I was talking to my wife about the feeling of underachieving relative to unrealistic childhood goals, and she mentioned that she never thought she was smart or special enough as a child to dream of being THE anything. Like she wanted to work in science, but never took that to mean that she wanted to be THE one to get famous curing cancer or writing a Malcom Gladwell-type book or running her own lab.

I, of course, think she is the most special genius I know, and I think she’d do a great job in any of those situations, but the depressingly realistic expectations she set out of lower self-confidence as a kid have now served her well in terms of job and life satisfaction. It made me sad to hear and angry at her parents for not communicating that she was and is exceptional, but I am also sad and angry that I am not the next Bob Dylan with a universal acceptance of my genius and no need to do anything but write poetry and receive accolades. At the same time, I’d hate to actually live on the road and/or have the life of most ultra-famous writers, but I still feel like I’ve betrayed my childhood potential by not doing so and by being unremarkable.

Hard to say if that disappointment is worse than growing up without being told you even could achieve something like that. My wife is healthy now, but had a lot of shit she had to overcome in her childhood and adult mental health journeys, and while/since I have as well, I don’t think we’ll ever get answers about every different thing that affects our current and past contentedness. So I am just left with the contradictory disappointments of having failed to live up to grand self-determined goals and that no one ever told my wife she could set hers like the incredible person, thinker, and worker she is–even knowing that just may have led to her feeling my current disappointment in place of any she felt as a child.

Long and complicated, no resolution, it’s just been weird to see and think about our two very different experiences.

Because of the taste? While it’s not common to brew a drink with other beans, we eat them all the time, and it’s pretty obvious in doing so that they aren’t flavors that lend themselves to a beverage.

Coffee beans are actually the seed of a more traditional “fruit” (ie, sweet and acidic) rather than a legume like other beans (also technically seeds, but vegetal in flavor, with an entirely different taste and texture). You’re basically just going to get a weak broth from traditional beans.

Similarly, people have tried steeping every type of leaf, plant, and fruit out there in water, but it’s a pretty limited list that remains popularly used for tea, as it’s a pretty limited list (relative to the incredible diversity of plant life) that actually tastes good that way.

People use mushrooms, various roots (like chicory), other fruity seeds, and more to create coffee-like drinks, and/so with the number of people and cultures out there with their own tastes and traditions, it’s a relatively safe bet that if people aren’t drinking it anywhere in the world, it’s because they’ve tried it and it just doesn’t taste good.

A walkup apartment means no elevator, so to be fair to anyone else, a small walkup could still require like 15 flights of stairs. And by “small” I was referring to the apartment, but obviously still joking about the whole comment. Saying that a small apartment is only for fit people is supposed to be like saying a stool with a 300lb limit isn’t a stool.

100% agreed with this point. I don’t think the article attacks bike makers for their specialization, but I think a lot of the people reacting to pieces like this take it there or read active/intentional fat-phobia into brands’ current practices.

Totally agreed and I see the connection with the (deplorable) “all lives matter” reactionary argument. I don’t think this article makes the argument I was referencing, but many people’s reactions in these comments do. I honestly don’t find much that I disagree with in the article, but in how people suggest the bike industry addresses those issues, there may be a lack of balance.

If it’s not meant to hold 300lbs, it’s a decoration, not a stool! My apartment is only built for 2 relatively fit people, being a small walkup. So I consider it more a sculpture than something functional.

I agree that there should be options for bigger people, but that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be bikes as light and high-performing as possible made for those who can use them, and if that’s the focus of a given manufacturer, that’s not an ethical issue. It’s just their specialization, and there’s plenty of room for other designers to focus on bikes for heavier riders as that market becomes viable.

Everyone deserves to ride bikes, and bike designers deserve to focus on the types of bikes they want. 7-foot NBA players deserve to be comfortable in cars, but it’s not Ford’s fault or responsibility that finding a car is more difficult for them than for those between the 10th and 90th height percentiles. No less unfortunate, but changing the design of all cars or expecting app major manufacturers to design for outliers isn’t necessarily a solution.

Yeah I just don’t see the solution that a lot of people are pushing for. Should everyone’s bike be heavier because some people need them reinforced? And should scooters not be popularly used until motors than can push 3x the weight are common?

Having bike and scooter options available that work for everyone should be a goal, but criticizing existing models doesn’t make sense to me.

Well only 15% and 4.5% of adults are obese in the Netherlands and Japan, respectively. Nearly 50% in the US are. I don’t see any reason why the few design differences between a classic American hybrid or road bike and either of the types you mention would drastically affect their weight capacity, but it’s also just much less of an issue in those countries.

Yeah I mean even if you’re someone who feels that being fat is not their fault or something to be ashamed of, nor are the laws of physics and limitations of structural integrity someone else’s.

I thought the snail was garlic

The more deeply and unanimously red your local lawmakers consider their electorate, the more confident they will be pushing right and far right legislation and building MAGA cultishness. It won’t change who’s elected, but it can change how your local lawmakers think about what their community wants.

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Using one of these the right way has produced one of the strongest highs I’ve ever felt. I tweaked hard. But much more often, it was either hard to get even a buzz, or it ended up burning some bud. So I believe people when they say they love theirs, but they must really know how to use it.

Your only option is insurance. You’re not gonna find an all-steel pair (would be terribly uncomfortable) with somehow unscratchable lenses, and short of that, how could any pair be bifl.

Honestly, if they have flexible or generally solid hinges, that’s the most you can do to avoid the most common point of failure in cheap glasses, and beyond that, their longevity depends on use much more than build quality.

As for sustainability, there are a lot of cheap and nice brands using recycled materials or bamboo. But the best thing you can do is treat a pair well so you can go longer before replacing them.