kbobam

Oregon! Wouldn't have thought of that, and now I won't be happy until I try some! I looked your people up, and this is the one I'd want to try first. https://www.tillamook.com/products/cheese/special-reserve-extra-sharp-cheddar.html To follow up on a couple of points I mentioned before, I'd personally (and humbly!) want to try it at 'summertime room-temperature' and have some bold and 'bone-dry' red wine with it. I don't drink wine otherwise, but it's perfect with cheddar. And also with eggs. Skip the champagne or mimosa with brunch. Dry red wine is the ultimate accompaniment to your omelette. ( : (edit) Whoops. There are also some great beers to have with cheddar.

I thought this was very interesting! (My attorney advises me that I've already legally established myself as a 'nerd' here, and need no further disclaimer.) Here's the 'opening moment' from a television commercial for a national company. They have outlets all over the United States, so I'm ass-uming that the commercial is being widely broadcast. The 'closed-captioning' you see here is completely correct. This is exactly what the guy said. And 99% of English-speaking people would never speak in this way! They'd say ".....needs to be fixed.....". In my entire life I've known maybe two or three people who would speak this way naturally. They were from certain areas in the state of Pennsylvania. So what do you think? Did someone at Safelite 'goof up'? Or did some ad-guy pull a brilliant move by making the ad completely correct, but somewhat more 'noticeable'? I looked up Safelite to see where they're located. And since the great state of Ohio is a particularly 'marble-friendly' one, I'm hoping someone here could tell me whether the 'needs fixed' type of English usage also exists there. Happy weekend!

Everything is connected to the digestive tract! Okay, that's not completely true. But it's 'truer' than most people think. Honestly, I'd recommend that anyone who hasn't 'experimented' with probiotics give them a shot. You might be amazed by a noticeable improvement in your overall sense of 'well-being'. The best way to do this is to make 'live culture' fermented foods at home. Like yogurt, pickles, or sauerkraut. But the overpriced little bitty containers of yogurt or pills from trusted manufacturers are also good if you can afford them. ( :

Oh man, Ric. This could get 'heated' now! Sharp cheddar is without a doubt one of the finest things in life. (Please note the less-often utilized 'salivating' meaning of the 'dual-purpose' smiley!) But if people start getting into things like the relative merits of New York, Wisconsin, and Vermont, not to mention appropriate serving temperatures and accompanying beverages, well..... All heck could break loose! ( :

Thanks! That was my first high-volume laugh out loud of the day!

Hah! I love it. That's brilliant! Although I'm sure there are templates out there that fit marble analysis perfectly, it makes sense that some don't. I'd guess that for 'technical drawing' purposes it might sometimes be required to have the ability to draw a line which 'defines' a given-sized space without being part of it. ( :

I've been looking at reflections and shadows lately. I know this sounds a little stupid. Kind of like a 'photography 001' course assignment. But it's kind of fun trying to produce something halfway decent. This shot is the corner of my bathroom wall in the late afternoon. What you're seeing is an 'image' of the forest outside. It's being 'projected' onto the wall because the forest is back-lit by the setting sun. The glass of the bathroom window is acting like a 'lens'. If you've never been to a 'snobby' gallery opening, I can assure you that because this image is kind of confusing and sort of blurry, that it's very important that you 'ooh and ahh' a lot. If you really want to impress people, you'll also make comments along the lines of "Dismal, yet effervescent!"

Going to have to 'quote' you in response! I missed several beats and then ... hahahahaha.

Those crazy Californians! (Said in jest. I wish I was one of them. Just don't tell my New York buddies.)

Absolutely not! The exact same thing happens to me! On the other hand, a painful joint has always been a good excuse for me to say "Think I'll have a few beers!" soooo...........

A while back I mentioned that I sometimes worry about my old microwave oven. I was glad to see in a recent tv show that I'm not alone in this. Here are two brothers using their microwave and making a point of 'taking precautions'.

Not my photo, but I did get to meet a couple of Savannahs today.

"...reality, is it real?" Absolutely not! (My humble opinion, anyway) And when it comes to television, the concept of 'reality' becomes even more preposterous! ( :

For no particular reason that I can think of, I was just wondering if there's any such thing as a 'voice-print'. I'll probably look this up at some point, but am currently too lazy to do so. It sort of 'stands to reason', doesn't it? Surely (sorry, Ann!) some of our high-tech national security people have worked with this idea to some degree. I'm figuring that combinations of different frequencies and similar stuff could be 'refined' enough to allow for pretty certain identification.

"Good-natured horror" What a wonderful expression!

Great article! Were 'young people' allowed to play? I'm picturing myself as a 'concerned parent'. I'd really want to make sure that 'dear old dad' would be legally allowed to accept 'Little Bobby's' firkin prize!

Glad you mentioned your current water situation. I wasn't aware of it, and feel like I should have been. Physical distance shouldn't allow us to ignore problems that our friends and brothers (figuratively and/or literally) are having elsewhere. And of course water is such an important 'basic', that it's completely insane how so many people seem to have very little 'respect' for it. When we finally manage to totally destroy our water supply, 'mutually assured nuclear destruction' will suddenly become a non-issue. It might even be 'welcome'. Sorry to be so serious!

Huh! Galen's mention of the '2 rods' was very interesting to me! Hadn't heard of that before. (My attorney has advised me to mention that any thoughts of mine that may have resulted from this new knowledge are not necessarily shared by him.) Since this technique would probably be the basis for stated 'manufacturers variation tolerances' or whatever you want to call that sort of thing, I'd personally want to make what I'd call a 'reasonable exception' for boxed or bagged marbles that are clearly labeled as 'peewees'. The 'intent' was there, and being a hair or two off doesn't change that. Of course there's nothing wrong if you want to say "Well sure that's a nice box of Pelt peewees! They just aren't really!" Question of semantics. Not a big deal. But I'd stick with '.5 or smaller' ninety-nine percent of the time. ( :

Hah! This new 'category' is great! I haven't checked it out until now, because I usually go to 'The Lounge' first, and now that takes an extra 'click' of the scroll-wheel on the mouse to get to. Naturally, I'm too worn-out after that to continue to other topics! Amazing creations. Very impressive. As your editor, I have to point out that it's not clear whether you're referring to 'marble runs' or 'cats' here. .....my guess would be a mill ball or something with a bit more mass. Hah again! That's a great point. After the really interesting recent 'discussion' about weight, I'm embarrassed that it never occurred to me to consider that this could be a significant factor with marble runs. With some of these fancy setups, I'll bet it could be downright critical! ( :

Thank you all for the responses! My 'deep thoughts' are usually kind of silly, so I really appreciate that you found some sense in this one and described it so well.

Unless I'm missing some 'connection', I'm going to have to say that this is without a doubt the most brilliant 'random' conversation post I've seen yet!

A little while ago I tossed a 'Post-It-Note' that was no longer required in the trash. Which is to say the wastepaper-basket conveniently located one foot away from me. I was, and still am, very comfortable in my chair at my desk and computer. I don't feel like 'moving'. But it did hit me that I could have walked out to the kitchen and put it in the bag I use for paper recycling. If I wasn't feeling so lazy. If you look at it one way, it's obviously not a very big deal in the overall scheme of things. But if you think about the outrageous numbers involved in the world population, and how often 'insignificant' things are ignored, it sort of makes you wonder.

It's a great combination of pattern and color! Somehow it's equally 'dramatic' and 'soft and pretty' at the same time. ( :

Hah! It's an admirable quality that you're so polite, but I hope you weren't overly concerned. You could have posted this 'blatantly off-topic' message in 'The Lounge', and I'm pretty sure that Steph would have added a 'move into general' along with the 'neato!'. Great glass! Maybe the non-sparkly piece on top is gold?

Let me make a few slightly late responses, since this is a happy Friday night and I'm no longer in 'Drunk Uncle' mode. ( : Of course Galen was completely correct about my feeling 'old', and also about the Jimmy Carter, uh, 'condition'. I just didn't feel like admitting it at the time! I cracked up over Ann's comment about 'crazy people' because it made me remember that there was a period of time right after Bluetooth came out, when I'd find myself sitting next to someone talking to themself and have an immediate inner-city 'Whoa!' reaction. Only later, from a different angle, would I notice the 'ear piece'. To be honest, to this day I still think people using these things look like total asses. Winnie, I really like the Dutch word much better. Its sound has 'soul'! I think this is because I grew up in the 'lower east side' of New York City so many years ago. It was such a 'melting pot' that many of us became multi-lingual because we learned from our friends that different languages had words and expressions that were 'better', either in sound or subtle meaning, than English.