quoththeraven

File under "maybe something good will come out of this": filming of the grueling reality show Gao was working on has halted, the management company has been fired, and authorities are taking a look at the unregulated TV and film industry. http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1004903/the-extreme-work-culture-putting-chinas-celebrities-in-danger

A holiday thread to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," except instead of a partridge in a pear tree it's a cat (or cats) in a Christmas tree. [MEDIA=twitter]1201484707495600128[/MEDIA] [MEDIA=twitter]1201897979004772353[/MEDIA] [MEDIA=twitter]1202229068063793152[/MEDIA]

I like mincemeat but have to be in the right frame of mind, as it's pretty rich and unusual-tasting.

Also kpop group NCT 127 is appearing and performing as part of Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. They're on a new float sponsored by LEGO. I haven't been watching until now but based on quickly looking for video and internet posts I don't think they've appeared yet. While NCT 127 isn't one of my top favorites - I like some of their songs and don't like others - it's still an accomplishment for a group from outside the US that mostly sings in a language other than English to be part of an American tradition like this. With two kpop groups placing albums at the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the last two years - one of them had three number one albums in the space of 11 months, preceded by a #7 in 2017, as well as appearances on SNL and Stephen Colbert - and another kpop group performing at Coachella 2019, the South Korean pop music industry has become an integral part of mainstream US pop.

My guess is a server problem somewhere that serves a slice of Gmail customers.

I like pumpkin, Boston creme pie, strawberry rhubarb pie, pecan pie (although it can be too rich), sweet potato pie, blueberry pie and apple pie, but maybe my favorite is cranberry. Alex Guaraneschelli has a cranberry pie recipe I've made a few times that is absolutely delicious. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alexandra-guarnaschelli/sugar-cranberry-pie-recipe-1922384

I'll be by myself (well, with the cat). I have relatives whose meal I could join, but that requires me to call up and invite myself. I did that in 2016 but not since. A whole turkey or even a turkey breast is too much bother, but I have an acorn squash I'm going to stuff with apples and pears (it's a recipe I've made before) and some chicken thighs I'm going to fry. Otherwise I'm going to take it easy.

I'm posting this separately from other Thanksgiving posts because I want to link a post I just made in the Politics forum on the truth about Thanksgiving's origins. It's a little sad that the facts about Thanksgiving can't be posted here because they're too political, or likely to cause political strife, but it is what it is. Hope you all have a good day!

The conditions on the reality show on which he was appearing at the time of his death are being brought up as a possible contributing factor. Apparently he was running at the time of his collapse. http://www.asianjunkie.com/2019/11/27/godfrey-gao-35-passes-away-while-filming-variety-show-chase-me/ Also if he was treated before he died (it's not clear from the reporting at what point his death occurred) it's possible the hospital knows enough to provide a cause of death without an autopsy.

And the other was?

Who would even accept the conclusion that it was a heart attack without an autopsy? That said, it's up to the family. All I know at this point is that his body is being sent home.

This is shocking. Death of apparent natural causes while filming a reality show in China. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-raised-model-and-asian-film-star-godfrey-gao-dead-at-35-reports#click=https://t.co/9cCqUNqXmT

[MEDIA=twitter]1199112168739872768[/MEDIA] Also I believe I saw something about Uber losing the ability to do business in London.

I knew there were problems because Twitter links I was sending to myself were stuck in my outbox. I just rebooted my tablet for other reasons and 29 new emails arrived in my inbox, including one sent at 12:38 this morning. Anyone else having problems with Gmail?

Thanks! The situation @Rod Hagen writes about is one of the exceptions.

That's a bit of an overgeneralization, considering that there are gentlemen here who enjoy written and aural erotica and women here who only get off to visual porn. And by women I mean me. Erotica and fanfic used to work for me as well, but not so much anymore. I also only started reading romance recently, primarily because I was baffled because the fanfic I wrote was considered romance, which led me to question what romance is. I started with m/m romance but now mostly read m/f, and I don't read it for the sex -in fact I often wish physical attraction weren't emphasized so much, as that is not the major factor for me in romantic attraction, so I find the emphasis tedious and unrelatable (and also an equation of sexual attraction with love when they aren't the same things).

One would have to be on the kind of terms that include knowing the escort's legal name and possibly his address so whoever is administering the estate can find him. That said, bequeathing personal mementos makes sense. In most circumstances, leaving cash doesn't. Give/spend your money on escorts while you're still alive!

I'm generalizing from my experience using Spotify to listen to music in general. Keep in mind, YouTube works for me, so exploring Spotify means devoting time to a solution I don't need, whereas YouTube doesn't work for you, therefore using Spotify makes perfect sense.

A lot of white noise could also be ASMR, but I used to have a white noise generator and it never helped me get to sleep. Certain kinds of music also helps with sleep, but what works is narrower than is the case with ASMR.

Some YouTubers use the visual aspect to their advantage. I don't use headphones - I have to get up too often for them to work for me - and the idea of listening to ASMR via Spotify seems boring to me. Also with YouTube there are previews and lists of what appears when so you get some idea of what is going on. Listening without knowing the source of the sound would drive me crazy.

I also dislike the whispering ASMR. For me, there's a difference between tingle-inducing ASMR and sleep inducing ASMR.

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I think the consensus is the type of person you are looking for is harder to find to non-existent in the Bay Area no matter how you define them. Blame the tech companies for making it too expensive to live there.

I can see (hear) that, but for me music can be too good/stimulating, even relatively calm music like this, to where I wind up absorbed in listening rather than asleep. There's a version of the cat purring ASMR with classical piano music in the background.

It's not especially what I like. I'd rather listen to music. So I don't know. When I was in college, someone blasted Donna Summer's "Love to Love You" from their window the night of the last day of classes. I wasn't amused.