My mom used to be an official Ty ^® dealer. She has bags and bags if those leftover in her basement. Iirc she has the Erin one that is worth an absolute fortune.

Right before the market crashed on them, some flipper sold one to a secret Ty representative and told a story about how she bought them at my mom’s store. They instantly pulled her from being a dealer. It was devastating at the time. Just suddenly cut off her main source of income. In the end though, I think it was a fortunate blessing.

She was skirting and Ty’s rules though. She couldn’t sell them for more than the price set by Ty. But she could give them away as a promotion if people bought other merchandise. So she would give away the highly sought after ones with a purchase of $100-200 of other merchandise. She had lines out the door.

Zero symptoms. It’s something very common, and usually discovered by coincidence. But I’m down 40 pounds so far. My grandmother died of non-alcoholic cirrhosis. It was horrifying to watch as a teen. Now that I’m in my forties this diagnosis, which is common, seriously scares the hell out of me. So I take it as a good thing that I am using to make lifelong changes. Crossing my fingers. I still want to lose 20-30 pounds. If nothing else I’m saving great money avoiding the convenience food I abused on a daily basis. And I’m getting really into working out and am hoping to get some “gains” in the next couple months.

I was going to guess Minnesota when you said garbage plates. But I guess that’s different too. Wisconsin (where I am) has tons of cranberry bogs.

Cold soda, pour a short burst of soda over the ice to “rinse” it and prevent the texture of the ice from stripping the carbonation (same thing that happens when you put mentos in soda). It also fills the glass with as much carbon dioxide as possible, displacing the oxygen. Then tip the glass slightly and pour against the glass and between ice cubes about half way, rest for just a second (not completely) and finish pouring.

Ice from a home freezer is completely frozen, but a dedicated ice maker for restaurants or gas stations will have ice that is still wet which makes this far easier.

The absolute easiest and best way I have found is a Qarbo bottle. Which is a brand of home carbonator that allows you to carbonate any liquid and slowly release the gas. I will fill it with ice and soda, then recarbonate it before shaking it while pressurized.

Yes, I’m an American.

My allotment would be taken up by my wife and kids. So I’d have to ask.

Is cheese curds a thing where you are? If so, I might be where you are.

Technically the entire bag all at once will raise blood sugar higher, causing a bigger spike. The liver can’t deal with that much, so it converts the excess to fat faster than if it is spread out. The bigger problem is making it a habit of surprising your metabolism with huge calorie spikes with starvation in-between. One time isn’t bad enough to be concerned with. Weekly, or even daily will wreck your liver (non alcoholic fatty liver disease or NAFLD is just a couple steps away from cirrhosis)

Also, I’m no doctor nor do I have any background in the medical field. I just have a more progressed version of NAFLD from eating things like Oreos with both hands for forty years.

They did. Diesel steam was the main source of steam over time. Coal was used for a relatively short period of time. Wood for even shorter before that. Jupiter (the engine from Central Pacific that met I. That famous photo of driving the Golden Spike on the Transcontinental Railroad) was wood fired while it’s Union Pacific counterpart was more modern, and coal fired. But my grandad ran Diesel Steam his whole career.

Today there isn’t much nostalgia for Diesel Steam. So a lot of the working museum pieces are coal fired. I can’t remember if Big Boy, from UP, is diesel or coal. I think it’s diesel though.

I’m a railroader not a foamer.

Years ago we had the kids at the zoo. My son noticed something and called his little sister over (10 & 8 at the time). He said “look, those kids are about to get in trouble” while pointing at some kids chasing a swan on the other side of a river. Sure enough, their mom noticed and started yelling at them. Which made my kids erupt in laughter like it was the greatest thing.

Clearly you have never experienced fried cheese curds on a veal parmesan sandwich with ranch dressing.

Ok, neither have I but where I live in Wisconsin I’m pretty sure I could get that within thirty minutes or less.

Also poutine on a bun.

But an insane president will bluster about things he doesn’t want to actually do (like Canada and Greenland) as a distraction to keep us focused on this nonsense while he raids the government coffers for all the retirement money he can get his grubbly diseased hands on.

If teleportation gets invented, countries will cease to exist. Instead you will have Polities (polity). Boarders and location would have nothing to do with what polity you lived in.

As an American, I absolutely love this.