New And Improved Rant Thread, now with 50% more profanity!

[ceptimus]

The manufacturers here don't normally put 'sugar' on the (required by law) ingredients list. They generally use some abbreviation or one of those -ose words. But I know that they're just different names for sugar - and even if I didn't know, I would still normally be able to taste the sweetness.

[lisarea]

In my experience, things with HFCS instead of regular cane sugar are almost always worse. I'm not sure if it's because the taste is qualitatively different, or if it's just that they use so much more of it (by sweetness unit, not necessarily volume) and in so many inappropriate contexts. I assume because it's so cheap, manufacturers put tons of it in everything. Maybe HFCS is actually grosser, or maybe it's just that they tend to use way too much. Either way, it's been a pretty good way to predict that something is going to be really bad and make me need to brush my teeth a lot.

BTW, keep an extra eye out for sucralose (Splenda). I accidentally bought something with that in it a while back and not only was it sickly sweet, but it tasted like a tin can. I hadn't even read the label (it was an apple pie that was on sale really cheap, which are two things I am a sucker for) until I ate a bite and had to go look at the label to find out what fresh hell it was.

[Dingfod]

To my taste buds, HFCS has a fruity sort of taste, due to it being high fructose, I'm sure. As far as I can tell table sugar, sucrose, does not. I can tell the difference in products.

[SR71]

Originally Posted by lisarea

In my experience, things with HFCS instead of regular cane sugar are almost always worse. I'm not sure if it's because the taste is qualitatively different, or if it's just that they use so much more of it (by sweetness unit, not necessarily volume) and in so many inappropriate contexts. I assume because it's so cheap, manufacturers put tons of it in everything. Maybe HFCS is actually grosser, or maybe it's just that they tend to use way too much. Either way, it's been a pretty good way to predict that something is going to be really bad and make me need to brush my teeth a lot.

BTW, keep an extra eye out for sucralose (Splenda). I accidentally bought something with that in it a while back and not only was it sickly sweet, but it tasted like a tin can. I hadn't even read the label (it was an apple pie that was on sale really cheap, which are two things I am a sucker for) until I ate a bite and had to go look at the label to find out what fresh hell it was.

I once read something about how the sucrose and fructose differ. One example that stuck was about coke. Remember how old Coke used to make you sort of sneeze or hiccough? It doesn't do that now with the corn sugar. When Pepsi briefly sold Pepsi Throwback I was able to confirm that difference.

[Kael]

IANAB, but my understanding is that there isn't really a difference metabolically between HFCS and sucrose from cane or beet sugar. HFCS still has both glucose and fructose, the components of sucrose, just as monosaccharides. But consuming sucrose isn't appreciably different, because we break it down to the monosaccharides pretty damn well anyway. The problem with HFCS is simply the amount consumed, as with sucrose, this is just compounded because HFCS is cheap and easier to deal with as a liquid, and so winds up being used heavily in lots of processed foods, including many you might not expect to have lots of sugar in them.

That said, unless there was something else they changed when they did the Throwback line with their sodas, I remember a taste difference as well. The cane sugar ones actually tasted sweeter in my personal anecdotal experience.

[Ari]

The one difference is that sugar is always 50/50 Fructose to glucose whereas HFCS vary. While the most common HFCS is 55/45, there's some evidence suggesting many used are higher at 60 - 90 % Fructose.

[Demimonde]

Fuck me.

The DAY that I get my 4runner back after Contra's mother fucking truck being in the mother fucking shop for almost THREE mother fucking weeks and what happens? My fucking car battery dies.

All the fucks. All of them, for reals.

Universe, leave me alone for five fucking days, please. Just let me find my feet and you can knock the hell out of me again.

[vremya]

Fucking taxes.......

The Beatles - Taxman (2009 Stereo Remaster) -...

[Sock Puppet]

"I am sorry not to be able to reach you yesterday."

You ARE aware of how disingenuous that sentence is, right? Being "unable to reach" someone means that you actually TRIED. As in, called our phone number at all? Just to be clear, you didn't fucking do that. At all. We gave you at least two phone numbers, possibly three, and you didn't call any of them. Modern technology actually makes that pretty difficult to fake, dumbass. You could say "not to be able to call you" and I would give it a pass; even though that would probably still be a lie, it's at least a plausible one.

At least, now I have a good suspicion why your receptionist is an unreliable flake who can't keep appointments straight. It's because YOU are an unreliable flake, and have set the tone at the top. Fuck you, you're not the only game in town and we're finding another.

[Corona688]

Originally Posted by Kael

IANAB, but my understanding is that there isn't really a difference metabolically between HFCS and sucrose from cane or beet sugar. HFCS still has both glucose and fructose, the components of sucrose, just as monosaccharides. But consuming sucrose isn't appreciably different, because we break it down to the monosaccharides pretty damn well anyway. The problem with HFCS is simply the amount consumed, as with sucrose, this is just compounded because HFCS is cheap and easier to deal with as a liquid, and so winds up being used heavily in lots of processed foods, including many you might not expect to have lots of sugar in them.

Tell me your secrets. Whenever I point out the obvious I just get shrieked at.

[lisarea]

Someone shrieked at you?

[Angakuk]

Obviously.

[Ymir's blood]

alumni_shrieker1st.jpg

Trampier, RIP

[The Lone Ranger]

For what it's worth, a few things to consider about sugars:


First, it's indeed true that sucrose (table sugar) is indeed 50% glucose and 50% fructose. And HFCS is supposed to be only 42 - 55% fructose. In practice, though, it's often much more. Testing of various soft drinks typically find that those made with HFCS typically contain over 60% fructose, and sometimes close to 90%. (That is, 60+% of the sugar present in the drink is fructose.)


Every cell in our bodies metabolizes glucose for ATP. Our hepatocytes (liver cells) can convert many simple sugars -- including fructose -- into glucose, which can then be metabolized by other body cells. In addition, hepatocytes can metabolize fructose more or less directly; most other body cells have a very limited ability to metabolize fructose. Consequently, almost all fructose metabolism is done in the liver.


There are a number of potential problems that come from having a lot of fructose in your diet. For one thing, fructose -- unlike glucose -- is not an insulin secretagogue -- that is, it does not stimulate your pancreatic cells to secrete insulin, which allows cells to absorb and metabolize glucose. Consequently, fructose will cause your blood sugar levels to spike much more than will an equivalent amount of glucose or even sucrose.

Of course, as mentioned, our bodies can cope with fructose, but it's well-documented that high amounts of fructose in the diet cause blood sugar levels to spike. Even though sucrose (table sugar) contains 50% fructose, it doesn't cause quite the same sudden, sharp spike in blood sugar levels that fructose does, because the sucrose must first be digested into its components, which must then be absorbed into the blood. So if you're ingesting sucrose, your blood sugar levels won't spike so quickly as if you're ingesting an equivalent amount of fructose.


I'm not suggesting that one should necessarily avoid anything containing HFCS, by the way. But if I have a choice, I prefer sucrose. Of course, it's hard to find foods nowadays that don't have added sugar. I've seen estimates that if you exclude the meat and produce aisles, something like 80% of the foods sold in a typical supermarket contain added sugar(s).

Sometimes, they're sneaky about it and add quite a few sugars, listing each one separately, to hide the fact. For instance, I once found a loaf of bread that, among its listed ingredients had: sucrose, fructose, dextrose, and maltose. I'm sure they figured the average shopper wouldn't be aware that these are all sugars. In fact, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if sugars had made up more than 50% of the ingredients by weight.


Anyway, the fact that most of us consume a lot of sugar nowadays is almost-certainly why obesity and diabetes mellitus rates are so high in this country -- and continuing to rise.


[BTW: At least some of the drinks advertised as being made with "cane sugar" -- apparently aren't. One test of Pepsi made in Mexico and supposedly made with "cane sugar" found that it was 50% glucose, 50% fructose -- and 0% sucrose.]

[Dingfod]

Wait, you said sucrose was 50:50 fructose to glucose, so wouldn't cane sugar be exactly that, the same as table sugar?

♫C&H, pure cane sugar, from Hawaii, grown in the sun.♪

C&H being California and Hawaiian Sugar Company.

I know, sucrose is a molecular compound of fructose and glucose, not fructose and glucose mixed, just giving you crap, sweet, sweet crap.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

secretagogue

[Demimonde]

Fucking fuckity fuck, fuck. Grant me the strength to stop picking at psychological scabs, stop engaging with triggering dumbfucks, and stop eating my own liver.

Fuck 'em and feed 'em fish heads.

[Corona688]

OK, so I drove home to the big city Easter weekend to visit the parents, as probably a lot of folks did. If I knew what would happen I would not have. I must have violated a mummy's tomb in a past life and it's only catching up to me now, heaping its revenge on me and mine.

Upon leaving day, my own car and both of theirs were all jinxed -- all within 24 hours. A blown tire on my mother's car, and a bricked engine on mine. I borrowed by dad's car to return to work with while mine was being fixed.

150/200 km there, I notice the power steering has stopped working... Finding a bottle of power steering fluid in the trunk, I fill the ominously empty reservoir and the steering returns to operation.

160/200 km, it has stopped working again. With nowhere close to take it, I brace myself for 40km of white-knuckle driving, and arrive alive, with arms aching from forcing the unresponsive wheel. Fortunately power steering is like escalators... It cannot break down, it can only turn into stairs. (It's not GOOD for the car, but I didn't have much choice).

This morning, I was preparing that car to be towed to the nearest town with full service, and left the key in the armrest pocket. When I closed the door, I heard a series of clicks...



And people ask me why I don't like to drive anywhere.

[lisarea]

Yes, that's right. I am officially registering this complain with The Googles.

So I pull up to the light to make a right turn onto the major street that is our primary egress. The major street has like a thousand times more traffic than the one I'm coming out of, so the light is always red when I approach, so I need to make a right on red.

Except that an SUV with tinted windows pulls up into the crosswalk, completely blocking my view. So I can't see if there's any oncoming traffic, meaning now I just have to wait the hour and a half it takes for the light to turn green. And of course, someone has pulled up behind me, and I assume they have a clear view of oncoming traffic, so they start honking at me because I'm not moving.

No. I'm not going to turn blindly into 50MPH traffic just because you are honking at me.

So no big, right? Dumb little things like that happen every now and again, and why are you complaining about a stupid traffic-based misunderstanding, stupid Lisa Pea? Because THIS EXACT SCENARIO has happened multiple times in the yearish or so that light has been there, with only minor variations, like sometimes it's a minivan or a truck instead of an SUV.

So I have a question for those of you who drive big stupid vehicles: Are you just really, really fucking stupid, or are you actual, malicious psychopaths?

And don't you even lie to me. I'm going to be poring over all posts to find any references to vehicles, and will be putting anyone with a high profile vehicle on my list of the Gonads of The Free Thought Talk Forum and Chat Emporium. And Google is going to know ALL ABOUT IT.

[Dingfod]

I think they should provide flat panel LED screens on the sides connected to a camera on the other side of them, so you can effectively see through them.

[Angakuk]

In the small town to the north of me there is one working stoplight (there are two stoplights but one is turned off). This light is at the intersection of the main business street and the U.S. Highway. The light is always green for the highway until a car on the cross street trips the signal. The problem is that in order to trip the signal you have to pull way forward, well past the line of the sidewalk (yes, there are some actual sidewalks in this town), practically onto the highway itself.

So, it occurs to me that the drivers of all those annoying SUVs, big rigs, etc. that are giving you such a headache may be from this same little town in Iowa. That is a reasonable assumption is it not?

[Hermit]

Originally Posted by Dingfod

I think they should provide flat panel LED screens on the sides connected to a camera on the other side of them, so you can effectively see through them.

A periscope would be a cheaper solution.

[lisarea]

I haven't slept much at all for the past two days, everything hurts, we have to go do cleaning at the bunny shelter, and IT IS SNOWING. Which means that I have to scrub the thirty litter boxes and all the other boxes and plastic structures with poop all over them in the worst, least ergonomic sink in the world, instead of being able to take them outside and do it with the hose.

I am gonna be wrecked later, and there had better be some kind of a fight or something here waiting for me, or I will...I guess come to all your houses and give you something to fight about or something.

Whatever. Just don't find out. Go. Fight.

[curses]

Originally Posted by Hermit

A periscope would be a cheaper solution.

A rocket launcher and video game-style access to ammunition for it would be more fun.

[Janet]

Pea, are you a YMO fan? I'd be happy to fight with a Ryuichi Sakamoto fan over who is the best Japanese film composer.