The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by P J Evans:

Show all comments by P J Evans.

Posted on entry Boycott Black Friday at Wal-Mart ::: November 28, 2009, 12:10 AM:
132
They were trying to put in a new store in a shopping center that was being remodelled. To meet the code requirements, they would have had to double-deck the parking area, which is at a busy intersection, right across from a mall. (It's also an odd-shaped lot.) The location is also within a mile of (1) Costco, (2) Target, and (3) K-Mart (later closed for redevelopment), and about three miles from an existing W*lM*rt with more parking available.
They didn't get the permit.
(It's now a Best Buy and an OfficeMax, with a fitness place upstairs and at least one food place, all tucked into the one building. And the parking lot usually isn't full.)
Posted on entry Restoration Hardware et al. vs. the TSA ::: November 28, 2009, 12:02 AM:
Charlie, that sounds like the right incident. I wasn't sure I was remembering any of it correctly.
Posted on entry Boycott Black Friday at Wal-Mart ::: November 27, 2009, 07:22 PM:
I think freezing milk is like freezing eggs: you can do it, but you can't use the thawed product by itself - it's okay for baking.

(checking food books - they don't mention freezing, but they do say that at low temperature whole milk will keep for about five or six days.)
Posted on entry Boycott Black Friday at Wal-Mart ::: November 27, 2009, 06:26 PM:
And this year they're off to a good start.
Posted on entry Boycott Black Friday at Wal-Mart ::: November 27, 2009, 05:43 PM:
Milk: It tends to go bad after a week, no matter what your fridge temperature is set to - unless you freeze it!
For small amounts, I use powdered milk and make the amount I need. (If it's cold, it tastes better.)

There used to be a brand of dry milk ('Milkman') that had some fat in it, so it wasn't blue, and it came in envelopes that made one quart.
Posted on entry Boycott Black Friday at Wal-Mart ::: November 27, 2009, 10:52 AM:
#99
Handle comes off, or cracks or breaks; pan bottom gets warped. (I have some stainless-steel pans that are older than I am, and are showing those kinds of wear.)
Posted on entry Restoration Hardware et al. vs. the TSA ::: November 27, 2009, 10:24 AM:
106,113
ISTR that it was a 707 that did a roll during a demonstration flight - in front of company executives. I wouldn't rule out other test pilots doing it, though. It's certainly a demonstration of something.
Posted on entry Boycott Black Friday at Wal-Mart ::: November 27, 2009, 10:18 AM:
Where I lived in west Texas, the nearest city had acquired a W*lM*rt distribution center, and insisted, as part of the deal, that they got a store also. (It already had a K-Mart.) The K-Mart closed, partly because it was a little more difficult to get into for people from in town - there was a left turn across a main street involved - but I'd bet that the fact that W*lM*rt put its store right across the street didn't help.
Direct comparison: the W*lM*rt store always seemed to be darker, dirtier, and more crowded with stuff, if not people.
Posted on entry Boycott Black Friday at Wal-Mart ::: November 26, 2009, 12:48 PM:
#60
I know of one company that stopped supplying W*lM*rt because they were being told that either they sold to W at W's price, regardless of their own profit margins and standards, or not sell to them at all. The company felt that their reputation was more important to them, and the rest of their customers, than that particular market, and dropped them. (They're still in business.)

Given the shoddy quality of some of the stuff at W*lMart, even when it's wearing a major brand name, I think they were correct, and that's why I avoid W*lM*rt.
Posted on entry Boycott Black Friday at Wal-Mart ::: November 25, 2009, 09:53 PM:
#43
It's the immediate-gratification doorbusting part that I object to. There are few things that require immediate gratification, and doorbusting is never a good idea outside of emergency escapes.
Posted on entry Open thread 132 ::: November 25, 2009, 08:40 PM:
Lila, is any of the turkey edible afterward?
Posted on entry Restoration Hardware et al. vs. the TSA ::: November 24, 2009, 05:08 PM:
#45
dcb, there are needle threaders that have built-in thread cutters (advantage: the exposed blade is small enough that it's not obvious). Mill Hill sells them; I don't know about others.
Posted on entry Open thread 132 ::: November 24, 2009, 12:30 PM:
314
I figured that one out (art history/appreciation ... it had to be good for something).

I have sympathy, and all the advice on soups is good. (Braces required removal of four premolars, as two pairs, and later two wisdom teeh. Fortunately they were simple extractions, done under local anesthetic.)
Posted on entry Rouge Queen ::: November 18, 2009, 09:08 PM:
72/73
I've seen it modified to 'TO OT' (or, with a letter added, 'TOOOT').
Posted on entry Open thread 132 ::: November 18, 2009, 12:57 AM:
Am I the only one wondering what kind of lurking horror could be called up with a 3-d Mandelbrot diagram? Or have I just read too many of Charlie's Laundry stories for my own good?
Posted on entry Open thread 132 ::: November 17, 2009, 05:06 PM:
#120
My mother should have been high-risk; her mother died of metastasizing breast cancer. But none of the other females in that generation did, my mother didn't have it, and, IIRC, only one of the others had breast cancer - at age 90. So there's still a lot of randomness in there. I'd say it's okay to get them before 50, but it isn't necessary for everyone. (The one person I knew who died of it was in her early 50s and had been fighting it for 15 years.)
Posted on entry Open thread 132 ::: November 17, 2009, 02:23 PM:
on m*grams:
I'd say that if there's a real risk factor, like mother, sister, or aunts who had it before they were 50 or 60, then, yes, start getting them early.
Posted on entry Technically American ::: November 16, 2009, 09:07 PM:
#121
Most of Kansas is a bit too far from Chicago for day trips, and even from KC I'd think it was a long day. Only happens in an alternate universe, I suspect ....
Posted on entry Open thread 131 ::: November 15, 2009, 07:02 PM:
Avram, I think that the procedure is that (a) you aren't supposed to go up if you're not eligible and (b) you're supposed to be turned away quietly (or with minimal fuss) if you do go up.

I can see, though, that Rudy would ignore both of those, and would make a Big Thing out of it if he were turned away.

So I think the answer is 'all of the above'.
Posted on entry Open thread 131 ::: November 15, 2009, 04:22 PM:
Avram, it's that all the rules I've heard about say that Rudy shouldn't have been in that line; he certainly would have known that. His affairs were public enough that I can't imagine anyone in that diocese not being aware of who he was and what he'd done. Not doing anything right then, I can understand, but they should have spoken to him beforehand.

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