I obtained the Unobtanium! Well, I was gifted the Unobtanium through an Instagram contest. What is it? It’s like two Dumble Amps and Two Klon pedals all in one box.
I have been toying with doing dumbass-style pedal reviews for a while, as my base instincts are to dime every knob. Would that be something anyone is even interested in?
🎸🎸🎸
The FedExpackage…The box!The Bubble Wrap!The fancy packaging.Pretty bag inside the box.UNOBTANIUM OBTAINED!How to not be a dumbass when using the pedal.
Family photo in front of the LEGO statue of Liberty.
This year, we let the kids pick the vacations. Luckily a new job afforded me more time, and we took a year off from being camp counselors/directors. I had offered the beach. I hate the beach, but we have never gone as a family. They brainstormed & settled on Legoland in New York, a trip to visit good friends that live in NJ who took us to New York City, and an upcoming trip to Washington DC.
My wife did the booking/research and set us up for 3 nights in the hotel and 2 days in the park. We both looked at two Facebook groups prior to going to help glean some knowledge:
Somehow, I was dirty banned from the first group with no warning or explanation. 😂 The second group is totally cool. I would suggest joining both. The only thing I can think that got me banned was the toilet thing (keep reading), or that I said to take cash even though they all said not to. (More on that in a bit too.)
I’ll put a list of my tips at the end.
Full disclosure: I like LEGO as much as if not more than the kids. We all do. Even my wife has gotten into building some really cool sets.
The photo packaghe was worth it.My magnet may get glued together…
The hotel was super cool. We stayed in a Kingdom themed room. It had a separate nook with bunk bends and a TV for the kids, and a King-sized bed & TV for the adults. It came with a bin full of mostly Duplo & some LEGO to play with. It also had a treasure-hunt the first day to get (3) LEGO poly bag sets. We got them the 2nd night too, but not the 3rd. 🤷
This guy guards the treasure.Found it!
I think we watched ALL of the LEGO movies in the room. That was neat.
The lobby has a giant castle that looks like LEGO, a treasure-trove of Duplo & Lego blocks, a climbing wall that isn’t a climbing wall, an area with large LEGO bricks made out of some material that feels like Crocs. There are so many photo opportunities throughout the hotel and park, it’s crazy.
I want one in the back yard.Where can I buy these Croc-LEGO hybrids?
“We’re loners Dottie, rebels!”
Yeah. 4,672 kids climbed on this wall. Employees would all politely tell them to get off, and the parent / grandparent / aunt / uncle /random stranger would undoubtedly always exclaim “But, it looks like a climbing wall!” There is a sign to the left that says not to climb… but really, it LOOKS like a climbing wall. I suggest the shore it up so it’s safe to climb, or put stuff on the shelves so they don’t look like seats. Or maybe get a bigger more centralized “No Climbing” sign.
The restaurants in the park & at the hotel were interesting. They were crazy expensive, which we had gleaned from the groups, and kind of just expected anyway. The food was eh. I did not like their “fry sauce” on the burger. Breakfast was free with the stay and was a nice tray with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, French toast sticks, sausage, tator tots or home fries, fresh fruit, and the option of coffee, juice, milk, or water to drink. Pop or iced tea was an up charge.
🐉
The rides and attractions are definitely geared to pre-teen kids, but were fun for the whole family. The Dragon was my son’s first roller coaster ride. The indoor rides were fun, and of course they drop you in the gift shops. We kept telling my son that the same stuff would be in the big store. We were wrong. Some stuff was different. No build a minifigure in the big store.
We did not do the water park… It’s convoluted as you have to reserve time in 20 minute increments and it seems like a wild pain in the keister. We thought about doing the pool at the hotel after the park, but we decided to chill the first day and it was raining the second day. The pirate themed rides were perfect for us.
I almost bought the park-exclusive Legoland New York set, and would have for $75, but I didn’t feel like it was worth the $100 asking price. Maybe next time? We did get the photo package for one day, and they kids’ LEGOLAND drivers license photos. I did buy two little New York City themed sets.
OH NO!
The thing that made me laugh the most was our toilet project.
My son was having fun playing with the blocks and all the other kids in the hotel lobby. He became somewhat of a warmonger or arms dealer. Kids were coming up to him like he was Peter Dinklage in that Thor Movie where he forged Stormbreaker, or Tony Stark supplying all sides with arms. He was making Duplo and LEGO swords, guns, and who knows what else for any kid that would ask. He was having an absolute blast. I built Godzilla and a city to smash to pass some time. I also built a Duplo rubber duck and we attached to it a Ninjago figure’s head.
Then my daughter and I got silly. She built a pile of poop out of brown LEGO bricks. I told her to get me a bunch of white Duplo blocks, and made a toilet. At first, we just sat her stuffed LEGO guy in a chicken costume minifig on it. Then, we put it on the tray beside a salad that a LEGO waitress minifig sculpture was carrying. It was hilarious to see kids & adults discover it.
I’m easily amused. I don’t know what her deal is.
All-in-all, we had a great time. I think you will too if you’re into LEGO and your kids are the right age. Check out the last of my pics if you didn’t already see them on Instagram, or skip down to my helpful tips!
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES.Imagine the car is Legoland, and I am my bank account.I didn’t do it.Even LEGO skulls are cool. ☠️#TeamDaveThey sang to us.We rode the real one later that week!Impressive, but the real thing was WILD.The kids loved this guy.This isn’;’t nearly all of them.New York Postcard 40519 | OtherNew York City 21028 | Architecture
My LEGOLAND New York tips:
I would suggest getting the app. It was helpful with menus, maps, reservations, etc.
You scan a barcode for the menus as the hotel restaurants.
You can use the app to order at some food establishments in the park.
You need reservations for the $20 cafeteria burger meals at the Bricks Family restaurant.
Don’t climb the wall that looks like a climbing wall, or do it quick before they yell at you.
Get the burger with the fry sauce on the side.
The BBQ place was good!
The crappy unwanted minifigures your kid brings to trade are the same ones that every other kid brings to trade, and what the employees have on their carts or badges to offer for trade.
BRING CASH.💵 Even though the Legoland NY FB tips & tricks group that unceremoniously booted me implores you to leave all cash at home… You want to tip, right? If you want to leave a tip for breakfast where you don’t get any add-ons, for the room service, or the hotel cleaning staff, you need cash.
There is not even an ATM on site, I asked the front desk.
Don’t try to use cash anywhere else there, which is actually fantastic.
We had the kids save up their own money for vacation, then put it on VISA gift cards before we went. They purchased what they wanted at their own discretion. We bought them one clothing or stuffed animal item each.
Kids’ meals come with a juice pouch in the cute little lunch bag… but it doesn’t advertise that anywhere… so, we bought 2 extra drinks for $10 the first lunch. 🤦♂️
Pack a bag with water, snacks, or even lunch.
The build-you-own minifigure part selection was grim in the hotel store.
I can’t help it. I need to draw mazes. I should try to get them out there. There are so many print-on-demand services that handle all the manufacturing and logistics… it would be crazy to not try & generate some passive income from my mazes.
How do I choose though?
I certainly have a style. So, I drew a maze, emailed a bunch of services at once, and submitted webforms to others asking why I should choose them. It should prove entertaining whether any of it lands or not.
Here’s the email:
Hello friends,
I write to you today somewhat overwhelmed. The great and powerful all-knowing Google has given me a multitude of options. I have so many options I’m nearly paralyzed with indecision.
Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. I’m an artist of sorts. I’m a bit of a strange duck. I need a creative outlet so I turned to blogging, so I guess I write a bit too. I have been drawing mazes since I was about 12 or 13 years old, and now I’m 46. I have been repeatedly told I should publish them or something, but I just never did. I was more about squiggles than coherent themes or cartoons. I have branched out.
I would like to get some of my mazes on merchandise like T-shirts or mugs, and maybe into self-published books. I had a guy with a sublimation print business set up some maze mugs that came with a little dry-erase marker… but he closed up shop before any real orders were made. He also made some really cool one-off socks!
This is where you guys come in. Why would I use your service over the others out there? Is there a one-stop-shop where I can set up merchandise and publish books? Sell art prints? I have browsed the websites. I have read the low price and high quality sales pitches. How would you, a creative person, implore a fellow creative person with an odd penchant for writing weird emails and letters to use your service over all the others?
I’m a huge fan of the no-money-up-front model, where you have a shop and a site and I have a small home there. In that theme I would be using paint.NET or GIMP to tweak the hand-drawn mazes… although I just learned via Twitter that Scribus may be another invaluable free tool for putting together a book. Do any of you offer printed mugs with dry erase markers? Also… I have a legacy pile of mazes some of which are stupidly sized larger than my scanner. Do you think phone scans would be acceptable if they can provide good enough black & white image quality?
I certainly wouldn’t mind some somewhat passive income from a creative outlet, that can enable my stupid guitar habit or my rekindled LEGO habit. I know my last creative “money making” ventures in local bands actually ended up costing money, so hopefully this pans out somewhat more successful. Unless you also pay in “gas money” and free beer?
Would anyone want to wear a shirt with a maze on it? Does anyone buy print media maze books and do them? Good questions that I would like to answer. I could print a book of mazes that I have drawn around letters to companies like Pizza Hut or Pepperidge Farm. Should maze books include solution pages? I like to draw mazes, not solve them. Is that weird?
I’ll attach some samples of my work. I really would like to hear your thoughts on why I should use your site over others. Perhaps one of my mazes will inspire you!
I’m not happy at all with that paper, the pen, or the scan quality… but I did it really quick. I attached a few random past works to the emails & web submissions where applicable also.
I’m also looking into print-on-demand publishing. Would anybody out there reading actually but this stuff? Please, let me know in the comments.
What about a book of mazes sent to companies for various ridiculous reasons and their replies? Why read it here for free online when you could buy it? Yay! Send me money!
In all seriousness, any advice is appreciated… especially if you’re already successfully doing such things.
I know the labor force and supply chains have been irrevocably disrupted over the past few years. I know prices are going up. I know people are refusing to work unless they’re adequately compensated & regarded as human beings that exist outside of the workplace. I know there are big problems in the world, but I’m about to drill down on a small one… because that’s what I do.
Did we as a society just decide it's OK to sell green #potatoes now? Like, ¾ of every bag of potatoes is green. I mean, that's bad, right? Did they fire the #potato checker at every farm or processing/packaging plant? Do the machines need fixed? 🥔🥔🥔
Social media has told me I’m not alone. We buy a lot of potatoes. We grow potatoes. I am a huge fan of carbs in potato form. I like potatoes prepared in a plethora of ways. I like to use the whole potato. I rarely peel unless I’m mashing them and even then I leave a good bit of skin.
Studies have estimated that peeling a potato at home removes at least 30% of its toxic plant compounds. However, that still leaves up to 70% of the compounds in the flesh (4Trusted Source).
This means that in potatoes with very high solanine concentrations, the peeled potato might still contain enough to make you sick.
Unfortunately, boiling and other cooking methods, including baking, microwaving or frying, do not significantly reduce solanine levels. Thus, they won’t make green potatoes any safer to eat (9).
If a potato has just a few small green spots, you can cut them out or peel the potato. Because solanine is also produced in higher concentrations around the eyes, or sprouts, of a potato, they should be removed as well.
However, if the potato is very green or tastes bitter (a sign of solanine), it’s best to throw it away (10).
Green Potatoes: Harmless or Poisonous?
So, it’s not always a case of “just cut off the green parts.”
Apparently, I’m not alone in noticing I have seen a lot more green potatoes lately. Are they sitting in warehouses, on trucks, or in stores too long? Are they getting exposed to too much light or heat? Are they coming out green?
Money is tight everywhere. A certain amount of green every once in a while may be acceptable… but I can’t handle ¼ of every bag being waste at the same time prices are going up. I mean, I like to add to the compost bin, but not that quickly.
Unfortunately for Alsum, they just happened to be the producer of the latest bag that we purchased. Thanks, Aldi & Instacart.
So, I reached out via email.
Salutations Spud Specialists,
I hope this email finds you well. Living up to stereotypes, my Irish ancestors would be proud at my levels of potato consumption. I’ll eat them just about any way they can be cooked. Keel me over with carbs, please.
I have noticed a trend with potatoes over the last few years and it really has my gears turning. You are not alone. This applies to every bag of potatoes I have bought in the last year, no matter the source. Today I opened the bag which was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I get a ridiculous amount of green potatoes in each and every bag I purchase. Today’s 5 lb. bag contained 8 potatoes which I planned to bake, and 2 were green all over the outside and thus unsuitable for baking. Could I skin & fry or boil or mash them? Sure. The vitamins and taste are in the skin though… as I’m sure you are aware.
I feel like if ¼ of every bag of potatoes I buy is unsuitable for consumption and I’m playing by the pound, there ought to be some rebate. The green skin is poisonous, no? I will be reaching out to all of the producers of bags of potatoes that I buy from now on with similar inquiries.
Did you all fire your potato inspectors at the farm or the processing or packaging plants? Do you have a machine that needs fine tuned? Are you willfully and knowingly shipping toxic tubers?
The cost of everything is going up, and I understand that… but I can’t accept lowering quality standards at the same time. Is it a Big Potato conspiracy?
I hope you had a restful and prosperous Thanksgiving. I stuffed myself with fresh mashed potatoes… my secret ingredients are turkey broth and buttermilk!
I look forward to your thoughts on this green ‘tater epidemic. How can we move forward into a ripe future?
Ya gotta peel for real,
-Eric
They were quick to reply!
Hi Eric,
We appreciate you reaching out to us via our website regarding your purchase of Alsum 5# potatoes. Your genuine concern to help us be better is appreciated. We are sorry to hear of this unpleasant experience. As you know, potatoes are perishable and while we do our very best to grow, source, grade, pack and deliver fresh, quality potatoes to your grocery store, no system is perfect.
Lighter skin potatoes like yellow potatoes have a greater susceptibility to turn green due to their lighter skin. For our yellow packed potatoes, we use a light blocker bag to prevent the potatoes from greening. As you know throughout the supply chain there are many factors that may cause the potato to turn green. It could happen at harvest if the tuber is above the ground during harvest, storage conditions in potato bin that might be exposed to light or if the bag of potatoes is sitting on the shelf for an extended period on the retail shelf. In our packaging facility, we do our best on our pack line with our grading team members to toss any potato with greening. We also have machines that are programmed to discard any green potatoes. Additionally, in our warehouse we minimize light exposure of potatoes by keeping the lights dim and rotate out packed potatoes within 72 hours from pack to store.
If russet potatoes turn green means they were likely sitting under light for an extended period to cause the greening on all the russet potatoes.
I’ve included a link to FAQ’s our website to scroll to the section that talks about greening of potatoes, the causes and what to do if you unfortunately experience it: https://alsum.com/faqs/
I have passed along your feedback to m QC and to help us investigate this matter further. Could you provide the following:
Was this a 5# bag of yellow or russet potatoes?
What is the 6-digit code on the kwik lok? It’s the plastic closure. This allows us to trace back to the day they were packed.
When did you purchase the product and from what store and city?
I will have to write back. I didn’t save the packaging after I found their website & email address. I’m really not looking for money back… I just want to be able to buy bags of potatoes without green ones again.
So, Ci3 closed up shop… and with it went A-Maze Mugs. Not sure that any were actually sold anyway? I know I have 2 prototypes and we did work up art for the box. I posted about them a few times. I also did a (very) poorly recorded jingle.
I feel like I just sit on all my maze art, while others are able to monetize their art projects. This is me reaching out for advice from my creative peeps.
I know there are no-money-up-front printing/fulfillment services. Does anyone have good (or really bad) experiences with any of those? I clicked a link on one, and 30 are showing up in my FB ad feeds. Are any more reputable/profitable/flexible than the others?
Even better, does anyone local do printing & fulfillment services, like Commonwealth Press?
Would it be worth it to save & invest some money into it?
I would like to put my mazes on all kinds of stuff. I get likes on my mazes on Instagram. Occasionally someone sends me a solution. Maybe T-shirts would be useless… unless you had one on the back and wanted someone to complete it as a sort of massage? Ha ha.
Tiles may be interesting. The socks that Mike worked up were super cool! Mugs seem to be out but those new stainless steel tumblers are in. Maybe a beer stein? Maybe just a book of mazes? My thing though, is most of my stuff has no theme. They’re just mazes. I have a TON drawn. They just need scanned & maybe cleaned up a bit.
I’m not looking to get rich, but creativity funding more creativity never hurts. Right?
These look like a fun product IMHO, anyway. Finding someone to ship a mug and a dry erase marker AND do the printing may be tough?
I’m open to any and all suggestions and solutions. I feel like I’m just sitting on these, have been for years, and should be doing something with them.
The kids have shown a commitment to their respective basketball teams over the years, so it was time for a significant upgrade in height and backboard size.
So, following is my review that should eventually go live on Amazon. I thought you may get a kick out of it.
🏀 This is a sturdy stylish basketball hoop. It is the described height and backboard size. The delivery was courteous and professional despite the dilapidated box. 🏀
That concludes the positive portion of my review. Putting this together was an exercise in patience & mental fortitude, and I failed. I mean, is it together now? Yes. Did it take much longer than it needed to? Yes. Am I, perhaps, just an idiot that can’t follow instructions? I doubt it, because every piece of furniture or children’s toy that I have purchased from the late 1900′ s to now has involved my dumb☆$$ assembling it. My resume includes, cabinets, beds, desks, dining room sets, shelves, dressers, Batcaves, a Kid Kraft Kitchen, doll furniture, the TMNT lair, Barbie’s dream house, and even an outdoor swingset treehouse thing. I have gotten pretty good. I even build LEGO as a hobby. I can follow instructions. I am quite familiar with my local Harbor Freight and Home Depot stores. I have some power tools and I know how to use them. 🔧🔨🪛🗜🚧
This manual had to have been written by someone that has never seen a basketball, a bolt, a screwdriver, or assembled anything. The frustration therein is compounded by the fact that the packaging was obtuse and the instructions at times were actually absurd.
I’m not even sure where to begin. Most furniture to be assembled has the packaging that directly labels the parts. Maybe stickers, maybe it’s stamped, maybe there is a cardboard backing to a pack numbering or lettering each bolt.
Here, we had none of that. They seemingly came in packs to facilitate the process, labeled 1B, 2B, 3B, etc. The book calls the packs Kit 2, Kit 2, Kit 3, etc. and of course the numbers do not correspond. The first bit that was maddening is that the #60 bolt from the first pack was one of the last bolts used. I found no discernable rhyme or reason to the contents relationship in packaging to each other at some points.
The backboard parts list shows an ¹¹/₆₄ drill bit. We’ll get to that in a bit (𝘱𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥).
The list of tools required did include sand, a garden hose, a sawhorse, a “scrap wood board,” and “2 capable adults.” While we won’t pause to question if the authors at Spalding were calling me and my wife tools, I will ask you to note the distinct lack of a drill in the tool list.
The first indication that this whole project was, as the young people say “shady AF,” was the fact that to assemble the main pole, I had to measure and mark 3½” down from the top of 2 of the 3 pieces. There was no pencil, chalk, crayon or Sharpie mentioned in the tool list. OK. I have a pencil & a tape measure. The next step was the head-scratcher. The actual instructions are to jam the tubes together and 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 (on top of your scrap of wood) until they’re properly seated at the mark you hopefully measured correctly and marked, perhaps scratching with the drill bit?
I mean, this could have been made exponentially easier and fail-proof by maybe marking it at the factory, or having the joints fitted and maybe lock together with a pin or bolt? I mean, the Christmas tree people have had that figured out since what, the 50’s or 60’s?
Throughout the process, I was repeatedly measuring the bolts… because while it said things like #18 or #12, nothing on the bolt or packaging indicated that number.
After most of the assembly, it was time to attach to board pads/edge guards to the backboard. There were no holes in the frame around the backboard for this. Odd. They did, however, include self-tapping screws and suggested that you try to use a ⁵/₁₆” socket wrench to break though the metal frame. 🤣 Here is the first time a portable drill is mentioned. It doesn’t even note using the inexplicably included drill bit, that conveniently is the exact right size. I know I didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes there, but I did manage to figure that one out.
The rest of the assemble went as expected. I did get a sawhorse/work bench thing out of the deal from Harbor Freight. I mean, it was in the list, so I 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to get it, right?
I will say I made a layman’s error in building that I had to rectify after the initial assembly. When I attached to lower elevator tubes to the backboard brackets, I neglected to be sure that I had went through the screw-jack, and only went through the sleeve. You can imagine my f̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶l̶a̶u̶g̶h̶t̶e̶r̶ absolute fury at discovering my error. 🤬 This, my friends, was all on me.
At the end, I had to literally use a tape measure to check hoop height. It does indeed go above 10′. I suspect that you expect me to measure the heights of the hoop to match of all the provided poorly-screened stickers and place them neatly on the screw-jack to be displayed by the conveniently placed hole in the sleeve at each of the 6 suggested settings? For what I paid for the hoop… those increments should have been stamped into or printed on the screw jack already. This takes me back to the argument that there is probably a better way to build the main tube for more efficient assembly.
If you, dear potential purchaser, have stayed with me this long, then you are brave, resilient, persistent and you may just be a masochist. If you have read all of this and still add it to your cart without selecting professional assembly, then may whatever higher power you ascribe to have mercy on your soul.
I may even email the address in the manual, and try to reach out directly to Spalding somehow either via email or social media.
I don’t want or need anything, other than for them to re-think their entire process.
Recently, while camping at a local Jellystone with the family (awesome for young kids, by the way!), it occurred to me just how awesome cargo shorts are. Luckily I have a fashion sense unfettered by current trends, or perhaps a complete lack thereof. Why are they so vilified?
My cargo shorts were the hero of the day for a Saturday camping adventure.
My shorts in the course of the day, at one point for quite some time, contained all of the following…
Car keys
Cabin key
Wallet
Cell phone
Wife’s cell phone
Wife’s lip balm
4 golf balls from Putt Putt that we need to return for a refund across the camp.
The contents of one “fossil” mining sluice bag.
The contents of one “gem” mining sluice bag.
Tummy medicine.
Campground map.
Multi-Tool pocket knife thing:
Plyers
Cutters/Strippers
Knife
Saw
Ruler
Phillips-Head Screwdriver
Flat-Head screw driver
Can-opener
Other Can-opener
File
Epi-Pen.
Tell me that’s not awesome. See the above FB post from my friend Dave, and the photo of backpack shorts found from the bowels of social media? Perhaps that is the only possible evolution to something more useful. Are you brave enough to try?
So, cargo shorts dad, or just cargo shorts man… you continue being you. Cargo shorts mom or cargo shorts woman? You be you too! Fashion will circle back around. Or not. Who cares? We stand the test of time.
I also wear high-top Chuck Taylor All Stars with shorts, which my wife erroneously and hilariously thinks is a faux pas. I mean, what?
I have also noticed that socks with Crocs is a thing. I got into Crocs almost like I imagine someone succumbs to an addiction. I thought they were dumb. I got some for creek shoes at camp. They were really comfortable. I got some fur-lined ones for slippers at home. I wore the regular ones into the yard to garden. I wear them to cut grass, take out the dog, take out the trash. I wore them for a quick run to Rite Aid. Wore them for a longer run to Giant Eagle. Wore them with socks while gardening or mowing the lawn to keep the dirt from getting in between my toes. Will I be wearing Crocs in socks to the kids’ school and sports activities soon?
Tell me in the comments what you store in your cargo shorts. What should I be keeping in mine? I didn’t even get into how different shades of camo PERFECTLY compliment my band T-shirts and Star Wars or Batman T-shirts.
You probably shouldn’t take fashion advice from a guy with lambchop sideburns anyway.
On New Year’s Day at approx. 11:25 AM or 11:26 AM EST, there was a sonic boom in Allegheny County or Washington County Pennsylvania.
Immediately, Yinzers took to social media to ask what was going on. Some armchair experts already had all the answers.
The first link shared was from a website called Volcano Discovery. It posts user reported incidents before they’re certified as seismic events before the USGS. At least it’s a url right? It’s on the internet. It must be true.
The next thing that circulated was a phone screenshot of a news story from 2010 about detonating munitions at the airport. The date was left out. No link. Just a screenshot. I saw it all over the place.
Then, the meteor theory started to come out. A blip on an image from a satellite meant to detect lightning showed a flash in an area with no discernable storm systems. A known asteroid being close by for a meteor shower to peak in our area on Jan. 3rd, my be related. I read somewhere but can’t find it now that a chunk of the asteroid most likely entered our atmosphere (now a meteor) at twice the speed of sound, and burned up… resulting in the sonic boom & shockwave.
Yinzers on social media immediately forgot elementary school science class, put on their tinfoil hats, and stated emphatically that there was no flash or no crater, so it could not have been a meteor… therefore had to be anything from top secret military testing of airplanes, to subterranean bomb testing, to nefarious manufacturing at any number of local industrial businesses, to fracking, to gas buildup in mines, to extraterrestrials, fireworks (Yinzers do love their fireworks), and of course… to flatulence related to consumption of the Pennsylvania Dutch classic Pork & Sauerkraut dish as is new year’s tradition. So many fart jokes. Some blamed themselves, some blamed their significant others, one even blamed a cat.
I am fascinated by the videos that people shared form their Ring/Blink/Nest/etc. It sounds like the footsteps of Godzilla. (Mad props to Foley artists everywhere!)
I’m also sort of mad that I didn’t notice it. I was apparently at Sheetz at the time. Good to know I will not see any cataclysmic apocalypse coming. I’ll be taken out before I even know what happened.
Thanks to all the credible sources that reported on this and pieced it together. Thanks to the people who shared video. Thanks to the Illumi-nutty for the wild baseless yet endlessly entertaining fart jokes speculation.
Possible explanation for the Pittsburgh explosion that has not been registered as an earthquake by the USGS – meteor?
GOES-16's lightning mapper saw up a single blip over SW PA around 11:26 am ET, but there has been no storm activity in the area over the past 24 hours.
Neighborhood Facebook groups and Nextdoor. They have a lot in common. Typically, the posts fall in one of these categories:
Fireworks or gun shots? It’s loud. No one cleared either with me.
What are all the sirens for? Where are they?
There is a suspicions person or group of teenagers walking around the neighborhood.
I found a hair in my pizza and thought I would try to destroy the livelihood of all involved.
Solicitation of professional goods and services, only by “a college student” or “retiree” willing to severely undercut prices for those professional services.
On a side note, I highly recommend @bestofnextdoor on Twitter.
But then there’s the worst kind. It starts innocently enough. Someone wants to know what is going in to an old building that’s vacant or being torn down/renovated. Then someone jokes, a bank, a mattress store, or Spirit Halloween.
Then. Then, its the worst. People answer the question with what they want to go there, but with authority (or lack of basic writing skills) and make it seem like that is what is going there.
They wish. They guess.
They equate real concrete answers to be as equally fanciful to their own.
People are wishing hard for Target, and Chick-fil-A . Then people say they don’t want Target or Chick-fil-A. Also, no one can spell Chick-fil-A, even as they are replying to something that mentions it and spells it correctly. It’s always Chic Filet or Chik Fila or something equally absurd. It’s a small, but maddening detail.
Actual photo of 50% of the local population.
I bring you, the saga of Burlington and most likely Ross moving into the old Bridgeville Kmart location, as presented by local Facebook groups and Nextdoor, and as ignored by members of local Facebook groups and Nextdoor. It’s all over local social media if you look, but no one an handle the search button. It generally looks like this, people: 🔍
I mean, if only all these could somehow link back to each other, and the actual factual information could be sorted out.
I hope they got the smell out of the building. That Kmart used to totally smell like poop over by the K Café.
All sings point to Burlington replacing Kmart and Chick-fil-A razing & rebuilding where the current empty Taco Bell lies. Ross and a Pet Smart may be squeezed into the Kmart space also. A little birdie told me because they saw my repeated request for factual information in these threads. A true journalist can’t reveal their source, right?
It’s Burlington. And maybe Ross, and PetSmart… and maybe even something else. It’s definitely not a Target.
🎯
My personal prediction: 6 months after Burlington opens in Bridgeville/Collier Township, people will still be asking (via Facebook community groups and Nextdoor) what is going in at the old Kmart location… and other people will still be answering that they drove by and saw red so it must be a Target. 🤦♂️
Actual factual information:
Collier Township Zoning Hearing Board on Burlington: ZHB-2021-0005
Collier Township Zoning Hearing Board on Chick-fil-A: ZHB-2021-0003
Thank you for coming to my TURD(Totally Unfounded Rumor Department) Talk.
OK. I really need to go do something more productive with my time now.
Please, feel free to share your actual factual information in the comments, or wildly speculative conjecture. Apparently feelings are facts everywhere these days, not just in politics.
So, recently I got a smoker attachment for my Char-Griller grill as a gift for Father’s Day. I tried it out today and the results we fantastic. I hit up the Google machine and some non-BBQ-ing Facebook groups for advice, tips, & tricks. (I imagine that they are as intense as guitar groups and I am just not ready yet.) I kept getting advice on the 3-2-1 method of smoking ribs. There are many variations of that technique. I think it went well. I tracked my progress with the #AiXeLsyDBBQ hashtag. Maybe I’ll do some more next time.
The quick and dirty of this method is…
Get your coals to 225°-ish. (I used a chimney to avoid lighter fluid and it was awesome.) I added some wood chunks in the chimney, and on top once I spread on the coals. I did not soak the wood, but I may next time. Control the temp with your vents. Open a bit warms it up, closed cools it off… all because of airflow.
Put the ribs in the grill part if you have an attachment, or not on the heat for 3 hours.
Pull the ribs out, wrap in heavy duty grilling foil, add some apple cider, apple juice, vinegar, pop, or whatever. I added some Straub. Unfortunately I made 2 racks and used the whole bottle, so I drank one myself.
Put them in for 2 hours, smoking really isn’t necessary at this point if your wanna save your chunks or chips.
Pull them out and unwrap them. I should have saved the drippings for the barbecue sauce on the side, but I did not. Shame on me. Do that.
Sauce those ribs up. Liberally. Like, and obscene amount.
Put them back on for 1 hour.(3-2-1… get it? Guys! They said the thing!)
Always check with a thermometer for done-ness. They should be pretty damn done at this point, arguably overdone.
EAT.
I know fall-off-the-bone isn’t competition style. A bone did pull right out of one rack, but the meat was in tact, not falling completely apart. I know the foil wrapping bit is then steaming not smoking… but, rules are made to be broken and a healthy dose of anarchy warms my little punk rock heart.
I would definitely do the ribs like this again. I may try a homemade sauce. This was pretty basic store-brand stuff from Shop ‘n Save with some dry mustard, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper, and Straub American Amber Lager. I may try different chips, or a smoker box, or to soak the wood. I even read some people eschew charcoal in favor of all wood once the fire is going.
I also threw on some baked potatoes, turkey legs, grilled veggies, and sauce on the attached burner.
Can’t wait to try out a turkey, pork loin, brisket, and whatever else I haven’t thought of. Mac n’ cheese? Jalapeño poppers? Meatloaf? Bacon?
What do you do in the smoker? What are your go to foods? Got any tips & tricks worth sharing? Do you click the tongs twice or three times? Before, during, or after?
Any excuse to drink beer and play with fire all day is a good excuse to me. Plus, the family was awed by my hereto unknown skills with smoked meats.
What music are you playing while you’re grilling or smoking?
World (and Lunar) Domination 