It’s heating that allowed people to live in places where the winter will kill you, long before air conditioning was a thing, and I did live here in West Central Florida with no central air until I was almost 25.

At least the summer won’t kill most people, as long as you have shade and hydration. The winter up north will kill people without climate control in buildings.

I would upvote this as an unpopular opinion, even though here people do mostly prefer winter (since it’s not dangerously cold), because it completely disregards the fact that heating buildings in the winter is also energy intensive and polluting. Here in hot climate in the winter we just open the windows for part of the day, or use the heat pump to raise the temp inside a few degrees, instead of using it to lower the temp. That is not so energy intensive.

At my work we jokingly dismiss each other, someone will stand up and say to someone else “hey, John, you can go home now” as though they are the boss, and then that person will say to someone else “hey, Jane, you can go home” and so on. Until we are all dismissed for the day.

I don’t like the smell of any smoke but unsmoked cigarettes smell really good.

I read books to read what’s inside them, not to save them forever as objects. So chaotic evil it is. Unless there is a receipt handy.

Garlic toast! Yes that’s usually on white bread here, I use a baguette to make it.

Just make it. I don’t buy bread and haven’t in years. It’s not saving me any money but flour, salt, and water are the only ingredients in most of my breads and they are as good as the fanciest bakery rustic sourdough. And easy as heck to make, sourdough is so forgiving.

Oh hell no. Nonstick pans have to be babied - plastic spatulas, gentle sponges, and they get worse with time. Cast iron you almost cannot destroy, and gets better and better with use. Scrub away with chainmail, scrape with a metal spatula, it doesn’t care. Too hot? Doesn’t care.

You have those prices reversed though. My cast iron collection, as noted further down, cost less in total than my one really good stainless steel pan, and guess where some of that cast iron was purchased? For $10 at Walmart, LOL. And at thrift stores and Target.

I use cast iron for most of my stovetop cooking, but I’m sure it’s because my cooking style evolved around them, they were so cheap and absolutely the best pans I could afford. They become nearly nonstick, can go from stove to oven to grill, even fire. So for something like $5-20 each I accumulated a set over time, and I love them. We do wash with soap, dry right away, it doesn’t kill the surface. Now I have some money for pans, we do have one gorgeous stainless All-Clad skillet I call the “stick skillet”, my kids like it. But in terms of PRICE to quality, cast iron is where it’s at. That one All-Clad pan cost almost as much as all my cast iron put together.

I like weight measurement best, except for a few things I don’t really want to bother measuring closely, like cornbread or ricotta cake. Those I just know by volume and can scale up based on the number of eggs, and aren’t fussy.

So for cornbread I know the dry mix is half cornmeal half flour, with a spoonful of baking powder, half spoonful of salt, big pinch of baking soda for each cup of that mix. One cup of that for each egg you have; melt a whole stick of butter in the iron skillet at 425F while you mix the dry stuff, when it’s hot add the eggs and enough buttermilk to make a thick batter (have literally never measured the buttermilk), pour the melted butter in, stir briefly, then pour batter into pan and bake 20-25 minutes. Has never failed, and I’m sure it’s never exactly the same twice. It doesn’t matter.

“Recipes” like that I enjoy. And most of my cooking is loosey goosey like that.

But bread, and fancy cakes, and even cocktais, 100% agree, I would prefer to pull out the scale and SO much easier to do weight, in grams.

That is the way we had birthday parties too, and they are the best. Invite the whole family not just the kid. Nobody HAS to drink, and I didn’t because hosting, but it’s more hospitable to have adult beverages available. Often a “fancy drinks” area for the kids too, with colorful non alcoholic drinks and garnishes for them to create their own drinks.

So, so much better than a house full of kids all the same age. Kids running around in packs, adults chilling.

Yoga mat is about perfect for me IF sleeping on my back. Floor not bad. Bed is much better for sleeping on my side though. Absolutely hate sleeping cold though. Cold will wake me up every time.

I do agree. You can’t run the world economy like a pyramid scheme. Not sure there are “too many people” or just technology lag, and I don’t believe EVERYTHING is zero sum (we have increased efficiency in a lot of ways, and solar energy & nuclear don’t seem like they use as many resources as they provide) but easier on the earth if we don’t have as many.

I am not sure it’s even an unpopular opinion, though.

Hello, world!

I wear the acoustic earplugs to concerts now, or at festivals stay far from the speakers. But I’m not sure. Maybe yes if the acoustics allowed for the sound to be more evenly distributed over the crowd.

Those earplugs made for concerts are great, they literally turn down the volume but the music sounds good not muted.

I am so annoyed at Honda for discontinuing the Accord Sport 6 speed. I have one from about 10 years back and it is without question the best balance between efficiency, space, utility and fun. It is my “mom car” that can get the kids to school (now they even drive themselves, college daughter drops off high school kid on her way to school) and drives like a dream. I thought the Sport thing was just trim but apparently not, it handles better than my husband’s Mazda.

It’s not like I need a new one right now, or maybe even for ten more years. But God I miss being able to get manual shift at a discount instead of a premium. Honestly this is probably my last gas car and maybe last car, but dammit I am just sad.

I’m with you on green bean casserole, dislike. Cranberry sauce I make from fresh cranberries then don’t eat it. Not because I don’t like it, I just think it would be better as a dessert. Love mashed potatoes but the Thanksgiving ones are always some make ahead and reheat version. I think that’s the real issue with Thanksgiving food in general, you just can’t make that much all at once so the quality suffers. Chili would be better, or gumbo, something like that that benefits from being reheated. I do love the stuffing at Thanksgiving, and the gravy.

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday in one way - we do an All Comers version and end up with so many people here, it’s chaotic and loud and boisterous and we always have a cocktail hour so nobody cares as much about the food. And we have some vegans and pro chefs so get some good and interesting dishes always. It’s a lot of work for me but so much fun.

But the actual food? Christmas is better, Easter is better, and yes any of those grill outside holidays also better. Even Halloween can be better, creative and interesting. Thanksgiving is quantity more than quality.

Where do you live, and do you no exercise? I walk to work, get a ride home, go to yoga or take a long Pokemon Go walk or lift weights, no way am I crawling into bed without a shower.

If you are dead idle and living in a cold dry place, sure. But I don’t think that is most of the world.

ETA: I saw the comment below about rinsing, not washing. I am not using soap everywhere every day, no. More of a rinse off.

Also omnivores aren’t carnivores. I do eat meat but not mostly meat, I don’t think most people eat mostly meat. We are all eating a lot of the same food as vegan people. When my vegan daughter hosts dinner she serves things I make too. You aren’t going to get out of eating these slave grown vegetables by eating meat, unless you exclusively eat what you grow, forage, and hunt yourself.