Conspiracy theories you're amenable to

[Hot Pepsi]

I think it's true of a lot of big cities. Until you spend time there you know lots of names of things yet don't know how they connect.

Do we know where Williamsburg or Park Slope are? Would we know The Village or Tribeca or The Tenderloin are if we'd not been in Manhattan?

Or Neasden and Croydon and Wimbledon and Bromley or even Notting Hill or Knightsbridge or Shoreditch if you hadn't spent time in London?

The Valley and Van Nuys and Encino and Bel Air and Watts are no different. Or, if you add the surrounding towns, Compton or El Segundo or Culver City or Burbank or Pasadena.

You hear all these names about many major cities, but you rarely know the geography of them.

Not unless they're very specific, like "Upper West Side" or "South Central" or "West End".

And even then... I obviously don't know my Paris Arondissements (apart from maybe knowing that 1 is bang in the middle on the north side). But I don't automatically know which side of the river the Rive Gauche and Rive Droite are despite them apparently having obvious names. I have to guess which way the river is flowing and then assume that you're going towards the ocean (and facing forwards in your boat rather than rowing in an 8) and then guess that the Left is actually the South Bank.

I know a bit more than average about the actual geography because my curiosity has always led me to look at maps. I have memorization problems, but if I need to, I can remember the basics. For example, I know that the Valley is on the other side of the Hollywood hills from Hollywood.

I think it's more important to know what sort of place a neighborhood is rather than where it is, exactly. I don't know how to get to Compton, but I know what it "means." I know that the westside of LA is traditionally more white and, I guess, richer and than east LA, which is predominantly Hispanic, but I don't know how those areas are defined.

I also know that the fancier parts of the LA area that one would hear about are not necessarily by the beach, which always seemed counterintuitive, but I'm sure there's a reason. Of course, the areas by the beach are now also very expensive.

Of course, in so many big cities, the places that were once associated with a certain ethnic group and, perhaps, certain socioeconomic problems, are now increasingly all the same.


But I thought El Segundo was in Mexico. Because that's where Q-Tip left his wallet and the video implies its deep in the desert.

[Lang Spoon]

Even after 20 odd years, Dublin south of the canal, im fucking clueless about. Im like a tourist when i end up in Rathmiines or Ranelagh. Is rathfarnham near Tallaghish, or is that Terenure? Rathgar? I think i remember Rathfarnham as the shitty suburban thing near Marlay park that has shit buses.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Don't worry ls. You're not really expected to know outside the canals, if you can manage the areas along the canals then you're doing really well.

[diggedy derek]

I believe that packaging on basic foodstuffs like rice and pasta etc are deliberately defective – your rice goes everywhere, the pasta packet splits – to encourage you to buy costlier luxury lines ("... with special resealable packet!")

[ursus arctos]

Big Jute are in on it

[Stumpy Pepys]

I believe that packaging on basic foodstuffs like rice and pasta etc are deliberately defective – your rice goes everywhere, the pasta packet splits – to encourage you to buy costlier luxury lines ("... with special resealable packet!")

Isn't it just that using thinner plastic shaves a few pennies off the price?

[Hot Pepsi]

I believe that packaging on basic foodstuffs like rice and pasta etc are deliberately defective – your rice goes everywhere, the pasta packet splits – to encourage you to buy costlier luxury lines ("... with special resealable packet!")

I don’t think that’s a conspiracy.

I think the cheaper brands just cut corners on the packaging to maintain their margin. If they save a penny on every package by just gluing it shut, they may save many thousands or millions over time.

They know that the person buying it will tolerate the crappy packaging because they’re the sort of person who will tolerate an inferior product to save a buck.

The higher end brands are competing with the other higher end brands, which probably are not all that different from each other, and therefore don’t want to tarnish their own brand by creating any friction in the experience.

[caja-dglh]

The Tenderloin is in San Francisco

It hasn't been a thing in Manhattan for well over 100 years

Just the island, or the Port-au-Prince of America as a whole?

[ursus arctos]

I'm not sure that there ever was one in the Outer Boroughs, but it was definitely a thing here before World War I

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.c...yc-tenderloin/

[ursus arctos]

My preferred granola recently switched to resealable packaging that is a much larger pain in the ass than the standard cereal box and bag they used before.

The fact that it was part of a shrinkflation heist just makes it worse.