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2
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366
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • Will take a look under my bonnet later & get back to you, but as I recall it took a whole lot of trial and error with how I enabled which aspect & in what order. None of which was in any guide, or rather, following what worked for others did not work for me, but am stubborn so got it all working alright in the end (just scared to adjust anything now).

  • During the protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, it emerged that there were similar sites in Chicago & other cities. Those taken to them were lifted off the streets, away from the protests, by people who were not in uniform & who did not identify themselves. Once at these unmarked sites, they were denied access to basics like a lawyer & a phonecall. Seems most were released relatively quickly, but the whole thing sends a stark warning: we can disappear you if we want & you can't do a damn thing about it.

  • Do it.

    You'll be grand.

    Everyone has to start somewhere, and nobody enters the professional end of things with a full-compliment of perfect gear.

    But, you can often hire lenses and other equipment & there's currently a healthy market for second-hand x-mount lenses, so if you did buy one specially for this, you're unlikely to lose much if you sell it afterwards (though obviously research the situation and don't just take a randomer's word for it before laying down cash).

    It sounds like they know you're not a professional and that they cannot afford to hire one, but you're correct to ensure they are clear about your experience & equipment & it might be wise to state that in writing as well.

  • Mmhmm.

    Least bad interpretation: they want younger generations to believe black people had as good a time in the US as any other group & from that to blame black people for current position in the socio-economic class hierarchy.

    More likely interpretation: they hope to reinstitute chattel slavery, or at least a massive expansion of less intense forms of slavery, don't want as many of the younger generation bothering to resist that & need some to actively support it.

  • Trans people shouldn't have to corral themselves away in trans-specific communities. They're part of the wider community, just like anyone else & deserve safety within that.

    It really isn't hard for the rest of us to refuse to tolerate transphobia, whether or not there are trans people in the vicinity.

  • Bean & vegetable soup. Easy to change up the beans used, and to vary the vegetables over the seasons, as well as whatever herbs & spices you like. Useful if the supermarket discounts things at the end of the day, or if they don't always have everything in stock, as you can adapt it on the fly.

    Scotch broth - mix of lentils & soup barley, usually with a small amount of carrot & cabbage, but you could use any vegetable. Useful if you forgot to start soaking your beans or pulses on time, as it barely requires soaking.

    Alternatively you could make an extremely strong vegetable stock, freeze that as icecube-sized amounts, then pop a couple in a pan, add water to dilute to the strength of regular stock & simmer the rest of your ingredients in that. Making the stock would take a fair bit of time as you'd have to reduce it so much, but then you'd be set up for much shorter weekly soup-making sessions. Issue here is, if you're not totally happy with a batch of stock, you're stuck with it for a lot longer than a batch of soup.

  • As a condiment it works so much better if ground fresh & people tend to know whether or not they like pepper with a specific type of dish or not.

    As for the ritual, pepper remains more expensive than salt, but in the past pepper was extremely costly outside of the regions where it is grown, and not something that could be left on a table or necessarily with anyone except the head waiter, so to retain the "tonight we're being fancy" effect, some places still do the whole palaver.

    Though I guess they just don't want people running off with the pepper grinders. Unlike the other stuff diners pinch from tables, big tall grinders with good mechanisms are expensive and suppliers don't tend to sell them at a discount or bundled for cheap with other items.

    Have never been to a restaurant that did not provide salt at the table, including some that are as fancy as they come. There was a brief phase in the 1990s where one would get these rumours of some famous chef or other [they were never named, funnily] refusing to allow salt at the table & flying out of the kitchen to berate any hapless diner who sought it. Other than that, chefs know better than most that everyone's palate is different, and that the diner is the one putting the food into their body. No matter how sure a chef is of their own culinary genius, they're also pretty into wanting people to enjoy eating their meals, even if some of the nuances will be lost on those who add salt as a matter of course. It only takes a week or so to reeducate one's palate away from wanting added salt, but a meal out probably isn't the best time to start trying to make the switch.

  • Mostly just fumbling around with any online service where music is available. Sometimes I'll go to find a piece of music I already like, and see where the suggestions lead me. Othertimes I might read about an artist am into, then try to listen to work by those they list as influences, and who has listed them as influences.

    Sometimes I just hear stuff out in the world and come home and try to find it - usually successfully.

  • Good here. Accidentally got talking to various local people in the past couple of weeks, some of whom know each other, and it feels like there's potential to end up with a social circle. Though I've lived around here most of my life off and on, I don't actually know anyone. Have been invited to join a community service group that seems very sound, so that'll be cool - will know more after tomorrow evening.

    The whole thing is making me feel quite paranoid at times - managing to roll with it for now, but will have to remember to be cautious lest it ramp up excessively.

    Oh and have the kernel of a creative project forming in my mind for the first time in a very, very long time. Imagine it'll end up as something else entirely, and I wouldn't say it is an especially interesting project, but relieved by the emergence nevertheless.

  • Cute, but we're in the 2020s, not 1930s.

    So, though it isn't invalid to be in breach of contract as a performance piece & especially so given the theme of the work as contracted, it seems unrealistic that a court will let that fly.

    Meantime, column inches for an artist who might otherwise have attracted little attention, which is (as with every other iteration of the same game is a comment on the nature of art within Capitalism & media under Capitalism) more than a little hackneyed by now.

  • True, but this is assuming one wishes to have a place to communicate online at all.

    And though text can be intensely disturbing, it is inherently different to images/footage of actual children actually being harmed.

  • Clover will be good for your lawn & for your vegetable beds anyhow - the pollinators will find the clover as well as anything else that is flowering in your garden and have a fine old time. Maybe you could put clover in the lawn and add herbs to the vegetable beds? The pollinators here visit anything that is flowering, but the bees especially love the marjoram and rosemary, as do many of the hoverflies.

    If your garden is suitable for plants which can provide food to pollinators in the winter, when little else is available, and you're willing to plant some, then you're golden.