What's something we have NEVER bitched about before?

[Greg_Charles]

@Little_Nemo

I don’t know if this is a whoosh but that was a science fiction story by Arthur C. Clarke.

Oh, yeah, I actually read that. They used computers to speed along the process, right? I vaguely remember the story said that the monks had been able to limit the possible letters in God’s name to ten, so the computers could handle it. Clarke wrote it? Well, everyone goofs occasionally.

However, are you sure it’s not based on a real myth? It’s vaguely akin to the Towers of Hanoi story, i.e., solve this puzzle and the world will end.

[Alan_Smithee]

@elbows

Why must Jello be flavoured like Koolaid? What kind of horrible Western bastard conspiracy is this? And the worst part is they’ve duped entire cultures into thinking it must be so.

But, nay. There exists (check your Chinese grocer!), fabulous and delicately flavoured Passionfruit gelatin, and Mango, and Lovely honeydew Melon. And, (brace yourselves), they actually taste lovely and refreshing, and light, y’know, like fruit kinda can. Not syrupy sweet in only Artifical Jello flavours that taste like nothing natural in the slightest.

And why don’t the masses suspect anything? Because it’s a huge scandalous conspiracy…

…but I’ve said to much already!

…I gotta go, remember you didn’t hear this from me, got it?

…and, no matter what, ----/-don’t drink the Koolaid!

…did you hear som

For that matter, why do we think Koolaid has to be flavored like Koolaid? Everything you said about gelatin applies many times over to fruit beverages! A cafe near me used have a big water container with a spigot at the bottom, and they would add fruit to the water in large enough pieces that it wouldn’t block the spigot. It gave the water a light but surprisingly noticeable fruit flavor that made it a very tasty and refreshing beverage. I used to go in there just for the water (which is probably why they got rid of it!)

At the more heavily-flavored end of the spectrum, you have the Mexican tradition of aguas frescas, which are sometimes made from powders, but still manage to taste a million times better than anything most Americans know as “fruit punch.” And properly made from real fruit, they are absolutely delicious!

[Neidhart]

@Freddy_the_Pig

We kind-of sort-of talked about it here, in a thread on Cold-War era tension between Hungary and Romania. See my post#4 and then #14 and #20. I mentioned it as “the historical conflict over Transylvania” rather than calling out Trianon by name.

If you visit the palace of Versailles and hike out to the satellite palace of Trianon, you can see the room in which the Treaty of Trianon was signed! It’s a lovely room, but it ain’t the Hall of Mirrors. The poor Hungarians not only lost, they were relegated to an inferior room on the outskirts.

And this led to them allying with Hitler, with whose help they did recover a substantial part of the lost territories in 1938-41, only to lose them again in 1945 when the Soviet Union kicked the country in the balls.