Food Thread: Cake...The Final Frontier

Great cake...does it exist? Sure, but I think the topic is a bit more complicated than just throwing a ton of chocolate and frosting in and hoping it all works out. And even the frosting gets a little weird. Too many are just sugar bombs that feel like they are are rotting one's teeth with the first bite. And frosting hides a multitude of sins, most egregious being dry cake. Except it doesn't really hide that dusty, crumbly, sort-of-gross mouthfeel that a dry cake gives.

Oh, and another thing...don't use the same frosting in the layers as on the outside! I want some contrast, damn it! In fact, some of the best cakes I have ever eaten had a tart fruit based filling between the layers, which I think works perfectly with the sweeter frosting.

But not too sweet! Do I have to repeat myself again? And that's quite a trick, because frosting is sugar. But some bakers know how to do it, and that is a truly impressive thing. When the filling is delicious and the frosting is interesting but not too sweet and the cake is moist and flavorful, then that means that the stars have aligned and all is right in the world...at least for a few minutes.

Yeah...cake is complicated. There is a reason why great cake bakers are in demand.

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (251) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First-World Problems...

What the hell? I open a box of chocolates (Sees Candy) and I see this? What has happened to American pride? What happened to our industrial base that a box of chocolates (dark chocolates with mostly caramels...of course) can slip past supposedly rigorous quality control and reveal a 180 degree catastrophe?

I guess I'll have to return the entire box.

Posted by: CBD at 01:59 PM | Comments (280) | Trackbacks (Suck)

You'll Buy Our Products And You Will Like Them!

The modern fascistic American corporation is perfectly content to shove crap products nobody wants down our throats.

Except...eventually consumers say...NO!

Plant-based meat sales down in US as customers dislike taste, price: report

Data showed that while those who bought plant-based substitutes in previous years continued to do so, companies failed to entice new customers.

According to GFI, unit sales were down 9 percent in 2023 while dollar sales fell by 2 percent. As a result, the plant-based food market in the US went from being worth $8.2 billion the year before to $8.1 billion.

Well, actually, it's clear that existing customers are leaving too! Factor in inflation, and it's even uglier than at first glance.

This pattern holds true with all sorts of businesses, including the sacrament of The Sustainable Organic Church of The Carbon Apocalypse...the electric vehicle. The business plan is embarrassingly simplistic, and consumers aren't going along with it.

But look at other businesses that push crap we don't want. Lingerie for morbidly obese women? Shaving cream for transsexuals? mRNA-based vaccines that are a health crisis in waiting? Lesbian Studies degrees from 3rd tier colleges?

These products are going the way of the Dodo, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of lickspittle wanna-be fascists.

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (259) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Morning Book Thread - 05-05-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (HT: Dash my lace wigs). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(Axeman's "pouncing pants")

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (340) | Trackbacks (Suck)

EMT 5/5/24

Happy Sunday.

Posted by: krakatoa at 06:54 AM | Comments (170) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 5 May 2024

Top Story

• The US government has mandated automatic emergency braking in all new cars sold starting 2029. (Car and Driver)
  
  This could save 360 lives a year, claims the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, almost as many as are killed by beavers and bathtub accidents combined.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (59) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Overnight Open Thread (5/4/24)

*****

THE SATURDAY NIGHT JOKE

The mother-in-law comes home and finds her son-in-law furious and packing his suitcase. "What happened?"

"What happened? I'll tell you what happened! I sent an email to my wife saying that I was coming home from my trip today. I got home and guess what I found? My wife, yes my Rachel, with a naked guy in our marital bed! This is the end of our marriage, I will leave forever!"

"Calm down!" says mother-in-law. "There is something odd about this story. Rachel would never do such a thing! Wait a minute while I check what happened."

Moments later, mother-in-law comes back with a big smile. "You see, I said there must be a simple explanation. Rachel didn't receive your Email." (H/T Isophorone Blog)

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:59 PM | Comments (545) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Evening Movie Thread 05/04/2024 [TheJamesMadison]

Robert E. Howard

Six films have the credit of some variation of "Based on the works of Robert E. Howard," and I watched all of them a few weeks back. It all started when I got the 4K collector's set of the first two Conan the Barbarian films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger from Arrow Video (they're very nice). I expanded it to include the other four, and as I was going through them, I had the recurring thought that I would write a post about them. However, the only thing that kept attracting my attention was the idea of the films as adaptations of Howard's writing. The problem was that I hadn't read a Conan story in about a decade, and I'd never read any of the Kull the Atlantean or Solomon Kane stories.

So, I read all of them. Well, all of the stories that Howard published in his lifetime. I wasn't going to go down the rabbit hole of the fragments, recreations, and adaptations in other mediums (mostly the Marvel comic books). This also meant that I could thoroughly ignore Red Sonja since the character as presented in the film is actually a creation of Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in a Marvel comic, sort of inspired by a character named Red Sonya by Howard who didn't appear in the Hyborian Age.

The question then becomes, which is the most accurate? Is accuracy the real goal of this kind of exercise? Is Howard the kind of writer to be slavishly accurate to when adapting to a vastly different medium from short stories and novellas into feature film?

And, just to be clear, the five films discussed will be: Conan the Barbarian from 1982, directed by John Milius, Conan the Destroyer from 1984, directed by Richard Fleischer, Kull the Conqueror from 1997, directed by John Nicolella, Solomon Kane from 2009, directed by M.J. Bassett, and Conan the Barbarian from 2011, directed by Marcus Nispel.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:45 PM | Comments (323) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Weekend Hobby Thread (5/4/24) Authored TRex

*****

Welcome hobbyists. Do not adjust your interweb. A spin of the Ace of Spades “wheel of hobbies” has come up with tools. In this case, “tools” refers to implements of hobbying rather than people who are annoying.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 05:30 PM | Comments (271) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ace of Spades Pet Thread, May 4

Saw this and I chuckled.

As a male dog owner, I appreciate it very much.
Misanthropic Humanitarian

* * *

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside today.

Posted by: K.T. at 03:19 PM | Comments (97) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gardening and Adventure Thread, May 4

Happy Saturday!

We have some great gardeners in The Horde:

I wasn't sure what would survive the slash and burn cleaning of my front garden in 2022, sent pictures of that last summer, I think. Last year I didn't see the Trillium and the iris showed a short three leaf fan. The Trillium is in a corner and had been pretty much covered over, while I think most of the Iris had been pulled out. I was surprised to see an actual clump of Trillium sessile in that corner! this year. It has a lot of common names but the one I know is toad trillium. The iris is a bearded iris called Cobra's Eye, and this year not only showed two fans but a multiflowered spike. I couldn't get the yellow tulip to stay bent out of the way, it's not part of the trillium!

Lirio 100

Posted by: K.T. at 01:23 PM | Comments (66) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Bridges don't always make sense

I understand the snark here:

This is the most remarkable human achievement ever, 1600 feet of high speed rail after 9 years and 11 billion dollars

It takes about 5 minutes to walk 1600 feet so a high speed rail for that is a really big deal

California is so competent

The Fresno River Viaduct in Madera County is one of the first completed high-speed rail structures. At nearly 1,600 feet long, high-speed trains will travel over the riverbed and will run parallel with the BNSF Railroad.

Meanwhile, a little south of this remarkable achievement, the most notable feature of this project to me was the amount of massive diesel machinery scattered about the landscape. Oh, and torn-up landscape.

Posted by: K.T. at 11:15 AM | Comments (255) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Thread & Prayer Revival (5/4/24)

Good morning Horde.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:02 AM | Comments (401) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 4 May 2024

Top Story

• The judge in the Google antitrust trial is considering imposing sanctions over Google's practice of deliberately deleting all records of sensitive internal conversations. (Ars Technica)
  
  Having seen other big tech companies get in trouble when the DOJ went over their records, Google decided it would simply not keep any records.
  
  It's a bold strategy.
  
  
  
• Working on migrating everything to a new server given the recent issues. I'll post a notice if / when downtime is expected.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (256) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down An ONT

Hi everyone! Welcome to Friday Meme Mad...What, again? Guys, this isn't funny anymore.

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (394) | Trackbacks (Suck)

TGIF Cafe

From the MegalithicMarvels website
More photos here

The IG channel discover_civilizations says:

The Rock Tomb of Kapilikaya

The present day country of Turkey is home to many well-known megalithic sites such as Gobekli Tepe, Hattusha and Midas Kenti, but it is also home to a much lesser known yet equally impressive ancient site known as "Kapilikaya."

Located about 27 kilometers north of the city of Corum and hidden away inside a mountainous outcropping is an ancient structure known as the "Tomb of Kapilikaya."

[It] is thought to be a tomb of the Hellenistic period, dating back to approximately the 2nd century B.C.

Rising above a gentle stream that flows beneath on the forest floor, a steep trail winds up the left side of the rock outcropping and eventually leads to a platform of stairs located directly in front of the tomb.

The tomb is not simply a door shaped façade but is actually a cube shaped structure cut out of the mountain, only connecting to the natural rock around it at a few points.

From inside you can actually walk all the way around it or climb up onto its top.

The inner chamber of the tomb can only be accessed through entering a small square opening about halfway up the face of the structure.

An inscription above the entrance reads "IKEZIOS," 2 which some believe is attributed to an ancient commander named Ikezius.

Street sledding.

Snow rafting.

Big dog plays with tiny puppy.

The anchordog in this race is a one-hopper.

Two of Bologna's medieval towers. I mentioned this before, but medieval Bologna was more full of towers than downtown Manhattan.

A little Northern Lights-show.

Fun little optical illusion video. (The main "illusion" is just a video special effect.)

Giant glacier in Patagonia.

Tree-climbing doggo.

The beautiful sound of the octobass. "Amazing Bass" with double bass and octobass.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (205) | Trackbacks (Suck)

CIA Operative Brags: We Hid Information From the Commander-in-Chief All the Time

Another O'Keefe sting.

A video posted on social media by James O'Keefe features Amjad Anton Fseisi, purported to be the project manager for cyber operations at the CIA. In the video, the undercover reporter for O'Keefe Media Group gets Fseisi to admit that several intelligence agencies deliberately withheld information from Trump out of some absurd fear that he might "disclose it." Fseisi is seen in the recording admitting that intelligence agencies "all got together and said, 'We're not gonna tell Trump.'"

"The executive staff," Fseisi said in response to a question about who specifically was involved in the decision.

"We're talking about the director and his subordinates." That would include Pompeo and Haspel.

According to Fseisi, the intelligence agencies "kept information from [Trump] because we knew he'd f***ing disclose it."

"There are certain people that would... give him a high-level overview but never give him any details. You know why? Because he'll leak those details."

And can you guess why Fseisi says Trump would leak sensitive information? Because Trump is... wait for it... a Russian asset!

"He's a Russian asset," Fseisi claimed. "He's owned by the f***ing Russians."

But there's more.

"Amjad reveals to OMG's Undercover American Swiper that intel agencies not only kept intelligence information from a sitting United States President and Commander-In-Chief, they also used FISA to spy on [Donald Trump]," O'Keefe says on X/Twitter. "And his team and [sic] are still monitoring President Trump according to Amjad who says, 'We monitor everything.' Amjad adds 'we also have people that monitor his ex-wife. He likes to use burner phones' -- information only an insider with access to highly sensitive information would state."

...

When O'Keefe confronted Fseisi on the streets of Washington, D.C., he denied making the statements in the above video.

Video at the link.

Rep. Matt Gaetz
@RepMattGaetz

BREAKING: I'm formally calling on the @Weaponization Subcommittee to immediately launch an investigation into @OKeefeMedia Group's bombshell report containing video evidence that American intelligence agencies withheld intelligence from President Donald Trump before & during his presidency and used Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities to spy on President Trump.

Here's an interesting and troubling fact: so-called "recovering FBI agent" Kyle Seraphim chose this moment, just as O'Keefe was readying this report, to make an insane and likely defamatory attack on O'Keefe:

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:40 PM | Comments (165) | Trackbacks (Suck)

A Healing Moment: Both Sides, Pro-Terrorist and Anti-Terrorist, Discover They Agree on One Thing

And that thing is Let's Go Brandon.

Palestine protestors and counter-protesters at the University of Alabama found a moment of unity in their shared disapproval of President Joe Biden, together chanting "f*** Joe Biden" in a now-viral video.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:44 PM | Comments (170) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump's Defense Finds a Lot of Helpful Testimony from a Surprising Source -- Stormy Daniel's Lawyer/Blackmail Agent

Stormy Daniels' lawyer was quizzed as a witness in Trump's bulls*** trial.

He made a bunch of statements that are very helpful to Trump.

First of all, he made it clear that Stormy Daniels was pressuring Trump to pay her off or else she'd go public with her claims.

This is called "blackmail" in most jurisdictions. Jurors may well wonder who the victim is here. Surely not the "New York state political disclosure laws."

The ex-lawyer of adult film actress Stormy Daniels testified Thursday that he thought Donald Trump was "going to lose" the 2016 presidential election, and pressed trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen to settle the payment before losing "leverage."

During the final rounds of questioning to Daniel's lawyer, Keith Davidson, he admitted he spoke to Cohen, pressing him to settle the $130,000 payment to Daniels to quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with Trump in 2006, before the 2016 election. He said Trump "will lose", and subsequently his client would lose her leverage. Trump has denied every having the affair.

That phone call was described as intense and full of expletives. Trump's defense team is hoping to connect that call with Davidson's alleged pattern of squeezing people for money during vulnerable times.

Well, yeah.

Next, for reasons I'm not clear on, the sleazebag extortionist insisted that the payments to Stormy Daniels were not hush money at all.

The jury doesn't have to accept his claim. But the Soros DA is claiming Trump covered up "hush money" payments, and the party who negotiated those payments (or extorted them) says they weren't hush money payments at all.

They were just "consideration." The quid for the quo of Stormy Daniels not carrying through with her blackmail threat.

Davidson earlier Thursday said that the $130,000 payment to Daniels was not "hush money," but a "consideration" payment.

Consideration" is a contractual legal term for what someone gives in return for the promise to abide by a contract; in this case, money. The payment was labeled "legal fees" in Trump's accounting, which prosecutors allege amounted to fraud.

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Johsua Steinglass earlier pressed Davidson about Daniels' statement, which Davidson prepared for his client, that denied any relationship with Trump and said that her only interaction with Trump was "a few public appearances and nothing more."

"Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false," the statement says."I don't believe that Stormy ever alleged that any interaction with Trump was 'romantic,'" Davidson testified Thursday.

But it is his understanding that Daniels had a sexual encounter with Trump.He also said the payment "wasn't a payoff.""It wasn't a payoff. And it wasn't hush money. It was consideration," Davidson said. Davidson added that he would never use "hush money" to describe the money exchange. He would only refer to it as "consideration."

Finally, the extortionist revealed reasons to doubt the Soros DA's "star witness" Michael Cohen. Cohen was so distraught that Trump was not taking him to DC that he considered suicide.

That is a huge motive to lie to get vengeance.

"Can you f---ing believe I'm not going to Washington after everything I've done for that guy. I can't believe I'm not going to Washington...I've save[d] his a--..."Cohen told Davidson. According to Davidson, Cohen wanted to be Attorney General or White House chief of staff.

Davidson testified that he thought Cohen was so distressed that he wasn't going to work in the Trump administration that he might kill himself.

Trump continues thwarting the Democrats' scheme to keep him too tied up in court to do any campaigning:

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:55 PM | Comments (223) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Biden Is Giving Obamcare to DACA Illegals

Of course they claimed this would never happen when they first imposed DACA.

President Biden's administration on Friday formalized a new policy of opening Obamacare health insurance exchanges to people who arrived illegally in the US as children who have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.

The change, pending since last year, is projected to ease access to insurance and federal subsidies for roughly 100,000 uninsured DACA status holders and could soften the blow to pro-immigration advocates if Biden tries to curb record-high illegal immigration before the Nov. 5 election.

"This landmark final rule will make DACA recipients eligible for the Affordable Care Act coverage for the first time. It is projected to help more than 100,000 DACA recipients gain coverage," an administration official said on a press call.

"By providing new opportunities for quality, affordable care healthcare, this rule will give DACA recipients that peace of mind and opportunity that every American deserves."

The DACA program was created in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama when the DREAM Act failed to pass the Senate and grants eligible applicants access to deportation protection and work permits.

In 2017, President Donald Trump attempted to scrap DACA while saying Congress should approve a similar program. The Supreme Court overruled him in 2020.

There were fewer than 600,000 DACA recipients as of last year, down from a peak of more than 700,000.

Immigration is one of the 81-year-old Biden's top liabilities in his anticipated rematch against Trump, who is vowing to launch a mass deportation campaign after unprecedented illegal immigration under Biden.

Under Biden, most people who illegally cross the Mexican border are allowed to enter the US to pursue asylum claims in a move Republicans say encourages others to follow.

Shortly after taking office, Biden halted construction of Trump's US-Mexico border wall and terminated the "Remain in Mexico" policy that required asylum seekers to await rulings on their claims of persecution south of the border.

The DACA benefits expansion comes amid reporting that Biden may seek to demonstrate a tougher approach to the border as polling shows the issue as a major election liability.

An Associated Press poll last month found that 56% of respondents said Biden made "immigration and border security" worse.

Not only will they be on Obamacare -- which Obama promised illegals would not be allowed to access -- but they'll also be getting discounted insurance. US taxpayers will be paying for their subsidies.

We editorialized about this last year, when the idea was first floated by President Biden, noting that it confirmed that Barack Obama did in fact lie when he claimed that his health-care program would not provide benefits to illegal immigrants.

A "fact sheet" from the White House estimates that 100,000 illegal immigrants will receive benefits through the program. It explains, "Starting in November, DACA recipients can apply for coverage through HealthCare.gov and state-based marketplaces, where they may qualify for financial assistance to help them purchase quality health insurance."

So, to be clear, illegal immigrants won't merely be able to use the Obamacare portal to shop but will also be able to receive federal subsidies based on income, potentially qualifying for completely free medical coverage. There is also no reason to feel confident that the government will be able to accurately verify income for this population.

This is another example of executive overreach from a lawless administration.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:57 PM | Comments (268) | Trackbacks (Suck)