🙅 THE BAD IDEAS THREAD
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Bad (and/or Evil) Idea: organizing a live-action FATAL campaign at Lilith Fair.
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I always thought this was the purpose of salt shakers. You prepare the food with a minimal amount of salt, and then the recipients can salt it to taste.
Well, maybe. Salt shakers are for people who don't know how to cook. Food will taste better if adequately salted as you prepare it.
But, it can sort of be used as a crutch at the table. But it won't taste the same or as good.
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Well, maybe. Salt shakers are for people who don't know how to cook. Food will taste better if adequately salted as you prepare it.
But, it can sort of be used as a crutch at the table. But it won't taste the same or as good.
Except that you can run into problems when cooking for groups of people, because different people prefer different amounts of salt. Now this is generally less of an issue with smaller groups of people, and even less of an issue with people who live together. But there are still times when my wife will add salt to a dish that I think is fine, or vice versa. There used to be times when she would cook a meal to her preference and I would occasionally have to find something else to eat because it was too salty for me, or I would do the same to her. We finally agreed to use minimal salt in our cooking and use the shakers as needed to make sure everyone was happy. No, it doesn't taste quite the same because the salt is only on top instead of mixed in, but at least we end up with meals we are both willing to eat.
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Except that you can run into problems when cooking for groups of people, because different people prefer different amounts of salt. Now this is generally less of an issue with smaller groups of people, and even less of an issue with people who live together. But there are still times when my wife will add salt to a dish that I think is fine, or vice versa. There used to be times when she would cook a meal to her preference and I would occasionally have to find something else to eat because it was too salty for me, or I would do the same to her. We finally agreed to use minimal salt in our cooking and use the shakers as needed to make sure everyone was happy. No, it doesn't taste quite the same because the salt is only on top instead of mixed in, but at least we end up with meals we are both willing to eat.
Fair enough. I have never run in to someone that sensitive about salt. When I cook, I season to taste and properly seasoned food should not taste salty. It should just taste more. Salt has that interesting characteristic of magnifying sensation of taste.
I even did an experiment once where I made vanilla ice cream. I made a double batch of the base mix and added a pinch of salt to only one of them. Not entirely scientific, but good enough for home usage. You could tell a distinct difference between the two and the one without salt turned out very bland.
But, I could see an issue where one person prefers things to taste salty, it would be overpowering for those who prefer their food to not taste as such.
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I'm sure I'm a strange edge case, but I actually don't like the taste of salt much. Most fast food tastes like it was doused in salt. If I cook, I hardly use any salt if at all, and I don't know if I've ever salted food after the fact.
Sugar, on the other hand, I could eat by the pound.
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You can always add salt.
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Fair enough. I have never run in to someone that sensitive about salt. When I cook, I season to taste and properly seasoned food should not taste salty. It should just taste more. Salt has that interesting characteristic of magnifying sensation of taste.
That's actually one of the defining characteristics of edible salts. Not just sodium chloride, but even monosodium glutamate, which has an undeservedly bad rap. Whereas traditional table salt tends to enhance many flavours across the taste spectrum, MSG is unique in that it enhances savory flavors specifically, which is why you really only find it in savory dishes or foods that are to be added to savory dishes.
But, I could see an issue where one person prefers things to taste salty, it would be overpowering for those who prefer their food to not taste as such.
I suspect that the issue with my wife and I is that we have become accustomed to tasting just a hint of salt in certain dishes. Unfortunately, neither of us expects that hint of salt in the same dishes, so that's probably where the conflict in tastes comes from. Either that, or we are each sensitive to different flavors in the dishes in question, and the salt does not necessarily enhance our enjoyment of the dishes in question in quite the same way. As a food scientist, I wonder if she'd ever want to do a study on us …
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As a food scientist, I wonder if she'd ever want to do a study on us …
Your wife is a food scientist?
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You can always add salt.
No. Well, you can, but it becomes inedible after a certain point.
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@abarker said:
As a food scientist, I wonder if she'd ever want to do a study on us …
Your wife is a food scientist?
Yeah. It's a bit of a joke between us because she has a college degree and I don't, but I can earn more than twice what she can.
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Yeah.
That's awesome. My favorite parts of 'Good Eats' were when Alton Brown had on food scientists. I found it fascinating.
It's a bit of a joke between us because she has a college degree and I don't, but I can earn more than twice what she can.
My wife does not have that same sense of humor about the subject... I was opening the mail a few months ago, sorting out checks:
Wife: "This single check is how much I bring home in two weeks."
Me: "I made that in about 8 hours."
Wife: "...and you're a college dropout. I don't like you, or guidance counselors."
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Wife: "This single check is how much I bring home in two weeks."
Me: "I made that in about 8 hours."
Wife: "...and you're a college dropout. I don't like youThis is all more or less familiar.
or guidance counselors."
That's one I haven't heard before. My wife took the "try everything until you find something you enjoy" route.
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That's one I haven't heard before. My wife took the "try everything until you find something you enjoy" route.
Mine did also, sort of. I believe she is referring to the guidance counselor suggesting college.
My wife has her masters in English and a degree in journalism. She ended up working in legal for a media company, which prompted her move to HR in the same media company, but she wants to be a writer and is really good at it. Unfortunately that is a field where it does not matter if you are talented if you do not know the right people. So she writes for fun.
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she wants to be a writer and is really good at it. Unfortunately that is a field where it does not matter if you are talented if you do not know the right people. So she writes for fun.
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I'd agree, but then he quoted John Ringo as an argument and OH JOHN RINGO NO
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Well, I've never read any John Ringo, and that link was just too much for me to read, but it's my understanding that Ringo is an author who gets paid.
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Salt shakers are for people who don't know how to cook. Food will taste better if adequately salted as you prepare it.
But, it can sort of be used as a crutch at the table. But it won't taste the same or as good.
Yes, but sprinkling some salt on the surface of food can result in it tasting more salty than the same amount of salt if it was mixed throughout. So people who have actual reasons for reducing their salt intake would probably prefer to just put the salt on the surface of their food.
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You prepare the food with a minimal amount of salt, and then the recipients can salt it to taste.
Doesn't really work well for e.g. potatoes
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I'm sure I'm a strange edge case, but I actually don't like the taste of salt much. Most fast food tastes like it was doused in salt. If I cook, I hardly use any salt if at all, and I don't know if I've ever salted food after the fact.
Probably not that much of an edge case. My mother made a point of never using extra sugar or salt in anything and restaurant food generally tastes too salty for me. I make sure I have cruet at the table for guests though, it's not an ideological thing I just never want to use it myself.
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That's one I haven't heard before.
One assumes there was an unvoiced "because they suggested this career" there.
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@chozang said:
You prepare the food with a minimal amount of salt, and then the recipients can salt it to taste.
Doesn't really work well for e.g. potatoes
I think it works excellent for potatoes. Potatoes are one of the few foods where I actually do use the salt shaker.
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Potatoes are one of the few foods where I actually do use the salt shaker.
I'd rather use salted butter.
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I've heard pretty much the same line from several other published authors. The route to being a professional
writeris to stop screwing around and do your job. And do it again. And again. And get paid. Same as lots of other jobs.Whining about how the world owes you a living just for turning up won't win friends, influence people, or give you an income worth the name.
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MSG is unique in that it enhances savory flavors specifically
Actually, it's pretty much exactly the (sodium salt of the) chemical that activates your savoury taste receptors. It's strictly called umami in taste terms, as it was the Japanese who discovered it as an independent part of what can be tasted.
Flavour is something else. It's actually the smell of the food, conveyed through the nasal passages at the back of the throat.
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So, he could legally have sex with his girlfriend, but not possess pictures of himself? Boy, I sure am glad they have solved every other crime in America so they can waste time on this shit.
Yeah, when I saw that, I thought it was surreal. Let's see, for him...
- Sex education: horrible and illegal
- Birth control: horrible and illegal
- Sexting pictures of himself (or his girl): horrible and illegal
- [spoiler]I'm not bringing up the a-word, so forget about it[/spoiler]
- Getting his girl pregnant: no problem--in fact, priceless
@Polygeekery said:But, I could see an issue where one person prefers things to taste salty, it would be overpowering for those who prefer their food to not taste as such.
If you knew how much salt I eat, your hair would crust over.
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Playing with subcritical uranium cores is a Bad Idea.
On the day of the accident, Slotin's screwdriver slipped outward a fraction of an inch while lowering the top reflector, allowing the reflector to fall into place around the core. Instantly there was a flash of blue light and a wave of heat across Slotin's skin; the core had become supercritical, releasing an intense burst of neutron radiation estimated to have lasted about a half second. He quickly flipped the top shell to the floor.
I wonder what would have happened if he had not flipped the top shell to the floor. Would the whole place have become a mushroom cloud?
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I think it works excellent for potatoes. Potatoes are one of the few foods where I actually do use the salt shaker.
Meh. I season potatoes well and have actually only ever had one person add additional salt to them in many, many years of cooking.
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I'd rather use salted butter.
We actually buy unsalted butter so that I can control the salt level independent of how much butter is added. I use low sodium stock for much the same reason. Though, with stock it is more pronounced because depending upon the dish, using stock or broth as cooking liquid can end up with that liquid being concentrated due to evaporation.
I add salt independent of other ingredients whenever possible.
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If you knew how much salt I eat, your hair would crust over.
We are a family of 4, but one of us is 7 weeks old. We go through a large box of kosher salt every other month I would guess.
I keep a salt cellar by the cooktop and one on the island where food is prepared.
We use a lot of salt.
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Possibly, but not a very large one; it was a critical mass, but not supercritical, and the lack of the tamper and moderator nucleus meant that at worst it might have fizzled. It could have been a runaway criticality, with a huge release of heat, ionizing radiation and fission products, but it would not have caused that large an explosion. Say, the equivalent of 5-10 kilos of TNT - pretty serious in ordinary terms, but not a massive kiloton range blast.
The movie Fat Man and Little Boy had a scene that was a fictionalized combination of the Daghlian incident and the Slotin incident, mostly the latter. Unlike the actual incidents, it is shown as occurring before the Trinity test, when in fact they were both part of the follow up work that took place after the end of the war while working on improved bomb designs, and it shows the core having the inner beryllium moderator core, which IIRC the actual core didn't have in either instance. Still, the scene is pretty intense.
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While on this lovely subject:
https://youtu.be/qOt7xDKxmCM
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even less of an issue with people who live together.
In general, perhaps, but my experience differs. My father salted everything heavily. If we went out for a burger and split an order of fries among the family, you'd better have gotten all you wanted before he salted his share, because they were inedible afterwards.
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monosodium glutamate, which has an undeservedly bad rap
FWIW, my mother feels sick and bloated when she eats food with MSG. I get mild headaches.
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But... But... You'll get bits that are more salty than others it's inevitable.
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Am not a lawyer either.
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I thought @CoyneTheDup was thinking
abortionvoluntary interruption of pregnancy, but now I don't know anymore.
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Bad idea: being the President, blocking a 13yo who disagrees with you, and then having a press flack deny it happened, after the kid posts a screenshot:
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I thought @CoyneTheDup was thinking
abortionvoluntary interruption of pregnancy, but now I don't know anymore.I was, but I didn't want to start an
argumentflame war
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@Zecc said:
I thought @CoyneTheDup was thinking
abortionabortingpregnancyprocesses, but now I don't know anymore.I was, but I didn't want to start an
argumentflame warnuclear wardistro war.ETFY
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Well updating to the newest version of this shit software looks to have been a terrible fucking idea. Worst than before.
Did they actually put lipstick on a branch build and then start prostituting it out to us.
The new and unread tabs, the only fucking useful parts of this fucking software are now fucking broken.
Well fucking done
Golf clap
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Did they actually put lipstick on a branch build
It seems that they didn't particularly bother with the lipstick part…
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What? Does it resume after the interruption?
That's the ancient meaning of the word. LIke pausis (Greek) originally means end.
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The new and unread tabs, the only fucking useful parts of this fucking software are now fucking broken
Broken how? Seem to work for me.
Are you talking about the @kuro bar unread dismiss thing?
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Fisking the HuffPo, because writers need to GET PAID
