Re: Going Galt was never so sophisticated

1

It's intense, young ben. Really, really intense.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:09 AM
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It's absurd.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:11 AM
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Maybe it particularly appeals to high school kids?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:11 AM
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HS kids aren't dropping $5.50 on a bar of chocolate (I assume).


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:14 AM
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It dropped out of school and worked as a laborer before it finally became the chocolate bar-behind-the-throne?


Posted by: Turgid Jacobian | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:23 AM
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Following an MBA and ten years in corporate America she decided to leave big business and put her passion for sweets to work.

Next time you go in there wear this shirt ... and then who knows!


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:24 AM
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super dark chocolate studded with cocoa nibs for added intensity

You don't know what it has to do with potency?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:36 AM
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Alongside "Bessie" and "Monkey'in Around", the homage to "the super cool character from The Fountain Head" loses some gravitas. The phrase "the super cool character from The Fountain Head" doesn't help.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:51 AM
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8: the awesome character from The Fountainhead would have been better.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:54 AM
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No compromises, no concessions to the weakwilled sheeple who suck at the government's teat and who would like their chocolate adulterated with milk. Pure, dark chocolate is a symbol of progress, of the factories that make America great and bring it profit.

(Welll, it worked for cigarettes.)


Posted by: Martin Wisse | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:03 AM
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Maybe it's specially chosen non-Fair-Trade unregulated cocoa beans?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:05 AM
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11: Dangerous!


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:13 AM
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American chocolate is crap.


Posted by: Jesurgislac | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:15 AM
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It's pretty much the penultimate chocolate bar.


Posted by: Not Prince Hamlet | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:17 AM
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British chocolate is crap.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:20 AM
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German chocolate's pretty tasty, though.

Actually there's the swiss chocolate? They got at the Trader Joe's? Neither is it six dollars nor is it bad!


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:34 AM
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Is there a chocolate suppository? I'm aware of its goodness, but don't like the taste.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:48 AM
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15 is lies.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:30 AM
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18. Most British chocolate is crap, however, is broadly true.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 3:16 AM
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Most American chocolate is crap is also broadly true!


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 3:22 AM
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For a somewhat larger value of "most", I'd wager.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 3:31 AM
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re: 18

Yeah, I suppose.

But there's a lot of good chocolate out there. The quality of bog-standard supermarket dark chocolate [the 60-70%+ stuff] is pretty good these days, I think, compared to what you could get even 5 or 6 years ago.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 4:49 AM
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The quality of bog-standard supermarket dark chocolate [the 60-70%+ stuff] is pretty good these days, I think, compared to what you could get even 5 or 6 years ago.

This is actually true here too, depending what supermarket you're talking about.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 5:09 AM
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Although British candy bars are way better in the UK, from what I've been able to tell.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 5:11 AM
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What the hell am I talking about? Candy bars are way better in Britain the UK. Fuckin' too elderly too be up this late.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 5:12 AM
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I knew I was in a strange and different land when I saw Cadbury's chocolate (bogstandard British chocolate) for sale in an expensive gourmet candy store in California.

American chocolate is crap.

British chocolate is mostly just NABA American chocolate, and some of it is crap.

Belgian chocolate is fabulous. We should have an UnfoggedCon in Belgium. Beer, cheese, and chocolate.


Posted by: Jesurgislac | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 6:01 AM
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It's as if frites mean nothing to you.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 6:11 AM
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That wasn't a very gourmet store. Cadbury's crap chocolate. It isn't American, though.

Anyhow, there's plenty of good American chocolate.

Not as good as German chocolate, admittedly. But quite good.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 6:21 AM
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Hershey's chocolate is crap. But Dove bars are good.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 6:36 AM
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I presume there's American chocolate that doesn't have that gritty texture and sort of 'carob' taste?

I've not been impressed by a lot of German chocolate I've had. The Belgians are the ones, I think.

Don't forget moules and frittes, if we are having an UnfoggedCon in Belgium.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 6:45 AM
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There's a particular brand of SWPLness for those who pretend that Snickers Bars and Hersheys Bars don't taste delicious.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:21 AM
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Hershey's Special Dark has been blind-tasted and rated highly against such competitors as Callebaut and Scharffen-Berger (at similar %s). Believe it or not.

My mother swore that, 40-odd years ago, Cadbury's was really quite good, but agreed that Cadbury chocolate that she ate in the 80s was unremarkable. But that would explain it being sold as a premium chocolate, based on an outdated reputation + Anglophilia *cough*Jaguar*cough*.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:24 AM
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I knew I was in a strange and different land when I saw Cadbury's chocolate (bogstandard British chocolate) for sale in an expensive gourmet candy store in California.

That would be a gourmet/imported chocolate store. Selling things that aren't normally sold in the US, because they aren't marketed in the US and aren't imported in huge quantities to the US, and therefore they cost more than they're worth to sell and are only bought by Anglophiles or people nostalgic for England.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:33 AM
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33: Yes, I was going to say something like this. We here have Cadbury bars as point-of-sale items at low-brow supermarkets. The Cadbury stuff that shows up at fancier stores isn't being sold because it is fancy, but because it isn't readily available here. Like Flake and Crunchie bars: big market in that stuff for ex-pats and former "junior year abroad" residents. CA's parents have a house full of Flake bars and Heinz's Salad Cream and, like, Bisto. You can only get that stuff at "fancy" import stores, but no one would claim the stuff itself was fancy.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:46 AM
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The import stores here sell HP sauce for twice as much as Lea & Perrins, Walnut Whips for like $2.50 each, Jaffa Cakes for ridiculous amounts, etc, to a tiny customer bae. Seems normal.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:49 AM
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Flake is really not all that. My English roommate used to jones for it.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:51 AM
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The import stores here sell HP sauce for twice as much as Lea & Perrins

It is ridiculous. CA's parents have like 12 different varieties of HP sauce in the cupboard at all times. Possibly they pick it up in Canada, while visiting their other son, where all that stuff is just on supermarket shelves.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:54 AM
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My dad used to stock up on licorice all-sorts when he went to Canada. The rest of us thought he was insane.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:57 AM
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re: 31

Hershey Bars are disgusting. But I do quite like Snickers [assuming the UK and US Snickers are the same].


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:59 AM
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Hershey Bars are disgusting. But I do quite like Snickers

Anyone is allowed to dislike a particular vending machine candy bar. But writing the entire set off as being disgusting, compared to Extravagant Brand X, is totally SWPL.

I personally find Hershey's kisses to be the ideal unit of chocolate. I love how over-sugared they are. I also like less heavily sugared chocolate, though. Oooh! And ice cream!


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:03 AM
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Somewhat related, there are two kinds of soda I seriously want to order a six-pack or twelve-pack of through the mail, for stupid reasons. But no stores on your so-called "information" "super" "highway" sell a full range of both Brazilian and Texan/New Mexican sodas, or none that I know of. Faugh.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:04 AM
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But writing the entire set off as being disgusting, compared to Extravagant Brand X, is totally SWPL.

No. They're all too sweet for my taste. It's not snobbery, it's that they all share a characteristic I dislike. Some of the Brand X's have less sugar.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:06 AM
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If I could get Coca-Cola with real sugar, I might buy it. I know, I know, I could try looking in kosher or halal stores around Passover, but that so far has not worked. Mecca-Cola isn't a good substitute either.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:06 AM
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Well then, OFatEng, you obviously haven't tried the US's wide variety of salted-peanut-based candy bars. Snickers should be available where you are.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:08 AM
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Snickers are available where I am, and they're the best of the bunch, but the chocolate is still over-sweet.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:09 AM
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I like a salty candy bar. Payday, Take5: good stuff. Better stuff: Vosges' Barcelona Bar.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:11 AM
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I love Crunchies -- there was a deli where I'd buy lunch at my last job that carried them off and on, and it was hard not to buy one daily when I had the chance. But as everyone says, they're not better chocolate than any other candy bar, I just like the interior and I can't reliably get them. Flakes, eh. I find them annoying because they're hard to eat without a rain of tiny shards.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:17 AM
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Hershey bars are only for situations where Nestle or better is not available. But Hershey bars are still a far better option than no chocolate at all.

Snickers is good, but, notably, is a Mars product, not a Hershey product.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:22 AM
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What are everyone's thoughts on Ritter Sport bars? (Aside from the innate hilarity of calling a 600-calorie block of chocolate "sport" anything?) I used to get them in Beijing (at the posh college where I had an overpaid part-time gig teaching the children of the elite) and now occasionally buy them at Target.

Tasty, to my mind, at least the kind with cornflakes in. I mean, not posh. But good. Then again, I like a Cadbury's cream egg from time to time, so what do I know?

Although in real life, Equal Exchange fair trade dark chocolate is the best chocolate anywheres, and I say this after having tried some of those SWPL-bars recommended by W-lfs-n.

Maybe that could be a varietal of candy bar at one of these fancy shops? It could have bacon and some sort of exotic vegetable. Or snow-dried tofu, perhaps.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:26 AM
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"Swipple-bar" could be a variety, that is.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:28 AM
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re: 49

My wife likes Ritter, but to me they have that grainy nasty texture that some US chocolate has.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:40 AM
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I like the Rum, Raisin and Hazelnut Ritter Bar.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:41 AM
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If I could get Coca-Cola with real sugar, I might buy it.

All of our local taquerías and latino groceries carry Cokes made in Mexico with real sugar. Even my favorite swipple sandwich shop carries them now.

My dad used to stock up on licorice all-sorts when he went to Canada.

My dad used to stock up on Lyle's Golden Syrup and teabiscuits. He was obsessed with Lyle's Golden Syrup.


Posted by: Populuxe | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:43 AM
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51: Curiously, they are German, aren't they? At least that's how they ended up in the little shop on campus, the German connection.

Grainy? Huh.

The form of chocolate I can't stand is more the waxy, soapy kind...honestly, I don't really care for some of the chocolate-coated nut ones for this reason. There's particular quality to certain kinds of no-brand cheap chocolate that actually makes me throw up (certain cheap easter candy, for example) so I have to be a bit careful, or at least plan where I want to vomit.

Wilbur Buds are good, except that I can't eat them now that I'm vegan...unless of course I have a lapse, which has been known to happen.


Posted by: Frowner | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:46 AM
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I like golden syrup, but that may be because I was raised on my mother's reconstituted mapleine syrup, and to this day genuine maple syrup tastes kind of weird to me.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:48 AM
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||
Christopher Walken's twitter feed, at least, allegedly.
|>


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 8:55 AM
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27: I'm afrite not.
40: Hershey's Kisses are especially crap.
48: Nestle are evil. I boycott them relentlessly. I hate that they bought Rowntrees and now I can't have Rolos.


Posted by: Jesurgislac | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:02 AM
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If I could get Coca-Cola with real sugar, I might buy it.

I tried Pepsi Natural last week - cane sugar, kola nut, and "sparkling" water, which I guess is somehow distinct from carbonated? Anyway, it was good - definitely lighter than the regular thing - but confirmed my longtime impression that cane sugar soda is massively overrated among, well, SWPL types. To me it tastes not unlike diet soda.

Oh, and the packaging is gorgeous.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:04 AM
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39: [assuming the UK and US Snickers are the same].

They are not necessarily the same. I once had occasion About 15 years ago) to compare the ingredients of M&Ms sold in England and the US, and the minor ingredients were surprisingly different. So not sure what you can assume.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:04 AM
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14 It's pretty much the penultimate chocolate bar.

This cracked me up. "Ultimate" and "penultimate" really should have shown up in the other thread.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:13 AM
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58 - Wow, I had no idea that existed. I'm sad it's Pepsi and not Coke, though. I still remember pissing off the Pepsi Challenge guy at the Tulsa State Fair when I was about 12 or so. Given my two blind samples, I preferred Coke. Still do.

Also, I've given up on the Mexican Coke already. The label says it could be sweetened with sugar or corn syrup and the last couple bottles I've had lacked the extra kick of cane sugar. It's not worth paying extra just to be disappointed.


Posted by: fedward | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:15 AM
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57: Rolos are teh roxxorz. I don't have a sweet tooth by any stretch, but Rowntrees Black Currant Pastiles are to die for. Rolos a close second.

The overwhelming majority of sweets in the US are crap. I blame capitalism.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:31 AM
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62; Rolos were fabulous. As they are now made by an evil corporation that kills babies for profit, I haven't had a Rolo in years - decades?

In any case, I now pretty much entirely restrict myself to Fair Trade chocolate, so I'm afraid I'm just That Smug Person Standing Over There Being Holier-Than-Thou.


Posted by: Jesurgislac | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:39 AM
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Posted by: | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:46 AM
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Note that while all the bars are of the with-stuff-in sort, the Roark is the only one that's "serious": the stuff in is just more chocolate, and it's all dark chocolate, and ... and ...

It's the Gold Standard of chocolates.

what the fuck does Objectivism, or architecture, or modernism, or anything going on here, have to do with chocolate?

One Word for the future, young Ben, One Word: Flubber.

This confection is, literally, insanity.

Inhale, via your stomach, the heady air of FREEEEEEDOOOOMMMM! Even now leftists are converging to TAKE OUR CHOCOLATE! Eat it while it's good, lest the degraded hordes deprive us of the chocolate of our efforts!

Does it have more integrity than the other bars?

I'm surprised they don't cover it in gold leaf: the Japanese do stuff like that. I mean, hello, underexploited market here.

max
['Yes. You CAN eat gold!']


Posted by: max | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:50 AM
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The Ritter Sport bar with the butter biscuit is like mother's milk to me.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:58 AM
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And you know what's really good? French chocolate.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:58 AM
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Hershey bars may not be terribly tasty eaten straight. But they are truly the only acceptable chocolate with which to make a proper s'more.


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 10:02 AM
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Posted by: | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 10:04 AM
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||

OK, I'm going to a neighb committee meeting tonight, and we're having an email discussion about the agenda. It's making me think of Ezra's JournoList of World Domination.

That's right, developers: we're discussing your projects when you're not even in the room! BWAHAHAHA!!!

|>


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 10:05 AM
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Posted by: | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 10:06 AM
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Next time you go in there wear this shirt

Or perhaps a shirt that says, "Howard Roark was a rapist." I'm sure that'll get you some special treatment.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:23 AM
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JRoth, I think you live in a neighborhood where apartments have an abundance of weird fireplaces set in cool enameled tiles. You should organize an inventory of these fireplaces.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:27 AM
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All of our local taquerías and latino groceries carry Cokes made in Mexico with real sugar.

Here, too. (In lots of places, not just taquerías or upscale joints.) And in glass bottles, which I just love.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:30 AM
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61 to 74. About 2/3 of the times I've gotten the Mexican coke it's been indistinguishable from regular Coke. Which is basically 2 out of exactly 3 times, since it's also more expensive than regular Coke.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:32 AM
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In any case, I now pretty much entirely restrict myself to Fair Trade chocolate, so I'm afraid I'm just That Smug Person Standing Over There Being Holier-Than-Thou.

As previously discussed, Dagoba is extremely good.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:39 AM
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I have no difficulty distinguishing sugar coke from corn syrup coke.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:39 AM
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61 to 77, too.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:40 AM
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there are two kinds of soda I seriously want to order

What are you looking for, Ned?


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:40 AM
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Japanese chocolate is actually pretty good. Men's Pocky is OK dark chocolate.


Posted by: lw | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:41 AM
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I have no difficulty distinguishing sugar coke from corn syrup coke.

Yeah. Corn syrup coke makes your nose all sticky.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:47 AM
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I dunno, the last mexicokes I've had were labelled with sugar as the only sweetener.

Maybe I should up the pretension and stick to Jarritos.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:51 AM
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Maybe I should up the pretension and stick to Jarritos.

No no, Guarana Antarctica.

Which is the soda I wanted to order, by the way. Also "Big Red Vanilla Float", in the interests of balancing the snobbery with anti-snobbery.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:52 AM
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Actually I got a tamarind Jarritos yesterday at the civic center farmer's market. It wasn't that good.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:54 AM
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There's a store in LA which sells coke (and pretty much every other soda) exclusively in the cane sugar variety. If you happen to be in LA.

I haven't tried, like, cane sugar Grape Crush, but I intend to.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:54 AM
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I was going to guess Big Red, which I've only recently learned about. If you want to spring for shipping, I'd be happy to send you some. E-mail me at mypseud at gee mail.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:55 AM
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IIRC, Hershey's milk choc tastes wierd because they kept the sour milk that they started with by accident/cheapness. But I could certainly sell a swipple chocolate made with /lait fraiche/, like cultured butter.


Posted by: clew | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:58 AM
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Not Big Red, Big Red Vanilla Float.

I tend to think $19.34 including shipping is not a bad price for a 12-pack, including shipping, actually. I mean, cans of soda are heavy.

Thanks for the offer, I'll think about it. My main complaint was just that I wanted to order that and Guarana Antarctica at once from one store.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:58 AM
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...Lyle's Golden Syrup makes an excellent pecan pie, but it's a sub for corn syrup, not maple syrup!


Posted by: clew | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:59 AM
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You can get sugar Coke even in regular grocery stores right now -- it's in the Kosher for Passover aisle, and it has a yellow top.


Posted by: jms | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:59 AM
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The glass-bottle Cokes imported from Mexico are packaged in returnable bottles which will never be returned. You should be ashamed.


Posted by: neil | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:06 PM
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I've considered ordering some Dublin Dr. Pepper (we were going to have a Texas night of it with overnighted Blue Bell and some chicken fried steaks), but the shipping was too dear. Since I can't get any Pepsi Natural here I might have to get some kosher Coke, though.

Mostly I drink ginger ale these days anyway. Schweppe's has the least sugar of the major brands and has ended up my favorite for that reason.


Posted by: fedward | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:13 PM
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Try the Canada Dry Green Tea Ginger Ale. Trust me.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:15 PM
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I know people who like the diet version of that. Doesn't green tea have caffeine in it, though?


Posted by: fedward | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:24 PM
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72: Or perhaps a shirt that says, "Howard Roark was a rapist."

By the bye, for those of you who have been spared The Fountainhead, this is true. Of course she then falls in love with him. It's Luke & Laura all over again, but less sophisticated.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:25 PM
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It's Luke & Laura all over again

Who gets to be Robert Scorpio?


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:27 PM
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Not Big Red, Big Red Vanilla Float.

I was assuming I could find all the Big Red varieties here. But given how nasty Big Red is, I'm not sure I want to be complicit in your acquisition anyway.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:28 PM
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96: God, he was annoying.

Remarkably, GH had a quite serious plotline a few years ago (I went through a taping-it-every-day phase for a stretch) in which they actually tried to deal with how fucked up the beginning of their relationship was. (After each of them had been thought dead a few times, obvs.) The show got weirdly good after they ditched all the freeze ray/weather machine plots.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:39 PM
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I dunno, the last mexicokes I've had were labelled with sugar as the only sweetener.

Around here the labels have switched recently from "sugar" to "sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup." Unfortunate.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:44 PM
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95, 96: I'm staggered. That I know what this refers to, and that apo actually remembers Robert Scorpio's name.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:45 PM
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98: What?? A few years ago? Haven't those characters been dead for 20 years?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:47 PM
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They still film that show? I would have guessed it ended when I was a toddler.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:47 PM
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101: No, no. They were thought to be dead. It's like you don't even watch soap operas.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:50 PM
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The show got weirdly good BORING after they ditched all the freeze ray/weather machine plots.

(I still know all the words to "General Hospi-tale.")


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 12:54 PM
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105

Big Red

In my experience, rotgut red cream soda seems to be a specialty of rural inland areas of the south (especially Appalachia). I first encountered it in the hollers of eastern Kentucky. In addition to Big Red, I recall Tiger Red and Cherokee Red. I drink the most awful swill, but they grossed even me out.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:03 PM
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106

||
I crack up whenever I see the perfume house DSQUARED and their signature product HE WOOD mentioned. (For the record, there is also a SHE WOOD.)
|>


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:05 PM
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Cherikee Red isn't from the south, you should know that. I remember it from a large percentage of vending machines in Luzerne County.

Apparently it's made by the "Cotton Club" soda company. Those aren't available in Eastern PA, though. Only Cherikee Red.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:07 PM
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Doesn't green tea have caffeine in it, though?

Some, but less than any kola-based drink, and quite a bit less than Dr. Pepper (which actually has the most caffeine of any conventional soda, on par with Mountain Dew).


Posted by: Po-Mo Polymath | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:07 PM
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The heart of the would is the hart of the wood, you know.

Russell Hoban fandom appears to have offshoots in the weird folk movement.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:08 PM
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107: Ah, I thought there was a misspelling in the name, but I googled "Cherekee". OK, Appalachia in general.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:09 PM
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111

rotgut red cream soda

What is this?


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:10 PM
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112

98: Freeze ray? Weather machine? Wow. I've never watched more than a few minutes of a soap opera, but I always thought they were like Friends without the jokes, maybe a little crime-type action, and much longer-running. X gets pregnant in a one-night stand while she was going through a brief trial separation from Y, but they get back together and only X's friend Z knows that the baby isn't Y's, etc.

But apparently they have comic book-like plots? Huh, you learn something new every day.


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:11 PM
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Actually I got a tamarind Jarritos yesterday at the civic center farmer's market. It wasn't that good.

Limitations of the source material. Their lime and guava flavors are pretty tasty, though.

My fondest cane-sugar-soda memories are of the old orange Fanta made in east Africa. Deep day-glo orange and sickeningly sweet, it was fantastic stuff. Quite disappointed when the drink finally made a big push in the US and the bastards had reformulated it. I guess Orange Crush tastes closest to my memories, but it doesn't have the delicious additive of nostalgia.


Posted by: Po-Mo Polymath | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:16 PM
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98: Freeze ray? Weather machine?

"This is from Harvard, it ought to work."

"It is a relativity condenser!"


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:24 PM
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115

Huh.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:25 PM
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Dr. Pepper (which actually has the most caffeine of any conventional soda)

Dr [no "."] Pepper used to advertise that one should drink it 3 times a day, at "10, 2, and 4." We're currently in bargaining with the gigantic phone company that shall not be named and some Southern locals have been doing "Dr Pepper mobilizations," where at 10, 2, and 4, everyone stands for 5 minutes or they tap their pencils or click those annoying little clickers.

While we're on the subject of bargaining, we had a "health care day" ("Health Care for All, Not Health Care Cuts at GPCTSNBN!" "Cutting Health Benefits Is a Sick Idea"). It's always extremely popular. Everybody shows up for work with band-aids, casts, crutches, wheelchairs, scrubs, surgical masks, "bloody" bandages (ketchup), etc. This picture cracks me up every time I look at it. (Note to Standpipe's blog: He's acting.)


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:26 PM
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One of those guys looks kinda like dubya.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:27 PM
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118
Posted by: | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:30 PM
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103: No, no. They were thought to be dead. It's like you don't even watch soap operas.

Oh. So Luke must be like 50 now, not that there's anything remotely wrong with that. Probably doesn't have any hair left, since it was scant to begin with. Huh.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:30 PM
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120

X gets pregnant in a one-night stand while she was going through a brief trial separation from Y, but they get back together and only X's friend Z knows that the baby isn't Y's, etc.

Plenty of that, and lots and lots of amnesia, but also Blofeldian villains, demonic possession, and the agony of teenage acne every now and again.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:35 PM
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120: They still do the amnesia thing?!? DAMN! I mean, Dayumn, or however you spell it.

But Cyrus (at 112), don't you know that the various soap operas can be rather different, some focusing on the whole secret pregnancy, one-night stand shenanigans, others with just much more substance. You really don't want to be confusing GH with, say, As the World Turns.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:43 PM
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I mean, GH used to have Rick ("Jesse's Girl") Springfield and, uh, whatshisface, latino singer guy, on it.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:47 PM
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I have confessed here before that I have failed to acquire the taste for quinine, and therefore for tonic. But hope rises anew! Snark brought home some fancy-pants Fever Tree brand bitter lemon soda and I love it.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 1:48 PM
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Posted by: | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:30 PM
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fancy-pants Fever Tree brand bitter lemon soda

Ooh, I almost bought this yesterday. I should have?


Posted by: mrh | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:30 PM
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122: That would be Ricky "La Vida Loca" Martin.

This is not a conversation I ever thought we'd be having, parsimon.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:30 PM
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126: Ricky Martin, right! This is about the extent of my memory of GH, though. I watched it in late high school, and then a couple of years in my early 20s, but not since. I'm amazed I remember as much as I do. GH actors from that era still show up from time to time on contemporary tv shows.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:38 PM
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121
don't you know that the various soap operas can be rather different, some focusing on the whole secret pregnancy, one-night stand shenanigans, others with just much more substance.

Oh sure, I realize they aren't all identical. But I always thought that the variation was along the continuum you talk about here, from one-night stand shenanigans to more substance. I didn't know there were Blofeldian villains in there too.


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:51 PM
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111:rotgut red cream soda
What is this?

There are several brands of sickeningly sweet (to me) red-colored cream soda with names of the form "Xxx Red" that I have encountered mainly in Appalachia and the rural south. In fact in a few places I'd been to back in the day it appeared to occupy the position in the soda hierarchy usually reserved for colas.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:52 PM
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I have confessed here before that I have failed to acquire the taste for quinine, and therefore for tonic.

Me too. It leads me to feeling terribly unsophisticated.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:54 PM
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the problem with chocolates i never know when to stop eating and stop only when i finish the whole bar, then i have constipation
so i have to stop buying chocolates b/c it's not worth it


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 2:58 PM
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So never eat chocolate unless you're going to follow it with popcorn. Or some fresh or dried fruit. Chocolate and prunes -- two great tastes that taste great together.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 3:02 PM
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Ooh, I almost bought this yesterday. I should have?

I definitely vote it worth a try -- it is noticeably different from Schweppes. I found it good with gin or without. I was also thinking that it is something I would want to keep around the house if I were pregnant and anticipated feeling twitchy while other people got to drink booze. (Are pregnant women allowed to have quinine, though?)


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 3:08 PM
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popcorn i never eat too, and cheese
prunes perhaps will be okay, i'll try next time those together when i'll have this urge to eat chocolate


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 3:08 PM
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113: My fondest cane-sugar-soda memories are of the old orange Fanta made in east Africa. Deep day-glo orange and sickeningly sweet, it was fantastic stuff.

This. Fuck yeah. East African Orange Fanta. I drank like a bottle a day when I was in Tanzania.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 7:15 PM
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Huh. I was just reading about chocolate (which is huge here these days). The article is apparently by a high-end chocolatier, so a certain degree of skepticism is probably warranted, but the basic gist is that 80% of chocolate grown today comes from the low-grade forastero variety, which is often not even properly roasted, which is why most chocolate sucks. He, of course, uses better sources in his chocolates:

Most of the commercially available modern chocolate on the market today is made with the forastero cacao types, which is grown around the world and produces the most beans. One current issue in processing forastero is that a sizable percentage of growers (mostly in Africa) do not give forastero the needed fermentation time (sometimes they are only half fermented) for many complicated reasons. Forastero really requires a full fermentation to develop it's flavor and without this the final chocolate will be quite bitter without a full flavor profile. Chocolate makers try to compensate for this by over roasting the beans which further degrades the final flavor. 90% of all Belgium, French, Swiss, German, English, Italian, American and Latin American Chocolate is made with forastero.
Kakawa Chocolate House currently uses chocolate that has a high percentage of criollo and trinitario beans in our drinking chocolate. In addition, we sell very high end criollo, trinitario, single origin and blended eating chocolates - some of the best in the world.

Despite the self-promotion and, um, inelegant prose style, there's a ton of interesting information in the article, which is definitely worth a read.

On another topic that seems to have arisen here, I'm not very fond of soda in general, but Big Red is the most disgusting soda I've ever encountered.

Also.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:19 PM
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Yeah, I've head that about the beans. For a while I was looking into roasting my own cocoa beans so I could make chocolate at home. But I am lazy, so I did not follow through with that fantasy.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 9:26 PM
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I'm fond of the dark chocolate and the marzipan Ritter Sport varieties. Their motto is hilarious! Wish I had one on hand to cite it; something along the lines of: "Square. Practical. Good."

My favorite candy bar is the orginial Goldenberg's Peanut Chews (not the milk chocolate version, which is an abomination). The dark chocolate, molasses and peanuts: a wholly satisfactory combination. Sadly, they are no longer completely Philadelphian -- although still made in Philly, the Just Born (Peeps marshmallow Chicks) company now owns them. Eastern PA, still... but not Hershey! The new Peanut Chews packaging sucks, though.


Posted by: paan daya | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 10:14 PM
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the orginial Goldenberg's Peanut Chews

Exactly.

I didn't know they had changed the wrapper. It's an abomination.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 10:23 PM
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24: Can I just note that even though it's not special, the Lion Bar is just fucking fantastic? Easily my favorite. If I lived in the UK I'd weigh seven hundred pounds.


Posted by: Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 10:48 PM
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Given the results of my most recent fasting blood glucose test, this is pretty much the saddest thread I could possibly imagine.


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 03-19-09 11:04 PM
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Overpriced imports from the UK? Try buying PG Tips here, (originally one pound fifty, sells for over six euros.


Posted by: Martin Wisse | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 1:14 AM
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Their motto is hilarious! Wish I had one on hand to cite it; something along the lines of: "Square. Practical. Good."

QUALITÄT IM QUADRAT!!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 1:20 AM
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Does anyone else remember the pictorial condensed Fountainhead, comprised of a couple dozen photographs of a dia de los muertos type skeleton (playing Roark), that was linked all over the internet about 8 years ago? Where he was all like "I'm going to rape you in the service of my noble egotism, Dominique! HA HA HA!"

It was very funny. I wish I could find it again.


Posted by: jms | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 1:29 AM
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142. WTF? I mean PG tips isn't even a premium tea bag, if there is such a thing - basically catering tea.

(does Oxfam have shops outside the UK? If you want cheap and cheerful tea bags, your best option here is Oxfam's own brand fair trade. My BiL, who is as far from SWPL as you can get really, seeks it out for choice.)


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 2:09 AM
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originally one pound fifty, sells for over six euros

Isn't it cute how the Brits think we pay enough attention to the rest of the world that we'd have any idea of what their currency is worth?


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 6:29 AM
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he was all like "I'm going to rape you in the service of my noble egotism, Dominique! HA HA HA!"

Dude, it was Dagny in The Fountainhead. Though I'm sure Roark would have moved to Galt's Gulch and he might well have raped Dominique there.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 6:31 AM
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re: 146

Even more amusing that the person in question is Dutch. For double-attention-paying-fail!


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 6:32 AM
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1 pound is worth either 16 ounces or four crowns, depending on how big the head of the child king who wore the crown was the day they were beheaded. The measurement taken on that occasion is called a "foot", because of Cromwell.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 6:34 AM
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Though I actually do know what the euro is worth, I don't know how to convert one pound fifty into euros to understand the size of the price hike.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 6:35 AM
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re: 150

Right at the moment 1 pound is roughly 1 euro.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 6:37 AM
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138, 39: Goldenberg's Peanut Chews are the best things in the whole world.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 6:59 AM
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Right at the moment 1 pound is roughly 1 euro.

I think Flipper's trying to tell us something!

Meanwhile, I can't help thinking that "Roark" sounds and looks like a sound effect for throwing up, which is unfortunate for a brand of chocolate (or for that matter, for a protagonist). Rooaaarrk! You'll feel better when you've got it out..


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 8:56 AM
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obejctivists in denial is funny, i confess i thought that thought too, kinda, once


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 9:27 AM
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Right at the moment 1 pound is roughly 1 euro.

Holy shit. Last I looked, the Euro was ~$1.30 and the pound was ~$1.85. Big change. Considering how the EU equivalent of the Fed is fucking up right now, I'm either surprised or don't understand the movements of currencies.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 03-20-09 1:12 PM
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I am pleased to announce that I just got a mexican coke and the label was unambiguous about its containing sugar, not corn syrup.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-21-09 11:00 PM
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On topic for the OP: I saw a young woman reading "Atlas Shrugged" in a training class today. She was an employee of the US Army. Not a soldier.


Posted by: Turgid Jacobian | Link to this comment | 04-22-09 6:36 PM
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