OT: General OT Thread [NO POLITICS OR RELIGION]

[MickeyDavis]

Red Rocks is the coolest place to see a concert

[HaroldinGMinor]

Red Rocks is the coolest place to see a concert

After Shank Hall

[StickeeFingaz]

At what point is anyone going to care that our phones are clearly recording everything that we say and selling the info for ads?

I think about this a lot. Then I think ads might be the least of the things to worry about.

But I’ve had friends have that same experience you mention where you mention something and then it shows up as an ad. I haven’t notice that happen to me, yet.

And not just phones. Smart tv’s, laptops, Alexa’s, Google, etc


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I was a skeptic about this in the past but this just started happening to me as well. I was talking about some specific dog treats and I’ve never ordered them online or anything but a day or two later I start seeing ads on Instagram for the exact treats.


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[JEIS]

At what point is anyone going to care that our phones are clearly recording everything that we say and selling the info for ads?

I think about this a lot. Then I think ads might be the least of the things to worry about.

But I’ve had friends have that same experience you mention where you mention something and then it shows up as an ad. I haven’t notice that happen to me, yet.

And not just phones. Smart tv’s, laptops, Alexa’s, Google, etc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was a skeptic about this in the past but this just started happening to me as well. I was talking about some specific dog treats and I’ve never ordered them online or anything but a day or two later I start seeing ads on Instagram for the exact treats.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When you download apps, you often give permission to access the microphone on your phone. It does pick up on conversations.

[HurricaneKid]

Will only be there for 3 days, so I think we'll just hit the main stuff. Doing Normandy 1 day, 2 days in Brussels, 3 days in Amsterdam. Looking forward to it.

2 days in Brussels is too much. Its not a historic city (at least there isn't much to see) and is ungodly expensive. Its more of a banking hub. Give a day back to Paris or somewhere else. 3 days in Amsterdam is probably a day too much too. Kind of like spending too long in Vegas. There are certainly things to do but probably not GOOD things.

The Louvre is overrated. Just enormous and a time suck. Location is good but plan it ahead or you will waste a whole day. I prefer d'Orsay (impressionism etc), Le Orangerie (Monet room), and Pompidou (modern). I'm a big Rodin fan and the museum is small but worthy and generally pretty close to the flow.

Paris has a GREAT transit system and is a GREAT walking city. Lots of great sights too. Montmarte and Sacre Coure are at the highest point with great views into the city. Arty district. Walking along the Seine will provide great sights (Notre Dame, little kiosks everywhere) and is the romantic heart of the city.

A few general tidbits:
The seasonality of Paris is insane. Outside of the summer you can get to the top of the Eiffel Tower in 10 min. During the summer it might be a 8 hour plus wait, if you can get there at all. That's the worst or the lot but most tourist spots are similarly problematic. Mid September might be ideal so good job OP.

Labor is weird. There are constantly "wildcat strikes" which is a just a scheduled strike. Look them up in advance. A day without the subway can destroy an itinerary. Missing out on a museum because it was closed the only day you had time to see it is maddening.

Plan meals ahead. As a rule any restaurant near the tourist spots is going to GUT you for every red cent they can while providing garbage food. Look up where locals go and go there. While walking get a baguette or croissant and some ham. They are widely available and very Parisian.

I could talk about Paris for days. Feel free to ask any questions. I've been there 6x. If you don't like Paris you either went in the summer or don't like to travel. The sights are by far the best of any city in the world.

Travel tip: I doubt they are letting folks into Notre Dame. For world class stained glass walk a few blocks to St Chappelle. Its small but breathtaking.

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[buckboy]

[

Spoiler:

quote="HurricaneKid"]

Will only be there for 3 days, so I think we'll just hit the main stuff. Doing Normandy 1 day, 2 days in Brussels, 3 days in Amsterdam. Looking forward to it.

2 days in Brussels is too much. Its not a historic city (at least there isn't much to see) and is ungodly expensive. Its more of a banking hub. Give a day back to Paris or somewhere else. 3 days in Amsterdam is probably a day too much too. Kind of like spending too long in Vegas. There are certainly things to do but probably not GOOD things.

The Louvre is overrated. Just enormous and a time suck. Location is good but plan it ahead or you will waste a whole day. I prefer d'Orsay (impressionism etc), Le Orangerie (Monet room), and Pompidou (modern). I'm a big Rodin fan and the museum is small but worthy and generally pretty close to the flow.

Paris has a GREAT transit system and is a GREAT walking city. Lots of great sights too. Montmarte and Sacre Coure are at the highest point with great views into the city. Arty district. Walking along the Seine will provide great sights (Notre Dame, little kiosks everywhere) and is the romantic heart of the city.

A few general tidbits:
The seasonality of Paris is insane. Outside of the summer you can get to the top of the Eiffel Tower in 10 min. During the summer it might be a 8 hour plus wait, if you can get there at all. That's the worst or the lot but most tourist spots are similarly problematic. Mid September might be ideal so good job OP.

Labor is weird. There are constantly "wildcat strikes" which is a just a scheduled strike. Look them up in advance. A day without the subway can destroy an itinerary. Missing out on a museum because it was closed the only day you had time to see it is maddening.

Plan meals ahead. As a rule any restaurant near the tourist spots is going to GUT you for every red cent they can while providing garbage food. Look up where locals go and go there. While walking get a baguette or croissant and some ham. They are widely available and very Parisian.

I could talk about Paris for days. Feel free to ask any questions. I've been there 6x. If you don't like Paris you either went in the summer or don't like to travel. The sights are by far the best of any city in the world.

Travel tip: I doubt they are letting folks into Notre Dame. For world class stained glass walk a few blocks to St Chappelle. Its small but breathtaking.

Sent from my VS995 using RealGM mobile app[/quote]

Thank you very much. Our goal is to "do what the locals do" as much as possible.

[ReasonablySober]

I will say that it helps if you're apart of a paid tourist group. We skipped a lot of lines.

[VooDoo7]

...

[humanrefutation]

At what point is anyone going to care that our phones are clearly recording everything that we say and selling the info for ads?

I think about this a lot. Then I think ads might be the least of the things to worry about.

But I’ve had friends have that same experience you mention where you mention something and then it shows up as an ad. I haven’t notice that happen to me, yet.

And not just phones. Smart tv’s, laptops, Alexa’s, Google, etc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was a skeptic about this in the past but this just started happening to me as well. I was talking about some specific dog treats and I’ve never ordered them online or anything but a day or two later I start seeing ads on Instagram for the exact treats.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've never had that happen to me. But I've definitely run into situations where ads have appeared across platforms based on Google or Amazon searches. Just the other day I spent some time at the New Era online store looking at picking up a new fitted Bucks cap, and spent the next week getting ads EVERYWHERE for Bucks gear, New Era gear, and sports merch in general.

The things that freak me out are the location-based ads, like when I walk into a business and then get notifications about sales or special offers. I don't like that at all, and it seems like it keeps happening no matter how much I try to restrict privacy settings on the various Google apps.

[humanrefutation]

Francis Ngannou is a bad man. He breaks you with every strike.

[stellation]

I've been workshopping ways to incorporate sambal oelek in to grilled cheese on toast (harder than you might think) and today I came up with toasted sourdough covered in stilton, grilled, poached egg, samel oelek and from here I'm basically dead.

[ReasonablySober]

I've been workshopping ways to incorporate sambal oelek in to grilled cheese on toast (harder than you might think) and today I came up with toasted sourdough covered in stilton, grilled, poached egg, samel oelek and from here I'm basically dead.

Dude holy ****.

[Mags FTW]

I've been workshopping ways to incorporate sambal oelek

Sounds like a Norwegian hockey player.

[vital_signs]

Things to do for a very small bachelor party in Denver? Only 3 of us, and none of us have been there before.

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I live there currently and may be able to provide some suggestions if you tell me what kindof things you are looking for. Depending on your car situation I would recommend checking out Roxborough State Park (nice hike, not too far of a drive).

Broadway is a decent street for bar hopping - they have a Punch Bowl Social if you want to do that sort of thing.

If the devil's lettuce is a part of your agenda I would recommend avoiding chain dispensaries and dispensaries downtown as they generally charge egregious amounts.

[jmart762]

We are hoping to do outdoor stuff so I'll put that park at the top of the hiking list! Thanks for taking the time. We're planning on renting a car (first time doing this, any suggestions?)

Looking to white water raft or jet ski as well if that's possible for outdoory stuff.

Where do you recommend we go for some Mary Jane then?

Any suggestions on strippers/strip clubs? What about a high end restaurant?

Thanks vital!

Things to do for a very small bachelor party in Denver? Only 3 of us, and none of us have been there before.

Sent from my SM-G960U using RealGM mobile app

I live there currently and may be able to provide some suggestions if you tell me what kindof things you are looking for. Depending on your car situation I would recommend checking out Roxborough State Park (nice hike, not too far of a drive).

Broadway is a decent street for bar hopping - they have a Punch Bowl Social if you want to do that sort of thing.

If the devil's lettuce is a part of your agenda I would recommend avoiding chain dispensaries and dispensaries downtown as they generally charge egregious amounts.

Sent from my SM-G960U using RealGM mobile app

[trwi7]

I've been workshopping ways to incorporate sambal oelek

Sounds like a Norwegian hockey player.

Norway isn't good at hockey. Honestly sounds more like an Inuit hockey player anyways.

[stellation]

I've been workshopping ways to incorporate sambal oelek in to grilled cheese on toast (harder than you might think) and today I came up with toasted sourdough covered in stilton, grilled, poached egg, samel oelek and from here I'm basically dead.

Dude holy ****.

I have a problem. This has been going on once a weekend for a long time now to find the right combination; (not that) interestingly, thick cut white bread toasted/mayo/sambal eolek/cheddar flat out does not work. I feel like the egg is cheating.

Next up is switching out the poached egg for a crispy fried egg with dukka (egg yolk=great, but needed some different texture), maybe adding a small amount of diced raw shallot or red onion to see how that goes and there's a lot of talk going on between the voices in my head about switching in some roquefort to replace the stilton (the stilton is amazing, though).

This project is consuming too much of my life.

[vital_signs]

We are hoping to do outdoor stuff so I'll put that park at the top of the hiking list! Thanks for taking the time. We're planning on renting a car (first time doing this, any suggestions?)

Looking to white water raft or jet ski as well if that's possible for outdoory stuff.

Where do you recommend we go for some Mary Jane then?

Any suggestions on strippers/strip clubs? What about a high end restaurant?

Thanks vital!

Things to do for a very small bachelor party in Denver? Only 3 of us, and none of us have been there before.

Sent from my SM-G960U using RealGM mobile app

Sent from my SM-G960U using RealGM mobile app

Can't speak to renting a car, closest I've been is seeing the prices and turning away. One thing you may want to consider is an SUV, this would primarily be dependent on how rugged of a trail you may want to go to as some require navigating dirt/rock roads. More than likely a car would be fine but something to be aware of.

If hiking is something you are going to do a decent amount of, I would recommend looking at hotels around the Golden area so you have easy access. From Golden you can always take the light rail into downtown for bars and the like.

Couple additional hike recommendations would be Loch Lake in Rocky Mountain NP.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/the-loch-lake-trail-via-glacier-gorge-trail

St. Marys Glacier is a free hike about an hour from Denver that is extremely easy but worth it. You walk about a mile up to this lake/reservoir that is fed from the glacier. You can walk up the glacier as well and get great views. With this hike you could double up and hit up Roxborough on the way back. I would try a weekday if possible to avoid crowds. St. Marys parking can get pretty crowded by afternoon. Roxborough has a limited amount of people that can enter but on a weekday you should be fine - longest I have waited on a weekend was 45 minutes.

Another cool one would be Devils Head Lookout - you would hike up to an old Fire Tower.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/devils-head-lookout-trail-to-fire-tower

I would put alltrails on your list of sites to browse as it will give you a good comprehensive list of the hikes, difficulty, and a lot of current reviews will give you an idea on trail conditions.

Respect the altitude if you aren't used to higher elevations, and take it somewhat easy on the booze if you are hiking the next day - altitude sickness sucks.

High End Restaurant I would look at possible The Fort in Morrison or Coohils downtown. I'm more of a dirty taco stand guy - to which I would recommend driving down Federal Blvd or East Colfax to Aurora.

White Water Rafting should be prime this year with the amount of snow the mountains received. Idaho Springs has a couple options and is a close drive - definitely call sooner than later to see on reservations.

For Mary I would just pull up weedmaps.com based off your hotel. Most places will have the same/similar edible brands so you may just be looking at a 5 dollar difference. I don't necessarily think it's worth it to drive too far too.

Strip Club - Never been but Shotgun Willies is the supposed go to. With that being said there's a dispensary attached to it which is an absolute tourist trap - do not waste your time.

[jmart762]

Spoiler:

We are hoping to do outdoor stuff so I'll put that park at the top of the hiking list! Thanks for taking the time. We're planning on renting a car (first time doing this, any suggestions?)

Looking to white water raft or jet ski as well if that's possible for outdoory stuff.

Where do you recommend we go for some Mary Jane then?

Any suggestions on strippers/strip clubs? What about a high end restaurant?

Thanks vital!

Sent from my SM-G960U using RealGM mobile app

Can't speak to renting a car, closest I've been is seeing the prices and turning away. One thing you may want to consider is an SUV, this would primarily be dependent on how rugged of a trail you may want to go to as some require navigating dirt/rock roads. More than likely a car would be fine but something to be aware of.

If hiking is something you are going to do a decent amount of, I would recommend looking at hotels around the Golden area so you have easy access. From Golden you can always take the light rail into downtown for bars and the like.

Couple additional hike recommendations would be Loch Lake in Rocky Mountain NP.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/the-loch-lake-trail-via-glacier-gorge-trail

St. Marys Glacier is a free hike about an hour from Denver that is extremely easy but worth it. You walk about a mile up to this lake/reservoir that is fed from the glacier. You can walk up the glacier as well and get great views. With this hike you could double up and hit up Roxborough on the way back. I would try a weekday if possible to avoid crowds. St. Marys parking can get pretty crowded by afternoon. Roxborough has a limited amount of people that can enter but on a weekday you should be fine - longest I have waited on a weekend was 45 minutes.

Another cool one would be Devils Head Lookout - you would hike up to an old Fire Tower.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/devils-head-lookout-trail-to-fire-tower

I would put alltrails on your list of sites to browse as it will give you a good comprehensive list of the hikes, difficulty, and a lot of current reviews will give you an idea on trail conditions.

Respect the altitude if you aren't used to higher elevations, and take it somewhat easy on the booze if you are hiking the next day - altitude sickness sucks.

High End Restaurant I would look at possible The Fort in Morrison or Coohils downtown. I'm more of a dirty taco stand guy - to which I would recommend driving down Federal Blvd or East Colfax to Aurora.

White Water Rafting should be prime this year with the amount of snow the mountains received. Idaho Springs has a couple options and is a close drive - definitely call sooner than later to see on reservations.

For Mary I would just pull up weedmaps.com based off your hotel. Most places will have the same/similar edible brands so you may just be looking at a 5 dollar difference. I don't necessarily think it's worth it to drive too far too.

Strip Club - Never been but Shotgun Willies is the supposed go to. With that being said there's a dispensary attached to it which is an absolute tourist trap - do not waste your time.

Thanks, vital. This is awesome, I really appreciate the time that you took to write this up and share. I appreciate it! If I'm in Denver a lil before or after the rest of the group shows up, I'd be glad to buy ya a beer or a blunt, ha!

[KidA24]

Thanks, vital. This is awesome, I really appreciate the time that you took to write this up and share. I appreciate it! If I'm in Denver a lil before or after the rest of the group shows up, I'd be glad to buy ya a beer or a blunt, ha!

If you're going to go up in altitude, talk to your doctor about it and get some Diamox. It can help a ton in avoiding altitude sickness.

Also, be prepared to drink a TON of water your first two days in Denver to help your body acclimate.

My list of hiking spots

You will probably want to ignore the "time to TH" as we were staying in Boulder when I was there last. Every 500 feet of elevation change is worth about an extra mile of hiking - usually.

Happy to answer any specific questions. Wish I could help more w/ breweries and such, but I haven't been to Denver in 4 years now