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GWS Types: Is Mexican vanilla supposed to be better somehow? My wife just got back from a trip and brought vanilla for all kinds of people. I'm supposed to be delivering a bottle to someone today and got interested because I remember someone I used to work with had 5 big wine bottle size bottles of vanilla on his desk when he got back from MX one time. Googling all I can find is that some of it may be harmful and not actually vanilla but nothing about actual vanilla from Mexico being better or different in any way. Is it just some weird gringo-on-vacation tradition that doesn't make any sense? Vin BioEthanol fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Dec 10, 2013 |
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Dec 10, 2013 18:42
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Vin BioEthanol posted:GWS Types: Is Mexican vanilla supposed to be better somehow? My wife just got back from a trip and brought vanilla for all kinds of people. Some people like it better than the mor commonly available vanillas from Madagascar. But quality is the most important part. Cheap Mexican vanilla isn't going to be any better than a bottle of lowest bidder McCormic from the grocery store. Really cheap Mexican vanilla has been found tainted with coumarin, which is really bad for you. I can taste the difference, but it needs to be pretty vanilla-heavy to really notice (it definitely smells like it has more oomph in the bottle), but mine comes from what should be known good sources (Penzeys, etc - you know, places that need to deal with the FDA).
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Dec 10, 2013 19:03
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miryei posted:My family has a tradition where either on Christmas Eve or a few days before, we each would put a shoe on the front step with grass/carrots/similar in it. The idea is that the three wise men are passing on their way to see the baby Jesus, and you're feeding their animals, and in exchange there is a small gift left in each shoe by the wise men. Sort of like opening a stocking stuffer early, but it's got another story to go with it instead of just, "Here's an early present to keep the kids happy" What part of the world are you from? Footwear is a common theme in Christmas traditions, but I'm not sure why. In the US it's pretty common to leave cookies and milk on the hearth for
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Dec 10, 2013 19:13
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Vanillas main flavor component is vanillin, but there are a couple dozen others that also contribute to its flavor. Madagascar vanilla is dominated by vanillin, but Mexican tends to have more of the other flavors that lead to a more complex flavor. Similarly, Tahitian vanilla is more floral and better for savory dishes. But Mexican is my go to for sweet dishes.
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Dec 10, 2013 19:18
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Hey I haven't used my furnace heater in years, and now that I've turned it on it stinks to high hell and set off my smoke alarms. Is this normal for a furnace that hasn't been used in a long time? Is it all the dust that's accumulated from years of non-use?
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Dec 10, 2013 19:42
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Steve Yun posted:Hey I haven't used my furnace heater in years, and now that I've turned it on it stinks to high hell and set off my smoke alarms. Is this normal for a furnace that hasn't been used in a long time? Is it all the dust that's accumulated from years of non-use? Smelling like dust a bit is normal. What you have going on sounds excessive. If is hasn't been used in years it's due for service, which will include cleaning.
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Dec 10, 2013 19:44
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HondaCivet posted:I called the campus and they said that people get confused by that metering system all the time and that I should try to appeal it. A possibly good ending? I worked security for a private college and we could only enforce tickets against students and maybe staff. A mile down the road was public university, and a ticket there went through the city and eventually DMV. There isn't a concrete answer because you haven't told us what department wrote you a ticket. If you appeal you'd be giving your name and maybe address away though, which would be more info for collections.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:54
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I'm in the process of buying a preowned car from a dealership. I have been emailing one of the salesmen, trying to get pricing info. I asked him if there was a downpayment required and how much it would be if there was one and he just asked if I was planning on putting any money down. What is the best way to respond without getting ripped off? I know it's a good car and what the car is worth but I'm not good at haggling. Any other car buying advice is appreciated.
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Dec 10, 2013 21:48
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NarwhalParty posted:I'm in the process of buying a preowned car from a dealership. I have been emailing one of the salesmen, trying to get pricing info. I asked him if there was a downpayment required and how much it would be if there was one and he just asked if I was planning on putting any money down. What is the best way to respond without getting ripped off? I know it's a good car and what the car is worth but I'm not good at haggling. Any other car buying advice is appreciated. Are you trying to buy the car from them or buy it and finance through them? Get an out the door price. You want an out the door price. Cash. Then you can talk financing.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:06
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It's going to be financed through the bank. They use the same bank that I already use.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:09
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NarwhalParty posted:I'm in the process of buying a preowned car from a dealership. I have been emailing one of the salesmen, trying to get pricing info. I asked him if there was a downpayment required and how much it would be if there was one and he just asked if I was planning on putting any money down. What is the best way to respond without getting ripped off? I know it's a good car and what the car is worth but I'm not good at haggling. Any other car buying advice is appreciated. Deal on the price of the vehicle itself before introducing any other element (down payment, trade in, paying with cash outright, etc). That's the advice my grandpa and dad taught me, and it seems to serve me well. Most dealers want to deal in terms of payment, and not the price of the car. They make more money that way. Negotiate a price for the vehicle, and have a set max you will pay before you go in. Be prepared to walk away. Also, spend $50-100 on getting the vehicle inspected by a third party before you sign anything. That could save you a ton of headache down the road. The used car market has sucked since Cash for Clunkers and the overall economy has many people are hanging onto their paid off cars, so I've noticed that good used cars don't have as much wiggle room as they used to. YMMV.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:12
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NarwhalParty posted:It's going to be financed through the bank. They use the same bank that I already use. So you are arranging your financing? Or they are? If you are arranging your financing (and you should be) you want an out the door price. In cash. You will arrange financing from your bank and drop off a check or the bank will wire them the money. Don't let them start in on you with financing and monthly payments and how much do you want your payment to be bullshit. Get your financing in order, get a cash price, and then ask them if they can beat the interest rate.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:12
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So i've read that the latest microprocessors have 2 billion transistors, and i'm wondering how they are made. The idea of anything being made in a quantity of 2 billion at a time puzzles me.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:20
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Motronic posted:So you are arranging your financing? Or they are? The financial advisor at my bank said not to do this. I can't remember what reason she gave, but this is how I handled the first vehicle I purchased.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:33
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NarwhalParty posted:The financial advisor at my bank said not to do this. I can't remember what reason she gave, but this is how I handled the first vehicle I purchased. I'd ask another financial advisor, because that's pretty terrible advice.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:55
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ChocNitty posted:So i've read that the latest microprocessors have 2 billion transistors, and i'm wondering how they are made. The idea of anything being made in a quantity of 2 billion at a time puzzles me. BTW even 7-10 billion transistors per die is not uncommon now (Nvidia's GTX780 GPU has ~7 billion transistors if I recall correctly). Dozens or hundreds of chips are cut from each wafer, which is "made" all at once before being cut, so really hundreds of billions or even a trillion or more transistors can be made "at once" in modern semiconductor fabs. Then again, each wafer goes through dozens of steps of processing beore it's fully "made" so it's not really all at once, similarly to how you screenprint one color at a time onto a t-shirt. more info: http://www.renesas.com/company_info/fab/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_fabrication https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI6Qxp9t4ow
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Dec 10, 2013 22:55
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I saw this in the subway today, can anyone identify what animal it belongs to? http://imgur.com/CsggwuC maybe NSFW, I don't know.
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Dec 10, 2013 23:04
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Motronic posted:Don't let them start in on you with financing and monthly payments and how much do you want your payment to be bullshit. Get your financing in order, get a cash price, and then ask them if they can beat the interest rate. This is exactly what he should do.
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Dec 10, 2013 23:06
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Can you really get high by sniffing whiteboard/marker pens?
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Dec 10, 2013 23:15
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PotU posted:I saw this in the subway today, can anyone identify what animal it belongs to? http://imgur.com/CsggwuC maybe NSFW, I don't know.  Hope that's fake, or stuffed or something. It looks like a dog paw.
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Dec 10, 2013 23:23
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Crankit posted:Can you really get high by sniffing whiteboard/marker pens? Yes. There's no concrete definition of "high". But you're sniffing chemicals that are evaporating from the markers, so "yes" is the short answer. Basically any time you're not breathing what is considered a healthy composition of "air" is either going to eventually kill you or make you lightheaded. If you're in a chamber where the % of oxygen content in the air is low you'll feel lightheaded and sleepy, which can be considered some form of high. And don't mix sniffing markers with interacting with wild animals.
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Dec 10, 2013 23:26
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TO UNDERAGE GYMNASTS
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Anyone have a recommendation for a cool letter opener as a gift? That's literally all my dad could think of when I asked him what he wanted for Christmas. Just looking for something that isn't too cheesy or cheap and works well. All the nicest looking ones on Amazon seem to have complaints about the blade being too thick for white envelopes.
veni veni veni fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Dec 10, 2013 |
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Dec 10, 2013 23:35
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Dudebro posted:And don't mix sniffing markers with interacting with wild animals. I really like the idea that all of Crankit's questions are related to a single, unfolding incident.
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Dec 11, 2013 00:28
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NarwhalParty posted:It's going to be financed through the bank. They use the same bank that I already use. Still, get the final, out the door price. Salesmen will always try and get you a per month number because it looks a lot less daunting and it's harder for you to tell if they're ripping you off. Get the final price in writing. That includes tax, title, delivery, processing fees, financing fees and any other things they might have. There are laws (at least in California) that set a limit to what the processing/financing fees can be (I think it's $69). So get a written bill of sale that says everything your paying for the car. Then start breaking down what it will cost per month based on how much you put down, how many years you'll finance, and what the interest rate is. edit: poo poo, didn't refresh the thread, answered above pretty well already. To add something of substance, they're going to try and sell you an extended warranty, gap insurance and lojack too probably, decide whether you want any of that (gap insurance covers the difference between what you owe on the car and what it's worth if it gets totalled, it's usually a big waste of money, especially if you're putting enough money down to cover the gap.) Extended warranty, meh. Sometimes it's worth it, if it's a car that's not particularly reliable it can be worth it. My girlfriend bought a VW recently and she got a 6 year 100k bumper to bumper warranty for $1900, which includes routine maintenance. It worked out to be an additional $1000 wasted over 6 years if nothing ever went wrong with the car. That's about $14/month for the peace of mind of never having to worry about paying for car repairs over the life of the car. RaoulDuke12 fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Dec 11, 2013 |
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Dec 11, 2013 00:44
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I have a thermostat on my wall heater that is only connected with a bare copper wire. It might even be a rheostat, I'm not sure:  This is only the inside of it - the outside of it is just a knob. The knob is missing. The heater has no apparent brand name for it, and was probably manufactured 50 years ago. The tenant can't turn the heat up without the knob or a pair of vice-grip pliers. This is not a tenant who is appreciative of vice-grip pliers. I have tried replacement knobs from home depot, they're made of plastic and strip out quickly. Can somebody link me to a replacement for this device that would come with a knob, or a better replacement knob (ideally with a metal jobbie in it, instead of soft plastic)?
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Dec 11, 2013 01:02
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photomikey posted:I have a thermostat on my wall heater that is only connected with a bare copper wire. It might even be a rheostat, I'm not sure: Maybe stop being a slum lord and hire a professional so you don't end up killing your tenant.
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Dec 11, 2013 01:13
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syscall girl posted:Maybe stop being a slum lord and hire a professional so you don't end up killing your tenant. Hire a professional to replace a knob?
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Dec 11, 2013 01:25
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PotU posted:I saw this in the subway today I have no clue other than dog but as a red-stater I had to lol at this more at 1st since I thought you meant that lovely sandwich place. I opened the link looked at it and closed it before I realized. E: also you could do with a new phone. May I suggest an S4 or Note III? Samsung's ambassador of products sometimes posts ITT too I'm sure he'd agree.http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3583699&pagenumber=1&perpage=40 Vin BioEthanol fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Dec 11, 2013 |
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Dec 11, 2013 01:29
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:Hire a professional to replace a knob? The whole thing needs to be replaced. That bare wire, ugh, and the ziptie.
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Dec 11, 2013 02:21
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photomikey posted:Can somebody link me to a replacement for this device that would come with a knob, or a better replacement knob (ideally with a metal jobbie in it, instead of soft plastic)?
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Dec 11, 2013 02:39
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Regarding car purchasing, I had a very good experience getting pre-approved by Capital One and going from there. They approve you for up to a certain number and send you a check you can use for anything less than that number. I think I was approved for ~15k and I ended up buying a 9k car with 2k down so I just wrote the check for 7k and that was the end of it from the dealership side. Other banks may do the same thing, that's just the one I know of.
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Dec 11, 2013 02:39
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Rent-A-Cop posted:Go to Home Depot and buy a new thermostat. They're like $20 and installing one is something a monkey could do.
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Dec 11, 2013 02:42
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Re: financing cars. If you're pre-approved at a bank and have one of their blank checks, a down payment being required would have been between you and the bank already, dealer gets full purchase price no matter. Just deal with them as if you're paying cash, it should be the same to them. e: crazy luck: in 08 I wanted a 2000ish tahoe or suburban as a second vehicle and had $$ but then stuff happened & I ran out of money before I found one I wanted. Then my transmission in my car got lovely, I went and got a real high pre-approval from a CU. Saw a real nice 99 Tahoe marked $7999 in huge #s on the windshield but it had lovely tires, dead battery, wouldn't start and had a newspaper still inside with a circled ad for a camry at that dealer from 5 months ago. Someone traded it in when gas prices got high. I offered $3000, they actually laughed in my face but then signed papers for $4000 less than 5 minutes later. It's the gift that keeps on giving because a few years later, this happened. Me at dead stop, hit at 35 or so.  My hitch 90% and steel bumper 10% took all of her gussied-up camry's energy bending the frame a tiny bit in the last 2 inches of it right where the hitch attaches. Ins said: any frame damage = totalled. They gave me ~$6000 and let me buy it back salvage for $1000. I used my free $5000 and got a newer cooler w-body car like I had before, relegating the tahoe to second vehicle like it was supposed to be. Vin BioEthanol fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Dec 11, 2013 |
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Dec 11, 2013 02:51
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kedo posted:The only reason why there aren't more mountain lion attacks is because they don't like being around humans and thus stay in pretty remote areas. However when people venture into their territory they become, quite literally, fair game. They are dangerous wild animals and are not at all "big house cats." Pretty sure house cats would attack humans if they were big enough.
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Dec 11, 2013 03:05
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Tiggum posted:Pretty sure house cats would attack humans if they were big enough. Mountain lions are kinda anomalies in animal psych; they are one of the few predators that will normally attack something bigger than they are, and will even fight a moose if they are confident they can get the jump on it. Lions and tigers don't attack humans as prey, as a norm, but a mountain lion totally will unless the human is making lots of noise, which makes it just go 'gently caress that'. Part of their daring is the prey available to them, and part of that is mountain lions rely on stealth as a hunting tactic almost exclusively, which makes the size of the prey less relevant. House cats probably would gently caress us up if they were big cat size, but only cougars would still be ballsy enough to do it on the reg'.
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Dec 11, 2013 04:01
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Tiggum posted:Pretty sure house cats would attack humans if they were big enough. House cats can attack humans (and kill them if they're a level 1 wizard: http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=912)
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Dec 11, 2013 04:10
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photomikey posted:I've replaced more thermostats than you have testicles. It's a millivolt thermostat. It's supposed to have one giant wire. They're weird. Rent-A-Cop fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Dec 11, 2013 |
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Dec 11, 2013 04:54
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What's the saying that reflects the bond created in sexual relationships? "One pubic hair exchanged is worth..."?
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Dec 11, 2013 05:46
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Is there a way to find out if you got a red light violation online for California residents? I made a really loving stupid decision, deciding gently caress my GPS for telling me to turn right cause it thought I was going the complete opposite direction I was going, then it saying "Oh no go left instead" so I decided gently caress it, I couldn't back up cause at that moment someone pulled up behind me to turn right so I pulled into the intersection and made a left... when the left light was red. And while there was no flash, and t here was no sign posted of PHOTO ENFORCED and there was none of those big box cameras on each corner of the intersection, there was this thing that looked like those security cameras you see at stores that get the full 360 degree view, so I think I was recorded. I just don't like surprises and I want to know NOW if I got a ticket rather then have it sit in the back of my head.
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Dec 11, 2013 06:05
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Mortley posted:What's the saying that reflects the bond created in sexual relationships? "One pubic hair exchanged is worth..."? One pubic hair exchanged is worth One life stretched out til kingdom come But one night that leads to a birth Ere vows will get you shot dead
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Dec 11, 2013 06:11
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