Posts made by Kestrel

Back to RL peeves, disgruntlements and irks.

I just saw a fashion advert on Facebook for stylish anti-pollution air masks.

If that's not peak capitalism I don't know what is.

@Pandora said in Tyche Banned:

Don't act like I didn't cover that sort of situation in my post, it's disingenuous & that's only if I'm being generous about your intentions.

Considering the specific context of the post you were responding to, ditto, brah.

@Aria said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

(It's already weird that we serve hummus cold.)

Oh my goodness, preach.

I stick to the basics. It sounds like you're doing OK.

My father who happens to be the biggest hummus fan I know goes in for glazed mushrooms, caramelised onions and cooked chickpeas on top. Personally I don't but it's fairly traditional. e.g.:

I prefer to keep it simple with:
— fresh chopped parsley (see above)
— paprika (see above)
— extra virgin olive oil (somewhat lacking in the above)
— all the za'atar (extremely lacking in the above)
— lots of harissa, or gochujang sauce, I like it
— tahini sauce (recipe)

If I'm feeling extra:
— various (any) seeds, e.g., pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, etc.
— a smattering of nutritional yeast, both for that B12 fix and because I like the flavour

Served with:
— heat, obviously, and thank you
— hot wholemeal pita bread fresh out the oven
— dill pickle spears and olives, the tartness really just adds something for me
— tabouleh (a very fine parsley salad)
— chopped israeli salad (the super simple traditional kind that consists of just finely minced cucumber, tomato, onion and some seasoning, no fancy variations)
— 4-5 falafels, if I'm really that hungry, but all of the above is usually more than enough

But the above is just an insane feast that realistically I wouldn't be having unless I was at a restaurant. I tend to just keep hummus in the fridge and dip some seeded toast into it like anyone else. I usually don't even have it with oil/salt because you know, watching that figure.

One slightly fancier type of hummus I do like is called "meshulash", which translates literally to triangle. It doesn't look anything like a triangle, but it combines three styles in one dish, hence the name:

I've never attempted to make anything so sacred on my own; I leave that to professionals.

N.B., apologies to everyone for my derailment of this thread, and please blame @Aria for getting me excited about hummus.

@Aria said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Kestrel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Aria said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

White People Problems: Bitching about the price of hummus.

....But I am also legitimately annoyed at the price of hummus. A single 8 oz tub is $4.89? WTF?!

Hummus recipe:
buy can of chickpeas
drain can of chickpeas
pour drained can of chickpeas in blender
blitz

cheaper, tastier, healthier, fresher hummus.

Squeeze lemon and add tahini/salt/garlic if desired.

— your friendly neighbourhood Israeli

You got any recommendations for adding tasty extra flavors? I have made it 'plain' at home before, but it's honestly the extra flavors that I miss.

Before I go into this let me start by saying that I am not a food snob and you can eat whatever makes your heart happy.

However, I will honour the tradition of my people (and all people who lay any kind of claim to any kind of food, ever, hello Italian grandmothers everywhere) by saying that the simple, authentic recipe is best.

These newfangled fancy-shmancy white people beetroot/pepper/whatever hummuses do not land with myself nor most Middle Eastern & Mediterranean people I know. Hummus is chickpeas, that's it. Keep it simples and traditional. You wouldn't put peas in guacamole, right? Right. That's just antisocial behaviour right there.

But some things are OK. Tahini makes it creamy, salt and lemon juice adds zing, and garlic makes everything better, always. I don't think there's a wrong way or a right way to add these ingredients because I'm a free hummus spirit and do what I feel like at the time. The only thing I would say is that these are the only ingredients you should add at the base, i.e., before you actually turn the blender on.

Everything else is toppings. For example, olive oil. It's incorrect to add olive oil into the blender because it tastes better folded in. It adds another layer of texture rippled and drizzled on top, like berries or chocolate through a cheesecake.

Harissa is a good addition for a spicy kick. You wanna be extra? Gochujang sauce will do pretty much the same job. It should be layered in a ring, encircling the big dollop of hummus in the middle and not touching the edges of the container, ideally. This is so that with every dip you can choose whether to layer it on or not. You don't want it to actually mix with the hummus, ever, you want it to be paired, like salsa vs. sour cream vs. guac. Other things to sprinkle on top include paprika and various herbs, but again, these are garnishes, not to be mixed in too early on. Parsley is the obvious choice but coriander is fine if you don't have the gene that makes you hate it. Drizzling on a little bit of tahini sauce is also nice, but you shouldn't make tahini sauce just for the sake of hummus, and it's its own thing that tends to confuse the unfamiliar so best leave it if you don't know what that is. (The cliffnotes: you need to add lots of water. Tahini should never be eaten on its own. It's not meant to be. Lots of people think they don't like tahini because they don't know how to prepare it so they just get a mouthful of sticky bad texturedness. It needs to be frothed and seasoned. I like adding dates.)

But I will let you in on the one big secret that all white people seem to miss: za'atar. Good lord, za'atar.

Za'atar is the stuff of gods. When hummus started popping up all over the place in the last decade or so I thought it was kind of cute and weird but OK, good for Westerners discovering a good thing. Za'atar seems to be the final frontier. Undiscovered magic.

Do yourself a favour and check yourself into your nearest middle eastern market or whatever and buy yourself some za'atar and then just put it on literally everything. Eat it out of the jar, even. But definitely, absolutely, slather it all over hummus.

This is all a lot of fancy though and I don't want to intimidate anyone. Hummus is perfectly fine all on its own. You don't even need salt and lemon and the other stuff. It's really OK to just drain a can of chickpeas and blend it and call it a day. Nobody will judge you. We aren't Italian grandmothers.

But, if you haven't yet tried za'atar, thank me later.

EDIT: Extra bonus points, soundtrack to prepare hummus to the tune of: https://youtu.be/eOpCMbNegW0

@Aria said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

White People Problems: Bitching about the price of hummus.

....But I am also legitimately annoyed at the price of hummus. A single 8 oz tub is $4.89? WTF?!

Hummus recipe:
buy can of chickpeas
drain can of chickpeas
pour drained can of chickpeas in blender
blitz

cheaper, tastier, healthier, fresher hummus.

Squeeze lemon and add tahini/salt/garlic if desired.

— your friendly neighbourhood Israeli

@mietze said in Tyche Banned:

If someone ever creates a constructive only forum community for MUSH land, where civil discourse is enforced with moderation, I would happily participate. I do think that's a lot harder than a lot of people appreciate, which is why to my knowledge it hasn't happened yet, and when/if it does I hope people will be appreciative.

I run a pro-intersectional MU* Discord server with these rules.

It does not have a no politics or no religion rule because the personal is political and what most people consider political tends to vary based on how far ahead we are as a society; I prefer a no racist politics rule because anything else, including "no politics", only benefits those with privilege and silences those without.

It's just a MU* server but I and most (if not all) participants in that server have been harassed too often based on our sexual/gender identities and more across the MU* community for it to be a topic we can simply ignore. The server was created as a direct response to predatory harassment occurring on a game I was playing with friends at the time, which staff dismissed and ignored.

I may be biased but I happen to think it's one of the nicest places on the internet.

If after reading the rules that interests anyone, message me.

@insomniac7809 said in Tyche Banned:

It's been really clear for a really long time that Tyche was not engaging in good faith. I'm not saying this because we disagree on politics, I'm saying it because he kept breaking the rules, kept catching a warnings, and not once did he interpret these warnings as "I should engage with the other posters on this forum like a decent human being." At most, he tried to ask a couple questions to work out exactly where the line was for various-ist trolling so he could creep right back up to that line and start edging his toe at it.

I'll be honest. I don't care about the rules. I care about the very first sentence in this paragraph. Rules should neither entitle nor excuse anyone behaving a certain way.

@surreality mentioned feeling proud to have been banned from a forum at one point because she realised it was a disgusting cesspit. I applaud that.

If I felt MSB was as vile a cesspit as Tyche is, I would very gladly get myself banned here for speaking my mind and I'd wear that like a badge of pride. (What up HavenRPG/Discordance.)

I have no idea if this is how Tyche feels, or if he finally put his foot in his mouth and slipped just one step further than he'd intended to in order to make sure he could keep rules-lawyering his way out of trouble. But one thing I'm willing to respect about the former mentality is that at least such people are consistent about what they believe in and not spineless cowards who place social acceptability above their moral integrity.

While we are on the topic of Jews and ovens, I suggest looking into the Milgram experiment. Some proper looking person in a labcoat telling you that your behaviour is OK doesn't make it so any more than an admin on the internet does.

Yeah I really don't care one bit that Tyche broke rules, I care that his politics are disgusting and that as a society we seem to think such things are more sacred than the actual human lives they systemically oppress.

@Ghost said in Tyche Banned:

Tyche didnt really seem to have interest in interfacing with anyone constructively on the forum. He mostly just haunted political threads to ruffle feathers using superskeeeery alt-rightisms to watch people's reactions. Not surprised to see this, but ultimately I question why he anyone wasted his their time feeding and allowing him to oh-so slyly provocateur on this forum for so long to begin with.

ftfy

@insomniac7809 said in Tyche Banned:

@Ghost Right? It's not that he lied that bugs me, it's that he thinks his lie is remotely plausible and it's supposed to be on me to play dumb about the lie. In the interests of civility or whatever.

I'm so fucking tired of civility towards these kinds of shitstains, frankly. Very very over it. @saosmash, @silverfox and @surreality said it all. Some topics don't deserve civil discourse. Treating it with unearned respect only serves to normalise the behaviour and give it a sense of legitimacy, as though it were on equal footing with other, equally valid viewpoints on perhaps not being a racist. There's a word for this. It doesn't deserve to be held in this regard. It doesn't deserve any kind of place in civil society. It is not civil.

@GreenFlashlight said in Tyche Banned:

there's always one Neo-Nazi (I will not be suckered into calling them "alt-right")

Having my own desk.

Dear lord I never appreciated when I was younger just what a difference not having to work physically next to other people can make.

A) I can procrastinate on MU* without feeling too awkward about randomly having pictures of celebrities on my screen or looking like a l33t h4xx0r. (Oh goodness, the amount of times someone's assumed I'm a tech wizard because I had a black screen with scrolling text open.)

B) Nobody judges me for headbanging like an idiot or boogying in my seat to the music in my headphones.

@Aria said in Good TV:

watching Netflix, bullet journaling, and hanging out with the dog.

You're living the dream honestly, I want your life.

Meeting someone who goes on genuinely fascinating rants and then says, 'Sorry, I'm bad at small talk.'

Oh precious child. Me too, friend, me too. And that's a good thing.

I'm not going to weigh in on what @hedgehog should do. The tickets were already bought without prior knowledge of the situation and the money is already spent. The only real question then IMHO is whether you're still going to enjoy the show. If not, one other option is to sell the tickets on StubHub; that way at least it isn't wasted on your part even if it still goes into the same pocket.

I will say though that I don't ever feel bad for the rich and famous losing said fame and wealth. I can't imagine why I would.

@Derp said in Separating Art From Artist:

We aren't talking about the UK. We're talking about the United States. [You're] imposing a set of standards outside of the stated parameters.

You're talking about the United States.

Nowhere did I sign up for these parameters.

A comparison was made between UK and US laws. I stated I like UK laws better. It's quite a leap to go from that to, 'Oh, so you support this set of completely different US laws on another extreme?'

I know it's hypocritical for a Brit to say, but quit colonising my thread.

@Derp

Except no, because I live in the UK, where we do not have at-will employment laws and I have illustrated it's entirely possible for a better system to exist. So yes, this is a false dichotomy, and saying that I'm in favour of at-will employment laws when I've explicitly said I'm not is, also, another strawman.

I also detailed my reasons for wanting to oppose bigoted behaviour which are about protecting marginalised people, not bullying. I even had the courtesy to include causes I care about in those examples, veganism and environmentalism, acknowledging that it would be perfectly fair for people in certain circumstances to not want to hire someone whose views may indicate that the person could likely be a threat to their business. It would make no sense for battery farm to hire someone who's a known supporter of animal liberation, and it would make no sense for any office to hire a blatant misogynist when half their staff are women.

Every example I've given also has everything to do with a person's suitability for their job so to also say that I want people fired for things that have nothing to do with their job is, again, disingenuous.

@bored said in Separating Art From Artist:

@Kestrel said in Separating Art From Artist:

Literally no one is treating at-will employment as a good thing.

You seem to be arguing that you don't support it, but only because you're in the UK. In the US, the only way people are getting fired for tweets (which you 100% support) is via at-will employment laws or (equally shady and anti-labor) 'morality clauses' in contracts. You can't separate the two things. If you want people to be able fired for (edit: relatively trivial - yes people can be fired for crimes and such) things that have literally nothing to do with their job, you're in favor of anti-labor employment laws. Consequences, as you like to say!

This is a false dichotomy.

You want to fight the troll war, because it's cathartic to bully the badguys.

This is a strawman.

Intellectual honesty is a baseline for civil discourse, otherwise I'm not interested.

Things I like about this game:

• Historical/political setting that feels relevant today (I wonder if I'm alone in this being a major draw?)
• Plenty of action/adventure and actual stuff happening to go around for those of us who get kind of bored with just social stuff
• Laid-back staff who let people do what they want most of the time and only get involved either when mediation is necessary, or to help nudge along some plot without actually dominating
• Electro-swing!!
• Jazz!
• Flappers!
• Ritzy hairdos!
• Alternate timeline without sexism/homophobia (or racism on the ship at least)

I admittedly don't really care about the magic/dragon stuff, but it's cool if you're into that.

@bored said in Separating Art From Artist:

@Auspice said in Separating Art From Artist:

This is sort of a benefit to at-will employment. Because in an at-will state, an employer could absolutely fire you for -phobic rants.

People often worry about 'but what if I get fired for being LGBT and my boss is religious' and at-will does not apply where it'd be illegal (you can't be fired for your religion, sexuality, race, etc.).

You absolutely can be, in a number of states. I think that one is actually before the Supreme Court presently (and given the makeup doesn't look good)?

I brought this double-edged at-will employment sword up already. I think most of us agree that people being fired for being raging asshats isn't bad, but the idea that at-will employment is good is a far stretch, and historically I daresay it's been used largely for oppressive reasons/outcomes. So its weird to see people treating it positively, even if they like some person getting fired for something they said on twitter in a very specific case, it's hardly a pro-labor concept.

Literally no one is treating at-will employment as a good thing.

In the UK you can get fired for a very specific list of things that include racial harassment/discrimination at the workplace. This is not the same as firing people for any reason you like with no explanation given.

@Auspice said in Separating Art From Artist:

@Kestrel said in Separating Art From Artist:

So in the US, you can say whatever you want around your colleagues, behave unprofessionally, prove yourself unsuitable for the job you were hired for and not get fired?

This is sort of a benefit to at-will employment. Because in an at-will state, an employer could absolutely fire you for -phobic rants.

People often worry about 'but what if I get fired for being LGBT and my boss is religious' and at-will does not apply where it'd be illegal (you can't be fired for your religion, sexuality, race, etc.). I mean, the argument can (and has) been made that a person could be fired for that reason but the on-paper is something else ('did not meet expectations'), but that happens in non-at-will states, too. And usually the business/person ends up in a lot of trouble for it.

But in an at-will state, if you are being disruptive (which saying shitty things to people is), you can be let go. I had a coworker at a job fired for constantly ranting about political (I use political loosely... he was kind of a fringe nutjob who would go into conspiracy theory 'the government is out to get us' stuff) shit and disrupting the work environment.

From a quick glance at that wiki article, I don't support that at all.

But in the UK we have laws against discrimination at the workplace, which also covers things like verbal harassment, workplace bullying, hate speech, etc. (Note: I am not a lawyer so may be misusing terms, but these are the basics as I understand them and my employee rights.)

You still need to give a valid reason for firing someone. Going on a racist tirade is just allowed to be one of them.

This is 100% not a danger to me. This is a benefit to me. I shouldn't have to put up with horrible, unprofessional, bigoted treatment at work. If it occurs I can go to HR.

@Ganymede said in Separating Art From Artist:

@Kestrel said in Separating Art From Artist:

So in the US, you can say whatever you want around your colleagues, behave unprofessionally, prove yourself unsuitable for the job you were hired for and not get fired?

You sure can. You may even become partner or obtain tenure doing it.

what the fuck