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Where is the Random Thread of Randomness stuff that doesn't belong in other threads thread?

hulk smash bear GIF
 
Bond drinks his martinis with a lemon peel because in the books Felix Leiter points out that olives take up a lot of volume in the glass so 2 fat olives means less booze than a skinny lemon peel.
 
 
I'm almost done rereading "Battle Cry of Freedom," my almost 600 page book on the Civil War and I have decided to declare GEN William Tecumseh Sherman Patron Saint of Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes. The way the author tells it, he fought a fairly conventional (if excellent) war up to Atlanta, but since the Confederate armies were no match for the Union armies by that point they were mostly limited to attacking rear areas, and wrecking communication, transportation, and supplies. Sherman decided he would have to withdraw if he continued to fight conventionally because his supply line was extended too far in enemy territory. So instead of fighting the troops that were harassing his rear areas, he just cut loose and plundered everything he needed and burned everything he didn't need, basically unopposed, from Atlanta to the sea. Then he hooked a left and did the same thing through the Carolinas.
 
Oh, the other thing that's been rolling around in my head from that book: According to the author, North Carolina was the last state to secede--and almost didn't. One of the hitches in a second Civil War today is, while the division is similarly high, the geographic arrangement isn't contiguous. You'd have the West Coast--a lot of the coastal areas--maybe Colorado, literally all over the map. So that sort of makes me wonder how the Civil War would've panned out if North Carolina *hadn't* seceded. There would've been this big chunk of Union, smack dab in the heart of the Confederacy. The Confederate capital of Richmond would've been practically surrounded by Union territory and Virginia would've been almost cut off from the rest of the Confederacy.
 
"Kevin McAllister" would be a good name for a cat.
 
Especially a cat who steals your toothbrush.
 
I enjoy being smart and a nerd. At the bank for reasons I may or may not have mentioned elsewhere and the guy at the teller to my left is getting $100 worth of quarters. The teller mentions they're all new issue 2026 quarters and people have been trying to get them. They make some small talk while the wheels turn in my head and the lightbulb comes on. I say "250th anniversary quarters. People want them because they're for the 250th anniversary." The reaction was not "OMIGOD you're the smartest person EVAR@!," but I got enough of a nod of appreciation that it was good for me.

[edit] and yes, holy shit, they apparently went bananas on fancy quarters for 2026. [/edit]
 
I have become my Dad (I'm fine with that, BTW). When I was young I got a rifle cheap because I was going to buy one and my Dad thought I was grossly overpaying (I wasn't). My Dad just lost track of what thing cost (he covered the difference). Apparently a burrito costing $20 is a thing in our culture right now and I'm thinking "that's insane. A delicious burrito the size of my forearm costs $7." (I lived near San Diego in the early 2000s.) So I googled my preferred Mexican place. My burrito costs $13.20. Not $20, but almost as close to it as the $7 I think a burrito costs.

It is a good burrito though. The best you can get if you're not living on the West Coast.

Best carne asada burrito (the best burrito in the world) is at any random shady Mexican drive-thru in or around San Diego that ends with "bertos". Albertos, Aibertos, Eribertos, whatever. Next best is a chain in Portland OR that, disturbingly, google maps makes me think no longer exists. Best I can get is Bandido Taquiera in Louisville, which is pretty damn good. Don't know if it is $13.20 good, but it's pretty good.
 
I am amused and appreciative of people who have a different skill-set than me. Girl, growing her hair out and she's like "it's long enough that I need to use a brush now" and I still don't know how you decide "nope, it's too long to comb." Shit. Now I can't remember where I was going with this. I had a bigger point and that was just the aperitif, but the chefs...PASTA! Pasta. Italians and pasta. I'm like, "it's noodles." Italians are like, "Oh, no no no no, you can't have spaghetti with shrimp. Especially with Alfredo sauce. You need big flat noodles." Or vermicelli. Rotini. I get spaghetti noodles for spaghetti or elbow macaroni for mac n' cheez, but beyond that it is a mystery.
 
 
I bet nothing actually happens if you look at an eclipse unprotected.
 
The first three episodes of Reacher are out, I have actually read the book this series is based on.
 
 
I just realized why everyplace, trying to force AI on me, bugs the crap out of me (apart from the obvious reasons): Clippy. AI is phuqing Clippy. "It looks like you're trying to write a suicide note! Would you like some help with that?"
 
This could go in my X-Files/TV thread, but I'm rolling so I'll put it here. Absolutely fucking nothing on television tonight. Best options are: "Dog, the Bounty Hunter," the "Star Trek" with the giant life-sucking paramecium, and "UnXplained" with William Shatner. I went with "UnXplained." I don't know if I was just in a forgiving mood, but it didn't seem as terrible as "Weird or What?", "Rescue: 911" or any of the other shows the Shat has hosted. He just doesn't hold a candle to Nimoy in the pseudodocumentary category. But somehow I was able to sit through him trying to present that the Atlantans were possibly alien-human hybrids and Atlantis was a spaceship and other things that get StoryTelevision switched on Saturday nights.

I guess part of that is because I've been thinking about the "cargo cults" of the Pacific in the second half of the 20th century. These groups of Pacific islanders saw the US unloading bonkers amounts of supplies they couldn't even conceive of existing from transports they also couldn't conceive of and they developed a religion around it, where they'd build replicas of airstrips and radios and supply depots (I'm going off the cuff here so I may be getting some of my facts wrong) to try to get supplies delivered to them. So basically we had 20th century humans of a stone age prehistoric culture taking other 20th century humans of an advanced culture for gods. If that can happen--and it is documented that it did--is it so incredible to expect that prehistoric stone age ancients (or even bronze age peoples) would take aliens from another planet for gods?

But coming back to Nimoy, "In Search Of..." was one of my fond childhood Sunday television memories. I always enjoy when one of the "Ancient Mysteries" reruns is on. So, after watching this Shat show, I decided if I had unlimited wishes eventually I'd get around to wishing for Nimoy to do a serious "In Search of...Ancient Mysteries" style documentary on the content from the Real Ultimate Power ninja Website. I can almost hear him, expounding on the awesomeness of ninjas and how their sole purpose is to flip out and kill people. Yes, it would be great.
 
Tonight's cocktail: The Pink Daiquiri of Necessity.

I have somehow managed to run out of most liquors, garnishes, and mixers all at the same time. So now I'm trying to come up with drinks I can do with what I have (Kahlua, Bacardi 151, Malibu, Triple Sec, and Wild Turkey). I could make a Spanish Coffee--and I probably should. I haven't made one in a long time and it's about the only thing I actually have all the ingredients for, but so far tonight I've made a Turkey Tonic without a lemon slice (I think the Turkey Tonic is my own invention. It is exactly what it sounds like, on rocks with a lemon slice and it is yummy), an Old Fashioned with some shitty fake maple syrup I accidentally bought years ago instead of simple syrup--and no garnish of any sort, and now the Pink Daiquiri of Necessity:

1 part triple sec
1/2 part Malibu
1/2 part 151
an appropriate amount of lime juice (we'll say 2 parts)
as little grenadine as possible
some water to add some volume

Really the only thing that hides the taste of 151 is a Spanish coffee but apart from the rubbing alcohol aftertaste it is surprisingly good.
 
Holy fuck, Renaissance Disney era is so good. 1989-2012-ish. Just watched a Lion King react and the stories were so good when they weren't pushing an agenda. Now I gotta fire up "The Lion, The Witch, & the Wardrobe." Until a few years ago I totally forgot that was Disney, because it is so good and everything Disney pushes today is so terrible.
 
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