Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

Well I think most of us were thinking about the “smells nice, use it on a diffuser” type of essential oils.

Though they’ve been getting infamous as the usual focus of several multi-level marketing scams.

At the Administration Office for work, one of the staff has a little diffuser in their cubicle. I don’t know what the oil is, but every time I smell it I think I’m walking into Sunday Mass.

I felt depressed again. 😞
My PC had a Freeze symptom since last year and now i couldn't even open my CorelDraw files (but i could open Corel Photopaint files)
I'm working on my Boxer projects but my PC has fated to get wrong oftenly. I'm thinking to have a laptop since i only work with Corel Draw / Photopaint and some Excel / Microsoft Words.
I don't think i have enough mood to play my video games to heal my depression.... 😔

@Morpheel - It’s comically true that essential oils are the current pyramid scheme, but I also thought it was fairly well known that not all these people are selling essence of lavender on FB. It’s a real thing.

@NEStalgia - Bimmy Belmont here. You can vape anything that can be broken down to its essence and mixed with a vapable liquid. In recreational states, anything they sell as a solid is usually offered as a liquid for this purpose. Years ago, I used a vaporizer to kick cigs. Took me about 10 months to taper down. The vape shops themselves don’t sell anything illicit, but the people who work there often have second jobs. I went to three different shops routinely for my liquids, and after the staff there got to know me a bit, I was offered all kinds of alternative liquids for my vaporizer in the form of parking lot transactions. Always turned them down because I assumed it was draino and spice.

@bimmy-lee Now that I've had some time to think about it, and look up some info, I realized I probably mixed up MySpace with other social media crap. Doesn't seem like there wasn't much smiley-usage going on concerning MySpace, unless of course, you plastered your profile page with them...

The only social media I've ever used in the past, was a then popular chat program ICQ, which simply stood for
"I seek you", for the people unfamiliar with it. Now THAT was a hotbed of smileys, let me tell you.

As for old action movies and our sentiment about them, vs other (mostly younger) people's sentiments:
First off, we've got that attachment of our youth to it, so that sentimental value is likely a big influence upon how we see those movies, so a bit of the rosy-tinted spectacles effect going on there, probably.

Secondly, save for a few exceptions, the "dudebro" action hero movie character has all but disappeared and is mostly also seen as a politically incorrect stereotype, that may set a bad example for the ever so easily influenced youths of today, and the faster world in which they're trying to survive, and so on and so on, blablabla... /s

For clarification's sake: only the first part (ending with "stereotype") of that previous bit was serious.

Anyway, one final point in the equation, is the sometimes (or is it often times?) laughably bad special effects, which back then probably looked REALLY cool to us, but look pretty bad nowadays. Just look at the stop-motion robots in both Judge Dredd and RoboCop. Even some of the explosions in the first Die Hard look silly compared to modern action movies.

And remember that scene with the toxic waste in RoboCop 2? Pretty scary for some, and pretty "realistic" to most of us back then, but nowadays, it looks like something out of a Troma movie. Toxic Avenger comes to mind...

So, a lot of the heroes are now probably seen as either too bulky or too overpowering (and let's not forget the sometimes cringe-worthy one-liners), making most of them uber-stereotypes of the good guy, and the special effects were pretty variable, ranging from good to laughably bad.

It's kinda reminds me of how TV series of my youth have also changed from being pretty exciting to being pretty laughable, such as Airwolf and The A-Team. I was on the edge of my seat watching those back then, and nowadays, it's mostly a cringe-fest to me.

@NEStalgia No, not all essential oils consist of illicit materials, only the essential oils written in quotes...

@ThanosReXXX
"It's kinda reminds me of how TV series of my youth have also changed from being pretty exciting to being pretty laughable, such as Airwolf and The A-Team "

My kindergarten age has been introduced by Clubber Lang (Mr. T) from Rocky III. 😶😳😅

@HobbitGamer - It’s frankincense. I use it at home quite a bit. It’s a purifier, and it’s used in certain Catholic masses and funerals.

@ThanosReXXX - Yeah, I think you hit the nail right on the head. While I concede the stop motion in Robocop, and the melting toxic guy who explodes like a trash bag full of spaghetti when hit by a car look kind of funny today, I’m all about practical effects; especially in horror. I struggle to suspend disbelief with CGI. Even though it looks realistic, it just seems like a cartoon to me. In horror, practical is always much scarier and realistic to me, even though it’s clearly an actor in a rubber mask. I’m a huge Troma fan. Toxie, Tomatoes, Class of Nuke Em High, pretty much all of them.

@bimmy-lee
Tomatoes??

@bimmy-lee By the way: over here, these specific "essential oils" and related products can be bought in your regular body and health stores:
https://www.hollandandbarrett.nl/shop/vitamines-supplementen/...
The bit of text on the top of the page underneath the header "CBD OLIE" translates to:

"This CBD oil is of the highest quality, completely legal and not addictive. Choose from several strengths oil or capsules for internal use or care products."

Tsk tsk, Thanos, adding links to your supplier’s site. Think of the children.

@Anti-Matter Well, that explains the violent outbursts you sometimes have...
You DO know Clubber was the bad guy, right?

@bimmy-lee I know you are a Troma fan, so that's why I mentioned that, because I knew you could relate and would be able to make a decent comparison. But I'm with you on using practical effects nowadays, though. But with today's technology, they can also make them look a lot more realistic.

But CGI is slowly getting better as well. Just compare the earlier full 3D animation movies to the Disney efforts that we have currently. The difference is night and day, and to me, it looks realistic as hell. The immersion only being semi-broken by realistic looking animals talking like humans.

Then again: we also had Mr. Ed, back in the good old black & white TV days...

P.S.

Wouldn't ever use frankincense at home. Just the thought of my house smelling like a funeral is already more unsettling to me than any horror movie could ever make me feel.

@Morpheel But... but... it's the legal versions...

All kidding aside though, never had the desire or need to use any of that stuff. I just use common sense, which works best for me. Healthy diet, bit of regular exercise, and a good night's sleep is all that anyone will ever need.

@Anti-Matter - Yessir, I remember that cartoon well. It’s based off the Tromaville movie, which is a super low budget comedy horror. I believe it was one of George Clooney’s first movie roles. Did you ever watch the Toxic Crusaders cartoon? It’s based off the Troma Toxic Avenger film series.

@ThanosReXXX - Yeah, early CGI was really obvious, but these days it’s pretty amazing. Haven’t seen any of the live action Disney movies, but the trailers are remarkable.

CBD oils come from the hemp plant, which do not contain any psychoactive qualities. It’s legal in most states here. My wife occasionally recommends it to her patients. We usually have a bottle on hand. I occasionally use it for pain relief, but it makes me incredibly sleepy. It’s a great option for people with sleep disorders. It can be vaporized, but I don’t mess with that anymore and just ingest a few drops when I want it. The parking lot deals I mentioned were for oils containing THC (and other, more hardcore psychoactive substances). I’m sure you’re aware of all this living in one of the world’s most well known recreational cities, though I know you do not dabble.

Funny you mention the frankincense, I used it a lot because I didn’t grow up going to catholic mass, but my use has tapered off significantly since the funerals of my veeery catholic grandparents. It’s weird to sit in my living room and smell their funerals! It’s a smell that sticks with you.

@ThanosReXXX @bimmy-lee Thanks, for some reason I always blanked on the name when I would smell it. I said the word Mass and three people looked at me like I was an alien there.

As for the funeral smell, that’s just lemon masking the formaldehyde 😛. Oh, and speaking of death smells... you know how some folks say that old people have a strange natural odor? That’s the smell caused by the breakdown of lipids in the skin. It is quite literally the scent of (cellular) death.

I like Troma films too. Nuke ‘Em High cracks me up. I had a Toxic Avenger action figure as a kid when the cartoon came out, too. The fact that it had a cartoon boggles the mind.

@HobbitGamer - I had some of those figures too. Mind boggling that a B horror series focused on gore and titillation was transitioned into a Saturday morning cartoon. I’m really creeped out now about the breakdown of lipids because my entire house was soaked in “old man smell” before I got the ducts cleaned. Pretty sure I was just breathing essence of old guy then. He’s in my lungs! I was traumatized by the sudden death of a young family member over a decade ago, and my mind now associates the smell of any and all flowers with his funeral. So weird. I don’t think I’m ever going to shake it.

@bimmy-lee Haha, no, I don't dabble. Or at least not anymore. My coffee shop visiting days are a thing of the past, several decades ago...

But yeah, I do know the difference. This, however, was the only legal info I could show here, but there are all kinds of shops, as you will probably know, which use parts of the original product, or all of the original product, to make all kinds of things, even clothes, made from hemp. Go figure...

Haven't seen much of the Disney movies either. Only Dumbo, which was okayish, I guess. The Lion King looks a heck of a lot better. Probably also because the animals are actually real, and not flying elephants.

@HobbitGamer Erm... thanks for the creepy details, I guess?
Over here, a lot of old people either just smell like tobacco, booze, pee, or like they've bathed in a tub of cheap cologne.

Don't get me started on formaldehyde, though. I used to date a girl who was studying to become a surgeon, and obviously, the practical courses, among other things, consisted of cutting into corpses and so on. Suffice to say, that I didn't really want her hands anywhere near my face, when she just came home from class. She really ran with that, though. Her favorite prank was creeping up behind me, holding her hands over my eyes and saying "guess who". Still grosses me out thinking about it...

I grew up with two doctors, the "hospital smell" is quite nostalgic.

@Morpheel I don't equate a hospital smell to formaldehyde or, as @HobbitGamer put it so eloquently, "death smells", though.

My dad is (or was?) a surgeon, and mom used to be permanently stationed in the ER room. They came home with all kinds of hospital smells, trust me.

On the subject of death smells, there was once this time my mom had to check an old farmer lady with severe pain. According to her, just pushing down on her belly, with her clothes still on, was enough spread the noxious aroma of fermented sweat and abandonment.

Also as a piece of unnecessary trivia, on her birthday last year, one of her regular patients sent her a detailed -unsolicited- picture of their poop. During dinner. Needless to say she doesn't share her phone number anymore.

Oof, do you know what was in her stomach? Rot? My wife’s patients sometimes want to text or email her pictures of their BMs. As if in depth descriptions of them at their visits aren’t enough. People are crazy.

@ThanksReXXX - I had a pair of hemp Adidas shell toe shoes in high school. They were indestructible. Wore them for years and eventually moved on solely because they just got too funky after an abnormal amount of use for gym shoes.