Random randomness

[hepcat]

I love rice pudding.

Speaking of which, I stumbled across a place called The Caribbean American Bakery the other day while out for a walk. They had amazing beef patties. But more appealing to me was the bread pudding. I love a good bread pudding.

[Kraken]

I’m almost tempted to try it just to say I have. I love the smell, but have always hated the taste of anything coffee flavored.

I never had coffee until I was around 22 - I was interning for the first time and dragging my ass in the office. My coworkers offered me a cup of coffee and I've been addicted ever since. I am not a morning person at all so coffee is pretty much the only thing keeping me from killing everyone.

I have no interest in fancy coffee or Starbucks or whatever people claim is the best way to make it. I will drink it brewed through a paper towel to get my fix. That said, there is no greater coffee than coffee made in a diner.

My parents started giving me coffee in my milk when I was a kid. Gradually the ratio changed to all coffee. By the time I was in high school, my mom bought me my own 4-cup percolator because she got tired of me dirtying her big one after school every day.

For all that, I’m surprisingly uncritical of coffee. If it’s hot and black and not burnt or stale, it’s good enough for me.

I do kinda miss perked coffee's muddy texture sometimes.

[Blackhawk]

I've mentioned it before, but I love coffee and used to be a huge coffee drinker until I started overdoing it about a decade ago, drinking about two pots a day. I got to a point at which I felt almost narcoleptic if I hadn't had a cup of coffee within the previous hour, then hit a point at which I could barely stay awake even after drinking it. I ended up weaning myself off of caffeine (I first limited it to one an hour, then 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then switched to black tea once per hour, then 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then green tea once per hour, etc - black tea has about half the caffeine as coffee, and green about a third.)

Once I was 'clean', I avoided all caffeine for probably a year before letting myself drink tea. I'm a tea drinker now, mostly green, usually having one cup of black per day. A couple of times a year, if I'm really tired and absolutely must get things done, I'll get a cup of coffee. But an hour or two after I drink it I tend to crash, hard, and I can sometimes still feel it the next day. It's not unheard of - my body simply developed a negative reaction to large amounts of caffeine, much the way alcohol can make you sick once you've had alcohol poisoning (another one I know from experience - thanks, 16-year-old me.)

And it's a shame, because I really, really love coffee. Every once in a while I'll get an Americano and just sip it for the flavor, tossing it or giving it away after I've had about a quarter of it.

[Madmarcus]

A French press can sometimes have a similar muddiness and flavor if you grind the beans finer.

[Anonymous Bosch]

I've mentioned it before, but I love coffee and used to be a huge coffee drinker until I started overdoing it about a decade ago, drinking about two pots a day. I got to a point at which I felt almost narcoleptic if I hadn't had a cup of coffee within the previous hour, then hit a point at which I could barely stay awake even after drinking it. I ended up weaning myself off of caffeine (I first limited it to one an hour, then 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then switched to black tea once per hour, then 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then green tea once per hour, etc - black tea has about half the caffeine as coffee, and green about a third.)

Once I was 'clean', I avoided all caffeine for probably a year before letting myself drink tea. I'm a tea drinker now, mostly green, usually having one cup of black per day. A couple of times a year, if I'm really tired and absolutely must get things done, I'll get a cup of coffee. But an hour or two after I drink it I tend to crash, hard, and I can sometimes still feel it the next day. It's not unheard of - my body simply developed a negative reaction to large amounts of caffeine, much the way alcohol can make you sick once you've had alcohol poisoning (another one I know from experience - thanks, 16-year-old me.)

And it's a shame, because I really, really love coffee. Every once in a while I'll get an Americano and just sip it for the flavor, tossing it or giving it away after I've had about a quarter of it.

Alas, caffeine tends to be the credit card of stamina.

[Max Peck]

I seem to be largely unaffected by caffeine unless I ingest truly prodigious amounts of coffee. I blame a decade's worth of constant consumption of mil-spec coffee while in the armed forces for building up a resistance to the bean juice.

Also, I'd take Royal Fruits' (who should really be called Royal Powders) information with a grain of salt. That image is from an advertorial pitching one of their own products as an alternative stimulant to caffeine.

[Unagi]

maybe 'regular people' just drink icetea and coke throughout the day?

[Daehawk]

Theres hardly any of the premix powders you add to water that I can drink. 99% of them contain fake sugar instead of being natural or letting me add sugar of my own. So I cant drink them unless I want to be sick...and Ive never trusted fake sugars. I mean 1 tsp of sugar is a few calories...walk to the bathroom or something people and burn it off sheesh

My wife drank diet coke and fake sugar up until her last decade with me. I tried all our time together to make fun of it and to ask her to just drink the normal stuff. In the end she switched due to taste or learning more about fake sugars herself or something. But she died of a totally out of the blue stroke. Something she should never had had in the first place unless there was some hidden huge stroke risk in her family we never knew of because she was adopted. And of course the fake sugar industry would have zeroed in on that in any medical study or investigation.

[Fardaza]

Theres hardly any of the premix powders you add to water that I can drink. 99% of them contain fake sugar instead of being natural or letting me add sugar of my own. So I cant drink them unless I want to be sick...and Ive never trusted fake sugars. I mean 1 tsp of sugar is a few calories...walk to the bathroom or something people and burn it off sheesh

Kool-Aid asks you to add 1 cup of sugar for 2 quarts of water. That's two TABLEspoons per cup.

One can of Coke has 10 TEAspoons of sugar!

One TEAspoon of sugar has 20 calories.

Your logic doesn't hold up.

[Blackhawk]

And the nasty effects of sugar aren't about the calories. It's about the damage it does to your physiology, proven damage which is just as bad as the artificial options.

[Daehawk]

Theres hardly any of the premix powders you add to water that I can drink. 99% of them contain fake sugar instead of being natural or letting me add sugar of my own. So I cant drink them unless I want to be sick...and Ive never trusted fake sugars. I mean 1 tsp of sugar is a few calories...walk to the bathroom or something people and burn it off sheesh

Kool-Aid asks you to add 1 cup of sugar for 2 quarts of water. That's two TABLEspoons per cup.

One can of Coke has 10 TEAspoons of sugar!

One TEAspoon of sugar has 20 calories.

Your logic doesn't hold up.

Im buzzed and my brain hurts on this. But whatever the calorie count its way low so why not use real sugar anyways. Stop consuming chemical mixtures to get the same taste.

[LordMortis]

Theres hardly any of the premix powders you add to water that I can drink. 99% of them contain fake sugar instead of being natural or letting me add sugar of my own. So I cant drink them unless I want to be sick...and Ive never trusted fake sugars. I mean 1 tsp of sugar is a few calories...walk to the bathroom or something people and burn it off sheesh

Kool-Aid asks you to add 1 cup of sugar for 2 quarts of water. That's two TABLEspoons per cup.

One can of Coke has 10 TEAspoons of sugar!

One TEAspoon of sugar has 20 calories.

Your logic doesn't hold up.

Is that right? We used to get the pre-sweetened stuff and it was two scoops for a quart way back when, and those scoops were smaller than 1/4 cup.

I remember I loved to inhale the fumes when opening pre-sweetened Kool Aid.

We never bought the add sugar stuff when I was growing up and I haven't made any sort of Kool Aid since I was a child.

[Isgrimnur]

[Anonymous Bosch]

Theres hardly any of the premix powders you add to water that I can drink. 99% of them contain fake sugar instead of being natural or letting me add sugar of my own. So I cant drink them unless I want to be sick...and Ive never trusted fake sugars. I mean 1 tsp of sugar is a few calories...walk to the bathroom or something people and burn it off sheesh

Kool-Aid asks you to add 1 cup of sugar for 2 quarts of water. That's two TABLEspoons per cup.

One can of Coke has 10 TEAspoons of sugar!

One TEAspoon of sugar has 20 calories.

Your logic doesn't hold up.

Im buzzed and my brain hurts on this. But whatever the calorie count its way low so why not use real sugar anyways. Stop consuming chemical mixtures to get the same taste.

Because drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is definitely not a necessity, it's just a terrible habit. As Blackhawk aptly observes, the negative effects of consuming excess sugar ain't just about calories. As you yourself observed earlier in this thread:

With no teeth I figure people take me for a meth head. Or at the least a poor southerner..which I am.

One would hope this is at least partly hyperbole, and that you do have some teeth remaining. In which case, you ought to keep the following in mind, assuming you'd prefer to keep what remaining teeth you do have left within your head:

How Sugar Causes Cavities and Destroys Your Teeth

Sugar Attracts Bad Bacteria and Lowers Your Mouth’s pH
Sugar is like a magnet for bad bacteria.

The two destructive bacteria found in the mouth are Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sorbrinus.

Both of them feed on the sugar you eat and form dental plaque, which is a sticky, colorless film that forms on the surface of the teeth.

If the plaque is not washed away by saliva or brushing, the environment in the mouth becomes more acidic and cavities may start to form.

The pH scale measures how acidic or basic a solution is, with 7 being neutral.

When the pH of plaque drops below normal, or less than 5.5, the acidity start to dissolve minerals and destroy the tooth’s enamel.

In the process, small holes or erosions will form. Over time, they will become larger, until one large hole or cavity appears.

…

Drinking Sugary and Acidic Beverages
The most common source of liquid sugar is sugary soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks and juices.

In addition to sugar, these drinks have high levels of acids that can cause tooth decay.

In a large study in Finland, drinking 1–2 sugar-sweetened beverages a day was linked to a 31% higher risk of cavities.

Also, an Australian study in children aged 5–16 found that the number of sugar-sweetened drinks consumed was directly correlated to the number of cavities found.

What’s more, one study involving more than 20,000 adults showed that just one occasional sugary drink resulted in a 44% increase in the risk of losing 1–5 teeth, compared to those who did not drink any sugary drinks.

This means that drinking a sugary drink more than twice daily nearly triples your risk of losing more than six teeth.

Fortunately, one study found that reducing your sugar intake to less than 10% of daily calories decreases your risk of tooth decay.

Sipping on Sugary Beverages
If you constantly sip sugary drinks throughout the day, it’s time to rethink that habit.

Research has shown that the way you drink your beverages affects your risk of developing cavities.

One study showed that holding sugar-sweetened beverages in your mouth for a prolonged time or constantly sipping on them increased the risk of cavities.

The reason is partly because this exposes your teeth to sugar for a longer time, giving the harmful bacteria more opportunity to do their damage.

…

The Bottom Line
Whenever you eat or drink anything sugary, the bacteria inside your mouth work to break it down.

However, they produce acid in the process. Acid destroys the tooth enamel, which results in tooth decay over time.

To fight this, keep your intake of high-sugar foods and beverages to a minimum — especially between meals and right before bedtime.

Taking good care of your teeth and practicing a healthy lifestyle are the best ways to win the battle against tooth decay.

[stessier]

I would also note that sugar is a chemical mixture.

[Blackhawk]

And again, calories, schmalories. Don't avoid sugar to avoid calories. There are other things to avoid if that's your concern.

Random article: How Does Too Much Sugar Affect Your Body?

Your Brain

Eating sugar gives your brain a huge surge of a feel-good chemical called dopamine. That explains why you’re more likely to crave a candy bar at 3 p.m. than an apple or a carrot.

Because whole foods like fruits and veggies don’t cause the brain to release as much dopamine, your brain starts to need more and more sugar to get that same feeling of pleasure. This causes those “gotta-have-it” feelings for your after-dinner ice cream that are so hard to tame.

Your Mood

The occasional candy or cookie can give you a quick burst of energy (or “sugar high”) by raising your blood sugar levels fast. When your levels drop as your cells absorb the sugar, you may feel jittery and anxious (a.k.a. the dreaded “sugar crash”).

But if you’re reaching into the candy jar too often, sugar starts to have an effect on your mood beyond that 3 p.m. slump: Studies have linked a high sugar intake to a greater risk of depression in adults.

Your Teeth

You probably rolled your eyes at age 12, but your parents were right: candy can rot your teeth. Bacteria that cause cavities love to eat sugar lingering in your mouth after you eat something sweet.

Your Joints

If you have joint pain, here’s more reason to lay off the candy: Eating lots of sweets has been shown to worsen joint pain because of the inflammation they cause in the body. Plus, studies show that eating or drinking sugar can raise your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

Your Skin

Another side effect of inflammation is that it may make your skin age faster.

Excess sugar attaches to proteins in your bloodstream and creates harmful molecules called “AGEs,” or advanced glycation end products. These molecules do exactly what they sound like they do: age your skin. They have been shown to damage collagen and elastin in your skin -- protein fibers that keep your skin firm and youthful. The result? Wrinkles and saggy skin.

Your Liver

An abundance of added sugar likely contains fructose or high fructose corn syrup. Fructose is process in the liver and in large amounts can damage the liver. When fructose is broken down in the liver it is transformed into fat. In turn this causes:

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): This is seen as excess fat build-up in the liver.
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH): is a fatty liver, inflammation and "steatosis," which is scarring of the liver. Scarring eventually cuts off blood supply to the liver. Many of these develop into cirrhosis and will need a liver transplant.

Your Heart

When you eat or drink too much sugar, the extra insulin in your bloodstream can affect your arteries all over your body. It causes their walls to get inflamed, grow thicker than normal and more stiff, this stresses your heart and damages it over time. This can lead to heart disease, like heart failure, heart attacks, and strokes.

Research also suggests that eating less sugar can help lower blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease. Plus, people who eat a lot of added sugar (where at least 25% of their calories comes from added sugar) are twice as likely to die of heart disease as those whose diets include less than 10% of total calories from added sugar.

Your Pancreas

When you eat, your pancreas pumps out insulin. But if you’re eating way too much sugar and your body stops responding properly to insulin, your pancreas starts pumping out even more insulin. Eventually, your overworked pancreas will break down and your blood sugar levels will rise, setting you up for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Your Kidneys

If you have diabetes, too much sugar can lead to kidney damage. The kidneys play an important role in filtering your blood. Once blood sugar levels reach a certain amount, the kidneys start to release excess sugar into your urine. If left uncontrolled, diabetes can damage the kidneys, which prevents them from doing their job in filtering out waste in your blood. This can lead to kidney failure.

Your Body Weight

This probably isn’t news to you, but the more sugar you eat, the more you’ll weigh. Research shows that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages tend to weigh more -- and be at higher risk for type 2 diabetes -- than those who don’t. One study even found that people who added more sugar to their diet gained about 1.7 pounds in less than 2 months. Excess amounts of sugar can inflame fat cells causing them to release chemicals that increase weight.

Your Sexual Health

If you're a man, you may want to skip the dessert on date night. Sugar may impact the chain of events needed for an erection.

It affects your circulatory system, which controls the blood flow throughout your body and needs to be working properly to get and keep an erection.

[Max Peck]

I was watching Doctor Who (S25 E8 Silver Nemesis: Part 1) and realized that isn't wasn't that the Eleventh Doctor "wears a fez now" but rather that the Doctor "wears a fez again." And accessorizes with a mop. I hadn't realized that little bit was a call-back to the classic series.

[Jaymon]

When I am feeling sick I will have milkrice. Cooked white rice hot. Top with a bit of honey or maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon, then cover with milk. It nice and easy on the tummy, but still qualifies as food, so you get something in.

[jztemple2]

I think this was a TV movie years ago... Space Coast officials prepare for massive seaweed blob

Brevard County officials are preparing for the worst-case scenario as a massive blob of seaweed looms on the horizon.

[Daehawk]

My brain tries so hard to read that link as Space Ghost

[Blackhawk]

Space Coast

Ghost to Ghost?

[dbt1949]

Maybe we'll be lucky and the Triangle will swallow it up.

[AWS260]

[stessier]

Is the picture of Mr. Pickles or is that the hatchling?

[hepcat]

I had to look it up as that was my thought. That's a hatchling. Mr. Pickles is a good sized tortoise.

[dbt1949]

Are tortoise/turtle eggs hard like a chicken's or leathery like most reptiles?

[Daehawk]

I get junk and spam mail from the tobacco companies. Ive been signed up because I used to get free stuff from their online sites. I felt I deserved it for all the money I wasted on them as a teenager and young 20 year old.

Anyways I get the coupons and crap now wanted me to buy their nasty products. They have to add the warning label even on their ads. This one is like "WARNING: Our product can cause mouth cancer!...and Im all thinking yaaaaa let me give you some money and you give me cancer. Fair deal there.

[coopasonic]

Dammit, I passed 20k posts without noticing.

...and by dammit I mean huh.

[Max Peck]

Unless you're touting legal brothels, you probably shouldn't run with Regina: The city that rhymes with fun! as a tourism slogan.

Experience Regina apologizes after criticism over new slogans 'sexualizing' the city

The organization in charge of tourism in Regina has apologized for slogans it used as part of a rebranding.

Tourism Regina rebranded to Experience Regina last week. As part of the move it unveiled several new tourism slogans. Reid confirmed the organization is apologizing for two of those slogans — "Show us your Regina" and "The city that rhymes with fun" — that received a lot of criticism online after the relaunch.

Tim Reid, CEO of Experience Regina (formerly Tourism Regina), published an apology on Sunday evening, days after unveiling the new brand on Thursday.

[Daehawk]

Dammit, I passed 20k posts without noticing.

...and by dammit I mean huh.

Congrats mate! Im nearing 60k worthless posts.

And as for Regina..never heard of the place..but does sound like a fun place to visit.

[Kraken]

Dammit, I passed 20k posts without noticing.

...and by dammit I mean huh.

We had cake.

[TheMix]

Dammit, I passed 20k posts without noticing.

...and by dammit I mean huh.

We had cake.

[Daehawk]

The cake is a lie.........still alive.

[dbt1949]

Over the last few years my sleeping has gotten worse. I use a cpap. Come to find out the cpap is probably the problem. It may help you breath better but it makes you sleep worse.

[Blackhawk]

Over the last few years my sleeping has gotten worse. I use a cpap. Come to find out the cpap is probably the problem. It may help you breath better but it makes you sleep worse.

Do you have sleep apnea, and is the CPAP calibrated for you? And have you tried other mask options? There are several.

If you do have sleep apnea, not breathing for extended periods at night does considerable damage, and is far more of an issue than the discomfort of the machine. FWIW, when I had sleep apnea, I got used to mine after a few weeks, and actually slept really well with it.

[dbt1949]

I do indeed have sleep apnea. VA gave me the cpap. I believe it was calibrated for me. I use it all the time. I was at the VA today talking to my doctor about it. I've been using the machine for over ten years.

[jztemple2]

Dammit, I passed 20k posts without noticing.

...and by dammit I mean huh.

Funny sometimes to think how long I've been on some forums. As "jztemple2" I've been on this forum since 2009 and my original date for "jztemple" was 2005 I believe. And today I was posting over on the OOTP Baseball forum for the first time in eight years and realized that I originally joined that forum 21 years ago

[Isgrimnur]

I know i'm not the only person who ventures around wikipedia a lot so I was wondering what interesting articles everyone has come across. The daily article was particularly interesting today and it was on....

Exploding Whales

Happy Exploding Whale Day

Oregon baseball team unveils new uniforms paying homage to exploding whale

[Kraken]

They could make some nice bux selling those T shirts. I want one.

[Isgrimnur]

https://emeralds.milbstore.com/collecti ... ing-whales