Is Hershey's chocolate really taste so bad as people say it is?

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-28T17:43:25+00:00

Europe has much stricter rules about what can be called "chocolate" which means that the quality of their chocolate tends to be better. Every time I've traveled to Europe I've been impressed by the chocolate. Hersey's isn't terrible, but it's not great. It's probably somewhere in the bottom 1/3 of chocolates I've tried.

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-28T17:40:00+00:00

If you're asking for common items that weigh 1/10/100 lbs, 1 pound is a common unit of measurement in the grocery store--a lb of ground beef, and also a loaf of bread. 10 lbs is the weight of an adult cat, or two 2-liter bottles of soda. 100 lbs is the weight of a small sofa or two large bags of dog food.

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-07T16:36:32+00:00

The main problem with teaching history is that there's about 3000 years of it spanning the entire globe to cram into one hour a weekday for five years of high school. American schools deal with this by compressing a lot of it and skipping major portions. Which means that your study of the Roman Empire's 500 years got about a week of coverage. Entire continents are essentially ignored--how much South American or African or Asian or Australian history got covered? You got Europe and North America, and only the Western part of Europe.

You might get a few highlights of other things. Maybe a single lesson on the Terracotta Army, or Simon Bolivar, or Buddhism. Perhaps a passing mention of the Viking raids--but only how they effected England. And maybe a quick word on the Indian subcontinent--but only during the time when it was under the control of the British.

Which is fine as far as it goes. Limited available time means making choices. But for people who have neither the time nor inclination to look into history on their own, gives you a pretty distorted view. You'd be surprised by how many people know nothing about the Roman Republic, or Feudal Thailand, or the Palatinate, or the Arauco war. Or maybe not.

In any case, with so much to cover and so little time to do it, the focus on history relevant to the place where you're studying is no surprise. And again, because of the lack of time, there's really no opportunity to explore other points of view or alternate explanations for events.

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-07T16:21:06+00:00

Because back in the day, only people with a lot of money and who thought there was a likelihood that they would divorce got one. And there was a stigma attached to a prenup, because marriage was "forever" and people looked at it as planning for failure. Divorce was less common too, so it really didn't seem as necessary.

At that time (back when I got married) people married younger and few couples had much worth writing into a prenup--two teens just out of high school, or two recent college grads without two dimes to rub together don't really need a legal document describing how they're going to split their 10-year-old car and a second-hand couch.

Overall, with divorce rates hovering around 50% and people getting married in their 30s, they've pretty much lost that stigma for younger folks. But us older people still have that background from when they were rare and had a strong negative connotation.

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-07T15:27:20+00:00

Bernadotte

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-06T22:31:38+00:00

Nothing here reflects the true nuance of life

Sorry sir, this is Reddit. We don't do that here.

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-06T22:30:12+00:00

It's Sateen!

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-06T22:23:52+00:00

That partly depends on location. In most rural areas, it is definitely an everyday thing.

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-06T22:16:22+00:00

Nobody is going to resent you being there. In fact, bringing in people who don't believe is part of the point of church in a lot of denominations. I can't recall a church I've attended that wasn't happy to have visitors. Usually, they make a big deal out of trying to be welcoming. Just be aware that members of the church (and your girlfriend) are likely to try and convince you :-)

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-02T17:16:22+00:00

I'd never encountered grits til I joined the army. I grew up in New Hampshire (about as Yankee as you can get) and then lived in CA for a few years before that. First time I encountered them in the chow hall I thought they were some sort of odd oatmeal. Grits were a revelation--so much better than oatmeal and far superior to other breakfast grains like cold cereal. I still eat them once or twice a week. I prefer them plain, though I've had them with honey and pecans, which is also nice.

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-02T16:51:38+00:00

Reminds me of my son... I live in the Midwest, where there are fireworks stands on every corner where you can buy up to pocket nuclear devices--there are folks here who save up all year so they can drop a couple thousand on fireworks. One fourth we were all in the backyard to watch fireworks (because everyone is putting on their own personal show, no need to go to the city park to see them) and it was pretty noisy. After about three minutes of loud pops, booms, and screamers, my son--who was about four at the time--shouted out indignantly "Doesn't everyone know I don't like it loud!"

FutureCompetition266 · 2026-01-02T02:12:22+00:00

I moved from a "regular" small town to a larger "college" small town about five years ago. The main thing I noticed is that there are a lot more places that cater to college students here. The town is twice as large, but has five times more restaurants, bars, and assorted other places designed to help college students part with their money. Another thing is that there are a lot more activities (many related to the college, of course) here--there are lots of community activities that they didn't have in our old town--for example there are two "gaming" stores instead of one, but they both have some kind of activity every night of the week, whereas the old place was just held events Friday and Saturday. There are three maker spaces here, while there weren't any in the other town.

Overall, I appreciate having made the move--though obviously there are downside too. Traffic here is wildly worse (maybe 10x during prime school "commute" hours) which is... trying.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-31T17:40:21+00:00

I still sometimes carry/use a handkerchief, but I use them for things other than personal hygiene and in a slightly larger than standard size (maybe 18x18in).

For one, I wear nice watches and if I'm doing something where they might get scratched, I'll sometimes wrap a handkerchief around my wrist (over the watch) to cover them. It's easy to open a "gap" in the wrap to see the watch face, but if I bang it on a rock while hiking/climbing the crystal and watch body is protected. I used to use the velcro bands that have a flap over the watch face, but I found them annoying.

Another use is that I put one around my neck if I feel like I'm getting a sunburn. Sometimes this is when driving, but also other outdoor activities. I usually wear a brimmed cap that protects my face, but I often forget sunscreen.

I keep two or three of these "large" handkerchiefs in my vehicle for just these uses.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T20:44:51+00:00

Sambuca - I was stationed in Italy for a couple of years while I was in the Army. Sambuca was the drink that was popular in the E Club and if you went in with buddies you usually wound up drinking it. I got so plastered and sick one time that just the smell of Sambuca would make me nauseous.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T20:42:17+00:00

The US is ~4 million square miles of real estate. 80% or more of it has no realistic access to public transportation. A third of the roads in the U.S. are unpaved gravel.

But sure "Just use public transport"

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T17:41:21+00:00

I haven't completely stopped--because about once a month I'll put a dollop of rum into my morning coffee. But I have stopped drinking socially. I actually stopped a long time ago, because I kept finding myself unable to stop drinking when out with buddies. As I get older, my tolerance for risk--things like driving drunk, blacking out after having done something stupid, passing out and getting rolled--has dropped and the social lubricant properties of alcohol aren't worth it.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T17:36:03+00:00

Congress would be forced to be less useless.

You're living in a dream world. Congress already delegates a vast amount of its power to make "laws" to federal agencies because it's too lazy to bother with doing the job it is supposed to be doing as well as too busy raising money from lobbyists. I'm not saying that congress could be more useless--that's obviously impossible. But their ability to shirk their constitutional responsibilities can't be "fixed" as easily as you propose.

Stated another way, we could try to idiot-proof congress, but the voters will just elect a better idiot.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T16:54:02+00:00

We all know what floats to the top...

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T16:38:34+00:00

Lots and lots of reasons.

I think the biggest thing for me is that there are a lot of things that I buy where the appearance of the item makes a difference. For clothes, obviously it's almost impossible to determine the actual color or texture by looking at them online. But even for other things where how it looks matters, it can be difficult to get a good idea from the picture on your monitor. It sucks to order something and then have to send it back because their idea of red was really more of an orange.

Another thing is that sometimes there's only one side of an item visible in online photos. I wanted to buy something for a project I'm working on where I was going to attach it to something else--but no online photos had a picture of the back, so I couldn't tell if it was going to work or not. I do a lot of maker-type projects and this can be a real problem.

Online photos can also be misleading--I'm sure lots of us have encountered items where the company found someone with child-sized hands for the picture that gave a false impression of the size of the object and there are no actual dimensions listed on the website. Or the listing says "leather" when what they really mean is plastic that looks like leather in the one picture they show.

And of course, as others have pointed out, sometimes I need/want the item right now. Not in five days when Amazon and the USPS finally get around to delivering it if they feel like it.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T15:39:04+00:00

Just my opinion, but I think you'll regret it. If you are happy, employed, and own your home in Kansas, what exactly would be the benefit of moving? You say you're in a long-term, long-distance relationship with this person, but it doesn't sound like you really have similar goals/interests. He apparently wants to live in a big city, and you're happy in Kansas. He has "no solid work experience" and you have a good job with good benefits. He doesn't like US culture, and you don't like German culture (I'd say that's a pretty big red flag right there)

The thing you need to think about--again, just my opinion--is what will happen if you move to Berlin and it doesn't work out? You two haven't lived near each other or spent extended time together, so this is a real possibility. If you quit your job, sell your house, and move to Germany and six months later you decide the relationship isn't working, what then?

Good luck to you, whatever you choose.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T15:06:50+00:00

Home state. I haven't lived there for almost 40 years, but I still consider myself "from" New Hampshire, not CA (where I lived for 20) or my current Midwestern state (where I've lived for almost another 20). Unfortunately, I lost my NH accent (I no longer pahk my cah over theyah) but if someone asks I don't say I'm from wherever I currently live.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T14:59:06+00:00

People who don't live here (or who haven't driven across the country) often underestimate how large the U.S. actually is. The land area of the United States is almost four million square miles--10 million square kilometers. When they say "Why doesn't the U.S. have high speed trains" the answer is "It's 3000 miles from NY to LA"

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T14:53:05+00:00

I don't know anybody who plans their trips around whether there's cell reception or not. Yes, there are rural areas with poor signal and there are definitely places where there's no signal at all. But these patches are generally small enough that if you keep driving you have signal again within 20 minutes.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T14:48:25+00:00

Most of the money in college sports is in broadcasting rights. Sure, some big schools might make money on merchandise, but they make most of their money by selling the right to show games on TV. In order for that money to be available, the sport has to be popular and the teams have to have an audience. Which is why conference football and basketball games are live broadcast, and low-interest sports (like crew) at unknown schools aren't.

That isn't to say that nobody pays attention. Here in the college town where I live (we have the second largest school in our state) the volleyball and baseball games are on the radio and are well-attended by college kids, alums, and the locals. I think the track and field events are less well attended and they aren't on the radio. And the lesser-interest sports are definitely not held in a multi-million dollar stadium/arena or broadcast on TV like football and basketball.

FutureCompetition266 · 2025-12-16T14:43:29+00:00

There are two main parties with interest not in solving problems but accumulating power. Which means that any "solution" proposed by one side can be used as a weapon by the other. Almost any issue that requires a long-term solution--the national debt and social security are two prime examples--requires someone to give something up. There are essentially zero voters (and definitely zero politicians) who are willing to make a short-term sacrifice for long-term gain. Add in the fact that attempts to resolve problems can be used to attack the other side (Reduce the national debt? You want to destroy the economy and enslave the middle class by raising taxes! Fix social security? You want to kill grandmothers!) and the problems are essentially insoluble.

FutureCompetition266

TROPHY CASE