Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@HobbitGamer haha, what's even better is when the neighbors dandelions spread over to your grass 😣. Nice on the truck. Love when things finally pan out and you can get back to your everyday life stuff. As for me my next project is ripping out the deck and making a patio. I personally have zero clue wth I'm doing but thankfully my dad is a handy man and can do this stuff in his sleep. So all I need to do is front the money (which will still be quite a bit) and do all the grunt work while he barks orders. It's good to be 31 and still feel like a kid taking orders from your dad every now and again 😂

@NEStalgia
Oh, wait.
Was that about Dr.Pornsack ? 🤣🤣🤣

@Tyranexx Funny thing is I always thought this was "suburbia" until recently I realized it actually used to be actually rural. Now it's like the worst of "suburbia" that I always considered the city. Actually the big city is nicer than most of "urban suburbia" in a lot of ways...it feels roomer. Of course you need to be really rich to live there. The amount of urbanization here in the last 20 years is surreal. Where it was empty forest, farms, orchards, or tiny houses on big forested lots with lots of land forever, now it's just solid-gridded, traffic lights every block with backed up turn lanes, continuous horns, and strip centers, apartment complexes, and corporate parks piled on top of each other. Now they're building up. Homes get torn down and 3 story ones repalce them. 5+ story 55+ "communities" etc. In just 20 years I feel like a foreigner. I don't understand the culture I'm in even slightly with entirely different customs and ways, attitudes and ethics...I'm certainly not a participant in the world around me, just an observer. But that isn't visually or audibly recognized so I have to nod and play along even though I understand nothing about this culture.

If I'm going to feel like a foreigner anywhere, I'd rather it be Tokyo.

@NintendoByNature Oi, don’t even start about dandelions. I’ve just got a small 6’x6’ slab patio, but one day I want to grade and extend it. My next outdoor project will be putting 4x4 posts down for my muscadine grapes, though. They’ve matured to a weight and strength that’s bending the rebar spikes now

@Anti-Matter I'm sure he's the top doctor in the nation (as voted on in the top women's magazine.)

@HobbitGamer I still need to make a garden too. Not sure where to put it though. I have a small backyard and it's oddly shaped. I suppose I can get rid of the little mulch area i made a few years back when i rip the deck out and put a garden there, but I can barely grow grass. How embarrassing would it be planting all these veggies and fruits and waiting for nothing like i typically do hahaah

@NEStalgia I know who he is: Full House was also aired over here, as well as all the AFHV shows that he presented. Except his name isn't Bob Sagat, it's Bob Saget, so you misspelled it. Hence my joke about the Street Fighter character...

Oh, and I wouldn't mind owning a DeLorean. I already loved that car long before it ever became famous thanks to Back to the Future...

And I am REALLY starting to wonder what you're doing to your food, because I can honestly say that none of my food ever smokes, unless I burn it. Which I don't, of course. I get steam, and every now and then some billowing fat clouds, if I add a splash of water to the butter/oil I baked my meat in, to make a gravy out of it, but other than that, no smoke, ever. It seriously makes me doubt your gourmet skills...

Or maybe, there's some additives in American meat, that makes it smoke by default.

As for the greasy food thing: oil/olive oil in food may be an Italian thing, but butter-soaked pizzas and/or bread, like was described by one of you, mentioning it being soaked before AND after baking, very much IS an American thing. And as we know from modern day infotainment, America is still the land of giant-sized portions. Even burgers at McDonald's are bigger in the States than in Europe. What's sold over here as a quarter pounder, is a normal burger in your neck of the woods. And in restaurants, you still see enormous slabs of meat being served, entire bowls of whatever as a side dish, liters of soda, and so on, and so on.

All of that makes what most European restaurants are serving, look like children's (or dwarf-sized) menus...

But I would agree that at the very least, pharmaceuticals will also have something to do with it. But food still is a major factor. A couple of pages ago, I believe it was @Tyranexx that also mentioned that apparently, a lot of American-made products (as in: processed foods) also taste sweeter than what most people outside of the States would be used to, so still having fluoridated water might not even be such a bad idea. Not that it helps against obesity, but still...

@NintendoByNature - Well done. Getting grass to grow in that ooooone bate patch is always difficult. Glad you were able to do it with seed instead of sod. I live in a wooded lot. No grass at all. I miss that kind of yard work.

@ThanosReXXX - These are local hardwoods. I live in an oak/hickory/maple forest, and our collection of inside trees are samples from our yard that we’ve either grown from tree nuts, or gotten trimmings of new growth to sprout roots. They’re babies now, but I’ll keep them bonsai size. Can’t call them bonsai though as none of them are acceptable specimens for official bonsai. We added a walnut tree and some rooted willow branches this spring. I do have a blood maple that’s about 4.5 feet tall in a large planter, but I keep it trimmed way down so it can function inside. It’s like a family member. My favorite tree is redbud, but they’re too finicky. Haven’t gotten one to survive the transition to inside tree.

I really love the succulents too. You’re right, I can forget to water them for weeks, and they’re fine. Amazing plants. I’m constantly cloning them with fallen leaves too. Once you have one succulent, you can have as many as you want.

@NEStalgia - That chance to get out a little Bob Villa humor really made my day. I actually thought I’d never have the opportunity.

@bimmy-lee Thanks! It definitely got the best of me for years. I don't love the yard work but I will say I feel a sense of accomplishment when my work pays off in the yard.

what the eel

I was just checking my wish list on my switch and noticed Shovel Knight was 50% off. I have the game on 3DS, but having it on the switch would be nice for multiplayer and the extra modes the 3DS version won't get, anyway, just as I was about to pay, the shop said "The price has changed, please check again".

Then the discount was gone D:

And then my switch crashed...

@Morpheel dude... that blows. I was just looking not even an hour or so ago and it was still up there for 50% off. Give it a few more weeks and i bet at e3 it'll be discounted again

Hopefully!

Gotta check the sales more often.

@ThanosReXXX Ahh, I wasn't thinking of the spelling aspect. Yeah, the DeLoreans were always cool. Seeing one should be rare. Seeing more than one is bizarre

As for smoke, you can't not brown food, meat or veggie, without smoke, nor fry chicken in any kind of oil without smoke...nor deglaze a pan without smoke. I mean that's part of the process! Browning technically is minor "burning" of a very thin layer. We're not talking billowing black smoke of a gasoline fire, we're talking about a haze that quietly fills an ventilated space. And the water vapor fills the space as well.

I don't know about Europe.....Asia mocks US portions - but Asians are eating small bits constantly rather than fixed sit-down meals It's not as different as it sounds. Though the metabolisms are amazing. US portions....I suppose it varies. It's true, but a lot of that has to do with the meal structure too. Italy does the multi-course meal thing. Here' it's just a big single serving. And "three meals a day" doesn't really happen so much anymore so if you consume all the meals at one sitting, does it count as too much food? Still, don't go by restaurants. The portions are huge. The prices match. Many people take some of that home with them. I stuff it down because I want it fresh but I feel like a rolling corpse afterward (and I only eat out twice a year or so ) Land of fast food though? Yup. The pace of life demands it!

McDonald's burgers got smaller and smaller. Mostly because they got fattier and fattier. Those burgers aren't enough food, yet they're somehow filling because you can't absorb any more cheap meat fat

Even with all those "bad American large portion fast food habits" it doesn't seem to turn people automatically obese though. I'm convinced that's a myth sold probably to protect the source of the real cause(s) mixed with American stereotyping elsewhere. Cancer rates are probably tied to our garbage chemical food, but I'm not convinced obesity is. That said, our produce is packed with GMO garbage these days....technically we should probably eat LESS vegetables and more sugar. GMO itself may not be that bad, but the whole purpose of it is to load the plant with amounts of waterproof pesticides that would normally kill it. Waterproof. You can't wash it off. You eat it. What do you think industrial strength pesticides are going to do to your innards?

I was thinking about the portion thing though. From the outside it probably looks like wealth and extravagance of American excess. But thinking about it from the inside, I realized it's rather the opposite. It's quite the opposite of traditional European opulence where the rich were all fat and eat non stop banquets. Generally here the rich eat "European" and are healthy. So what is the excess about? It occurred to me it's a result of the continuous sense of instability and insecurity of the system here. You eat all you can eat while you can still eat and enjoy it because you know tomorrow it may all go up in smoke and you'll never be able to enjoy again. Subconsciously. But it's not opulence. It's a scavenger mentality. iI's here now, I can get it now, I should get all I can now while I can. It's build on the fear of being one step away from total ruin every day. The more money and security people have, the healthier and more "European" they eat....they don't have to cram it all down, there's always tomorrow! The mentality here is more the old medieval wartime thinking "eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we all die", sometimes consciously, sometimes subconsciously, but it informs a lot of behavior here. A recent statistic was that 50% of the US is one paycheck away from financial ruin. Half the country. Imagine how a whole civilization tends to react when half of it is overtly or subtly aware that if anything goes wrong tomorrow EVERYTHING ends - and that eventually some day will be the day that happens. From the consumer spending to the heavy eating, and a whole bunch of other behaviors that seem "excessive" from another perspective, I wonder how much of it is actually an instinctual reaction to continuous fear and uncertainty? And YOUR KIND of course preys on that ( S&M Professionals. Maybe you could advertise for Dr. Pornsack. )

I did mention before I'm a philosopher at heart. I like to think of the inner workings of why things are how they are it's thankless and penniless and will drive me to an early grave. I need more butter soaked bread now.

As for sweet foods.....yeah I admit that wile I like "sweets" I don't actually like candy. And I REALLY don't like corn syrup (except for specific foods that really require it.) Corn syrup is just evil. Even when I do buy soda I buy the "real sugar" version they started making again. This "obesity" problem didn't happen in the real sugar era...it started in the corn syrup era. Maybe that's related. And my baked goods are actual bakery goods that aren't absurdly sweet...more traditional European style bakeries, most of them family owned from the 60's (they're dwindling though...and the cake shop that opened is terrible, expensive, poor quality, and the icing tastes like licking a raw sugar cane. But I never really hear the corn syrups associated with it so much. (Of course corn is the king industry because of Ethanol...that's another story. ) Usually it's "Fatty food"...heck in my younger years if it wasn't deep fried I wouldn't eat it. Sort of. And it still didn't turn me into that. And I'm not even the atheletic sort. There's definitely something else going on. Even if it's genetic....why is it such a genetic factor here and not elsewhere? Or is it merely a result of a more advanced medical system that happened here before elsewhere were more "conditions" that would have resulted in death in infancy or before childbirth allowed more genes predisposed to such things to be propagated, resulting in a sizable population consisting of those genes that will start to emerge elsewhere now that everyone has been using such a medical system? Always so much to consider for such things. I should start a thinktank and get a few billion in government funding to embezzle expend on important studies at my institute.

Ever have American Nutella? It's awful.

@NEStalgia
Speaking about large portion of American fast foods, sometimes i was thinking that was too much for me.
Here in Indonesia, still i found peoples wasting their foods / drinks they consumed especially at restaurant / food courts. I felt insulted to see with my eyes the peoples who wasting their grubs intentionally, even the smallest portion. Sometimes, i hate almost everybody i found in my eyes if i caught their behaviour like that.

@Anti-Matter Here in the US, most people don't waste the food on their plates. Some do.....generally the wealthier set with a cavalier attitudes toward everything. Heck, at those prices you'd have to be rich to waste the food! But MOST people that have too much food to finish get the rest put in a container to take home and reheat later. We used to call them "doggy bags" but I suppose younger people don't call them that anymore they just ask for the rest to be packed to go. So technically restaurants are expensive but with large portions you may get two meals out of it, or at least something to reheat for lunch the next day! You'd have to be nuts (or rich) to waste really good food you paid for and can take home for later

Just never be "that guy" that asks for a "doggy bag" in a Korean BBQ....... (No I've never been that dumb.)

@NintendoByNature depending on what zone you are (I’m 7), quite a few things can grow almost on their own once they root. Grass repair is harder than produce to grow, IMO

@ThanosReXXX Some phone plans here to my knowledge still allow you to trade up for a phone every couple of years. So that I don't pay interest though, I'd rather just buy a phone on my own outright and just pay for the plan every month.

The thing I don't really get is how flagship prices keep rising; it seems ridiculous to me to pay $800+ for something that you'll likely drop and crack into oblivion tomorrow. My current phone is a Moto X4 that I nabbed off of Amazon Prime a year ago. It was mid-end at the time and is probably close to lower end now, but it accomplishes almost everything I want it to do. The only disappointment so far is that is won't run the pocket edition of FF XV, but I suppose that isn't a huge loss. 😛 Plus, other than a couple of Amazon-related things, it's pretty light on the bloatware when compared to most flagship phones.

I'm not sure if I'd enjoy living in the city. I don't mind visiting it on occasion, but I do like my peace and quiet. I'm used to some traffic noise now since I live right by a busy road that goes into the nearby town, but late at night is still pretty quiet. (I learned the hard way not to leave the windows open all night though....Darn 5 AM traffic.... 🤬 ). Traffic alone would give me fits, and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with public transport, as convenient as it is, long-term. I'm also not one for dense crowds.

Where I'm at is actually a step up; I grew up on a dead-end road in the middle of a wooded area.

@NEStalgia That sounds like some of the changes happening in a different part of the nearby town, but it definitely isn't a city. XD The area near some of the busier roads is being developed out the wazoo with strip malls, but the older developed area and the business district closer to my house is getting pretty derelict in some places. The original indoor mall is pretty much on life support. The only thriving business in there is the movie theater, but that company bought out part of the mall and is currently doing renovations. It wouldn't surprise me if that part stayed and the rest is eventually torn down. The local mall management is pretty decent, but the out-of-state company who owns it couldn't care less. There have been some news stories and complaints on some conditions already. The only reason a couple of chain businesses have stayed is because the mall didn't hold up their end of the lease, so they're there rent-free.

Damn you, Nintendo eShop discounts. I was determined to stay physical, and now look what you made me do:

Also no thanks to Nintendo Life and their "get them now, because there's only one day left" article...

@NEStalgia Aha, I see. Guess our personal definitions of smoke differs wildly. To me, the only smoke I actually see during baking, or rather: grilling, is when I put meat on the barbecue. Meat that I bake in a pan only gives of a mild, highly translucent vapor cloud every now and then, more than likely due to the water inside the meat. If that is smoke, then it's smoke for sissies.

As long as I can still see my stove and.or surroundings, and I'm not suffocated and coughing because of billowing blue-black clouds of smoke, then it isn't what I would call smoke.

And the kind that I do experience, only takes an opened window to get rid of. That's just your average cooking fumes, which truly IS mostly steam and a percentage of fat/grease. And as I already mentioned several pages ago, that's easily taken care of by actually keeping your kitchen clean. I almost never wake up, walk into my living room and think: "yegh, my entire house stinks of what I cooked yesterday". The only exception to the rule being when I use the deep fryer, because obviously, that's just a big pan full of oil, so there's no escaping that scent when using that to fry stuff.

So, let's just call 'em cooking vapors, instead of the far too heavy label "smoke", and be done with it.
Even a single cigarette gives off more smoke than what I cook in an entire week...

As for obesity, I'm not saying that everyone is automatically turning into a tub of lard, but on the other hand, you can also not say that having an unhealthy diet isn't at the very least one of the major contributing factors to it. Most people don't have a fast metabolism, and don't stay skinny regardless of what and how much they eat. If you add up all the factors involved: unhealthy diet, overuse of pharmaceuticals, diet sodas and too much processed foods, then it paints a pretty clear picture that all of these factors combined are the culprit, and not just one or the other. Well, in most cases at least. There are of course always extremes.

But you're smart to just go back to normal sodas, though. Any and all products with natural sugars are far less dangerous and/or damaging to your health than all these artificial surrogates. The only exception is foods sweetened with the Stevia plant, which is obviously a natural ingredient.

And of course, the most important thing with all of these products is moderation. It's more than okay to have a cake, a cola, or whatever brand of soda, a pizza, a burger and fries, as long as they're not part of any regular and/or daily diet. Although one glass of sugary beverage a day is still well within the confines of what is considered to be okay...

And I don't think I'd have to make much of an effort to advertise for dr. Pornsack, seeing as his name alone is already all or even more than all the advertising that he'll ever need, probably...

I am curious about American Nutella now, though...
Then again: if that's also far sweeter than the version that we have over here, I think I'll pass.

@Tyranexx I don't necessarily need the latest of the latest phones, but I do want something relatively up to date, and something that can at least stand the test of time, without falling behind update-wise and such.

And to be honest, I've personally never understood the whole "I broke my phone in the first week that I owned it" thing, because I've never managed to do that, but apparently, it's pretty normal, seeing as when I look around me when traveling to and from home, I see dozens of people having phones with cracked screens and what not. The first thing that I do, when I get a new phone, is buy a decent cover for it, and I don't mean a screen protector...

I also never just buy them, because the last year models I usually go for, are still anywhere between €350 - €500, and for me, that's just far too high of a price to be spending all at once. Those kinds of amounts are exclusively reserved for video game consoles, but not for a small communication device that you slip into your pocket and forget about, for most of the day. The reason I usually take the two year subscription plan, is because I can then pay off the phone, and not notice that I'm paying a bit too much for it, but at least I don't have to fork over several hundreds all at once.

So, what exactly is wrong with public transport? I reckon it's not quite the same over there as it is here, but still...

@ThanosReXXX they get me every time too. Problem is those are the games i end up playing the least because if i wasn't willing to buy them and play them when they originally released I probabaly won't play them when they go on sale. But I still partake in sales knowing I probabaly won't get much out of certain games

I only call it smoke if I can’t see through it.
And the most I’ve spent on a phone is $150. I typically roll a few gems behind for phones.