I come seeking the advice of the Fluorosphere.
For Christmas, my brother has requested a shaving brush. Badger, not boar, as he says boar is poor quality, and besides, he already has a boar bristle brush.
I've seen a huge range of prices when browsing on Amazon. The most expensive ones are well out of my price range (especially as I would also like to include a safety razor with his gift). But I worry that the least expensive ones will be of overall low quality.
Can anyone provide me with any advice or suggestions on things to look for when shopping for a shaving brush? Desirable traits and things to avoid would both be helpful to know at this point.
On bullying, and class reunions...
I thought about posting some of my own experiences here, but on further reflection, I'm still not comfortable posting them in a public forum. No one is completely anonymous, after all.
Let it be said instead that I'm unlikely to go to any class reunions for a long time. I have doubts of my own ability to face some of my former tormentors, and still behave like a mature and reasonable adult.
I embarassed myself once at a con, when my response to an old schoolmate* who asked if I knew his brother** was "Oh, that a******". His brother had been one of those who habitually picked on me from about fifth through tenth grades. Before fifth grade, we'd gone to different schools. After tenth grade, we had no classes together. These days, see the above mentioned doubts on maturity and reasonableness.
Schoolmate was understanding once I explained his brother's behavior toward me, but still, not the best re-introduction to someone you haven't seen in years, and secretly wished you'd known better back when you were in school together.
*He was two grades above me, so not a classmate.
**His younger brother was in my grade
Jim @ 85:
Quite right. (And watch the potato salad too, please.)
Ah, food poisoning. Also known as: Why I don't like mayonnaise any more.
While on vacation with my family one year, we stopped for dinner at a fast food restaurant. We'd stopped there before, and I knew they put too much mayo on their sandwiches for my taste. But I forgot to ask them to go easy on the mayo when I placed my order. I should have.
That night, my brother and I were both sick. I threw up; he settled for feeling seriously miserable all night and into the next day. At breakfast (the time, since neither my brother nor I felt up to actually eating anything) we tried to figure out what had happened. Our decision was food poisoning, since my brother and I had both eaten sandwiches with mayonnaise, and my parents had both eaten sandwiches without mayonnaise. My sandwich had been extremely warm, and who knows how long it had been sitting under the heat lamps...
I will still eat mayonnaise, but only if I am the only one who has handled it from the grocery store to home.
Re: #7 (Downballot races)
Ohio Congressional District 1 (Cincinnati, most of Hamilton County(west), a little of Butler County (north)): Looks like it's going from Red to Blue, and I'm glad*. The incumbent (Steve Chabot) has a handshake like a dead fish, and when I lived in that district, I regularly voted against him. If I still lived in that district, I'd have voted for his opponent, Steve Driehaus.
Ohio Congressional District 2 (eastern Hamilton County, southern Warren County, Clermont, Brown, Adams, Pike Conties, western Scioto County): The district where I currently live, and site of a 3-way battle. Historically, extremely red. Latest results from cincinnati.com show the Republican incumbent with 46%, the Democratic challenger with 36%, and the independent challenger with 17%. Uncertified results in Clermont County have the independent getting 22% in the county. So the incumbent may go back, but she may not have a majority.
*Also biased. In the interest of full disclosure, the Democratic (Driehaus) candidate is my 3rd cousin once removed. A reasonably close relative in that part of town.
I'm watching the local ABC feed in Cincinnati, rather than the national feed. There's a couple issues and a Congressional race* I'd rather hear babble about than the same filler until the national networks can call another race.
The latest update showed 24% of precints reporting in Ohio. The polls didn't close until 7:30 pm EST, and anyone in line at that time can vote. A lot of ballots haven't arrived at the Boards of Elections yet. Hamilton County (Cincinnati) is expecting to have their results tallied by about midnight.
I'm not believing any presidential results from Ohio until we've got at least 90% - whether that's precints reporting, or votes for Obama.
*A third party candidate is getting significant numbers of votes, and could well tip the race. I just don't know which way it will tip.
Is there a substitution for those among us who weren't paying attention and bought self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour on the last trip to the grocery store?
It works fine when I'm making beer bread, and the crepes turned out OK, but I'm not sure what adjustments to make for things like cakes and cookies.
Ah, barbeque. Couldn't stand the stuff as a kid. Now, I'm just incredibly picky about it.
I remember being a kid on vacation at my Grandma's house, in north-eastern Arkansas. We went out to pick up some barbeque. It was someplace on the outskirts of town (east of town, I think). Everything was handled outside. We weren't that far from the pit, and you got your order in an old glass jar. I suspect the jar used to hold something rather more potent than barbeque...
holy places, rain, France, communicating across languages
Last summer (2007) I visited France for the first time. Mostly, we stayed in the Paris area. We spent one day in Reims. Unlike the rest of our trip, when the weather had been sunny (if unseasonably cool), it was overcast and occassionally raining in Reims. Despite the weather, after lunch a few of us decide to visit the cathedral anyway.
I separated from our group after we had seen the cathedral. I had seen a needlework shop on our way from the town square to the cathedral, and I wanted to see what I could find there that I couldn't find at home. It was a small shop, but oh, the racks of lace! Do you speak English? I asked the shopkeeper? We were in the northeast of France, and not too far from Paris, so I thought she might speak English or German as a second language. No, she told me. Do you speak Spanish? I shook my head. I speak a little French, I told her.
The shopkeeper smiled and spoke slowly. She confirmed my measurements as I pointed out pieces of lace, and told her how many centimeters I wanted. I can count in French, and I can convert between inches and centimeters in my head, but both at once was a stretch for me.
When I was done, she rang me up. The total was something like 2.35 Euros (I bought very small pieces of lace). I pulled a handful of change out of my pocket, but most of my small coins had been spent on tea that morning at Gare de l'Est. I handed her 2.25 without thinking, and she pointed to the total again. I counted my change again (more carefully this time). Three euros? I asked. I would need change, but it would cover the full total. The shopkeeper smiled at me, and said something. I didn't understand the words, but I understood the meaning - Don't worry about it.
I was very excited when I rejoined my family. The entire transaction had been in French (and a little Spanish). There was no opportunity to switch to English if things got difficult, and I don't recall ever seeing lace shopping as a sample conversation in a phrasebook. A little rain was certainly not going to dampen my enthusiasm that afternoon.
I've used the burn test before, but usually to determine if a given piece of fabric was silk or a high-quality synthetic blend (the most recent one was silk). Growing up around all kinds of fabrics*, I've gotten pretty good at determining fabrics by touch.
Does anyone know how rayon reacts to the burn test? I would assume it would produce a powdery ash like cotton, but I've never tested it.
*Mom's a quilter, mother-in-law is a quilter, grandmother made a lot of clothes for me.
I recently joined a community on Ning, and a group of us are comparing notes on our unfinished projects. My projects for this month are: sew crocheted trim onto a denim jacket (pinned in place, needs to be hand sewn), finish my new denim purse (attach shoulder strap, as soon as I can find where I put said strap), and completing all the leaves on my embroidered Monarch Garden pillow top kit.
I also make programs at work. Today I worked on making XML files from a C# code file. Tomorrow's project will be to create the XML file by copying from a standard existing file, rather than hard coding all my nodes. I have used XML and C# separately before, but this is the first project where I have had to use any of the System.Xml namespaces in C#.
I am making big branches into little branches, which will then be made into fire. I am making a prematurely leaf-covered yard back into a grassy yard. On Monday, I made brownies. I gave them to the neighbors who helped us clean up the biggest branches on Sunday, and this made the neighbors happy.
I am making a cookbook to hold my favorite recipes. My mom's index cards are hard to search through, and I find an electronic copy too ephemeral. Also, I don't have a computer in my kitchen.
I would like to make knitted lace, but my knitting skills are nowhere close to my crochet skills. I can cast on, knit, purl, and cast off. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what skills I should practice next before moving on to lace patterns?
More good wishes and prayers for a full and speedy recovery. May your time in the hospital be short, and boring only to those providing treatment.
And as so many others have said, she does have her knitting, right?
Dad Wren: Listen to your mother.
Mom Wren: The one bit of advice I remember (and am willing to share - the rest was rather personal) was given to me before I went away to college. It went something like this: "I'm going to give you the same advice my father gave to me and my sisters before I went to college. If anything goes horribly wrong - if you get pregnant, run out of money, anything - let us know, and your dad and I will always be there to help you out." A very comforting safety net that advice has been since then, too.
And from various relatives: "Get your degree. Employers are looking for people with college degrees, not because it proves you learned that subject, but because it proves you were willing to stick with something to the end and finish it. It doesn't matter what your degree is in, just so long as you have that degree." (One of the relatives who gave me that speech is a Computer Science professor - with an undergrad degree in English.)
At breakfast this morning, I realized that any dirty song worth its, you know, needs at least one clean verse, just for contrast.
Mr. Monk, he was aghast
When he saw the scene.
It was all too much for him
He had to go and clean.
An’ it’s who’ll slash ye this time
Who’ll slash ye noo?
The lass who slashed ye last, lad,
She no will slash ye noo.
This. Is. Awful. (Which makes it far better than a lot of the slash fics out there.)
Oh, Spike and Angel, they were there
Trying not to fight
"If this goes on for too much more
We both will get a bite!"
An’ it’s who’ll slash ye this time
Who’ll slash ye noo?
The lass who slashed ye last, lad,
She no will slash ye noo.
Mad Drusilla stood and stared
At Darla and her son
"Why should I pick one of them
When both are much more fun?"
An’ it’s who’ll slash ye this time
Who’ll slash ye noo?
The lass who slashed ye last, lad,
She no will slash ye noo.
Harry Dresden, he was there
with his magic staff
Karin Murphy said to him
"You don't do things by half!"
An’ it’s who’ll slash ye this time
Who’ll slash ye noo?
The lass who slashed ye last, lad,
She no will slash ye noo.
(hdc) Books about your craft that you find inspiring and actually use, and would use still more if they were not so old they have wood cuts instead of photographs for the illustrations.
Re: 192
Books you tried to read*, then put down; then tried to read again, then put down again; then tried to read again, then couldn't put down! while knowing exactly what the problem was the first couple of times**.
*Because your father wouldn't let you near his copy of Lord of the Rings unless you finished The Hobbit first.
**The first couple of chapters were boring.
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Books: Books which have minimalnutritionalliterary value, and which are not even good examples of their genre*, but which are none the less comforting toeatread.
Particularly applicable to books you have read so many times you know which parts you can skip because they are the author ranting/the author geeking about their favorite hobby/utter drivel/complete claptrap/boring/irrelevant.
*Yes, I use genre to describe food, as in "What genre do you want for dinner tonight?"
And as further proof I should go to bed now...
My usual number between 1 and 4 is pi, unless I am in a large group of geeks equally likely to pick it. Then I pick e.
The grey elephant from Denmark again, but I am tired. Also, as soon as I recognized the math problem, I skipped ahead to counting letters.
Interesting math tidbit: you can actually start with any integer for this trick. Keep summing the digits until you end up with a single digit, and your result will still be 9.
Tool was a black hammer, although I think the color is coming from motor oil stains.
Flower was lily-of-the-valley (my favorite since I was a kid).
Generic vegetable is rutabaga, because it's just such a cool word.
Vegetable starting with C: carrot, celery, chard, at which point I realize I've been reading The Joy of Cooking too much recently (and skipping the section on cabbage).
Michael @ 188: You say crazy like it's a bad thing ;) Of course, my dad drove from Peking to Paris last summer, so I may not be entirely objective on such road trips.
Re: Kitties!
Our kitties' mom is my sister-in-law's cat. She started feeding a local stray, and when she realized it was pregnant, she figured she'd better make the adoption official for the sake of the kittens. We ended up with Linus and Lucy, and SIL kept momma cat. The other two kittens were supposed to be adopted by other friends, but when said friends couldn't follow through, they went to the local no-kill shelter as soon as they had space.
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