I am now officially at the absolute end of the rope with stories about undecided voters or people talking about the lesser of two evils. The whole “I can’t decide” nonsense drives me fucking bonkers, and I have no idea how this helps inform the electorate by elevating the deep thoughts of imbeciles who almost ten years in can’t decide if Trump is evil enough for them to ‘hold their nose” and vote for Biden. The discourse is currently stupid enough that we do not need the media to pollute it further by elevating halfwits. Besides, that’s the Republican’s job.
Speaking of halfwits, that idiot Marge from Georgia is all over the news, making an ass of herself in the Fauci hearings and getting rebuked by her own party, and then I saw something about her ranting about George Floyd. How do these fucking people get elected? BTW- why does Fauci keep showing up at these hearings. You gave your whole life for the country and are retired, go soak in a pool and have some shrimp cocktails and catch a matinee. You’ve earned it. Fuck those idiots in DC. And if they subpoena you, ignore it- they do when they are subpoenaed.
Got the car back today, and I was pleased to get out of there at just a thousand bucks. But the ac and other things are fixed, so it’s not like I had s choice. I’ve started to look at new vehicles recently, because I want to take a year or two and figure out what I like before I trade in the Honda. The CRV is a 2013 and has 140k miles on it, and runs great and the interior and exterior are in good condition, but with all the cross country travel I am going to be doing, I need to start thinking about a replacement in a couple years.
I really, really like the Ford Maverick hybrid, but there simply are none in stock ever. I also want to look into the crash ratings. I am also looking at Toyota Highlander hybrids, and I find myself drawn back to Subaru Outbacks now that they are more station model than SUV again. I also really need to get a car that works well for 5′ nothing Joelle, because ideally we will be downsizing to one car once we are eventually in the same place.
In the meantime, I am waiting on the powerball so I can buy my mercedes e class wagon in jet black.
I know I will get nothing but shit for this in the comments, and it is in especially poor taste because what brought it on was her doing me a favor, but my fucking God my mom can turn the simplest of thing into something the size and scope of the invasion of normandy. She was taking me to get my car, and I called her to tell her I would be over in ten minutes. That conversation devolved rapidly into a give minute debate over whether I wanted her to pick me up or walk over and it just got so complicated so fast.
At any rate, Gerald and Landrea called earlier to ask if Breyana could stay the night while they go to a getaway for the night, and of course I said yes. We went to Mexican for a late afternoon early evening dinner, and are now watching the Avengers and I am about to make some popcorn.
Oh yeah. I am now self conscious about making popcorn because about a year ago I was facetiming Joelle and I said I am about to make popcorn and poured some oil in a big pot and started heating it up and she asked me what the hell I was doing. Apparently most people have popcorn apparatus like an air bloower or they just use microwave, and I am apparently the last person on the planet who throws oil and popcorn in a big pot, covers it, and makes it that way.
Isn’t that how everyone does it? Why would you want an appliance for just one thing or to eat shitty microwave popcorn. I guess I just thought everyone made it that way.
War for Ukraine Day 833: A Few Odds and Ends
Athenaze
We totally do oil in a pot. It tastes so much better than the microwave stuff, and we have limited kitchen space.
SpaceUnit
MSNBC had Larry Fucking Sabato on a segment today talking about people needing to choose between the lesser of two evils.
Damn near put my fist through the computer screen.
ETA: And no, I’m not providing a link.
Elizabelle
I love analog popcorn.
O. Felix Culpa
@Athenaze: Doing it with ghee in a pot is especially nice.
scav
The real trick is knowing all the ways to make popcorn.
And using them. Practice practice practice.
Betty Cracker
I had to spend two nights in Rome, Georgia for a college event in the late 1980s. All I remember about it was how beautiful the surrounding countryside is. It’s a pity there are so many dumbasses who vote in that region. My sympathy is with the residents who are appalled by Greene’s moronic antics.
Jimbales
@O. Felix Culpa: That sounds wonderful! We will have to give it a try
(Our household is yet another oil in the pot household)
—Jim
Spanky
What this here blog needs is more stream of conscious posts like this.
O. Felix Culpa
I’m considering whether our undecided voters are morans or habituated to tire rims and anthrax.
Of course, there’s the evergreen por que no los dos?
Luther M. Siler
I really need young voters to learn the difference between their consciences and their egos. Because your “conscience” is not going to allow you to act in such a way as to make literally every single thing you care about, and particularly the lives of people you claim to care about, significantly worse. Your ego, on the other hand, doesn’t have any problem with that, because refusing to vote for The Lesser of Two Evils regardless of the obvious and clear consequences makes you cool and counterculturey.
Baud
Media always preselects the worst voters to spotlight.
trollhattan
‘Tis the 50th anniversary of Patti Smith’s first single, Piss Factory/Hey Joe. Heard this back in the day and was like “whoa.”
Patti has a Substack and is living her best life. Can’t admire the woman more, if I tried.
https://pattismith.substack.com/p/lenny-kaye-stops-by-for-a-50th-anniversary?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-restack-comment&r=tit6s&triedRedirect=true
O. Felix Culpa
@Jimbales: I went back to the Old Ways when I moved into a house without a microwave. Only rarely do I miss having that appliance.
Scout211
Oil in a large pot is how we made popcorn when I was a kid back in the dark ages. That was the only way to make it before air poppers and microwave popcorn bags were invented. But I moved on to air poppers in college and microwaveable bags later in life. Oil in a pan is messy and requires clean up. Call me lazy because it’s true, I hate kitchen clean up.
mali muso
Count me in as another analog popcorn popper. Big pot, lid, shake to keep it from scorching. I like to season the finished product with garlic salt.
Betty
I am with you on the popcorn. It’s tradition.
Princess
I make popcorn in a big pot with oil. Air popped popcorn tastes like dust and microwave popcorn is terrible.
Also too, we have an Outback and it’s a great car.
zhena gogolia
Lots of people make it that way (as this thread attests). I’m too lazy to make it any way — the payoff isn’t enough for me.
But I do love to have it when I go to the movies (which hasn’t been since before Covid).
O. Felix Culpa
@trollhattan:
I loved her book “Just Kids.” I am in awe of people like her.
Phylllis
I like popcorn popped with coconut oil–gives it a kettle corn flavor. I also keep the Orville Redenbacher Naturals Light on hand as it’s the only microwave popcorn that doesn’t get gummy/greasy as you get to the bottom of the bowl.
Scuffletuffle
I still have a StirCrazy and absolutely love it…hot oil and me feet away staying safe. On the other hand, my uncle always made it your way and he made the best popcorn on earth…
Kelly
Mrs Kelly makes popcorn in our wok. Keeps the kernels in with a splatter screen.
CaseyL
Subarus are like station wagons again? That’s terrific news, because the next time I go car shopping (not for a few. years yet, please) I’m going to want a station wagon, not an SUV. I miss station wagons so damn much.
I haven’t made popcorn-in-a-pot since I-don’t-know-when. The early 1990s? I got tired of dodging the tiny molten oil droplets that launch forth like nano-napalm bombs, and the challenge of getting the pot lid on before the popcorn escaped all over the stove.
The best popcorn I’ve had, other than movie theater popcorn that you get from the concession stand, is Erin’s Natural, already popped and in a bag. Unfortunately, I should say: was Erin’s Natural, as I don’t see it in the stores I currently shop in and the brand may have vanished. The new hyper-organic, “healthy” popcorn brands are just sad. Flavorless, dry, and never salted enough.
Jackie
@Athenaze: Ditto for stove top popcorn! Way tastier, and while I have a microwave, some things just taste better the old fashion way.
Nicholas Gibbs
The popcorn industry took the least complicated thing to make and built an entirely unnecessary appliance and packaging system around it. Very similar to oxygen bars. I got that handled!
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: She’s a legend.
OCD
I used to but now I just coat the kernals in some olive or avacado oil and pop them in a paper lunch bag in the microwave. Rinse the bowl out while it’s popping and you get zero cleanup.
MagdaInBlack
When I was a kid, my Dad bowled every Friday night. My mother would make a batch of popcorn on the stove, and we would watch Star Trek. I still make it that way, in the same cast aluminum dutch oven she used.
MobiusKlein
When I first went to college, I brought an air popper, and it was a ton of fun. Before microwave popcorn was available, and can do it in the dorms.
I ate too much microwave popcorn at work, because it was there and free. Now, I’m back to stovetop popped. When I volunteer at the high school, I will bring a tub of it, and a selection of spices to sprinkle on.
Kids love it.
Steve in the ATL
Wife and I cook popcorn the old fashioned way, just like you. [terrorist fist bump]
Quiltingfool
Popcorn cooked in oil on the stove tastes the best. Fight me. lol!
My dad loves popcorn. He fixed a pan of popcorn almost every night when I was a kid. When other kids would get excited because they got POPCORN, I was, “Meh, we have popcorn all the time.” He was so into popcorn, he would search for the best stovetop popcorn popper; his favorite was a pan with a crank handle on the top so it would efficiently move the corn around.
He doesn’t eat popcorn so much anymore, and now he eats the microwave stuff.
Baud
Out: Corn pop
In: Popcorn!
Kelly
I drive a 2018 Highlander. Comfy to drive. Drives like a minivan, which I like. There’s room enough for us to sleep in the back.
Jackie
@MagdaInBlack: Awww… what a great story! And you have that memory every time you make popcorn! (On Friday nights keeping the tradition alive?)
getsmartin
@Betty Cracker: My father grew up near Rome, GA. He was highly motivated to GTF outta there and never return…
JaySinWA
You made me look. When we bought our Forester in 2016, the Outbacks looked even more over inflated. The new models are still called SUV’s, but they do seem to look more like station wagons than they did then. They didn’t have as good visibility for the driver as the Forester did and probably still don’t, not being quite so high off the ground.
Scout211
This heat dome weather pattern is not fun. It’s too early in the year to hit triple digits. It’s still 103 outside and the A/C is still running. Ugh.
Martin
I put popcorn in a glass bowl with a cover and some ghee and shove it in the microwave. The manner in which you apply heat is fairly immaterial, and the microwave uses 60% less energy. Eat out of the bowl.
Microwave popcorn ≠ shit from a box from the store
Baud
@Scout211:
You can pop some popcorn outside at least.
The Pale Scot
A quiet spoken young man I met in a squat in Alphabet City “White people be crazy yo..”
Forty years later I have never run into anything that would prove him wrong
eclare
@O. Felix Culpa:
I don’t have one. Mine broke maybe a year ago, and I see no reason to replace it.
opiejeanne
John, I misread your advice to Fauci to just catch a matinee as “go catch a manatee”.
eclare
@Baud:
Hahaha…
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Media is murdering democracy said Ravish Kumar of the Indian media. Our media is not the actual murderer but an accessory to the crime.
eclare
@Scout211:
You said it, ugh.
BeautifulPlumage
Popcorn kernels in microwave bowl with a drip of oil, cover with lid but vent, 85% power, cook until popping slows.
I’ve ruined a few pans making popcorn on the stove.
karen marie
@Jimbales: Don’t buy ghee, make your own. It stays good for a really, really long time. It’s nothing but clarified butter.
The stuff is a marvel. Even though you can leave it out on the counter, I refrigerate it because I’m that kind of girl.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat:
QFT.
Melancholy Jaques
@Kelly:
I’m trying to decide between a RAV4 hybrid and a CR-V hybrid. I have to make a move before my Prius finally gives up the ghost.
Glidwrith
Microwave popcorn is shitty. One use appliances are not welcome. Of course popcorn should be made with oil in a pan!
I have spoken.
trollhattan
@Quiltingfool:
S’truth, and the Whirleypop is THE stovetop popping gizmo.
Choice of oil always an interesting side bet. Hard to go wrong with, wait for it, corn oil.
wjca
About the only difference for us is we use a wok, rather than a pot.
MattF
A tornado passed through, about an hour ago, five or so miles to the north. Local meteorologists were excited. There were images and videos of a funnel cloud. Too soon for damage reports.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
रवीश सच बोलते हैं
Ishiyama
In my childhood, we had a special pan with a sliding screen lid; we would put popcorn in with some water, and hold it over an open flame. These days I use store-bought popcorn, and microwave it in butter in a glass dish.
trollhattan
@Scout211:
FM sideways, it’s too hot too soon. This be July weather, especially considering we were sitting in rain two weekends ago for graduation. The heck?
karen marie
@trollhattan: Someone else was talking about the whirly pop not too long ago, so I looked into it. After reading the reviews, I gave it a pass. I rarely make popcorn, and a lot of the reviews complained about the moving parts breaking.
It’s not like it takes 30 minutes to make popcorn. Why does one need anything more than a pot with a lid?
Suzanne
I don’t make popcorn at home. I didn’t know you could make it in a pot. I never eat that microwave crap.
I am pissed at Kathy Hochul for killing congestion pricing in NYC. I would expect better from Democrats.
Elizabelle
I am really thinking about DDay. 80 years. In France, it’s already June 6.
Glad Biden is there, and he’s apparently giving a major speech on democracy Friday. I will appreciate if we watch both together.
Wish the souls who recognized what they were fighting for in WWII could come back and give the fascist-curious and fascist-enabling a swift kick in the ass today.
trollhattan
@karen marie: Had one of the two plastic gears break, contacted them and they sent a replacement, gratis. Can’t complain, in sum.
They need a Steven Colbert Platinum Edition with metal gears and then it will survive the apocalypse. In the meantime, we have popcorn.
ETA, the wire scraping the pan bottom keeps the kernels in motion and eliminated 95% of “old maids” or whatever one’s regional nickname is.
eclare
@MattF:
Whoa! That’s close. Where are you?
Baud
@Suzanne:
I don’t know. Charging people with sinus trouble more seems wrong to me.
CliosFanboy
I just got a Toyota Highlander XLE Hybrid and I love it! I’ve also been very, very happy with my Kia Niro Hybrid.
Alas, Subaru has stopped making hybrids for the time being.
Shana
Fwiw I bought a Mercedes e class at Carmax in 2015 that had just come off a 2 year lease. Paid about half the price when new. Except for the center console knob that controls the radio and a bunch of other things I like it a lot. I wanted an all wheel drive that was a sedan which left me with limited options
jimmiraybob
“…Marge from Georgia…”
Having played R&R in many a dump dive bar, including a couple of biker venues, when I was a younger tyke, I have christened her the “The Peach State Ragin’ Bar Drunk.” She’s pissed and gettin’ drunker by the minute and she’s gonna fight someone. Don’t want to be sittin’ at the bar when she gets a ragin’.
MattF
@eclare: Southern Montgomery county Maryland, just south of the beltway. Tornado travelled eastward, through the northern half of the county and now towards Baltimore.
Jude
Coconut oil—the flavorless version—and a stainless steel pot with a half inch base.
There’s this whole internet trick I learned where you heat 3 kernels and when one pops, you our the rest of the kernels in, take it off the heat, and wait 60 seconds. Go back in and cook and there are virtually zero un-popped pieces.
So yes, this is the one sole and only time Joelle is 100% wrong.
Jackie
@trollhattan:
Back “in the day” oil choices were few. We had vegetable oil or corn oil.
And olive oil, of course, but WHO would think of popping corn in olive oil… olive oil was for fancy stuff – like Italian – spaghetti, lasagna… Or Julia Child recipes lol
The Galloping Gourmet introduced the masses to the exotic clarified butter, when most households were using Blue Bonnet, or Parkay lol
CliosFanboy
@Jackie:
peanut oil?
The Castle
I have to reaffirm other commenters that oil in a pot is the best way to make popcorn. You can even use the kind of oil you want for that special flavor. Or use special colored kernels (I grow colorful popcorn) for a subtle burst of color. An air popper is and tastes fine, but that seems like a relic of the 1980s and is another single-task space hog in the kitchen. Maybe if you made popcorn every week it would make sense? Microwave popcorn in a bag tastes like chemicals — I’d rather have the pre-popped in a bag to that. Microwave with oil can be ok, but my microwave has hot spots that causes problems.
I do miss a coil electric stove for shaking the pot back and forth — ceramic topped stoves scratch so easily. But stovetop is still best. And cheap!
Brachiator
I want to eat popcorn. I want to spend as little time as possible cooking popcorn.
Microwave, baby!
Pre-propped is also acceptable.
MattF
@CliosFanboy: I was thinking that too. Should work but has no flavor.
Njpm
@mali muso: You don’t even have to shake the pan. Learned this from my son-in-law.
eclare
@Elizabelle:
Same. Looking forward to Joe’s speech.
Do you or anyone know what time the speech is?
CliosFanboy
@MattF:
well darn
Jackie
@Ishiyama: Jiffypop over a camping fire! My grandkiddos think it’s the coolest thing EVER! There’s just something about boringly shaking a flat basket over the fire -until suddenly the foil cover explodes with fullness – looking like an aluminum chefs hat!
Redshift
The thing that has been grinding my gears today is that first the WaPo and today USA Today (and probably NYTimes, I haven’t looked) have run op-eds by people who are outraged, outraged! that Fauci admitted there was “no scientific basis” for social distancing, and therefore all of the avoiding crowds and closing in-person dining and public spaces and of course schools was completely unnecessary and it caused so much damage!
Of course, it’s all bullshit. He said there was no scientific basis for distancing six feet, as opposed to three feet or ten feet. (I haven’t been able to find out if he said that the first time or that was afterward when he was explaining his remark for the benefit of the terminally stupid.) And “no scientific basis” as in no one has run full double-blind experiments to find out what is more likely to kill you, because that’s completely unethical. They made a reasonable proposal about a deadly contagion they knew little about, based on other diseases, they weren’t just winging it.
Assholes. Op-ed pages are really a terrible thing. There’s nothing stopping people from spouting off, but if newspapers aren’t to to require them to pass basic fact-checking, they shouldn’t give them the credibility of appearing in their pages.
Sure Lurkalot
Pre-packaged microwave popcorn is dreck. Air fryer version is only marginally better, so stovetop it is. But the popcorn matters too. I recently bought the Kroger brand at $3 for a big bag and it was awful—chewy and flavorless. I sprung for the $7 Redenbacher and it’s far better.
SomeRandomGuy
I have a WhirlyPop because the ventilated top allows steam to escape, and it can make plenty of popcorn quickly. I suppose if you don’t like real butter and salt, you *could* use microwave popcorn, but I like real butter and salt.
(To be fair, there’s microwave popcorn at my house, too, and I’m sure I’ve even cooked it, but, I’d just as well go with the WhirlyPop, or even a plain covered pot, and not bother with microwave-ready.)
I also make hot cocoa with actual cocoa, though I often add cream to the powdered cocoa to help it form a paste, which means you need a little whisk to get the paste to dissolve readily in the milk.
Tony G
@SpaceUnit: I still listen sometimes to the once-halfway-decent-but-now-a-trainwreck “leftist” New York City radio station WBAI (yup; I’m a masochist) and they had a whole panel discussion yesterday making the point that “there is no difference at all between Trump and Biden”. To paraphrase the old Onion joke: Why are all these “leftists” trying to put fascists in power?
Anne Laurie
Next time your mom does that to you, remind her of Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill the time available.
(His original example — yes, I read the book — was mailing a postcard to a young relative: A busy businessman would do it in minutes, while an elderly spinster would take half an hour to find the card, find the stamps, debate wording, wonder about taking an umbrella down to the post box just in case… )
Sidebar: Professor Parkinson had a later book called Mrs. Parkinson’s Law, which examined what we now call SAHMs (stay at home moms) and concluded that it was *impossible* to do that job ‘scientifically’…
Redshift
@MattF:
I am happy to be well away from it (Northern VA) and only seeing the excitement on local TV news!
Spanish Moss
Winter Wren and I just got a Ford Maverick hybrid in March, and we love it! It is the most comfortable car we have ever owned. It is an easy height to get in and out of, and the seats have good lumbar support. It gets great gas mileage. The price was very reasonable compared to other trucks.
We don’t haul much, mostly bikes, so the smaller bed is fine. We bought a pad that straps over the tailgate to protect it, so the front tires can hang over the tailgate, turned sideways. We can easily fit four bikes like that.
We ordered it the previous July because that was the only way to get one. This was the first time we have ever preordered a vehicle, and we discovered that it was quite nice to be able to pick almost exactly what you want (sometimes you still have to get a whole package for the one feature you want though).
waspuppet
Put me in the Acoustic Popcorn list!
eclare
@MattF:
Yikes!
Jackie
@CliosFanboy: Most households in the ‘60s/‘70s had one bottle of all-purpose cooking oil and Crisco shortening. And lard/bacon grease.
Delk
A wok and whatever fat/lard we currently have.
Death Panel Truck
What, y’all too good for Jiffy Pop? It’s the only popcorn we ate in college, and it’s still around. All you need is a hot plate. 😎
NutmegAgain
My experience tells me that hybrid Highlander is the way to go. I had a 2012 (no hybrid), and wow did I love that car. It would be my choice for all the driving. In my case, it was also a terrific dog hauling machine. I had planned to drive it forever, but the transfer case, and possibly transmission started to go bad. That repair would have cost me more than the car was worth. I sold it to one of those come to your house with a ramp truck, online services. I did check the box to indicate there was an issue in the drive train. But I googled it a week or so after I sold it, and they must have ramped it out to the midwest, since I found my car for sale in St.Louis and it had the exact mileage I sold it with (81k roughly.) Hmmm. I recommend selling a car to these folks, but I wouldn’t buy one! Long story, but I replaced the Highlander with a 5 year old RAV-4, with fewer than 18K miles. It is nowhere near as great a drive as the Highlander, sigh. I couldn’t afford a hybrid on either model, too bad.
Mousebumples
We’re a Stir Crazy family! And we’re eating popcorn on the couch right now, actually.
Ishiyama
@Jackie: I used to carry a mini-gas stove on biking trips, and a little steel cup, which I would wrap with a tower of tin foil, and make popcorn for breakfast before hitting the road.
SpaceUnit
@Tony G:
Christ. How “far left” does one have to be in order to come that point of view. It boggles the mind.
eclare
@Anne Laurie:
Interesting. I read some essay a few months ago that theorized that all of these time saving appliances like washing machines and vacuum cleaners didn’t save any time. People starting doing the chores more often so that the time saved was zero. For example, instead of taking the rugs out and beating them with a stick once a week, people started vacuuming multiple times a week.
mrmoshpotato
Or one for everyone on Balloon Juice. :)
dc
The only way to make popcorn the way Cole makes it.
SomeRandomGuy
@Death Panel Truck: With my patience and forearms that occasionally felt like Popeye’s, I can cook that stuff without a burned kernel, and nearly no unpopped.
Don’t reveal my secret superpower – I prefer to make it from scratch.
mrmoshpotato
Mmmmmm oil-popped popcorn. And thanks for using REAL BUTTER!
getsmartin
@Spanish Moss: We also brought a Maverick Hybrid home early this year. Mind you, it took fourteen months to appear, but so far, we feel the wait was worth it. Economy-wise, we’re averaging high 40s, so there’s no buyer’s remorse on this end. I do gather that delivery times are much shorter now than when we ordered.
Jackie
@Ishiyama: 👍🏻♥️
mrmoshpotato
@Luther M. Siler:
Ain’t that the truth.
Urza
Not alot of car talk. I put alot of thought into mine for reasons you can appreciate. Leg room, head room, width for the driver. The current CR-Vs are still good, they have hybrid and electric. Unless you want something crazy they’re as good or better than BMW or Lexus which I did look at last time. Still good gas mileage and all the other things, with sensors for knowing you’re to close to something. Lane keep that is more than just an assist, and the cruise control at least when you don’t need to worry about stop lights is close enough to self driving with its auto breaking.
SomeRandomGuy
@Princess: You might be shocked to know that air-popped corn is surprisingly good with a product of my college days, “Squeeze Parkay” – a barely-thickened butter-flavored vegetable oil. The butter flavor was close enough for po’ folk who knew what side their bread was margarined on, and I suspect it helped the corn taste closer to stovetop popped.
I don’t know if such a product still exists, because for all of my problems, I’ve kept butter as a major grocery luxury, and, I gave away my air popper to a more needful set of folks.
Villago Delenda Est
@Elizabelle: I had three uncles in the ETO. They’d be pissed, too. My mother’s fiance at the time fell at Normandy. WWII has a lot to do with why I exist today.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tony G: Reminds me of the complete jackass Ralph Nader.
Anotherlurker
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie:
Do you also have to fight off Ghostface from Scream?
JaneE
Oil in a pot was my childhood. I still have the Revere ware stockpot my mother always used. It had a handle and a handhold on the side of the pot. Hold the pot by the heat resistant part of the handle and use the handhold to swivel it from side to side. Even I could do it, and as soon as I got tall enough to hold it over the flame. It worked just fine on a gas stove, but not so well on electric, and not at all on induction. So the pot is just nostalgia at this point. A dollop of cold oil the size of an Eisenhower silver dollar, and just enough kernels to barely cover the bottom. Popped up to half the pot so 2-3 quarts of popcorn. Worked out perfect for popcorn ball recipes or three people.
Our pot had a lid, and we always used it. You could hear the corn start popping and knew from that it was time to shake continuously. You waited until it was done popping, tilted the lid, and waited for the steam to dissipate. No one ever had spattered oil or got burned when we made it.
RaflW
FTR, I love popcorn popped in a pan. For a while I had my dad’s vintage, well loved popcorn pan that had just the right steam vent to hold the popcorn in, but let enough steam out to keep the popped kernels crisp.
It was some weird, thick aluminum, and had a red aluminum lid. At some point of madness, I must have ditched it. So dumb of me!
Eric S.
@O. Felix Culpa: I have a microwave. It has two uses. Kitchen timer. Soften the all natural peanut butter when I take it out of the ‘fridge.
anitamargarita
Am with you on the popcorn bit,there is nothing like the real thing, baby
Grumpy Old Railroader
Organic popcorn.
Silicone Microwave Popcorn Popper ($15 on Amazon)
3 minutes on Power Level 5 setting (depends on your microwave)
Dump in a bowl and mix in some olive oil (California Organic)
Seasoning optional like salt or ground garlic or whatever
This is Mrs Grumpy’s method. Once you have the best popcorn made in your microwave in a silicone popper with your own flavorings, you’ll wonder why you ever bothered standing over a hot stove shaking a big pot. Mrs Grumpy has a dedicated popcorn bowl and giant spoon reserved for mixing and consuming popcorn. The silicone popper and bowl get wiped out with a paper towel after each use and washed maybe a few times each month so it is relatively no fuss, no mess.
Central Planning
We have a microwave popper and use flavored olive oils when we use it. Rosemary is my current favorite. A little salt and *chef’s kiss
ETA – We have one of those silicone poppers. It’s easy and quick.
Spanky
Glad to hear the good reports on the Highlander. My dealer loaned me a hybrid last time the truck was in for a few days, and boy did I fall in love with that thing. That looks to be the next thing when the Tacoma finally runs out of luck.
geg6
@Elizabelle:
I think so much about my Uncle Bud, who dropped into Normandy just before the invasion. It took him five days, behind enemy lines, before he finally caught up with his unit. He was a staunch Republican but he knew very well who and what he was fighting against and why. Both of his sons also served in Vietnam, one, Rick, a chopper pilot and Gary in infantry. Both would tell you that their experiences were the exact opposite of their father’s.
Quinerly
Oil in a pot chick here.
RaflW
Also, my dad was insistent on white popcorn. OK, he’d eat yellow varieties, but never bought anything but white and got mildly crabby if mom or I bought yellow in a pinch. I’m not connoisseur enough to rally notice. He said white, with their smaller puffs, were more tender.
Kayla Rudbek
Betty Cracker, I have a finished shawlette for you (I emailed you and WaterGirl) https://www.ravelry.com/projects/kaylarudbek/purple-allium
trnc
Probably because he knew these dipshits would beclown themselves, and it gave him a chance to say that his family has been under threat.
Jay
We used a version of this for decades,
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/kitchen/kitchen-tools/popcorn-makers/64273-whirley-pop-popcorn-poppers?
Bought in Seattle over 40 years ago from the OG. Made the best popcorn.
Had to leave it behind when we moved back to the Coast.
Now we just use a pot.
RaflW
@eclare: “people started vacuuming multiple times a week”
What.
BigJimSlade
@Melancholy Jaques: I had a VW squareback in high school. I always liked its utility – not too big, but so much useful space. I know have a Prius and love it for the same reason. I think of it as basically the same car, just updated.
geg6
@RaflW:
I know. Like people without help and with jobs do that?
Xavier
Drive the CR-V into the ground. It’s good for at least a quarter million, probably more.
apocalipstick
I use coconut oil in a pan. It’s just better. Ms. Stick, who is the most impatient person in the world, has even started popping it on the stovetop.
Johnny C. Lately
I make popcorn with oil in a pot on the stovetop.
You are not alone.
apocalipstick
@Jay: That’s what I use.
Scout211
.
Gloria DryGarden
@Redshift: this makes an excellent case for new legal requirements for fairness and accuracy in reporting.
pat
@Scout211:
How about once a month… maybe… When the cat starts to play with the dustballs in the hallway.
eta, omg, I deleted the original comment…
Mike in NC
@Xavier: I have about 20K miles on my 2014 CR-V. Expect to keep it for another ten years.
prostratedragon
Olive oil or/and ghee in a pot.
A prescient blast from the past by Madison McFerrin. (Yes, she’s Bobby’s daughter.)
Trivia Man
I saw the editor change at FTF Washington post – any slim chance its for the better?
Central Planning
@RaflW: IKR? I have a robotic one and it goes maybe once or twice a month when I get the obstacles (cat toys) off the floor
schrodingers_cat
@Baud:बिलकूल
Jackie
@mrmoshpotato:
I’m afraid you totally lost me. I’ve no idea of what Ghostface or Scream is?
Jay
@Trivia Man:
Nope.
Odie Hugh Manatee
“… we do not need the media to pollute it further by elevating halfwits. Besides, that’s the Republican’s job.”
IOW, that’s big media’s job because they are owned and directed by their wealthy owners and shareholders. They are doing exactly what they need to do to drag down the Democrats and it’s only going to get worse as November approaches.
I settled on red water clear LEDs for Biden’s eyes on my Dark Brandon 2024 yard sign and ordered a set with resistors for a 3 volt circuit. I’m going to power the sign with a motion sensor coupled to a 3 volt power supply that will light the LED eyes up for 8 seconds and then switch them off. I’m laughing just at the idea of the whole thing…lol!
Met the new neighbor the other day. Unfortunately it was when his Rottweiler and pit bull that he lets run loose decided to come over and ‘visit’ our cats. The fucking moron just stood there in our driveway while I was trying to keep his dogs off of our cats. Stewie attacked my leg because I got between him and the Rott, which just made it really fun. I tersely asked him to keep his dogs leashed and all he could do was still stand there and do nothing as his dogs kept diving into our garage and me chasing them out. He finally grabbed the collar on the Rott and dragged him away through our neighbor’s yard while Stewie was doing his best to neuter the damned dog. I chased the pit off and peace slowly returned to the house.
My cats were in their yard and minding their own business when they were attacked. The idiot said the same thing that I have heard dog owners say again and again.
“You know better than that!”
No they don’t, that’s supposed to be your fucking job because they are dogs! I want to strangle the next fucker that says that in my presence.
Another Scott
Popcorn in oil is great. Except it’s like 1000 calories. :-/
Meanwhile, …
Cheers,
Scott.
Gloria DryGarden
I miss popcorn. I had an air popper. I love the glass bowl microwave ghee idea, if I could eat it, and had a microwave.
It all changed
on a remote camping trip: I discovered I had no corn products with me, after observing I was in the best most cheerful mood of my life.
It took awhile to quit, corn is in everything, but now when I fail to read a label, and slip up, I’ve been able to track how many days it takes. It sucks, but what happens to my brain if I have it, is worse. It was just grace that I found it out; I had always bought veggie booty and Barbara’s cheese puffs for these trips. So now I enjoy a more uplifted mood, and life is way better.
(im only sharing this Debbie downer story in the thread of joyous popcorn festivities, because I figure I’m not the only one who is affected by corn and having it mess up their well-being. It’s gmo. It’s subsidized, they dump it into all kinds of ready foods. It has many names. And it’s not listed in the top 8 allergens in food labeled for allergens. I might not be the only sensitive canary. If you’re wondering, do an experiment. )
I like popped sorghum. It’s a bit labor intensive, or I buy it pre-made, $5 a bag. They say you can pop amaranth, too. I think it’s one tablespoon at a time in cast iron. Maybe next winter, but it Sounds too difficult.
Enjoy!
JWR
I was raised on that sort of popcorn, which was how my grandmother made it. But a good friend, a stay at home dad raising two girls while the mom finished her degree at UCSC, and who really learned how to be a great cook, made me a batch of popcorn using your method that was sooo good! Just pop it up, add a hint of salt, and hey presto, popcorn heaven! I forget which type of oil he uses, but it made a difference.
PS. Not that it matters, but my mom’s side of the family did all their popcorn poppin’ in Washington, PA, just across the border from West by God Virginia, so I guess the bare bones method is the “hillbilly” way to do it. ;)
ETA now to read the comments to see if anyone else is an oil aficionado ad can explain the difference, re popcorn.
Jay
@Jackie:
Horror/Comedy movies.
eclare
@RaflW:
When I was growing up, my mom vacuumed two or three times a week. She didn’t work outside the home.
Bupalos
If you won’t go AT LEAST plug in hybrid, you’re a problem. You should be shamed.
so many people will not make the slightest hat tip to GW. Don’t be one. Driving around on gas… that’s a statement.
eclare
@Mike in NC:
I have around 10k miles on my 2017 CR-V. I will drive it until it turns to dust or rust, I love it.
Also I am 5’1″ and have no problem seeing out of it.
Trivia Man
@Elizabelle: I loved that the British paratroopers had to pass a customs table after parachuting in today. Brexit donchaknow
eclare
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Holy shit! Can you call animal control? At least lodge a complaint for the record?
Brachiator
@Trivia Man:
The WaPo changes by its publisher William Lewis gets a weak thumbs up from Politico.
Bupalos
@eclare: it will “die” (which just means you’ll make the decision it’s costing more money than another option) in appx 8000 gallons of gas, which you’ll burn for some infinitesimal comfort issue.
Trivia Man
@Jay: I’m known to try and draw 2 to a flush i am such an optimist
Origuy
@Mike in NC: I had a 2001 CR-V that ran for about a quarter million miles. It finally started going downhill after I let it overheat going down Mount Hamilton. The radiator hose had burst. I had the valves done and ran it for a few more years, but the engine overheating damaged the transmission fluid filter. So I had to have the transmission rebuilt too. Finally unloaded it in 2011. I went all over the place in that.
eclare
@Brachiator:
I canceled my subscription a few weeks ago over another issue. I assume subscriptions will continue to fall.
stinger
I’m with you, John Cole. Big pot, heat the oil with one kernel until it pops, then add the amount of kernels you want. If the lid has a steam hole, you’re good, otherwise tilt the lid a little so steam can escape, or you’ll have dry popcorn. (Which seems counterintuitive.) If you use EVOO you don’t really even need butter, just salt. I’ve had air poppers over the years, but they don’t last long and a pot with oil works great.
ETA: Reading the first 20 or so comments, I see there are lots of us oil-in-pan poppers!
eclare
@Bupalos:
Hey, there is also the financial issue. I am unemployed right now. Yes, that is a lowly “comfort” issue to me to be able to pay for food, utilities, property taxes, etc.
Bupalos
@eclare: used bolt. Cheap to buy, cheaper to own.
what are you planning on paying?
edit… sorry, see that you’re just talking about leveraging your current car.
but get out of it as soon as you can. People treat this “I’m going to burn fossil fuels until I can’t” thing as if it’s fine. It’s not fine.
eclare
@Bupalos:
Fuck off. My car is paid off.
Jackie
@Jay: Oh, thanks! Obviously, I’m not a big movie watcher. Mostly, if any, family comedies rated PG lol
Quaker in a Basement
Whirley Pop!
https://www.whirleypopshop.com/
Bupalos
@eclare: that gives you the right to roll coal?
I apologized for not understanding your situation, but I’d encourage you not to think that it’s perfectly ok. We know what we’re doing. Focusing on there being people even worse is a way of continuing our lifestyle.
Also I will fuck off.
eclare
@Bupalos:
Did you not fucking see my reply? I am unemployed, I have no extra cash. I am also close to retirement, so again, I have no extra cash. Get off your fucking high horse and stop telling me how to live, you have no idea.
I also noticed of everyone who loves their CR-V I was the only one you decided to lecture.
Brachiator
@eclare:
That’s unfortunate. Do you have a replacement for WaPo as a source for news?
Elizabelle
@eclare: Yeah, I’m horrified at the changes at the WaPost.
Never forget: this is Jeff Bezos. He hired these Bozos.
Frankly, I was not that impressed with Sally (“Both Sides!”) Buzbee, who is now being lionized as a paragon of journalistic excellence.
Jeff Bezos. Might think hard about ordering from Amazon: do people really need to? Could you do without, or buy elsewhere?
Bupalos
“It is in my financial interest not to bother with this global warming bullshit and it can fuck off” is most of politics.
eclare
@Brachiator:
I signed up for LA Times. Got $1per month for the first four months. So far I miss the WaPo, but I have a feeling with the change in editors I would have left soon anyway.
Kristine
@trollhattan: That was really good. Thanks for the link.
Now I must listen to Smith’s cover of “Gimme Shelter.”
Bupalos
@eclare: yeah I replied with an apology. DID YOU NOT SEE IT?
Driving a CRv until it dies isn’t that bad and better than many other choices.
”high horse” is bullshit winger stuff. I don’t reduce my footprint by spending money or being higher class or something. I do it by muscle and bone decisions every few hours. It makes me really sensitive to the things people are not willing to do.
you could get around without adding to fossil fuel consumption if you prioritized that. Never been easier.
Elizabelle
Thanks to those who replied about D-Day and WWII. Those who lived through it were made of stronger stuff, it would seem.
Here’s a Reuters article about Biden’s trip to France; he will be there five days.
Elizabelle
@eclare: I like the LA Times. Columnist Michael Hiltzik is a treasure. Honorary jackal.
eclare
@Bupalos:
I saw a mild apology and then you told me to get out of it as soon as I can because people (me) think it’s fine to burn fossil fuels.
I got the memo that it’s not years ago. Stop lecturing me.
Nettoyeur
@Melancholy Jaques: You can also consuder a Civic hatchback. Not a hybrid but 40 mpg on the hughway, comparable cargo space to a Prius, and it has a spare tire that us hidden away not just a repair kit .
Jennifer Altmiller
I did not read the post, but haven’t we covered this? Italian, or tire rims and anthrax? I thought this had been previously decided.
I’m tired and cranky. May there be many blessings on your camels and other four legged creatures.
Choose Italian. Thank me later.
Other MJS
@opiejeanne: Me, too.
eclare
@Elizabelle:
Thanks! I’ll keep an eye out.
Jay
@Bupalos:
As has been pointed out for decades, everyone’s individual personal choices, collectively, regarding AGW amount basically to less than a single frog’s fart in a methane swamp compared to Corporate/Government choices.
And Big Climate has spent billions of dollars a year to make us feel guilty, responsible, when we are not, to shift the blame from “Them” to “us”.
And here you are, helping “Them”.
Anyway
@eclare:
Is that a typo? I have 100k miles on a similarly-aged vehicle …
Bupalos
@eclare: Yes, don’t mean to be lecturing you and am not suggesting anything beyond this:
it is possible to decarbonize. For all of us, when we say we can’t, we should think deeply about that “can’t.” What are we here for?
every situation is complicated and different. My response is just a reaction in the direction of wishing aggressively not burning carbon got an equal default we give to burning it.
we don’t even see it and I’m just trying to make it more visible. Apologies for how it hit.
eclare
@Anyway:
Nope. I limit my driving as much as possible because #1 I hate driving and #2 climate change.
Kristine
I just cancelled my WaPo subscription.
Thing is, they’re one of the newspapers available in my Apple News subscription, so I guess they’re still getting my money, just less of it.
eclare
@Bupalos:
Thank you. As noted in my response to Anyway, I limit my driving as much as possible. I have around 10k miles on a car that I have owned for six years. I do what I can.
Bupalos
@eclare: awesome. I appreciate you seeing past the potential callousness of my response. We’re in this together, and we’re all getting peppered from directions we didn’t expect.
also understand I’m a pretty extreme veggie weirdo that sources over half my calories from foraging. Like a fucking squirrel.
so…. With a grain of salt.
Melancholy Jaques
@trollhattan:
Came across that one last week when I was trying to run down every artist or band who had recorded “Hey Joe” with the intention of ranking them because I have days where I’d rather do shit like that then the things I need to do to make my life easier. Hendrix is #1, by the way.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@eclare:
Nope, no real animal control here. Calling the cops is a waste of time too. Small town life in the USA. I have a feeling we will be meeting again as he needs to repair his fence and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to do so.
West of the Rockies
Occasional bouts of diverticulitis means no popcorn for me. I do like puffed wheat though.
eclare
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Oh no. I was afraid you might be in the country. This neighbor sounds like the type you don’t want to piss off, be careful.
Scout211
Ugh. Power is out now. No A/C and it’s still 90 degrees outside. It looks like it’s widespread in my area so fingers crossed that PG&E will send a crew soon. Damn, it’s hot.
mrmoshpotato
@Scout211: I hope PG&E has their ass in gear.
Joelle
My mother is a scratch cook. I grew up eating popcorn made on a gas stove in my mother’s treasured cast iron pan. She would stand there, rhythmically sliding the pan back and forth over the blue flames, occasionally sending sparks flying. When I saw JG doing my mother’s patented popcorn stove-side shuffle it kinda blew my mind. I never knew anyone else who “made” popcorn on the stove until I saw JG doing it. Not that we needed one more reason for my Mom to declare him the Golden Child Son she never had.
prostratedragon
Just some excerpts of the saga of the Long Grove Covered Bridge, recently renamed the Robert Parker Coffin Bridge:
September, 2014
September, 2018
July, 2020
February, 2021
April, 2021
June, 2023
June 5, 2024
eclare
@Scout211:
Oh no! I lost power last summer for three and a half days, one night at midnight it was 90 inside my house. I would start the car and sit in a/c and charge my phone for a while every couple of hours. Is that an option?
eclare
@prostratedragon:
Weird. Do the signs need to be bigger with more advance notice? I remember approaching the I-40 bridge over the MS and about half a mile out you start to get warnings for no exits off of the bridge. Which does wonders to the mental condition of someone who already does not like to drive on bridges. NO EXIT!
NotMax
No complaints worth mentioning about mine.
May want to explore putting your name on a waiting list at nearby dealers, for when folks who pre-ordered one back out
Brachiator
@eclare:
My hometown newspaper.
eclare
@Brachiator:
Someone here recommended it, but I can’t remember who.
Bupalos
@Jay: that’s a rationalization. If you were disgusted by the idea of contributing to climate change, you wouldn’t bother with “common action” paradoxes and ruminations on guilt and the “thems” that make you feel it. Do you litter? Why not? You not littering doesn’t matter. One. Little. Bit. You’ve just been hoodwinked into feeling guilty by corporations. Just toss your trash out the window. Stop with the unhealthy guilt.
Chet Murthy
@Bupalos: Littering or not is a inconsequential decision with inconsequential costs. Whereas, doing the work to lower your carbon footprint is not easy and definitely can impact your material prosperity. I should know: I don’t have a car, and haven’t flown in ages — and not for pleasure in even longer. I’ve ruminated on the definite hit on my material lifestyle of these choices, many times. That doesn’t make me fly, but it does make me think about it, and sometimes a little bitterly.
It’s not easy, and pretending that it’s on the same level as deciding to hold onto that coke can until you find a trashcan, is a little misleading.
Steeplejack
@Kayla Rudbek:
Can’t see it without a Ravelry account. 😾
Bupalos
@Chet Murthy: sure. Not easy. Actually very easy, better, but a completely different life. Not easy to cross over.
I just can’t stand the idea of people offering “not feeling guilty” as a virtue. “Yes I’m taking the grounds of life away from others… but I’m not going to feel guilty about it. It’s the fault of ….common action problem.”
YOU ARE THE COMMON ACTION PROBLEM AND YOU KNOW IT.
why do people here vote. Shouldn’t that be an insurmountable common action problem?
Chet Murthy
@Bupalos: As I said, I’ve forgone many of the lifestyle improvements that require a shit-ton of CO2 emissions. But I can’t fault people who do otherwise, in this country and this world. You’re asking a lot — too much — of people, that they should purposely handicap their own lives in favor of future generations, when the entire structure of society makes that hard.
I mean, over at LG&M there was a discussion of NY Gov. Hochul blocking the congestion pricing scheme for Manhattan. Things like that make it *easier* to do the right thing. The higher costs for doing bad things, can be shifted over to subsidize doing the good things. But in the absence of such schemes, there are going to be people who continue to drive, b/c they need to get on with their lives.
And last, it does absolutely zero good to upbraid people for these decisions. Zero good.
Chet Murthy
@Bupalos:
There are places in the country where some classes of people face very, very high obstacles to voting. Are you going to accuse people who give up in the face of those obstacles as being bad actors? During the pandemic, my mom was in SF, but she lives in TX, and wanted to absentee vote there. They make it pretty much impossible to do so. So she didn’t. Was she a bad actor? If voting cost you $10k, would you vote?
Jay
@Bupalos:
LMFAO,
70% of all global carbon and methane emissions are created from just100 companies.
Global individual aggregated carbon and methane, (other than TCFG) amount to 3%.
So yeah, the Arctic and Antarctic are melting because you, individually won’t, or can’t afford, or support an EV, so your 0.0000000000000000001% of global carbon or methane emissions are killing the planet.
It must be nice to have both money and entitlement.
Most of us, you know, 86% of the planet, have neither.
Jay
@Bupalos:
LMFAO,
70% of all global carbon and methane emissions are created from just100 companies.
Global individual aggregated carbon and methane, (other than TCFG) amount to 3%.
So yeah, the Arctic and Antarctic are melting because you, individually won’t, or can’t afford, or support an EV, so your 0.0000000000000000001% of global carbon or methane emissions are killing the planet.
It must be nice to have both money and entitlement.
Most of us, you know, 86% of the planet, have neither.
Chet Murthy
@Jay: EVs are expensive. But somehow, in China them make decent ones for a budget. Gosh, if the US government forced American carmakers to do the same, things might change, b/c average Americans could afford to ditch their ICVs for EVs. But that doesn’t happen. And then, the government could force greater housing density, so that mass transit was practical in more places. But it doesn’t. So people need cars. I’m lucky to have lived most of my adult life in places where density is high. But most Americans don’t.
Martin
Yeah, but Exxon doesn’t just make pollution for the thrill of it. They make pollution because you want to buy the product, and most of the pollution that they produce isn’t even them producing it – it’s you producing it, from your car, which they’re credited with because they made the gasoline and it’s easier to account for it at their level than counting up what each one of us individually does with the product. It’s like saying that Dow is responsible for the microplastic problem, and not every consumer that buys the plastic. Now, it’s fair to go after them when consumers are largely powerless to avoid the product, but it’s not like there’s a real anti-consumer movement to prevent the stuff from being made in the first place.
Jay
@Chet Murthy:
I drive, when I drive, a 2000 RAV4.
Bought it 4 years ago for $3600 with 200,000 km on the clock.
It now has 208,600 km on the clock.
It costs me $1200 a year to insure, half a months wages, and that is at the greatly reduced rate. No driving to work, minimal coverage, less than 4500 km use a year. Annual is pay up front, when I renew, and under the mileage, I get a rebate, with no interest for the year, which ain’t cheap up here, (9.6%).
My bus pass, (bus, Seabus, Skytrain) costs me $2.50 to $5.65 a day, dependent on zones and where I am going. Sometimes I have to walk a few blocks, no big deal. At times, (a previous job), because Transit starts at 5:30 am, I would walk 22km to work to be there for the 5am open.
So, yeah, 99% of the time, I take transit.
The apartment building I live in, has 4 115V plugs in parking on each of 3 floors.
For about two years now, we have had 2 BC Hydro run Tesla quick chargers in front of the building. That’s good, and $0.08 CDN per kilowatt.
What a used Leaf, Bolt or Tesla costs here, well, that is between 1 and 2 years wages.
I still have to pay rent, buy food, etc.
Thing is, if the/a Government was serious about carbon emissions, they could crack down on the dirty 100 Corps, cut subsidies to them, save a shit load of tax monies we are “gifting” them and cut carbon and methane emissions by 70%.
But they won’t.
I have a very low carbon footprint, under 1 ton a year.
It’s not because I am “green”, it’s because I am dirt poor.
Like I said, must be nice to have money and be entitled.
Somebody want’s to give me a free EV or Hybrid, yeah, I will be in like Flynn, until then it’s my 36MPG ancient RAV4.
Chet Murthy
@Martin: But isn’t it also true that if you increase the cost of business (via taxation) for Exxon, then that will be passed along to consumers, and competitors will be able to compete better? And those taxes can be used to subsidize green competitors, to drive greater switching to green energy sources ?
In a similar way, if plastics producers had to recycle as much plastic as they produced in a year, or pay a hefty, hefty surcharge for any “virgin” plastic produced over the amount recycled, that would force both massive innovation in recycling, and cause all downstream users of plastic to minimize their use of it, no? And since it would affect all downstream users, it wouldn’t be the case that those who “virtuously” decide to forgo plastic had to suffer the costs for doing so, where others were not suffering, b/c they were going ahead and using plastic.
[I hope the above is comprehensible]
Jay
@Martin:
68% of Exxon’s “carbon and methane” footprint comes from extraction, transport and refining,
3.8% comes from “consumer use”.
I spent 6 months monitoring, calibrating and repairing the toxic gas monitors at one of the 3 refineries we have here. Their annual emissions of Methane and Carbon was the same as the the annual emissions from 5.8 million cars, driven daily.
We have 1.8 million cars, here. 48% are not driven daily.
And that one refinery, get’s $28 million in tax breaks a year and $68 million in Fed and Provincial subsidies a year.
If the same shit was applied to my RAV4 as to the Corp, the Province and Fed would be paying me $2,800 a year to just have a car. $8,500 a year to barely drive it. That’s 1 1/2 months to almost a years rent, every year.
Martin
@Chet Murthy: Yeah, to some degree. But probably half of car owners won’t switch to EVs because they can’t afford it – so you’re just forcing poor people to eat the higher fuel costs. It’s not like we dumped $300B into transit, we dumped it into EV subsidies that still leave them unaffordable for the working class. If automakers had even the slightest interest in cheaper cars (they don’t) then the plan might work, taxing gas doesn’t get us there. The government forcing automakers to make cheap/efficient EVs would, though, by lifting larger vehicles into commercial classification, etc.
Yeah, plastic recycling regulation could work, but it doesn’t really address the microplastic problem because it’s not like most of those plastics are going to get into the recycle chain – after all, most of the plastic contributing to the microplastic problem didn’t even make it into the trash (plus car tires are a substantial contributor to the problem). Swapping packaging away from plastics is how you do that, which is a very different kind of regulation.
Jay
@Martin:
Guess you haven’t kept up with the court cases.
Jay
@Martin:
It’s part of the “unintended” feed back loops. I can get $6800 from the Province, by sending my “beater”, (it’s not, it’s pristine) to the crusher. It passes air care, it gets 36 mpg which is great for a small 80’s SUV, it’s safe, and $6800 won’t buy me anywhere a near a decent car.
Ditto with plastics. I avoid plastics like the plague, but most of the “recyclable” plastics, aren’t recycled, no matter what bin you put them in, they are just dumped offshore.
It’s part and parcel of the gaslighting. “We” are to blame, not the actual entities that have impact, (could have phrased that better). And they spend billions a year, gaslighting us.
Chet Murthy
@Martin: Re: plastics, that’s my point about a hefty surcharge for all “new” plastic: plastic that doesn’t make it back into recycled product, is going to get that surcharge. Make it big enough, and plastics manufacturers *will* find a way to recycle everything. Make it big enough, and they’ll stop producing plastic that can’t be easily recycled. Period.
ETA: and to Jay’s point: you don’t avoid the surcharge b/c you collected the recyclable plastic: you avoid it b/c you actually recycled it back into plastic pellets that got sold and made into products again.
Jay
@Chet Murthy:
Worked for a Plastic’s injection molding Company for a few years.
Learned a lot.
Yup, all plastics can be reused.
It is cheaper not to.
We, the Company would “burn”, (overheat in prep) thousands of tons of pellets, from basic, fibre reinforced to rare optically specialty grade, because of crappy MGMT,
and ship it all off to the dump.
And that’s just the front end.
different-church-lady
Oh, you thought that was their job?
Martin
@Jay: You can’t separate us from the entities – it’s symbiotic. So long as we are going to be a consumer society, someone is going to have to make the things we consume. And if we demand to fly around the world, someone will fly us.
I’m not saying the corporations aren’t to blame, but they are nothing without consumers. We have at almost every turn chosen cheap shit over a future. It’s not an individual problem, or a legislative problem, its a cultural one, and until that culture changes, until we decide we’re content to not have a hot tub, or a new Subaru or a new outfit we’ll wear 7 times before throwing it out. Europe has a culture of driving less than America does, and it’s a culture that allows them to function with half the emissions of the US, despite the fact that a larger percentage of Europeans live in rural areas than Americans do. They live in smaller homes, that consume fewer resources to build, to climate control, to furnish. They buy for durability over getting a deal. Those are simply cultural differences – not corporate ones.
Only the public can change the culture – the government cannot, and you have to do it by living the culture you want to have. You can’t handwave that away and say ‘oh, but Exxon’. You change the culture by making it socially unacceptable to drive a gas car, or a car at all. You make it socially unacceptable to covet the big house. You make it socially unacceptable to be wasteful. That’s how you change Exxon. Government is unlikely to do it, because Exxon can buy government. It’s pretty cheap, actually. Trump asked for a billion, and that’s pocket change.
Martin
@Chet Murthy: Right, but microplastic isn’t a failure to recycle. Nobody is going to collect the 1.7 million tons of tire debris that we leave on the roads every year, which is a non-trivial portion of the microplastics in our bodies. Or the plastic trash that gets caught in the wind, balloons, all the exterior items that deteriorate in UV, fishing nets, stuff that gets caught up into storm drains, and so on. The only way to mitigate that is to simply not produce it in the first place. Make tires more durable – again, tire wear is non-linearly proportional to vehicle weight – so just making vehicles lighter substantially helps that problem, as does reducing the amount of driving we need to do.
But anything disposable is a problem because we as consumers aren’t motivated to retain it – after all, it’s disposable. Yes, recycling helps, and if it increases the cost of plastic enough it’ll shift packaging back to better materials, or it just creates a new market for a new kind of disposable item because we as a society like the disposable items. That’s the part that needs to change, otherwise you’re just transferring the problem somewhere else.
Tinare
In college my roommate and I had a “popcorn pot” the one that was dinged up and deep and used exclusively to pop popcorn. It’s been a long time since I made it that way, but it is the best way.
NotMax
@Tinare
Gotta link it. Jiffy Pop.
;)
CliosFanBoy
@Jackie:
(smile) I remember. Using Crisco to deepfry chickenwng, then straining it to resuse.
xjmuellerlurks
Consider a Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid, or the Tucson which is a little smaller. My daughter has had 3 Hyundai’s and wasn’t able to destroy any of them, no matter how hard she tried. She drove her Tucson for about 9 years in DC and Chicago. I had a 2014 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and it was good – got about 32 mpg. 80 mile round trip to work every day. Traded it in for an Outback with good safety features when I retired. I like a car that helps me stay in my lane.
wjca
But it provides that warm feeling of virtue. And is ever so much easier than doing the work of actually persuading someone.
WeimarGerman
We really love our 2015 Highlander Hybrid. It’s been perfect. The only downside is the nav system is now very dated and expensive to update.
TerryC
@Melancholy Jaques: Sadly, we decided on a lovely gold 2024 Chevy Trax last October. Two nights ago it spontaneously combusted in our driveway and burnt up. We had 5k on it and really, really liked it.
Dmbeaster
Apparently most people have popcorn apparatus like an air bloower or they just use microwave, and I am apparently the last person on the planet who throws oil and popcorn in a big pot, covers it, and makes it that way.
Not the last. It’s the only way to make really good popcorn. Air blower is OK, but it’s very dry popcorn. Microwave popcorn is mediocre. It’s just easy, which is its only virtue.
burnt
Delurking–too late, I know–to share my grandfather had a special sauce pan he used to make popcorn. The fat he used to pop the corn was always bacon fat. Bacon fat popcorn is the very best.
MinuteMan
There’s a fundamental problem with the lesser-of-evils-is-still-evil rationale in presidential voting: even if you find a candidate who is absolutely non-evil, they will become evil soon after taking office—it’s the nature of the job. Thus, it’s completely impossible to not have someone with an aspect of evil as the president (kind of goes with being human but also the nature of being a huge government existing in a sea filled with somewhat evil people). With purity an impossibility, the choice is merely a matter of degree as are many things in life.
kmax
Was sick last night. Late as usual
Replaced Mercedes ML diesel with 2023 Rav4 XSE Hybrid. Miss the seats but love the Rav4.
Tech is good and makes driving easy. Over 40 mpg.
Not that much smaller inside than the ML.
Stress level way down.. anyone who has owned an older high-mileage Benz knows what I mean.