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Chopper

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Everything posted by Chopper

  1. I must've missed seeing it upthread. In general, as plain drinking water, it tastes far better to me than Brita. Then the question is, is it worth it to have a Brita pitcher for the coffee (or some other solution), or just go with Zero for the espresso machine. My understanding is that water through just a Brita is much more corrosive than water through a Zero. I did taste tests with the Brita, the Zero, and also the Zero but adding back Third Wave minerals. I couldn't taste the difference between either. However the Zero removes a couple heavy metals the Brita doesn't but it's not anywhere in the same ballpark as RO or distillation. My conclusion was to go with the Zero for longevity of the machine because the taste held equal and that the Third Wave minerals made no difference with the Zero filter. YMMV.
  2. I like the Zero Water filter over Brita. For drinking and coffee, not shaving.
  3. Did you happen to read the Washington Post article a couple weeks back about the guy who wanted to build himself the finest audio system and listening room? free link if not https://wapo.st/3UkZ8ce header: He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable. Ken Fritz turned his home into an audiophile’s dream — the world’s greatest hi-fi. What would it mean in the end?
  4. My wife moved her mom from an assisted living facility in Austin to a place she found for her near our house in Fort Collins. As part of that process her mom need a CO handicapped placard for the times when my wife drives her around, be it to Dr. appts or lunch. My MIL is 85 years old, is in poor health and uses a walker. Her ID was from Tx but issued before Real ID. The process was a giant pain in the ass. In order to get a CO placard she first had to get a CO ID, which meant getting her certified birth certificate and original marriage certificate (even though she's been divorced 30 years) and make multiple trips to the DMV before we could then go to the County to get a fucking handicapped placard. The DV spots in Fort Collins are almost always completely empty. When the law is at the point of forcing an 85 yo to get a new ID just to get a parking placard, that law is fucked.
  5. Oh yeah I've forgotten the part about guests. You're correct that's a strong and overlooked argument in favor of a super auto! All of a sudden I have to turn into a barista and remember how actual professionals make an espresso drink. Which can be difficult at home because I typically just make myself a capp light on the amount of milk. With the miele I've gone with the lungo for KISS principles.
  6. If Curly and Joe got hold of a rocket launcher it would look like this and only one of them would return.
  7. The thought of a back-to-back years of subzero N Colorado freezes had me on the run. Plus it's been a really challenging year. The thing about super autos is the small-ish water tank, drip tray and grounds container. Plus the challenge of cleaning the grinder. Coffee at the touch of a button is great but they're probably more work than a semi-auto on a weekly basis.
  8. Semi-auto. I spent an absurd $ amount on it -- though it's what I needed to make the process foolproof and morning friendly. It also need to have in-line water because of our then-floor plan. We've been using a Miele super-automatic that's built into the kitchen cabinets for the past 6 weeks while on vacation and I don't think I could handle its disappointing brew full-time.
  9. Yeah that machine on indiegogo looks extremely cool and beautiful but it's missing a couple features I'd ideally want, although it's not necessarily a deal-killer, should I be in the market down the line. But I definitely don't want to be doing things with coffee at 7am that some chemist would get really excited about, and I'm also skeptical about a software algorithm taking charge of my espresso machine. Almost 7 years ago I bought a fast-grinding, flat burr grinder with high accuracy burrs, micro-adjustments for the rare instance I need it, along with a powerful dual broiler espresso machine with an integrated shot timer. I barely scratch the surface of the capabilities of my set-up but it's powerful enough to be incredibly consistent with a minimum of fuss. Also besides being very forgiving, the learning curve was really low so getting my wife proficient on it (talked her into a manual set-up from our previous super automatic) was a breeze for both of us.
  10. Someone on the rant ran these numbers for regular season play only, noting that regular season viewership is more open to comparison. They also noted that Texas was stuck with a couple games on LHN and would have better numbers going forward. If you look at just the regular season, Washington comes in 27th in viewership during this time frame, not 14th as they list them. If you look at just the regular season, it’s actually just 13 brands, not 16, that garner 50% of all TV Viewers. 2016-2023 Regular Season Only % of all CFB viewership by brand: 1. Alabama- 6.26% 2. Ohio State- 6.12% 3. Michigan- 5.26% 4. Notre Dame- 4.13% 5. Georgia- 3.86% 6. LSU- 3.57% 7. Penn State- 3.35% 8. Auburn- 3.33% 9. Oklahoma- 3.16% 10. Florida- 2.96% 11. Texas- 2.96% 12. Clemson- 2.63% 13. Tennessee- 2.59% Cumulative % of the Top 13 is 50.19% ATM comes in at #14, Arkansas at #21, Ole Miss at #22. These were the top 32 this season Alabama 7.12 (SEC) Ohio State 6.05 (Big Ten) Colorado 6.00 (Pac-12) Georgia 5.90 (SEC) Michigan 5.61 (Big Ten) Tennessee 4.57 (SEC) Oregon 4.43 (Pac-12) Texas 4.26 (Big 12) Florida State 4.16 (ACC) Notre Dame 4.15 (Independent) Washington 4.14 (Pac-12) LSU 3.79 (SEC) USC 3.77 (Pac-12) Penn State 3.66 (Big Ten) Auburn 3.55 (SEC) Missouri 3.25 (SEC) Florida 3.17 (SEC) Ole Miss 2.93 (SEC) Clemson 2.90 (ACC) Texas A&M 2.74 (SEC) Iowa 2.68 (Big Ten) Miami 2.65 (ACC) Duke 2.639 (ACC) Nebraska 2.637 (Big Ten) Utah 2.616 (Pac-12) Oklahoma 2.6153 (Big 12) Navy 2.6152 (AAC) Oregon State 2.44 (Pac-12) Louisville 2.37 (ACC) Washington State 2.15 (Pac-12) Kentucky 2.07 (SEC) Mississippi State 2.01 (SEC)
  11. First rec, learn some very basic French. Greetings, thanks, how to order coffee and breakfast, the basics at any restaurant or hotel. It won't take much effort on your part but it will make your trip much more rewarding. Search the internet for "cheap eats Paris" and you'll find a bunch of websites with different recommendations. From personal experience you can also make a helluva picnic out of just a fresh (no more than 3 hours old) baguette, and any combo of cheese, a fresh avocado and a chocolate bar. In general crêperies will offer the most bang for a buck/euro (crêpes aka galettes can be sweet or savory). Boulangeries will offer not only baguettes but inexpensive sandwiches. The Pompidou Centre near Les Halles is a one of a kind museum and cultural center. It's the location of the national center for modern art (meaning 20th century and beyond -- Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian, Warhol and many others) and I'd have it on my list along with the Louvre. If it's a nice day the Centre also has a viewing deck that offers incredible views of Paris. The Musée D'Orsay is awesome as well particularly because of the space (old railroad station) it fills as well as for the impressionist masterpieces. Going to the top of Arc De Triomphe to get a great view followed by a stroll down Champs-Élysées is a good half day at least. If you want to watch a movie or 2 to get excited about your trip consider Midnight in Paris, Paris Je T'aime, or Amélie. They're all English language films. The Louvre is open until 9:45pm on Friday nights. When they offered two late nights a week it was worth it to avoid the crowds by planning to stay when everyone else goes to dinner. I'm not sure if this holds when there's only one late night a week but it's not peak tourist season so I'm guessing it would still be the quietest time to go. Paris is amazing. February's weather is probably not ideal but still should allow a walk along the Seine River at night. Or a winding walk through Montmartre. It's really all the evening entertainment you need. Plenty of pubs and cafes to hit up.
  12. Depends on what you're intended usage is and budget. I'd suggest browsing the reviews at https://www.coffeegeek.com/
  13. I wonder if it would look something like this, or if this is just an unrelated compilation of January drone hits.
  14. Binged it over the past 4 days. Hamm was a great casting choice. Only having seen her before in Ted Lasso, I had no idea Juno Temple was such a great actor. Season 5 was comical and absolutely brutal but they cleverly managed to avoid being too dark.
  15. Absolutely. The plug is a structural part of the plane. It's not like a door where something noticeable or expected might happen as with a hinge, or a latch, and therefore the manufacturer has provided maintenance recommendations for it. In this case, Boeing buried the bolts for basically the lifetime of the aircraft - and, oops, they forgot to make sure the bolts were even secure.
  16. this youtube video has a clear photo of the wreckage. The plane is in a heap and riddled with shrapnel holes. It geolocates the person who shot the original video and shows a longer version of it, as well. It show the plane was actually already NE of Belgorod and heading further into ruzzia. It backs it up with flightradar data that shows the plane came from Iran, stopped in Belgorod, and then was headed (likely) to Moscow. OTOH he casts doubt on Ukraine's claim that there were S-300 missiles on board at the time it went down. He also shows a Patriot missile could've been used to hit the plane. video below
  17. The OP of the video posted these updates - so lol ruzzia IL-76 is a heavy military freighter used by Russian forces to carry military munitions such as Shaheed drones and S300/400 rockets. UPD 11:10 Unconfirmed data from Russian sources: -There were 63 people on board. UPD 11:27 - Sources in AFU claim that it is a successful operation performed by the Ukrainian air defense. They also mention that IL-76 carried S300 rockets on board. (Rockets used to shell Kharkiv regularly) UPD 11:30 - Russian MoD claimed that 63 people on board were Ukrainian POWs transported for exchange. UPD 11:40 - (Tlk news) Lately IL-76 performed flights to Belgorod on a regular basis to quickly deliver military munitions (Most likely s300 rockets to sustain regular attacks on Kharkiv) UPD 12:15 - AFU can not yet confirm that they are related to the IL-76 crash this morning. It's advised to wait for the official information. UPD 12:16 - The speaker of the Russian Duma suggested preparing a report with an analysis of the rockets used to hit IL-76 and making an appeal to US Congress and Bundestag so they will finally open their eyes and understand who are they financing. UPD 12:34 - Oleksandr Kovalenko (Military analyst) No signs of scattered bodies on the field based on the recent photos of the crash site. UPD 12:54 - In the Ukrainian coordination headquarters for dealing with prisoners of war, they stated that they are currently collecting and analyzing information about the Il-76 crash. UPD 13:52 - Link to the longer video of a plane crash https://streamable.com/tt9b3l without a watermark in the middle. UPD 15:10 - Margarita Simonyan (Russian media) published a list of 65 Ukrainian POWs that were on board of crushed IL-76. Some names on this list match with POWs that were exchanged earlier on January 4th (18 out of 65) UPD 16:39 - Official statement from AFU General Staff: *To reduce the missile threat, the Armed Forces of Ukraine not only control the airspace but also closely monitor missile launch points and the logistics of their supply, especially using military transport aviation. The increased intensity of shelling is directly linked to the growing number of military transport aircraft recently directed towards the Belgorod airfield. Taking this into account, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue to take measures to destroy delivery means and control airspace to eliminate the terrorist threat, including the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction.*
  18. Over at Leeham News, a blog about developments in aerospace, in the comments section to their article about the unplanned separation of the door panel, an anon claiming to be a Boeing employee posted and seems to have them convinced they're the real deal. It's more than a little jaw dropping. https://leehamnews.com/2024/01/15/unplanned-removal-installation-inspection-procedure-at-boeing/#comment-509962
  19. shit's going off cnn article
  20. Jan. 23, 2024, 12:44 PM PST / Source: NBC News By Tom Costello and Rob Wile The CEO of Alaska Airlines said new, in-house inspections of the carrier's Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in the wake of a near-disaster earlier this month revealed that “many” of the aircraft were found to have loose bolts. In an exclusive interview with NBC News senior correspondent Tom Costello, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci discussed the findings of his company's inspections so far since the Jan. 5 incident, in which a panel on one of its Max 9 jets blew out midair on a flight carrying 177 people.
  21. My bad, I meant to type Boeing but I had United on the mind as I had just read the article @royivlinked. You probably meant AS, btw.
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