Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Bah. Any estimate on how much it costs?

[Bort]

Bah. Any estimate on how much it costs?

I couldn't find anything for "low speed" vehicles but the moped stuff says this:

The moped registration fee is $18, which includes the plate. The following counties charge an additional transit fee:

Durham $15

Orange $15

Randolph $1

Wake $5

[bilgistic]

So much for the heady days of "liquor-cycles"!

[Bastet]

When I eat beef or lamb, seldom do,  I like it cooked medium well or even well done - always to the cook's HORROR.

 

My best friend likes her meat - of any kind - well done, and it pains me to cook for her.  I mean, I do it, because I want her to enjoy her meal, but it's just wrong.  What amuses me is she eats sushi.  So it's either raw or cremated.

[Jamoche]

You mentioned STAR, are you talking about California? The answer was about Texas. It's 25 years.

 

Ah. California used to have a 25 year rule.

[DeLurker]

Cobalt Stargazer - those types of scooters are so cute!  I imagine you get a lot of looks.

 

How are other drivers towards you?  I've seen many motorcyclists do unsafe and overly aggressive driving, but I have also seen a lot of car drivers being intentional dicks to motorcyclist (without provocation).  Do motorist tend to be considerate of scooters?

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Cobalt Stargazer - those types of scooters are so cute!  I imagine you get a lot of looks.

 

How are other drivers towards you?  I've seen many motorcyclists do unsafe and overly aggressive driving, but I have also seen a lot of car drivers being intentional dicks to motorcyclist (without provocation).  Do motorist tend to be considerate of scooters?

 

They tend to be pretty considerate, yeah. I use the car to get to work, but if I'm just going to the library or to the store to pick up one or two things, I use the scooter. It only takes a couple of dollars to fill the tank, and though it has almost no storage space, its a neat way to get around. I have two of them, actually. I had one that got stolen, and then eight months later, the police called me and said they'd found it and could I come to a nearby pawnshop to identify it? You wouldn't happen to know anyone who wants to buy a slightly used Honda scooter, would you? :-)

[erikdepressant]

The movie 300 is on right now.  When the Spartans come across the Tree of the Dead, I couldn't help but think of Edible Arrangements.

[peacheslatour]

Has anybody seen the Tide commercial making fun of Kim Davis?

[Demented Daisy]

I don't watch enough of any sport to engage in fantasy tournaments, so I have next to no knowledge about them.  My question is, with companies like Fan Duel, can two people choose the same roster?  If so, do they share the final prize?  If not, who gets their chosen roster and who has to pick different players?

 

Is it really based on skill if you can't get the players you want?  Does it require any more skill than poker?  

 

It just seems like straight up gambling to me, because of the sheer number of injuries to players every season.  Didn't a player get his foot broken in the first game of the season this past weekend?  What happens to the people who had him in their fantasy roster?  

 

Sorry for all the questions.  It's a mystery to me, the draw to fantasy sports.

[Taylorh2]

Has anybody seen the Tide commercial making fun of Kim Davis?

 

What's the link  ?

[LoneHaranguer]

 

It just seems like straight up gambling to me, because of the sheer number of injuries to players every season.

You can say something similar about horse racing and the stock market. No amount of knowledge can take out the random element, but they're nowhere near something like casino gaming or state lotteries.

[peacheslatour]

What's the link  ?

Some people were talking about it in another forum.  From what they said it was something about the sanctity of marriage and some lady that looked like her had one of those Tide stain sticks...it all sounded very weird and fake.

[praeceptrix]

A friend posted the ad on Facebook. I googled & found a few articles about it, as it has not aired yet.

Here is an article with the ad embedded (sorry, don't know how to post videos):

http://www.towleroad.com/2015/09/tide-to-go/

Edited September 15, 2015 by praeceptrix

[peacheslatour]

Wow!  Thanks praeceptrix!  So, it's not fake.  Cool!

[editorgrrl]

Has anybody seen the Tide commercial making fun of Kim Davis?

It's just a spec ad that the director posted on Facebook.

"This Fake 'Tide to Go' Ad Perfectly Spoofs Lingering Opposition to Gay Marriage"

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/fake-tide-go-ad-perfectly-spoofs-lingering-opposition-gay-marriage-166931

[backformore]

what's a "spec ad"??

[Bastet]

Like a spec script, but a commercial -- you create one on your own (as opposed to being hired to make it) and shop it around in the hopes of getting a gig.

[photo fox]

Just a reminder to everyone to avoid heated political topics. I understand the desire to debate and share, but it never ends well. I'd like to keep this forum slightly more friendly than the comments section of a news site. ;-)

FTR, no issue with anything that's posted above, this is just a precaution.

[GeorginaFuller]

I saw it again - samsungpromotions.com. They're doing their own "trade-in" program. Too bad my phone is only worth $48.

I agree to what you said

[frenchtoast]

I know that gluten is often added to products that wouldn't otherwise contain it, such as sauces, dressings, etc.  But how does it get into/onto things like oats, rye, & barley?  Do you mean accidentally, such as contamination from equipment that was used for wheat?

Rye and barley have gluten full stop. Celiacs cannot eat anything with wheat, rye or barley. It is not a contamination issue with rye and barely, they both have the protein that will affect a person with celiac. Oats are weird...which is why for health sake hubby avoided them. From what I understand it was a few things: some was contamination in processing and some it could be what it was growing near though I am not sure how that worked. It could even be the variants used might have it and others might not and replanting etc all that stuff. Oats were being tested and coming back with the protein that celiacs need to avoid. We used sorghum (buckwheat) flakes and a few years ago another company that has a lot of GF stuff had GF oats, so I've used that. But unless it had been tested and could be determined as gluten free, those oats were not purchased.

 

However, this makes it sound like it's all gross food and whatnot. We have hosted many holiday dinners where everything has been gluten free and they were awesome. It just takes a little extra work, but it's worth it.

[3pwood]

Thanks for the info.  I didn't realize that rye & barley contain gluten -- also had no idea how tricky oats could be.  Good thing I don't have celiac or Chron's disease, I'd be making myself sick a lot...

[janie jones]

Speaking of the commercial with the reddi whip and no frig.... how did we all not get food poisoning back in the day when we (those of us) took our lunch to unAC'd schools at 7:30 a.m. and didn't eat til 12 .... tuna salad sandwich in the sweltering heat for hours. Just sayin and I"ll take the rest to small talk.

It must have been last fall, but the local news in my area was doing a report on what the most effective insulated lunch box was (the result was that none of them worked very well).  So the reporter said basically what everyone says, which is "Back when I was a day, your lunch just sat in your locker and nothing ever happened."  Well so they talked to a bacteriologist, and the bacteriologist said that the lunchbox bacteria around today is more harmful than the lunchbox bacteria 20+ years ago, so it actually is more necessary today to keep lunches cold.

[Bort]

Well so they talked to a bacteriologist, and the bacteriologist said that the lunchbox bacteria around today is more harmful than the lunchbox bacteria 20+ years ago, so it actually is more necessary today to keep lunches cold.

Did he say why? Because it doesn't make sense to me that lunchbox bacteria is more toxic for no reason whatsoever. Unless he has a stake in fancy lunchbox stock.

[Bastet]

Because helicopter parents have so insulated their precious snowflakes from germs that their immune systems are more vulnerable to lunchbox bacteria?

[frenchtoast]

I never thought vaccinating my kids and making sure they wash their hands after blowing their nose would be considered helicopter parenting. Over prescribing antibiotics--maybe. Also, allow me to note that parents these days cannot catch a break--if we let them just be and get into all sorts of trouble and be a nuisance, then we're terrible parents. If we are involved, as the schools demand us to be, and make sure they do their homework and have a helmet as required by law we are helicopter parents. And I gotta say, it's not easier being a kid these days either. So blaming parents for something they probably have no influence over is just part of the trend and only makes it that much harder to be a parent. Finding balance isn't easy, and every family is different. But the ever growing media and attention on it makes it worse. 

 

The bacteria in food may have just evolved and mutated just like viruses do. I would assume it has more to do with food processing and manufacturing than it does with parenting.

[DeLurker]

I just reuse a Fiji water bottle that I fill up 1/2 way and freeze overnight to keep things cool in my daughter's lunch box.  Fiji is made of the most rigid plastic of all the water bottles I've found.  In the morning I fill the rest with water and that turns into her drink at lunch.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Did he say why? Because it doesn't make sense to me that lunchbox bacteria is more toxic for no reason whatsoever.

Some people blame overuse of antiseptics, which only kill off some (less harmful) bacteria, letting others thrive with less competition.

[peacheslatour]

Some people blame overuse of antiseptics, which only kill off some (less harmful) bacteria, letting others thrive with less competition.

This.  If a person's immune system never has to do it's job, then it becomes less effective when it is hit with any contagion.

[DeLurker]

My pediatrician told me to put my kids in preschool part time 6 - 12 months before I really needed ft childcare just so my kids would get exposed (and expose other children) to various germs and bugs and start developing that immune system.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I never thought vaccinating my kids and making sure they wash their hands after blowing their nose would be considered helicopter parenting. Over prescribing antibiotics--maybe. Also, allow me to note that parents these days cannot catch a break--if we let them just be and get into all sorts of trouble and be a nuisance, then we're terrible parents. If we are involved, as the schools demand us to be, and make sure they do their homework and have a helmet as required by law we are helicopter parents. And I gotta say, it's not easier being a kid these days either. So blaming parents for something they probably have no influence over is just part of the trend and only makes it that much harder to be a parent. Finding balance isn't easy, and every family is different. But the ever growing media and attention on it makes it worse. 

 

Re the bolded part - I'm in my mid-forties and not a parent because of reasons, so maybe I'm not the best person to comment. I do think that sometimes the line between bad parents and good parents is way too thin, but OTOH there's a lot of stuff in the media about people who just weren't ready, for whatever reason, to have children, and because of that terrible things happen. Add to that the fact that even the proper authorities don't always act when they're alerted to a real problem, and it just makes people less willing to get involved because they figure, "What good will it do?"

 

I can't remember who said it, but there's a quote that goes, "Being a parent is the hardest job in the world to do, but its also the easiest job in the world to get", and I really think that's true. People who have children before they're ready - or equipped - to deal with the responsibility of parenthood are a disaster in the making, mostly for the kids. And I know I'm saying this without any experience of my own, so you can take what I've said with as much salt as you like.

[MaryPatShelby]

As a young teen, I detassled corn in the summers (don't ask).  We brought sack lunches in brown paper bags, and those lunches sat in our bucket on the detassling machine in the hot summer sun all morning long.  No one died or even got sick.  I always thought those sandwiches were best ever - the cheese on my baloney sandwich was all melted and gooey by lunchtime and was SO. GOOD.

[riley702]

I detassled, too! And man, is that job way harder than it looks. My lunch being unrefrigerated for a few hours was not even on my radar. I think I quit when I had enough to buy a fancy 10-speed. It's chilly and dewy in the morning, but by noon it's hot! And if you took off your jacket (or long-sleeved shirt over your tank top), your arms got cut up from the edges of the corn leaves - they're surprisingly sharp. It was like a hundred paper cuts up and down your arms. And I can't tan to save my life, so I was courting blisters if I shed layers. I also found out it is possible to get a sunburn where your hair parts, and that even with a hat, the very tops of my ears could burn enough to blister.

Edited October 4, 2015 by riley702

[Brattinella]

For me, it was picking berries.  Raspberries, boysenberries, blackberries and only did strawberries a couple times (they are PAINFUL).  Got to eat lots of yummy berries and made some pocket money.  Good times!

[janie jones]

Did he say why? Because it doesn't make sense to me that lunchbox bacteria is more toxic for no reason whatsoever. Unless he has a stake in fancy lunchbox stock.

I know that others have responded to the latter part but to answer the original question, I don't recall them saying why.  I don't think they did.

[peacheslatour]

For me, it was picking berries.  Raspberries, boysenberries, blackberries and only did strawberries a couple times (they are PAINFUL).  Got to eat lots of yummy berries and made some pocket money.  Good times!

Every Saturday in the summer we used to pick blueberries until we got just enough money to go to the dance at the Y.  Hot, sweaty work.  And yep, we ate almost as many as we picked

[ari333]

As a young teen, I detassled corn in the summers (don't ask).  We brought sack lunches in brown paper bags, and those lunches sat in our bucket on the detassling machine in the hot summer sun all morning long.  No one died or even got sick.  I always thought those sandwiches were best ever - the cheese on my baloney sandwich was all melted and gooey by lunchtime and was SO. GOOD.

 

Oh I know. My lunch was yummy when the tomato got all juicy and the bread was kind of soggy.... on a very warm tuna salad sammy. It sounds disgusting, but I loved it. I just look back and think how did we not get sick all the time from food spoiling in the heat of the south after hours in a hot school. Even the milk in the thermos was kind of warm . Gross. So I ended up still taking my lunch but buying the cold milk at the school :) 

Edited October 15, 2015 by ari333

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I just look back and think how did we not get sick all the time from food spoiling in the heat of the south after hours in a hot school.

People knew how to make a safe lunch, often without realizing it. Mayo, for example, contains ingredients to "retard spoilage". So do "sandwich meats". You'd have to pack something you wouldn't expect in a school lunch to have a risk (like Thanksgiving leftovers).

[riley702]

I'd stick ice cubes in my milk so it would still be cold. Started with whole milk, give it a shake and it's probably 2% by the time you drink it. Worked for me.

[crowswork]

I read two interesting things- One: You probably get cancer 4 or 5 times in your life but your immune system get rid of it...if true, it explains why people sometimes get cancer after a traumatic event.

 

Two: We eat so many preservatives that our bodies stay fresher after we die. Old days, it was get them into the ground in a day or so... now, with a good coffin and embalming we last for years.

[riley702]

You probably get cancer 4 or 5 times in your life but your immune system gets rid of it... if true, it explains why people sometimes get cancer after a traumatic event.

While it's known that stress impairs your immune system, this is merely a hypothesis with no way to test it.

[Rick Kitchen]

We were talking about the adult male fans of My Little Pony in one of the other threads, and I thought I'd post a link to a YouTube video about a guy telling us how he became a Brony.

 

[St. Claire]

I took my daughter to Brony-Con last year. It was...an experience I will never forget. I feel as though I can't criticize anyone for being part of an obsessive fandom (since, well, pot-kettle coming from the woman who logs onto message boards to discuss the lack of continuity between Dan Rydell saying he's lived in NY for his entire life in the Sport Night pilot, while later episodes indicate that he's actually from Connecticut), but it was just a bit too much analysis of a cartoon for me to handle and a few too many of the gentlemen in attendance had some questionable hygiene practices. I have a very heightened olfactory sense, so convention centers are not a good place for me to be on a summer weekend.

[Ubiquitous]

You would have to be standing awfully close to the person paying to see all that. I hate hate hate when the person behind me moves up to the register when I haven't quit finished.  They're like standing this () to you . Back the F up until I move.

Conversely, I get very annoyed when someone stands a couple yards behind someone in line.

[peacheslatour]

Has anybody been able to solve the Google doodle today?  I got the first one- Beethoven's Fifth, but I'm just not that musical.

[DeLurker]

Fifth

Fur Elise

Moonlight Sonata

Ninth/ode to Joy

[peacheslatour]

Fifth

Fur Elise

Moonlight Sonata

Ninth/ode to Joy

Nice!

[Prevailing Wind]

That was fun!

[Calamity Jane]

Back to Bronies - My son took his 3-year-old little girl to Target to buy a My Little Pony as a reward for something or other.  As she was weighing her options, two teenage boys walked up and began discussing the ponies together.  According to my son, the 3-year-old watched them for a minute or two, and then said to them, "My favorite is Princess Twilight Sparkle."  She paused, then added with emphasis, "She's a GIRL."  Clearly she felt that they needed some guidance about proper toys for kids of their sex and age. 

 

By the way, she plays with trucks and trains and does not see any problem with that.  Go figure.

Edited December 29, 2015 by Calamity Jane

[Rick Kitchen]

Ugh, ispot has changed their format and made it practically impossible to use.  :(