To add to this, a lot of the jokes about it not being able to be called "cheese" also just come down to a misunderstanding of how the US Code of Federal Regulations works. There are American-style cheeses that have a milkfat percentage high enough to be labeled a cheese, but also ones that have to be labeled pasteurized prepared cheese product. This is pretty much the equivalent of saying that American ice cream can't be called ice cream because some of what's available in grocery stores is actually frozen dairy dessert. I'm personally grateful for our slightly burdensome regulatory scheme that allows me to identify certain qualitative differences between similar looking products with similar ingredient lists.

I can only hope that this backfires spectacularly for the establishment. Going first could mean that the shitlib vote is split amongst 4 or 5 candidates while the progressives pick a lane. Deeper into the primary cycle fuckass Jim Clyburn could probably meddle more.

Most of the party wouldn't risk primarying her in this environment. The NRSC knows no other Republican has a shot of winning the general, and they've definitely made that clear to the idiot in chief, who probably now understands there's a reasonable chance that the Senate flips. I don't think there's any political calculation here; she's being a dick because that's what she is.

I've been using a Klean Kanteen for a decade now, and I have nothing but positive things to say about them. The straw lids come apart very easily for cleaning, and each of the parts is separably replaceable. When my partner needed to replace the silicone mouthpiece but couldn't find it on the website, we just emailed their support and they were more than happy to send us a replacement free of charge.

It's insane that his team had complete control over this footage and still thought it was a good idea to air. I'm thankful that they didn't have the better judgment to prevent this episode from seeing the light of day. Maybe the pod should have some actual leftists on so Newsom can stumble and equivocate his way into a good take for once.

I'm definitely open to being wrong about the world's impression of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but I'm not sure it's borne out in the data. Europe doesn't seem to be adapting it anywhere near the rate at which they've adopted BEVs (I couldn't find a 2025 report in my cursory search, but would love to see one if anyone else finds it), nor does China, which is all in on BEVs. In fact, it seems like California may have more hydrogen fuel cell vehicles alone than all of Europe combined. That's two of the major markets accounted for, but it might be possible to convince the US to adopt hydrogen when they decide they no longer want to be left in the past.

I'm not sure the infrastructure build out for hydrogen is directly comparable to the charging infrastructure for BEVs. At least some segment of the population has access to charging infrastructure just by virtue of having access to an outlet at their homes, which allows for trickle charging, as well as the option to install a dedicated charger at home that allows for much cheaper charging that's also fast enough to charge from 0-100 overnight, so no need to stop at a fuel station at all. This meant that there were people who were willing to adopt the technology through the growing pains. With hydrogen, you run into a bit of a chicken and the egg problem where companies aren't encouraged to expand infrastructure without adoption rates being high enough and consumers aren't itching to purchase a vehicle where fuel is more expensive and less convenient to access. The refuel card incentives were supposed to get consumers over that hump, but it doesn't seem like it was anywhere near enough. I think the conditions were ripe for an emergent technology to eventually replace ICE vehicles, but hydrogen fueled vehicles were on the back foot to begin with.

In the US at least, I really don't see hydrogen ever taking off. Even in California, there's so few stations that you can't really travel from the top of the state to the bottom without going out of your way. The hydrogen fuel stations that are in place are even more expensive than they were a few years ago, if they're still functioning at all. We're talking like $180 USD for the equivalent of a tank of gas, at stations that aren't as convenient as a gas station or an outlet at home. It's even the subject of a lawsuit, which may or may not be successful.

It seems like hydrogen has already lost the race for the rest of the world, with BEV adoption growing substantially in Europe and China. Personally I wouldn't want my market to rely on solely Japan and a US headed by someone blatantly antagonistic to alternative fuels.

If you want to completely mitigate the risk, then yeah it's ideal to start on low and progressively ratchet the heat up. Personally, I've just left it at medium and then cranked it up two notches on the dial after a few minutes. I've really never used the maximum heat for anything other than boiling water on my range, since just over medium is more than hot enough for a lovely sear. If the coil is significantly smaller than the bottom of the pan, I'd be much more careful and start on low no matter what pan I'm using just to reduce the risk of warping.

Cast iron would work, though you shouldn't blast the heat on it immediately because of how brittle they are and how unevenly they heat. You can find plenty of pictures online of people just chucking a room temp cast iron on at max heat and splitting them right down the middle. They get plenty hot when preheated at around the medium setting on most ranges, and if you need more you can blast it after it's warmed up in like 2-3 minutes.

This isn't just about saving the environment, but sure. There's also the public health element of removing a major source of indoor air pollution that's detrimental to the residents of these units. These units aren't equipped with range hoods that can adequately ventilate the space, even if they're being used every time someone cooks.

I had no problem buying a portable induction wok "burner" outside of China; they were literally $50 USD at our local Costco a few weeks ago and that was including the kinda-cheap-but-more-than-adequate stamped carbon steel wok. I didn't even go looking for it and it found me. I've also had no problems charring peppers, onions, or ginger by just placing a pan over the stove element and sticking them on the pan when it's hot.

When I'm sitting down with a nice single origin chocolate, it's nice to have some fruit to compare the acidity to. Priming the taste buds really does bring different dimensions of the chocolate to the forefront. It's not something I indulge in often, but if I'm going to be paying for it, I'm going to also go through the trouble of trying it with as many suitable seeming pairs as possible.

It feels even better when you look at the turnout and the margin. About a third of vote totals from last year's general election, and this was on the day before New Year's Eve, when you'd expect a lot of people to be traveling or hanging out with family. That's a shocking amount of people who turned up for a late special election just to give a fat middle finger to Republicans.