Sen. Rand Paul: “The guy the Biden administration droned: was he an aid worker or an ISIS-K operative?”
Sec. Blinken: "I don't know because we're reviewing it."
Sen. Paul: “You’d think you’d kind of know before you off somebody with a predator drone.”
— Spoiler: he knows nowIsekai: 1.10
She didn’t need any help getting up the path to the cave, which was probably for the best. I waited outside while she rummaged through my furs and made herself decent, and then we talked.
“How long did you sleep with her?”
We were definitely thinking of the same redhead. “It was a long time ago, and I didn’t really keep score, and are you even old enough for that conversation?”
She sighed and tried again. “Not like that, I mean sleep-as-in-sleep. How much time did you spend together, touching-but-not-that-way?”
“One night. Supposedly my last, although it wasn’t, quite.”
She looked confused, so I told her everything. Dine-and-dash, “tomorrow you die”, amazing sex (without the details), the state she left my kitchen in (with all the details, because that made her laugh, and for a moment she seemed as young as she looked), the three weeks of fuzzy memories, and finally waking up here with her on top of me, vanishing as soon as she finished.
“That bitch. I really hope I’m not her, because I’d hate to turn out to be someone that I’d turn out to hate being.”
Red-eye Pie
Since I now have a Keurig and a Nespresso, and a solid supply of the necessary ingredients for liquid pie (stir the froth packet + 2x Splenda + 2x Half-n-Half together into the consistency of cupcake batter, then brew 12-16 ounces with the k-cup, using the Strong button), I decided to try combining the two for this morning’s wake-up call, dropping a shot of espresso in at the end (also Gevalia, their “Luminous” flavor). This process is apparently known to coffee-speakers as a red-eye. The final result is not to be confused with a Mocha Latte Bomb; I suspect those end up being eaten straight as often as dropped into a drink.
My giant stoneware mug didn’t fit into the Essenza Mini, and I haven’t printed a replacement drip tray for it, so I used one of my new demitasse cups to transfer the shot from A to B.
“Bosmarlin” doesn’t roll off the tongue as well as the top-tier Chinese brands, but perhaps Xinhua County Huiling Trade Co., Ltd couldn’t find anyone with the Gift Of Names, although they did find someone who writes much better English than usual. Terrific mug, though, and I really like the hamon-like pattern on the rim. Also, it’s subtle in the pictures, but it’s got faux-handthrown dimpling on the outer surface, to add a bit of visual interest and texture.
10/10, would consume mass quantities again.
(I think these may be the only SFW-ish images tagged チョコぱい…)
Isekai: 1.9
As she curled up into a tight ball and began sobbing, I realized it wasn’t me she’d screamed at. I don’t even think she knew I was there until I reached out and lightly touched her shoulder. I’d never had much practice at comforting children, especially ones that looked exactly like a fresh, innocent, untouched, virginal, naked, budding, pure, stopstopstopstopstop.
I rebalanced my disappointed hormones and resolved to platonically comfort the little girl. It wasn’t easy, but by the time she looked up at me with startled, tear-filled eyes, it wasn’t hard, either.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m… I’m not hurt. I’m not there. And I’m not alone. I think that’s okay enough for now.”
She had the same voice, too.
“I’ve got a little food in my cave, and furs and hides that you can cover up with. It’s not much, but…”
Her eyes narrowed at the word cave, then widened at furs and hides. “Where the hell am I?!?”
“Beats me, kid; I was dumped here ten years ago by a woman who looked like a 20-year-old you, and I’ve been alone ever since.”
“Oh crap, her. I am not okay any more.”
Fun with Scrivener!
Isekai: 1.8
I’d found a naked redhead where I expected to find a naked redhead, but it was the wrong one. This one was just old enough to be way too young, even for a guy who’d been alone for ten years. She was also asleep or unconscious, which allowed my firm disappointment to subside to the point that it wouldn’t scare her off.
I felt only mildly dirty as I looked her over. They had to be related: same lovely face, same shaggy mane of red hair, same delightful freckles everywhere I could see without risking a felony. For a wild moment I thought that it was her, fucking with me in a way that didn’t involve actually fucking with me.
Then she sat up and screamed. In fairness, I hadn’t exactly been keeping up with my grooming.
Somewhat belatedly…
Down the Hatch
Costco stocks a Costco-sized jar of Hatch green chiles. They’re terrific. Unfortunately, they contain no preservatives of any kind, and once opened, will turn from green to fuzzy surprisingly quickly in the fridge. I suspect they turn to mush if you freeze them, so I won’t buy them again until I’m in a position to cook with friends in our brave new post-Covid world.
However, when I went out to Seaside to get a haircut recently, I stopped at the upscale Safeway nearby that stocks Boar’s Head lunchmeats, and discovered that they also carried a selection of Green Chile Food Company frozen burritos and quesadillas, made with Hatch chiles.
They’re quite tasty, and the quesadillas come with instructions to pan-fry them in a teaspoon of butter, which is a perfect use for my new cast-iron Bluray press.
Coffee China
I bought a set of actual demitasse cups with matching saucers, from the faux-Italian brand Le Tauci (aka Shenzhen Bosiho Technology, Ltd). They seemed like a decent product at a decent price, and they are. As a bonus, they were very well packaged, guaranteed to survive anything you threw at them (which, fortunately, did not include five pounds of cast iron).
I didn’t really read the blurb in their listing. I saw them recommended on the Nespresso sub-reddit, looked at the pictures, scanned the reviews, and plopped them into my cart. It wasn’t until I looked at their lungo cup set that I confirmed their Chinese origin. These are just the highlights:
The handle is meticulously designed for comfortable holding. No matter the coffee mug is in your hand or on your lip, you can feel the finest touch of the flavor.
…
【PLEASURE GAINED WHEN SAVORING INCONSISTENT TEMPERATURE】
…
The expresso cup has no porous to absorb moisture or odors. Make it a naturally easy-to-clean vessel to maintain the natural flavor of coffee beans.
…
Different Taste From What You Try
…
Enid Demitasse Cups Has A Sturdy Handle More Than Decoration
There is a part of concave surface between it and the wall of cup, which provides more space for your fingers to hold the cup in an easy and comfortable way.Want to make a cup of perfect lungo shot by yourself? Suit it in the Nespresso coffee machine and you can get your drink within a few minutes!
…
You are the motivation for our further upgradation
I really like “upgradation”. It sounds like something you’d pay a reverse dominatrix for.
In addition to making a decent product, I tip my hat to Shenzhen Bosiho Technology for coming up with a non-ridiculous-sounding name, unlike their competitors in the coffee-cup arena, like Cuisinox, Sweese, and Huji.
By the way, JoyJolt, while equally obviously Chinese in origin, is another coffee-cup brand with an appealing name and a pretty good rep, working the double-walled-borosilicate-glass side of the street. They have an American beard for their branding, but the cups and the ad copy are definitely Made-In-China:
Top quality double walled glass coffee mug mouth blown borosilicate-glass microwave, dishwasher and oven(up to 350°F are save; not for use with metal utensils
…
The glass coffee/Tea mug are absolute design Smooth finish, crystal clear, beautiful addition to any cafe, restaurant, definitely to your own home
…
Enjoy Your Favorite Drink Never Before With The JoyJolt Aroma Double wall Glass Cups!
Isekai: 1.7
After a while, I’d given up waiting for her and started exploring more seriously. I hadn’t visited the cave in a few weeks, but fortunately nothing had moved in while I was gone. This trip, I’d followed a river to where it joined a bigger river, and then on to where it finally emptied into a lake. Great place for a settlement, I thought, but apparently nobody on this world agreed. If there was anybody on this world; after ten years, I had serious doubts. The fish were a nice change of diet, at least.
I’d like to think that I had a reason for coming back to the cave, but it was really just reflex. I always came back, just like I always checked out the rock she’d left me on.
Which for the first time since my arrival was occupied. From here, all I could see was white skin and red hair, but I broke my personal record for the Hundred Yard Frantic Scramble getting down there, all the while wondering whether I was more interested in wringing her neck or begging for sex. At least one part of me had already voted for the latter.
It wasn’t her. I’d come up with a lot of scenarios over the years, some naughty, some nice, some dark and bloody, but I’d never thought I’d find a different redhead.
Worse, she looked about twelve.
On Common Grounds
Pod Vase-ing
This Nespresso capsule holder model is almost extremely well done. It holds 30 original-type pods in a compact hexagonal shape, and significantly reduces filament use and print time by being designed to use vase mode. It’s slightly too tall to fit on my printer, which I fixed by scaling the height down, and the slots are slightly too tight to easily hold Gevalia’s compostable clone pods, which have a thicker rim.
But the real problem is that the matching slots in the separate base are slightly too tight to fit the top into. This can be worked around with careful slicing parameters, if you know about it in advance, but if you went ahead and just printed it, like I did, you’ll need to break out the hot glue.
So close.
Speaking of pods…
Target has a house brand of Nespresso clone-pods called “Archer Farms” that includes three flavors designed for a lungo pour. They’re crap.
Not the coffee, the pods. Licensed pods use a solid aluminum body with a foil cap. These use a slightly-off-spec aluminum body with foil at top and bottom, and the result is that my Essenza Mini strains to push the water through and gives up about halfway. There was nothing wrong with the coffee that made it out, but paying half the price to get half the coffee doesn’t seem like a good deal, especially if it ends up stressing the machine.
On the bright side, Target is the only retailer I’ve been in for months that had my Gevalia Mocha Latte k-cups in stock. If I didn’t already have a three-month supply, I’d have picked up a three-month supply.
A Moo by any other name…
I stopped buying Land-O-Lakes butter when they killed off the Indian and kept the Land, but I’ve still been buying Mini Moos, their single-serving half-and-half packets. Because I dislike artificial creamers, and because two Moos is only 20 calories, but mostly because it’s the only brand my local groceries stock in that form factor.
But as my Nespresso Adventures rapidly depleted my stock, I decided to go looking for a different brand, and found Carnation Half & Half tubs, in the giant industrial-family-sized package. 360 of them is a lot for one guy, but coffee isn’t the only use I put them to, and hopefully they don’t arrive with an imminent expiration date. These days, packaged meals that include “milk” or “cheese” use low-fat, low-flavor stuff to attract the masses who’ve been indoctrinated by the State Church Of Wrong Dieting, and they benefit from a little 10-calorie touchup.
Well, 11.5 from now on; Carnation decided to set their serving size at 3 tubs instead of 1, so they fall under different FDA rounding rules (see page 129), and thus each tub officially has 0.3333 grams of sugar instead of being “sugar-free”.
I just have to figure out what to call them now. Carns? Calfs? Halfs?
Unrelated, “Alexa, please stop sucking.”
J: Alexa, what time does Safeway close?
A: Safeway pharmacy on Constitution Blvd is currently closed, but will…
J: Alexa, stop. What time does the Safeway grocery store close?
A: Safeway pharmacy on Constitution Blvd is currently closed, but will…
J: Alexa, stop. What time does the nearest Safeway close?
A: Safeway pharmacy on Constitution Blvd is currently closed, but will…
J: Alexa, stop. What time does the Safeway on North Main Street close?
A: Safeway on North Main Street in Salinas is open today from 6am to 10pm.
“No, seriously, stop.”
J: Alexa, play “Sex (I’m A)”.
A: Here’s “Sex Type Thing”, by Stone Temple Pilots, on Amazon Music.
J: Alexa, stop. Play “Sex (I’m A)” by Berlin.
A: I couldn’t find sex-ima by Berlin, but here is other music by Berlin. (begins playing “The Metro”)
J: Alexa, play “Sex” by Berlin.
A: Here’s “Sex (I’m A)” by Berlin, on Amazon Music.
[Update: this one turns out to be particularly tricky: the results depend entirely on how you pronounce “A” when you ask for the song. If you pronounce it the way they do in the song (“I’m a man/I’m a goddess/…”), Alexa won’t find it, but if you carefully enunciate it as the letter “A”, it will.]
Isekai: 1.6
With only five months until DL-Day, my priorities were simple:
- stay alive
- find people
- become hero
- save world
Hoping that she’d return with something more than fantastic sex and terrible notes, I moved into an unoccupied cave with a good view of “our” rock and easy access to fresh water, collected some pointy sticks and sharp-ish rocks, and went looking for signs of civilization.
I quickly settled into a routine of picking a direction, walking as far as I could until midday, climbing a hill or tall tree, looking around for anything, and then returning home disappointed. And usually hungry. I ate pretty much anything I found, at least once, which is how I discovered that grilled beetles tasted a bit like bacon.
Oh, yes, I had invented fire. My sensei was big on perseverance, and it turns out that if you bang enough rocks together, eventually you’ll find the kind that make sparks.
Fire was good for more than cooking, of course. It kept me warm and uneaten at night, and was sure to attract attention from the locals eventually. All I had to do was get out there and find them.
