georgeboff's recent activity

  1. Comment on What hard scifi books could you recommend? in ~books

    georgeboff
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    I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but I enjoyed the books I read from Charles E Gannon. I read up through Marque of Caine in his bibliography and although the books are definitely more in the...

    I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but I enjoyed the books I read from Charles E Gannon. I read up through Marque of Caine in his bibliography and although the books are definitely more in the thriller vein (think Crichton and the like) they do have a pretty rigorous hard Sci fi bent to them. At least at one point the first book in the series was a free ebook download but I'm not sure if it still is.

  2. Comment on Tildes Book Club 2024 retrospective in ~books

    georgeboff
    Link Parent
    Just wanted to say thank you - I've appreciated reading each of the books along with everyone even if I don't have much to say in the discussion threads :)

    Just wanted to say thank you - I've appreciated reading each of the books along with everyone even if I don't have much to say in the discussion threads :)

    4 votes
  3. Comment on US election results (other than presidential) thread in ~society

    georgeboff
    Link Parent
    I am in Maine and I'm glad this amendment passed but I do find it a little ironic that a PAC was formed to support the ballot question and accepted donations greater than $5,000 to get it funded....

    I am in Maine and I'm glad this amendment passed but I do find it a little ironic that a PAC was formed to support the ballot question and accepted donations greater than $5,000 to get it funded.

    https://mainecampaignfinance.com/#/exploreCommitteeDetail/483635

    I am just waiting for Rep Golden's race to get called. But I'm happy my state rep got replaced by an independent candidate

    https://www.centralmaine.com/2024/10/02/sharon-frost-maine-house-58/

    4 votes
  4. Comment on What vegetable are you? in ~food

    georgeboff
    (edited )
    Link
    My coworkers and I took it - myself and one other were broccoli and the other got carrot (and felt seen by the description) Updating, my supervisor got leek and my partner got jalapeño

    My coworkers and I took it - myself and one other were broccoli and the other got carrot (and felt seen by the description)

    Updating, my supervisor got leek and my partner got jalapeño

    5 votes
  5. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    georgeboff
    Link Parent
    You may have heard of this before but I found this database interesting: Multilingual Folk Tale Database Which talks about folk tales from all over the world and in all different languages....

    You may have heard of this before but I found this database interesting:

    Multilingual Folk Tale Database

    Which talks about folk tales from all over the world and in all different languages. They've tried to group together into themes and types.

    I'm having some errors when I try to search today so hopefully that's either a temporary or a me thing.

    6 votes
  6. Comment on Tildes Book Club - Fall schedule in ~books

    georgeboff
    Link Parent
    Thank you again for organizing this, I've been enjoying reading along with everyone :)

    Thank you again for organizing this, I've been enjoying reading along with everyone :)

    2 votes
  7. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    georgeboff
    Link Parent
    I am reading Jean Edward Smith's biography of FDR right now, and am similarly enjoying it for the depth and breadth of the sources. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys not just the president but...

    I am reading Jean Edward Smith's biography of FDR right now, and am similarly enjoying it for the depth and breadth of the sources. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys not just the president but also for anyone who's interested in learning about that period in American history (starting in the late 1800s and running through FDR's terms in office). That time period informs so much of our world today even though so many things are different now, and I for one didn't get really any learning besides a few highlights in school.

    3 votes
  8. Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets

    georgeboff
    Link
    It remains hard to be a cat. When a mouse comes in the house and starts eating out of the cat's food bowl, you and I might think that would be a concern for the cat. And it is, to the extent that...

    It remains hard to be a cat.

    When a mouse comes in the house and starts eating out of the cat's food bowl, you and I might think that would be a concern for the cat. And it is, to the extent that he sat and stared at the mouse for a while very intently. Once I caught the mouse in a container, though, he got very excited by the mouse running around inside the container before I took it back outside. So he's very tired today after all that excitement of not catching a mouse.

    1 vote
  9. Comment on A scam obituary site in ~life

    georgeboff
    Link
    Good morning, As part of my job I read hundreds of obituaries, and often need to search for them to track down surviving family members to pay a balance or issue a death benefit. There are many...

    Good morning,
    As part of my job I read hundreds of obituaries, and often need to search for them to track down surviving family members to pay a balance or issue a death benefit. There are many legitimate places to find obits, like newspapers or funeral home websites. Problem is these often charge by the word and folks don't want to shell out after dealing with the already great expense of someone dying.

    Then there's places like Legacy who've had a lot of business outsourced to them from newspapers and the like - some of these ones were written by actual people but now we're also starting to get into AI generated stuff. Echovita is one of the sites that falls at the lower end of this category. Some of these sites have ways to submit new obits and others are simply scrapers with some extra ads or things tacked on to make a buck.

    Then you have actual straight up spam. These are sites that just use garbage SEO to pick up on things that people are searching for (like an obit for someone who died in a car accident or something that might be a little newsworthy) and use them to help guide usually older folks to click on things that they shouldn't click on.

    Here's an example of these example - note the weirdness in names and the discrepancies in the details you can see in the Google preview. These sites are just as scummy and predatory as any other scam / spam website out there. This was a real person who died and these sites are using that to try and trap people (again mostly older but not limited to) into clicking or downloading something they shouldn't.

    Basically there's good and mediocre and bad just like everything else on the internet. I just happen to read a lot more obits as part of my work than most people probably have much reason to, so I get to see the spectrum a little more clearly.

    8 votes
  10. Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets

    georgeboff
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    It's a hard life being a cat. Unfortunately some of us have to go to work in the morning and can't just stay in bed.

    It's a hard life being a cat. Unfortunately some of us have to go to work in the morning and can't just stay in bed.

    3 votes
  11. Comment on The search for the ultimate home/apartment spring cleaning guide in ~life.home_improvement

    georgeboff
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    I liked Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson - it's definitely not just about cleaning as there's stuff in there about cooking, hosting, and maintenance but I found it an overall engaging read, even...

    I liked Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson - it's definitely not just about cleaning as there's stuff in there about cooking, hosting, and maintenance but I found it an overall engaging read, even if it is focused on a particular kind of lifestyle and I don't use half of the information.

    2 votes
  12. Comment on I am moving to New Jersey! Anything I should know? in ~life

    georgeboff
    Link Parent
    Certainly - a variety of things depending on what you want. The university itself has all sorts of nature areas (a lot on Cook/Douglass but a few on my old side of the river near Busch campus)...

    Certainly - a variety of things depending on what you want. The university itself has all sorts of nature areas (a lot on Cook/Douglass but a few on my old side of the river near Busch campus) which do a decent job if you just need a moment away. A nice local park-type park is Colonial Park which is just maybe 15 minutes to the west driving, that's in Franklin. If you head to the east for a half an hour or so you can go to Cheesequake park which is wetlands and the like, and a little further east and you'll start to see some beaches. But if you want proper woods and (east coast) mountains you can head about an hour and a half to two hours north and north west and get some good quiet spaces - I was always partial to Stokes state forest, but the Delaware Water Gap is just a little bit further and has lovely mountain valley and forest hikes. If you head north in the other direction you can make your way up to the lower part of upstate NY and into the Catskills which are also full of nice places to hike.

    I see other folks are mentioning all the food, which is the only thing I really miss about living in the area. It is beautiful and quiet up here but I have many fewer food options if I want to go out and get different kinds of food made by all sorts of people from all sorts of places. NJ also has a long tradition of 24 hour diners, where you could have breakfast, lunch, or dinner any time of day - the closest one to New Brunswick would probably be the Somerset diner like 10 minutes drive west up Easton Ave.

    Rutgers is also my alma mater (at least for the master's degree) and it is a big school - both in size and area. I'm glad I had a bit of a smaller state school for my undergrad work because the university can be a lot sometimes if you grew up next to it.

    1 vote
  13. Comment on I am moving to New Jersey! Anything I should know? in ~life

    georgeboff
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    Good luck on your move! I spent most of the first 18 years of my life in Piscataway just across the river from New Brunswick and although I moved to Maine 6 years ago I still find myself down in...

    Good luck on your move! I spent most of the first 18 years of my life in Piscataway just across the river from New Brunswick and although I moved to Maine 6 years ago I still find myself down in the area 5 or 6 times a year.

    There are lots of towns around like my hometown, Highland Park, Franklin, and Edison. Some of those are not super navigable without a car. There are NJ Transit bus services and the university bus system for Rutgers. You can walk a lot in New Brunswick itself (and in a denser place like Highland Park) but Edison and Piscataway are a little more spread out.

    As far as things to do it depends on what you like - there's always stuff going on at the university and New Brunswick is full of music and art ranging from underground basement shows to the NJ symphony orchestra. The Zimmerli art museum is nice if you like that, or if you just want to get out there are parks and the university nature preserves on either side of the river.

    There's also plenty of food around, particularly good Hispanic foods in New Brunswick proper (away from downtown where all the college kids geared bars and fast food type places). Plus you can always take the NE corridor trains down towards Trenton or up towards NYC if you're looking for something in particular.

    Happy to help answer any questions if I can, although to be fair I very consciously moved away from NJ and up here to the woods so take that as you will :)

    6 votes
  14. Comment on Eclipse plans in ~talk

    georgeboff
    Link
    I live and work about 45 minutes south of totality so my fiance and I took a half day off work and drove and hour north to the mountains in western Maine - it's as clear a day as we could ask for...

    I live and work about 45 minutes south of totality so my fiance and I took a half day off work and drove and hour north to the mountains in western Maine - it's as clear a day as we could ask for and we're due to get a couple of minutes of totality in about 40 minutes 😎

    8 votes
  15. Comment on Book recommendations, specifically in ~books

    georgeboff
    Link Parent
    I enjoyed (a while ago so I'm not sure if they still hold up as well as I recall) the Caine series by author Charles E Gannon. Very hard Sci fi which had the focus on the physics of space travels...

    I enjoyed (a while ago so I'm not sure if they still hold up as well as I recall) the Caine series by author Charles E Gannon. Very hard Sci fi which had the focus on the physics of space travels and battles that I think you're looking for. I gave it extra points for detailed technical schematics for the space craft in the books.

  16. Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets

    georgeboff
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    A rare moment of camaraderie - they get along well enough but it's pretty rare to see them sit together :)

    A rare moment of camaraderie - they get along well enough but it's pretty rare to see them sit together :)

    3 votes
  17. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    georgeboff
    Link Parent
    I recommend Suzerain Suzerain on Steam - it's a take as much time as you like political game where you're the elected leader of a small country surrounded by powerful neighbors in a Cold War esque...

    I recommend Suzerain Suzerain on Steam - it's a take as much time as you like political game where you're the elected leader of a small country surrounded by powerful neighbors in a Cold War esque geopolitical environment. You can get a few good playthroughs out of it depending on your choices. Each "turn" is a period of time where you make a big policy decision or two, and you get a chance to read little news blurbs from your own country and around the world. I greatly enjoyed it as a politics and history kind of nerd myself.

    6 votes
  18. Comment on New Music Fridays: Everything Everything, Charli XCX, ScHoolboy Q and more in ~music

    georgeboff
    Link
    One of my favorite artists came out with their newest album STRFKR - Parallel Realms Indie synth pop with fuzzy ambient tracks in between, well worth a listen if you've never heard them before

    One of my favorite artists came out with their newest album STRFKR - Parallel Realms

    Indie synth pop with fuzzy ambient tracks in between, well worth a listen if you've never heard them before

    3 votes
  19. Comment on Tildes Book Club - How is it going? Discussion of Cloud Atlas will begin the second full week in March. in ~books

    georgeboff
    Link
    I just finished Cloud Atlas up last night and am looking forwards to the discussion in a week or two. For those folks who are struggling to get through the first chapter or two, the language and...

    I just finished Cloud Atlas up last night and am looking forwards to the discussion in a week or two. For those folks who are struggling to get through the first chapter or two, the language and tone do change quite a bit as you move into the next few. I think the payoff was overall worth it but will wait to share more detailed and spoilery thoughts until the full discussion.

    But I enjoyed it and thanks goes to those who voted the book in and to @boxer_dogs_dance for the book club generally :)

    2 votes
  20. Comment on What watch do you wear daily? in ~hobbies

    georgeboff
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    I have a Timex Easy Reader watch. It is not fancy in any way. It tells me the time and it's easy to read. It is a clock and doesn't really have any other features besides a button to make it glow...

    I have a Timex Easy Reader watch. It is not fancy in any way. It tells me the time and it's easy to read. It is a clock and doesn't really have any other features besides a button to make it glow in the dark. The one I have is about 8 years old and it cost me 20 bucks back then so I'd say I've gotten a good value out of it.

    3 votes