Ain't that something too? Hell yeah it is! :)

We're actually up at 2,500 movie reviews already, but I forgot to post about this milestone, so here it is.

Here's to the next 500! 🎉

I did buy a waffle iron years ago, and if there ever was a day to use it it'd be today - on our International Waffle Day, but I can't find it!!! So here, have an AI generated waffle instead.

Courtesy of Firefly.

Some others.

What if there was a site in the form of a phone number, that you could call, with instructions on what said site should contain? Well hey, there is!

Here's some info on the service, and an isolated image of the visuals that were there when I first visited the site.

They're different now! They change constantly. And not just the image, text and background and everything.

I'm tempted to call, but I assume it'd be an expensive one when this is an overseas number...

Do they use generative AI to interpret the calls though? Is the process entirely automatic, or is there someone working behind the scenes to make things happen every time someone requests a change? I'm curious about the structure, I'm curious about what kind of queue they have for calls, too. I'm very curious about what kind of software and hardware you need to make something like this! How much does it cost, how much time did it take to make, and has anyone ever done anything similar before?

I probably won't get those questions answered, but I am curious.

Anyway, very cool service.

Ever wanted to swap a window with someone else, somewhere else, a random stranger in another time and place? Well now you can!

This is the first window that popped up for me - and it's not a bad one, homely and cozy, with a view on what I'd assume was a backyard in the UK if it didn't show a different location.

Though this one was still.

Some have momentum and natural ambience too. The first I stumbled upon seems to be maybe the most regular window of all.

In others you can see things like people trampling around in the snow at a ski resort 10,000 meters above sea level, or a sunset view of a lake - some small insect zigzagging across the glass. You can see waves move, and clouds drift, and leaves rustle on the ground...

Windows are pre-recorded, not live, but there's quite a few of them! Free to view and flip through. For example.

There may be some truly utopian windows out there too... why not mosey on over, and open a few?

It's pretty cool.

Man this one was grueling... but what can you do? Must uphold tradition!

I've been eating these for something like fifteen years straight at this point, and I was of no mind to let this year be an exception, but it just so happened that I woke up this Tuesday feeling... not so great.

Mom was apparently down with a fever the weekend me and good buddy Bear were in Albania - the weekend before last, and I came home on Sunday after a tiring trip to an empty fridge, after midnight, with an early work day awaiting....

I set my alarm even earlier than I'd planned to fix up some lunch for the office, went on with a grueling day there, came back home, finally had a full night's sleep, and the next morning I had indeed caught that virus too.

It may have been (and still be) the flu.

Baking semlor turned out a more arduous task than I thought it'd be this year, but since mom was still incapacitated and I too sick to head out and actually buy something (which I tend to avoid doing anyway these days) I had no choice but to bake something!

I looked for a random 'gluten-free semla' recipe online, and found this.

Notice how the recipe doesn't say anything about how long said recipe takes to make? It probably took me around ~3 hours.

I whipped up fresh cream, melted the butter, thawed the yeast, ground the cardamom seeds, whisked the egg, warmed the milk, ran the almonds through the grinder, mixed 'em with honey and milk (recipe says sugar but FUCK SUGAR), added in sea salt and saffron, worked the dough like a mofo and let it thicken (10 minutes), rise (30 minutes) and rise again (30 minutes more) and then into the oven they went!

After two times the intended oven time (I think I made the buns bigger than intended + hadn't warmed the oven fully + the saffron paste I used messed up the flour/liquid ratio entirely but did end up making the dough even better than I'd expected) and voila (same semla - different angle)...

They tasted great. :) The recipe was aight after all! Possibly the best gluten-free variant I've tried so far - except maybe for the wonderful one I bought at renowned Bro cafe Mazarin before they closed down.

Anyway we got our semlor! I made one for all of us. Mom couldn't eat more than one half, so I had more, and there's more in store!

Then I got the fever for real and was totally out of it for three days.

WORTH IT. 👍✨

I'm a bit late with this post again this year thus, but know: These pictures were taken on Tuesday! And the foodstuff depicted on them was eaten then too. I haven't had an ounce of cream or sugar since, since I'm trying to get rid of this ongoing infection quick now cause this coming Friday:
Banja Luka. We're off again. Do wish I had a bit more recoup time...

Happy Fat Tuesday y'all!

Here's a random Start11 feature I've been experimenting with lately.

Showing start-menu items as a grid...

Read on...