Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Much Sorry with Delays
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Tuesday, February 3. 2009

Did you know this?

Look at the ends of aluminum foil boxes. There's a push-in thingy to hold the roll in the box. Thank me.



 

Posted by Opie in Food and Drink at 16:20 | Comments (33) | Trackbacks (0)

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Interesting. My wife showed me that yesterday on a Saran box--somebody had just told here about it.

I've been doing that for years, it seems like, but then I am weird--I read the instructions. Like on the partially used but moldy carton of cottage cheese where it says on the inner seal (still in the moldy box) "Remove inner seal for longer...." that I threw out yeaterday.
#1 Larry Sheldon on 2009-02-03 16:55 (Reply)
Those tabs are an example of how the abstract basket of goods we use to measure purchasing power and income understates our wealth. A box of foil in 1970 (or sometime before the tabs) is slightly less useful than a box of foil today.

It might seem a trivial difference, just a “rounding error”. But that infinitesimal value multiplied by every box of foil sold, along with similar improvements on nearly every product, add up to a huge and overlooked prosperity.
#2 foxmarks (Link) on 2009-02-03 19:02 (Reply)
Unfortunately, all that aggregate time saved has now been aggregately consumed whilst waiting on porn to download. Hence the situation we are in today. You just can't win.
#2.1 KRW on 2009-02-03 19:22 (Reply)
And I thought I was a cynic.
#2.1.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-03 19:50 (Reply)
OK, on a non-cynical, serious note...This is one of the things about economics and how we so casually refer to economic concepts like, say "inflation", that amuses me. This "basket of goods" on which such a concept is based can not possibly account for the improvement in quality and function we have today. Even something as functionally constant as a refrigerator has technologically improved to the point that you can't find one today comparable to what was available 20 years ago. Nobody would buy one.
#2.2 KRW on 2009-02-03 20:34 (Reply)
Though unseen here, I did say it with a smile on my face.

That's a good point. Apples and oranges as it were.

And if you could have found a futuristic refrigerator back then it would have cost an arm and a leg.
#2.2.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-03 20:48 (Reply)
Lileks.com is a great place sharpen one’s appreciation for today’s stuff. Although, you mention refrigerators, and his recent post about a non-electric refrigerator was still in my mind. Some folks insist their ancient appliances have no modern replacement!

My porn should be ready by now…
#2.2.2 foxmarks (Link) on 2009-02-03 22:11 (Reply)
Uhm. Never knew that was there. Asked my wife and she to was clueless about the feature. My life is now complete.

No really, thank you. I actually gained something useful from surfing tonight.
#3 Locus on 2009-02-03 21:32 (Reply)
20 years ago, the feminine products took up two shelves. Now stores devote an entire mile-long aisle to the plethora of goodies, and if any of you men have found yourself with a wife or daughter in one of those aisles, you know what waiting is all about. Sometimes there's this kinda yearning for the days when you had only two choices.

I'm not sure how I got here from refrigerators and porn and tin foil, but oh well.
`
#4 Meta on 2009-02-03 21:34 (Reply)
Oh, come on. It fits right in.

But hey... I'm an old guy. I remember when there was only one choice... of method anyway.

Besides, you've added arrows to KRW's quiver. His is an interesting take... comparing 'baskets of goods'.
#4.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-03 21:50 (Reply)
"I'm an old guy. I remember when there was only one choice... of method anyway."

"...method..."? How old are you, Luther? Do you remember when the bitches had to go hang around in the moon lodge for a week?
`
#4.1.1 Meta on 2009-02-04 00:05 (Reply)
Sure.

Not only that, but I was one of the guards guarding to make sure no man was contaminated. It was what waiting was all about. Waiting for the moon lodge to morph into a center of light and heat.
#4.1.1.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 00:11 (Reply)
"Oh, come on. It fits right in."

Luther, luther, luther --mein gott en himmel, i tried to thay that out loud and i fracthured my tung

anyhoo i once saw Tampax Faye Baker in person. i was driving thru Hog Vapor County Arkansaw and there she wuz, in the Woolworth's parking lot, sellin 5 gallon buckets of mascara out the back of her Buick. Had quite a crowd, too, tho i imagine most of 'em were in line for next days yo yo demonstration and Bushiest Unibrow competition.
#4.1.2 buddy larsen on 2009-02-04 05:29 (Reply)
Sorry about the damage, Buddy. I do tend to get a tad silly around late night time. Need something to relieve a little of all the doom and gloom.

What a treat though... Tampax Faye Baker, in person. There's a story to share with the grandkids... or not.
#4.1.2.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 09:47 (Reply)
I didn't know you could fracture a tongue. That means it has a bone in it.

Is that a bone of consentient?
`
#4.1.2.2 Meta on 2009-02-04 12:06 (Reply)
Most men get all squirmy and run away on this subject. But not The Heat & Light Seeking Missile, Luther S. McLeod, Warrior of the Womb.

What an amazing cerebral kotex you have, Sir.
`
#5 Meta on 2009-02-04 00:17 (Reply)
Thank you, Mighty Meta.

It is all good... you know. Though, back then, sometimes getting on a hot, humid and crowded bus could be a bit of a chore. And yes... many folds in my dorktex. Makes for some snappy neurons though.
#5.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 00:24 (Reply)
"Most men get all squirmy and run away on this subject"

Light days, maxie, super,regular or plus
wings-no wings, scented a must
ultra thin, overnight or thong
a thousand ways to go wrong
applicator included ? maybe, maybe not
all the women at my house
I'm glad i bought some stock
#5.2 ron on 2009-02-04 14:34 (Reply)
Excellent, Ron.

Written from the voice of experience. And fits perfectly with KRW's 'basket of goods' theme.
#5.2.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 16:08 (Reply)
ha. ha. ha.

Good! :}
`
#5.2.2 Meta on 2009-02-04 20:43 (Reply)
Did your amygdala dry up? You didn't have buses back in those days. A wagon train maybe if you were lucky. Talk about arrows in quivers, you sure took care of them democrats and slowed it all down. It's all good.

I'll help you with your remembering and give you mental floss as needed.
`
#6 Meta on 2009-02-04 00:32 (Reply)
Jeeze I love this site. You've touched on tin foil tabs, porn, refrigerators, cereberal kotex and manhole covers. Ain't Maggie's grand.

By-the-by, did any of you wander to the Taking Chance post and note the comment I randomly left about protecting the constitution of the US from...well, the government that the NH legislature is having a look-see at. Love to get more learned perspectives from you all.
#7 Jephnol (Link) on 2009-02-04 01:01 (Reply)
Eclectic... thy name is Maggie's comment threads.

Actually, for some reason I had wandered right by that post. Thanks for drawing it to my attention.

Both for the 'trailer' and movie recommendation and for the business that NH is up to. I don't have any perspectives about it... but it seems like a good idea to me. Though it seems a damn shame that states are having to reassert the powers that they already have under the constitution. Or so it seems to me.
#7.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 09:59 (Reply)
Damn. I just watched that trailer. Very powerful.

I remember reading about that story a long while back.

I was so damn lucky to have served in the Marines. I didn't feel that way when I finished my four years, as I was young and rebellious. But over the years as I've grown and matured I've come to realize that they were the best years of my life. A man could do no better.
#7.2 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 10:11 (Reply)
When your cerebral kotex swells, you mature. It's just that way. Don't ask me why. Some things never grow up - like your man parts. They just stay dumb and single-minded.
`
#7.2.1 Meta on 2009-02-04 11:39 (Reply)
How enlightening to have life's journey broken down so simply and clearly. Thanks, you supplied the mental floss at just the right time. :)
#7.2.1.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 11:46 (Reply)
You are welcome. I know some stuff.
`
#7.2.1.1.1 Meta on 2009-02-04 11:55 (Reply)
Yes you do, plenty... we're all well aware of that.
#7.2.1.1.1.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 12:03 (Reply)
once when i was about 18 i tried to file charges on my man parts. The DA said he'd heard it all before and there was no statute. i told him if he followed me around a few days there would be.
#7.2.1.2 buddy larsen on 2009-02-04 12:33 (Reply)
Must be some sort of law regarding the conservation of swelling? Perhaps the change in the swelling of one part of a closed system results in an uptick in the amount of swelling elsewhere in said system? I think this was covered in a book on Thermodynamics I once read...
#7.2.1.3 KRW on 2009-02-04 12:53 (Reply)
Perhaps, KRW, you're thinking of one of the proposed fourth laws of Thermodynamics...

"Onsager reciprocal relations"

Has to do with flows, forces and heat. No direct mention of swelling... but surely that would be a result.
#8 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 16:17 (Reply)
Heh heh heh...Yeah, That's IT!!!

I see that we could murder this metaphor further by delving into the Bose-Einstein condensate, re "slowing of atoms" but that would probably blow my geek capacitor.
#8.1 KRW on 2009-02-04 17:25 (Reply)
Haha... great suggestion. But you're right, that might give me brain freeze... which now that I think of it, that would be the corollary, wouldn't it? Dang... you're way ahead of me in this murdering metaphors business.
#8.1.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-02-04 17:44 (Reply)

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