly good it is)

@Mithrandir24601 the magic system is only realistic, the books are terrible

@dot_Sp0T No, I strongly disagree here

Has anyone read Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis?

The first book is OK. After the second half of the second book it's amazing

@sphennings No, but that does look interesting

A series that I really enjoy is the Laundry Files by Charles Stross, and that book kinda looks like it would be in the same vein

2:15 PM

Bitter Seeds is much more focused and depressing.

The author also has PHD in physics. He tries really hard to not let that infect his storytelling.

@sphennings curious what "focused" means in this context

and have you read the laundry files?

@AndyD273 I have.

@sphennings OK... It's £3... I've just bought it :)

I liked it quite a bit. Beings hanging out at the bottom of the Mandelbrot Set is such a fascinating idea.

@Mithrandir24601 The same author wrote a book that mixed descriptions of quantum phenomena and classical (medieval) descriptions of angels.

@sphennings Seahorses all the way down :P

2:21 PM

Think flaming wheels of eyes.

@sphennings Cool. I have met very few that have read them. The last couple books have been getting darker and darker. Have you seen the most recent one? (The Delirium Brief)

@AndyD273 I haven't. I only read the first few.

Ah, ok. Well, I think they keep getting better, and some of the character progression they have going on with Bob and Mo is interesting, especially where they leave it at the end of the last book. I think at some point soon he and Mo are going to have to team up and eat the Black Pharaoh.

@sphennings The magic in that series is pretty close to the magic system I'd design, with the universe as some kind of computer, and math as the programming language that can make it do what you want.

It's not exactly how I'd do it, but it's closer.

@AndyD273 I always liked the art on the cover of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs because it implied that programming was some form of magic/alchemy.

2:41 PM

@sphennings Looked that one up. Why are there so many pictures of anime girls holding that book?

2

its just weird...

seems like some sort of meme

of which most, but not all, are just weird

true

actually, I take that back. Are there any memes that aren't weird?

even the ones that pretend to be level-headed are still odd at their core

@AndyD273 That is weird.

Just thought I'd drop this here indiegogo.com/projects/…

2:48 PM

One of the most satisfying things ever is telling PMs "I cannot do that task because I'm not going to be working for this company anymore."

@sphennings getting a new job?

@dot_Sp0T if I can take a nap in a tent at work, there will be nothing left to strive for

that'll be it, the apex of human achievement.

@AndyD273 A better job.

@sphennings Ah, apparently it's a 4chan thing... knowyourmeme.com/forums/meme-research/topics/…

Napping at work. That's the dream, alright.

2:57 PM

I could probably pull it off. The real trick would be how to have the alarm go off without giving away the ruse

@DaaaahWhoosh Headphones?

ooh, yeah, brilliant.

or... I could just work from home one day...

it's too bad I have things to do, otherwise I'd have to try this out

motion sensors to warn you when the boss is on the move?

lol my boss is in a different time zone

honestly I'm actually becoming uncomfortable with the lack of oversight

Yeah. I'm less productive when my managers are less directly involved in my work. I tend to drift towards non-productive. (as evidenced by my time spent here...)

3:04 PM

yeah, I used to be on a team where I had to give updates every day. I sort of still have to do that on my current team, but no one actually knows what I'm doing

recently I've gotten better at keeping myself busy, but for a while I was not getting very much done at all

"That DaahWhoosh guy. We know he's critical, but so far all we know is that every time he hits a milestone, we hear a 'DAAAAAA WOOOOSH!' sound over the PA system. hence the nickname. Damn annoying, really."

2

if only we had a PA system. Nah, I just run around the office shouting "DAAAAAAAAAH", the "whoosh" is the sound of me running past

5

it's great whenever we get new employees, I make sure to run to their desks first

As long as you aren't STREAKING past, it's all good.

only on casual Fridays ;P

3:23 PM

:)

on a completely unrelated note, sometimes I think I enjoy making things up too much

it's interesting when I blatantly lie about things to a new person, because they don't understand

"Don't leave the coffee machine switched on. There's a chance the Maxwell compensator could overheat and set fire to the coffee grounds."

because coffee is made by demons.

I work in IT... making up things is literally what I do. "Why is the system down?" Uhh... because the flux capacitor in the server matrix is on the fritz!

3

Heh. I sometimes have to explain computer science. I quite like demonstrating quicksort using a video of a bunch of hungarians doing a folk dance. It's technically an accurate demonstration of how the quicksort algorithm works, but nobody believes it, so it's like making things up in reverse.

youtube.com/watch?v=3San3uKKHgg , if you're interested.

2

3:41 PM

lol that is probably one of the best ways to explain sorting algorithms

Everything is better explained with dancing hungarians and hats.

@JoeBloggs you have broken my brain, sir. Broken it I say!

@JoeBloggs This is fantastic

I shall forever more imagine my computer running some sort of internal folk dance any time the hourglass is displayed.

Except they could have parallelised it :/

3:48 PM

@Mithrandir24601 Have you every tried to parallelise Hungarians? It's madness. MADNESS I SAY!

3

@JoeBloggs Another typical day in the office then?

Yeah, pretty much. Spooled up an AWS Hungarian warehouse, busy implementing a multithreaded goulash factory.

goulash factory. Ghoulish labor, then.

bdum, tschhh

ghoulish goulash. I would NOT recommend eating that.

4:04 PM

I'd prefer foolish stew/hash to ghoulish goulash.

I think ghoulish goulash would go well with some ghost toast

And ghost toast is good post-roast.

And now I want to ask a question about the economics of feeding ghosts... Thanks for that.

ooh yeah, like you have to make burnt offerings to feed your ancestors, so as time goes on you need to make more and more offerings or allow your ancestors to starve

actually, what happens if a ghost doesn't get fed?

That... is a qood question.

maybe that's just when they start haunting people? They get a bit hangry, as the kids today call it

3

4:15 PM

hangry haunting? You need some ghoulish goulash!

I guess the crux of the question would be why people need to feed the ghosts

2 scenarios are either you can keep in touch with ghosts unless they starve, or ghosts start doing bad things if they starve.

what is happening?

Do we need to start having holiday themes? October is the month for undead-related questions?

We had themes a while back. Have they gone now?

don't forget, you give burnt offerings to the (old) gods, too. Not just ancestors.

They've been spirited away

4:17 PM

@CaM and I guess if you neglect to feed the old gods, they eat the world?

@dot_Sp0T facepalms

@dot_Sp0T Do you want Cthulhu to rise up and PUNish you? Because puns like that may cause just such a thing.

@DaaaahWhoosh is that face to the palm or more palm to the face ?

@CaM there've been worse puns

@dot_Sp0T Is there an ideal ratio of palm to face, i wonder?

@JoeBloggs what about empirical studies?

Could be seen as a bit punitive.

4:20 PM

We all need to bring sacrifices for the greater god

maybe feeding ghosts is a two-stage process. First, you feed them so they can become visible and talk to you and stuff. Then, after a certain point, they become self-sustaining and you only keep them fed so they don't attack you. But the more you feed them, the more powerful they become, to the point where they become like gods

And I killed the chat - how fitting for this sea..... GBAUIEHTAOGTEA

@DaaaahWhoosh like cats?

@dot_Sp0T lol yeah pretty much.

this connects well with various ancient traditions where the dead are buried with food/wine/etc.

@CaM and cats

4:26 PM

@CaM and explains why the people buried with the most food (emperors and such) are considered gods after they die

So how many levels in "Ghost" prestige class does it take to no longer need food?

dunno, I was thinking you always need food. It's just that the effects of not getting food are different.

Possibly a sort of self-reinforcing loop

Like cats

Any ghost is capable of taking on physical form if they get enough food

but if they no longer get enough they dwindle back to being spirits

so a forgotten god, with no followers left to feed it, will fade back to being a normal ghost

4:29 PM

So, stay hungry long enough, you get hangry. Then you lose your "self?"

Or possibly just start attacking people to try get them to feed you.

I know I get pretty snippy if I don't have my lunch on time.

Feeding on burnt (or other) offerings is best, but feeding on fear works in a pinch, eh?

and I'm not a semi-corporeal deitic spirit.

Again all concepts translate to cats

Cats do feed on fear.

4:32 PM

Such do gheest

(gheest, plural of ghost; like geese is plural of goose)

3

@dot_Sp0T no, 'geese' is the plural of 'deer'

You're both wrong. Sheep is the plural of soup.

@JoeBloggs you don't know mutton

@DaaaahWhoosh don't you use such words in here young manling!

@DaaaahWhoosh: I believe it's spelt 'Ewe'.

4:35 PM

But I have to say I love ghosts. Always loved them. Make ghosts great again!

there definitely is something strange in this neighborhood

Who you gonna call? IT DEPARTMENT!

3

I ain't afraid of turning it off and on again!

Turning people off and back on again is one good way to increase the ghost population.

2

smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-08-08

4:47 PM

@CaM thus it must be done vigorously

@JoeBloggs Slowest quick sort ever.

@CaM thus it must be done vigorously

@AndyD273 probably a Java-derived programming language. Obviously one that uses Hungarian notation, but Java stuff always runs slow.

@CaM Hungarian notation always drove me nuts. I can only take fiddle music for so long. I really should not be a solo instrument.

20,000+ words into the longest story I've ever written. Kind of daunting.

4:57 PM

What's it about?

a highly contagious parasitoid that is first discovered in cattle, but then is found in people.

oh, so it's a drama :D

no ghosts were harmed in the making of the story.

2

what does the parasitoid do?

btw while so many people working in IT are online: any idea how to determine if a font is monospaced?

5:00 PM

@dot_Sp0T type out a w and an i and compare

@DaaaahWhoosh well, basically, it eats your brain.

@DaaaahWhoosh ooooh

but the story is more about how folks react to the infection, than the infection itself.

I assume they don't take it well

Why not write about it from the view of the parasite?

5:03 PM

@dot_Sp0T LOL

@CaM I've been serious to some degree

@DaaaahWhoosh yeah. Not well. Tanks are involved. riots.

I don't know how to write from the perspective of a creature that has no external senses and literally isn't human. That's... a little alien to me.

@CaM I think Joe did something along these lines for a Medium series

@CaM please tell me the parasites are small and from space and that was a pun

or, I guess they don't have to be from space. I am thus satisfied

They don't know where its from. In the soil, and patient 0 was found dead after being away from home for a few years, so I haven't figured out the root source yet. Right now, I'm dealing with how angry "good ole boys" from rural Kentucky will be after the military seals off the town

5:08 PM

Why is there so much fiction set in the US of A? :(

But no, I hadn't planned to have the things take over people like some sort of Village of the Damned remake, no.

I would pay good money for some modern fiction set in Switzerland

@dot_Sp0T because, while I've traveled more than most Americans I know, I haven't spent enough time in any other country to write about it.

<--- tourist

@CaM that's the name of a chocolate we have here

:)

5:10 PM

@dot_Sp0T For sale: baby shoes, in Switzerland. I'll expect my check in the mail.

2

@DaaaahWhoosh We don't have cheques here :(

aww, all that work for naught

Actually, the continent that's had the least fiction written about it would be Zealandia. I mean, even Antarctica has more fiction set there. (Thanks, HP Lovecraft)

@CaM oh sure, yeah, continents, amazing

@dot_Sp0T So write some SwissFic. (Much like FanFic, but with Swiss instead of fans.)

5:13 PM

it's getting worse

IT? Yes. Yes IT is getting worse. I blame Microsoft.

I blame modern cinema

Oh lord. Modern cinema sucks, by and large. I'm tired of reboots.

The overlap between IT and cinema is overwhelming nowadays.

Bellerophon

Open source cinema for all.

5:28 PM

@Bellerophon was referring more to reboots instead of new ideas

Anoplexian

@JDługosz Could I get your assistance on cleaning up a comments section on here please?

:P

I did, and JD is a mod. xD

@Anoplexian who's JD?

John Dorian?

Yeah, sorry, didn't look at who you were pinging with that

hohoho

Better question: Why is that story based question still open?

5:36 PM

@sphennings probs because it's weeb?

Anoplexian

@sphennings My votes don't count for enough. xD

@dot_Sp0T weeb?

weeb

Ahhh.

@CaM : I did indeed do a piece on writing from alien perspectives. medium.com/universe-factory/…

5:49 PM

oh! :)

Hmm... What would a brain eating parasite sense... hormones, oxygen content, taste, possibly? Maybe touch, if you want to describe a lot of squishyness...

So far, the story has assumed/ treated them more as a real-world parasite with no intelligence

though, brain-eating, it could, theoretically, tap into the host's senses, memories, intelligence.

@dot_Sp0T Not all modern, but set in Switzerland: goodreads.com/places/37-switzerland

@CaM maybe it would eat the memories and live them

@AndyD273 have you looked at the titles? I mean there's even classics among them that were written before you were born :)

@dot_Sp0T There are 107 titles. They can't all be written before 1643

5:58 PM

@AndyD273 I don't even count James Bond tbh

also most of them will be Dürrenmatt and Co. great authors but def not anything modern

So, can you name any modern Swiss authors we should check out?

@AndyD273 nope, that's the point :(

Well there's some, but that's more boring fiction

Hmm, I wonder what it is that makes the Swiss so boring?

You could check out Martin Suter if you want to, that's contemporary

I guess it's the 6Million vs 330 million debate

Ah also a friend of mine wrote a Sherlock Holmes novel recently

Probably the cuckoo clocks... I'd never get anything done if I had one of those going off every half hour

6:01 PM

Cuckoo Clocks are actually German

Huh

Guess that makes sense

I wonder what the percentage of humans that write books is?

@dot_Sp0T Yeah, that's probably it. Lots more people writing what they know, and many of them won't ever go visit Switzerland, as fun as that would be. I couldn't write a story set there. I'd have had cuckoo clocks everywhere, and that would have been bad.

When cuckoo clocks attack!

Now I'm on parasitic cuckoo clocks...

Hope you don't fall off the clock.

Hmm, maybe that could be the plot of the story... A Swiss boy starts to notice that people have cuckoo clocks in their homes. First it's just one of his friends, but soon he is seeing them everywhere. Then his mother brings one home and hangs it in his room. At first the ticking is maddening, but soon he gets used to it, and it becomes a soothing sound. Then the voices start...

6:08 PM

but what do the voices tell him to do?

@CaM He can't tell, they are all speaking in German

@JoeBloggs That cuckoo... it's like an ear worm. It burrows into your brain, through your ear, and then when you least expect it, CUCKOO!!

"Why do you have so many clocks on the wall?" 'Ich weiss nicht..."

@AndyD273 : like a baby Alien but through the frontal lobes?

Stranger Things 1x08 "Will vomits in the bathroom" scene

►

@JoeBloggs Eh, though that would be really good too

Right through the forehead

6:26 PM

It's no good. I'm going to have to write something about parasitic cuckoo clocks.

3

...and my work here is done.

6:59 PM

Howdy y’all

o/

::Waves from the corner::

@JoeBloggs you know tgat coocoos are brood parasites? Have to parody that.

This is beginning to feel like a Doctor Who plot

Anyone here reading my draft? I posted another ten pages last night.

7:08 PM

@JDługosz it's like an addiction isn't it?

But no, currently looping this song while working on my engine

7:24 PM

@JDługosz I haven't parodied brood parasites, but this story could certainly be a doctor who plot.

That moment when you're playing and replaying a scene in your head so you can try to put it in words, and the whole thing just... gives you chills...

7:47 PM

@JoeBloggs You need to photoshop a cuckoo clock with big mouth full of shark teeth. Kind of like the D&D mimic version of a treasure chest about to eat the PCs...

8:03 PM

@CaM wouldn't that be more predator vs parasite?

Also, you could photoshop it to have the predator mouth.

8:13 PM

predator clock opens to a smaller, slimier predator clock, that says cuckoo before it eats your face?

I almost photoshopped a chrysalis in place of the weights on a cuckoo clock, then decided it was too much effort.

James

Beer!

4

But: rapid, vaguely trip story about parasitic cuckoo clocks submitted to Universe Factory.

Beer indeed!

@James "Beer!" far better battle cry than the Tick's "Spoon!"

8:35 PM

I recently made the dual mistake of drinking root beer again and combining root beer with bourbon.

@DaaaahWhoosh I don't drink alcohol.

@DaaaahWhoosh ew. Root Beer is good. Root Beer with vanilla-infused vodka is divine.

@DaaaahWhoosh How was it a mistake for you? Assuming you don't mean a conflict between the burbon and some hypertension medication.

@JDługosz lol no it's just that I was completely off soda, which I assume was a good health choice. Now I'm back on it, and it's also helping me develop a taste for alcohol

@CaM Actually I put vodka in my ice cream. Like, a tablespoon for the whole batch. It acts as an antifreeze and gives better crystal growth.

8:38 PM

@JDługosz crystal growth. Breaking Bad brand ice cream? (Just kidding, but seriously, the pun screamed out at me)

@DaaaahWhoosh I really don't see how the two go together. Personally, I like Coke Classic. I used to like Jolt until the sold out and started making it with syrup.

@CaM Churn Baby Churn

bourbon and root beer go together surprisingly well. I think coke is easier to get right, but with root beer there seems to be a magic ratio

I had the weirdest evening yesterday. The aforementioned drink plus a great meal made me very happy, until I realized the meal I'd just eaten was indigestible to me. At which point I mostly felt terrible any time I moved.

Alcohol is also an ingredient in the Sichuan sausage I made with my wife. I substituted whatever strongest plain stuff I could find at the booze store here in the U.S. But all the spices and such were authentic. After stuffing, it's hung out on the porch for a few months. So the alcohol is needed as a preservative and to promote drying of the meat.

I don't think I'd have the patience nor the confidence to make food that involved leaving it outside for months

@JDługosz "Sichuan sausage I made with my wife" do you mean "sausage my wife and I made" or "sausage I made from my wife" because there's a HUGE difference and I feel like I need to make sure I'm not misinterpreting that statement.

8:48 PM

@CaM LOL. As long as no commas were misused or withheld, I'll leave it as humor.

:)

(that's an allusion to “Commas Save Lives”)

Yep, I got it.

But I'm still not eating that sausage. Just in case.

Anybody want to take a look at my scene Moving In? It has some powerful stuff in it. §1.5 has zero action; people barely even moving. Just wringing emotion out like a damp sponge. Romance audience should lap it up!