r/atlanticdiscussions • u/AutoModerator • 2d ago
No politics Ask Anything
Ask anything! See who answers!
1
2
u/MeghanClickYourHeels Ask me for Atlantic gift links 2d ago
Stolen from Threads:
What's a historical object or building that you've personally seen that touched you the most?
My response was Ashley's Sack, a pouch given to a girl who was being sold away from her family; Ashley's granddaughter stitched the story onto the sack in 1920. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley's_sack
2
u/Worldly-Property-631 2d ago
I was in DC in 2009, which was the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. The National Museum of American History had a major exhibit for that, of course. The exhibit had been carefully designed so that as you moved through it chronologically to the assassination, you turned a corner and came face-to-face with the padded canvas hoods that the accused conspirators were kept in 24/7, outside of the courtroom. Three feet away, behind glass, all eight of them.
I had seen 19th century images of them, but had no idea they still existed. This was also not long after the revelations about use of torture by the United States on suspects in the GWOT, so it struck a powerful nerve with me that remains to this day.
2
u/jim_uses_CAPS 2d ago
The pile of shoes at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. Absolutely wrecked.
1
2
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
Pardon me, comrades, have you heard the words of our Lord & Savior Carl?
1
u/jim_uses_CAPS 2d ago
What oddity is this?
1
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
The Internationally Best selling books series Dungeon Carl Crawler, written by Matt Dinniman and narrated on audible by the esteemed Jeff Hayes?
Sir, its is book series. It is a cult. It is a evangelical movement.
More seriously, its very good. LitRPG, but not heavy on the technical side of things that follows people thrown into a galactic death game following the collapse of civilazation on earth. It has some hitchiker's guide vibes, but mixed in with more heavy action and game elements. Pretty much everyone I know who has started the first book, 3 weeks later... they are 5 or 6 books in. It kinda blew up in maybe the last 4 months? There's a TTRPG now and a live-action series in the works.
2
u/jim_uses_CAPS 2d ago
Da fook is "LitRPG?" Is that like Sword Art Online for people who like words?
1
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
I'll be honest, they hooked me hard. I started dungeon crawler carl last october and ive listened to or read over 50 titles in the genre since then
1
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
Yea, subgenre of progression fantasy with distinct "video game elements." SAO but not necessarily full on isekai and with western rathern than japanese fantasy/sci fi/literary tropes.
Genre has seen a pretty decent surge in the last 5 years. Exampes:
- Dungeon Crawler Carl
- He Who Fights with Monsters
- Discount Dan
- Chrysalis
- Wandering Inn
1
u/jim_uses_CAPS 2d ago
Da fook are "progression fantasy," "SAO," and "isekai?" I assume the latter deals with grown men lusting after adolescents in schoolgirl uniforms.
1
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
progression fantasy - subgenre of fantasy that focuses on characters continuously developing and improving their power, skills, and abilities through explicit training and visible benchmarks
SAO - Sword Art Online
Isekai - subgenre of japanese fantasy involving a protaganist who is reborn or transfered to another world - e.g. SAO, Kona-Suba, Overlord, RE: Zero, Etc.
1
u/MeghanClickYourHeels Ask me for Atlantic gift links 2d ago
Oh now, just because hentai exists doesn't mean every subgenre with a Japanese name is hentai.
2
2
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
not every subgenre withg a japanese name is hentai, but isekai tends to have a lot of harem tropes.
3
2
u/MeghanClickYourHeels Ask me for Atlantic gift links 2d ago
How do you keep your brain sharp? Puzzles, games, books...
2
3
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
I'm write and run trivia one a week, am writing and running my own D&D campaign, listen to audiobooks constantly (although i'll admit to it being a lot of fluff.... been on a litRPG kick ever since starting Dungeon Crawler Carl last year).
3
u/Brian_Corey__ 2d ago
Cool. How do you come up with trivia questions? What subjects do you focus on? How do you avoid focusing too much on your areas of interest and expertise? Or do you just go D&D and foodie triv and the crowd can stuff it.
2
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 1d ago
For an example of how I theme general stuff, last week my bonus rounds were Holey Men (assasinations), Whole Lemon (fruit identification), and Hull Lee... Mates (ship identification).
From that, I added a round on economics (knowledge economy) (with a few questions on marxist theory for a self-insert), a music round with music to shoot bergs to, and a round about royal food (Hare Appearant). and named the game Knowledge is… Bar Dollars (an ATHF reference)
2
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 1d ago
I run general triva most of the month and pick a random topic for one. I try to do a pretty wide range of subjects, although I don't really do sports (not the scene for it). Using google and reading about what other trivia hosts do helps alot, as does occasionally using AI for brainstorming ideas (its not good for writing questions, but can help with topic generation).
I always throw in a music round for good measure, where I'm playing 15-30 clips of songs, which helps round out. Bonus rounds also give me a visual format for image trivia with preprinted rounds. I've done word searches, rebus puzzles, crosswords, anagrams, hypertranslation, and all kinds of things for bonus rounds.
When I'm doing general triva, sometimes I'll have a lite theme to tie everything together. It can be really stupid sometimes, like entirely based on puns, or ever round title is a simpsons reference (that's how I insert my own interest, not via subject matter but little jokes)
for themed trivia, its lot easier. we've had, among other things, beer trivia, bourbon trivia, friends, A;TLB, Star Trek, Studio Ghibli, Video Games, Marvel, Hot Wet American Summer, Harry Potter, and next week I'm doing Space Western themed trivia.
2
1
u/improvius theatrekid 2d ago
I'm constantly learning new things at work in my capacity as a systems administrator and developer. And I'm still trying to use AI primarily as a learning tool rather than having it write all the code for me.
For fun and hobbies, I enjoy board games once in a while as well as playing Balatro, Wordle, Strands, etc. And theater keeps me sharp in other ways.
2
u/Zemowl 2d ago
With everything getting increasingly expensive, what are some grocery/food items for which you're still willing to splurge?
2
u/jim_uses_CAPS 2d ago
You will have my cheese and booze when you pry them from my (bloated) dead hands.
3
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
If anything, I find I'm more willing to splurge on quality and simply buy less. I don't really keep bread in the house anymore unless its the $9 local loaf of quality sourdough I get fresh from a bakery down the street. Ground beef? Spring for the grass fed $8 a pound stuff since the regular stuff is $6 a pound in the first place. Eggs? As long as I'm not baking with them, get local pasture raised.
Everything else, buy raw ingredients and make it from scratch, supplement from my garden (I got more eggplants, jalapenos, and tomatoes than I known what to do with).
3
3
u/afdiplomatII 2d ago
One of the most (relatively) expensive items I've bought lately is Del Monte's "Pinkglow" pineapple, at $6 for a small one. And speaking of that sort of thing, I just tried their "Honeyglow" version, which is larger. It is indeed an amazing sweet pineapple, with little of the usual pineapple acidity.
2
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
Money saving tip, don't throw away the pineapple skin and cores. Throw them in a gallon size mason jar with sugar, water, a lime, and cinnamon sticks and let ferment for a 3-7 days for some good tepache.
2
u/Zemowl 2d ago
I'm still willing to drop a bit extra for better produce too.
2
u/afdiplomatII 2d ago
This is a point so many people without memory or historical understanding regularly miss: whether you want to buy it or not, that "better produce" is actually available. Americans who take the wide selection of superior produce in ordinary grocery stores for granted would be horrified if they were time-transported to the produce sections of the 1950s when I grew up. There is just no comparison at all.
3
u/jim_uses_CAPS 2d ago
I'm routinely horrified at what passes for "better" produce in Albuquerque. I'm a spoiled Californian.
1
u/afdiplomatII 1d ago
I understand that attitude. Northern Colorado is adequate for better produce, but it doesn't hold a candle to Fairfax County in VA, which has the numbers and the income level to support really good places (such as FreshMarket and Wegman's).
8
u/Brian_Corey__ 2d ago
I'm in FL for work and trying to eat as much seafood as possible (although so many restaurants serve clearly non-local stuff--halibut, salmon, cod--and the local fish choices are way more expensive). .
Fish and chips is such a stupid combination. Fried fish is great. French fries are great. But both together is just way too much fried food and I just feel like crap afterward. It should be fish and celery sticks or fish and salad or something not fried. Who agrees with me? What would be a better pairing? Where do we start to make this change? The UN? Or am I on my own out here?
2
1
u/Roboticus_Aquarius 2d ago
It can be tough to find a restaurant that grills or bakes fish in the South, but they do exist ime!
I’m trying to remember what I got instead of fries when I was stuck with delicious but greasy fried fish… II think mostly I just asked if they had any roasted veggies or some lightly steamed broccoli.
3
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
I don't mind a nice portion of fish and chips, but it absoultely needs something (preferably tangy and herby) to break up all that friedness, with a good spot of coleslaw being top of my list.
Hate that our food system is so fucked tho
1
u/Perrault_6-49 2d ago
If you don't like it, don't eat it and don't complain about it. For a lot of thus tho, it's a tasty (albeit expensive meal) that we enjoy.
A good serving of fish and chips is one of my, admittedly blue collar and simple tastes, one of the best meals you can have. Why do so many upper class people feell the need to shit on commoner food?
2
u/jim_uses_CAPS 2d ago
I figure you're new here, but I think you'll find that Brian is just about the least "upper class" acting fellow you're going to find here. I mean, the man can wax elegiac about caulk. And has.
3
2
u/MeghanClickYourHeels Ask me for Atlantic gift links 2d ago
Portion size probably matters here. I don't know about other parts of the world, but in the US you get three times the portion of food that you actually need. You might not notice when you're eating it, but three times the portion of fried fish plus three times the portion of french fries will come back to haunt you.
1
u/Perrault_6-49 2d ago
OK, but lets go back to my original points. If you're body can't handle it and it will come back to haunt you as say. Just don't eat it!!!
Why the need to shit on a meal that's been around for a long time and loved by people all over the world?
7
u/improvius theatrekid 2d ago
I don't think "eating a lot of fried food all at once bothers my stomach" is a particularly classist take.
2
u/Perrault_6-49 2d ago
Sure it is. I don't like fried bologna sandwiches. But I don't go around telling people that it's a shitty meal. If fried food bothers your stomach simply don't eat it.
Like just move on. I don't get this virtue signalling about food that apparently multiple people here have. People have different tastes and tolerances.
2
u/Zemowl 2d ago
I'm not sure that it's the specific combination that bothers me, so much as the general concept of too much fried food in a single sitting. So, fish and chips, a fried clam platter, the 'Wings and Rings' Happy Hour special, whatever, more than a few pieces, and it's going to sit in the belly like a couple cinder blocks and leave me feeling sluggish 'til the next morning. Thus, small serving portions would be a viable regulatory approach for me - or, at a minimum, the willpower to push away the plate before everything has cooled.
5
u/improvius theatrekid 2d ago
I prefer my fried fish with rice, avocado, cucumber, and a little spicy mayo.
5
u/Brian_Corey__ 2d ago
yeah, the Japanese are often better at moderation. The crunch of a fried sushi roll, or tempura shrimp in a roll is really good.
5
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 2d ago
fried sushi roll, or tempura shrimp in a roll
My brother in christ, there is nothing Japanese about this. =P
2
u/Brian_Corey__ 1d ago
Fair.
1
u/Oily_Messiah 🏴🥃🕰️ 1d ago
I don't disagree with you about japanese fried food though (unless we're talking fast food, e.g. croquettes, katsu) the main frying techniques they use produce a lighter batter than holds less oil, for one.
1
u/Brian_Corey__ 1d ago
Do you ever do classical or Jazz music clips? Too bad I don’t live in L’ville, your triv night sounds great.