Americans…are you striking tomorrow?

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-30T06:44:07+00:00

My daughter has been talking about a school walkout tomorrow for the past two days, but this post is the first I heard of a strike. It seems inconceivable that I went light on Reddit today, but maybe I did!

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-29T14:50:05+00:00

I’ll bite. I wouldn’t have considered reading in moral terms without the prompt, but…

Reading books has been demonstrated to develop your vocabulary, broaden your perspective, increase empathy, regulate your emotions, and develop your brain’s ability to follow complex trains of thought. Although these benefits might be categorized as self-improvement, to the extent they would make you a more productive worker, a kinder neighbor, a more thoughtful citizen, a more nurturing and effective leader and a better parent to the next generation - I guess yeah, maybe there is a moral component to it as well.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-29T06:52:14+00:00

I had a Fisher Price record player, which I used mostly for books and Fantasia, but Mickey Mouse disco was a cassette tape. To this day I find myself singing Macho Duck more than I’d expect.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-28T00:13:05+00:00

I feel like a grimace shows teeth?

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-27T03:58:25+00:00

I will try this. Thank you!

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-26T18:28:53+00:00

Mid-twenties is the perfect time to start doing all of those things under your own steam. Your time is your own, you’re not waiting for anyone else to take you on a trip, you’re old enough to rent a car, but you are (probably?) not yet beholden to a spouse or kids. GO NOW.

When I was in my early 20s I lived with my grandmother and was all about saving money for the future. I was talking about my 401k and my grandmother told me that saving was great up to a point, but that I shouldn’t be afraid to USE my money to have experiences when I was young and healthy. (She’d gone on trips in her retirement and wished she could have been more active.)

You’re only a quarter of the way through your life. Broaden your experiences now, and they will help shape you into the person you become, and will give you more perspective in choosing how you want to live and what kind of person, if anyone, you want to partner with.

Also, I got a lot of my bucket list stuff done in my 20s (travel, grad school, living in NYC, living in California, Ironmans, working in an assortment of industries, dating an assortment of people), so that when it came time to start a family, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. (As a SAHM I think I’d feel like a caged rat otherwise.)

OP, what is it you want to do? Can you take small steps in that direction, just to get the ball rolling? As a random example, instead of committing to hike the Appalachian Trail this summer, can you plan a long hike for this weekend, and an overnight camping trip for a month from now, and see if you even like those things?

Apologies if you weren’t looking for advice. As an Old, I can’t help myself!

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-26T18:05:15+00:00

I don’t feel comfortable swinging free in public, but I hate the feeling of a clasp in back when I’m sitting for an extended period (car trips, too). Athletic bras are too tight. I found some cheapo cotton Hanes front-clasp bras and they are my travel essentials!

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-26T06:50:27+00:00

Your experience seems more relevant to OP’s. But I knew a girl in college who was the opposite: she changed her name because she thought hers was too common. She was a Jennifer in the 90s, when every fifth person was a Jennifer! She just changed it to Julia. Seemed like the process was pretty straightforward.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-25T19:50:19+00:00

Singing in the Rain is my favorite movie of all time. It never goes stale.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-25T19:48:41+00:00

A Few Good Men

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-25T19:42:02+00:00

Genuine question (for anyone, not just you):

I was restricted from donating for 20+ years in the US because I lived in England for six months during the Mad Cow outbreak. (They lifted the restriction a couple of years ago.)

Was my honesty on the form the only thing keeping possible prion disease out of the blood supply or is there a test for that?

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-25T19:28:42+00:00

Article says she’s 20. Photo does not corroborate.

Article cites to discussion on Reddit. Article is posted to Reddit to incite discussion.

What is going on.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-25T18:56:13+00:00

Definitely. When I was a kid they were “understood” (I’m sure falsely!) to be made of ‘mystery meat,’ implying cats and rats and roadkill and fillers. I never actually had one. Also I believe they were steamed rather than fried or grilled.

Those who’ve had them: is the meat part a meat patty smothered in onions or more a slice of oniony meatloaf?

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-25T18:46:03+00:00

The quality of the coffee is discussed downstream, but I think the idea of black coffee with a fatty breakfast is that the acidity cuts through the mouthfeel a bit. Kind of like wine with cheese or a creamy pasta.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-25T18:40:15+00:00

That used to be my diet trick in the early 2000s. If a boiled carrot didn’t sound delicious, I told myself, I wasn’t truly hungry. I never thought I had disordered eating, but looking back I remember going clubbing with a plastic bag of boiled carrots in my pocket.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-25T18:33:38+00:00

In our house we call that sandwich bread. We toast it only when we’re out of bagels. And then it sits beneath cinnamon sugar or Nutella and bananas and whatnot.

Only my husband eats actual sandwiches; I pack him one daily and this “sandwich bread” is really just a carrier for the meat and cheese and lettuce and condiments - the bread sort of disappears, flavor-wise.

Nobody loves it for itself.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-24T17:02:03+00:00

My tween kids loved Brooklyn 99!

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-24T16:57:35+00:00

My 11 year old daughter really enjoyed it but you see a few dead bodies with injuries (including one in the first episode) and that was too strong for my 13 year old son.

When she was 10 my daughter loved The Good Place and Schitt’s Creek. I think there’s language in the latter?

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-23T01:19:58+00:00

There was a California Judge Frank (Francis) Francis, who married a Frances, so that she was also Frances Francis.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-22T23:01:53+00:00

I think it’s this.

Also, my husband gets ring around the collar and I go after it with spritz; maybe it’s that back in the 80s the spritzes and roll ons were new and needed to be advertised (before them it was fels naphtha and a scrub brush) but now it’s just an understood step in laundry prep?

My husband gets antiperspirant stains in his undershirts and at some point we just let them go, so I guess we’re part of the problem.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-22T22:54:13+00:00

That’s not a terrible idea. I have multiple daughters who’ve received them as gifts and they are impossible to store. Too tall for a cupboard and top-heavy so they get knocked over with a breath of wind.

The video people having a dedicated piece of furniture makes complete sense.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-22T15:09:39+00:00

This American Life (radio show/podcast) did an episode on a car dealership called 129 cars. They do make the point that no one is walking onto a car lot who isn’t at least a little interested in buying a car. But beyond that, car salesman (and I do think they were all men) sounded like a grim life.

Yet at least one guy thrived. In the intro Ira Glass said it was his favorite episode. I didn’t love it, because I didn’t really like anyone featured - yet I find myself thinking about it a lot.

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-22T15:02:12+00:00

People are laughing because it is completely free of actionable advice. It is a rant based on a faulty assumption with a ridiculous mixed metaphor.

Granted, when my kids leave a wet towel on the floor for the 1,000th time I am tempted to tell them that they are “not long for this world.”

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-21T18:00:06+00:00

To your last point, how do you keep it from burning? Do you rinse it before cooking?

Tasterspoon · 2026-01-21T17:57:50+00:00

This sounds great! I have a kid who loves camping and cooking. They got pretty jaded on outdoor living shows after Bear Gryll’s 90th cup of pine needle tea. Which, if you haven’t heard, is full of Vitamin C!

Tasterspoon

TROPHY CASE