So, essentially, the guys visited an escort and got the rug pulled under their feet.

Could be worse. A lot, lot, worse.

Celibacy makes no sense.

Have you considered applying for a sales representative at the company? The best pitch comes from the person that knows the product, inside out.

There is the cultural difference I can’t get past: yes, cooking may very well be a chore but I would more quickly change my entire diet than resort to substituion mixes.

Nothing replaces the contact with real food items. The smells, the textures, the colours, the flavours. The pleasure that comes from it.

I can be very pragmatic and utilitarian towards what I eat, borderline spartan, but a mix is not food and not even very sick I will consider it as such. It’s fuel, sustenance, not food. I could live off it but, again, I would hate every moment of it.

I sincerely admire your apparent indiference towards relying on that mix. I would rely on it to keep me alive, in a serious emergency, sure. But as a means to get to an end, not the end itself.

I’m glad to know you lived a fullfilling life at the time and it is obvious after your reply it wasn’t about you or those like you I was thinking about.

Although I still lack the capacity to view Soilent as a good name for a brand…

Besides some cultural differences, I respect your view. It made your life easier (still does, if I’m understanding correctly), you don’t seem a person who enjoys cooking that much (fair enough) and it freed time for things you had higher in your list of priorities.

I can’t do that. If need be, I would, but I’d hate every single moment of it.

I still licked lead pain in the craddle, ate too many food preservatives and artificial colorants, ate too much red meat, too much fat, got micro plastics poisoning…

And all I have to tell is bad breath, flatulence that could strip paint off the walls and a stupid sense of humour.

Bourdain was a genius. Controversial but they all tend to be as such.

I agree with you. But please take a moment to consider this as well: people need time to eat. And by extension, to live. Something we are colectively slowly being drained of, through “work ethics”, “fashion trends”, “healthy life styles”, etc.

We need to live. To eat. To sleep. To be together. To get angry with each other and make amends afterwards. And we are being robbed of our humanity by not having it.

Some company actually markets a product under the name “Soylent”?

Scary.

When individuals reach, in my opinion, that point they are starving for more than food.

Food is the first basic impulse we get satisfied and it is intermixed with confort, closeness and bonding. Later it will upgrade into a communal moment and the sharing of time and exchange of experiences.

Again, in my view, to see eating as a chore says how lonely and dehumanized a person is. How little self worth they have.

Which is sad.

My two takes on this:

1. food is fuel

I can and do subsist on a basic and bland diet if necessary. Food is a way to preserve my existence, so I have to eat. And when hungry I will eat anything for the sole sake of keep myself functioning. Some exceptions do apply.

2. we’re biologically hardwired to seek pleasure from our food

That is why sugary food and more simply fruits and berries appeal so much to us: it’s sweet, it tastes good, it’s nice.

We actively seek enjoyement in eating. When this no longer happens, worry yourself. Even old people enjoy eating.

Relax. Relax.

It is just a typo.

Let us laugh together of it.

It’s staying as it is.

I followed the link of a video here on Lemmy just a few minutes ago and it opened in the browser.

Nothing shocking up to this point.

Then I get a prompt from the video saying “Ready to buy products advertised in the video? Log into the official app in order to.”

Direct purchase through the YT app is a novelty for me.

Newpipe all the way.

That’s bleack

Practical example.

I know this winery that usually exports nearly 95% of their production to the US. The owner spent a few decades there and made some contacts.

Last year, they had some problem with the american market and were forced to search for other venues.

They dropped their prices, opted to sell to our national market and did pretty much the same revenue they would have done exporting.

Exporting to the US is often the thirst for easy profit. Products that sell here for cents can be sold at a premium in the US, as it is the de facto luxury hungry market. Doesn’t really matter if it good; if is it expensive, it means it’s good.

Portugal mostly exports food goods to the US. I think cork, some clothing and shoes and some other items make up the basket, but in way lower quantities.

I’ve seen cheese and wine that are considered run of the mill here sold for ten times more in the US market. Which I consider theft.

This entire situation gets uglier the deeper we dig.

True, I’ll grant you that.

France and Italy could export to other countries easily or transform their cheap wine into properly aged wines and liqcours, with actual market value and product quality. Downsizing the industry wouldn’t be a bad idea, also.

Germany is already dwindling in their car industry. Could serve as a call to innovation an review of business practices.

You think the guy will live that long?!

I’m not great on economics but the concept of a tariff is that the entity importing something has to pay an extra levy in order to place in a market a given product.

This follows that an american importer of any trade goods of european origin will have to pay an extra thirty cents for each dollar such goods cost.

That extra cost will then be passed along the commercial chain, down to the final client.

So, prices go up for general public.

Meanwhile, nothing is stopping the country of origin of such products to divert their business to other countries, thus maintaining their normal activities.

Am I wrong or this whole thing is disastrous for the USA?

The EU is very strange. Yes, there is a global unifying policy but countries still have a wide autonomy.

Portugal has specific trade and travel agreements with individual countries, outside the wide EU policy. Other countries do this.

In this specific situation, we already know it will be the bloc handling as a whole the issue. Spain has already stated that all commercial tariffs must be addressed to Brussels, as it is part of the common external relations policy. But individual countries can add their twist to end.

Formal addressment.

It is an archaic way to address “officials” in public office, which ends up sounding as a preservation of royal/nobility occupation of positions, regardless living in a democratic regime.

It is argued as being a way to show respect and maintain dignity of institutions.

If want to write a letter to my municipal office, there is a template to be followed which starts with “To his/her Excelency, The President of the Municipality, Mr./Mrs. Dr. XXXXXXX”. This is loosely translated, obvioulsy.

Democracy yet not equality nor accountability.

I don’t give two cents for the american auto brands but spare me the drama: try and make a proper car.

Looking at Ford: try importing a few models from the european line and offer it in the states. Small, economic, somewhat reliable, fuel efficient cars.

Stellantis has a slew of models that could be brought into the american market. They make good cars.

And I’m willing to bet GM as a few models they build and market overseas that would be guaranteed sucesses.

Brazil is an independent country. The guy is a bit over the horizon on this.

Technically, unless adoption or donated eggs come to play, 50% of all of us attended the parents wedding, as an ovule inside our mothers ovary.

Then again, some couples never marry. So, there’s another exception.

To answer your question: 50% of me was there at the occasion.