Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Pseudonym]

God, I don't know what's been wrong with my brother this week, I'm starting to think he's got PMT. Moody b*****d. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

What has become of peanuts?  I seem to recall that they used to be larger and have their skins left on and come in a metal can (not a plastic jar) and taste like peanuts instead of like peanut butter.

Somebody please tell me I'm not imagining things!

[Pseudonym]

Hm, dunno, you can get them still in skins here if that’s what you fancy (I never do). As for taste, just tastes like peanut to me. Processing? GM?

[Carol the Dabbler]

I seem to recall there being two basic types of peanuts, Virginia and -- uh, the other kind.  One was supposed to be better for making peanut butter, and the other for munching.  My best guess is that all they're growing here these days is the PB kind.

I used to buy wonderful munching peanuts for my Mom at the grocery store -- they had whole shelves of them!  Nowadays, just try to find much of anything except peanut butter, and even when you can find unground peanuts, they all seem to be the PB type.

Actually it turns out there are four kinds all together.  And I suspect my fond recollection is of the Virginia type.

[Pseudonym]

Ah, there we go then. If I’m ever asked how many kinds of peanuts there are in a pub quiz I’ll know the answer.

[HerlockSholmes]

Does anyone on here come from Idaho? 

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/teacher-charged-after-feeding-puppy-to-snapping-turtle-in-front-of-students-11393437

Can you believe this?

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

[Arcadia]

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 1:24 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

I seem to recall there being two basic types of peanuts, Virginia and -- uh, the other kind.  One was supposed to be better for making peanut butter, and the other for munching.  My best guess is that all they're growing here these days is the PB kind.

I used to buy wonderful munching peanuts for my Mom at the grocery store -- they had whole shelves of them!  Nowadays, just try to find much of anything except peanut butter, and even when you can find unground peanuts, they all seem to be the PB type.

Actually it turns out there are four kinds all together.  And I suspect my fond recollection is of the Virginia type.

Come to Virginia. You can't escape the damn things around here.

But don't come in June, because JP is right. Don't come in July or August either. Unless you like strolling in a sauna.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Can you get 'em dry-roasted and salted, with the skins still on?  Where do they sell them?  And what brands are good?

[HerlockSholmes]

Do you have different flavours in The States? We have salt and vinegar flavoured and curry flavour for eg. They are often sold in pubs to make you drink more beer. Not that we need any more encouragement on that score👍

[Sheerluck]

I've never noticed any peanuts in my Bombay mix.

[Carol the Dabbler]

2 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

Do you have different flavours in The States? We have salt and vinegar flavoured and curry flavour for eg

Flavored peanuts and mixes seem to be popular here nowadays, yes, judging by what I see in the stores.  Maybe that's where my beloved munching peanuts have gone (perhaps because the companies found they could turn a higher profit that way).  But I am a traditionalist and prefer my nuts merely salted.

[HerlockSholmes]

We also have ‘dry roasted.’ I haven’t a clue what the different preparation process is but they taste good.

Do you have pork scratchings over there?

The phrase ‘pork rinds’ just floated around in my head so I googled it and their the same thing so you do have them👍

[Pseudonym]

What possesses people on Amazon to answer questions they don't know the answer to? It's so annoying. I asked a question about a blender, and I have people answering saying things like 'I don't know, but it makes a great hot chocolate!' Why the hell are they wasting their time typing that and wasting my time by making me read it when it's not what I asked?!

[Sheerluck]

It all comes down to seeing their name on the page. The question and the answer are immaterial. They just like seeing their name. Cretins.

[Hikari]

1 hour ago, Pseudonym said:

What possesses people on Amazon to answer questions they don't know the answer to? It's so annoying. I asked a question about a blender, and I have people answering saying things like 'I don't know, but it makes a great hot chocolate!' Why the hell are they wasting their time typing that and wasting my time by making me read it when it's not what I asked?!

Or the super-helpful reviews that go:  "I haven't watched this but I got it as a gift for my husband."

Well, bully you!  What's it s*dd*ng about?  You can't tell me 'cause you don't know but you're gonna hit "Write a Review' anyway!

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, Pseudonym said:

What possesses people on Amazon to answer questions they don't know the answer to?

I often wonder the same thing. In fact, I have seen any number of "answers" that consist solely of the words "I don't know" -- or perhaps even worse, the ones who go on to explain *why* they don't know, e.g., "I already threw away the box."

I make a point of clicking Not Helpful on those, even though I have to bring up that question's own page in order to do so.  Not as satisfying as whapping the idiot over the head with a rolled-up newspaper, but at least it's something.

As for the really blatant non-reviews, I Report them.

[T.o.b.y]

Beats me why people do that. I have often wondered about that too. Do they have too much time on their hands? Do they feel personally addressed by anything they read and compelled to answer something? It's a mystery. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Maybe they're lonely and just want somebody to talk with. Their non-answers make perfect sense in that context.  If a friend asks me a question that I don't know the answer to, I don't just rudely ignore her, I tell her that I don't know (and may go on to explain why). It's called a conversation.

These people are merely applying that set of rules in a context where it's inappropriate.  They may, for whatever reason (learning difficulties?), not understand the difference.

[Caya]

Maybe they simply didn't understand that what they type would show up? Amazon's "question" format is a bit weird, you get a mail if someone posts a question to something you bought, titled, "[Username], can you answer the following question?" followed by the question and a link. Clicking the link takes you to a seperate page where you can type in the answer, as opposed to the product page itself (and while I'm griping, that prevents you from seeing whether someone has given an answer already anyway, too). So I can sorta see how people would mistake that format for a PM or similar.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Ah -- don't recall ever getting one of those emails, but if the question was something I couldn't answer, I would have just deleted it.  That could indeed explain why a fairly literal-minded person might feel compelled to give some sort of answer.

It would also explain why people will sometimes give brief, vague answers to questions that someone else has already answered in detail.

[Pseudonym]

I've never had an email about something I've bought asking if I can answer a question.

[Caya]

Wouldn't you know it, I still had one of these things in the mailbox trashcan. I did a screengrab (bear in mind that this is from amazon.de and consequently German) of the mail, below the green line is the page it takes you to when you click the link (both are snipped for both size and not-wanting-my-email-spammed-to-oblivion-when-a-bot-finds-it reasons):

eta: Some translations might help, I just realized. Like I said, the email's headline is, do you know the answer to the following question about [paranoia usb stick I once bought for my husband]? and in the body it asks you whether you could help this customer, laura m. (she of the questionable spelling). On the page after the link, the question is repeated, and the grey text in the "write here" box says that your answers help others know more about this product. There is, in fact, a link below the box (the blue text) that shows you all existing answers to that question, but it sure isn't prominent.

[Arcadia]

On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 4:41 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Can you get 'em dry-roasted and salted, with the skins still on?  Where do they sell them?  And what brands are good?

I guess, everywhere, and I don't know. I'm not much of a peanut fan (although, oddly, I love peanut butter.) They're particularly common in gift shops, especially in historic areas. Which is basically everywhere, in Virginia.

A quick search turned these up:

https://www.peanut.com/redskin-salted-peanuts.html

https://hopeandharmonyfarms.com/virginia-peanuts/redskin-peanuts/

https://www.virginiapeanutcompany.com/product/redskin-peanuts/ This is the only name I recognize.

On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 7:50 AM, HerlockSholmes said:

Do you have different flavours in The States? We have salt and vinegar flavoured and curry flavour for eg. They are often sold in pubs to make you drink more beer. Not that we need any more encouragement on that score👍

That last link has a whole bunch of flavors. So, yep. Although I'm more familiar with flavored almonds.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I've been thinking for a while about ordering from nuts.com, because they have organic ones that look/sound really good.  But I know nothing about the company except what's on their site, and I thought how do I know the peanuts are really organic?  But at this point none of the local sources have any peanuts that even taste like I remember.  So their nuts might be better than what I've found around here even if they aren't really organic. And if they are, that's even better.