Just Saying -- the soapbox thread

[alanp]

Yeah, the whole paying in Germany thing can be a be of a PITA, especially for us auslanders (I've been in Germany for the better part of the last 13 months, working on a project that's a one hour flight from my home).  I routinely carry cash for small transactions, but prefer to use my MC for meals, if for no other reason, than it guarantees I get a receipt, which is not always that common otherwise (my accountants have a real hate on for "non receipt" expenses, yet HR refuses to let me go on a per diem, even though that would make everyones life a lot easier).  Problem is, most restaurants where I am won't take credit cards unless you run up a bill past 20 Euros, and I typically don't eat a single meal in the day that cost 20 Euro (meals here tend to be on the large and affordable side, and 20 Euros would be like a main, a litre of beer, and dessert, and I am having a hard enough time keeping my weight stable without adding all those calories), so then it's back to cash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-QfIOtEhmQ

Boris says in the video, "Do not be surprised if they look at you like you are some kind of war criminal if you try and pay with card."

[alanp]

I'm starting to develop opinions on mushrooms. The ones I can get at the shop, anyway.

They carry two types -- white button mushrooms, and big brown mushrooms. (They are the same species, apparently, the buttons are just harvested earlier.)

I find that the button mushrooms have next to no flavour when cooked, compared to brown. Anyone else?

[bamslam69]

I'm starting to develop opinions on mushrooms. The ones I can get at the shop, anyway.

They carry two types -- white button mushrooms, and big brown mushrooms. (They are the same species, apparently, the buttons are just harvested earlier.)

I find that the button mushrooms have next to no flavour when cooked, compared to brown. Anyone else?

Mushrooms on the bbq. A knob of butter and black pepper.
Yum.

[somnif]

I'm starting to develop opinions on mushrooms. The ones I can get at the shop, anyway.

They carry two types -- white button mushrooms, and big brown mushrooms. (They are the same species, apparently, the buttons are just harvested earlier.)

I find that the button mushrooms have next to no flavour when cooked, compared to brown. Anyone else?

Its not just a matter of timing, light is also a factor. The brown coloration is like a tan, it appears in response to blue/UV light. Its vitamin D, too, healthy for ya.

The species is Agaricus bisporus, if anyone is curious. Crimini, button, brown, protobello, all the same species.

Personally I prefer oyster mushrooms (Pleurotusspp.)for common use, but they do cost a touch more and aren't available everywhere.

[davent]

I'm starting to develop opinions on mushrooms. The ones I can get at the shop, anyway.

They carry two types -- white button mushrooms, and big brown mushrooms. (They are the same species, apparently, the buttons are just harvested earlier.)

I find that the button mushrooms have next to no flavour when cooked, compared to brown. Anyone else?

Its not just a matter of timing, light is also a factor. The brown coloration is like a tan, it appears in response to blue/UV light. Its vitamin D, too, healthy for ya.

The species is Agaricus bisporus, if anyone is curious. Crimini, button, brown, protobello, all the same species.

Personally I prefer oyster mushrooms (Pleurotusspp.)for common use, but they do cost a touch more and aren't available everywhere.

More often than not it's one or more of the common 'button' family, raw for salads, cooked for other application, Shiitakes get used a lot for Asian dishes, readily available, relatively expensive, oysters i can get always with some hunting, like to pair shiitakes, enoki's and shimeji  are kinda cool. Found chanterelle's acouple times and bought, can't say whether they were worth the money.

My mushroom man was gifted a box of mushrooms by one of his suppliers including some Morels which were quoted as around $120/lb. Have never tried a morel.


Shiitake/oyster pizza from June first.



dave

[thesmokingman]

morel hunting was something I used to do back in Kansas ... one of those things you didn't talk too much about like fishing or hunting spots ... because suddenly you had friends you're now obliged to bring with you. now the internet tells you how to find anything including where/when/how to look for them

[davent]

Local beekeeper recently posted a video of one of his hives and panned down to the ground where morels were growing.
dave

[alanp]

Something that always bugs me about movies, games, and artwork for cosmic horror (Cthulu, the Shining Trapezohedron, whatever) is that they are, I think, fundamentally incapable of portraying one of the fundamental elements of Lovecraft's cosmic horror.

The unknown.

There are several HPL stories featuring a narrator (unreliable or not), where the only thing the reader knows about the "bad thing" is what they are told, with key details missing in such a way that your imagination does most of the work in making your flesh crawl, not purple prose on the part of the writer. Another facet of this is that HPL, quite a few times, describes things as indescribable -- literally; the human mind is simply not equipped to deal with the reality of what some things truly are, and to behold them in all their terrible reality is to have something break in you. I'm probably explaining this badly.

But, in any case, this is all quite psychological. It all happens in your head. It doesn't transfer well, IMO, to visual art. Hey, this Elder God changes every time anyone sees it, and merely seeing it opens your soul to terrible things... but here's a picture on the wiki. The SCP wiki does a good artistic job of this -- there are strategic black inking marks, as well as deliberately missing pictures or descriptions, with notes on why they are omitted.

[somnif]

Something that always bugs me about movies, games, and artwork for cosmic horror (Cthulu, the Shining Trapezohedron, whatever) is that they are, I think, fundamentally incapable of portraying one of the fundamental elements of Lovecraft's cosmic horror.

The unknown.

There are several HPL stories featuring a narrator (unreliable or not), where the only thing the reader knows about the "bad thing" is what they are told, with key details missing in such a way that your imagination does most of the work in making your flesh crawl, not purple prose on the part of the writer. Another facet of this is that HPL, quite a few times, describes things as indescribable -- literally; the human mind is simply not equipped to deal with the reality of what some things truly are, and to behold them in all their terrible reality is to have something break in you. I'm probably explaining this badly.

But, in any case, this is all quite psychological. It all happens in your head. It doesn't transfer well, IMO, to visual art. Hey, this Elder God changes every time anyone sees it, and merely seeing it opens your soul to terrible things... but here's a picture on the wiki. The SCP wiki does a good artistic job of this -- there are strategic black inking marks, as well as deliberately missing pictures or descriptions, with notes on why they are omitted.

It may seem odd, but one of my favorite ever "Lovecraftian Horror" shows just came out.

Chernobyl.

The treatment of Radiation, particularly in the first episode, is almost textbook Lovecraft. It is this invisible, pervasive force that corrupts and decays and destroys. You may not know if you have been touched by it, but you know it is lurking there.

There is a scene where a character looks at something. That's all, just walks around a corner and looks, and you suddenly realize he is dead. He is still moving, still breathing, but that man from that moment onward is a corpse in all but technicalities. He realizes it too. And he knows it will not be a pleasant exit.

And half the people in the town are ignorant of even that much. They think its exciting, beautiful even. The glow on the horizon, lets take the family out to see it better.

Then again, the series is almost Kafka-esque at other points, where bureaucracy comes in and you want to beat these stupid men over the head for their idiocy.



But in all seriousness, watch the show, its only 5 episodes and my god was it good.

[alanp]

That only reinforces what I said.

The unknown is the most terrifying thing that people can face. Doesn't matter if it's mundane -- shit, is my boss going to be fucked off at what I said to Miranda about the sales account? Doesn't matter if it's paranormal -- are vampires going to bite my face off? What people only have an inkling of is most terrifying.

[somnif]

As a bonus I love the show's soundtrack. All of the "instruments" are sounds recorded in an actual Soviet-built nuclear power station, adding to the cold, bleak mood.

[Muadzin]

You know, I've come across Lovecraft being mentioned in so many other stories, movies and shows, and yet I've never come across one of his actual novels. It's like being told the Beatles are such a massive big influence on song writing, recording and musical structure, again and again and again. And never ever hearing one of their songs.

[somnif]

You know, I've come across Lovecraft being mentioned in so many other stories, movies and shows, and yet I've never come across one of his actual novels. It's like being told the Beatles are such a massive big influence on song writing, recording and musical structure, again and again and again. And never ever hearing one of their songs.

He only ever wrote one novel, and its pretty thin at that. Most of what he wrote would be in the short story to novella range, 20-40 pages, with the longest clocking in around 140 pages. Mostly he was published in magazines and journals.

A bunch of it is public domain too: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Howard_Phillips_Lovecraft#Works

Fair warning, he's a bit of an.... "awkward" writer, so may take a tick to get used to his voice.

[midwayfair]

Fair warning, he's a bit of an.... "awkward" writer, so may take a tick to get used to his voice.

His dialog is horrendous, his prose is mostly sort of a dull purple, and he's often racist even by lax standards of his own time period, so "awkward" is kind of an understatement. I have a feeling that most of his influence is actually second or third hand at this point.

[benny_profane]

In re Chernobyl: I haven't watched the miniseries, but I absolutely recommend Svetlana Alexievich's Voices from Chernobyl for anyone interested. It's a phenomenal oral history. Actually, I'd recommend anything she's written.