Random Thoughts

[SEWIGuy]

Man, I could use some broasted chicken right now. That sounds marvelous. There is a place called Chet and Emil's in Birnamwood, WI that just has the best. (Right on US-45 for the roadgeeks)

[Rothman]

I ate at NE Minnesota tourist trap restaurant Betty's Pies for the first time in over a decade. The broasted chicken was actually really good.

If you didn't get a slice of french blueberry cream pie, you did it wrong.

[vdeane]

How did we come to associate bricks with the color red?  On the radio morning show, Jake said something about red bricks, and Libby said "bricks are brown".  I was thinking "bricks are not brown" only to immediately notice a house with brown bricks.  And another.  And a bunch more.  I only passed one building with the stereotypical red bricks.  I do this every day, and yet, my brain defaults to red bricks so hard that I couldn't even conceive of bricks being another color until I was staring right at them while specifically thinking about the color of bricks.

[kkt]

And some of them are yellow.

[Scott5114]

How did we come to associate bricks with the color red?

One of the primary materials bricks are made of is clay, and clay often has enough iron content to cause it to be red.

[Big John]

And some of them are yellow.

And where does the red brick road lead to?

[Rothman]

Reminds me of the Color of the Dress debate.

[Max Rockatansky]

And some of them are yellow.

And where does the red brick road lead to?

Apparently just around Munchkin Village.  I was disappointed also when I found out:

https://oz.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Brick_Road

[hotdogPi]

In the books (the first is enough), red is associated with the Quadlings, which are to the south.

[formulanone]

How did we come to associate bricks with the color red?

One of the primary materials bricks are made of is clay, and clay often has enough iron content to cause it to be red.

It suppose it also depends on the base material; I've seen light-gray bricks, yellow, orange, pink, red, burgundy, tan, all the way to mahogany-colored bricks. And it also contrasts against the cement used as well. High-contrast tends to fool the mind into what the eyes really see. That, and not all color is perceived the same way from one to the next. Couple that with our brains making specific initial impacts into memory, in which our first impression becomes the lasting impression until unseated by a greater emotional force.

Probably the same way many people usually associate apples as red. Or fish as "gray", when there's many different colors of fish. Humans tend to default to basic colors for clarity of communication.

[D-Dey65]

I just woke up from a dream where some idiot tried to blame the placement of object markers along roads on Donald Trump.

Let me give you a few more details about this. I was taking a road trip up north somewhere, and part of the trip was along some divided highway in front of a strip mall. In between one of the lanes and the strip mall is a frontage road that was obviously the original section of the road this place was built along, so naturally I had to take a picture of the place for future publication in Wikimedia Commons, and other sources. I took a shot of the stub where two type 4 object markers (no dead end signs though) were mounted in front of the grassy ROW between the old road and the divided road, and somebody came up to be and said, "You see a lot more of these signs these days thanks to Trump."


Whether you like Trump or hate him, that's a pretty stupid thing to say. And yes, I would say the same thing if Kamala Harris had been elected.

[TheCatalyst31]

I just woke up from a dream where some idiot tried to blame the placement of object markers along roads on Donald Trump.

Let me give you a few more details about this. I was taking a road trip up north somewhere, and part of the trip was along some divided highway in front of a strip mall. In between one of the lanes and the strip mall is a frontage road that was obviously the original section of the road this place was built along, so naturally I had to take a picture of the place for future publication in Wikimedia Commons, and other sources. I took a shot of the stub where two type 4 object markers (no dead end signs though) were mounted in front of the grassy ROW between the old road and the divided road, and somebody came up to be and said, "You see a lot more of these signs these days thanks to Trump."


Whether you like Trump or hate him, that's a pretty stupid thing to say. And yes, I would say the same thing if Kamala Harris had been elected.

I've heard of making up a guy who doesn't exist to get mad at, but usually it doesn't involve whole dreams.

[mgk920]

Is anyone else in here at least 'back burner' following the somewhat curious and mildly entertaining political goings on north of the border in Canada?

 

Mike

[Max Rockatansky]

No, the politics of one country is more than I want already. 

[vdeane]

Is anyone else in here at least 'back burner' following the somewhat curious and mildly entertaining political goings on north of the border in Canada?

 

Mike

I live streamed the election from CTV's YouTube stream and periodically check r/OnGuardForThee (the Canadian politics subreddit that isn't r/Canada).

[LilianaUwU]

All I'm saying is there should be a by-election in Terrebonne.

[kphoger]

How did we come to associate bricks with the color red?

For me personally, it's probably this:

Is anyone else in here at least 'back burner' following the somewhat curious and mildly entertaining political goings on north of the border in Canada?

My only exposure to Canadian politics is J.J. McCullough's YouTube channel, which I watch every so often.

—or—  What's north of the border in Canada?  Santa's workshop?

[LilianaUwU]

My only exposure to Canadian politics is J.J. McCullough's YouTube channel, which I watch every so often.

Just know he doesn't represent any of the 40 million Canadians.

[Max Rockatansky]

I was woken up by the sound of a mouse rustling through a paper bag at 4:15 AM.  I managed to toss the bag with the mouse still inside out the door.  All the same looks like I'll be buying fresh glue traps today.

[Rothman]

I was woken up by the sound of a mouse rustling through a paper bag at 4:15 AM.  I managed to toss the bag with the mouse still inside out the door.  All the same looks like I'll be buying fresh glue traps today.

I've found the only surefire way to get rid of mice is poison, despite environmental concerns about wild animals eating poisoned mice.

[Max Rockatansky]

I was woken up by the sound of a mouse rustling through a paper bag at 4:15 AM.  I managed to toss the bag with the mouse still inside out the door.  All the same looks like I'll be buying fresh glue traps today.

I've found the only surefire way to get rid of mice is poison, despite environmental concerns about wild animals eating poisoned mice.

Trouble for me is that my four dogs would probably get into that very poison.

[kphoger]

My only exposure to Canadian politics is J.J. McCullough's YouTube channel, which I watch every so often.

Just know he doesn't represent any of the 40 million Canadians.

Represent them how?  I watch his channel primarily for information.  It's like saying a thesaurus doesn't represent New Mexicans.  Besides which, why should I care if he represents 'any of the 40 million Canadians'?  Heck, maybe I don't even want to watch someone who does.

I was woken up by the sound of a mouse rustling through a paper bag at 4:15 AM.  I managed to toss the bag with the mouse still inside out the door.  All the same looks like I'll be buying fresh glue traps today.

I've found the only surefire way to get rid of mice is poison, despite environmental concerns about wild animals eating poisoned mice.

We've only used glue traps and old-fashioned spring traps.  We've had much better success with the spring traps, at it's a lot easier to dispose of a dead mouse than a live one.  Even if its blood has started to dry and stick to the trap, it only takes some gentle shaking over the trash can to free it.  Then we can just clean it off a little bit and reuse it.  We usually smear a dab of peanut butter on the trap as bait, occasionally sticking a piece of some other food (cracker, cookie, pretzel) to the peanut butter too.

With the glue traps, on the other hand, most of the time the mouse was still alive when I'd go to dispose of it, and I wasn't about to toss a live mouse in the trash.  My solution was to put on my boots, take the mouse and trap out to the back porch or driveway, and stomp on it.  I learned the hard way the first time that one shouldn't put a tray of glue face-down on concrete and then step on it.  So then I switched to wrapping it up in two plastic grocery sacks first.  Typically, that would contain the mess, even if a hole in the bag would develop when I'd pop the inevitable air bubble inside.  But one time, the mouse's brain did go shooting out through the hole to the other side of the porch.

We typically only ever have a couple of mice at a time.  Half a dozen, tops.  I think they just come in through the gaps in the walls in our basement and seek shelter when the weather turns, but they don't have time to establish a proper nest before we've killed them.  I realize, of course, that a lot of people end up having more than just that small number.

Twice now, the spring trap has sprung, the mouse was killed, and yet we found it the next day in a pool of its own blood next to the trap rather than in it.  I'm still baffled as to how that happens.  As proof, here's a picture from the first time it happened, in December 2021, with everything still exactly where I found it (don't open the link if you don't want to see a picture of mouse blood).

[Rothman]

I'm just happy to have moved on up to a mouse-free residence.

[Big John]

I'm just happy to have moved on up to a mouse-free residence.

Do you have a touch pad? 

[Max Rockatansky]

For context, we have a new neighborhood going in across the street.  This is the second of two field mice that I have caught in the past five years.  Both made their way here after there was major construction that broke ground nearby. 

I have caught full size rats in the back yard before.  They liked our tomato plants for some reason.  Oversize glue traps worked fine on them also.  My most absent minded dog got her foot stuck in one. 

Speaking of the dogs on one of the four will go after mice and rats outside.  The others just stare at me confused about what to do.  I've had to use a BB gun and/or shovel to aid in my disposals.