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Counterpoint: many countries in the world have mass-produced housing with good things. This is a _solved problem_ in so many parts of the world, yet not in the
by rtpg 6y ago
Counterpoint: many countries in the world have mass-produced housing with good things. This is a _solved problem_ in so many parts of the world, yet not in the US.
So much stuff in the US is just really bad. The poetic example is Hershey's, a company that exists based on "how do we make chocolate cheap (and taste much worse)".
Random homes in the US have just awful plumbing, terrible doors, busted fridges. It took me a long time to unlearn suspicion of "fresh" fruits & vegetables after moving away from the US.
Not to say that mass producing stuff on the cheap is a bad thing! Like people need stuff. But loads of other countries have gotten to mass production and still meet some bar of quality.
But like even decently fancy LA apartments had worse plumbing than a $300/month student apartment in France. My US school notebooks all had that crappy letter paper. Everything just feels bad and busted. I don't know if it was always like this, or if things are getting worse. My best guess is that things are getting better in other countries but not in the US.
- sneak 6y agoI think the main cultural difference between countries is what is improving and what isn't. While the US still has terrible HVAC, interior doors, subdivisions, and hasn't figured out bidets, you can click a few times on your phone and someone will, beginning within minutes, drive a whole-ass automobile 30km to go get you a freshly prepared high cuisine meal. Alternately, you can have a computer monitor or HDMI cable delivered in a couple hours. Even before the pandemic you could have 100% of a grocery trip same-day delivered to your doorstep. The USA optimizes for immediate reward for consumption choices, and nowhere else on the planet comes very close (with the possible exception of some superdense places, which are themselves fairly rare).
- rtpg 6y ago“Nowhere comes close” is a very strong statement. It doesn’t really hold up that much. Very quick delivery of stuff is pretty normal across Asia. You can also get stuff done when you need it. And, yknow, Airbnb etc all exist outside the US as well. And Uber Eats. There’s some lead time of a couple of years, I guess.
- readflaggedcomm 6y agoButyric acid is very complimentary to chocolate, when used in the right proportions. Hazelnut-chocolate spread tastes rancid to me when fresh in the jar, which I chalk up to substandard ingredients and handling (I can tell because Ferro Rochet hazelnut chocolates go bad very quickly, but they do taste fine fresh). Disliking butyric acid in chocolate is instead a matter of taste. It's very important to acknowledge the distinction.