It's 6.5

| 0  5  1 |   | 0   4   1 |
| 0  4  1 | + | 4  2.5  1 | = 6.5
| 1  5  1 |   | 1   5   1 |

Determinants go brrr

The cat carrier stays on during sex

Why is killing people wrong, but ok in war? Why do we still kill animals even though we know it's wrong? Why is killing wrong in the first place? I bet you can't find a single rational reason. That is because ethics isn't based on reason, but instead on emotion. Given that, I don't find it very surprising that it's often very hypocritical.

Ah yes, good old hay ... delicious!

That's how it's done in chinese. Imo DD/MM/YYYY is better though, since in practice the year is most commonly just the current year and isn't nearly as important as the day or month.

This post reminded me of a dream I had today.

I was hiking up a hill through a forest and saw a snake by the side of the path. I stopped to look at it. It was completely black with a strange white dotted pattern on its back, unlike any snake where I live. Then I heard something moving a little uphill, I turned to look, and it was another snake, and next to it another. I looked around and the ground was writhing with snakes. I started running away into the forest, but it was getting darker and darker. Then I heard an ominous whirring sound getting progressively louder. I woke up and it was the washing machine.

From my experience, it's pretty goddamn hard to find high quality tea that ships from inside the EU. Almost all of the vendors carry a wide variety of teas, but they're all low quality, since they usually order from wholesalers and not directly from the farmers. If you're okay with that, you can try scouring the r/tea vendor list for something that fits your needs and is based in the EU. Your best bet if you want the real top-shelf stuff is to order from a specialized international store. I did just order some teas from https://beautifultaiwantea.com/ yesterday, can update about the quality and shipping once they arrive.

It would be pretty cool to have some kind of community vendor list here too. Maybe one that wasn't as static as the one on r/tea, people would be able to add new vendors, post reviews and such. Just an idea...

Edit: forgot to mention this, search for vendors that list as much information about the tea as possible, stuff like the month or at least season it was harvested, the village it originates from, the altitude, the cultivar, the harvesting method (hand/machine picked) etc. Also make sure the tea is as fresh as possible, ideally spring 2023 or winter 2022, since most teas will start to degrade after around 2 years if they're not stored properly.

The article is well written and all, but that "Copyright © 2023, all rights reserved" at the end is ultimate hypocrisy.

The biggest piece of advice I can give is to avoid tea bags. They usually contain low quality fannings, which don't give a good flavour. The tea also doesn't have enough space to expand and steep properly inside them.

If you're looking at getting a teapot to brew loose leaf tea, maybe get a gaiwan instead. It's great for most types of tea, save perhaps japanese greens, and allows you to brew with a high leaf to water ratio without using up too much tea.

Also, maybe try to force yourself to drink tea straight, without adding anything, since it can obscure some of the flavours. You'll get used to it after a while, and I honestly prefer most teas straight (though I usually drink black teas with sugar and milk, since it's just a stellar combination)

For recommendations, it's hard to say, since everyone has their preferences. The main types you might want to try are:

• White teas - these are the least oxidized and generally have bright grassy / floral flavour profiles. Notable ones are Bai Mu Dan, silver needles...

• Green teas - somewhat more oxidized than white, but still very unoxidized. Are usually pan-fired or steamed to lock in the flavours and stop oxidation. Chinese green teas generally taste just about like what you would expect a green tea to taste like, fresh, grassy, and vegetal. Examples are Longjing, Huangshan Maofeng, Bi Luo Chun, Taiping Houkui... Japanese green teas on the other hand tend to be more vegetal and umami, with notes like cooked spinach or seaweed. There are multiple types: gyokuro, sencha, matcha, bancha, genmaicha, kukicha, houjicha. Gyokuro is the most highly valued out of these and is shaded before harvest to bring out the umami flavour.

• Oolong teas - these are the most diverse. They are more oxidized than green teas but less than black, which gives them interesting fruity, woody, mineral and floral notes. They are often rolled into tight balls and sometimes smoked. Notable ones include Tie Guan Yin, Da Hong Pao, Dancong, Dong Ding, Jin Xuan...

• Black teas - the most oxidized, are usually dark, full bodied and can sometimes have fruity flavours. The most notable are teas from Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling (though some Darjeeling teas lean more towards oolong), Keemun and other Chinese and African black teas.

• Pu'er - these are are usually teas from Yunnan province, China, and are fermented and pressed into cakes called Bing, which are then dried. There are two types of pu'er, sheng (raw) and shou (cooked). Shou usually has earthy and woody flavours, while sheng can be brighter and more diverse.

When brewing, it's a good idea to adjust the temperature based on the tea you're making. White teas should be steeped at around 70-75 °C, greens at 75-80 °C (except gyokuro, which can be steeped at just 50-60 °C or even cold-brewed), oolongs at 80-85 °C and boiling water can be used for black and pu'er teas. To lower the temperature of the water you can just let it sit or transfer it between cold containers. Generally the temperature will drop around 10 °C every time you put it into a new cold container.

I've been using DuckDuckGo for about a year now, the results still aren't as good as google, but not having to look at ads and the better privacy outweigh that for me. It really has improved a lot over the last few years.

Oh lol, I love how the "chicken alfredo" is practically more similar to a genuine carbonara than the one they have.

This happened a few months ago when I went to Iceland. One night, me and some other people drove out to a relatively remote part of Reykjavik to try and see the aurora since the conditions were really good. We were standing there just looking at it (we did end up seeing it), when we heard what sounded like a woman screaming from the woods nearby. We noped out almost immediately and drove away, but I still regret not checking it out. I'm appending a photo I took there to add to the creep factor.

Bonus story, although this one isn't really that creepy. This was on the first day of a summer camp I went to. I went to sleep a little earlier, since I was really tired, and as I'm lying still, trying to fall asleep, I hear this girl I was sharing my tent with enter. I didn't really know her since it was the first day. Then I feel something like a hand on my cheek/the side of my head. I'm freaking out at this point, but I didn't wanna turn around since it would be really awkward. Then I feel the "hand" move away in a really unusual way. I turn to look what it is and it's a FUCKING TOAD. Damn I'm an idiot.