I ate a cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory the other day, something about it concerned me.
This is my review of Belching Beaver Churro con Chocolate Pastry Stout:
You see, when I pick up a cheesecake from such an established merchant of fat fuck food, I am not going there to get a bite and let it go. No, I want a ridiculous slice of cheesecake. What I got was a bunch of cake, with some cheesecake layered in. I looked at everyone else’s and saw the same thing. What happened to Cheesecake Factory? Maybe it was private equity that bought them out, and ruined the whole operation in an attempt to secure quick profits while passing the cost down to YOU!
Some liken private equity firms to vultures picking the bones of dying companies, which you could argue is a necessary activity. But Ballou points out that many private equity firms now target healthy companies, leaving them gutted, unproductive, or even bankrupt. Whether it’s Bain, Apollo, or Sun Capital, each firm has its preferred tactics for extracting money from the businesses they buy up, too often hurting the most vulnerable people, like nursing home residents, who can’t fight back.
Whoa. Bain Capital, remember those clowns? Tempting as it may be to point the finger at vulture capitalism, it’s probably a much simpler explanation: inflation. While prices on certain commodities have gone down, for the most part they are still on the rise to some degree. Wholesale prices did exceed “expectation” last month, granted not by that much in numerical terms. Could it be the same parlor tricks on the economy under Team Brandon are being used by Team Orange Man? It would seem the lack of cheese in my cheesecake might indicate that. Don’t worry though, there are still plenty of places that will let you partake in American excess.
Where it really strikes me as odd is the number of brewers that are going to half servings. While there are certainly reasons why one might want a smaller serving, at a tasting event for example, I’m seeing Bud Light getting in on this trend. So I have to question if this trend is really a sign of a consumer that really does want less, or like everything else it suddenly got expensive as hell. In the example here, I am happy it came in a smaller size not for the cost. I regret to inform you this is…
🚨 🚨 🚨 White Girl Beer 🚨 🚨 🚨 White Girl Beer🚨 🚨 🚨
It’s chocolate, vanilla, and an excessive amount if cinnamon. Its something my daughter might eat for breakfast on a special occasion. Belching Beaver Churro con Chocolate Pastry Stout: 2.3/5
Diabetes in a bucket! 🇺🇸
Duncan Donuts is American?
I thought they were an Indian chain like 7/11.
7/11 is Japanese …
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
Where it really strikes me as odd is the number of brewers that are going to half servings.
NNNOOOOO!!!!!
It’s chocolate, vanilla, and an excessive amount if cinnamon. Its something my daughter might eat for breakfast on a special occasion. Belching Beaver Churro con Chocolate Pastry Stout:
Honestly, I might give this a try as a dessert.
It would work for that.
“It’s chocolate, vanilla, and an excessive amount if cinnamon. ”
No.
Also fuck all the pumpkin ales ruined by cinnamon.
Small cans of beer aren’t anything new.
We have sixteen-ounce cans and twelve-ounce cans…
My first act as dictator, is to bring back 22oz bomber bottles.
There’s still some breweries sticking with that style. They’re few and far between though.
Cans are flat out better.
I support your ascension.
Not for hitting people with.
Back during Glibscruise 1.0, when I was wandering through some of the more vigorous parts of Santo Domingo, I stopped in a corner store and bought a 24oz. bottle of Presidente beer for the walk back to the ship.
The internet PE bashing is silly. Most of the examples people use were companies that were on the verge of bankruptcy, PE bought them to see if there was any way to squeeze a profit out of them.
It’s a bit like junk bonds – they are junk rated and bargain priced for a reason. If they manage to turn around you get a healthy return on investment. IF.
They think the average PE bro is Richard Gere’s character in Pretty Woman, who buys perfectly functioning companies at liquidation level pricing and sells whatever valuable assets to investors for insane profit.
…Then he bangs 20 something year old Julia Roberts.
Larry The Liquidator remains the best movie PE dude.
Haven’t seen it.
Been awhile; not so hot on Rotten Tomatoes but that speech is the highlight.
PE isn’t sticking to failing companies anymore. There’s a lot of money sloshing around chasing ever fleeting returns. There’s a reason for rolling up plumbing and HVAC and vets offices, the results are rarely a better product to the customer.
Agreed. I also think capitalism will solve the problem. The roll ups charging inflated prices should result in competitors undercutting their prices.
White Girl Beer
EWWWWWW.
PE bought them to see if there was any way to squeeze a profit out of them.
Or they were worth more dead than they were alive.
+1 retail real estate sale and lease back…
This is 90% of anyone with a life insurance policy.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Whatcouldgowrong/s/k6beBjn996
Whoops!
“Stop resisting!”
What was with the initial shoot? He was slowly walking with no weapon and his back to the cop – towards a police vehicle.
I did chuckle when I saw it was Toronto.
“Stop resisting” is a taunt. The dude was shot once and run over twice in less than a minute. I am pretty sure twisting in pain is not resisting.
They really do have that on automatic.
Stop resisting!!
I saw another video last night where a cop hit a motorcycle he had pulled over, breaking several ribs and the collar bone of the rider. Cop jumps out, weapon drawn as he stands saying something to the effect of WTF… cop front kicks to the sternum and begins wrenching arms behind his back. Plenty of stop resisting.
Speeding. And not pulling over immediately. (No sirens, so dude didnt notice for 10-15 seconds.)
Stop resisting.
I have seen cases where the prosecutor and jury rely on this statement for felony charges.
That really needs to change. It means nothing different than if they were singing jingle bells. It is perfunctory.
Yep. The arrested for resisting arrest charge needs to be outlawed.
Cop ghost riding the whip.
For those following along with Adventures in Pirates Trying on Farming for Size, and continuing the discussion of the soon-to-be-jettisoned Rafael, I would like to point out that there is a certain private university in Andalusia named “Covarrubias University,” at which one of Celia and Elliott’s many-greats granddaughters teaches, who doesn’t know the history. She “just landed” there, and every time she passes the massive bronze of Rafael in the quad, she touches his foot.
Another variant of “shrinkflation”. I hate that shit… just state the current price of the existing product without treating me like an idiot.
What am I supposed to do with a 5oz can of tuna? All my recipes are based on the 8oz can of my childhood. Just give me an 8oz can and charge me for the additional 3 ozs
That’s a problem when it comes to old recipes across the board. “One can of %item%”/”Juice of one %fruit%”.
No. Give me actual measurements you bastards!
They did give you the measurements.
People changed the instuments on you.
Changing the size of a product line has to be expensive as hell. Redesigned packaging, tooling, quality control changes, cooking/baking parameter changes, shipping changes.
Just raise the price.
Give me back my pottle of ice cream.
The box of ice cream rushes back into my memory.
Well, I fiendishly overslept, but pup’s been walked and it’s time to shuffle off for my last shift of the week, this time with Sarah, the definition of a (legit) fierce woman, not to be played with. She’s certainly a character, I’ll give her that, and on point, but yeesh!
Hopefully, it makes the day go by quicker before my Sun Mon off. Onward and upward, fellow cinnamon-beer lady drinkers.
Aloha Richard (if you are reading today),
I am rocking the awesome Glibpin now. Many mahalos.
Almost sugaring time up that way.
More proof that the former UK is a conquered nation.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/family-voting-is-a-monstrous-attack-on-our-democracy/ar-AA1Xg4S8?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=69a3314866644fe6bfa5944b7e92a1b1&ei=82
“Family voting” is a genuine WTF?!? Wait for it to appear in Minnesoda.
Shocked.
I take the kids to the primaries and general election and they get to sit on my lap or stand next to my wife or I and watch us vote. They don’t get a ballot.
If they did get a ballot i know my son would vote against every bond and levy. He hates property taxes more than I. The concept of someone taking a piece of what you own enrages him.
Mail in is the same thing though.
Makes counting the votes a lot easier though.
Yeah. No different than mail in/ballot harvesting.
I don’t disagree with you about the lack of security with mail in voting. This “family voting” scheme is an extension of that into the more “secure” in person voting. With the progs habit off always adopting the next worst thing I am waiting for them to start strongly advocating for it in the US otherwise the red meanies are disenfranchising minorities. Everything to them is 1955 Mississippi forever and always.
Frankly I think the US makes entirely too easy to vote. If a person can’t be bothered to take the initiative to apply and provide documentation that they are citizens, then they have demonstrated their interest in voting and the government should respect that choice. Same with election day. It is a day and not a month, or even a fortnight. If the Feds want to make it easier to vote in elections for Federal office, scrap Juneteenth as a Federal Holiday and make Federal election days a national holiday. (Bonus- the holiday will only be every other year.)
Likewise, if you can’t understand the dominant language (English), you can’t be an informed voter.
I didn’t realize that elections in the UK are just as fraudulent as ours in the US.
It appears they have a leg up on us.
Now do Driver’s Licenses.
Many years ago I was taking the MN written test. An older (60ish) Asian man came in with a younger Asian man, son/friend, who knows. The older guy apparently didn’t read English, the younger guy was his interpreter. Uh-huh. I’m guessing the old guy got the same score as his assistant would have gotten, had he taken the test.
So, out of XY’s time at Chipotle, he apparently got several food safety and other sorts of certifications. I didn’t know he’d also been teaching classes in food safety, but hell, in my house, food safety means putting the mayo back in the fridge when it occurred to me to do so. Food safety has never been my top priority.
Then Chipotle screwed him over, he made too much there to qualify for a Pell grant, which meant he couldn’t keep his scholarship, and then/now he’s floundering. At home. With us. (He’s not a bad housemate. Just loud. His voice is deep and it is by no means an indoor one, and he walks like an elephant. Those are my only complaints.)
WHEELLLL. He’s gone through a third round of interviews for Ecolab (I think) and has an in-person interview on the horizon to go around teaching these food safety classes. They want someone who can travel a lot (he’s 20, single, no kids, so, yeah) and he’ll get a company car. Salary is nothing to sneeze at, and it’s hourly. So, if you could all cross your fingers for him, I’d appreciate it. He really needs a win, for his self-esteem, if nothing else.
🤞
he made too much there to qualify for a Pell grant
That sucks, but I’ve been pushing my oldest towards an easy trade to work while getting an engineering degree. So you’re 2 years ahead of me.
A buddy of line manufacturing worked at some line job at Schweitzer engineering for a little over a decade while he was working towards an Electrical Engineering BS. It worked for him, he’s moved up in the company with the degree and all his years with him under his belt.
That’s the idea, except my son is looking at aerospace, and there’s actually quite a bit of that locally.
I’ve been pounding trades at my kids since they were in single digits, but they weren’t interested. XX found her joy in forklifts and landed in a catbird seat at FedEx Freight. XY tried college because he had free money for it (TANSTAAFL, but neither of them believe me), then found his talent in management. So, here we are.
I started college as An aerospace Engineering student.
I couldn’t hack calc II. I could not wrap my head around trigonometric derivatives no matter how many hours I studied. There is some really cool stuff in the field.
Fingers crossed
That sounds like a good job for a guy his age.
🤞🏻
🤞🍀
Good luck to XY.
I was quite happy to see one of the local breweries (Hoppin’ Frog) start doing the nip sized cans. On the other hand, most of their beers are 10%+, and I think they only have one or two below 7.5%.
That would be a nice size for a potent beer. I’m a lightweight and could enjoy two different beers if they came in smaller sizes and high ABV.
I WANT EXCESSIVE PORTION SIZES
Which is my goddamn right as an American! 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
I’m pretty sure I can get some 15%+ bombers for you if you’d like.
*Dreams of giant beers
*makes Jabba noises
R.J.:
They ship, and they have plenty of white girl beers.
As an underage oversize kid bars had 3.2, strong beer was 4% and sold only at liquor stores. There were a couple bars I could sit in and drink the 3.2 stuff but the liquor stores were overly cautious and carding. We weren’t smart enough or affluent enough to get a phony ID.
In my youth, it was easier to get cigarettes and marijuana than it was to get beer/liquor. Ohio had the 3.2 back in the day, but it’s been gone since before the shift to the 21+ drinking age.
Up until recently, there was a cap in Ohio of 10% ABV on beer. Hoppin’ Frog pushed, and lobbied (along with others) to get the cap removed entirely. BMC (Bud/Miller/Coors) brewers argued against it, saying how dangerous it would be. After the cap got lifted, there were ads for Molson XXX (7.3% malt liquor, a regular purchase when you could take advantage of the drinking age in Canada) the next week..
Oklahoma used to have a crazy low alcohol cap for beer, so everyone went across the border to Texas and stocked up on proper beer.
Oklahoma also had a mandate that you had to sell the beer at room temperature from the beer store, I suppose to keep miscreants from being tempted to drink and drive immediately.
R.J.:
PA only allows beer to be sold by the case at room temperature, for any cold beer, you need to buy it at a bar or restaurant. Wegmans may have been the first to start bending the system by having a very large take out beer section near a sit down cafe inside. Nearly every purchase I saw in that area was beer only, no food. There were some bars that were known to be great bottle shops to pick up beer, while having mediocre food.
Coors wasn’t allowed to be sold when I was a kid because its wasn’t pasteurized.
Gee, I thought every gang of teenage friends had at least one older brother over 21 who would be happy to buy beer for a slight commission.
creech:
Not in my friend group. We all were the older brothers (and geeks, freaks, spazs, and weirdos).
Me too. I was the oldest of
My buddies.
PA only allows beer
Neph you’re out of date. That was the regime but it has changed in the last few years. We are still stuck with the state liquor stores.
JI you have my condolences. Total Wine is my happy place.
ji:
Well damn. Good for PA.
I heard Indiana also started allowing Sunday sales. Surprised the hell out of me when I drove out for a training years back. Wanted to pick up local beer, so stopped in a store that had wet floor signs up around the beer area. Walk over, pick up a six pack and walk to the register while the person starts freaking out asking me what the hell I’m doing. That’s when I learned that the only beer sales allowed on Sundays were from breweries. They couldn’t sell cans or bottles, but could fill growlers, but only if there was brewing happening on premise (I learned this after stopping at a tap room).
Chafed:
Ohio has state liquor stores, but I’m surprised by how well they run the website and prices for it. They do lotteries for rare bottles, and announce bottle releases ahead of time. From my understanding, bars also order from the liquor stores. The website does make it easy to check if something (over 41 proof) is carried in the state, and which stores may have it.
Next weeks episode of Hat and Hair: Tulsi found chained in the underground tunnels being held by Lindsay Graham. Wanna invaid?
Wannafud?
She’s not Lady Grahams type.
Ayatollah of Keeled overah?
48 hour rule is in effect.
Replace with the Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla?
My Ground News headlines are saying the CIA expects IRGC hardliners would replace him. So we got that going for us.
Was this you Pie?
https://funker530.com/video/shahed-destroyed-in-romanian-airspace-
https://www.reddit.com/r/falloutnewvegas/s/49WPQifubO
😃👍
That’s great.
I don’t know what to do for dinner.
Vegan Salad.
Hateful.
Split pea soup with ham and cornbread.
Chicken
Brick of cheese.
Discussion of career paths above interests me… I have 3 who are teens.
A friend who is very successful working in construction (management) was asking my opinion on careers for his boy.
He got an accounting degree. Asked if I thought AI would come for accounting.
I guessed that simple bookkeeping jobs like AP and AR are likely to see major losses from AI soon. Controllers and senior accountants later.
But I figured finance positions would hold out longer.
Anyone have any thoughts on careers to avoid? We all have heard truck driver, airline pilot, etc days are numbered. What else
Doubt it. The first time AI causes a plane crash or a 98-car pileup will be the end of its use in those industries.
The teamsters will spend every last dime to stop self driving trucks, at the very least those that don’t have to have one of their dues paying members riding the deadman switch.
AI in planes will be for systems and stable flight, like it technically is now.
Truck driving is safe for a long time.
Guys like me who employ 1-5 people who run service trucks or logging outfits won’t move to self driving trucks for a long ass time. New trucks are too expensive and we will keep rebuilding our old trucks as long as we can.
I have a buddy who drives OTR for a big
Company. He said the current nanny driving systems in the new trucks are more dangerous than not having them as they do weird stuff suck as slamming the brakes on when they approach an exit.
I’m looking to move to a management/third guy role for my business. It’s a good second job side hustle for someone living in my region.
Sadly I’m forced by the arcane trucking rules into having a CDL as my trucks are midrange but just over the arbitrary weight limit and brake type for a CDL.
There is nothing magical about 26,000 pounds or air brakes.
Re truck driving: Research carefully. Lots of illegal immigrants, lots of trucking companies fucking over their drivers. However, overall, I think that’s a good one.
Re airline pilot: That’s a lot of time, money, and networking. Like YEARS’ worth of time just to get started.
I agree with rhywun about AI-driven vehicles. Maybe some time in the future, but not soon. It’ll get phased in and get phased right out again. If he can weather the lean years between in and out, he’ll be fine.
Honestly, I’m never going to stop hammering construction, electricity, plumbing.
Lineman. If he has no issues with heights, that’s an option, but it’s super dangerous.
Welder. Underwater welding (requires SCUBA cert) is massively lucrative.
That’s off the top of my head.
Linemen is great work but is a cesspool of drug abuse from everyone I have known in that field.
Trades are great if you don’t get hurt or injured, including long term repetitive types. Money isn’t given away for free.
One of my neighbors is a lineman. He’s not a doper but has bad spending habits like one. Shows up early and stays late. Those horses and the mortgage aren’t going to pay for themselves.
“Research carefully. Lots of illegal immigrants, lots of trucking companies fucking over their drivers.”
Gord, late of this parish, is active on X and has a book about to come out on trucking abuses. Other xers are providing details on the magnitude of illegals scamming the industry.
The market for new airline pilots goes up and down of course, but typical (good times) where I am is 2 years to get your commercial pilot certificate and flight instructor rating, 2 years getting paid peanuts to build time as an instructor, then into the right seat of an ERJ. At the bottom of course, but at that point you can say you’ve arrived at your career. There are other flying jobs that aren’t airline bus driver out there too.
And then the competition with the former military guys with plenty of hours.
FLASHING ALERT to a recent dead thread!
I went to the grocery today and while perusing canned hash I spotted a new (to here) item- a 7.5 oz single serving can of Mary Kitchen corned beef hash. Maybe because it is a new item the cost per oz was below that of a standard can. Of course I purchased a couple. Woo Hoo!
To nobody’s surprise Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. This raises an interesting problem for the Navy, that also applies to China. Since the end of the Cold War the USN has concentrated on how to protect carriers and warships from attack. Part of that doctrine includes attacking sub threats, but what they have gotten beyond rusty at is designing and executing offensive operations aimed at attacking other nations carriers and surface fleets.
While Iran’s two navies are not equivalent to China’s, they are the largest and most capable fleets we have been at war with since 1945 (really 1944).
Can they keep it closed though?
https://youtu.be/d5v6hlRyeHE
Around lunchtime here on the US East Coast I heard Iran had closed it. I looked around, and found no confirmation. I did find lots of news stories of countries and companies telling their ships to stay away from the Strait.
Well, Iran did it.
well… sortof:
The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Iran had not formally confirmed any such order. Tehran has for years threatened to block the narrow waterway in retaliation for any attack on the Islamic Republic.
Price at the pump is already a nickel higher than yesterday.
It doesnt work like that
Ooh, I resemble that remark, Gustave.
I cause all fluctuations in gas prices. Mostly by incompetence.
Wow. This is a shockingly bad shift. Working w a legit Dragon Woman and she’s all over me.
Fuck. This is really dumb, all of it. It’s many other things, as well.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=spm5-SXo4Do
I think Indiana used to have the cold beer/warm beer issue. You could only get cold beer from a liquor store.
Warm beer in the grocery was on a shelf or stacked on the floor. They also had no Sunday alcohol sales, which pissed me off when work sent me to Hoosiertucky.
They’ve since gotten a bit more civilized.