Tigris

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I’m a huge fan of David Foster Wallace and I felt totally betrayed by that book.

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Just out of curiosity, what of his do you find more easily readable? Nothing that is novel length of his is easy. I hated IJ after the first read, and threw it into the ocean after finishing it because I was on a boat. But there were so may interesting ideas I had to go back multiple times and now I'd say it's my favorite book. But it's not easy. You will have to work at it and think hard before it starts to make sense. But even on the first read there are some brilliant scenes.

For torture The Pale King is perfect. It was written to be exactly that.

And in January it will match the time it took for Russia to reach Berlin after Operation Barbarossa kicked off.

Putin remains a master strategist.

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H2S has a very distinctive smell of rotten eggs.

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Yep, it's methane that has no odor.

As to the post about natural gas odorants (mercaptans) - yeah - they are horrible stuff. I knew a guy who worked in a mercaptan plant. On the first day off work he stopped at a grocery store. They evacuated the store due to a gas leak. He just walked away.

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Definitely wine people.

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North part of south island. Very much like California. Sunny and warm with lots of bays. Personally, I'd just do the south island; but I'm very much an outdoor guy. The south island is gorgeous. My favorite place may be Stewart Island way down on the south tip. The west coast isn't as empty as it used to be but it's still pretty great. Milford Sound is stunning but you need luck to get a clear day.

One tip - look into Skycouch on Air New Zealand. You can get an entire row of 3 seats that will fold down into a flat "couch" with special bedding. It is a lay flat seat that is larger than business or first class but cheaper. It was pretty awesome when I did it.

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So why exactly is he handing in his resignation?

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The precise explanation was exactly 2 posts above yours. But I doubt you were actually interested.

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Somewhat of an oddity: September 12 - ranks 3rd; September 10 - ranks fifth. September 11 (my birthday) - ranks 91st, Go figure.

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Not long ago September 11 was the least likely birthday (aside from Feb. 29). The reason was that labor was induced to prevent having a 9/11 birthday. It looks like not enough people are doing that anymore to overcome the September surge. 9/11 is fading in our memory. But enough are still inducing or delaying to make Sept. 11 significantly less likely than 9/10 or 9/12.

My brother also has a 9/11 birthday, sucks for him.

Damn, AI is no fun at all on this one:

"I cannot generate a combined graph of whooping cough cases and whooping crane populations, as these two datasets are unrelated and there is no meaningful correlation between them."

It could have done the graph, both are on the rise.

In all seriousness I've never voted for a Democrat in my life for major office. And I never will. But at this point I'll never vote for any candidate that identifies as MAGA. This is despicable.

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Watch YouTube to build your own house.

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My father and mother did exactly that. While working full time jobs. It took a few years and wasn't all that big but it was typical for the time and built much better than houses today. It still looks good. Both were born in the depression and actually knew what a tough life was.

Good grief. Rolling Stone might have done better and they are dogshit.