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Monday, September 30, 2024

Microplastics - Magic Erasers, Yep

Of course something that works so strangely and suspiciously well has to be putting sh*tty microplastics all over you. I always had a weird distrust of them, now I really don't trust 'em. 

https://www.housedigest.com/847635/the-untold-truth-of-magic-erasers/

BTW, UPDATE on the black plastic thing. There was a big fat error, which shows that typical usage with hot food and black plastic will keep exposure basically exactly at or below the EPA guidelines. Still too much for me, especially since you know who was melting the spatulas as they were being cooked. No thank you. 

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/12/17/0222233/huge-math-error-corrected-in-black-plastic-study

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Grammar Time: Worth vs. Worth It

 So “Worth” is a weird word. People using it wrong on the internet a lot lately. Really in common every day speech, 9 times out of 10, you’d say “worth it”... like,

That isn’t worth it.

Or,

It is worth it to exercise regularly.

 

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The only time time you use “worth” without “it” ... is when it is followed by an -ing word... or another specific noun.

Example: It isn’t worth worrying about.

Example: It isn’t worth poodoo.    (Star Wars reference). 

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A random website guy said it this way:

 

Worth acts as a Preposition. That's why it's normally followed by a Noun, a Pronoun or a Gerund (my note: a gerund is an -ing word, which turns it into a noun).

Ex.

It's worth a try.

It's worth it.

It's worth trying.

 

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The dictionary says it can be a noun or preposition 99% of the time.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worth

Noun example: A dollar’s worth of gas.

Noun example: ...trying to teach human worth.

 

Preposition example: Well worth the effort.

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Sunday, September 22, 2024

Kaiju movie- Monster from a Prehistoric Planet

 Never ran into it before, I kinda like it. The big statue topple scene at 21 minutes in is impressive.  The giant rocky cave, the pure rock island… I guess these are all on some islands around Japan.  Later you get loads of 1960s Japan culture… print magazines, attitude toward natives on an island (the main folks just take stuff), saving face (you want Me to apologize to them for your screwup? says the rich boss guy), the young girl suggesting her teqcher/nanny would make a new mom to the embarrassment of the rich bows guy dad….


Early on, i love that they are all wearing matching safari outfits, hats and all… but why are they?


Why does one of the parent monsters carry a giant octopus in its mouth? Betting to feed Baby.  


Sunday, September 15, 2024

Kung Fu classics in a game: Shaolin vs. Wu Tang 2

Awesome love letter to classic Kung Fu. Yep, they have Bruce Lee, The Lizard (Five Deadly Venoms), Jet Li, Tony Jaa, Bolo, Chuck Norris, etc. 




Friday, September 13, 2024

SF6 - E. Honda, wow

 Never ever thought I'd become a low tier hero again, but E. Honda is somehow extremely fun to play at my level right now. After a couple of days of figuring him out, I started crushing bodies. Got up to Diamond in no time... now I am once again in danger of playing at high level without really knowing how to play the game, so gotta see how this goes.



    SIDENOTE: WTF is up with Gold league being harder than Plat/low diamond? I started Ryu from scratch, and the fools playing in Gold league are Diamond+ level people with crazy abilties... why the hell are they still in Gold starting over with a new character/account? I just started this game 6 weeks ago or something, what the heck are they doing? 

The VesperArcade guy/TY channel just so happened to put out an Excellent Honda guide for advanced tricks right in the middle of me messing around with Honda. I was proud to see I had picked up on a few things on my own, but he really nailed all the detailed tricks. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI5sAd5RyOw

For instance:

Butt slam connects, you are RIGHT next to them at +23... so a whiffed crouching jab will put you at +7. Perfect... b/c now you can:

  • cmd grab
    • Note, I often hit jab a split second too soon and it doesn't come out, but then get the cmd grab anyway. I wonder what my timing is like for this cmd grab... can't be frame perfect by pure luck. 
  • meaty HK, into ex.qcf+k, down+p launcher, another butt slam combo. 
    • kills jumpers
  • Standing Strong is +1 on block... but it's I think 9 or 10 startup so... yeah that still works, counterhit right?, into hands or something I think. 
    • MP counterhit, jab,MP (target), headbutt. 
    • MP counterhit, cr.MP, OD.hands, ... whatever. 
    • MP blocked? -> +1, so can jab them or try a sneaky cmd grab. 
  • regular throw... maybe. You'd have to delay it a couple frames maybe...? Is it really safer? 
    • OK, it's safer if they jump straight up b/c u have time to anti-air with HP.  Not so with cmd grab, eh?
  • Shimmy, into... HP counterhit, green dash, HP,... whatever. 

Buttslam, how to get?

  • cr.jab, cr.jab... always do buttslam UNLESS THEY CROUCHING b/c it''ll whiff. 
    • EXCEPT, buffed OD.hands will stand them up (do a cr.jab after buffed.OD hands). 
  • *** buttslam combo as soon as can after Sumo-Launch, otherwise u'll be +6 instead of +7. 
Sumo - Launch
AKA, Taiho Cannon's downside compared to Teppo Slap is its slower startup. Under normal circumstances, it is too slow to combo from any of Honda's special-cancelable normals, except for the first hit of 5HKhttps://wiki.supercombo.gg/w/Street_Fighter_6/E.Honda#Sumo_Dash_(236K)

Bread n Butter COMBOS
  •  HP counterhit, green dash, HP,... whatever. 
    •  HP counterhit, green dash, HP, Sumo-Launch, buttslam. 
  • ... OD.hands, cr.jab, buttslam. 
  • ... any Hands, level 3 super. 
  • cr.jab cr.jab, buttslam (if they not crounch, unless u got OD.hands). 
  • cr.jab, cr.jab ->MPheadbutt
  • XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


Get out of Corner: Use Buttslam. 

Safe Jump
This is when you are +42. Jump and attack holding block, their dragonpunch type thing will not hit, you'll block. If they freak out, your jump attack hits them instead. 

OFFENSE, UPDATE:
Headbutt

Against a grounded opponent, headbutt is +40 on hit.

    • Midscreen, you can forward dash then drive rush to hit the opponent on wakeup. Drive rush 5MP is Honda's major threat in this scenario, as it leads to large frame advantage and continued pressure on either hit or block.
    • In the corner, you can press 5MK (as a frame kill) then 5MP, which will hit the opponent meaty. If done properly, you will hit the opponent on a late frame of 5MP, generating additional frame advantage (+3 on block and +6 on hit).


LEGEND: 
  • ex means OD means Overdrive. Strong = MP = Medium Punch. Jab = lp = light punch. 
  • Sumo-Launch is my name for = qcf+k then dwn+P to launch 'em. Lift = Taiho Canon Lift is official name.  
  • Hands = hundred hand slap... now done with qcb+p. 
  • Buttslam... does it have 3 mistake names or what? =Sumo Smash, officially. But I think Vesper was calling the LIFT/Sumo-Launch by that name mistakenly. And supercombo.gg is calling it Sumo-Slam and ButtSlam and Sumo Smash. 


Monday, September 9, 2024

Chai / Spiced Tea - The recipe

Thanks to old friends for the recipe, and more recently the HappyBellyFish guy for fine tuning. 

I get all this on Amazon, but check local stores, too. 

Ceylon cinnamon is critical... it is the softer type of cinnamon, and it is better for making chai masala, aka spiced tea. It can be pulverized easily, tastes differently than the usual USA cinnamon we are accustomed to. This has an extra mint flavor and less of the sharp super duper spicy cinnamon bite. One of the reasons I started using this b/c it supposed to be better for your liver (I know right?) if you eat a lot of cinnamon. Look it up, you'll see what I mean. But also, some Chai experts from the India sub continent I looked up use this type of cinnamon for their tea so... yeah. Ceylon cinnamon (half a stick or more, crushed), green cardamom (half tablespoon, crushed), cloves (half tablespoon, lightly crushed), a couple of turns of cracked black pepper (not too much, it'll take over), 3 to 6 teaspoons of the granulated tea (India Tea is the brand I get I think), 2 cups of water, 2 teaspoons of sugar (or lately coconut sugar), 1 cup of whole milk... bring to boil, let sit 6+ more minutes (notice, some people say boil till mega bubbles, cool a moment, do it again, over and over to make it thicker and quicker... I'd rather just do it my way). Strain. Best dang tea you can find... and you just adjust amounts to your liking of course. If it comes out too strong, add more milk later. 

Sidenotes: 

From Nepal, a version of a tea bag with black tea and we think black cardamom (definitely not the green kind). It's pretty good, simple but good with milk just like that. 

Some people put ginger in Chai. While I love ginger, I keep it far away from my spiced milk tea... FAR away. 

It's all good, adjust amounts to your liking. More green cardamom for a sweeter flavor, for instance. 

Some people like Star Anise mixed in... I stopped using it after HappyBellyFish said he never uses it either. And b/c of the scare/paranoia of the poisonous kind of anise getting mixed in. Funny thing is I bought some real anise seeds and used them for a while... it works if you want to add that flavor, though I've never seen or heard of anybody else doing that. 

HappyBellyFish uses some other version of sweet stuff... what's he call it, Jaggeryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaggery apparently it's just way less refined cane sugar. More flavors. So closer to the dark brown stuff. 

If you use honey, add it after the whole thing is complete, not during cooking. 


Regular cinnamon, don't over do it, small small amounts are OK:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29501463/

https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/is-cinnamon-toxic-to-the-liver

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ceylon-vs-cassia-cinnamon#TOC_TITLE_HDR_3


History of Chai / Spiced Tea in India (they say a spiced medicinal drink existed in India ages ago, but the Brits introduced the tea leaves to India in the 1800s): https://tastylicious.com/what-is-chai-tea/

Below is the thin, golden (not orange) easily crushed Ceylon style cinnamon and other ingredients:


A lot of the Ceylon cinnamon is fine, it's mild in flavor, but I use about half a stick so I don't run out too quickly... one whole stick is probably more to my liking. It is soft, so when you crush it up, it almost powders, so you get more flavor during cooking. (If you are stuck with regular cinnamon, the sticks are too hard to crush with my tools, so I have to use 1.5 to two sticks... and then if you put pure regular cinnamon powder, it will gum up the tea during cooking. Moral of the story, stick to Ceylon Cinnamon.)

I like more green cardamom and less cloves than HappyBellyFish, but do it how you like it.

For me, just a little black pepper is plenty. 

Monday, September 2, 2024

Dinosaurs, Sauropods; The Dino Art Guy; T.Rex Video

Sauropods

 On yt, living Large: life as a sauropod- dino lecture 2023 Timestamp 24:18  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty-ngnGT0ls

Great pict of the many dino branches n names of:

Different necks on diff saurupods. But teeth stayed simple. Bite, swallow, no chew. 

I-beam bones for load bearing, other bone for twist strength. Lotsa air sacs. 

Neat physics on a ball and socket joint that evolved over time in the sauropod necks. 



Alamosaurus… tied for biggest. From N.America. So it's not just the giant one in China or the Argentinosaurus that are competing to be the biggest anymore. 

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Dinosaur Art

Dontmesswithdinosaurs.com is the Dino Art guy's website. Name of Bryan Engh. Some of his youtubes are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYA_QN2KQLY&list=LL&index=12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7jSOp2mr2s&list=LL&index=13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGdslcBmLz8&list=LL&index=11



"The Tomb". He likes monsters, too. Believe I see a mage + spellbook down there. 

Don't miss his cool DnDish storyboards:





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T. Rex

Life and Times of Tyrannosaurus Rex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqkqkxYGNZc&list=LL&index=2



They found a triceratops whose horn was bit off by T.Rex, grew back. Also a duck-billed dino whose lower back/hip had a big bite taken out by T.Rex. Only the teeth of the T.Rex would fit in the holes that had healed back, definite evidence of hunting. Although they think they mostly like to eat smaller/younger ones... like predators today.