AAA: Ask America Anything

Worldly and otherworldly topics
User avatar
HighlyIrregular
Posts: 600
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:20 pm
Location: New York
Formerly: BarIII

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by HighlyIrregular » Tue Nov 23, 2021 12:02 am

I refuse to diminish the significance of the scale issue by crediting possible writing skills that I may or may not have.

Has anyone here used the spray on their iron and had black mold come out? It happened to me and others. Anything that holds water needs to be cleaned, and you need to see that it's clean. I bought a water flosser about a year ago. I heard something about cleaning it occasionally by running a vinegar solution through it. I don't care how often it's cleaned like that, if I can't see how clean it looks, I'm going to avoid that product or replace it often. I tried opening it recently and I don't know if it's glued together or what, but it was too hard, and I'm going to replace it even though it works. As for my new iron, I never put water in it and never will. I either use a transparent spray bottle or a damp paper towel to wet my ironables.

User avatar
Senseye
Posts: 270
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:48 pm
Location: Canada

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Senseye » Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:11 am

Most are not cleanable. However, I don't think scale has hurt anyone. It seems near impossible to get that stuff off when you want to, so hopefully just boiling more water on top of it doesn't affect the water much. I don't use mine enough to worry. Oddly, I recall my mother having an old school metal kettle that sat on the stove, not one with a lid, just a round upside down bowl looking thing with a handle and a spout. She was much more clean conscious than me, so she must have had some method of cleaning it. One could use CLR or something of that nature to clean it I suppose, but meh.

I think mine cost like $12. It boils water far faster than a stove top model, so I like the convenience, but since I rarely use it, you might have a point about not bothering with a separately powered unit. Should my unit ever cease to function, I will ponder further on what sort of replacement model would be best.

User avatar
HighlyIrregular
Posts: 600
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:20 pm
Location: New York
Formerly: BarIII

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by HighlyIrregular » Tue Nov 23, 2021 1:12 pm

There's no chlorine left in the tap water when it reaches my faucet so I like to be extra careful. An easily cleanable residue develops in my glass kettle over time, but you have to rub it to get it off. I don't know if it's a heat resistant biofilm or chemical deposits or what, but I bought a special sponge on a stick to clean it.

starla
Posts: 90
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:28 am

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by starla » Sat Nov 27, 2021 12:20 am

elfsprin wrote:
Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:52 pm
In the US we are socialized to think that if you’re rich, you’re a good person and if you’re poor, you’re deficient.
Who thinks the rich are good people? Last I checked, everyone hates the rich unless they're trying to get money from them.
Utisz wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:18 am
On more pressing topics though, is it true that y'all in North America don't own kettles? And that your electricity is too weak for kettles? Like how do you heat water? In the microwave? On the stove? Or do y'all have kettles and I've just been tiddlywinked.
I use the microwave usually. I also have this hot water dispenser that my mom got me. You put water in it and it heats it up and keeps it hot all day. You press a button to dispense. I think they're common in Asian-american households for making tea. It's not cold enough where I live to warrant all day tea drinking so I just use the microwave in the rare instances that I want tea and leave the dispenser in the cupboard.

We mostly drink coffee. We all have drip coffee makers instead of tea kettles.

User avatar
elfsprin
Posts: 300
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:11 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by elfsprin » Sat Nov 27, 2021 1:00 am

starla wrote:
Sat Nov 27, 2021 12:20 am
elfsprin wrote:
Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:52 pm
In the US we are socialized to think that if you’re rich, you’re a good person and if you’re poor, you’re deficient.
Who thinks the rich are good people? Last I checked, everyone hates the rich unless they're trying to get money from them
Republicans and some centrist democrats, overtly.

Covertly, it’s unconsciously ingrained in a lot of our thinking. It takes work to figure out how it’s influencing assumptions/attitudes, and evict it, IMO.

Edit
I mean also, that’s literally what capitalism means. You acquire good things by already having good things. Having capital allows you to breed more capital. Our societal structure implicitly values richness over poorness.
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity - Simone Weil

User avatar
Utisz
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2019 4:35 am

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Utisz » Sat Nov 27, 2021 5:57 am

Senseye wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 7:06 am
At times I wonder who is telling you these tales. I can't imagine any household without a kettle.
Fella, read on ...
HighlyIrregular wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:23 pm
I never had an electric kettle. I don't think I ever used the word kettle and I'm not sure what the electric tea pots are called.
starla wrote:
Sat Nov 27, 2021 12:20 am
I use the microwave usually.
elfsprin wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:40 am
I have a kettle. [...] It’s in a cupboard somewhere now we never use it. I boil water in a sauce pot on my stove. I’ve done this on both gas and electric stoves; to my knowledge there is no deficiency there.

User avatar
Utisz
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2019 4:35 am

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Utisz » Sat Nov 27, 2021 5:59 am

starla wrote:
Sat Nov 27, 2021 12:20 am
elfsprin wrote:
Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:52 pm
In the US we are socialized to think that if you’re rich, you’re a good person and if you’re poor, you’re deficient.
Who thinks the rich are good people? Last I checked, everyone hates the rich unless they're trying to get money from them.
I had the impression that many poor and lower middle-class and middle-class folks in the U.S. hold the aspiration of getting rich at some point, so how can they hate what they aspire to?

User avatar
elfsprin
Posts: 300
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:11 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by elfsprin » Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:46 am

Millennials and gen Z / Alpha are definitely drifting away from aspiring to be rich, and are instead focused on helping and uplifting each other and finding happiness in non-monetary ways.

I’m technically a Xennial since I’m right on the cusp of gen X and Millenial.

Despair around climate change, no prospect for retirement, no wages, absolutely ridiculously sub-par and capitalist medical systems, etc are driving cultural evolution towards newer more socialist values.

… at least in my circles, which run far leftist (the US doesn’t truly have a ‘left,’ so for folks not here, a translation guide: our right runs very far towards fascism, our left is fairly centric, and leftists start moving towards ‘left’ as the rest of the world would tend to define it but we’re definitely not all the way there yet).

A meme I see everyone passing around these days:

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity - Simone Weil

User avatar
Senseye
Posts: 270
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:48 pm
Location: Canada

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Senseye » Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:45 pm

Utisz wrote:
Sat Nov 27, 2021 5:57 am
Senseye wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 7:06 am
At times I wonder who is telling you these tales. I can't imagine any household without a kettle.
Fella, read on ...
HighlyIrregular wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:23 pm
I never had an electric kettle. I don't think I ever used the word kettle and I'm not sure what the electric tea pots are called.
starla wrote:
Sat Nov 27, 2021 12:20 am
I use the microwave usually.
elfsprin wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:40 am
I have a kettle. [...] It’s in a cupboard somewhere now we never use it. I boil water in a sauce pot on my stove. I’ve done this on both gas and electric stoves; to my knowledge there is no deficiency there.
At the risk of being pedantic, HI has a kettle (just not electric), starla's "usually" implies there may be a kettle around, and elfsprin has a kettle. So I think all those households have a kettle, although they may not be in regular use.

User avatar
jyng1
Posts: 260
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 1:13 am

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by jyng1 » Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:44 pm

starla wrote:
Sat Nov 27, 2021 12:20 am
I use the microwave usually. I also have this hot water dispenser that my mom got me. You put water in it and it heats it up and keeps it hot all day. You press a button to dispense. I think they're common in Asian-american households for making tea. It's not cold enough where I live to warrant all day tea drinking so I just use the microwave in the rare instances that I want tea and leave the dispenser in the cupboard.

We mostly drink coffee. We all have drip coffee makers instead of tea kettles.
No. Just no.


Post Reply