Messages

1

The Pub / Re: re Entry

« on: September 23, 2011, 08:04:51 AM »

Chances of someone on earth getting hit by this particular piece of space debris: 1:3200. Chances of YOU getting hit by this particular piece of space debris: 1:~7 trillion.

Unless you get spontaneously combusted first!

Coincidently I read an article on BBC's website today about someone in Ireland spontaneously combusting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15032614

too many potatoes. As a high potasium food potatoes are a great risk factor in spontaneous combustion. As yoru body concentrates the potasium, at some point a critical point is reached where the potasium reacts with the water in your body releasing hydrogen at such an alarming rate as to cause it to ignite upon exiting your blood stream. At least that's my theory 

Well, as theories go, I'm sure it's no more/less far fetched than many other ones out there.

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Other Fermentables / Re: How to back sweeten if you bottle?

« on: September 23, 2011, 07:17:02 AM »

Personally I hate the aftertaste from the assorted artificial sweeteners, so I'd recommend stevia. It's at least a natural sweetener. Otherwise, kill off the yeast, sweeten to taste, etc.......

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The Pub / Re: re Entry

« on: September 23, 2011, 07:11:50 AM »

Chances of someone on earth getting hit by this particular piece of space debris: 1:3200. Chances of YOU getting hit by this particular piece of space debris: 1:~7 trillion.

Unless you get spontaneously combusted first!

Coincidently I read an article on BBC's website today about someone in Ireland spontaneously combusting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15032614

4

The Pub / Re: The OFFICIAL AHA 4M's NFL BULL SH$%^&TER'S THREAD!

« on: September 23, 2011, 07:09:20 AM »

I've got an idle question. How can the Cowboys be America's team when there's no Cowboys bars in Pittsburgh, yet Dallas has at least a couple Steelers bars.    (along with nearly every other large city in the US.)

The Patriots are America's Team.  Look at the facts:

  1.  Patriots - duh
  2.  Uniform colors are Red, White, & Blue
  3.  Success through team effort...no super star egos ( yes that includes Brady you haters   )
  4.  Star quarterback marries hot super model

Everthing that America stands for and strives for ( especially that last one )

With regards to your 3rd point, which team has more Superbowl wins? (Also through team effort)
Point 4, Ben's wife may not be a model, but she's hot enough to be one. (And is also immaterial to which team is better.)

Oh yeah. My point about Dallas as regards to out of town team bars goes for Boston too. No Pats bars in Da Burgh, but Steeler nation has a couple haunts in/around Boston.

BTW, the Steelers are 14-11 all time against the Pats.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Presidential Beer

« on: September 22, 2011, 05:20:09 PM »

I read about this the other day. According to the article, It's Obama who went out and bought the equipment and started brewing. (maybe subsequent batches are being made by the cook?) Also according to the article, he is the first presidential homebrewer.

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The Pub / Re: The OFFICIAL AHA 4M's NFL BULL SH$%^&TER'S THREAD!

« on: September 21, 2011, 04:01:45 PM »

I've got an idle question. How can the Cowboys be America's team when there's no Cowboys bars in Pittsburgh, yet Dallas has at least a couple Steelers bars.     (along with nearly every other large city in the US.)

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Friends and kegs of beer

« on: September 19, 2011, 06:36:33 AM »

I'm sure many of you have experienced this; it is a great feeling to supply kegs for a friend's party and finish them all. It's a new feeling for me yet tears of pride and happiness swell in my eyes every time this happens (it's either that or I'm just sad there's only a 30 pack of PBR left to drink...)

Maybe it's a bit of both. I know how I'd feel if the only beer in the house was PBR.

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Pimp My System / Re: Keezer build + some questions

« on: September 13, 2011, 05:15:02 PM »

Nice looking build.

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Other Fermentables / Re: Mead dying?

« on: September 13, 2011, 05:11:10 PM »

It sounds like fermentation has stopped. If it's too sweet for your taste, I'd pitch more yeast. If you like how sweet it is, leave it to clear and then bottle. Just my opinion though. YMMV.

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Other Fermentables / Re: First Cider -- Best Resources?

« on: September 12, 2011, 06:03:55 PM »

If anyone is interested and lives around the Butler, PA area, I've got 4 apple trees (2 red delicious, 2 gold delicious) that the fruit probably isn't good for much more than making cider and appears to be ripe now.

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The Pub / Re: Kindle books

« on: September 12, 2011, 05:54:42 PM »

For fantasy I recommend David Eddings' "The Belgariad" & "The Mallorean"

My problem with Eddings is that one trilogy reads nearly the same as any of his others. Read one of them, you'll have the plot and story line of the others.  He seems to follow a tight script with all his series. I read The Belgariad 1st, thought it was good and got The Mallorean. Was disappointed. Read the first book of The Rose, and it was like reading the 1st book in the other 2 trilogies.

To me this is the problem with fantasy in general. And why I quit reading the genre.

I'll admit there are some authors in the genre that are like David Eddings & Stephen R Donaldson that tend to be "formula" writers, there are plenty that aren't. Some of the authors I mentioned in my 1st post are amongst the best fantasy authors around (the others are primarily scifi) and are quite good at coming up with new story lines. Even for their longer series. It does seem though to be more difficult to find good fantasy authors as opposed to good scifi authors of which there are many.

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The Pub / Re: Kindle books

« on: September 12, 2011, 12:24:06 PM »

For fantasy I recommend David Eddings' "The Belgariad" & "The Mallorean"

My problem with Eddings is that one trilogy reads nearly the same as any of his others. Read one of them, you'll have the plot and story line of the others.  He seems to follow a tight script with all his series. I read The Belgariad 1st, thought it was good and got The Mallorean. Was disappointed. Read the first book of The Rose, and it was like reading the 1st book in the other 2 trilogies.

13

The Pub / Re: Kindle books

« on: September 12, 2011, 07:34:40 AM »

I have to say though, it makes me a little grumpy that the kindle versions of some books are more expensive than the paperback.  How does that make any sense?  Then when there's the public library and Half Price Books it gets hard to justify.  I can get a paperback copy of American Gods for $8 from Amazon, or the $10 Kindle version . . . I don't expect them to match the used price, $3 from HPB, but shouldn't it be no more than the paperback?  Or even less?

Can't blame you there. Considering that the expenses for making an ebook are nowhere near those for producing a printed book, there's no way I could justify to myself buying an ereader. (I'm a cheap SOB) I'll keep my printed book library for the foreseeable future. (besides, I have some nice, collectable, 1st editions in there)

Asimov is one of my favorite authors, so most anything by him (never read any of his westerns or detective novels though) is a good read IMHO. A lot of his books also tie in to his Foundation series. Particularly the assorted robot novels.  (Think of those as prequels.)
Anne McCaffrey is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series.
Orson Scott Card"s Ender series or The Tales of Alvin Maker series are good
Jack Chalker's Quintara Marathon or Soulrider quadrilogies
C.J. Cherryh - most anything
Arthur C. Clark - Another of the "most anything is good" authors. The 2001 saga, & the Rama series are favorites
Gorden R. Dickson's Childe Cycle
Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series was a much better read than the TV show based off of them. (go figure)
Ursula K. LeGuin - Earthsea series (the TV miniseries pales in comparison)
Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series. Because they're amusing, over the top, escapism.
Katherine Kurtz She has a few interconnected series dealing with a race called the Deryni. medieval fantasy
Julian May - The Galactic Milieu series
Larry Niven - most anything
Margaret Weis - most anything
Roger Zelazny - Chronicles of Amber
There is also a 4 book set put out by the SciFi book club that is a compendium of the various thieve's world novels edited by Robert Lynn Asprin.  Basically he takes all the novels (written by many different authors) and puts the chapters into something reasonably close to chronological order. Authors include Robert Asprin, Janet Morris, Poul Anderson, Lynn Abbey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andrew J. Offut. The omnibus volumes are titled Sanctuary, Crosscurrents, The Shattered Sphere, and The Price of Victory. They are unfortunately long out of print, but can be found in the occasional library or at online used book sellers.

http://www.bookcloseouts.com/ often has some really good sales on new books. (A few months ago they had a $1.99 fiction sale. Damn but that hurt the checkbook. )
And if any of you has a collection such as myself, this is an excellent program for cataloging your books. (also has music and movie versions) http://www.readerware.com/
And Baen (A large scifi publishing house) offers some free ebooks. http://www.baen.com/library/

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The Pub / Re: Where Were You on the Morning of 9/11/01?

« on: September 11, 2011, 05:21:40 AM »

I had been at work until 3:00. Didn't know anything was happening till I got in my car and turned the radio on. (I was working for a @$!&# jerk at the time who thought radios at work interfered w/ production.)

Political note removed by mod

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The Pub / Re: 2012 Apocalypse Beers

« on: September 10, 2011, 09:26:15 PM »

I'd want to go out with a bottle of my mead, a fat joint, and a beautiful woman in my arms.