Random MetaBanter – Random Banter no. 236 (now with Flowers!)

[DataNinja]

I assumed that we were deliberately overplaying our actual achievements.

I was doing that.
I don't have any achievements, what do you mean? :P

[Beeftank]

Going back to regional differences in the US, have you guys ever had food you assumed was a popular everywhere only to find out later it was just a local thing?

I assumed peanut butter and fluff sandwiches were widespread but it turns out it isn’t really a thing outside of New England.

[dafrca]

Going back to regional differences in the US, have you guys ever had food you assumed was a popular everywhere only to find out later it was just a local thing?

I assumed peanut butter and fluff sandwiches were widespread but it turns out it isn’t really a thing outside of New England.

I would try a peanut butter and fluff sandwich. I like peanut butter and I like marshmallows so I imagine I would like them together. Do you toast the bread first?

[Peelee]

Going back to regional differences in the US, have you guys ever had food you assumed was a popular everywhere only to find out later it was just a local thing?

I assumed peanut butter and fluff sandwiches were widespread but it turns out it isn’t really a thing outside of New England.

Oh, you mean like Milo's? I thought that was a national chain, like Burger King or Whataburher or Hardee's. I was early 20s before I discovered it was Birmingham only (well, and a Tuscaloosa one by then).

[IthilanorStPete]

Oh, you mean like Milo's? I thought that was a national chain, like Burger King or Whataburher or Hardee's. I was early 20s before I discovered it was Birmingham only (well, and a Tuscaloosa one by then).

Whataburger is a national chain? We don't have any in Florida south of the Panhandle.

[Beeftank]

I would try a peanut butter and fluff sandwich. I like peanut butter and I like marshmallows so I imagine I would like them together. Do you toast the bread first?

I usually just ate it on non-toasted bread like you would a PB&J sandwich, I bet it would taste fine on toast too.

Peelee/Ilithanor: yeah stuff like that or regional dishes.

[Rater202]

I never assumed it was popular everywhere, but there's a regionally made soda that you can really only find part of the year, it's a lemon-lime flavor that I can only describe as "liquid candy." Made with real cane sugar too, so...

Honestly, it's probably my favorite soda but it's only in stores on a seasonal basis.

I never assumed it was universally popular, but I didn't realize it was a regional thing until a few years ago.

[Peelee]

Whataburger is a national chain? We don't have any in Florida south of the Panhandle.

I weep for your loss.

[HalfTangible]

Whataburger is a national chain? We don't have any in Florida south of the Panhandle.

"There are more than 670 stores in Texas and over 150 in New Mexico, Arizona and the southern United States, of which 126 are franchised."

[IthilanorStPete]

I weep for your loss.

Is it better than Five Guys? Because that's some steep competition.

[Peelee]

Is it better than Five Guys? Because that's some steep competition.

Five guys is good but pricey. Also, not a fan of their burger topping selection. Fries are also always too soggy. Whataburger is less homesryle, more standard burger franchise-ish, but overall I'd say I like it better than 5Guys (with value for food quality factored in).

[Fyraltari]

It was commentary on a map that broke down Europe in terms of "what innocent opinion divides this nation". France's was the location of Mont Saint-Michel.

Spoiler

Show

Sorry I missed that yesterday.

Yeah, that joke flows better when "guillotine" has already been mentionned in the conversation, since it makes the similarity with "chocolatine" more visible (and doesn't come out of nowhere). 8/10 pun.

Also, who on Earth thinks France is divided between those who thinks Mont Saint-Michel is in Normandy and those who thinks it belongs in Brittany? Besides the bretons and normands themselves (and even then) nobody cares.

[Form]

Sorry I missed that yesterday.

Yeah, that joke flows better when "guillotine" has already been mentionned in the conversation, since it makes the similarity with "chocolatine" more visible (and doesn't come out of nowhere). 8/10 pun.

Also, who on Earth thinks France is divided between those who thinks Mont Saint-Michel is in Normandy and those who thinks it belongs in Brittany? Besides the bretons and normands themselves (and even then) nobody cares.

Wikipedia says Normandy, though admittedly that doesn't say much and now I find myself wondering if people from Normandy and Brittany sometimes vandalize the wikipedia page in a tug of war, constantly changing it back and forth. Also, cool looking island, that.

[Fyraltari]

Wikipedia says Normandy, though admittedly that doesn't say much and now I find myself wondering if people from Normandy and Brittany sometimes vandalize the wikipedia page in a tug of war, constantly changing it back and forth. Also, cool looking island, that.

It sits on the border between the two, it's officially in Normandy, because of the nearby river. It's been contested since the middle-ages, but the rad-looking moastery on it (and the famous biscuit brand) is breton.

The bretons really aren't lucky with borders, because not only do they have that issue on their North-East side, on the South side of thing, their historic capital of Nantes is now in the Pays de la Loire region.

Also, yes it looks dope as heck. As does our other sea-fortress, Fort Boyard.

[Form]

It sits on the border between the two, it's officially in Normandy, because of the nearby river. It's been contested since the middle-ages, but the rad-looking moastery on it (and the famous biscuit brand) is breton.

The bretons really aren't lucky with borders, because not only do they have that issue on their North-East side, on the South side of thing, their historic capital of Nantes is now in the Pays de la Loire region.

Also, yes it looks dope as heck. As does our other sea-fortress, Fort Boyard.

Now that fort I do remember, albeit only from the eponymous TV show. I used to love that show as a kid. I didn't understand a word of it, but I enjoyed watching the contestants go through the various challenges in the fort.

[Lacco]

It's still on TV sometimes around here. And on youtube.

My kids love watching Fort Boyard - and during last lockdown I made them a localized apartment-building based version of the show, so they could compete.

It was fun.

[Form]

It's still on TV sometimes around here. And on youtube.

My kids love watching Fort Boyard - and during last lockdown I made them a localized apartment-building based version of the show, so they could compete.

It was fun.

Now that's some good parenting there! What challenges did you give them? I'm really curious as to the details now.

[Lacco]

Now that's some good parenting there! What challenges did you give them? I'm really curious as to the details now.

Well... spoilered.

Spoiler: Fort Apartment Boyard

Show

• they had to cross a labyrinth made out of chairs, pillows, blankets in the living room... blindfolded. To get a plush animal from a big pile and carry it back through the labyrinth.
• they had to hit few swinging targets using bean bags, while being tickled randomly.
• they had to climb up and down their bunk bed (the younger using ladder, the elder using rope (we had this small room swing and the hook was still on the ceiling...).
• they had to carry water from one side of the room to the other without spilling using only a pair of drinking straws; one of them carried the water, the other one was on the mop duty - the run was accepted only if there was no water on the floor.
• they had to throw plush animals into a bucket - one of them was snatching the plush animals from a pile, which was defended by one of the parents (using the long balloons) and then had to throw them to the other one, who caught them using a bucket; switch after 5 attempts.
• they had to cross "lava" on pads.
• they had to cross the room without touching floor.
• they had to crawl under all the chairs, arranged into a big tunnel, using blankets as covers, while we randomly "scared" them using plush animals.
• ...of course, there were the riddles.
• ...and lastly: we had these 3 clay jars and an old key... they had to find out in which of the jars the key was. First one contained an extremely fluffy plush animal, the second one nothing and the third one a mixture of jelly, ketchup and spagetti (lunch leftovers). Guess which one contained the key...

Of course, between each of these they had to run around the whole apartment... because you know, they run all the time on Fort Boyard.

We did like three separate afternoons of these, including some where they had to hang from a pole while we carried them around the bedroom... we had fun. But it was extremely time-consuming. After that, we did a big outdoor event at my parents' house. They have a garden, so we could have crazier events - and my nephew and niece joined in.

If we get another lockdown, I assume I will be asked to do Fort Boyard again. Also, indoor roller coasters...

[Rater202]

The average adult human is composed of roughly 37.2 trillion genetically identical but highly specialized micro-organisms tightly packed into complex arrays and structures. Human consciousness is an emergent property born from the result of a cluster of roughly 86 billion microorganisms collectively specialized in overseeing, maintaining, and operating the functions of other structures and which are themselves maintained by roughly 85 billion that only take care of the overseer microorganisms.

In addition, the human body is host to a number of microorganisms ranging from mites to monocellular entities that are not genetically identical to the main set of microorganisms but live in some state of symbiosis with the main collective that, on average, outnumber the components of the main collective and at extremes dwarf it.

Strictly speaking, you are not an individual. You are not a building, a city, or a biome. Those have all been used as metaphors for the nature of the human body, or descriptions of the symbiosis in which humans live with the non-human organisms we share our existence with, but they're not quite right.

You are an entire biosphere living and acting as a collective whole. Within you, you contain an unfathomable amount of multitudes.

---

I was going to make a joke about how singular they vs plural they is utterly inconsequential becuase both are equally applicable to an individual human but I accidentally inspired myself.

...I'mma go see how close I can get to my personal record number of situps now.

edit: the answer is 13/100, which isn't good but I'm glad I tried.

[Lacco]

I was going to make a joke about how singular they vs plural they is utterly inconsequential becuase both are equally applicable to an individual human but I accidentally inspired myself.

...I'mma go see how close I can get to my personal record number of situps now.

edit: the answer is 13/100, which isn't good but I'm glad I tried.

I can't really do many situps as my back tends to hurt later, but I've found a good replacement. Try doing diaphragmatic breathing. My favourite exercise is to lie down on my belly and breathe into it - basically "belly pushups" .

[Rater202]

I can't really do many situps as my back tends to hurt later, but I've found a good replacement. Try doing diaphragmatic breathing.

I started doing that years ago.

I used to binge-read Cracked.com and they had an article about simple things that a lot of people are doing wrong and breathing was one of them. At some point, we train ourselves to stop breathing from the abdomen and start breathing from the chest, which is less efficient. So whenever I noticed myself breathing I'd force myself to breathe from the belly and after a while that became my default.

[Tvtyrant]

Situps aren't a very good exercise anyway. Planks are much safer and work your core better.

[Beeftank]

Planks are good exercise, but I have difficulty timing them. Every time I do them my watch slows down to a crawl, haven’t been able to fix it yet.

[Tvtyrant]

Planks are good exercise, but I have difficulty timing them. Every time I do them my watch slows down to a crawl, haven’t been able to fix it yet.

That doesn't seem ab normal.


Edit: Also the easiest and best one is dead bugs.

[Rater202]

So... there's a comic mini-series going on now called Trial of Magneto

To recap: Magneto contacts the Scarlet Witch and just... He doesn't care whether or not he's her real father or not. He's been thinking lately, has come to the conclusion that he was an incredibly ****ty parent to her, and he wants to make amends, if she's willing to let him.

the next Day, Wanda turns up dead and the cause of death and evidence from the crime scene and from examining her body very much makes it seem like she was taken by surprise by someone she trusted and strangled with a piece of metal, leaving everyone to assume that Magneto did it(he did not.)

So, the plot is "who killed Wanda and for what reason."

Complicating matters is that there's a back-up of Wanda's mind in Cerebro, from the time period where it was believed that she was a mutant, that could be used to resurrect her... But it's years out of date. "Doesn't know she has kids" out of date. Furthermore, while Wanda's body is dead, her... "Soul," for a lack of better word is in some kind of limbo where she's sorting out her crap and trying to resurrect herself.

Anyway, the people in charge of ressurection revive her regardless of what anyone else thinks... Creating what is essentially a clone of Wanda with her memories from years ago.

The duplicate Wanda is acting in ways that are inconsistent with where her memories are from in Wanda's timeline.

So I'm like "okay, this is a clue... Maybe the person who killed her had access to where the backups are stored and tampered with it, hoping she'd be revived with the altered personality."

Everyone else who I've seen respond to the mini is "the people writing this are talentless asshats who hate Wanda."

Its very frustrating.

[Peelee]

the next Day, Wanda turns up dead

A Marvel character dies? Oh golly gee I wonder what's going to happen, I'm on the edge of my seat.

Anyway, the people in charge of ressurection revive her

WHAT A TWIST!

For reals, though, from the virtually nothing that I know about this series, it seems like the "writers are talentless" thing is hardly an unfair accusation.

[Lacco]

For reals, though, from the virtually nothing that I know about this series, it seems like the "writers are talentless" thing is hardly an unfair accusation.

I wonder how people could think that about the writers.

Occam's razor, maybe...?

[Fyraltari]

Anyway, the people in charge of ressurection

I didn't know Marvel Comics was this self-aware.

[Peelee]

I wonder how people could think that about the writers.

Occam's razor, maybe...?

Spoiler: Speaking of...

Show

[Rater202]

A Marvel character dies? Oh golly gee I wonder what's going to happen, I'm on the edge of my seat.

WHAT A TWIST!

The first issue literally ended with Wanda's ghost in Limbo trying to sort herself right so she could revive herself, which she did in the most recent issue(she then fused with the Dupe)

Wanda was never going to stay dead. They didn't kil her for Drama or anything, the point is why.

For reals, though, from the virtually nothing that I know about this series, it seems like the "writers are talentless" thing is hardly an unfair accusation.

The last thing the writer wrote received more or less universal praise with the only point of contention being how it depicted a single antagonist.

Sometimes by the same people currently calling her a hack.

And this mini-series was written as part of that same series(X-Factor) before editorial decided to cancel that series and make this arc a "special event."

As an aside, the most recent volume of X-Factor that this is spinoff of was "people are being murdered or otherwise dying under mysterious circumstances. Let's find out why so we can give them closure when we bring them back."