A half-American (it’s complicated) company I worked for went on a buying spree and bought a Swiss company that had some technology they wanted. When the Swiss technical and managerial leads came by the company headquarters to work on integration they were appalled at how slack our standards were compared to theirs.

How do I know this? (I mean I was just a lowly marketeer in a tech company; the most despised class.) Well, thing is, at one lunch hour I happened to join them in the elevator. I don’t look even slightly Germanic (Mom’s genes governs about 80% of my appearance) so they took it in stride and started saying some pretty mean things about my coworkers. And i just carefully listened in as we descended to the ground floor.

When the doors opened, I turned around and said in flawless Frankfurter German (with a slight hint of an English accent), “Des war echt en faszinierendes Gespräch; villeicht sollteste dat mal mit de Geschäftsführung bespreche.” (A Hessian dialect, as I said, to hammer the point home: what you’re seeing as grammatical error is my attempt to get how Frankfurters actually speak orally.) It translates roughly to “That was a fascinating conversation; perhaps you should have it with the management.”

It was cute watching large, fit, grown men suddenly look terrified at my oh-so-threatening 160cm, slim self.

I guess if we’re redefining words willy-nilly, did you know if you write long, unrequested lectures on things that makes you a lifetime scold?

People lived in the mountains and “bopped down to market” for thousands of years before. We can do it again.

50%? I’m sensing a baijiu drinker! :D

You know what is my strongest temptation to problem drinking?

Teetotallers lecturing.

Kind of like how vegetarians lecturing gives me the urge to chow down on a massive pile of raw hamburger.

I personally like the feeling of a drink (sometimes a double) inside of me. I generally feel relaxed and more sociable. I hate feeling drunk, though. Like I just can’t stand feeling out of control like that. (This is why I can count the number of times I’ve been drunk in my life—59 years—on slightly more than one hand.)

I spent slightly over a decade as a teetotaller, but decided that it was kind of silly if you didn’t have a specific problem that made alcohol something to avoid. (There are several good reasons ranging from “I’m an alcoholic” to “I just don’t like the taste/feeling.”)

Generally I’ll have maybe three drinks in an average week. Sometimes at festivals I’ll have a few more, but spread out with an hour between drinks so I don’t build up to serious intoxication levels.

Not having a community around it would increase the appeal for me, actually!

A home in the mountains. Hot tub optional.

You seem nice.

You know what’s easier, though?

Not having DST. At all.

Why would you want a stove that knows the year, month, or date? Like seriously, just because something can have a feature doesn’t mean it must have it! Day of week? … possibly (but weird). Anything past that is just dumb.

A modern day police procedural, likely using either CORPS (if I want crunch) or FATE (if I want drama). Think something like Law & Order without the fascist apologia (but WITH Jerry Orbach!) expanded a bit to include peripheral characters including the criminals, the families of both sides, etc.

And then the world ends.

Well, not quite ends, but there’s a rather sudden drop in the standard of living as the half of the world facing the sun gets burned to a crisp, in effect, while the ensuing massive wave of fire and plasma scorches most of what is left. Only very small portions of the world survive (and that only barely). Nobody IC will know how or why it happened (I naturally will—it’s one of the scenarios taken from CORPS Apocalypse) but when it does, the characters will have to face living in a world where most of humanity is dead, the trappings of civilization are gone (most important of those being the supply chains that keep cities alive!) and all that’s left are the buildings and a rapidly-dwindling supply of essentials.

I tried doing this once when some players were saying they wanted a campaign that would surprise them. And surprise them it did, but apparently this was not the kind of surprise they were looking for. I want to try it again with players who will be strongly warned in advance that the campaign will go completely off the rails and change genre after a few sessions of play establishes their characters, their personalities, their relationships, etc.

OK, I’m not understanding a word of this.

• Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly
• Standard Color print costs will increase, by roughly 12-13% for US printing
• On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing

OK, so print costs will increase, but print costs will decrease for the US. Clear as mud. Maybe the example will help:

• A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.

Nope. Gets even more confusing.

Did nobody copy edit this? Or is a nearly 15% drop “slight” in USAnian?

I’ve been reading some news on Gen-Z types not taking any shit anymore and as a result I’ve got The Who’s “The Kids Are Alright” echoing in my head.

Weird. I love squid jerky. Of course it’s probably prepared very differently here from where you are.

I tried marijuana in my youth and all I got out of it was a migraine that made me want to die.

It turns out I’m particularly sensitive to carbon monoxide. So no MJ (or tobacco either, really) for me!

Gas fueled sports cars (real ones, not “sports” cars with automatics) do have three pedals: gas, brake, and clutch.

I carefully look away from the clutter and the boxes at the back of the closet and pretend it’s not there.

I used to be an avid flyer, but the turn airlines have taken to become cattle cars of the air has removed that shine. I recently flew from Wuhan to Seoul to Calgary to Ottawa (and back) in order to do a road trip from Ottawa to Victoria and back (to Calgary, bypassing the Ottawa->Calgary leg) and in the process just reaffirmed my complete lack of desire to do air travel for anything but the absolutely necessary ever again.

I love travel, but I’ll stick to rail for as much as is practical. The road trip was great but exhausting for our driver (my stepfather), and here in China rail is just the best option for long-distance travel. Comfortable and fast. Air is no longer on the list except at specific great need.

Vaguebooking is usually something associated with drama queens on Facebook.