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2 yr. ago

  • It won’t necessarily shatter it, but it absolutely can. I’ve done it with a jar I had washed the original product out of shortly beforehand. Just because it’s never happened to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

  • It depends on where you’re from, glass jars/drinking glasses in Germany don’t shatter from thermal shock, but they do in the US.

    I reflexively yelled at my boss once because he poured recently boiling water out of a glass and turned the cold faucet on to rinse it out while scrubbing, and I thought he was about to cut the shit out of his hand. He got contemplative for a moment and then said that he had forgotten that that used to happen in Afghanistan (where he was from), but it doesn’t happen in Germany.

  • I’m an immigrant (not a refugee to be clear) and this excerpt absolutely nails the camaraderie aspect of it and the way that living in immigrant neighborhoods/buildings feels. Turns out, Doctorow’s father was born in a refugee camp.

  • I don’t feel dumb, lol. It’s very far from my areas of interest. I’m sure I’ve got more incorrect opinions about all sorts of fields I don’t think much about. The important thing is, I know how to research.

  • That’s what I thought. I figured things like the original garmins had a quantity unlimited but very narrowly usable data plan, like old kindles. I did know that gps was invented before the internet was widespread, but I figured that today it was like fax machines, where the vast majority don’t actually have a landline connection anymore and use the internet instead.

    Based on this comment section, I gathered that it was something else, but still didn’t expect it to be fucking radio.

  • That’s fair, and also why I hedged about participants in society, because maybe ChatGPT could? But I don’t think ChatGPT can really write fiction, for the same reason my cat sitting on a keyboard can’t write fiction- the end product has nothing to do with intention or communication

  • Show me a piece of fiction which has nothing to say about societal issues and I’ll show you an author or reader who doesn’t understand literature.

    I don’t think it’s even possible for a participant in society to write something that has nothing to do with society. We are all affected by our environments. Fish might not notice the ocean, but it doesn’t mean that they could write something that doesn’t involve the ocean, to really stretch a metaphor.

  • If there were a crime which deserved the death penalty (there isn’t), intentionally poisoning more than 200 children would be it. It’s technically possible that they’re really negligent and stupid, but hiding the paint was definitely intentional and probably caused additional harm by delaying treatment.

  • It’s like this in (non-major city) Germany, with one exception: if you blink before locking your bike up, it’s gone. I’ve seen laptops in public areas sit undisturbed for hours, but almost everyone I know has had at least one bike stolen.

  • One tricky bit is, if you’re declared legally dead, you immediately become an illegal resident if you’re still alive. And DOGE has already declared a number of people dead by misinterpreting a few databases.

    I can almost imagine this being written by Douglas adams, but the consequences a little too depressing. You know, in contrast to the complete destruction of the earth

  • I don’t know anyone dumb enough to find out. That is viscerally unpleasant to imagine doing. It’s some of the most sensitive tissue on your body and you’re supposed to sit directly over water that was boiling a few minutes ago?

  • Yes, it’s more sporadic in Germany, but because it’s less of a police state, they sometimes have to get creative. I don’t disagree that the US is measurably worse in basically all categories, but Germany’s not exactly good. It just goes to show that all cops are bastards.

  • Yes, though you mostly need to watch out for raw/green potatoes, and most cases of potato poisoning are not fatal.

    I think most of the nightshades can be poisonous/deadly in some way- eggplants can be bitter enough to upset your stomach if you don’t prepare them right, tomatoes are just a mutation away from being poisonous, and peanuts are highly allergenic. AFAIK, only one person has died from capsaicin, but he had a heart condition. That one will still definitely fuck your digestive system up though.