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Articles by Starving ButStrong
Suppose a genie gave you the ability to produce 100 pounds of any 'stuff' every day forever --
September 30, 2026, 5:17pm 1 how do you choose to use this ability? Conditions: it doesn’t have to be all the same stuff. Today you could magic into existence 50 pounds of barbecued ribs and 50 pounds of potato salad. Tomorrow it could be 100 pounds of gold ingots. The next day it could be, well, what does a healthy human kidney suitable for donation weigh? Let’s say a pound, so you can provide 100 of them.
What are the actual, as in legally established, rules regarding inheriting royal status? (English)
September 19, 2026, 3:33pm 1 Okay, I’ve now seen way too many offers of YouTube videos questioning the genetic parentage of the Sussex kiddos. There some haggard looking blond woman who seems to go by “Lady C” that has a whole slew of 'em, but plenty of others, stuff about timing of births and whether Meghan’s baby bumps were consistent and secret DNA tests and on and on. What I’m wondering about is what rules actually apply?
Slightly unusual eating habits you (or someone you know) has
I’m not talking about eating outre ingredients (necessarily) or anything illegal or dangerous. Just some habit that would probably strike most people as a little . . . strange. My immediate relations have a load of them. For example: one of my brothers never let different meal items touch on his plate. I mean, stew? He’d eat that happily. But if the meal included steak and roast potatoes and peas? Had to have moats keeping each from accidentally touching the others. Why? Ghod knows.
Help with a family quandary -- freeloading relatives/cottage might be sold
One of my relatives has been allowing a “semi-relative” (the daughter of a man she’s been living with for nearly five years) to live basically rent-free in a small cottage she owns for the past five years. It was supposed to be ‘temporary’, while the woman (Cathy for convenience) got back on her feet after a relationship breakup, but, yeah. Has never shown signs of happening. OTOH, Cathy has allowed several partners to move in with her over that time.
In one of those "classic" SHTF scenarios, how long do you think you'll live, realistically?
This should probably be a poll, but I’ve never figured out how to make one, sorry. Anyway, over the past couple of weeks I’ve been watching a bunch of How to Survive/Be a Good Prepper type videos. Mostly sort of realistic ones, as in, the economy crashes or the Internet/Electric system fails, not Alien Invasion or Zombie apocalypse.
Why does scratching an itch feel so good?
July 17, 2026, 5:04pm 1 I’m not talking about a casual brushing something off your skin, or pulling off a bit a dried skin. I mean when the urge to scratch goes on and on, to the point you are actually damaging your skin, sometimes drawing blood … and you still feel that scratching actually feels BETTER than not tearing at an actual wound? It seems like an utterly stupid thing for your nervous system to drive you to do.
How striking would our moon be to a seasoned space traveler?
Moons are apparently No Big Deal, going by just our solar system. Jupiter and Saturn alone have more than eighty each according to the last mention of it I saw. But those are BIG planets and the moons are relatively insignificant. While Earth is a comparatively little rocky planet with a HUGE moon in comparison. Do you think this would be striking to Joe Spaceman who has been zipping around exploring the universe? Would he say, WOW! They really hit the jackpot on moons???
Okay, never mind the definition of "salad" -- where's the recipes?
We had a classic 3 Bean salad last week, and it was yummy. (Well, we had it at least three dinners, and some snacked bits with lunch … three cans of beans is a lot for just two people.) But it reminded us of just how fresh and flavorful simple cold salads can be in hot weather. Now we want more! Who has a recipe for a favorite cold, mostly vegetable, salad?
How come there are no fun speculations about why Tom Kean Jr. has vanished?
June 3, 2026, 2:08pm 1 I think he has fallen victim to a shrink ray accident, and cannot look over a podium any more. Or maybe it’s an alien abduction.
I have a lovely flock of cardinals!
Right in front of my kitchen window is a bird bath, sitting below this huge old cedar tree. It is amazingly popular, especially in the morning. Blue jays, robins, doves, grackles. a slew of slightly differing ‘little brown birds’ I cannot distinguish between. Also the occasional hawk, who makes everyone else vanish instantly. The one I notice the most is a male cardinal. He shows up virtually every morning for a drink and quick dip.
Sodium Acetate reusable heating packs -- anyone know about them?
A church acquaintance told me this morning about Sodium Acetate reusable heating packs – that she’d bought some, how wonderful they were, and so on.
What are those $1 million dollar game prizes really worth, in money in your pocket terms?
The particular show doesn’t matter, what you have to do doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you had to be extremely brave or smart or lucky or whatever. There just seems to be a whole lot of TV competition/reality shows that start with a group of players and end up with the lucky finalist getting ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!! Instant riches, right? But I’ve seen plenty of mini-interviews with such winners, and they always ask what they’re going to do with their money.
So, why don't they just do the obvious thing and DNA test the Sussex kids?
May 6, 2026, 11:50pm 1 Every now and then I let youtube tempt me into the whirling maelstrom around Harry, Meghan, and their kids.
Do you see rising family friction between siblings that have children and those who don't?
April 27, 2026, 3:21pm 1 I’ve run across several cases in just the past two weeks, and I wonder if it’s a growing trend. In brief, the sibling who haven’t (yet?) had children are feeling resentful that it seems their parents regard the siblings who have children as, well, more adult, more responsible, more worthy of help, overall as more valued.
Do you ever find your heart breaking over a, well, manufacturer's problems?
This is about a food at the bottom, so I guess it belongs here, though it feels more like MPSIMS to me. A long-term friend’s daughter’s business is teetering on the edge. I’ve know her since she was 12. She’s always known what she wants to be. A baker! She started by practically begging her way into a counter job at a little independent bakery when she sixteen, and kept it up thereafter, despite some setbacks, mostly due to family troubles that weren’t her fault at all.
When a doctor writes in his notes "r/o condition X" does that mean
a) that condition X is possibly the cause of what is bothering the patient and needs to be looked into? OR b) I’ve already considered/done tests/whatever about condition X and decided it isn’t that, so we need not waste further time going down that trail? Probably I should wait for an actual doctor to respond, but it’s the first one. Yep, it means further evaluation/testing needed to eliminate X as a possibility. Usually signifies that X is high on the list of differential diagnoses.
Calico Beans, anyone?
In my long continuing efforts at decluttering, last week I tackled a couple of boxes of ‘stuff’ I inherited after my mother died. Lots of things to donate/dispose of (much easier given the passage of a couple of decades) but I did find one treasure – the handwritten cookbook she’d kept of her favorite recipes ever since she’d had her first ‘domestic arts’ class back in, I think, Jr. High. Great fun to see her handwriting again, her notes and comments, and recipes I remember from my childhood.
Question for people who wear (or wore) their hair long
So I was watching a show on tv and yet again there was a scene of a beautiful (naturally) woman waking up in bed. Long, flowing hair, thick, shining, medium curly, with no signs of disarray except one lock falling forward artistically drawing attention to her beautiful eyes… Is it really like that for anyone? If I sleep with my hair completely loose, an entire night of tossing and turning against the pillows converts my hair into a rat’s nest.
Old/obscure childhood poem "snowplow airplane"
During my childhood, when it snowed, my late father several times recited to us a little poem he had been taught as a child in school. He didn’t specify what grade, but based on the subject matter and simplicity, my guess would be unlikely to be higher than third grade. And going by his age, this was very likely right around a hundred years ago, and he spent his whole childhood in Iowa, if you think that might matter.
Are there any commercially sold canned foods that cannot be simply opened and eaten safely/healthfully if the situation demands?
I’m not going full on prepper, but I’m starting to think about building up a several month’s worth stash of food – the state of the world and climate irregularities and all. And giving the current inflation, the can of stew I buy today and eat in June may very well end up saving me a buck or so. And then I got to thinking about preparing the food, in the event of power outages.
Why does ketchup only start separating AFTER the bottle has been started?
(This is an actual factual question, though it’s about food so…..) Think about it. Heinz (or whoever) brews up the ketchup, pours it into a bottle, and seals it up with a little cardboard/foam/metallic foil disk underneath the screw-on dispenser (maybe) top. Said bottle is then packed into a carton and shipped off to a warehouse and then maybe a second distribution warehouse and then to a store where it might sit in a backroom before being put on a shelf and eventually bought and taken home.
Is it THAT unusual to not collect anything?
February 18, 2026, 4:08pm 1 I am StarvingButStrong. I confess I don’t have any collections. I’ve never had any. (Pause to allow you all to gasp in astonishment.) The subject of collections came up at a pot luck dinner yesterday and everyone was sharing what they collected/boasting of how many of whatever they had/talking about the ‘prizes’ of their collections and how they’d acquired them/etc.
The world is racing to ruin! (disappointing foods you've encountered)
Yesterday while grocery shopping I had an attack of childhood nostalgia. There was one of those free standing bins they put up at the end of aisles full of bags of spice drops. You know, those jelly-ish domes coated in crystal sugar, their assorted colors hinting of the intense spice-flavors waiting to be unleashed on your taste buds? Tons of happy memories of movie outings as a child… I fell for it. Last night, I cut open the colorful pouch and dipped in while watching Traitors.
Can we basically breed littler versions of just about any animals?
(Sorry, today’s clearly my day for idle questions.) Humans have a tradition of tinkering with the animals we breed. We developed horse breeds with vastly different coat colors. Hens that lay eggs virtually every day. Cows with all sorts of horn shapes. Obviously this goes for size, too. Look at Great Danes versus chihuahuas. Those smallish pigs some people keep for pets. Mini horses. And so on. And this without high-tech radiation treatments or advanced DNA tinkering or anything.
Are animals that supposedly only eat one plant, really that restricted?
January 29, 2026, 6:42pm 1 Every so often you read about an animal that only eats one particular plant, or maybe animal. Like Pandas eat bamboo, koalas eat eucalyptus. Is that because the animal just can’t digest other items? Or is it simply that that item is what is readily available where the animal lives? Because it seems to me that most life on earth is built out the same handful of compounds. Like plants are mostly cellulose and llignin and some other things I can’t recall right now.
Looking for an alarm/count down timer that works DESPITE computer going to sleep
I don’t know if this is exists or is possible, but… What I need is a timer app that will play an audio alarm when it hits zero EVEN IF the computer has gone to ‘sleep’ in the meantime. In case ‘sleep’ isn’t the right term, I mean the computer somewhat powers down(?) as in the screen goes to black, but any windows (such as browser windows, or a window with a word processor or a book reader) I have open come back in their current state when I touch the space bar.
Why do traditional Japanese homes use sleeping floor mats?
January 23, 2026, 11:30pm 1 Obviously sleeping on a hard floor, on a mat seems uncomfortable to my Western lifestyle. I’ve done it many, many times on backpacking trips. I’d estimate 175 nights throughout my 30 years of backpacking. The biggest drawback is bugs and critters. I’ve woken abruptly with ants, beetles, roaches, and the occasional inquisitive rat on me. Bugs and rats invade homes too. You’re safer 20 inches off the floor in a bed.
Q for people with tattoos: Would you have any interest in having your tattooed skin preserved? Displayed?
Maybe sixty decades ago I saw a “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” item about some massively tattoo-ed guy whose skin was removed, preserved somehow, and displayed in a ‘travelling museum” (aka circus side show?) for spectators to view. I don’t think it gave any real details but if so, I don’t remember them. It made me wonder, though, given the present day popularity of tattooing. Would any of you want to preserve your tattoos?
Okay, so how long do you survive when the whole financial system goes blooey?
A few friends and I were having coffee and chatting at the local coffee shop yesterday, when one of them asked this: What if the entire financial system went blooey right now? Like, all banks and investment firms and stock markets and credit cards and venmo and all such things just got super-hacked or whatever, and all you had was the actual cash you had on you, emergency stashes, etc? How long would you be able to keep going?
Well. the great Turkey slaughters of Thanksgiving and Christmas weren't successful genocides
December 29, 2025, 2:29pm 1 A minute ago I heard a strange sound and thought “Was that a…?” but heard nothing more and dismissed it. But then it came again and I started working my way around the house, peering out each window in turn.
So, suppose humans got a gene mutation that allowed them to teleport
December 23, 2025, 4:37pm 1 You know, the classic “I’m in Dallas and I want to be in New York, so I just twitch my nose and concentrate for a second and ZAP I vanish from here and reappear in Central Park” type of teleportation. It occurs to me that this might cause some difficulties. Like a hundred million people all decide they want to drop in on the seventh game of the World Series. Or pay a quick visit to Fort Knox. That sort of thing. But, how would you know exactly where you need to reappear?
Extremely ignorant question about mandatory IRA withdrawals
December 21, 2025, 5:05pm 1 So, this will be the first time I’ve withdrawn money from my IRA – the mandatory minimum requirement thing. I found various on-line calculator, fed them my birthdate and the not impressive total amount of my IRA (it’s spread among three different banks for non-important historic ‘convenience’ reasons) and each gave me the same result for this year, though estimated payments in future years varied a bit.
Q for bakers: Regular cocoa powder vs. Dutch process cocoa powder?
December 11, 2025, 11:52pm 1 Why would you choose one over the other? Or, if they each are better than the other some times, what kind of dishes are better with A or with B? Personally, I’ve only ever bought regular, for the excellent (non-)reason that that is what my mother used. And I missing out on something wonderful?
Is this category still useful?
None of the threads has had a post since Oct. 31. We have discussed this before: Covid is not really a hot topic anymore. How does SDMB decide it no longer needs this section? We launched the Quarantine Zone at the start of the pandemic, when the coronavirus was the chief topic of discussion. Now that the crisis has ebbed, QZ gets minimal traffic and the staff is debating what to do with it.
What is the breakdown by weight of the elements in the food we eat each year?
November 19, 2025, 4:04pm 1 Just something I started to wonder about while staring at the nutrition panel on this morning’s cereal. We consume stuff every day (pretty much) in the form of food and drink and we mostly talk about it in terms like fat, protein, fiber, some minerals and vitamins… but if you get down to it, what we’re taking in is atoms of various elements. Which ones? How much of each by weight?
Does/did anyone else live in a family with a 'weekly' menu plan?
November 16, 2025, 4:46am 1 By the time I reached grade school years, my mother declared she hated the task of deciding menus for the family. She didn’t object to the cooking/shopping part (my older sibs had for years pretty much already taken over the dishwashing/clean-up tasks under her supervision) but she said she just couldn’t deal with having to think up menus.
Have you noticed that younger people seem slower to tell time from "traditional" clock faces?
October 29, 2025, 3:25pm 1 I’ve noticed this several times before, but a segment in a recent game show (The Floor) really highlighted it. For those with too much taste to watch low-brow game shows, the main action is two players face off, each with a bank of 45 seconds.
So, why has Queen Camilla been forced to "step back"?
A couple days ago someone pointed me to a story on Facebook that some British royal treasures had been ‘retrieved’ from one of her residences, in what sounds like a pre-dawn sort of emergency raid that involved Prince William having to helicopter in to personally assist with it.
What do you think constitutes "fairness" when two mature individuals begin sharing housing?
The situation: two mature friends are discussing moving in together, and how they should handle their living expenses has become a somewhat…divisive…topic. Their current situations: She is a 58 year old widow living in a ordinary three bedroom house in a nice suburb. She has a fulltime job, though has been thinking of cutting back to part time within a few years, maybe. She thinks she has retirement needs in hand.
How often and how far do I need to drive an old car?
October 15, 2025, 12:10am 1 I have a 2007 Acura that I don’t use too much, but I’d like to keep it running for at least another year. Runs fine. How often do I need to take it for a ride and how far should I go to keep the tires round, the engine lubricated, and the battery in shape?
The Amazing Race (fall 2025) Is nobody at all watching this one?
I mean, the ideas of all Big Brother alums and only in Europe sound like two kisses of death, but nobody can even be bothered to rag on it???
What happens if there isn't enough money to satisfy a will's provision?
September 27, 2025, 6:01pm 1 (This is just random curiosity, we have no wealthy relatives we’re waiting to kick off.) A pleasantly well-off man decides to get his affairs in order. His estate is worth 2 million dollars. He has four children he loves equally, and nobody else he wants to even leave his collection of belt buckles to. Here’s what he decides on: Adam will get the chunk of range land the father has been leasing out for decades. Beth gets his nice rural house and all its furnishings.
No milk today, my lover's gone away
So, blast from the past on the air today. (Herman’s Hermits, 1968 If anyone wonders. I remember. “The company was gay”? Meant something else then, clearly.) But it left me wondering, how did that kind of home milk delivery even work? From the song, I deduce the missing girl left a signal outside the house that told the milkman not to deliver milk. Ooookay. But what happened if she hadn’t? Did he always just leave a carton of milk if there was no message? Every single day?
Is your birthday a Big Deal to you?
11 I don’t want a party or presents or fuss, but I do want my husband and daughter to acknowledge the day. My sibs usually send an email and that’s nice. But I’m looooooong past the days of my grandmother sticking $5 in a card. I’ve had 2 surprise parties, one in high school and the other maybe 35 years ago. Both were mostly embarrassing and awkward. It’s not like I make any special efforts to live another year, beyond taking care of myself. Of course, I won’t turn down any chocolate love offerings…
Do you see your eating habits changing due to higher prices?
August 3, 2025, 2:19pm 1 Are your eating habits changing due to the inflation of food prices? Either deliberately, or sorta unconsciously? Ours have. I run into that “They want HOW MUCH for (whatever thing)?” feeling that used to be occasional and now is a multi time thing every single shopping trip.
Sympathy for Trump?
July 26, 2025, 5:18pm 1 Yeah, I know. I hate most of the things he and his cohort are doing/attempting, and yet… Increasingly I see a flood of suggested youtube vids about Trump stinking. As in, literally smelling so bad people around him are holding their breathes/fanning away air/looking repulsed. When I first noticed them they were generally tied to the idea that he was using adult diapers. Later a whole spate of “see, you can see he uses a catheter in this shot”.
What do you like on your bologna sandwiches?
July 20, 2025, 4:04pm 1 Okay, it’s sorta a poll (but I don’t know how to make them) but it’s about food, so I dunno? Inspired by an argument with my sister (who is definitely a wacko) What do you choose to put on a bologna sandwich? I’m talking here about things like flavorings/condiments, not whether you add additional ingredients like cheese or lettuce or tomatoes or whatever. So: Ketchup? Mustard? Butter? Mayo? Salsa? Chocolate syrup? Peanut butter?
I've been thinking it over for a week now, but there's no way around it: justice simply demands that I sue the Klondyke bar company
July 16, 2025, 11:48pm 1 The weather here in New England has been awful, just like in so many other parts of the USA. As in, day after day of humidity in the 90 percent ranges and temperatures to match. I finally caved and bought a package of six Klondyke bars. “Mint Chocolate Chip” the box declared! Now just that, but every single bar’s wrapper boasted of it, too. “Mint Chocolate Chip” in enticing type. And I fell for it. Cool mint flavor. Chocolate coating.
How many generations needed until breeding between descendants doesn't matter?
June 15, 2025, 3:59pm 1 This is a sort of offshoot from the “Is there any practical way to increase the birth rate?” thread. Someone pointed out it’s not impossible that increased medical knowledge will probably increase life span and extend how long we remain fertile, and talked about the possibility of populations with lots of fertile people who are hundreds of years old. How would laws about incest have to be changed to adapt?
Very weird hypothetical: how long could you go using only the bathrooms of random Americans?
June 3, 2025, 5:33am 1 I could bore you with the train of thought that led to this question, but I won’t. In short, it had to do with first on sight impressions you get of strangers in public. But discussions in the past about using other people’s bathrooms did have an effect. To the hypothetical: A bored genie gives you the following offer: Every morning, he’ll offer you $1000 in cash. (Interesting sub question: would you do the following for less?
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