# Stuff worse than it used to be **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556 "2016-02-08T20:48:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/101 "2016-02-09T19:23:59Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > One of my clients owns four DD stores. As you say, all the donuts are baked at a central kitchen serving perhaps two dozen locations. The interesting part is they are sold at cost; DD doesn’t make a nickel off the donuts. They are a loss leader for the fabulously inflated price of their coffee. To be fair, their coffee rocks. Krispy Kreme coffee is bland dishwater by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/102 "2016-02-09T19:27:04Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Computer printers. My last one lasted a whole two years. I went to a friend’s house to install my old computer to replace her ancient one; she has an old HP printer that’s built like a tank and is still working perfectly. Many of the new ones get poor reviews. Yeah, the ones that cost a tenth of that old HP. You can get some really nice printers that are still very affordable these days. Maybe not built like a tank, but still built well enough, and they finally fixed all the driver nonsense. My old printer from 2003 still worked fine and they even still sold the ink cartridges, but the drivers were no longer compatible so I couldn’t use any of the advanced features such as double sided printing. So I got a new one, and I’m very happy with it. Like I said, no drivers and I can print photos directly from my phone wirelessly. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/103 "2016-02-09T19:32:53Z")
Wheat Thins. Now they’re like little salted pieces of wood. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/104 "2016-02-09T19:37:19Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Children playing / socializing. > > Decades ago, kids would be kicked out of the house to play with other neighborhood kids outside until sundown, using their imaginations to keep themselves entertained and using their bodies for locomotion: Running, skateboarding, bicycling. The whole neighborhood was their playground. > > No screens, no phones, no helicopter parents watching their only child armored up like a football player just to ride their bike alone in a circle in front of their house. > > “Play dates” wasn’t even a thing. It was just “It’s not raining, go outside.” You definitely don’t live in my neighborhood. I see this all the time. 🆒 Play dates are more for the parents than they are for the kids. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/105 "2016-02-09T19:38:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Cadbury Egg’s have also shrunken. They used to be egg size, now they are smaller. > > Annoying. I sure don’t mind. Fewer calories in each one. :o ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/106 "2016-02-09T20:08:57Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > … > You want to tell a story that takes time to unfold and feel as if you just watched a movie, fine. Then make a complete graphic novel. Just don’t expect me to be dumb enough to shell out money for chapters each month. I long ago gave up buying individual issues, I’ll only buy collected volumes where I can make something of a value/cost decision of having a good story for the money. Otherwise single comics are just too expensive, too slowly released, and too uncertain in quality to commit to following them. After suffering a few runs that seem great in the hyped issue #1 and then go off-the-rails-stupid in issue #5, I don’t buy in to the business model anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/107 "2016-02-09T20:26:56Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Most everything that has been outsourced to China. And China’s not what it used to be. What happened to those Mao-loving rosy-cheeked tractor women shining with the inner light of pure socialist fervour? Now it’s all just wan anorexic pop star wannabes making our iPhones. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/108 "2016-02-09T20:30:04Z")
The economics of comics is weird. The monthly titles give the companies the steady revenue that allows them to do the TPB and OGN (original graphic novel). “Waiting for the trades” is actually bad for the business and arguably so is writing toward the trade paperback. It’s a bad paradox because they are essentially banking on fans buying the same product twice. BUT fans do do this, it’s the nature of collecting. The fate of the industry relies on how long will the fans do this. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/109 "2016-02-09T21:16:28Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I find it hilarious that people are arguing about art…ART! . . . What makes you imagine art is immune from differences of opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/110 "2016-02-09T22:28:07Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > What makes you imagine art is immune from differences of opinion? That was my point. Art is subjective. “Art used to be better!” is a ridiculous position to try to defend. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/111 "2016-02-09T22:41:56Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > That was my point. Art is subjective. > “Art used to be better!” is a ridiculous position to try to defend. Comics are distinguishable from “art” in many ways, if that’s what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/112 "2016-02-09T23:03:14Z")
A hundred plus posts and nobody’s said CNN? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/113 "2016-02-09T23:05:24Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > A hundred plus posts and nobody’s said CNN? You could just expand that to journalism. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/114 "2016-02-09T23:06:32Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > A hundred plus posts and nobody’s said CNN? Well, now that you mention it, though I’d rather say **Headline News**. I was a big fan of HN because I could turn it on at any time, day or night and get news. No pundits, no opinions, just the headlines, weather, sports scores. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/115 "2016-02-09T23:40:25Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > Well, now that you mention it, though I’d rather say **Headline News**. > I was a big fan of HN because I could turn it on at any time, day or night and get news. No pundits, no opinions, just the headlines, weather, sports scores. And that is something that FOX “News” fails at spectacularly. All it is is politics, pundits and opinions, and they act like their talk shows are the same as actual newscasts (I say this because their opinion shows are not labeled as such, nor do viewers have warnings/disclaimers to that effect). ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/116 "2016-02-09T23:44:44Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I would. > > But I have a dog named Crackers and even I have my limits. I bet Crackers would have liked my dog. He had congenitally malformed limbs, but lost two of them in an unfortunate wood chipper incident (hint: don’t toss Snausages® into a running wood chipper if you have a hungry dog). He was a trooper and learned to walk upright on his 2 remaining flippers. Then he caught mange from a dirty bitch down the road (I caught something like that in similar fashion). Then there was that bow and arrow incident, but an eye-patch hid that pretty well. Mercifully, an alligator put him out of his misery shortly after that when I absentmindedly tossed his ball into the swamp behind our house. He was a great dog. His name was Lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/117 "2016-02-09T23:52:59Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > But I have a dog named Crackers and even I have my limits. You know, I always wanted Michael Jackson to record a version of “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/118 "2016-02-10T14:16:02Z")
I am keeping a wary eye on commercial horseradish sold in jars. They can stuff whatever they want in the creamed kind, but ground horseradish is only allowed to contain horseradish root, vinegar and salt. Maybe beets if you’re a weirdo. But nothing else. There is no excuse for products like [this](http://www.amazon.com/Reese-Prepared-Horseradish-6-5-Ounces/dp/B00D42AUZ6/ref=zg_bs_16319841_16) which according to the label also contains “soybean oil…artificial flavor, sodium metabisulfite and sodium benzoate (preservatives) sugar, eggs, cellulose and xanthan gums, citric acid, high fructose corn syrup, calcium disodium EDTA (retains product freshness), spices, lemon juice”. WTF? It’s not like horseradish starts going bad the instant you open the jar, so what’s with the \*^@$! preservatives? Soybean oil? Artificial flavor? Freaking _sugar_??? It’s un-American. :mad: If this crap takes over, I will need to make my own, which can be hazardous (the last time I did so, the toxic gases just about drove us out of the kitchen). ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/119 "2016-02-10T15:11:39Z")
You’re getting awfully excited over creamy horseradish sauce, which is horseradish in mayonnaise. It’s great in sandwiches. The tang of horseradish lasts until its gone. Regular ground horseradish loses its bite the minute you open the jar, it goes disappointingly bland within a couple of days and I end up throwing it out… I’ve found a stand at the farmers market that sells packets of powdered horseradish, that can be mixed with water or dressing and its as fine and bitey as that first grated scoop from the little jar. ---
**Author:** ![skylyn12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@skylyn12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skylyn12)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/120 "2016-02-10T15:26:36Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Children playing / socializing. > > Decades ago, kids would be kicked out of the house to play with other neighborhood kids outside until sundown, using their imaginations to keep themselves entertained and using their bodies for locomotion: Running, skateboarding, bicycling. The whole neighborhood was their playground. > > No screens, no phones, no helicopter parents watching their only child armored up like a football player just to ride their bike alone in a circle in front of their house. > > “Play dates” wasn’t even a thing. It was just “It’s not raining, go outside.” It’s like this in my current neighborhood. Everyone just sends their kids out. It took a bit for us to get used to since we moved from a more ‘modern’ neighborhood where no one did this… But related to kids and growing up, I would nominate ‘sports’. There is just a much heavier and earlier emphasis on ‘select’ and high level play than there was when I was a kid. I was a serious soccer player and did not play on a travel team until I was 12 and select or tryouts weren’t even a thing until about U14. At my current soccer club, there are select travel teams starting at U7. The kids on the team are as young as pre-school and they practice 3 times a week with games on the weekend and multiple tournaments throughout the year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556.md?page=7)