It’s a time-bomb.

Indeed.

Hah! I never bothered to notice. I guess that’s how much I care about it.

No worries, most people who don’t live around here don’t know about it. You’re probably right about being a Steelers fan.

Exactly what I was thinking. I can’t count on two hands the number of times I’ve been called by friends and relatives to retrieve an orphan girl from a xenomorph egg-room, where there are only two options for extermination. While a flamethrower isn’t the best way, the other involves orbital nukes.

Probably Pittsburgh, California, just northeast of Oakland.

It happens to me a lot, actually. It’s like I’m playing an old-style racing video game, and there are checkpoints to continue, and every time I pass one, I’m like, “Shit, I’m a lot farther in this game than I thought I was/would be by now.”

<In Darth Vader Voice> NOOOOOOOoooooooOOOooOOOooooOOOooooooooOoooooooo!

Feel better, Nick? [Only a tiny bit of snark intended, I swear.]

No, I knew that say, red wine in a sauce doesn’t totally boil away, but I’m talking a quarter-teaspoon of high proof stuff to suspend vanillin...

I want to say thanks for this article. I read it, and realized that it was high-time for me to USE a password manager, and looked into things. I began to change passwords and try out the manager I chose, and the very next day found out that I’d been the target of identity theft, related to my bank account.

This is so the truth. Usually cronies and shills do a better job of masking the obvious disdain they have for the people that they’re supposed to be serving. This guy must go to work everyday like a goddamned super villain.

What do you do when you need vanilla flavoring? I always assumed the alcohol was burned away during cooking, ala using vodka for flaky pie crusts....

If I were still a single non-father, this would be inspirational. Instead, I just shake my head and get mad at younger-me. How could he be so stupid?

Oh, but you have to opt in to personalized ads. Not sure that’s a win-win.

That seems reasonable. How much are the taxes and service fees?

I need to give you more stars. But I can’t. I’ve been throttled!

I think part of the reason this works is because dark liquors like bourbon especially is because it’s aged in charred oak casks. Little-known fact: much fake vanilla extract is actually created from wood pulp, because oak actually contains a large amount of, wait for it... vanillin, the main ingredient in the vanilla…

But vanilla extract - the real stuff, anyway - is almost always suspended in high proof alcohol... you’re not supposed to drink it. It’s like bitters - just a suspension to carry the vanillin.

Somehow my post disappeared, but I basically came to say that a copy of The Wind’s Twelve Quarters would make a fine introduction. It includes my favorite short story of hers: The Darkness Box.