Random News Article Discussion

trappedolphin

Really? My back-up plan is pomeranians.

SEACOW

NOOOOO! If there were ever a zombie apocalypse (or any moment when I turn into a zombie or a cannibal on an island), fat people are essential to my survival!

Fat people have more than one situation in which their weight would be helpful.

valiantt

Ahhh! But BUT! Pomeranians…Pomeranians...
The thought of eating pomeranians...how ghastly:

Aohige_AP

People are quick to blame the food industry here in the US for the massive obesity problem, but if anything it's nothing but cultural and educational issue.
The same fattening food sold here are sold anywhere else in the world, including tooth-pick-Japan. Availability isn't the issue.
Price really isn't the issue either, you can get a whole friggin meal for 3-4 bucks in Japan, lol.

If half the effort put in the "Blame Game" gets shifted to actually educating kids AND parents, I have no doubt it'll have better result.

valiantt

@Aohige_AP:

People are quick to blame the food industry here in the US for the massive obesity problem, but if anything it's nothing but cultural and educational issue.
The same fattening food sold here are sold anywhere else in the world, including tooth-pick-Japan. Availability isn't the issue.
Price really isn't the issue either, you can get a whole friggin meal for 3-4 bucks in Japan, lol.

If half the effort put in the "Blame Game" gets shifted to actually educating kids AND parents, I have no doubt it'll have better result.

I think a considerable problem is the price and overall laziness. Vegetables and fruits are freaking expensive compared to a bag of chips for a snack. Also I have to clean the vegetables and fruits which is an extra step so that is pretty much a bitch while I just pop open a bag of chips and munch away.

Also fruits/vegetables don't last a long while junk food stuffs are easy to store and access (as well as overall cheaper and sometimes taste a hell of a lot better).If you got kids and you don't have time, one might just resort to just throwing together some junk food meal (or fast food) which is actually cheaper than buying some vegetables and actually making a substantial meal for your kids (saves time and cheaper overall). Making good/healthy food requires some money and actually thinking/preparing which can be a problem if one is lazy/busy.

taboo

@Aohige_AP:

Come to Texas and have some good BBQ.

No really, this place is nuts. Like EVERY OTHER FRIGGIN household here does BBQ in their yard.
You see small barbecue pits around every corner, even in apartments. That's how BBQ-nuts they are here.

I'm sure Taboo has one. Or two. Or lives in one.

it's true

im in a constant state of perfect seasoning

valiantt

Ugh I miss BBQ. It's too fricken expensive where I am right now. I also miss cajun foodstuffs and pasta and cheese…goddamn I miss cheese.

trappedolphin

@valiantt:

Ugh I miss BBQ. It's too fricken expensive where I am right now. I also miss cajun foodstuffs and pasta and cheese…goddamn I miss cheese.

Isn't Korean barbecue amazing?

Aohige_AP

@valiantt:

I think a considerable problem is the price and overall laziness. Vegetables and fruits are freaking expensive compared to a bag of chips for a snack. Also I have to clean the vegetables and fruits which is an extra step so that is pretty much a bitch while I just pop open a bag of chips and munch away.

Also fruits/vegetables don't last a long while junk food stuffs are easy to store and access (as well as overall cheaper and sometimes taste a hell of a lot better).If you got kids and you don't have time, one might just resort to just throwing together some junk food meal (or fast food) which is actually cheaper than buying some vegetables and actually making a substantial meal for your kids (saves time and cheaper overall). Making good/healthy food requires some money and actually thinking/preparing which can be a problem if one is lazy/busy.

But my point is, that's not any different than the rest of the world.
Everything you said applies to Japan as well.

Culture and Education is the key.

taboo

Tbh as long as we have the best tex mex, I don't mind if other places have great BBQ

It never was a big staple of my diet, but everyone does have a grill there

Aohige_AP

And steak.
Although tbh, as great as Texas steak is, I actually like the insanely soft and fattening steaks in Japan more.
Only problem is, those steak in Japan cost exponentially more.

It's kinda funny how every supermarket and hardware store you go to in Texas, they have dozens of grills and pits all lined up in front of the store for sale.

CCC

@Aohige_AP:

The same fattening food sold here are sold anywhere else in the world, including tooth-pick-Japan.

They're catching up. There's this all-you-can-eat buffet in my area called Stamina Taro (I think it's a chain)- the focus is yaki niku (with an unlimited supply of raw meat/intestines/liver and the grill in the middle of the table) but they've also got mounds of faux-Italian, french fries, fried-everything, cakes, a whole ice cream freezer (where you reach in with the scoop and take however much you want, yourself), soda tap, cotton candy machine, etc. Needless to say, while my office and most environs here are devoid of any body type except "thin" (sometimes "skinny," occasionally "slim") I've seen more America-sized fat people at Stamina Taro than everywhere else combined.

TheCrystalShip

All I know is that chubby girls are cute and sexy.

Aohige_AP

@CCC:

They're catching up. There's this all-you-can-eat buffet in my area called Stamina Taro (I think it's a chain)- the focus is yaki niku (with an unlimited supply of raw meat/intestines/liver and the grill in the middle of the table) but they've also got mounds of faux-Italian, french fries, fried-everything, cakes, a whole ice cream freezer (where you reach in with the scoop and take however much you want, yourself), soda tap, cotton candy machine, etc. Needless to say, while my office and most environs here are devoid of any body type except "thin" (sometimes "skinny," occasionally "slim") I've seen more America-sized fat people at Stamina Taro than everywhere else combined.

The difference is, it's a small sample concentrated to the "fat people's restaurant".

And not "walk in to a Walmart and see nothing but fat people". I just described every Wal-mart here in Texas.

I think I'd start worrying when it gets to the point where you park yourself in the busiest corner of Shinjuku and observe for an hour, and find one obese person out of every fifty you see. 'Cause right now it's like 1 out of a thousand.

You do the exact same above in metropolitan cities in US, and it's like one in…. two or three. Maybe five if lucky.

CCC

Give 'em 50 years… they'll never really be able to compete with our girth, but I bet they'll try.
...Although the 1/3 drop in population is probably going to be more of a problem at that point.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21880124

@TheCrystalShip:

All I know is that chubby girls are cute and sexy.

You and me both, babe.

valiantt

@trappedolphin:

Isn't Korean barbecue amazing?

Funny thing about korean bbq is that it is pretty darn rare in korea and if you do manage to find it….it costs an arm and a leg. Koreans just eat a whole lot of bacon instead of tasty bbq...makes me sad. It is far more available in california.

Aohige_AP

And Japan. Korean BBQ is called Yakiniku there, and it's popular as all hell.
In fact, it was popularized by zainichi Koreans themselves.

And yes it's delicious

Sarfallet

@Aohige_AP:

And Japan. Korean BBQ is called Yakiniku there, and it's popular as all hell.
In fact, it was popularized by zainichi Koreans themselves.

And yes it's delicious

Mmmyes. Grilled chicken, Yakitori I think it was called, is also very delicious. Pretty much lived on that stuff when I was there. :O And about half of it was grilled chicken skin… MMMMmmm. of to buy a whole chicken /o/

valiantt

Yakinikus marination is slightly different but it is pretty much the same…its delicious and widely accessible. Dammit why is it so hard to find here bwaaah....

Its so hard to cook western food here too. I want some tomato soup and grilled cheese...

Aohige_AP

@valiantt:

Yakinikus marination is slightly different but it is pretty much the same…its delicious and widely accessible. Dammit why is it so hard to find here bwaaah....

Its so hard to cook western food here too. I want some tomato soup and grilled cheese...

It's just localized.
Just like Chinese Americans change the recipe for Chinese food here in America to fit the Americans' tastes.

wolfwood

Yeah fat people shouldn't fly…..Nah i'm a fat dude. I just wanted to belong to the sweet skinny majority for a moment

But since the topic is brought up what do you guys consider to be fat?

valiantt

@wolfwoof:

Yeah fat people shouldn't fly…..Nah i'm a fat dude. I just wanted to belong to the sweet skinny majority for a moment

But since the topic is brought up what do you guys consider to be fat?

Anyone that has a bigger belly than me. (In other words, it seems pretty relative)

MiyamotoMusashi

@wolfwoof:

Yeah fat people shouldn't fly…..Nah i'm a fat dude. I just wanted to belong to the sweet skinny majority for a moment

But since the topic is brought up what do you guys consider to be fat?

Body fat percentage of more than 25

No Maam

@MiyamotoMusashi:

Body fat percentage of more than 25

I kinda never like that "Scientific quantification of fathood" myself.

And yes. I am.

Also what skinny majority ? :P

valiantt

When i am around fat folks i appear thin but when i am around a bunch of skinny folks…i am rather large. What does that make me?

MiyamotoMusashi

@No:

I kinda never like that "Scientific quantification of fathood" myself.

And yes. I am.

Also what skinny majority ? :P

Maybe that sounded harsher that i intended it to but i don´t have a negative association with the term "fat" but for me, that´s approx the "line" where being overweight turns to fat. It´s not really scientific, it shows itself in the appearance.

Gliblord

I'm the kinda guy who has a very large belly but looks pretty okay in the clothes I wear

MiyamotoMusashi

@valiantt:

When i am around fat folks i appear thin but when i am around a bunch of skinny folks…i am rather large. What does that make me?

Average? s

wolfwood

@MiyamotoMusashi:

Body fat percentage of more than 25

Hmm so anything above 80 kg or 176 lbs counts as fat for a man of my height ( 5'9-5'10''ish )

Oh wait is body fat and bmi the same thing or am i confusing it?

Panda Bear

I've only had the pleasure of trying Korean barbecue once in my life, but it was absolutely amazing.

–----

Personally, I don't think I ever really consider someone 'fat' unless they're very clearly obese, to the point where it's likely an issue. I doubt there's ever a situation where I would call someone fat to their face, because of that, since the people I would consider fat are obviously going to be perfectly well aware of their weight without me pointing it out.

Really, though, it all comes down to semantics, which I suppose is part of the problem. Some people will talk about the problem of fat shaming, thinking of how people with just a little extra weight are unfairly shamed in their day to day life, and others will hear them and think of people who are morbidly obese, and attack the first group for trying to defend a self-destructive life style, when that was not their intention at all.

SEACOW

'Fat' to me = fat enough to have health risk.

Sarfallet

@wolfwoof:

Oh wait is body fat and bmi the same thing or am i confusing it?

No, body fat percentage is total weight of fat divided by total weight.

MiyamotoMusashi

@wolfwoof:

Hmm so anything above 80 kg or 176 lbs counts as fat for a man of my height ( 5'9-5'10''ish )

Oh wait is body fat and bmi the same thing or am i confusing it?

Yes, you are confusing it.

Body fat percentage is literally the amount of fat relative to your body, so 25 percent body fat literally means that 1 quarter of your entire body consist of fat. BMI on the other hand only considers the weight without other factors. For example, someone is doing sport can weigh more depending on the amount of muscle he/she has built up with the sport which obviously affects your weight and thus also your BMI.

fedcom

I went to Korean BBQ once in Toronto once and I'm sorry to say it was pretty shitty. They made us cook our own food too >_>

Perhaps I should go to Japan.

valiantt

@fedcom:

I went to Korean BBQ once in Toronto once and I'm sorry to say it was pretty shitty. They made us cook our own food too >_>

Perhaps I should go to Japan.

Err usually you're suppose to cook your own meat <_<
And Korean BBQ doesn't sound at all too great in Toronto. The best I had is in Los Angeles (huge Korean population) and a few smaller restaurants up at Northern Cal.
Japan is probably a good locale to try good Korean-esque BBQ (or the Japanese rendition: Yakiniku).

Panda Bear

@valiantt:

Err usually you're suppose to cook your own meat <_<
And Korean BBQ doesn't sound at all too great in Toronto. The best I had is in Los Angeles (huge Korean population) and a few smaller restaurants up at Northern Cal.
Japan is probably a good locale to try good Korean-esque BBQ (or the Japanese rendition: Yakiniku).

Yeah, I was going to say, as far as I knew, cooking your own meat was the norm. Nice to have someone that actually knows what he's saying beat me to it. More to the point, though, cooking your own meat was half the fun of the experience, so quit your whining!

fedcom

@valiantt:

Err usually you're suppose to cook your own meat <_<

The hell's the point of that??

And Korean BBQ doesn't sound at all too great in Toronto. The best I had is in Los Angeles (huge Korean population) and a few smaller restaurants up at Northern Cal.
Japan is probably a good locale to try good Korean-esque BBQ (or the Japanese rendition: Yakiniku).

We actually have a pretty large Korean population, so I dunno why that is. I've had some really good kim chee cooked by my friends' parents!

valiantt

@Panda:

Yeah, I was going to say, as far as I knew, cooking your own meat was the norm. Nice to have someone that actually knows what he's saying beat me to it. More to the point, though, cooking your own meat was half the fun of the experience, so quit your whining!

Naah fedcom's response is perfectly natural when it is a fairly new experience.
One of the prominent reasons for cooking it in front of you is it allows the folks cooking it to determine how they want their meat strips cooked (as well as the immediacy of being able to eat it while it is still hot). Also most Koreans don't eat the meat straight up but kinda wrap it in lettuce with a spoonful of rice, a clove of garlic/green pepper, green onion strips (with sesame oil/red pepper), and a dab of fermented soy bean paste. It is much easier to do this when you cook the meat in front of you.

Also it is a sort of cultural thing since dining is considered a communal activity. So cooking meat together is like a communal activity of sorts while you down some soju/rice wine. Eating alone is a "weird thing" in Korea (ESPECIALLY in the more rural areas…not too much in bustling cities anymore. I was turned away from some restaurants when visiting them solo).

Panda Bear

@valiantt:

Naah fedcom's response is perfectly natural when it is a fairly new experience.
One of the prominent reasons for cooking it in front of you is it allows the folks cooking it to determine how they want their meat strips cooked (as well as the immediacy of being able to eat it while it is still hot). Also most Koreans don't eat the meat straight up but kinda wrap it in lettuce with a spoonful of rice, a clove of garlic/green pepper, green onion strips (with sesame oil/red pepper), and a dab of fermented soy bean paste. It is much easier to do this when you cook the meat in front of you.

Oh, I know, I was mostly teasing. The time I went, I was taken by my brother, who absolutely loves Korean barbecue and had gone quite frequently. (Not necessarily to that particular place, but in general). If he hadn't been there to guide the way, as it were, I would have been totally lost. I can completely empathize with someone being a little baffled upon trying it their first time.

Still, that aside, I stand by my opinion that it being so different is just part of what makes it such a great experience! Although the quality of the food is obviously a different matter entirely; if it really wasn't good, then I can hardly recommend giving it another shot.

fedcom

@valiantt:

One of the prominent reasons for cooking it in front of you is it allows the folks cooking it to determine how they want their meat strips cooked (as well as the immediacy of being able to eat it while it is still hot). Also most Koreans don't eat the meat straight up but kinda wrap it in lettuce with a spoonful of rice, a clove of garlic/green pepper, green onion strips (with sesame oil/red pepper), and a dab of fermented soy bean paste. It is much easier to do this when you cook the meat in front of you.

Oh damn that would have made things a lot more interesting.
I just went with a few of my college friends who knew shit all, we ended up just slapping our meat on the grill (no pun intended) and burning half of it

trappedolphin

I kinda love cooking my own food in restaurants, especially barbecue. Watching it get all dark and juicy is awesome.

A few weeks ago we were at a Japanese barbecue place and we got a platter of several kinds of pork. But we put the fattiest parts on the grill all at one go and… well, there were actual flames.

Khainiwest

IN other news, the war with north korea started!

….Just instead with anonymous...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22025724

trappedolphin

@Khainiwest:

IN other news, the war with north korea started!

….Just instead with anonymous...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22025724

Would Kim Jong-un even understand what Anonymous is? I can just imagine him scratching his head, shrugging, and walking away.

valiantt

@fedcom:

Oh damn that would have made things a lot more interesting.
I just went with a few of my college friends who knew shit all, we ended up just slapping our meat on the grill (no pun intended) and burning half of it

Makes a lot of sense actually. That's probably one of the reasons why it tasted bad. It definitely takes some practice in getting the meat the way you like (rather than burning it, undercooking it, or getting a lot of the crusty/burnt marination residue stuck on your meat after cooking your first). Also, due to the texture and width of the meat, there are certain little strategies you develop when cooking it.

Based on the reactions of my peers, it makes a huge difference going with someone who is a korean bbq enthusiast. I'm curious now. What did you do with all the mini side dishes?

trappedolphin

@valiantt:

Makes a lot of sense actually. That's probably one of the reasons why it tasted bad. It definitely takes some practice in getting the meat the way you like (rather than burning it, undercooking it, or getting a lot of the crusty/burnt marination residue stuck on your meat after cooking your first). Also, due to the texture and width of the meat, there are certain little strategies you develop when cooking it.

I love the crusty marination residue. :P

Khainiwest

@trappedolphin:

Would Kim Jong-un even understand what Anonymous is? I can just imagine him scratching his head, shrugging, and walking away.

I would think he'd be more pissed off about it, considering they are smudging the image of NK as someone "weak" and "crackable". In fact he probably is under the assumption this is just an American terrorist group and give him all the more reason to puff out his chest. It's funny, but bad at the same time because you have a hierarchy with paper thin skin being mocked at an international scale, who's evidently trigger happy.

valiantt

@trappedolphin:

I love the crusty marination residue. :P

Aw, but it's not good for you <_<.

Dryish

@Khainiwest:

who's evidently trigger happy.

If they were actually trigger happy, they would have blown someone up by now. It's all just big words and loud noise to cover up for how much things are actually sucking there right now.

No Maam

@Dryish:

If they were actually trigger happy, they would have blown someone up by now. It's all just big words and loud noise to cover up for how much things are actually sucking there right now.

It's a practical demonstration of turning the population's grievances from starvation and oppresion to the threat of invasion by an even "worse" enemy, in action.

Just as George Orwell intended. And I dislike 1984 immensely.

TheCrystalShip

@No:

Just as George Orwell intended. And I dislike 1984 immensely.

You dislike the world that it portrays, or you dislike the actual book?