Mak'

I’ve recently switched from a Java-exclusive team to a Python-exclusive one, and this is the one thing I truly miss: An actively-maintained library for clear, extensible, fluent assertions. Being back to the likes of assertEquals is fine and all, but not as powerful or concise.

You know, I don’t actually know. Have been conditioned to avoid using them that I don’t even think about them.

Oh, I acknowledge that.

However, there are two things I get hung up on. One, can’t pay by check—Costco doesn’t accept checks. And, two, the traditional no-limits cards are generally Amex, which they don’t accept—only Visa.

So, yes, while nothing else you said was wrong per se, I’m still left to ponder just how the transaction would go down.

I know everyone’s general focus is on the cost of the thing and how ridiculous it seems, completely ignoring that it’s a Scotch that was aged longer than the overwhelming majority of us—me included—have been alive, and that there are some people for whom that taste is very much worth it.

Me, I’ve wrangled with exactly how you’re meant to pay for the thing and walk out the door with it. Am I bringing $27K—plus tax—worth of cash—three straps of hundos?—to Costco and having the cashier count it? Do I get pulled into the manager’s office instead? Or, do I put this on my Costco Citi Visa? Will they decline it, even if I have the credit limit? Can I sub in another Visa, since that’s all they take? Do I get walked out the door, or do I get a receipt for the checker to sharpie a line through?

For what it’s worth, they’ve had a “Neuro Fuzzy” rice cooker (https://www.zojirushi.com/app/product/nszcc) for years—ours is at least 10 years old at this point. And, I would bet this is a trivial extension of that—using some decision tables supplemented with heat feedback—with only the addition of a user feedback mechanism, rather than any, true “AI”.

Not only that, but, I feel like dude there is over the 4’8”-5’2” height requirement for Minnie. Like, that’s hard to prove from a photo like this one. But, given his proportions in relation to the railing and other features in that photo, my first impression would not be to think him short enough.

Divorce? People have been murdered for less…

Joke aside, it’s definitely Breezewood.

I’ve been passing through that location for the last 30+ years, and there are unmistakable signs in this picture. It’s a very old one though, as most of these businesses are no longer there.

I’ve done this at Costco myself a number of times.

“Ah, I just need a bag of coffee and a thing of multivitamins. … Oh, we could use some smoked salmon. And, another bottle of Malbec. Maybe some frozen waffles… Ooh, they’re selling Amish-built sheds!”

And, then, I’m either manhandling half the store to the register, or I’m putting the stuff aside somewhere—looking a bit like one of those careless people who can’t be bothered to put stuff back—and making the walk of shame to get a cart.

Potions that you’ll never be able to use because you keep getting nearly KO’d every other round, so only elixirs will do…

Wait a second. I was told that those people were all just grifters who did nothing, and that the platform would be rock-solid even without them. Do you mean to say that… that I’ve been told wrong?