Lorindól

We had to take a mandatory IQ test at the beginning of military service, my score was in the highest percentile and because of this I ended up in officer training. It wasn’t the Mensa type test, they measured our language, math and pattern recognition skills with a vast battery of questions with a time limit.

Many friends of mine got average IQ scores in the army test but they are the ones who are really smart and extremely succesful.

In university I got a chance to take the Mensa type test and got ~140 points. I just laughed it off since at the same time I was struggling to pass my courses, while my friends who got average scores passed them with ease.

I do not consider myself really “smart” in any way, I just have a very good memory and I’m pretty adept at solving problems. Otherwise I’m just about as average a guy can be.

Few years ago I did a full rebuild of a top-of-the-line tube radio from 1958 and use it daily in my living room. My stereo tube amp is from 1963 or 1964. Both sound astonishing.

My binoculars are from WW II - era. I had to realign the prisms when I got them but the optics are about as good as you can get.

I also use an iPod Nano 2Gen almost daily, I think I bought it in 2008 and the original battery can still hold enough charge for 4-5 hours of continous play. Incredible device with a neat perfect UI. The physical jogwheel can be operated through pocket fabric, so I can switch songs or adjust volume while running without even having to remove the iPod from my pocket.

Perfumes or scented products are not a problem for me at all, unless of course someone uses way too much. Like I said, I kind of block all the unpleasant stuff unconsciously and focus on the good ones.

It’s kind of like listening to radio, all the channels are broadcasting all the time, simultaneously, but you still tune in to listen only one at a time.

And when I’m intoxicated, theyre all blaring at the same time and cannot be silenced :(

I don’t usually bring this “gift” of mine up in real life, it tends to create pretty awkward and unpleasant situations.

“Oh, if you have such sharp sense of smell, then tell me what deodorant/lotion/perfume I’m using?” How the hell could I know the names of every hygienic/cosmetic product, especially when the reek of detergent, fabric softener and sweat is mixed with the scent I’m supposed to recognize?

Or people just laugh at me and call me a liar.

But my friends are aware of my talent, when someone is considering to buy an apartment they often ask me to accompany them for a presentation. I can tell almost instantly if there’s water damage or mold. When I was buying my own apartment I found one spot under the stairs that had a very faint but odd smell, like wet cement mixed with the smell of a wet dog. There were no water pipes or sewers even near that wall, nor were there any signs of leaks from above. I called the seller to ask about this and he started laughing. The spot was their old dog’s favourite place to curl up for a sleep after a walk in the rain. And it was years since the dog had passed away, they had even painted the wall once and renewed the floor laminate after that. So no worries, I bought the place.

Yeah, Covid was a freaky experience. I got off easy, no fever or other symptoms, I just realized one day that I was unable to smell freshly cut grass. Then I realized that I did not smell anything at all.

My sense of smell started coming slowly back after a few days and I can’t tell if it’s diminished or not. But after Covid every brand of whiskey smells and tastes like vomit to me, so there was a price to pay. Also the smell of someone eating rice cakes became utterly disgusting, as well as yogurt. Before Covid I barely registered these two.

I do not know. I have never actively tried to smell ants nor had them inside any apartments I’ve lived in. I shall test this when summer returns one day. But I do remember that the ant guy wrote about having some genetic quirk that ables him to register some compound that’s out normal human range of smell.

I have a hyper sensitive sense of smell. Sometimes useful, most often a nuisance.

At work the roof had small leak few years ago, I could smell the wet concrete several days before the water reached the ceiling of the upper floor office and became visible. I told my boss about the leak as soon as I had first smelled it and located the correct room. “There is no leak here, you’re just imagining things” was the response after I showed the room to my boss. “There is and we shall see in a few days.” After 4 or 5 days the ceiling started dripping water and I received an apology.

I’ve been able to mentally bypass most of the awful smells of the world and people around me as long as I can remember, so it isn’t so bad. But after a few drinks the mental filter turns off and I can smell everything, including my own metabolized alcohol infused sweat. That is not fun at all.

Right.

Along the years I have managed to scrounge together almost all the gear I always dreamed of when I was young. Nothing really expensive or fancy, but good quality second hand stuff that would get things done right.

But there just isn’t any time to use them. And if by some miracle a bit of time appears, it’s guaranteed that I’m dead tired and choose sleep.

Maybe one day.

I had 10/15 of these when I was single, and I was single for a very long time. That is how I had the time to learn all these hobbies/skills.

The sound of water flowing through rapids.

My grandma¹s house is built right next to a small river, this was the sound that put me to sleep every night.

Parkside’s value-for-money quality has been astonishing these past few years. I took the risk with them maybe 4-5 years ago and not one power tool from their lineup has had any problems yet. Today I just set up their quiet compressor at my garage, and the damn thing really is so silent that you can even have a discussion using your normal voice when it’s running.

One kid sniffed lighter gas and jacked off during 9th grade chemistry class. He passed out and fell off his chair and hit his head to the floor with his dick still clutched in his hand.

The teacher was so terrified that she couldn’t do anything but stutter and shake violently. Me and a couple of my friends dragged the idiot outside to get fresh air while waiting for the ambulance.

The sniffer came back to school the next day like nothing had ever happened. This incident was never again discussed in any way by the teachers or other faculty members.

There were lots of totally crazy shit happening on a weekly basis. The early 90’s were pretty wild where I grew up.

I remain baffled by this. But since I can barely differentiate red and green in optimal lighting conditions, it does not come as a surprise.

This is worse than terrible. Now Trump gets to play martyr and it rallies up his base, even the ones who were in doubt after his conviction.

And as the chaos ensues, Putin is laughing at his throne.

Indeed it is. And still our right wing populists are constantly screeching how the “general media is clearly and unfairly left-biased,” and “how the other side of the story remains untold”.

No shit, Sherlock. Nearly all journalists have college or university degrees, that’s what happens when you open your mind to the larger world.

I had the same exact approach back in the late 90’s. My friends had several band projects and when they were mixing their demos, I insisted that if the mixes sound good in a standard car stereo, they’ll sound good anywhere.

I can do this too.

It’s fun to watch people freak out when one can raise his body hair up on command. And since I have an abundance of body hair, the effect is pretty profound.

Leaf blowers in small yards are pointless, agreed. I would never use one in the suburbs.

But I do own one and I use it at my family’s farm, for one day every autumn. It would take 3-4 days just to rake the leaves, with the blower I can easily create large piles here and there. Then I gather all the piles and take them to my leaf compost heap.

Before the blower this used to take a full week. Now I can clear all the lawns in just two days.

Finnish legislation strictly forbids storing nukes inside our borders, even transporting them via our territory is a no-no. But laws can be changed.

Putin's whining about nuking Finland is ridiculous. Most of the time the prevailing winds here blow to the general eastern direction, detonating a nuke or few above our capital would nicely contaminate both St.Petersburg and the Finnish Gulf right in front of it. And using tactical/strategic nukes against our defences would happen near the Karelian border, which would irradiate Putin's and his cronies precious dachas located in the stolen Karelia.

So they most likely won't be doing that. But on the other hand Russia has clearly demonstrated that their actions are not based on rational thinking, so it remains to be seen.

I've tasted both cat and dog kibbles, my kids used to love eating them when they were toddlers. I just wanted to know if I was missing out on something.

Neither tasted good, but the cat kibbles weren't nearly as bad as dog kibbles. There most likely are brand differences, but my curiosity was satisfied by the sampling I had available at the time.