It's Personal...

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:43 pm

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:Jokes on her though. I pissed in her toilet and didn't flush, then I took the lid off the tank and took a crap in the top part. Bitch. .

Ahh, the good ol' upper decker. Classy!

...You Lost Me wrote:I think Count is nuts...

Personally, I think he's taking up a career in writing, and he's working on a spiritual successor to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:07 pm

RobbyPants wrote:
...You Lost Me wrote:I think Count is nuts...
Personally, I think he's taking up a career in writing, and he's working on a spiritual successor to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

In that case, needs more crack.

Amethyst_Butterfly · Post by **Amethyst_Butterfly** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:44 am

Ted the Flayer wrote:Hartz flea medication is what started this whole thing months ago. You can be assured that I'm not touching the crap ever again.

Ugh. I had a cat almost die from Hartz stuff about 15 years ago. Have been avoiding their crap ever since. Sorry your cat is ill because of those fucknuts =(

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:12 pm

I just got a call from the East Bay Regional Park District around 45 minutes ago. I was finishing lunch at a crowded and noisy dim sum restaurant in Oakland Chinatown, and I had to ask them to wait a few seconds while I stumbled out into the open air and fumbled a pencil and paper out of my computer case.

It turns out they decided I was the most appealing candidate for another internship. This one's less glamorous than the CCC/WPA historical research project, but it's going to give me valuable work experience with geographic information system software. Things are looking pretty good.

EDIT: The job interview happened a few days ago. In retrospect, the fact that I was a known quantity made some things pretty different from other interviews I'd experienced. I'd exchanged emails with the guy I think is the project lead during my last internship. Another had seen a PowerPoint presentation on my old project the week before.

I was kind of flabbergasted when they asked me if I had any experience with Archeological / Anthropological stuff. When I gave a hesitant no, one of my interviewers said, "Actually, the answer is yes. Your entire previous internship counts for that."

Count Arioch the 28th · Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:17 am

I've been doing some scrying lately. And by "scrying", I mean I've been threatening hobos with broken shards of Corelle plates (why oh why in the name of the sweet mother of Fuck do I have so many fucking Corelle plates? No one needs so goddamn many plates).

Anyway, I've heard of a real-life artifact nearby. I've been calling it the Cup of Astilabor. The past few nights I've been sitting in the corner of the local bar staring into my Insanity wolf (Jägermeister and 151), and I've attracted a couple other like-minded sorts looking for Adventure. This will definitely give me the edge I need to escape the Cthuloid horror that plagues me.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:06 pm

It's pretty hard to get 151 in Europe because there are tax brackets for alcohol that kick in for 40% or less alcohol and 70% or less alcohol. So almost no one will sell you 75.5% alcohol there. So my wife and I are bringing a bottle of 151 back with us to Czechia.

-Username17

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:51 pm

By the way, welcome back, Count. I didn't even see you returning.

Of course, I knew that something was up when I was browsing old threads and I saw that... avatar of yours.

Count Arioch the 28th · Sat Aug 25, 2012 11:14 pm

I'll let you guys know tomorrow what happened, but me and my new crew are getting ready to rush this ruined factory. I specified a "no actual names" rule, so they're going by the names of Runtboy and some chick who I can't be arsed to learn even her nom de guerre on account of her being an undateable whore. However, if she can keep from falling in love with the first ruins dweller we see and stabbing me in the back to leap on his gnarled, diseased meat staff, maybe we can make it to the end. But I'm watching her like an adequate simile that describes just how closely I'll be watching her...

The spider has grown three times her size and is now responding to spoken language (what is this I don't even) and my cat has been glowing lately and seems intend on following me no matter how many shoes I throw at her (two to be exact. I only own one pair).

This will make a good story if nothing else.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:42 pm

Welp, Hurricane Isaac is heading for my neck of the woods. So I might be doing without power and phones for a few days.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:26 am

FrankTrollman wrote:It's pretty hard to get 151 in Europe because there are tax brackets for alcohol that kick in for 40% or less alcohol and 70% or less alcohol.

Pretty much every European I've met will mention how big a problem alcoholism is over there. I'm skeptical and wonder if it's actually just as bad as everywhere else, they've just been around longer to notice the history of it/they didn't try a failed prohibition/in some countries that's like the only thing they have to complain about.

So presumably the tax thing is a "discouragement tax" to try to lower alcoholism.

I don't even know the percentages of the stuff I drink. What does absinthe weigh in at?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:42 am

Alcoholism in much of Europe is pretty intense. The Czechs drink more beer than any other people in the world today (not than anyone in history - that honor still goes to colonial era Australians). As for Absinthe, there are a lot of varieties and you have a lot of options on the shelf.

Basically, alcohol percentages will vary from ~30% to 70%, and the wormwood composition will vary from "none" to "alot". You want something on the extreme end of both of those sliders.

-Username17

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 2:21 am

FrankTrollman wrote:Alcoholism in much of Europe is pretty intense. The Czechs drink more beer than any other people in the world today (not than anyone in history - that honor still goes to colonial era Australians).

WE WILL REGAIN OUR TITLE!

Er I mean wow, that's pretty serious then. No wonder they want to try to reduce it a bit.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:24 am

And of course, when you're talking about Eastern Europe and Asia it should be pointed out that in many cases we're talking about places where spirits rival or surpass beer and wine in popularity, which makes some of the numbers you'll see bandied about even crazier (I hate to break it to you Australia, but you guys just don't rate once the hard stuff is factored in). The hard liquor estimates I've seen on Estonia and South Korea per capita consumption read like comical typos. Those countries clearly have a deep and abiding commitment to cirrhosis. China is kinda the same way albeit on a much smaller scale; their overall alcohol consumption doesn't look all that fearsome until you get to those damn spirits again and find out that your Chinese working class stiff is as likely be drinking paint thinner baijiu as they are a beer-- they're pretty concerned about drinking over there because unfortunately their drinkers are skipping the tipsy phase and going straight for sloppy drunk.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:21 am

I'm thinking about starting up a garden just to have something to do and have some under the table craigslist income from selling produce. I was thinking about growing wormwood et al to make absinth until I learned that distilling spirits at home is still illegal. Actually, I'm still thinking about it, I'm just worried about getting arrested, because I'm superstitious and know my luck is shit.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:59 am

Also, herbal spirits are extremely tricky to do. It's not something a raw amateur can really do unless they're some sort of booze prodigy.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:20 am

What's tricky about herbal spirits? You boil the herb mix, still it, distill the alcohol, flavour lightly with another infusion of fresh herbs. That's basically all that a spirit entails.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:59 pm

True story: when I was in Africa I was sitting in a room full of doctors while one of them was giving a presentation about avascular necrosis. And one of the things that they were talking about is that the "typical patient" in the literature is really the "typical European or American patient", because in West Africa the typical avascular necrosis patient is a young man with sickle cell disease. But in the literature the typical patient is an older person who smokes and drinks (White people do not typically have sickle cell disease).

So the doctor is presenting the two patients and gets to the drinking alcohol part and says that medical literature posits a considerable increase for patients who drink more than 400 ml of alcohol per week. And one of the other doctors interrupts to ask what kind of alcoholic beverage is counted as "alcohol" for this purpose. It was literally inconceivable to him that they actually meant 400 ml of actual alcohol per week rather than 400 ml of some beverage that contained alcohol. And here's the best part: people in the room did not know, because being in Africa it was pretty much outside their experience entirely that people would be drinking a liter or more of vodka every week.

But of course: in Europe we totally experience that all the time. In fact, people who drink a liter or more of vodka a week are not only considered an accepted risk group for things like avascular necrosis (and liver damage, pancreatitis, and intestinal cancer), they are not even our highest available risk group! For fuck's sake, "drinking in moderation" is counted as "14 drinks per week" (and no more than 4 drinks in any day). That's a bit over 175 ml.

-Username17

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:02 pm

How bad is (tobacco) smoking in non-USA countries? I'm looking for anecdotes, not statistics.

erik · Post by **erik** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:45 pm

I heard people in Europe smoke a lot, especially France.

C'est vrai!

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:48 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:How bad is (tobacco) smoking in non-USA countries? I'm looking for anecdotes, not statistics.

Anecdotes? I saw this documentary about China a few years ago, and there were people smoking everywhere. It was in style. One guy had made a hobby of going around paying people money if they promised to stop smoking.

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:01 pm

FrankTrollman wrote:Alcoholism in much of Europe is pretty intense. The Czechs drink more beer than any other people in the world today (not than anyone in history - that honor still goes to colonial era Australians). As for Absinthe, there are a lot of varieties and you have a lot of options on the shelf.

Basically, alcohol percentages will vary from ~30% to 70%, and the wormwood composition will vary from "none" to "alot". You want something on the extreme end of both of those sliders.

-Username17

I'm curious where you got your statistics about colonial-era australia, as a semi-proud Australian.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:36 pm

Korgan0 wrote:
FrankTrollman wrote:Alcoholism in much of Europe is pretty intense. The Czechs drink more beer than any other people in the world today (not than anyone in history - that honor still goes to colonial era Australians). As for Absinthe, there are a lot of varieties and you have a lot of options on the shelf.

Basically, alcohol percentages will vary from ~30% to 70%, and the wormwood composition will vary from "none" to "alot". You want something on the extreme end of both of those sliders.

-Username17
I'm curious where you got your statistics about colonial-era australia, as a semi-proud Australian.

It was from a throw-away anecdote in a Hitchens book, I'm afraid. It seems extremely plausible, considering the ridiculous amounts of beer consumed by 17th and 18th century British sailors (4.5 liters per day was the beer ration for one person). Trying (and failing) to track down the actual national statistics for Australia of the time, I did find the hilarious anecdote that apparently the Australian government awarded James Squire a cow for having successfully cultivated hops in Australia in 1804.

-Username17

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:19 am

Ug, I'm such a fucking wimp sometimes.

I reminded my roommate that I will only be here for 10 days this month and am only paying him 10 days worth of rent. He looked disappointed, but said it was okay.

This little weasel has fucked me over repeatedly, why do I feel guilty? Ug, I wish there was some way to give yourself temporary ASPD temporarily. Like long enough to get out of here without feeling bad for a douchefuck that screwed me over ten ways from sunday (and is probably planning one last stab at me before then), but have it go away before I start drawing dicks on the bathroom stall wall with my own shit...

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:09 am

Assuming you have no contract or anything that would bind you to do otherwise, prorating your rent for the month is quite reasonable.

In other news, I discovered that watching several different horror movie film trailers* just before I go to bed can evoke feelings of creepedouttedness.

*Silent Hill:Revelation, The Awakening, The Apparition, 7500, Sinister... why did I do that?

p.s. Sinister reminds me of Marble Hornets. Also, watching the trailer appears to give away the entire movie, and I have a suspicion it has nothing to do with lefties to my eternal disappointment.

Actually, the trailers gave away a lot for every single one of those horror movies. Don't they know how to make trailers without condensing the movie into a 2 minute film? Then again, that's probably why I liked watching them, it's like a cliff-notes version of watching movies.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:47 am

Avoraciopoctules wrote: Anecdotes? I saw this documentary about China a few years ago, and there were people smoking everywhere. It was in style. One guy had made a hobby of going around paying people money if they promised to stop smoking.

Apparently they're completely turning that around: the government wants to have "better than American" universal public health care, and are aware that smokers will create quite the strain due to all the years spent lying in hospital beds before they finally croak. So they're using their mind-control propaganda machine to tell Uni students not to smoke... and they apparently obey.

In Australia it doesn't seem to be a massive problem. Like, not as much as drinking is an issue. Setting potential precedent for other countries, we recently had something go through that forces them all to have drab olive packets with the health warnings and just a small label of standard font for what brand it is. Now honestly, this can save the tobacco companies money by cutting packet production costs, but they spent a lot of money fighting it - mainly because they know that people who already smoke won't just change brands because the packet changed. The packets are all about getting new people in, and they've used all kinds of bizarre attempts. And let's face it, their main fear with it happening here is that it might lend legitimacy for a real country to do the same.

But the hilarious thing is the ads they ran on the radio, saying this will make it easier to sell counterfeit cigarettes (true - it's not half as hard to sell any old crap if you needn't get their fancy packets faked), "which can contain harmful chemicals". What the fucking fuck do they think they're fucking selling?

Also, there are a lot of student-age people in Australia that roll their own tobacco. It might be a hipster thing, but it's probably a case of people knowing they're addicted, but deciding they can at least just get "regular, harmful tobacco" that is not as bad (citation needed?) as actual cigarettes.