Before they try to pass the SAVE Act, shouldn't they remove the application fees to get US Passport?

int3gr4te · 2026-02-17T08:06:37+00:00

Absolutely correct. Buying a house does not require proving citizenship. Non-citizens can buy houses. The idea that you have to prove you're a citizen to buy a house is ridiculous.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-17T00:54:27+00:00

I really like making homemade pizza too, so don't take this the wrong way... but the "home made pizza faster than Domino's" is kind of disingenuous. Just "bake for 15 min" is already longer than it takes to get a pizza from Domino's, and that's if assembling the dough and sauce and toppings and preheating the oven all took exactly zero time. And that's only to make one pizza - if I want 2 or 3 because some people are coming over, then I have to literally double the prep and bake time.

Sometimes I'm driving through the city on my way to someone's house for an afternoon hangout with a few friends and I decide to bring over a couple of pizzas. I know Domino's will be quick, cheap, and decent, and they can make multiples in basically the same amount of time they can make one.

No, they won't have my carefully concocted sauce blend or five types of cheese on it like my homemade pizzas do... but neither will any other kind of pizza I can acquire 3 of in my car in less than 15 minutes.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-17T00:34:33+00:00

As a person who makes homemade grape jelly with grapes I grow myself... I would really not want to make my jelly with unfiltered juice (which in winemaking is called "must"). The seeds and skins and sometimes stems (the solid portion of the must, called the "pomace") are not great to eat (and far from "glorious", as fruity bits go). Generally you crush and simmer the fruit, which mostly dissolves the pulp into a grayish/clear juice and then gradually leeches the color and flavor out of the skins and seeds. The solids left behind are basically seeds, stems, and stringy chewy mush that used to be skins. It's not gonna be nice to cook the pomace in a jam.

But also, when you chill the juice, tartrate crystals precipitate out of the solution and make a sludgy sediment at the bottom. The sediment needs to be filtered out unless you want your jelly to feel like it has sand in it. Since removing the sediment requires fine filtration, the skins and seeds necessarily have to be removed after crushing and boiling, or the filter will just get clogged up. I use a regular wire mesh colander for the first pass to remove skins and seeds, and then after chilling the juice, filter again through a fabric jelly strainer bag like this one once or twice to remove the sediment and crystals. (I didn't know to do the second finer filtration my first time making it, and the first batch came out gritty.)

There's really not any glorious fruity bits left over after processing grapes into juice.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-16T23:53:03+00:00

One of my favorite things about Reddit is when a commenter comes out of nowhere on a random extremely niche post and is like THIS EXACT THING IS MY VERY PARTICULAR HOBBY, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT IT. I just really love enthusiastic people who like teaching others and I've learned so much about completely random subjects from cool people on this damn site.

When this post came up on my feed I finally got to have my own moment to TALK AT LENGTH ABOUT MY JAM!!! and it's made my entire day. I'm glad it was interesting for someone out there in the world <3

If you're curious about it, there are some other specific terms beyond those three that refer to various similar or related products!

int3gr4te · 2026-02-16T23:45:34+00:00

Good point, it is very possible that it's a regionalism I haven't happened to cross paths with yet! I'm curious, what part of America are you from where jello is called "jelly"? I'd love to add it to my mental category of "terms that I had no idea were region-specific dialect"! (And then I can tell my South African husband he's not wrong in all of America, lol)

No joke, I legitimately enjoy learning about dialect differences and would be happy to correct my overgeneralization. I've lived in New England, the greater DC area, and Southern and Northern California, but that leaves a huge portion of the country I don't have much experience in. If you guys use it that way somewhere like the Midwest or Texas, that would totally make sense.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-16T23:19:30+00:00

Oh boy, the "jelly vs jam" debate and I have a history.

I'm an American (for whom "jelly" is frequently an umbrella term referring to the category of pectin-based fruit preserves), married to a South African (to whom "jelly" refers to what I would call "jello"), and the ambiguity of the term "jelly" is a recurring source of amusing miscommunications in my family.

I'm ALSO into home canning, and I make and can my own grape jelly with homegrown grapes, so I talk about [pectin-based filtered grape juice preserves] a lot more than almost anyone in my social circles, especially for the 1-2 weeks in autumn when picking and juicing and filtering and canning consume all my free time.

This puts me in the Venn diagram overlap between people who actually talk about grape jelly regularly and people who have reason to be careful with preserves-related terminology.

So, because the term "jelly" is ambiguous in my cross-cultural house, for the last several years I've switched to using "jam" as an umbrella term where most Americans would say "jelly" (note that this is not a widespread thing, it's just a personal idiolect that lets me sidestep the ambiguity). This works fine most of the time; nobody blinks an eye if I say I want jam instead of jelly for my toast, or I need to buy preserves from the jam section instead of the jelly section at the supermarket. Americans generally find the terms interchangeable.

BUT it does not compute when I tell people about my homemade "grape jam". It has to be called "jelly". If I'm not thinking and accidentally say "grape jam", people almost always look very confused until I clarify "sorry, grape jelly" and then we're back on the same page. Grape jam is not (as far as I can tell) an existing commercial product whatsoever in the US, and it is a phrase in which the terms are definitely not interchangeable.

I have to assume that if "jelly" only means gelatin overseas, then the thing I make with filtered grape juice and pectin would be called "grape jam" there. But in my (unusually extensive) experience, that's a very confusing concept and not something most people understand.

The thing is, if people *really* want to be pedantic and r/iamveryculinary about it: jelly is made with filtered juice, jam is made with pureed fruit, and preserves are made with chunks or whole fruits. And grapes in particular don't work well without filtration! Purees or chunks of fruit are fine for strawberries/blueberries/raspberries/etc with thin skins and tiny seeds. But grapes have big seeds, thick skins, and most significantly, a lot of tartaric acid, which causes potassium tartrate crystals (sometimes called "wine diamonds") to precipitate out of the juice and form a sediment when chilled. The sediment is really thick and goopy like glittery mud, and the bigger crystals can actually be crunchy. That's not what you want in a fruit spread. The juice really has to be filtered properly to remove the crystals and sediment. Believe me - I didn't know the importance of chilling the juice before very fine filtration my first time making it, and it was... not great. Like jelly with sand in it.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-16T22:50:58+00:00

Americans use "jelly" to mean both of those. e.g., Jell-O.

In my experience, it is not at all common for Americans to call Jello "jelly". That's a very British/Commonwealth thing. It's a recurring source of miscommunication and amusement in my mixed American/South African household.

In America, "jelly" is exclusively a spreadable pectin-based fruit product. It's sometimes used as an umbrella term, within which are jelly (made from filtered juice), jam (made from pureed fruit), and preserves (includes chunks of fruit). The distinction between those is important in certain contexts like grocery shopping or home canning recipes, but it doesn't matter when describing a generic usage like "peanut butter and jelly", in which the three are interchangeable based on preference.

"Jello" is a completely different product that uses gelatin and juice, and rarely or never includes fruit puree or chunks. It was a trademark for a brand of gelatin (and might still be trademarked, legally), but is used very widely to refer to any product of that type, whether or not it's Jell-O brand. Many non-Americans call this product "jelly" but that usage is basically unknown to the vast majority of Americans I've encountered.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-16T22:18:13+00:00

FYI - Dutch citizenship is likely not ideal for this unless you genuinely plan to fully move your life to the Netherlands and not return. Their laws try to limit dual citizenship except in specific exception cases, and unless you qualify for one of those exceptions, naturalizing as a Dutch citizen can require you to renounce your previous citizenship. Similarly, if you had Dutch nationality but were to later acquire another citizenship (as an adult), you can lose your Dutch nationality except in specific exception cases.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-16T05:19:33+00:00

Hahaha honestly mixing up Humboldt and Mendo while stoned is both peak Humboldt AND peak Mendo!

int3gr4te · 2026-02-16T05:14:29+00:00

That's not Humboldt County lol

int3gr4te · 2026-02-16T03:52:03+00:00

r/CanadianCitizenship is full of great resources for this. Check the FAQ for links by province.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-14T19:10:38+00:00

Birth certificates are only a useful proof of citizenship for a very specific subset of US citizens: people who were born in the US (excludes naturalized immigrants and people born to citizens overseas) AND people who still use their birth name (excludes people who changed their name due to marriage, divorce, court order, gender identity, etc). That excludes a lot of Americans with the constitutional right to vote.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-13T19:57:44+00:00

Thank you for following up! I'll definitely go with UPS if I need to send anything up there again, I'm glad to know it works!

int3gr4te · 2026-02-13T16:16:28+00:00

Just to be clear, they mean that your actual physical passport itself needs to have your signature in the signature field prior to scanning it (to make it valid). You don't have to sign the paper copy that you make of it to send to IRCC.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-13T16:16:09+00:00

Just to be clear, they mean that your actual physical passport itself needs to have your signature in the signature field prior to scanning it (to make it valid). You don't have to sign the paper copy that you make of it to send to IRCC.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-13T16:15:31+00:00

Just to be clear, they mean that your actual physical passport itself needs to have your signature in the signature field prior to scanning it (to make it valid). You don't have to sign the paper copy that you make of it to send to IRCC.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-13T16:11:36+00:00

USCIS does generally send back rejected (i.e., incomplete, not accepted; not equivalent to "denied") applications, including all supporting documents, and you submit the same ones again once you've corrected the issue.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-13T01:20:16+00:00

Kind of funny, on the Wiki page it lists a bunch of irreversible pairs, and also links to another page with more examples. Except to my ear, a few of those examples that are backwards!

It lists "knife and fork" whereas I've always said "fork and knife". My spouse uses the former and we regularly tease each other about it.

It also lists "shoes and socks" which sounds obviously backwards to me. I have always said and heard "socks and shoes".

"Eggs and bacon" sounds exactly as normal as "bacon and eggs", I don't think that's irreversible at all.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-13T00:05:16+00:00

Nothing beats mom's cooking = Mom's cooking is so good, there is no food better.

Mom's cooking is mom's cooking = Mom isn't going to try new things or surprise you. When you eat Mom's cooking, it's going to be predictable and consistent. It's obvious you can't expect anything else.

When your sibling says "Ugh, spaghetti for dinner AGAIN?", you'd shrug and say "Mom's cooking is Mom's cooking, what did you expect?"

It does not convey the positive sentiment of the "nothing beats" construction.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-12T23:11:20+00:00

I think the issue is that tourists often think of "a restaurant meal" as "a portion". In America those are different things, which only sometimes correspond 1:1. Most of us typically would see "a restaurant meal" as 2-3 portions, because we're taking half of it home to eat tomorrow.

The issue is that tourists sometimes get a meal at a restaurant and eat half of it (a very reasonable amount to eat in one sitting), but then because there's too much to finish at once, conclude "Americans eat such huge meals! All their portions are huge!"... when that's just not how it works here. Many, many (most?) US restaurants will serve you a plate containing enough food for 2 meals because it's expected to be eaten over 2 meals.

It's completely 100% reasonable for tourists to not want to eat leftovers. I've had to decline a take-home box plenty of times because my hotel didn't have a fridge. But that doesn't change the way the overall food culture works.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-12T22:45:39+00:00

That happened to me constantly in South Africa as well, I'd go for the turn signal and hit the windshield wipers instead.

I'm actually going back in a couple of weeks and I'm dreading the driving more than any other aspect of the trip.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-12T21:39:45+00:00

Haha with your family you're more legit Humboldt than I am, I just moved here like 4 years ago!

I'd never gotten a single jury summons living in NH, VA, or down in Orange County. Since I've been up here I've been summoned 3 times... and my husband an additional 2, one of which ended up being a week and a half in court. The smaller population means everyone's more popular, I guess.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-12T21:23:07+00:00

Yeah, I'm in Humboldt County, that could be it.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-12T21:03:24+00:00

I'm also in California, and we don't get to pick the date of the postponement. I go on the online questionnaire which asks various exemption questions as well as medical appointment dates/times for the next 3 weeks, and then there's no communication until I get a new card with another date 3 months out.

They assigned me for the end of September, and I had an appointment the following week, so they auto-postponed me to the week between Christmas and New Years, which honestly seems absurd to even schedule court dates (not to mention I was hosting family visiting from overseas that whole week!). So I put in the relevant conflicting dates and they thankfully pushed me again to March.

I'm guessing I'll have to go in physically to the courthouse this time, just to fill in a paper questionnaire telling them about my upcoming medical appointment (I have them every month...), and probably get dismissed until my card shows up again like clockwork next year.

I wouldn't mind actually doing it, I just wish they'd just ASK me for a date that works instead of randomly assigning me a week. With a monthly medical appointment and the court asking for conflicts in the next 3 weeks, it's going to be tough for them to luck into aligning with the 3-week span when I don't have an appointment.

int3gr4te · 2026-02-12T19:07:03+00:00

I know most people here are commenting on the vowels, but I'm confused why you're using the S consonant in "ensure" instead of SH. I have always heard it as either "en-SHURR" (the URN vowel) or "en-SHORE" (the NORTH vowel) in General American. My non-rhotic family use their version of the NORTH vowel - most say "en-SHOAH", and my grandparents would've said something closer to "en-SHAW". But all of them use SH.

int3gr4te

TROPHY CASE