OK, your turn: Shoddy Goods 016
6
Jason Toon here, with a bit of a different Shoddy Goods, the newsletter from Meh about the stuff people make, buy, and sell. I’ve been on vacation so I’m keeping it casual this week, and wondering what’s on your mind.
I’m just back in Australia, where I live now, after three weeks visiting the land of my birth, the USA. On my last trip in 2022, the post-COVID supply chain problems were evident in semi-bare shelves and wacky prices.
This time, those issues had clearly subsided. The USA is once again the abundant consumer cornucopia that makes Aussies bring an extra suitcase along, to carry home their cheap shopping bounty. And I don’t just mean Nikes and Macbooks. You can see it everywhere from bookstores to 7-11 to antique malls. There’s just so much more and different stuff.
Here’s a picture I took at a Target in St. Louis that sums it up:
Bluey, of course, is an Australian icon. Not only is the show created in Australia by Australians, its dialogue and jokes and plotlines are so drenched in Aussiedom as to sometimes be incomprehensible everywhere else.
And yet the biggest display of Bluey merchandise I’ve ever seen was in a random Target in a medium-sized Midwestern US city. An unscientific survey finds that the US Target website offers more than 600 Bluey items while Australian Kmart, the closest equivalent down under, carries just over 100.
What’s my point? To inflame Australian patriots with outrage over the Bluey tchotchkes they can’t get at home? No, just to say that when it comes to consumerism, the US remains the center of the action.
Which could be a problem for this newsletter since I don’t live there right now.
So, fellow Americans, I need your help. If you see a product, a brand, a commercial, a phenomenon that makes you wonder “what’s up with that?”, please let me know. The only difference between a story that gets told and one that doesn’t is whether someone can dedicate time to telling it. That’s me. Just point me in an interesting direction and I’ll take it from there.
And while I’ve got you here… what would you like to see more of? We’ve unearthed little-known stories behind successful brands and failed ones. We’ve met present-day innovators and forgotten geniuses. We’ve torn into ripoff artists and taken straight-up nostalgia trips. We’ve even done a little consumer reporting. I have a blast with it all, so if there’s a craving out there for particular flavors of Shoddy Goods, I’m happy to indulge.
Finally, would any of you be interested in taking this relationship to the next level? Every issue generates way more material than I can squeeze even into our generous word count; I’m personally skeptical people would pay good money for it, but I’d love to be proven wrong. We’re also kicking around ideas like online events, trivia, an audio version, maybe a full-blown podcast or YouTube channel. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy now but we’d be intrigued if there was an audience for any of that.
Most of all, thanks for jumping down these rabbit-holes with me every week. Dave and I have been surprised and gratified by the response from both Meh longtimers (so few unsubscribes!) and our growing trickle of new readers. Now that I’m home again, we’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming next week.
(And yes, my family not only took an extra suitcase along to the USA, we had to buy another one to haul all our new crap back to Australia. Maybe there’s a story in there somewhere…?)
In addition to giving us suggestions on what you’d like to see in the future Shoddy Goods, feel free to treat this week’s Shoddy Goods chat like a general AMA and I’ll do my best to answer any questions you’ve got about our past, our present, our future, the meaning of life, all of that. (No promises that I’ll have useful answers, but I’ll probably have answers.
—Dave (and the rest of Meh)
If this is your first Shoddy Goods, check out these stories for a taste of what we usually do around here:
- 25 comments, 84 replies
- Comment
What’s the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
@xobzoo What do you mean? African or European swallow?
As someone who typically used to read the newspaper from “cover to cover” I found myself frequently attracted to deep dive articles on subjects that I had no idea I was even interested in. Keep up the good work!
@chienfou I’m curious about your comment… “used to read the newspaper”. What killed that for you? Why did you stop? I have an idea, but I don’t want to steer you in any particular direction in your reply.
@chienfou Similarly I love the subreddit r/hobbydrama. I love how someone lays a context and tells the story as it unfolded to an audience that normally would not know nor care. @ruouttaurmind, I see your writing like that and I am here for it. I am not so interested in the topic but you take the topic to how it impacts indirect stuff unexpectedly. Reminds me of early freakonomics kind of stuff.
@ruouttaurmind
I was referencing the physical (i.e. newsprint). I loved the process of sitting with coffee and holding a physical newspaper in my hand and flipping thru it front to back.
Several years ago it started to get harder and harder for the Montgomery Advertiser (what I subscribe to) to find carriers to deliver the paper in the smallish town where I live (<5k inhabitants so only a small number of active subscribers). I would receive the paper for several days, then not get one (or two) then get a few again etc. I would have to constantly be on the website to get credit for the missing copies etc and it was a PITA. Conversely if I stopped the paper to go out of town I could never be sure they would actually do that, often returning to what amounted to a giant HEY THIS GUY IS OUT OF TOWN sign due to the pile of papers that were delivered that shouldn’t have been.
I finally switched to an “E-edition” which is basically an electronic representation of the daily paper that is app driven. I bought a 10" Samsung tablet that is dedicated to this use, and am able to read the paper as it is supposed to be presented (IMHO). I found that trying to get the news from the paper’s website was a total shit-show due to the amount of clickbait crap that showed up. This way I can ‘read the paper’ without any issues (and can even ‘share’ articles via text/email and/or screenshots for things like the Pearls Before Swine comics I have posted to the Political Bullshit thread).
I kinda miss the old days of having to wash my hands when I was done to keep from leaving dirty fingerprints around. I also miss being able to use the newspaper copies to mulch between rows in my veggie garden (a task now relegated to the plethora of Amazon boxes I receive). In the grand scheme of things, this is an acceptable compromise.
@chienfou I appreciate your reply! Your response is almost what I anticipated. “Online news is much more avialble and reliable now, so that’s where I get my fix.”
I am a publisher of periodicals. We still publish two print media newspapers. One is “tabloid” size, but the other is the traditional broadsheed (large newspaper format). I solved the small town delivery hassle by switching to USPS delivery. Much more reliable than carriers and not much more costly. I’m frequently told “Print media is dead, give it up already.” Although the writing is on the wall… print media as a viable news source is definitely declining… there are a number of readers, particularly in a certain demographic, who still want to hold up that big broadsheet newspaper and sink in.
Once again, I appreciate your time and effort in responding.
@ruouttaurmind
Since I am currently ‘digesting’ an e-version of the broadsheet format I really don’t consider that as an on-line news source. There is a lot to be said for having a local source (you hopefully trust to be balanced) providing you with news. You get to know certain writers, editorial letter senders etc. more intimately.
My only complaint is that there is no longer an after midnight news deadline so late breaking stuff takes a couple of days to show up. A good example is Alabama or Auburn football. The write up for the Saturday games generally isn’t in the paper until Monday. (This doesn’t phase me since I pretty much don’t give a rat’s ass, but is one of the noticeable changes). Hard news is likewise not up-to-the-minute. They also have decided that national/international news is not their primary calling, but since the MA is part of USA Today I can always dig into those topics there (all of the USA Today affiliated papers are available to me as e-editions on-line with my subscription to the Montgomery Advertiser. This is sometimes handy when traveling if I am wanting to find out about events/concerts/plays etc).
Over all I would be overjoyed to have a ‘hard copy’ of the paper in my hands daily but alas, it isn’t practical. Plus if it came USPS I wouldn’t get it until late in the afternoon and not at all on Sunday.
BTW. Thanks for keeping the print market in print.
@chienfou The broadsheet we publish is a community newspaper. I prefer to keep it hyper local, skipping the national, statewide and even county stuff unless it has some sort of direct connection or impact on the local community. There are dozens of other sources for that kind of content, so I like to allocate our limited resources to the communities we serve. Since we are not a daily, USPS delivery is a good fit for the broadsheet. We have a couple dozen distribution racks available throughout the community, but the bulk of distribution is definitely direct mail and online. The other newspaper we publish is specific to a particular topic and is distributed by retailers involved in that specialty.
@ruouttaurmind
We have a small local community paper that is basically in the same format. It is also a weekly delivered by USPS and for that distribution time frame it IS an ideal solution.
When my kids were young (25+ years ago) each of them had a by-line in the paper for a bit. My daughter wrote a wekly column called “Letters Home” from Germany while she was working as an au paire at 16 for a year. She talked about living away, German culture, holidays, foods, and whatever experiences she was having. Since we were home schooling her it was her “English curriculum” for that year. She had her picture up and everything. When she came home after a year she was a minor celebrity in town. People stopped her all the time to say ‘hey you’re that girl in the paper’… My son (15 then) wrote a tech column in the nascent days of home computers and the internet. He’s now an electrical engineer. Those are opportunities they never would have had in other than a small community.
Thank you sincerely for keeping print alive. I’m sure as more of us ‘old geezers’ croak it will be harder and harder, but for now it’s nice to know you’re still out there.
The history of fast fashion
Why US chocolate bars taste so nasty. (And why cheap dutch ones are so waxy, LOL)
Salt - do with that what you will
The rise and fall of the paperback book
Modern news, including making money versus reporting, feel free to go back to WRH or before
Trying to think of things related to purchasing things that I have read interesting things about before
HP vs TI and the rise of the age of the calculator.
@Cerridwyn
HP and RPN FTW
@duodec that be the one
@Cerridwyn Some great ideas here, thanks!
Who started the pervasive myth that fat is fattening but carbs arent, and who tried to correct the error but got shouted down.
@werehatrack can’t take that further to discuss the full on impact of big business on the concept of diet and nutrition
Just read the newsletter and I love acronyms that make no sense to me because I can’t make it not mean something else
AMA - against medical advise
Prove me wrong, LOL
I remember when I started nursing school and I couldn’t get ROM out of my head meaning Read only Memory
@Cerridwyn AMA = Ask Me Anything, started by or at least popularized by Reddit.
@catthegreat @Cerridwyn
When did all these acronyms become so popular anyway? I remember Gary Bosey when he appeared on The Apprentice, I think he spoke everything in acronyms! Lol 
Yes, I would have thought Against Medical Advice if taken out of contents. I thought that was standard.
@Cerridwyn
I feel your pain- for me, ROM was first Range of Motion and only later became read-only-memory.
Then there are these in alphabetical order:
AFU= All Fucked Up
AHF= Acute Hissy Fit
ALP= Acute Lead Poisoning= Gunshot wound
AMA= Against Medical Advice
AQR= Ain’t Quite Right
Assmosis - promotion by “kissing ass”
BBB- Blood-Brain Barrier - surgical drapes.
Vampires/Blood Suckers= those who take blood samples, e.g. lab techs
Boneheads= orthopedics
BONITA= Big ‘Ol Needle In The Ass.
BTSB= Black Tar Spider Bite [IVDrug Abuse-related abscess that patient reported as a bug bite.]
Calling Doctor Blue [to location]= public address system code for “baffling case needing more doctors to take a look in the hope that one of them will know what to do”
CBP= Chronic Biscuit Poisoning.
CHAOS= Chronic Hurts All Over Syndrome (PTSD/Fibromyalgia, etc.)
Cockroach Factor= a patient’s ability to survive trauma or serious treatment is inversely proportional to his contribution to society
CTD= Circling The Drain= Close To Death
CTJM= Come To Jesus Meeting.
DC to JC= Discharge to Jesus Christ= aka he dead.
DFO= Drunk, Fell Over
DFO= dun fell out.
Dr Feelgood= a doctor who is indiscriminate about prescribing drugs
DSP= Day Shift Problems.
DSB= drug seeking behavior
FCBP= Fellow of the College of Bystander Physicians= i.e. doctor having a look-see
FDGB= Fall Down Go Boom
Fighting Darwin= patient refusing essential treatment through stubbornness or stupidity
FLK= Funny Looking Kid [usually, but not always] accompanied by:
FLP= Funny Looking Parents
Freud Squad= psychiatrists
FTD= Fixin’ to die
FUFU= Fucked up from the floor up.
Gassers OR Gas Passers= anesthetists
GOA= Gone On Arrival (police turn up, ambulance turns up, fire brigade turns up, patient doesn’t)
Gomer= Get Out of My Emergency Room
Gorillacillin= very powerful antibiotic
GPH= Goddamns Per Hour
GYST= Get Your Shit Together.
Hallucinoma= a mass seen on a scan or x-ray that wasn’t really there
H&HF= Hysterical Hispanic Familia. Also HLF= Hysterical Latin Female or Status Hispanicus.
Hepatology Conference= doctors meeting at a pub or bar
Incidentaloma= any mass (may or may not need removal) found on a scan while looking for something else entirely
Insurance Pain= Neck pain secondary to a minor car bump
JDLR= Just Doesn’t Look Right (something is wrong, but no diagnosis has been made yet)
Kaiser Soze= Registrar with an uncanny ability to disappear (not answer phone or pager) when there is work to be done (from movie ‘The Usual Suspects’)
Lancelot= a medic who drains abscesses (called Pokemon in the USA)
Lipstick Sign= if a female patient is well enough to put it on, she is well enough to be discharged
Liver rounds= staff party, so called because of liver-damaging alcohol
LOL= Little Old Lady [Also LOL2 [as superscript= LOL lying on linoleum].
LDFD= Looks dead from door.
LGFD= Looked good from door.
MAFAT (May-fat)= Mandatory Anesthesia Faff Around Time, precedes any incision
MOA= Milk of Amnesia= propofol anesthetic noted for causing memory lapses
MOFAT (Moh-fat)= Mandatory Orthopedic Faff Around Time, precedes any incision (alternative to MAFAT)
M2F= metabolize to freedom, also MTF= sleep it off.
NAD= Not actually done (Also means No Acute Distress or No Abnormality Detected)
Nectar of the Gods= coffee; without which many hospital services would shut down
NETMA= Nobody Ever Tells Me Anything (generally a doctor’s gripe on a patient’s chart)
NQR= Not Quite Right
NQRITH= Not Quite Right In the Head
NSP= next shift’s problem
PBAB= pine box at bedside
PIH = Poo-Induced Hypotension* [AKA commode code]
PRATTFO= patient reassured and told to fuck off.
Samsonite Positive (Positive Samsonite Test)= someone who turns up in emergency with all their luggage (and insists on being admitted to a ward)
SAS= sick as shit
SBI= Something Bad Inside e.g. undiagnosed cancer/unexpected serious condition found when performing surgery
SD= Status dramaticus
SLS= Shitty Life Syndrome.
TBD= total body dolor i.e. complains of pain everywhere AKA TBP= Total body pain
TFTB= too fat to breathe
TGD= They Gonna Die.
TMB= too many birthdays
TOBAS= Take out back and shoot.
TOT= Tired Of Toting= near term pregnant women wanting to be done.
UBF= Unborn fart.
Vitamin P= Lasix (diuretic) given to stimulate urination (peeing) in post-operative patients; can also mean Prozac
WNL= Was Not Looked [at], or within Normal Limits
WOMBAT= Waste Of Money, Brains And Time
Woolworth’s Test= (UK anesthesia) if a patient can shop in Woolies, it’s safe to give a general anesthetic.
WFT= wreath family tree
WTB= whiny titty baby.
*When someone does a massive dump causing their blood pressure to drop precipitously making them faint when they stand up off the toilet/commode. They usually come round to find themselves surrounded by the re-sus team who have been called to their ‘collapse’ and then die internally of sheer embarrassment that they have their pants round their ankles and the big jobby that caused it all on display.
PS: Lynnergizer [FTFY.]- It’s context, not contents, It was Gary Busey, not Bosey
@Cerridwyn
Sorry, I was on an <end of shift and no patients to see> roll…
@PhysAssist
No worries
I was a computer geek before it was a nurse. And your list really made me laugh
@Cerridwyn @PhysAssist You missed IANAL (usually spoken before dispensing legal advice: i am not a lawyer)
@PhysAssist and then there are the ones that even within Healthcare serve two purposes.
Do you go to the ED when you suffer from ED?
PT vs pt
The ubiquitous crap that fills quarter machines in the entryway of grocery stores. How is it that those things still exist? And still take just quarters?
@cainsley these are the answers we need!
@cainsley The few I’ve seen in the past couple of years have all been 50 or 75 cents.
I’m mildly fascinated by the variety of soda flavors these days, both the ones that are temporary (Coke seems to do this a lot) and the ones that are around for a while (who knew cherry vanilla dr pepper zero would be a thing). What makes some soda companies do this and does it actually pay off? Why are some in cans but not bottles of any size?
@jenorr Jones soda’s might be a place to go on this, or there might be ones older than they are.
I remember my offspring, 30+ years ago buying the licorice soda because it made her teeth black
@Cerridwyn @jenorr My father was a big fan of celery soda. He always said it reminded him of his youth, growing up in New York City (‘30s, ‘40s). Apparently ages ago celery soda was a thing in all the neighborhood delis in the city. And apparently something called the Halva Bar? I’ve tried celery soda, but never even seen a Halva.
PS: if you ever have the opportunity to sample celery soda, skip it and thank me later.
@jenorr @ruouttaurmind you made me laugh quite loudly out loud
@Cerridwyn @jenorr @ruouttaurmind Halava I think is the spelling. I remember a friend turning me on to it in the 80s (nyc metro for locale). so delish. now I must find!
@jenorr …and no diet version for a lot of them…
What’s up with this?
I feel like I buy enough things from meh, and paying for a newsletter just isn’t in the books.
I will add that I joined this newsletter hoping to learn more about the stuff behind the stuff that (meh especially) sells and to learn more interesting trivia about the nonsense behind consumerism and mass manufacturing.
So far it’s only been okay at providing those points. It’s sometimes fun to learn about the history and nostalgia of products but mostly I just don’t care about candy wrappers.
Hey maybe it’s just me and everyone really loves that bit; who knows. I appreciate that you’re putting in effort to make something and sharing it with me, so I’m a bit reticent to complain. Thanks.
What’s up with this?
@misobrilliant That’s apparently a common package factor for hot dogs in the UK.
I’d love to see an edition of Shoddy Goods all about the American shopping mall. Some history of where the concept of malls came from, how mall culture changed American trends and industries forever, and finally a look at the zombie shopping malls still in existence (and the clever ways building owners are filling up the retail space now). Almost like a memorial service for a former titan of suburban commerce.
Another topic I’d be curious about: Ghost kitchens. What the hell are they really? How many “restaurants” does one space actually service? Is the food any good compared to regular eateries? Is it better?
I recently spent too long poking through the website displayfakefoods.com. They sell exactly what you expect, but outside of furniture stores, who buys all of this display food?
Okay So Besides Bluey
What’s The Next Big
Thing In Australia
Toilet paper: thin and more squares vs thick and fewer squares per roll
ICE vs EV motors: are EVs really saving the planet?
What’s with these boutique stores that cater to rich people’s pets: do people really spend hundreds of dollars on clothes, etc for their dog?
American laziness: DoorDash/GrubHub vs just driving the damn 5 minutes and saving yourself $20.
@jsh139 tangent: what the pandemic gave us and what it took away. Many people used these then and then kept at it
Delivery of food is a thing in some places, but not others, except Pizza, what gives.
@jsh139
Also when does it make sense to choose which- EV vs ICE vs Hybrid- based on commute, location, and/or whatever other factors are important?
I luv your newsletter! Yes, I’m completely interested in more stuff related to these quirky opinions pieces. Please and thankyou!
Yes to more of these, especially deep dives into businesses and how they were either created or failed.
No to the podcast or YouTube videos.
Sorry, but limited budget here so can’t pay for another subscription.
However, I thoroughly enjoy what you are currently doing.
What’s up with how there’s always a million new kinds of awful crap, but whenever I like something it exists for about a month then disappears never to be seen again and even almost all evidence that it ever existed dissipates?
Or, even when it does apparently still exist or re-exist (non-dairy coconut 7 layer bar ben and jerry, morningstar riblets) it ceases to exist anywhere that previously stocked it within 100 miles of me.
@ravenblack I’m a sucker for the “new flavor” or “limited edition” tag on a snack product. And more frequently than not I’m stuck holding half a piece of the flamin’ hot black truffle cilantro tofu synthetic rice puff and wondering “How the hell does this crap make it to market? Did nobody in the development cycle actually taste this poxy before it went into production?”
@ruouttaurmind That’s what Meh is all about for me, the weird snacks that might turn out to be terrible!
But yes, the worst thing about those limited edition things is that it’s annoying whether they’re good or bad, because if they’re good then limited edition means you can’t get more, and if they’re bad then you wasted your money on the ones you bought.
(Meh sidesteps that problem by sending you so many that even if they’re good you won’t want any more by the time you’re through all that.)
@ravenblack fun fact iirc Sun chips are called Grain Waves in the land down undah
@ravenblack Not just food, either. You found socks that fit, don’t sag, are the right height, last more than two wearings, and are really useful? The store won’t have any of them ever again.
@werehatrack True, shoes get me like this every time. It’s more impressive with food because the cycle between finding a good thing and wanting it again is short, but yes, it’s there with everything.
@ravenblack
Wavy Gravy and Rainforest Crunch are sorely missed.
Love Jason and his writing. Some things I wonder about:
@lehigh
you made me think of why do we think toothpaste should all be mint. In EU, there are very different ones. (I hate fake mint flavor)
@Cerridwyn I heard a kid next to me ask for birthday cake toothpaste at their last dental cleaning so I also asked or it… it was good! I’m like, why do I get mint that makes it worse when I have coffee after I see the dentist?
@lehigh I like cinnamon sort of like the old close up that every once in awhile you can find somewhere. I have a ginger toothpaste that I got off Bezos monstrosity and it’s from Europe and it’s quite yummy
@Cerridwyn @lehigh
Though it’s a mint varietal, I like Pepsodent, but if you could help me out with a name, I’d like to try that ginger toothpaste.
@lehigh @PhysAssist Marvis
It’s not cheap
@Cerridwyn @lehigh Thin-Q!
I have a thing… I don’t know if it’s interesting or not, and I don’t participate in it directly. But from what I understand, both Facebook and TikTok are fraught with enticing video ads for things that are either total shit or incredibly marked up. I have to catch my wife when she’s talking about wanting to order something she’s seen online and ask her where she’s seen it advertised and hopefully start the critical thinking process.
I suspect drop shipping bros are behind a lot of this, but the truth could be more interesting (or less).
@djslack Some of the products like that genuinely are quite good, but you can typically just go to aliexpress and get the identical $50 product for $4 (in the cases where it is drop shipping bros).
@djslack
Also many formulaic ads on YouTube with outrageous claims, some of which have been debunked in posted videos.
How about comparing commercials for the same product either through the years or across various countries - what’s the difference in selling? More weird stories from the infomercial era. How the hell did they sell lawn darts to people? Movie tie in cereals. Pop culture board games that are around for 10 minutes metaphorically speaking (anyone else remember 10-4 Good Buddy the game of CB lingo?) That’s just off the top of my head.
@Wolfwhosings
Big Ben this here is Rubber Duck
And lawn darts were fun
@Cerridwyn @Wolfwhosings k
Absolutely!
Kind of curious that they never took crocket off the market and changed it to Nerf balls. According to a survey I read about, almost 1/3 of people reported injuries from playing croquet!
@Cerridwyn Lawn darts were before my time. Did you play the throwing it lengthwise version or the up in the air and run away version?
@chienfou Hey! Let’s give kids hardwood clown hammers and projectiles! They’ll be fine…
Maybe The Most Dangerous Games would be a good topic!
@Cerridwyn @Wolfwhosings
Ginormous pointy projectiles with fins that you launched underhanded towards a miniature hula hoop 10 yards down range. What could go wrong?
@chienfou @Wolfwhosings it was a very different time back then. And I never hit anybody or got hit by a lawn dart. On the other hand I got hit in the cheek with a real Dart. As in pointy sharp and metal. I had a scar for years. Probably still do but I can’t see it anymore. And I was probably 8
@Cerridwyn Ouch! Those things always look pretty wicked! Was it an accident or on purpose if you don’t mind me asking?
@chienfou Lawn Darts – great for unsupervised children and drunk adults!
@Cerridwyn @Wolfwhosings
Life has inherent risk. It’s hard to legislate/litigate all of it out of your existence.
Objects that can obviously hurt you should be considered less dangerous/troubling than things that are unseen… like batteries that catch fire due to crappy design.
@chienfou @Wolfwhosings
First, remember different world
We were probably 7 or 8 and I had a real dartboard It was smaller than regulation size and had cheap darts. A friend and I had set it up outside on the garage door and were playing a game, I was standing off to the side, but not right next to it (regular door not the one sized for cars). She threw the dart, being a cheap thing, it didn’t fly super straight and she was if I remember one of those sorta gangly awkward kids and well, it hit me not the board. stuck in my cheek LOL
I remember more shock than pain, but then again > 60 years ago
@Cerridwyn @Wolfwhosings
First rule of any target based game. Never stand downrange!
But yeah, stuff like that happened. Personal and parental responsibility were considered to be valuable skills at that time.
@Cerridwyn @chienfou @Wolfwhosings As a young “tweener” in the early 60’s, we used to have dart fights, though we always aimed below the waist!
@chienfou @tandkfanley @Wolfwhosings
so have any of the guys sired kids?
@Cerridwyn @chienfou @tandkfanley
Wouldn’t be “siring” any, but didn’t bear any either!
Believe me, I had my share of child misadventures as well. I absolutely believe tandkfanley about the dart fights! For what it’s worth, I did learn you shouldn’t put a paperclip over both rails of an electric train set either.
Always wanted a Creepy Crawler maker, but for some reason my parents thought it might be unwise.
@chienfou @tandkfanley @Wolfwhosings I had one of those. I used to actually make fishing lures with them and we sold them at the flea market for money. I actually sold one to a fairly famous science fiction writer who made one of his very rare trips to the West Coast and it was written up in the paper. I love that thing and burned the crap out of my fingers with it. So it was all the girls with the dark fights huh. I just figured men being what they are if they ever got shot in the junk with a dart as a kid they would hide it for the rest of their lives
@Cerridwyn @chienfou @tandkfanley
That is very cool about the lures! Makes sense they could be used that way. But the burning fingers, I think that was the reason I never saw one. My suspicion is that parents may have known what boys get up to and assumed that girls had innate sense - which is silly. Kids are gonna kid.
@Cerridwyn @chienfou @tandkfanley @Wolfwhosings I had a creepy crawly set as a kid, it was fun making rubber lizards, frogs and stuff, I never burned myself with it, but my little brother did. After that , my parents took it and my wood burning set away
@chienfou @lonocat @tandkfanley @Wolfwho
@Cerridwyn @lonocat @tandkfanley
Seems a shame they took your creepy crawler set away from you. At that point I’m pretty sure the lesson that it was hot had already been conveyed and the odds of getting burned again had diminished significantly!
@Cerridwyn @Wolfwhosings
Jarts- now illegal to sell in the United States.
@Cerridwyn @chienfou @lonocat @tandkfanley @Wolfwhosings
We had so much fun [as a family even] making Creepy Crawlers with the Thingmaker [my 7th birthday present], and then sometime later there was the Incredible Edible thing too eventually.
My last hotel stay, we put the TV on to browse for the usual staple, Forensic Files, and were surprised at how many home shopping channels were still active. How, in this age of internet commerce and widespread streaming, are these channels still on and making money? Surely their consumer base is quite literally dying off. I was an early cable cutter, so I made the assumption years ago that the HSN and QVCs of the early 00s were extinct, but I was apparently very wrong.
So yeah, I’d love a deep dive on how these channels have somehow survived for so long, and what their future outlook is.
@Zendriver The problem is that more old people with impaired judgment are being added to the population every day. In fact, as the prolific generations age, the number of old people as a percentage of the population continues to increase. I am truly appalled at just how many of my age cadre are in that demographic. My God, the amount of absolute crap that I have seen some of them buy, believing the bullshit hype about it, is just disgusting.
@werehatrack @Zendriver Infomercials are a different topic than QVC/HSC. I think they have survived by branching out. They serve the same niche that the ‘hoe videos’ on Amastupid do, showing the product in use. (that was a typo, but still appropriate so decided to leave it).
And, they do have a niche market. Not the same one as when they started, but similar. I remember watching QVC here and there after I split up with my long term partner and buying items to replace what was needed. Back then price was okay and often things I couldn’t find local. And I worked 3 12s and it was something to watch that wasn’t a game show or a soap opera.
As that same group of people are retiring, we are disgusted with much of the quality you get on amastupid these days and often have down time during the day. Instead of getting addicted to the newer soap operas they might put this back on and buy something there instead of from Bezosland. Makes me wonder why I didn’t look there when I went to replace all my black plastic cooking tools.
At least that is my theory. And it’s pretty low film costs to boot.
Who knows maybe I am wrong.
And you don’t need cable, lol, it’s on the internet, you can even stream it live
@Cerridwyn @werehatrack @Zendriver
Ahem… cough…Morningsave… cough
@werehatrack @Zendriver
Cannot decide if i more resent that remark or resemble that remark.
Guess i’ll just blame both Meh and the goat.
@phendrick @werehatrack @Zendriver
I came here to say “I resemble that remark…”
What I really, really want to know is how I can emigrate to New Zealand. I know Australia and New Zealand are different countries but assume there may be some similarities.
After my visit to the land of the long white cloud, I fell in love, but found that I aged out of the NZ ‘white collar’ work visa (< 55)
@jerry559
Practically, economically, or philosophically?
@jerry559 I was born in New Zealand and have dual NZ+US citizenship (by virtue of my US citizen parents). I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a NZ passport (in addition to my US one) but, while I have relatives there, I’d have to find a non-relative NZ citizen to vouch for me. Since we moved back to the US when I was 5, that might be difficult. (And I’m not sure the novelty would be worth the trouble.)
But yeah - lovely country and nice people.
@jerry559 @macromeh I have never felt more “at home” anywhere in the world than I did when my daughter took me to New Zealand in December of 2019. If there was any way I could emigrate, I would.
@chienfou One must be under 55 years old to apply for the ‘white collar’ visa. So, I guess “Practically”
@jerry559 @werehatrack But, but… They talk funny and drive on the wrong side of the road! And Christmas is in the summer!
@jerry559 @macromeh
I live in Alabama. Christmas is more summer here than 4th of July was when I lived in International Falls!
@macromeh @werehatrack I bet I could get mince pies with custard and christmas crackers a lot easier over there too!
Here’s something for ya Jason Toon…
In the US, sticks of butter are a different shape in the east versus the west. Easties have long, skinny sticks, westies have thick, chunky, shorter sticks (TWSS diffused, don’t bother).
Why is this? There seems to be one article on the interwebs that has been posted a zillion times, but what’s the true story behind butter shapes? UK and Europe don’t use either of these and go an entirely different way. Large blocks, short rectangles, even rolled butter.
Anway, how about diving into the butter shape conspiracy?
@ruouttaurmind isn’t it that the whole dairy industry is full of conspiracies?
Take milk for example, when processing, the fat is first removed, The fat and solids are then added back , more or less to produce the various milk we buy.
Skim and low-fat obviously gets less.
The leftover fats and solids are then used to produce many dairy products like sour cream, cottage cheese, frozen dairy items, and much more.
With all these products produced from the milk fat and solids, why do they charge the same price for low-fat and skim milk, as they do for whole milk?
@ruouttaurmind what west states have these chunk sticks? i’m in colorado and have never seen these!
@lonocat
This! After all, skim milk is little more than white water, innit!
@catthegreat Well, I’ve purchased the chunky sticks of butter in SoCal, throughout AZ, western NM, Vegas… hmm, where else?
@catthegreat @ruouttaurmind I have bought both, depending on the brand purchased. The unsalted I buy is the east coast sticks. When I bought stick butter in was the west coast ones.
@catthegreat @Cerridwyn @ruouttaurmind Texas has both, dependent on the brand, in the same store.
@lonocat @ruouttaurmind I suspect the logistics cost for milk are a much bigger portion of the cost than the milk fat is.
However, I remember as a kid that skim was sometimes cheaper. In my middle school age years, my mom would send me to back of the store for a jug of milk and she would always say “get skim if it’s less”. And I hated skim, so I would resent when I had to grab it.
@fibrs86 The worst breakfast on the whole damn planet? Skim milk on the unbranded shredded wheat bricks. Nightmares of my childhood.
They called it shredded wheat. But I’m pretty sure it was really the chaff and winnowing waste.
@fibrs86 @ruouttaurmind
Debt. Since America is often the center of the trading world… we also juggle a lot of it. Simply put, out of all the nations in the world, we buy the most stuff with money we potentially don’t have. Why? (Either the buying part, or the not having money part, or that people are willing to take our IOUs.)
When I visited Australia in the late 1990’s there was Lone Star Steakhouse but NO Outback Steakhouse. How did Outback Steakhouse come to be, with no connection to Australia other than the name?
When we visited Lone Star, I asked for an “iced tea”. The waitress gave me a puzzled look and I quickly retreated. Shortly afterwards, a manager came over and announced that he had been to training in America and knew all about our “iced tea” and would make one for me. How can it be that iced tea seems to be a pretty universal concept and yet in the 1990’s I got a look like I’d asked for an “iced turd” when I asked for one in Australia?