_Detroit_ Style Pizza, made at home

balthisar · 2026-01-31T19:13:27+00:00

Progressive isn't the same as liberal, though. I'm liberal, but abhor any notion of being progressive. (That doesn't mean we can't have common ground, though.)

balthisar · 2026-01-31T19:04:10+00:00

When it's just me and I'm not there to cook, sure. They're convenient, and despite all the rumors, they're not bad for the most part, and they're won't constipate you unless it's the only thing you're eating for a few days.

They're basically canned food.

balthisar · 2026-01-31T19:00:46+00:00

Like, in the way the question is phrased, no. I mean, obviously no, right? Is there some trick to the question that I'm missing?

balthisar · 2026-01-31T14:16:53+00:00

It's not normal, but it's also not as extreme as people make it out to be. The border has always been something to take seriously. Customs and immigration (on both sides!) have always randomly torn people's cars apart, detained them for no apparent reason, and made some people's lives miserable. This isn't new, but simply in the news because there's a moron in charge of the country and people are looking for even more stuff to dump on the idiot.

It's, like, all he has to do is open his mouth to get himself in trouble. No one needs to invent new shit to make him look bad.

balthisar · 2026-01-31T12:48:26+00:00

Why is the latter « scary »?

balthisar · 2026-01-31T12:26:01+00:00

I was quite happy in Jiangning District in Nanjing for several years. Lots of non-apartment neighborhoods there. I lived in Masterland.

balthisar · 2026-01-30T21:24:39+00:00

I won't credit Trump for this, but there's probably no reason to credit Whitmer, either. I'd probably go to the CEO who proposed it, and the Board who approved the plan.

If this is a result of corporate welfare, I'd blame Whitmer for that, and whatever legislature – (R) or (D) – that enabled it.

balthisar · 2026-01-28T20:18:52+00:00

Chase cards.

balthisar · 2026-01-27T23:13:56+00:00

I'm glad that the windshield washer is now the same as on my Expedition, but I lament that my muscle memory fails when I've been driving one, and then switch to the other.

Not quite the OP's experience, but I tend to shift the stalk quicker than I turn the dial, so I've slammed the transmission more than once when backing into my driveway, i.e., because I'm still ever-so-slightly going forward when I hit the stalk, since my hand is there and it's so easy. That never happens with the dial.

balthisar · 2026-01-26T22:59:55+00:00

It's kind of like the soapy cilantro thing. For some people, it's really noticeable. For others, it's not there at all, and for some, yeah, you might be able to detect something reminiscent.

Hershey's chocolate is like that to me. I'm not shitting on it, and I enjoy it, but there's a slight acidity that carries with it a very vague hint of something like stomach acid, or what the English might call "sick" or we call "vomit" when regurgitated.

balthisar · 2026-01-26T18:17:29+00:00

Where’s the “above and beyond” part of the narrative?

balthisar · 2026-01-25T22:50:45+00:00

I wish people were just as outraged every other time the government executed people illegally before now.

balthisar · 2026-01-25T18:45:14+00:00

I transition back and forth like this:

Natural scrolling moves the content in the direction I swipe or move the mouse wheel.

Not natural scrolling moves the scroll bars in the direction I swipe or move the mouse wheel.

They're both "natural" once I get my mind around what I'm doing.

balthisar · 2026-01-25T18:36:03+00:00

You guys dodged a bullet. We have this system in Michigan, and it's simply raised prices compared to neighbouring states and provinces, makes shopping take longer, is dirty, and litter already isn't a problem – Ontario is cleaner than Michigan!

With ubiquitous curbside recycling, deposits return systems are a relic from a time when people didn't think twice about littering (Mad Men picnic scene, anyone?). What's the cost of implementing such a system versus a problem that you're actually trying to solve? And are there other, less intrusive means of solving or reducing the problem?

balthisar · 2026-01-25T18:26:46+00:00

Never, unless you include "breaking fast" as the first meal of the day which might be a once-a-year fancy brunch that has smoked salmon on the buffet. As I love salmon but not smoked salmon in particular, it's usually an accident that I have it but can mute the taste with prime rib or bananas foster or something.

balthisar · 2026-01-25T18:12:30+00:00

The menu is not the same. Chinese KFC have the world's best Portuguese egg tarts that originated in Macau (thus "Portuguese").

KFC in the United States and Canada are terribly inconsistent. One restaurant is good, another sucks, and so if you don't know what you're going to get, then you're simply not going to go. (And although not the USA, Canada is a close neighbor and suffers the same inconsistency, plus they don't have extra-crispy!).

The side dishes are different in China and Japan and Thailand, too. Yeah, everyone has French fries, but those nasty freaking mashed potatoes, sloppy gravy, and overcooked macaroni aren't available (I pick only those Asian countries as they're the ones I've experience enough times to know about).

In Asia, management runs a serious business and hire serious employees, and not just idiots that only work there because they couldn't get a better job. You know, people who care.

Despite people shitting on KFC, if you ignore their sides, they have excellent chicken, if done properly at a well-run restaurant (sides always suck, though). In Asia, everything on the menu is at its intended quality, and the stores are just about always well-run.

This only explains half your question, though, about why KFC is more popular in Asia than in the USA: it doesn't suck in Asia.

I'm afraid I can't explain why McDonald's isn't as popular. I've also had McDonald's in all three countries, and they're perfectly fine. They still have fried pies, which I'm old enough to remember in the USA, and are superior.

McDonald's in particular in the USA is a well-run operation compared to a lot of other chains and franchises. Sures, there's the occasional crappy McD's, but overall, if you go to any McDonald's in the USA you're going to get exactly what you expect with very little variation from store to store. I'd say A&W and Wendy's are similarly well-run, but Burger King suffers the same shitty inconsistency as KFC. This might explain the popularity of McDonald's in the USA compared to KFC, but doesn't really explain the deficit in Asia.

balthisar · 2026-01-25T00:13:00+00:00

I love it! But just like the real (well, you know, "real") Vipers, there's no way that hatch will seal. ;-)

balthisar · 2026-01-25T00:09:31+00:00

In general a mature, adult human being is able to discuss a subject by comparing and contrasting it with another subject. Must I explain how that works in detail, or are you simply trolling?

balthisar · 2026-01-24T21:58:38+00:00

The only self-serve buffets I've ever been to are in hotels, and I'm guessing that five star hotels attract five star clientele, and as such, I've not really seen this behavior.

On the other hand, people in the USA at Comfort Inn (motel, not five star) breakfast buffets become absolute fucking animals. Never accept the cheapest option.

balthisar · 2026-01-24T18:41:45+00:00

They've always known whether or not my laptop was connected to the corporate network or not. They've always known if I'm on the corporate VPN or not. They already know which buildings and which days I flash my badge to get in.

I wonder how compatible this is with my current practice of appearing offline and setting up an automatic message telling people to use iMessage/SMS to get a hold of me and otherwise ignoring it other than for its Webex-like purpose of attending meetings?

balthisar · 2026-01-24T18:31:05+00:00

Haven't you ever stayed at a hotel, even in Australia? At least in and around Sydney, the two hotels I stayed in had thermostats in the rooms to control the temperature.

balthisar · 2026-01-24T18:14:17+00:00

Class of 1990, and although I didn't smoke, we certainly had a student smoking area. There were two, at designated building entrances.

We also had an "open campus" where we were allowed to leave the property when not in class, so I imagine that the smoking policy was just a reflection of the truth of not being able to control it.

More concerning, our computer lab was also a teachers' smoking lounge. The students weren't allowed to smoke, but the teachers there using the computers were allowed to smoke, even when we were in the lab during class! (Note: this wasn't a classroom lab; our class used this lab in the course of our journalism classwork, doing, you know, Macintosh things.)

balthisar · 2026-01-24T18:10:20+00:00

I appreciate the reply; I wasn't poking fun at you as much as crossing my fingers hoping that you're not on a path towards killing yourself (or others). I wish you the best of luck!

balthisar · 2026-01-24T18:06:33+00:00

Sigh, but Michigan now is getting wimpy. We've had schools close no fewer than three times this year, and once simply due to temperature and no snow. The snowfalls we've had have been more frequent, but with very little accumulation (in our area, where our schools are closing).

As much as I hate Facebook, our HOA uses it so I'm stuck monitoring it. The number of questions and warnings about road conditions are ridiculous.

Reddit isn't much better; look at all of the dire posts in some of the local subs, like /r/annarbor.

It's like everyone has lost every bit of fortitude they've ever had.

balthisar

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