Emphatically no. I cut people concerned with jealousy out of my life. That shit’s toxic.

I’m over 30 and see true wealth as a measure of the love I give and receive. You can’t buy that.

Stopped biting my nails after about 35 years of tearing them to the quick. It wasn’t my first attempt, but when I successfully stopped, it was cold turkey. It’s been over four years now. I buy a new nail tool periodically to keep them looking good. I’m proud of them despite how trivial. The novelty of tapping on things and peeling stickers hasn’t worn off.

You make excellent points (and frankly, I really like the way you write,) but I disagree with how you portray the risk. I’m not saying they’re completely safe, they aren’t, but you can mitigate much of the risk through proper storage and handling. Your experience has obviously shown you that doesn’t always occur. As you point out, it’s easier to pick up the slack for someone else with the foods I listed, whereas with oysters, not so much. They have strict guidelines and in many places much more stringent regulations than other foods, which again, could go unfollowed somewhere along the way and then you’re screwed. That’s fair. I see your main point and I agree, not everyone gives the level of care they should.

This is largely irrelevant since we’re discussing a commercial situation, but I like to pamper mine. I have the luxury of being about to take the time and attention to do that without the pressure of a commercial kitchen. I always get farmed oysters that are typically purged before shipped. I won’t let them sit in water in the ice pan. They all get eaten almost immediately. Those red worms are unappetizing, but they’re harmless. When I get pea crabs though- anyone there who doesn’t already know about them is getting an ecology lesson. I leave them in. I really enjoy shucking and sharing oysters with others. Maybe that’s why I jumped in to defend them. Handled properly and done right, they are a transportive experience. I know you know as a chef how special that can be when food does that to us.

I gave you the list of the most recalled and the ones that have made the most people sick or dead. You don’t have to like oysters, but if illness is your reason for avoiding them, you’ve got many others to worry about first.

If this is the reason, then you should avoid all of the following:

Leafy greens
Deli cheese and meat
Ground beef
Onions
Turkey
Chicken
Papayas
Peaches
Cantaloupe
Flour

These are the riskiest and most recalled foods.

What is the green thing with the white blades?

I was a super smeller but lost the sense during Covid. It still hasn’t fully returned. I have good days where I’ll surprise myself by picking up something subtle and off days where popcorn smells like vomit or skunks smell like brake dust. I was considering a sommelier course prior to this.

Exceedingly helpful! Thank you so much!

I’ve been wanting to try these. I’ve used Ear Peace for a while, but one side tends to loosen up and sometimes work itself out. Maybe due to the round shape.

Have you experienced this with other brands? Do Earasers stay put when talking or chewing?

What dB/NRR level do you use?

You’re really stretching this.

My cat would respond when my wife or I sneezed. Anthropomorphically, it was similar to how we blessed him when he sneezed. We adopted another cat who does the same when one of us coughs.

You may have more in common with people from the south than you realize. I live in WNC where plenty of people use that word regularly. Folks in the mountains have widely varying knowledge bases and depth that they often don’t reveal right away. It might seem out of place in Southern California, but you may be shutting yourself off to the possibility that someone could surprise you and offer insight from a perspective you hadn’t considered.

Interesting litmus. Thanks for explaining. I hope it continues to serve you well.

What do you feel like it tells you about them?

Right, it was more of a metaphor between the Fed and Apple

As an American, makes me think of real dollars backed by silver and gold and then everything else that’s been printed and printed and printed (and printed) since the 70’s. Same manufacturer.

Shemomedjamo - Georgian word meaning to eat past the point of fullness because it tastes so good or as I heard it, “I accidentally ate the whole thing.”

You could take your protein pills and put your helmet on.

Love my 2nd gen Toyota. Runs well. Needs just basic maintenance. It can hold it’s own in any “Made in Murica” pissing contest. And the only annoying thing is the TPMS sensor light, if you could even call that annoying. It’s manual, 4wd, doesn’t record me, no backtalk. As loyal as a truck can be.

I’ve tried so many things throughout my life. Getting yourself to stop is going to be a personal thing. The last thing I tried that succeeded was taking a job out of town where I worked 12-16 hour days. It was manual skilled labor. I was working with my hands, they were often dirty, and frankly, there wasn’t much downtime to find myself chewing my nails. This attempt to stop just happened to finally work for me. It’s been almost four years. Keep at it, you can do it!