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No, Oreos Aren't As Addictive As Cocaine
Daniel_Stuckey writes "If you give a mouse a cookie, you can spend all day following it around the house while it wants to do a bunch of tedious activities. Or, you can trap it in a box, keep feeding it cookies, and then make the outrageous claim that Oreos are as addictive as cocaine. Students at Connecticut College opted for the second option, and the consequences that ensued were much more annoying than making some arts and crafts with a darn mouse. Fox News reported that a 'College study finds Oreo cookies are as addictive as drugs,' Forbes explained 'Why Your Brain Treats Oreos Like a Drug,' and a ton of other sites ran with the story as well. Here's how the experiment, which has not been peer reviewed and has not been presented yet, went down. Mice were placed in a maze, with one end holding an Oreo and the other end holding a rice cake. The mice, without fail, decided to eat the Oreo over the rice cake, proving once and for all that mice like cookies better than tasteless discs with a styrofoamy texture."
If you apply your favorite peanut butter, then the it holds the notoriously fractious cake together better.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
there's nothing worse than having little bits of cookie up your nose.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_You_Give_a_Mouse_a_Cookie
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
Seems reasonable that when you lock an animal (including humans) in a shitty little box it's going to over indulge in activities that work on the pleasure centers of the brain. However, given freedom and a wide range of stimuli it might be less susceptible to addiction as we have defined it. See the controversial Rat Park study (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park) which showed evidence that when researchers gave lab rats a suitable and pleasurable living environment opiates were no longer addictive.
And you can't even be mad at this one since it is done by undergrads.
you know what IS as addictive as cocaine?!!
Also Who Moved My Cookies? If the cookies in a particular cookie depot get stale, mice will seek new cookies. Lilliputians, on the other hand, will pout and piss and moan about cookies losing their taste, rationalizing their lack of action based on imagined dangers out in the maze.
I saw this on Reddit a while ago, and most people either believed it or thought it was bullshit for other reasons. Reading how an experiment is conducted is usually the first thing I do. It's like a crap detector built right into the study.
Proof? They both seem to result in crazy people making stupid decision.
My reasoning is unassailable.
The mice, without fail, decided to eat the Oreo over the rice cake, proving once and for all that mice like cookies better than tasteless discs with a styrofoamy texture.
Of course, amongst women, the opposite behavior is seen. At least the ones I know. Does this mean that the tasteless discs with a styrofoam-like texture are actually highly addictive? No. Which means it's easier to get addicted to an abstract ideal about beauty than it is an Oreo cookie. Surprised, I am not. In other news, find me a picture of this professor so I can photoshop him into a new meme along the lines of "I don't want to live on this planet anymore." I'd be ashamed if my students arrived at such a far-fetched and obviously wrong solution, and I allowed them to publish it... it would make me wonder if I'd managed to teach them anything at all...
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Clearly, what they demonstrated was that the mice would go for the item with the highest density of calories & fat.
Duh...
Now make it really interesting, replace rice patty with a peanut butter cup. And it's an all out rat race.
..Fox News
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
He's developed his own measure for it: The percentage of people who will develop the disease of dependency, based on the DSM-IV guidelines, if they use a drug. . . .
"According to that, the most chemically addictive is nicotine because one third of people who use it during their lifetime will develop dependency," he said. "For cocaine, it's 20 percent. For heroin, it's 23 percent."
So by that standard, Oreos = 0% addictive.
Oh, well.
in his "cargo cult science" address, referring to dealing with subtleties invalidating results from having rats run through mazes.
I'd always though he wasn't quite right about that. This should shed some light on the issue, no?
I read on the Internet that they are....
...the either have a war on food, or legalize drugs.
Silence is a state of mime.
So...they have the requisite skills to be Phd. wielding Psychologists/Psychiatrists then.
Watch the ADHD/ADD diagnosis rates climb even higher in the coming years.
"Fox News reported that a..."
I got here through a series of tubes
http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/
Not the headlines!
So in other words...WTF??
(P.S. I'm not really educated in any of this kind of stuff and don't really know what I'm talking about - so don't bother correcting me)
What's the white stuff in an Oreo, Alex?
So, it's basically an example of the "science news cycle:"
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174
I can go without Oreos but not coke.
You know more than a few people must have thought that when this piece of shit excuse for a "study" made its way into the headlines. Just how many years now will I - or the great minds of /. - have to go around correcting morons who will repeat this shit, having never bothered to read the article, learn about the source, to critically analyze the source, to think about the study, to see what, if any, corroborating evidence was subsequently discovered or not, and checked for any retractions or clear refutations? Beyond that, what the fuck ever happened to journalism?
Damn it all to hell, I need an Oreo. (1.86 Stuf please)
If you give a mouse a cookie, he'll want a glass milk.
If you give him some milk, he'll want more. If you give a mouse more milk, he'll develop a taste for human blood.
If he develops a taste for human blood, he'll become a vampire. If he becomes a vampire, he'll have to make followers.
Now, if he makes some followers, they'll need to feed. If they feed too much, the national guard will be called out.
If the national gaurd is called out, they, too, will become fodder for the vampires. If the national guard fails, the President will call in a nuclear strike.
If a nuke is dropped, hundreds of thousands of people will die. America will become a nuclear wasteland and collapse.
With no one to keep the rest of the world's nukes in check, every crackpot nation will launch their own.
Eventually the entire earth will be destroyed. And that's why I had to kill Daddy.
He was giving a mouse a cookie. Sleep well, sweetie.
and Michelle Obama chose "have a war on food".
This while her husband was mandating the mass burning of vegetables.
> The mice, without fail, decided to eat the Oreo over the rice cake, proving once and for all that mice like cookies better than tasteless discs with a styrofoamy texture."
Hey, I happen to like rice cakes. They're nice and crunchy, and they taste good. With a little cinnamon. And powdered sugar. And peanut butter. And then drenched with maple syrup.
Yes, the diet is coming along fine, why do you ask?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Which seems to indicate that there is some basis for comparability between the two, even if they are different, and further research is needed.
"the articles from this symposium provide evidence that neurological similarities exist in the response of humans (6) and rats (7,9) to foods and to drugs. Two of the reports (6,7), as well as our own work (14–16), suggest that even highly palatable food is not addictive in and of itself. Rather, it is the manner in which the food is presented (i.e., intermittently) and consumed (i.e., repeated, intermittent “gorging”) that appears to entrain the addiction-like process. Such consummatory patterns are associated with increased risk for comorbid complications as well as relapse and make treatment particularly challenging. The topic of food addiction bears study, therefore, to develop fresh approaches to clinical intervention and to advance our understanding of basic mechanisms involved in loss of control."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714380/
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." George Bernard Shaw
Not peer reviewed, but it won't matter. Moochele Obama will latch onto this like a (well you know), and will start proclaiming that this is "proof" we need to restrict sugar, carbs bla bla bla. Stuff like this, with the 30 second attention span of the average person, makes it easier to control them.
I don't think anyone has truly considered the ramifications of superintelligent pandimensional projections appearing as mice and influencing our experiments... How else would you program a global scale quantum supercomputer made up of sentient neural network applications? Consider that to us, any observable differentiation between themselves normal laboratory mice would directly collapse the delicate superposition of science and fiction...
Ergo: The more important question is: WHY do the mice want you to think they like Oreos as much as cocaine? Could it be to lessen the stigma against consuming mind altering stimulants to that of a biscuit? Clearly, we are being overclocked.
IDK about you, but you don't want to be anywhere near me when my Oreo supply runs out...I'll cut you, bitch! I'll cut you deep! :)
Seriously, though, at first I thought this was a legit test, but it's pure BS. A better* test would be three groups of mice in three mazes: Cookie vs Cocaine, Cookie vs Rice Cake and Cocaine vs Rice Cake. Guess what? Bet'cha rice cakes would be considered more addictive than cocaine as well, allowing us to draw the conclusion that...mice like food, the more calorie-rich, the better.
*but not very much better
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
I must have some weird genetic disorder, because I think Oreos are bloody awful. Positively vile. In fact, the only ostensibly sweet confection I've had that was worse was a Hershey bar, which seemed like eating solidified excrement mixed with sand. With all due respect, Americans really need some lessons in how to make chocolate; even cooking chocolate (the kind that's basically 50% vegetable oil) tastes better than anything I've eaten from that side of the Atlantic.
There are a lot of "addictive" qualities of many of the food products we ingest. Many of them are engineered to delay the "satisfy button" in our systems so that we eat more. (The common response to this problem is people asserting "eat more slowly" and "drink more water") and to that I say... uh, no. In a busy life, one doesn't always have time to pause and "enjoy" food. Eating is sometimes an interruption of whatever it is we are doing... fun, work, whatever. We are not always at leisure to determine how much time we have to eat. And of course my experience in the military didn't help forming bad habits did it? (But here's a mystery -- military food seems a lot more satisfying and healthy than civilian food... could also be the exercise regimen... I dunno. But some foods are easier to get fat on that others. It's not only about carbs and calories it's about the source of them and the way they are prepared... if you eat raw wheat, you will get less "stuff" than from processed wheat right?)
Anyway, back to addictive food qualities. I there are some well documented secrets of food that people should be made aware of. Among these is the fifth flavor sense. So after "sweet" "sour" "bitter" and "salty" there is a "new one" that the Chinese have known about for centuries if not millennia. It's called "savory" but the Chinese have another name for it... we also know it as "MSG."
And there's lots lots more to know about food and eating and how it all works.
The whole "rice cake" argument doesn't negate the whole study. They didn't just monitor the behavior of the rats, they measured the chemical release in the brain and compared it to the release of the same chemicals in the brain after ingestion of cocaine.
From TFA ( http://www.conncoll.edu/news/news-archive/2013/student-faculty-research-shows-oreos-are-just-as-addictive-as-drugs-in-lab-rats-.htm )
"They used immunohistochemistry to measure the expression of a protein called c-Fos, a marker of neuronal activation, in the nucleus accumbens, or the brain’s “pleasure center.”
“It basically tells us how many cells were turned on in a specific region of the brain in response to the drugs or Oreos,” said Schroeder.
They found that the Oreos activated significantly more neurons than cocaine or morphine."
Yes. treacle, blood pudding, and clotted cream biscuits are much better than anything over here. We eat pure shit compared to the delicacies to be had in your dusty corner for the world.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
It's a good thing Oreos aren't as addictive as a drug.
Imaging if you took a hit of Oreos, got high, then got the munchies, ate Oreos, got high, then got the munchies, ate Oreos.... etc.
1. Scientist does science.
2. Scientist opens his mouth about the science he did.
3. All other scientists call him a worthless cunt.
4. Science suppressed. Scientist exiled.
5. Start from one again.
Proving once and for all that science is both politics and religion.
Extrapolating.... three > two goto theweathergirlsitsrainingmen.com. Next day delivery.
the ones with a serious interest in cookies were the students. Anyone care to guess the relative risk of a mouse vs. a human, as seen by an Oreo in the study?
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
"Addiction" has two meanings.
1) A PHYSICAL addiction where removal of access to the substance has clear PRIMARY effects on the chemistry of the patient.
2) PSYCHOLOGICAL addiction, where the patient craves and needs regular access to the substance in ways that can be measured statistically with a group of such people, but cannot be directly linked to a biochemical process.
One might assume that 2 is the same as 1, if only our scientific understanding were better, but this ignores the fact that Humans have complicated mental processes as well, and that there is no good reason addiction cannot also result from how we think, feel and perceive.
Anyway, the word 'addiction' is misused, especially in the USA. Most people can give up using most soft and hard drugs will no ill effects. Fat Americans are fat because they are addicted to the pleasures of eating certain foods. How many people get fat because they each too much wholegrain bread?
Most Humans like reliable sources of pleasure, and will frequently return to those sources if they are cheap and convenient. Is it an addiction because you do 'it' a lot, or because doing 'it' seems to interfere with other things in life?
If a food item is 'nice', and many people will not get bored eating that item over and over, do you want to label it as 'addictive'.
And do NOT turn to animal experimentation for a 'better' answer. Anyone with a cat will tell you they quickly learn to "live to eat", NOT "eat to live", just like most of their owners.
You'll have to be more specific about the treacle as it goes from clear to near-black. Blood pudding? If you meant black pudding, that's a savoury item. As for clotted cream biscuits, they're not biscuits even by the American use of the word and clotted cream is basically just thick whipped cream. They're usually served warm with jam and a cup of tea.
Spray-on cheese. Now the ball's in your court.
Are these kids retarded? You would expect better from a 3rd grade science project.
The only useful information from that experiment is that rodents also like to eat the cream filling first, then the cookie.
Now what starts with the letter C?
Cookie starts with C
Let's think of other things
That starts with C
Oh, Cocaine start with C, too.
And other things that start with C?
Oh, who cares about the other things?
C is for cocaine, that's good enough for me.
C is for cocaine, that's good enough for me.
C is for cocaine, that's good enough for me
Oh, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine starts with C.
Me thinks Oreo is delicious cookie.
And Oreo's white addictive stuff
Between two chocolate wafer
Make me think of of cocaine
Oh and big white moon also look like giant Scarface plate of Cocaine
But you can't snort that, so....
C is for cocaine, that's good enough for me, yeah!
C is for cocaine, that's good enough for me
C is for cocaine, that's good enough for me
Oh, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine starts with C, yeah!
Cocaine, cocaine, cocaine starts with C, oh boy!
Cocaine, cocaine, cocaine starts with C!
...have put an Oreo at one side of the maze and a line of cocaine at the other if they really wanted to see which was more addictive?
You're absolutely right.
You do have some weird genetic disorder.
From
Not conclusive, but not as trivial as its being made out to be
http://www.conncoll.edu/
Neuroscience major and Science Leader Lauren Cameron ’14 was awarded a Keck Grant, which provides summer research stipends in the sciences to qualified students, to work with Schroeder to continue the research over the summer. They used immunohistochemistry to measure the expression of a protein called c-Fos, a marker of neuronal activation, in the nucleus accumbens, or the brain’s “pleasure center.”
“It basically tells us how many cells were turned on in a specific region of the brain in response to the drugs or Oreos,” said Schroeder.
They found that the Oreos activated significantly more neurons than cocaine or morphine.
worse was a Hershey bar, which seemed like eating solidified excrement mixed with sand.
That's unfair.
Hershey's chocolate tastes of sick, not shit, because the milk is lipolyzed, producing butyric acid -- also found in vomit.
treacle, blood pudding, and clotted cream biscuits are much better than anything over here. We eat pure shit compared to the delicacies to be had in your dusty corner for the world.
Seriously, if you mean black treacle- it has a stronger taste than the golden variety, and I wasn't a big fan as a kid, but it's quite nice as an ingredient. Black pudding? Haven't eaten it for years, but I'd put it in my mouth. Clotted cream? Method of thickening cream by slightly cooking it- never tried it, but can't be that bad.
:'-(
So what have the Americans got? Skip this if you're eating lunch... One of the most genuinely unpleasant sounding- and looking- "delicacies" I've ever heard of, but fortunately never tasted. Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you... canned pork brains in milk gravy.
Yeah... I think it's going to take a lot to "improve" upon that.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
As an American, I'm going to have to agree with you... That "processed cheese spread" stuff is pretty vile stuff, but it keeps without refrigeration. Most of us on this side of the pond don't quite "get" that European food thing. Especially English food. Some of it sounds pretty bad to us.
I tried a lot of different stuff when on a trip to Manchester and while some of it was not appealing to me, I did find much to like in my week's stay. I found some incredible Indian food that I've never been able to match here in the states and one Oriental place we ate at was great too. The traditional "fish and chips" with the malt vinegar was worth eating more than once too. Some of the beef dishes I tried left me disappointed, but I figured that was more about farming practices and less about the dish itself. The only real problem was the tea habit I started. I've found that good tea is simply not available at restaurants here and buying it for home can get expensive, but I'm hooked on the stuff so I pay though the nose for it. Makes me understand the "Boston Tea Party" thing that started the rebellion a bit better.
So... I'm going to apologize for the AC who has obviously no sense of adventure and likely has no culinary experience with much more than macaroni and cheese from a box and bologna sandwiches...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
That explains what happened.... Dr, I don't need to go on a diet, I need addiction treatment for my Oreo habit.. Wonder if it's covered by my insurance?
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
All I need to do is couch this in flamboyant, headline-ready terms, and the networks will eat it up. So to speak.
"woof".
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Fried bread? Lets take some nasty bacon grease, and soak bread in it and fry it.
I knew it! I always thought Hershey's tasted like vomit, but people just thought I was trying to be disgusting. I was even convinced that maybe I had once eaten a bar and then got sick, so the taste pairing was esoteric for me. Also, Hershey's bars contain wax, but no cocoa butter.
You were critically hit for no damage. The bruise will look nice, and maybe the scars will make good party talk.
Only to have retards down vote and foxtard you off the map.
Why do I have to be specific about treacle? You did a good job of generalizing a bunch of American crap, I'm having just as much fun generalizing British crap. You make a broad claim, get a broad retort. I'm not gonna drill it down for ya, you can do the hard work. Blood pudding is a gross item, anyway you look at it. I'm tossing it in because it exists, weather or not if fits in your "category". And the package of ccb's I had once said just that; "Clotted Cream Biscuits". Now step off ya limey bastard.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1623#comic
OMG! I've been using butter to grease up my bread for grilled cheese sandwiches. You've opened up a whole new world to me (and closed off a whole artery)!
I've only had it once, since I live in Britain (whose cheap chocolate is made by Cadbury, but with standards maintained by what the rest of the EU is willing to label "chocolate"*). Someone brought some back from a work trip to the US, and -- unusually for chocolate -- it hung around for weeks. This prompted us to work out why no-one really liked it. We decided it was an acquired taste that most Americans learn when they're children.
* I looked this up. British/Irish "milk chocolate" must be labelled "family milk chocolate" in the rest of the EU, as it's not good enough.
The white stuff, The white stuff
The first one was a sweet one
Second one was a blast
Soon I finished off the bag, ate 'em up real fast
You can see 'em in my teeth
Tell it when I talk
Had so many my pancreas just went into shock
I love the white stuff, baby
In the middle of an Oreo
I love the white stuff, baby
It's the most delicious thing I know
I've had a zillion or two
In my life, they're so right
My teeth are all rotted clear through
But who cares? What else am I supposed to do?
Oh OH OH-OH-Oh, Oh Oreo
Oh OH OH-OH-Oh, the white stuff
Oh OH OH-OH-Oh, Oh Oreo
What's in the middle? The white stuff
The first time that I tried it
Got a big sugar buzz
Nothing gets me high as that sandwhich cookie does
But I love the filling most
I rub it on my roast
Mix it in with my coffee and spread it on my toast
I love the white stuff, baby
In the middle of an Oreo
I love the white stuff, baby
Take some with me everywhere I go
Might get a pimple or two
Well, so what? It's all right
Now Twinkies and Ding Dongs won't do
All I need... You know what it is
Oh OH OH-OH-Oh, Oh Oreo
Oh OH OH-OH-Oh, the white stuff
Oh OH OH-OH-Oh, Oh Oreo
Oh OH OH-OH-Oh, the white stuff
Oh OH OH-OH-Oh, Oh Oreo
What's in the middle? The white stuff
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I'm sorry, but bread fried in bacon grease is awesome.
Sure, it's got to be fresh grease, not something that's been in the pan for a week, and I wouldn't try it if you're prone to cholesterol problems....
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
No, an it depends.
Hershey Bars don contain Wax, and some bars are still made with cocoa butter.
For example, Hershey's Special Dark still contain Cocoa butter
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Wrong conclusion there. Proper conclusion is that rice cakes cure cocaine addiction.
If you give a meme cat a GIF, it will keep repeating the same motions in the animated GIF.
More than it will climb Mount Everest.
WARNING: Meme cats are addicted to the Internet and hate mountain climbing!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Your mistake was thinking that oreos are supposed to taste like chocolate, or be a form of chocolate dessert. They're not; they're a pair of sugar cookies, with a small amount of chocolate, with sugar creme in the middle.
They're also not supposed to be good sugar cookies as is. They're supposed to hold their form when dipped in milk, or at least eaten with milk.
Hershey bars are not supposed to be good chocolate either. They're supposed to last a long time and not get stale. They stay equally mediocre forever. And since most Americans don't eat very much chocolate, even in the desserts labeled as "chocolate," it tastes just fine.
Americans aren't just idiots. Many just don't value good food above convenience. OTOH, people who like high quality desserts can also find the best stuff from all over the world in the stores here. ;) Pretty much every store has Dutch, Belgian, German, Swiss chocolate bars, and these days those sell a lot more than a Hershey's chocolate bar, even though they cost over twice as much.
As an American, I'm going to have to agree with you... That "processed cheese spread" stuff is pretty vile stuff, but it keeps without refrigeration.
But your country is famous for having gargantuan refrigerators!
I tried a lot of different stuff when on a trip to Manchester and while some of it was not appealing to me, I did find much to like in my week's stay.
Britain is the most challenging European country to find good food in as a visitor, especially in the larger cities. I despair slightly when I walk through the more touristy parts of central London early in the evening -- there are several huge, expensive franchise restaurants selling average to poor steak for the price of very good steak. They're always busy, they look "safe", wasn't it in the guide book...? Wetherspoons is a cheap example -- most of what they sell are microwave meals! Here is a company that does wholesale ready meals (microwave meals) for pubs etc.
So, I think you did quite well to find some decent places.
I looked up clotted cream biscuits -- they're not very common, they look like the kind of thing sold in an airport. Shortbread is much more common: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortbread
The most common use for clotted cream is on a scone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scone
(I'm not sure if the point was my country was healthier or unhealthier, tastier or not -- you decide!)
Making shortbread is one of my earliest memories from school, I must have been about 5. It can't be too difficult:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/shortbread_1290
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4622/classic-scones-with-jam-and-clotted-cream
"...Fox News reported that a..."
That's when you know it's a goof.
Britain is the most challenging European country to find good food in as a visitor, especially in the larger cities.
I'm sorry, wot? The place is littered with chip shops, you almost can't swing a dead haggis without hitting one. And pub grub? Yummmm. A nice shepherd's pie, a Cornish pasty ... a pint of Strongbow ... oh, man.
there are several huge, expensive franchise restaurants selling average to poor steak for the price of very good steak.
The fact that chains are an ever-present hazard doesn't mean it's hard to find good stuff, just that it is easier than it should be to find crap. Ever since my horrible experience with MickeyD in Japan (teryaki burgers, yuk!) I don't go to any chains when I travel abroad, and certainly not US ones.
Here is a company that does wholesale ready meals (microwave meals) for pubs etc.
Yeah, we're all familiar with Tom Archer and his Ready Meals. I hear they're pretty good. They're almost organic, aren't they?
There are plenty of homeless or otherwise under-employed people who could be used in real mazes to do real human testing.
...what about Nutella? You can't say Nutella isn't like crack. Excuse me while I inject my veins with Nutella flavored Nutella on Nutella cookie with Nutella sprinkles. What were we talking about?
You can dance if you want to.
After about 15 of them, you get pretty sick of oreos for about a week or so.
Hershey bars are not supposed to be good chocolate either. They're supposed to last a long time and not get stale.
Hershey built its brand during one of the world wars (WWII, I think) based on creating a chocolate bar that GIs could carry with them and it wouldn't melt in their pockets. The EU locale, being the place that was local to said GIs (even if not called the EU at the time) didn't have to worry about adulterating the chocolate because the GIs could get it fresh. (The latter part is hypothetical and perhaps a bit fictional, but the Hershey part is true.)
I am 50+ and remember my 4th grade science teacher telling me that that the theory of plate tectonics was so new that it wasn't taught when she was in school. She brought it up because she wanted us little school kiddies to understand that scientific theory evolves with the adoption of new, peer reviewed, debated, experimentally validated hypotheses that depend upon specific and consistent use of language and method. All of this together is supposed to advance the state of human knowledge and hopefully the human condition. It's plain as the nose on Rupert Murdoch's ugly puss that Fox has no respect for anything but revenue and their editorial staff can't distinguish a science from a seance or a fact from a fascist, so why does anyone waste other people's time posting the stupid crap that spews forth from this maw of mediocrity? Is it really that addictive, or is revenue the least common denominator for the Nuu Slashdot as well? An Oreo from Cowboy Neal's chuck wagon for the first cogent response?
Been there. The food is not good. The "fish and chips" places mostly cook at the wrong temperature or something because the stuff is soft and soggy and not crispy. The pubs serve something called "bangers and mash" which has about zero flavor. Worst. sausage. ever. The Indian food though is quite good. But the native British stuff - well, there is a reason they went out in search of spices and (temporarily) conquered a huge empire. Their food sucks and they wanted something better.
I find Oreos uninspiring. I really don't understand what the fuss is about. American chocolate I have tasted was terrible, it was complete crap. Maybe I have just got used to the higher levels of sugar and real cream in the local varieties. Although, 'local' seems more and more to mean anything not from the US. Hershey bars were particularly disappointing. On the other hand I hear that their ice cream is really something amazing.
Bitter and proud of it.
They also give off more smell overall than a rice cake.
You're presented with a maze... one path smells like high grade cannabis, the other doesn't smell like much at all, which do you choose?
Keep it Clean! :D
You have to be specific, because they're right. North American chocolate is crap. Yes, 'excrement mixed with sand' is an exaggeration, but any chocolate made in North America is mediocre at best. The only decent chocolate here is shipped from Europe, and is exhorbitantly priced as a result.
This is coming from a Canadian, from my experiences of what's available here and in the north eastern US. Maybe Florida and Texas have better chocolate, but nothing I've found from here comes anywhere close to anything from Europe.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
Troll? WTF? How, using even the loosest possible definition of "troll" does this qualify?
It's reasoned, civil, and makes some very good points.
Yet again, mods: troll != I disagree.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
English food is probably the worst example of european food (even the english will agree i here :) That said, pretty much every country or culture will have food that most others find wrong/disgusting for some reason. "fish and chips" is fastfood, you wouldnt want your local kitchens judged based on McDonalds would you? :)
"Imaging if you took a hit of Oreos, got high, then got the munchies, ate Oreos, got high, then got the munchies, ate Oreos.... etc."
You should learn how to use recursion :).
The real shocker here is that there's a "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" reference on Slashdot! Proof that not all us Slashdot readers are unmarried single guys. Some of us are married with kids. I'm proud to have read all of the "If You Give A _____ A _____" books to my kids. Not high literature by any stretch of the imagination, but little kids like them and reading to your kids is a very good thing.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Not bad, if you don't have anything left to do for the day.
... of three mice in the subway tunnel, mice prefer scavenging trash on the tracks to preservation of their own life. This makes them a poor choice for a model of anything but a crazed homeless person. Rats, on the other hand, tend to duck into a hole when the train comes, so repeating the study with them might provide some insight into human behavior.
If we take Oreos like a suppository, do we still get the addictive qualities? Include milk or almond/soy milk for better lubrication.
The G
This is a total misrepresentation of the study. This from the full story at Connecticut College:
" associate professor of psychology and director of the behavioral neuroscience program, and his students found rats formed an equally strong association between the pleasurable effects of eating Oreos and a specific environment as they did between cocaine or morphine and a specific environment. They also found that eating cookies activated more neurons in the brain’s “pleasure center” than exposure to drugs of abuse. "
"They compared the results of the Oreo and rice cake test with results from rats that were given an injection of cocaine or morphine, known addictive substances, on one side of the maze and a shot of saline on the other. "
"The research showed the rats conditioned with Oreos spent as much time on the “drug” side of the maze as the rats conditioned with cocaine or morphine."
That doesn't mean the research is great, can't be criticized or by any means definitive. But the research has a lot more to support it than most of the criticism of the research here.
My wife has informed me if I am caught grinding up one more and inhaling it using a rolled up Franklin I'm divorced. God I pray I can stop. Crap, I need to do another line, the chunks kind of hurt but I need a fix.
'I don't know what it's called. I just know the sound it makes, when it takes a man's life.' ~ Four Leaf Tayback
oxtail soup? bangers and mash? fried fish and "chips? we can't make fun of British cuisine, there is none to be found. just like British architecture. the other side of the channel they have gourmet food and beautiful buildings.
More likely, a partnership between Coke and Koch.
Tell that to my 6-year-old self.
I tried a lot of different stuff when on a trip to Manchester and while some of it was not appealing to me, I did find much to like in my week's stay. I found some incredible Indian food that I've never been able to match here in the states
They say that's why they let India stay in the commonwealth.....otherwise there would be no good food in England.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
"As an American, I'm going to have to agree with you... That "processed cheese spread" stuff is pretty vile stuff, but it keeps without refrigeration."
As a European who spent much of his childhood in the US, I have to disagree with you. It may not be labeled correctly ("Cheese" as such is completely wrong), but that stuff has its uses... hell, I still mix in a bit of it when I can - in grilled cheese or on nachos, for instance.
Wanted to see what brand my old cat liked best. So I placed two bowls of cat food next to each other and then observed which one was emptied.
Answer: Both.
Twist: Mice hate Oreos so they eat it first and reserve the rice cake as dessert and to wash the taste away.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
http://dearblankpleaseblank.com/permalink.php?viewid=121526 Dear Fox News, So far, no news about foxes. Sincerely, Unimpressed
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Brewing tea is quite easy. Go to an Indian store and buy a 1kg pack. We get 1KG pack for your 300 INR in India for excellent tea. Thats less than 5$. With markup and all 1KG tea of good quality(eg. Taj Mahal) should be around 10-20$ in Indian stores in any big city.
That 1KG pack will brew around 500 150ml cups of tea for you.
Add milk and sugar to taste.
Here is the recipe. Remember this is how tea is made in India, which is kind of like the home of Tea. British just borrowed it and consider those silly tea bags as tea.
Lets say you want to make 300ml of tea(2 cups)
Take 300ml water.
Add sugar to taste. If you have a sweet tooth you would need around 4 teaspoons, otherwise most people do fine with 1 teaspoon each or 2 for 300ml. Use cane sugar.
Start boiling the water, and as you start seeing the steam coming, put in the tea leaves. Add 1.5 tea spoons
This figure is relative. Some like tea bitter, so you would need 2 tea spoons
Keep boiling the water with tea leaves. Once it starts boiling, i.e reaches around 100 degree C(violent water) keep boiling it for 1 minute or so.
By the end of a minute or so you would have 250ml water left. Add 50ml milk. Or add 70ml if you want it whiter.
Bring it to a boil(the mixture would start rising) and turn off the gas, and cover it for couple of minutes, sitting there.
Now pour the mixture from a sieve and throw away the spend leaves.
Drink and enjoy. Not expensive.
Some further tips. If you like a strong spicy flavor, add 1/4th teaspoon of cinnamon powder along with tea leaves.
If you like to have gingery flavor(excellent sore through remedy), put around 1 table spoon of crushed fresh ginger
If you like aromatic, add 3 small crushed cardamom cloves((a pack of 100 cloves costs around 3-4$ at Indian stores.
Some links
Tea -> http://shop.khanapakana.com/brooke-bond-taj-mahal-tea-15-8-oz-450-grams/ 6$ for half kg. you may find cheaper
Cardamon pods -> http://nhastore.com/Cardamon-Pods-Whole-Green-1-Pound-Bulk--P884492.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=Product_Search&utm_campaign=google_base
Remember one cup tea needs 1 clove of cardamom so even a 30$/1lb pack will last you for 500 cups or so or even more.
If you ever make a vacation to India, buy 5kg tea and store in air tight container(it will not spoil). Will cost 15$ or so. Cardamom will be 5-6$ for 1kg pack.
Once again, lemme tell you, british do not know tea. That is not tea.
When british first discovered tea, they used to bew tea, throw away the water and eat the bitter spent leaves, and then complain that Indians eat such vile stuff
Tea has to be brewed, and the first 10-15 cups will not taste very good.
Slowly you will realize how much milk, or how much sugar, or how much tea leaves you need to add.
Watch some Indian youtube videos for tea making. You will find some where 300ml water + 70ml milk and mixed and then boiled. After the boil the burner is kept on slow and tea leaves are added which are then brewed on slow flame for 5 minutes.;
These are all variations. Experiment, and you will find what you really want.
And its a cheap cheap way to prepare tea.
In India we often make 10 cups, keep in a thermos, and for the next 5 hours we can keep microwaving and having. However after 4-5 hours, the taste starts going bad.
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Expecting to find good food in Britain is like expecting to find atheists in the Vatican -- I'm sure they're there, but you have to look really hard.
On the subject of steaks though, you'll probably be disappointed anywhere in Europe. The (north and south) american prairies are probably much better for raising cattle.
Europe is much more densely populated, and there are a lot of mountain ranges in between, so cows have less space, and probably a crappier climate to grow in.
If you want to find good food in Europe, try to stick to the local cuisine, which will rarely be a simple steak.
Except for England. When you're there, just go to McDonald's.
"good tea is simply not available at restaurants here"
I have found that poor tea in the USA is not so much due to the quality of the tea, but to a complete and pervasive inability to make it properly.
If anyone reading this runs a cafe or restaurant and can do something about it, here is what you need to know:
DO NOT BRING THE HOT WATER TO THE TABLE WITH A TRAY OF TEA BAGS
This is tea making 101, not even about making tea truly properly. It's just about getting the basics right. Would you bring hot water to the table and attempt to make coffee with it? Of course not.
So this is how you do it.
Either ask the customer what kind of tea they want, or, if you want to be all fancy, take the tea selection to the table and allow them to choose it themselves. Once you know what tea they want, you simply go back to the hot water source (kitchen, coffee bar, etc...) and scald their teacup with a little hot water. Pour that out. Then put in the tea bag and then fill up the cup with hot water. Carry the cup back to the table. That's it.
This method will make a drinkable cup of tea. You can do much better.
But the way it's done nearly everywhere in the US, by bringing the hot water to the table, is completely useless.
Tea bags??? In a cup??? What sort of evil world do you live in??? You'll be telling us that the milk goes in first next!!!
Tea is made with boiling water in a teapot. Every other method is not cricket.
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
Not that it serves any purpose. But an experiment with mice is not complete unless it also includes a maze.
(In this case, of course, it served the purpose of forcing the mice to find their food by smell. I wonder what smells more strongly; a chocolate cookie or a rice cracker.)
You're mostly right. The major brands in North America are crap; but there are some good smaller brands. Taza is great, Trader Joes has some good stuff too, I know there are others I'm forgetting. Fortunately we can get Ritter Sport here too. Unfortunately, most would rather eat terrible quality milk chocolate.
Well aren't you just a superior douchebag with your cultured tastes.
It should be noted that the article cited states that the DSM-IV is the most used publication for dealing with disorders. In fact, the DSM-IV-TR is, despite the release of the DSM-V which is still being transitioned to. Furthermore, substance dependence is addressed within the DSM. Whether or not dependence = addiction is another matter entirely.
Ever since my horrible experience with MickeyD in Japan (teryaki burgers, yuk!) I don't go to any chains when I travel abroad, and certainly not US ones.
I usually steer clear of chains when I travel but I do like going to foreign McDonald's since it usually makes for a good story since so many people just love them. Besides I did have the royal with cheese and some Kronenbourg 1664 at the one on the Champs de Elysee and at it outside, I mean if you are going to go for the bastardized experience just go whole hog and be done. That was the only time I ate at McDonald's in the 3 months I lived in France and I did it on my first day there. I have done the same in Ireland, Israel, Austria, Belgium, and India. Once that is out of the way then I go for the local fare and just try random stuff I haven't had before and usually am not disappointed.
Time to offend someone
Find a study pointless without looking at, just state the obvious points of the research, ignore the details, belittle the researchers, and call it a day.
It only has one proper use and that is on a philly cheese steak and to order it properly request "wit wiz" not provolone like the fancy restaurants do it. The greasier the place the better it the sandwich.
Time to offend someone
It could be worse, it could be poutine
Time to offend someone
I once went on a werk trip to the US with a couple of French people. We went to a baseball game, which I think we universally thought was pretty boring. One French guy braved the food stalls and got some nachos. He sat down and asked me what the sort of orange/yellow stuff in the little container was. It took several times for me to repeat "it's cheese" (and then to eat a bit) before he believed it was actually cheese.
As a European, I have to say, what we think of as food, the Americans have an amazing skill of taking it and making it into something else entirely. I doubt it improves for doing this, because it gets a bit further away from being organic, but in some cases, it does taste pretty good (in a dirty secret sort of way). Oreos are no exception - it's a biscuit (as we'd call it), but somehow it's got more saturated fat, sugar and E numbers than any biscuit that came before it (even the ones your mum refused to buy because they were "just made of rubbish"). They're tasty, I grant you, but man they're evil!
Close. "Whiz Wit" or "Whiz Witout"... with or without fried onions. Personally, I go with prov wit almost exclusively unless visitors are in town and we head to Pat's or Geno's. And now I know exactly what I'm getting for lunch.
"Why do you consent to live in ignorance and fear?" - Bad Religion
Who Moved My Cheese? (or cookies in this case)
Randroid Alert!
Randroid as opposed to the iRan?
In fact, I would say I can't live without food. I must be addicted to it.
Also I prefer tasty cookies over cardboard-tasting rice cakes.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
You also forgot about quantity being a driving force of the general American cuisine. So much of it is fillers, flavor additives, and compounds to give it reasonable texture all while being incredibly cheap and huge portions. Now add in the amount of salt, sugar, or fat that is added so it doesn't taste like crap and like you say the vast majority of US food is awful. Granted I like quick meals but I use good quality ingredients and make it at home. A perfect example of this was last night we had burgers and fries (chips for some of you), The only thing added to the meat was a little bit of salt and black pepper before getting tossed on the grill. The meat isn't the factory farm meat but came from a farmer who is a friend of the family and is better quality than anything I have seen in a store. The buns were made fresh last weekend when I made bread for the week, and the lettuces and tomatoes came from the garden. I have a fry cutter so I just put 6 potatoes through it and then put the fries in a plastic bag with some olive oil black pepper, and salt, shook well, and then baked them in the oven on a cookie sheet. It took about 40 minutes to make everything and that includes starting and getting the BBQ ready (I use charcoal). This is about the same about of time it takes to go and get fast food or take out cost a lot less and wasn't full of crap.
It gets even easier if you freeze or can whole meals. I recently spent a day canning up several gallons of beef stew and chili which will keep on shelves in the pantry without issue also I made and froze about 10lbs of home made ravioli. In doing that I disposed of the remaining meat from last year before new meat from the farmer and upcoming hunting seasons arrives. Plus now I have a bunch of meals that basically only need to be warmed up or put into a pot of boiling water to be ready. This weekend it looks like I will be making and canning tomato sauce to deal with all of the remaining tomatoes from the garden since we will probably be getting a hard frost in the next few days.
Time to offend someone
So, I think you did quite well to find some decent places.
We had local help. ALWAYS get local help because sometimes the best places to eat are decidedly not well advertised. I've found some really great places by offering to buy a meal for a local. Just ask them where they usually go, then offer to take them there. Ask them for menu advice and take it. This has worked for me in a lot of countries. I've tried things that I NEVER would have on my own and found that I like many of them. Who knows when you might find something you like, and if you don't like the food enjoy the company.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Hershey's Ice Cream is not related to Hershey's Chocolate.
"The greasier the place the better it the sandwich."
Common mistake. Next you're going to tell us to go to Pat's or Geno's.
The military wants to make sure they have a functional fighting force so they will ensure that the food has a high nutritional standard so it doesn't surprise me that would be more healthy than civilian food. Civilian food they want you to buy and consume more of so the companies make more money so you are dealing with 2 very different philosophies. I do hear that the preparation quality of military food leaves something to be desired but all institutional food seems to be that way.
Time to offend someone
If you're thinking of the same Trader Joe's chocolate I am, then that is actually imported from Switzerland (I'm wondering if it isn't Migros "Budget" line). While it's certainly good by our standards, it's still not quite as good as the Coop brand or Frey (also Migros), and those are simply super-market brands (my favorite is Frey Noixana), and at a cost of between $1 and $1.5 per 100g (at the time of our most recent visit), it's really hard to beat Switzerland. God, I miss it.
Ever since my horrible experience with MickeyD in Japan (teryaki burgers, yuk!) I don't go to any chains when I travel abroad, and certainly not US ones.
I usually steer clear of chains when I travel but I do like going to foreign McDonald's since it usually makes for a good story since so many people just love them. Besides I did have the royal with cheese and some Kronenbourg 1664 at the one on the Champs de Elysee and at it outside, I mean if you are going to go for the bastardized experience just go whole hog and be done. That was the only time I ate at McDonald's in the 3 months I lived in France and I did it on my first day there. I have done the same in Ireland, Israel, Austria, Belgium, and India. Once that is out of the way then I go for the local fare and just try random stuff I haven't had before and usually am not disappointed.
Korean McD's serve a delicious bulgogi burger...and in Nova Scotia (it's in Eastern Canada, for the geographically challenged), you can get a McLobster burger (at least you could when I was there). In the Philippines you can get a Longanisa meal for breakfast (yum!) and in Australia you can get vegemite for your english muffin (yeah, definitely an acquired taste...wish they'd gone with kangaroo nuggets instead...).
People laugh, but I do make it a point to visit a McDonalds at least once in every country I visit that has one (the only McD in Cuba is at Guantanamo Bay, apparently, and is only available to base personnel...a pity)
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
Americans aren't just idiots.
Stereotype much? Jackass.
Just another day in Paradise
Through my studies, I've always had to distinguish between "positive addiction" and "negative addiction", with the difference being how does the 2nd "hit" make one feel relative to the first "hit"?
Positive addiction: Each successive consumption results in a greater effect. E.g. I go to church on a weekly basis. The first time I go to church, I feel "fine" as mass concludes. After a year of going to church, I feel "great" as mass concludes.
Negative addiction: Each successive consumption results in a smaller effect. E.g. I run regularly. As I first begin to run regularly, I feel a "runner's high" after running 10 miles. After a year of running, I now need to run 26.2 miles to achieve the same "high."
Note that positive & negative are morality-neutral and are more of a mathematical construct. Similar to positive/negative reinforcement where a stimulus is added (e.g. child is given a toy; child receives a spanking) or removed (child's toy is taken away from him; child is ignored.)
Remember Europe has crap chocolate too -- but it's clearly not worth exporting.
(America's crap chocolate is still worse than Europe's crap chocolate.)
Taza is Mexican style stone ground chocolate made in Somerville MA. Delicious, but a different experience from what most of us think of as chocolate bars. Definitely something to seek out and try if you haven't had it.
There are some excellent artisan chocolate makers here in the US. You can find their products in natural/health food stores including Whole Foods, in local food coops, and sometimes in gift shops and independent bookstores. Some of the chocolate makers also have their own shops.
The good chocolate at Trader Joe's is all imported. Excellent value though.
Taste? When I was in, it was your basic "school cafeteria" level. On a ship at sea, it was a bit better actually... in some cases, exceptionally better. (I think that is mostly because the guys making it also have to eat it... on land, it's usually "cafeteria ladies" who serve but do not eat.)
I can't speak to the other branches of the service. Navy's at least passable.
The mice, without fail, decided to eat the Oreo over the rice cake, proving once and for all that mice like cookies better than tasteless discs with a styrofoamy texture.
Did this person even bother to read the story? No, they didn't reach their conclusion based on mice preferring Oreos to rice cakes. They looked for specific signs of addiction, both behavioral and physiological. And they repeated the experiment replacing the Oreos by cocaine or morphine, and found that all measures of addiction were just as high for the cookies as for the drugs.
"I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
If you don't think that Oreos are just as addictive as cocaine, then you clearly aren't snorting/freebasing/mainlining them properly.
--- Generation X: The first generation to have SIG lines inferior to their parents... ---
You also forgot about quantity being a driving force of the general American cuisine.
No, I just know that it isn't true. Portions may be larger here, but that has nothing to do with ingredient choices. People who choose smaller portions are not choosing different food that people choosing larger portions. Portions are generally of a standard size.
You might be surprised to learn that "American food" doesn't mean fast food, and farm fresh meats are produce are also "American food."
The foods you describe would sound exactly like regular "American food" to most Americans.
I have heard similar things with the submariners having the best food but my cousin who is in the Army National Guard (Minnesota Red Bulls) regularly complained about the food quality while in Kuwait and has stated it is comparable to dorm food.
Time to offend someone
That is why I do the same thing. It is a fun cheap little adventure and gives a great little story. How often can you state you have had the McCurry, actual name is the McCurry Pan.
Time to offend someone
My British friends (and I had quite a few when I was living in Asia) all insisted that REAL British food was really wonderful and that what they had in the tourist centers of Europe and Asia that was sold as British cuisine (HAHAHAHAHAHA) was crap. OKay, so then they invited me to dinner. They served Indian food, French food, Italian food, Spanish food (depending on where they liked to vacation) rather than British food. The closest I have come to "homecooking" was a verbal description of how to cook a "Sunday roast" which was bland and boring until I took the recipe and kicked it up a notch or two with, like, some flavour stuff (misspelling intentional).
My sister in law is an Anglophile and claims to have some real British holiday recipes that she brings to holidays for us. They are commonly called: hockey pucks, nasty pudding and (the only one people will eat) fruitcake cocktail (fruitcake soaked in rum for years so that one piece is the equal of a rum and coke).
Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
How do you define a country's cuisine? South & South East Asian cuisine was very different before European traders took chillies and tomatoes. Potato is common in Europe, but also comes from South America.
Curry made in Britain is different to what's known in India (see here). Wikipedia suggests curry was here before fish and chips.
"Sunday Roast", as cooked by most people, is crap. Not so much because of the meat, but because most people serve it with boiled vegetables. I put up with this for 18 years, as my dad insisted on cooking on Sundays, and that's all he would cook. Sometimes my mum would make leeks in cheese sauce as a side dish, which is a good improvement to an otherwise bland meal.
I think if I had to make something particularly British, it should be a meat or fish pie, maybe something like this chicken and leek pie (I like leeks). There's plenty of opportunity for flavour.
I don't know what "nasty pudding" is. "Hocky pucks" sound Canadian. I've not heard of "fruitcake cocktail" either.
Dundee cake is good -- although very heavy. If you have space, make it in autumn, leave it in the kitchen, and pour a spoonful of brandy over it every time you walk past. Serve at Christmas. If iced with marzipan and royal icing it's called a Christmas cake. Trifle is the other good opportunity to get all the children tipsy.
Indian premium brands like Taj Mahal are excellent for black tea too.
In India, few people use flavoured tea. However, they do flavor their tea.
If you want a lemony flavor - Just add a few drops of lemon juice(Fresh squeezed)
If you want aroma - Cardamon
If you want Spice - Cinnamon
Flavoring tea like this has better results than pre flavored tea. When you refer to Earl grey and such , I figure you are buying Twinnings?
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