wjrii

@wjrii@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨fruit flavor without the fruit⁩ ⁨⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I would just about bet the texture is similar, but maybe more uniform. I think the goal is to make a goopy sweet and tart syrup reduction barel vaguely reminiscent of what a proper fruit pie filling would be like, and then construct a cobbler the usual way.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How come soccer and tennis never caught on in the states? Also why hasn't there been an NFL team vs a Soccer Team and vice versa. Just to prove which is the better sport? Details inside.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  There are so many. Some highlights though:

  • There’s a salary cap of $6.5M, which is actually more “League One” than Championship, but there are loopholes to exploit (Beckham rule and its offspring most predominant among them), and MLS is full of Americans and Western Hemisphere players who are good but would never get UK work permits so their wages are a bit depressed compared to second and third tier British players.
  • Maximum senior roster of 30 players, of which 10 are (nominally) supposed to be on the equivalent of 1800 pounds/week. Exceptions here as well, but in broad strikes the bottom of the roster is WAAAY cheaper than even the middle.
  • Several of them are supposed to be 24 or younger, further limiting the pool.
  • There is an internal market to trade them around, but teams can only have an average of 8 non-domestic players. Rules slightly vary for the cc US teams versus Canadian.
  • The league is legally one business, and holds all contracts. The “owners” are investors in the league who have a contractual agreement to manage a team. It happens much less often than it used to, but you occasionally see things that appear to be league office meddling in player movement.
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How come soccer and tennis never caught on in the states? Also why hasn't there been an NFL team vs a Soccer Team and vice versa. Just to prove which is the better sport? Details inside.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, no worries. One of the beauties of soccer is that playing it is not hard, but playing it competently is, and playing it at a high level is insanely difficult.

  Don’t get me wrong though, in spite of the perfectly good reasons not to be, I still love American football, and you’re right that the other way around would be a literal bloodbath.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How come soccer and tennis never caught on in the states? Also why hasn't there been an NFL team vs a Soccer Team and vice versa. Just to prove which is the better sport? Details inside.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  The NFL team would be miserable and probably have soft-tissue injuries, and eventually would not be able to stop the soccer players from navigating around them like cones, assuming they ever could. Assuming they could learn the byzantine rulebook in a reasonable timeframe, the soccer players would be instantly broken into little pieces. No one would enjoy either contest, and we would learn nothing.

  As for why they didn’t catch on, first I’m not so sure they didn, as tennis in particular has always had its place in the American culture, though its association with the “country club” class may have limited its ceiling. American soccer has its issues, and it is not pressuring the “traditional” American team sports, but attendances are healthy, sponsorships are good, and quality of play is decent, with a starting 11 being roughly comparable to the bottom half of the English second division. Roster rules would mean an MLS club would quickly get ground into dirt in that English second division, but matchday 1 might be pretty competitive. Taking your question more generously, though, competition from baseball, followed by organizational disarray, followed by competition from college gridiron football, followed by competition from professional gridiron football, with the “not invented here” syndrome left it seen as a sport for immigrants and then as a safe yet cheap option for suburban children.

  Televised World Cups and Pele started to erode that some, but more organizational disarray left the country without a proper professional league from 1984 until 1995, and when it was restarted it was intentionally done in a manner to control costs and favor management, which it ironically was able to do because it could always argue the players could seek employment in other countries.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How come soccer and tennis never caught on in the states? Also why hasn't there been an NFL team vs a Soccer Team and vice versa. Just to prove which is the better sport? Details inside.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  NFL athletes would have the conditioning and stamina to at the very least compete in a soccer match

  A few might not be utterly exhausted and wishing for death, but running around attempting to play soccer for ninety minutes is not the same as succeeding. Even Wide Receivers and Defensive Backs with some soccer experience aren’t going to hang with any professional team; that’s just not what they train for. Then there’s the skill issue. It would be like asking which Indy car would do better in the America’s Cup. ;-)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨battlecheat⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  High risk, high reward.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You need to think long term⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  A couple of years ago, I was applying for a work visa, and they needed my college transcripts. Despite matriculating in 19somethingsomethingoldold, my class was one of the first to use an online system that was able to be migrated into multiple subsequent generations of registrar systems, so they needed to have my school email ID, which I hadn’t thought about eleventymilliongetoffmylawn years, so THAT meant placing a call to campus IT, and providing enough personal information for them to look it up.

  And that, my online friends, is when you are forced to viscerally confront that you were a deeply cringe knowitall who spent way too much time thinking your personality flaws were edgy superpowers and that knowing the name of a random reference in a Bertrand Russell book you barely understood proved how smart you were.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I vaguely remember these but forgot what they were for⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s just reckless! You’re a maverick who doesn’t play by the rules! I’m too old for this shit!

  I actually do think the point is there more as an alignment guide for a potentially sloppy stack of punched paper (see also the manila envelopes with brads built in), but I would be lying if I said I never skipped the hole punch when it was just a couple of sheets.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I vaguely remember these but forgot what they were for⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  More or less. Nominally they were for quickly binding paper that had been through a 2- or 3-hole punch.

  Really, they were for making badass clocks in kindergarten.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When you are proud to get a diploma while being illiterate⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I get it. We skew older here, but somebody playing around on the fuzzy edges of spelling a gen-z meme is not illiteracy. To be clear, I am also a clueless old, but I thought I’d look it up before piling on.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Rhymes, motherfucker⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  “What’s worse than lies but not as bad as statistics?”

  “DAMNED LIES, MOTHERFUCKER.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Cultural impact⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  At this point, I think its most lasting cultural impact is everyone’s opinion on how little cultural impact it had.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What character is the king of plot armor?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s a fair take, but for me it just went past the point of willing suspension of disbelief, and I don’t find that meta-narrative compelling. It may well be a reason for me to re-evaluate it though, to decide if I think it’s poorly done versus something where what they wanted to do simply didn’t connect with me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What character is the king of plot armor?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I recently finished Blue-Eyed Samurai, and Mizu’s increasingly powerful plot armor comes very close to ruining the whole show.

  spoiler

  They make a point of inflicting fairly realistic injuries, and of showing the required treatment, and in the early going they even need time to heal, but the farther we get into the plot, the more intense and more frequent the injuries, while at the same time the less time it takes for Mizu to heal enough to function at a superhuman level. The arrow through the ankle is one that comes to mind. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with power-fantasy anime (or anime-adjacent animation), but it felt like a bait and switch, especially since no one else seems to have it so the stakes end up yawningly low.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why dogs are better pets than cats - The Brock Press⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This is definitely the right community, LOL. I am absolutely a dogs>cats person, but this junior-high school-paper article has me questioning 20 years of a catless house.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  So many rainbow explosions…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Here I come!⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Show what you know! In most parts of the US, there is no train!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do abortions work exactly? I get you lose the kid or whatever. My ex rapist used to tell me if I ever got pregnant he would RU486 me. Wouldn't a person rather go to a doc instead of a pill?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I agree, but ol’ Don is, if nothing else, a curator of interesting writing prompts.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Not even a big melon⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The DeBeers-ish sentimental marketing is also a bit of a scam, which ends up working nicely with the cost being a scam. I am very happy with my 25 year old English Lit degree; it was was what I was able to get through with where I was discipline-wise, and I did learn all those critical thinking and life skills, and it even opened adequate doors, career-wise. I reckon my grades were inflated somewhat by my professors’ sheer relief that I was engaging with the material and, for all their flaws, my papers were obviously my own work. Still, I think my memories would be very different if I had graduated with $180k of student loan debt from a bucolic college somewhere in the New England hills instead of a $2k balance on a Discover Card, incurred over 4.25 years of nonsense at local state U.

  I’m all for college, and not just STEM and business. Frankly some our current generation of tech leaders could use to have taken a few more philosophy classes (except for Peter Thiel… oh my) or at least smoked a few more bowls with the liberal arts kids. Still, people need to be clear-eyed about what a degree will and won’t do, and they need to understand that you absolutely can and should put a price-tag on the experiences.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What’s all the hubbub about this Marks guy he seems pretty chill⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Bloemfontein, I think.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨yummy⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t know if they still do, but for a long while IKEA was selling tabletops and shelves that were a honeycomb of cardboard with a very thin frame of some softwood or manufactured wood product, and then a synthetic woodgrain veneer. Super light, and pretty strong… for their weight.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It can't be coincidence they're so perfectly placed.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The Eternals was a documentary.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sovereign Of The Highland.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  nowlookhereaintnoneogothicpeninknonsenseahtellyoowhutahjustsumdangoletexashillbilliessippindangolecocktailsknowhudimeanandwearinbowlerhatsandtiesandwatchindeadtreesandguesswhatwell…

  dangoledwardgoreymaniguessthat’sboutright.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨This will never stop being funny to me⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Theorizing about and then venting about Ocean Gate is one of my formative Fediverse memories. God what an ass Stockton Rush was.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Great Ice Ball Earth Theory⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I also love that this version of flat earth theory is perfectly okay with our living on the surface of a huge spherical object floating in space.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Some people really lack civic sense⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  According to the reddit OP, it’s the Vande Bharat Express in India. The ports look like the typical travel adapter ports that can handle several different plug types, but the UK plug sort of asserts itself visually, LOL.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam refund⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Only Steam refund I ever got was for a Pool of Radiance re-package. Spent WAY longer than the testing period just generating the party, because JFC was it tedious on early gold-box games, and by the time I started running into bugs (introduced in the update? original? Who even knows?) barely outside the gates to Old Phlan. I had to explain a forty-year-old game to the poor customer service rep, but I got my 8 bucks back.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Well then.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
  1. The New Madrid fault is a slow beast, but not to be taken lightly. There are large lakes in that region that exist solely because of earthquakes changing the path of the Mississippi River.
  2. I once drove through Cooter, Missouri on my way to a wedding in northwest Tennessee specifically to send my wife a cheeky postcard, and those motherfuckers didn’t postmark it until they’d carted it over to the next town with a larger post office. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨average red state university⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Having attended several red state universities, I chose to take it as a statement that alongside the ubiquitous plaza preachers, who are never affiliated with the school and are generally no one’s favorite campus characters, there’s also plenty of standard college silliness and shenanigans. Apart from the big blue cities, the college towns of the south are generally the most educated and forward thinking enclaves of the red states, hence the huge pressure campaigns from their governors to being the schools themselves to heel.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do I ACTUALLY get hired by the United States Postal Services (USPS)?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In addition to FecEx and Dominos, there’s other restaurants, Amazon, UPS, newer Chinese-owned final-mile carriers, Uber including Eats/Pets/Courier/etc., Lyft, Doordash, medical couriers, legal couriers, etc. etc. It’s tougher outside the cities, and it’s all kind of a neo-Victorian dystopia of poor wages and no support, but if what’s you actually want to do, “driving places cuz other people can’t or won’t” is a very doable job-description in the US. Just make sure you’re factoring in car expenses if you do the gig-based ones.