Random Thoughts Thread

[pinetree]

Goddamn, it really sounds like someone remixed a newscast jingle into an actual battle theme.

[Temflakes403]

what the actual fuck just happened when i clicked that video what

like seriously man it was a visual glitch the likes of which i'd never seen

[Sesto]

searching for historical information on gemstones is so goddamn annoying. there is so much modern day mystical bullshit surrounding them, it just drowns out everything else

[Five_X]

I ran into a similar problem yesterday doing research into crystals on the Moon - it's all "what crystal is best for each Moon phase!" and nothing else

[Random]

The "-" modifier can pretty easily consign those to the void. It's really helpful.

[Leftovers]

searching for historical information on gemstones is so goddamn annoying. there is so much modern day mystical bullshit surrounding them, it just drowns out everything else

https://archive.org/details/preciousstonesin00burnrich

[Dullahan]

searching for historical information on gemstones is so goddamn annoying. there is so much modern day mystical bullshit surrounding them, it just drowns out everything else

https://archive.org/details/MagicalJ...009513-LowRes/

[AXentrelises]

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, the sanctions have deeply hurt Russia's economy. So can't just russia open up a full-on copy of mcdonald's to support it? Like no differences, just PURE copying. What are mcdonald's going to do? Invade russia with their private militia? I suppose the russian government and their laws could allow it to fix the broken economy. So I wonder, why hasn't something like this happened yet?
(I'm more than happy for anyone to answer me, this thought has been stuck in my head for way too long now)

[Sesto]

https://archive.org/details/preciousstonesin00burnrich

this is what i've actually been using already most of the time, funnily enough. honestly i'm not sure how i found it, i probably learned about it from here at one point

i wasn't aware about that other source though, dullahan. thanks.

[Mattias]

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, the sanctions have deeply hurt Russia's economy. So can't just russia open up a full-on copy of mcdonald's to support it? Like no differences, just PURE copying. What are mcdonald's going to do? Invade russia with their private militia? I suppose the russian government and their laws could allow it to fix the broken economy. So I wonder, why hasn't something like this happened yet?
(I'm more than happy for anyone to answer me, this thought has been stuck in my head for way too long now)

It takes a LOT of money to even run a single restaurant. It's not something you can do in a failing economy, and Russia got hit with the one-two of Covid and Conscience.

[Temflakes403]

they have been doing exactly that, just with a different brand

[Five_X]

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, the sanctions have deeply hurt Russia's economy. So can't just russia open up a full-on copy of mcdonald's to support it? Like no differences, just PURE copying. What are mcdonald's going to do? Invade russia with their private militia? I suppose the russian government and their laws could allow it to fix the broken economy. So I wonder, why hasn't something like this happened yet?
(I'm more than happy for anyone to answer me, this thought has been stuck in my head for way too long now)

Most Western companies in Russia are/were managed by the parent brand. Some exceptions aren't, like Subway, which are locally-owned and operated. When companies pull out of a national market, they also pull their supply chains and investments (what they can anyway: a lot of materiel was simply expropriated by the Russian state). Local Russian companies trying to replace Western equivalents may have the retail space and equipment, but need to find affordable suppliers for the stuff the company they're replacing previously sold to consumers. This is easier said than done, because Western companies are able to have so much reach into various world markets because of their favourable access to resources. Think of Coca-Cola investing in mango farms in Africa and India, destroying local economics but sourcing cheap fruits. Russian replacements don't have these and have to make do with what they can, with the choice of either providing subpar products or raising prices for customers. Typically they do the former because they want to provide an equivalent replacement. There are already tons of local restaurants and food markets of all sorts in Russia, but they're usually selling food and drinks from across the Russian economic empire.

Apparently, Vkusno i tochka (the replacement for McDonald's) has had trouble procuring potatoes of all things. There's also the pseudo-Starbucks, Stars, which is my favourite because it's an absolute copy of the original but the mermaid in the logo is replaced by a woman in a kokoshnik hat.

[Walnut Sparks]

Added a few new FB friends, and suddenly my suggested posts are including a lot of weird Indian nationalist and pseudohistory pages. The thing is, none of these friends is Indian, so I'm not sure if there's any connection.

[AXentrelises]

Most Western companies in Russia are/were managed by the parent brand. Some exceptions aren't, like Subway, which are locally-owned and operated. When companies pull out of a national market, they also pull their supply chains and investments (what they can anyway: a lot of materiel was simply expropriated by the Russian state). Local Russian companies trying to replace Western equivalents may have the retail space and equipment, but need to find affordable suppliers for the stuff the company they're replacing previously sold to consumers. This is easier said than done, because Western companies are able to have so much reach into various world markets because of their favourable access to resources. Think of Coca-Cola investing in mango farms in Africa and India, destroying local economics but sourcing cheap fruits. Russian replacements don't have these and have to make do with what they can, with the choice of either providing subpar products or raising prices for customers. Typically they do the former because they want to provide an equivalent replacement. There are already tons of local restaurants and food markets of all sorts in Russia, but they're usually selling food and drinks from across the Russian economic empire.

Apparently, Vkusno i tochka (the replacement for McDonald's) has had trouble procuring potatoes of all things. There's also the pseudo-Starbucks, Stars, which is my favourite because it's an absolute copy of the original but the mermaid in the logo is replaced by a woman in a kokoshnik hat.

Alr, thanks. I also appreciate other's answers such as Temflakes403 & Mattias. I had it stuck on my mind for a while so now the nail's officially in.

[Deathhappens]

Electric bikes are amazing. I can actually commute back to civilisation while still getting my exercise in now!

[Nikiri]

i'm thinking about getting one

or maybe stand-up e-scooter

or maybe 125cc scooter

or maybe 125cc motorcycle


in the end i won't buy anything and still commute with bicycle until early winter

[Deathhappens]

I wanted to rent a scooter initially, but I didn't bring my license with me so I went for the bike instead. Best decision ever. I can bike through all the same parts I did before but make them as easy or difficult as I want!

[Laserman]

[Mattias]

Yeah, but have you heard Killer Instincts OST? Even when you're being beaten to the ground it's a treat.

[Nikiri]

so i was peering at one particular ebike for the past 2 days since fishrin mentioned about ebikes, and today the price went up


it killed my interest in buying it, bye