Randomness XVII: The Madness of the Quorum

[haldir]

3 hours ago, ManvsMini said:

 

That's one of the dumbest reasons for not selling a product I have ever heard. Especially when there is demand for the said product. I wonder if the USA labels have Spanish on them. Will check next time I am in the basement.

 

All English.

 

Remember too Testor's is now owned by Rustoleum which is slowly killing the Testor's name. Model Master line is going away. Pretty much I think they just wanna turn it into a craft company (ie not a model hobby).

10 hours ago, Kangaroorex said:

Wait, Powell's runs on used books!  If they aren't taking in new material, I don't think they will survive and that would be a real shame.  I haven't been to their Portland store in a decade or more and I still remember the sight of a city  block of used books. That and the intoxicating smell of coffee, old paper and wood.  I really need to back there...

Sleep!

 

Last time we went to Portland I introduced Powell's to my wife (a book nut). She was in heaven. She was like "if you come up for Timbers soccer game, I'll just go over to Powell's." I agreed!!!

 

4 hours ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

 

 

That looks cheaper then the store brands (& those are CHEAP, taste that is...ugh I can still remember the aweful taste. My grandmother grabbed a box of cheaper then store brand name & never again will I eat anything below Kraft name when it comes to MnC). Besides, it's not a real goblin, he's green...

[Rob Dean]

3 hours ago, SparrowMarie said:

I started my free trial of Audible just to get Sandman. I have another free credit to use but I've no idea what to use it on. I've got a bunch on my wish list but most of them are series of books. I don't currently plan on paying for it after my month is up, at least for now.

 

Mr Penumbra's 24 hour Bookstore or Sourdough by Robin Sloane.

 

Idly working on some scenery today...

 

 

 

These are inexpensive 3D prints off of Amazon.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Rob Dean

[Jasper_the_2nd]

4 hours ago, ManvsMini said:

 

That's one of the dumbest reasons for not selling a product I have ever heard. Especially when there is demand for the said product. I wonder if the USA labels have Spanish on them. Will check next time I am in the basement.

 

38 minutes ago, haldir said:

 

All English.

 

 

 

Remember that in Canada (as we are officially bilingual) that both English and French is mandatory on everything (well, not absolutely everything, but just about.  I'm sure there is a small several hundred page government document, available in both official languages, that goes through exactly what does and doesn't.).
N'oubliez pas qu'au Canada (puisque nous sommes officiellement bilingues), l'anglais et le français sont obligatoires sur tout (enfin, pas absolument tout, mais à peu près. Je suis sûr qu'il existe un petit document gouvernemental de plusieurs centaines de pages, disponible dans les deux langues officielles , cela passe par exactement ce qui fait et ce qui ne fait pas.).

 

[ManvsMini]

46 minutes ago, Jasper_the_2nd said:

Remember that in Canada (as we are officially bilingual) that both English and French is mandatory on everything (well, not absolutely everything, but just about.  I'm sure there is a small several hundred page government document, available in both official languages, that goes through exactly what does and doesn't.).
N'oubliez pas qu'au Canada (puisque nous sommes officiellement bilingues), l'anglais et le français sont obligatoires sur tout (enfin, pas absolument tout, mais à peu près. Je suis sûr qu'il existe un petit document gouvernemental de plusieurs centaines de pages, disponible dans les deux langues officielles , cela passe par exactement ce qui fait et ce qui ne fait pas.).

 

Oui. Je voudrais un sandwich au jambon et fromage.

 

And that concludes what I remember from high school French. It's kind of my Encino Man Brendan Fraser moment (except in French, not Spanish).

 

It's really mandatory everywhere in Canada? (never been, almost went once, then surgery nixed travel) Was that established to appease the populace of Quebec? Please forgive me, my knowledge of Canadian law is practically non-existent (and no, I don't base what I do know of it from Super Troopers 2).

 

1 hour ago, haldir said:

Remember too Testor's is now owned by Rustoleum which is slowly killing the Testor's name. Model Master line is going away. Pretty much I think they just wanna turn it into a craft company (ie not a model hobby).

 

I had forgotten this. Just give the people their Dullcote, for Pete's sake!

[OneBoot]

@Jasper_the_2nd I laugh-emojied because I found it amusing that you wrote your post in both languages.

 

I really wish I were bilingual; never have I wanted more to speak Spanish than working at my current job. I can cobble together "Un momento por favor" while I find someone who does, or else "Los siento, hablo poquito Español. Call back in thirty minutes? Trienta minutos, si?" and they usually get the idea and call back later.

 

My semi-remembered high school Spanish vocabulary and pronunciation has come in handy surprisingly often, though I'm not very solid on numbers. I finally signed up yesterday for Babel, a language-learning app, so I can at least communicate enough to find out why they're calling and take a message. 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

[Cranky Dog]

5 hours ago, ManvsMini said:

 

That's one of the dumbest reasons for not selling a product I have ever heard. Especially when there is demand for the said product. I wonder if the USA labels have Spanish on them. Will check next time I am in the basement.

Not willing to label in multiple languages is very silly. Especially when we're talking about only a few paragraphs of text.

 

When I look at European or Asian products, they can have labels or instructions in a dozen languages. English-Spanish-French labeling in North America is already pretty common and shouldn't even be a hassle.

 

Heck, even Reaper's Paint Set cases and Dark Heaven blisters have six languages.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Cranky Dog

[ManvsMini]

2 hours ago, haldir said:

5 hours ago, ManvsMini said:

 

That's one of the dumbest reasons for not selling a product I have ever heard. Especially when there is demand for the said product. I wonder if the USA labels have Spanish on them. Will check next time I am in the basement.

 

All English.

 

Not on my can. Just looked, has both English and Spanish. Again, to Testors/Rustoleum/whatever-Sith-Lord-is-behind-this, I say "Shenanigans!"

 

3 minutes ago, Cranky Dog said:

Not willing to label in multiple languages is very silly. Especially when we're talking about only a few paragraphs of text.

 

Agreed.

[Cranky Dog]

24 minutes ago, OneBoot said:

@Jasper_the_2nd I laugh-emojied because I found it amusing that you wrote your post in both languages.

 

I really wish I were bilingual; never have I wanted more to speak Spanish than working at my current job. I can cobble together "Un momento por favor" while I find someone who does, or else "Los siento, hablo poquito Español. Call back in thirty minutes? Trienta minutos, si?" and they usually get the idea and call back later.

 

My semi-remembered high school Spanish vocabulary and pronunciation has come in handy surprisingly often, though I'm not very solid on numbers. I finally signed up yesterday for Babel, a language-learning app, so I can at least communicate enough to find out why they're calling and take a message. 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

Being bilingual (or more) is great *IF* you have the occasion to practice it, or regularly listen or read it. Then it really opens up new cultures, ideas and points of views.

[Jasper_the_2nd]

41 minutes ago, OneBoot said:

@Jasper_the_2nd I laugh-emojied because I found it amusing that you wrote your post in both languages.

 

I really wish I were bilingual; never have I wanted more to speak Spanish than working at my current job. I can cobble together "Un momento por favor" while I find someone who does, or else "Los siento, hablo poquito Español. Call back in thirty minutes? Trienta minutos, si?" and they usually get the idea and call back later.

 

My semi-remembered high school Spanish vocabulary and pronunciation has come in handy surprisingly often, though I'm not very solid on numbers. I finally signed up yesterday for Babel, a language-learning app, so I can at least communicate enough to find out why they're calling and take a message. 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

I wish I was bilingual, but I actually just used google translate 

I have 5 years of middle and high school French, plus a year of University French, but it just won't stick.  I think most real languages have too many inconsistencies for my brain.  I learned English when I was young so could handle them "(inflammable means flammable?") but new ones are a problem.  Nice consistent programing languages I can pick up easily, but then they don't have tenses and all the other wackiness of naturally occurring languages. 

 

The younger kid is officially bilingual, and my wife is pretty fluent in French.  I can mostly read it (verbs are the tricky part) and follow it spoken if they aren't took fast, but can't write or speak much.

 

FYI, New Brunswick (where I live) is officially a bilingual province so all our road signs are in both languages, which causes the poor google maps voice a lot of trouble....

 

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Ok, so now that it's been conformed that Canada isn't getting dullcote either because of idiocy or because of the machinations of Kraft, this leaves us with an important question....

Just what would be the profit margin in smuggling dullcote into Canada? Is there enough of a demand that a decent sized trunk load of it would be worth someone's time and effort?

Also, would the Canadian border agents try to seize it? I don't recall dullcote being any kind of prohibited item, but on the other hand I don't know what weird bylaws there may be covering this sort of thing. 

[haldir]

31 minutes ago, ManvsMini said:

 

Not on my can. Just looked, has both English and Spanish. Again, to Testors/Rustoleum/whatever-Sith-Lord-is-behind-this, I say "Shenanigans!"

 

Yah my label is older then the blue & white one. It's been awhile since I've bought a new can, thou with my newfound joy of model building again, I'm gonna need a can soon.

[Kangaroorex]

12 hours ago, Jasper_the_2nd said:

I've had the same issue.  I have way too many books and not enough shelves. But I don't know if any used books stores are actually taking books....(and I'm lazy so haven't checked......)

 

And I've put off selling any of my extra game stuff cause that's a lot of work. So many boxes of RPG books.

I was moving my INWO: One with Everything box the other day, which has never even been played (I played the CCG) and made the mistake of checking ebay to see how much they were going for.... now I have to decide if I want to put it up for sale, since if I get the average price they are selling for it'd cover my Bone 6 pledge (next year or whenever).

My copy may need to find itself a new home...

 

6 hours ago, ManvsMini said:

 

That's one of the dumbest reasons for not selling a product I have ever heard. Especially when there is demand for the said product. I wonder if the USA labels have Spanish on them. Will check next time I am in the basement.

Very common though, especially in eastern Canada.  We have some customers in Ontario who only sell to US customers because they dont want to encourage the independence of Qubec or give them any more power. (their words, not mine) so they incur higher freight costs and pass business on to competitors.  I would say very strange except that i have seen weirder on both sides of the border.

 

 

21 minutes ago, Lord of the Dish Pit said:

Ok, so now that it's been conformed that Canada isn't getting dullcote either because of idiocy or because of the machinations of Kraft, this leaves us with an important question....

Just what would be the profit margin in smuggling dullcote into Canada? Is there enough of a demand that a decent sized trunk load of it would be worth someone's time and effort?

Also, would the Canadian border agents try to seize it? I don't recall dullcote being any kind of prohibited item, but on the other hand I don't know what weird bylaws there may be covering this sort of thing. 

 

Sometimes I think this is a pitch thing.  if marketing says "if we put the labels in french we will be able to sell to a large new audience" the board gets dollars in their eyes and cant wait to make the changes.  If, instead, the legal team says "we have to put french labels on our products to comply with the law" the response is how dare they tell us how to run a business! we will never do this, even if we lose customers!

 

it seems really arbitrary sometimes.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

13 minutes ago, Kangaroorex said:

Sometimes I think this is a pitch thing.  if marketing says "if we put the labels in french we will be able to sell to a large new audience" the board gets dollars in their eyes and cant wait to make the changes.  If, instead, the legal team says "we have to put french labels on our products to comply with the law" the response is how dare they tell us how to run a business! we will never do this, even if we lose customers!

 

it seems really arbitrary sometimes.

This sounds accurate enough. 

Between dullcote and the new Heroquest, I am starting to seriously wonder if this may be the tip of the iceberg of a Canadian drought in hobby supplies. Since I haven't been able to get a time machine up and operational in order to get in on the rumrunning during the 1930s, I want to get in on the ground floor if "blackmarket" hobby supply smuggling is the trend of the 2030s. Would be like fulfilling a childhood dream, hopefully would pay more than kitchen work, and would give me an excuse to break out the pinstripe suit more often.

[TheAuldGrump]

Sometimes it just feels right to attack the party with a swarm of kobolds.

 

Four were level 1 rogues, the rest level 1 warriors.

 

No one in the party speaks Kobolderkin. (Not Draconic kobolds have their own language, though their spellcasters do often know the tongue of dragons.)

 

The four rogues all concentrated on Megan's witch, and were using saps, and had ropes. It looks like it was meant to be a kidnapping - but whether it was because Megan is playing a gnome, a witch, or that she was just the most portable member of the party...?

 

So, having knocked most of the kobolds out - including all four rogues, the party is turning to the only person they think speaks Kobolderkin... Captain Casey.

 

We left off when the kobolds were presented to the captain, and literally soiled themselves, falling on their knees and groveling, pleading for their lives.

 

Unfortunately, the PCs were wrong - Casey doesn't speak Kobolderkin either.

 

*EDIT* Inspired by these guys -

These are not funny kobolds - and the weapons used by the warriors were smeared with... something. (Can you say Filth Fever? So can they.)

 

The Auld Grump

 

Edited September 27, 2020 by TheAuldGrump

[Green Eyed Monster]

1 hour ago, Lord of the Dish Pit said:

Ok, so now that it's been conformed that Canada isn't getting dullcote either because of idiocy or because of the machinations of Kraft, this leaves us with an important question....

Just what would be the profit margin in smuggling dullcote into Canada? Is there enough of a demand that a decent sized trunk load of it would be worth someone's time and effort?

Also, would the Canadian border agents try to seize it? I don't recall dullcote being any kind of prohibited item, but on the other hand I don't know what weird bylaws there may be covering this sort of thing. 

Mayhaps the remedy is going to be to buy it on the Bay of EEE.

GEM

8 minutes ago, Green Eyed Monster said:

Mayhaps the remedy is going to be to buy it on the Bay of EEE.

GEM

Addendum:  I occasionally get modeling supplies from Nock which is a German Company.

The labeling is in German as I'm buying from a German Vendor.

No problem at all getting it into the USA,

Any of our Canadian Forumites have a similar experience?

If so, there shouldn't be any problems with mono-language labeling for English Only products.

GEM

Edited September 27, 2020 by Green Eyed Monster
tentacles