Mail order has historically been a large part of US consumer buying. This is due to the number of people that lived in remote rural areas for most of this countries history. Access to goods was severely restricted due to that problem. And didn't really start changing much until post WW2 and the growth of urbanization. Mailing a cheap catalog to everyone was the best way to show off your goods and get necessary goods to those who wanted them and would have no access otherwise.

Amazon is merely the latest in a very long line of those businesses that developed that marketing stratagem. And since I live in one of those remote areas, Amazon does provide me with easy, fast, and generally competitive priced goods that I would simply never be able to access without making a 600 mile round trip to get. But if you live a large dense city, there is little need for Amazon. But then, people order uber eats or whatever it's called to get supper when they could cook something to eat cheaper instead.

I could spend hours googling for items from small and possibly sketchy websites and wait times than can stretch to several weeks or more, and sometimes I do out of boredom, but time is money as they say, and I do have other things to do.

Applesauce is considered a substitute of oil when baking. There was a time that applesauce was cheaper and easier to come by than cooking oils. It's been done for a very long time.

Well, ain't that old fashioned - bar soap! I can remember my Mother and Grandmother making soap every fall at home. Stuff could take the hide right off you some years, but you got clean for sure. It also made a fine laundry soap too. I can remember watching my Mother shave slivers of it off into the washing machine when I was little.

But thanks for reminding me, I need to put bar soap on my shopping list. I need to also order another puck of shaving soap too.

You need to try a pair of suspenders with your shorts. Soooo fashionable, you will be a trend setter!

We see far more metric measurements than we actually notice every day. Almost every item in your grocery store shows both US Customary and Metric measurements right next to each other on the label. And we buy whisk(e)y in 750ml bottles.

But I would argue there is probably little reason to stop buying butter by the pound(454 grams) vs switching to selling butter in 500 gram packages. And no one misses buying whisk(e)y by the fifth rather than in 750mL bottles. Even when traveling no one really cares how many miles or kilometers it is from New York City to LA. All anyone really cares about is "how long" will it take to get there. Nor does matter if you measure your dick in inches or centimeters - it's still gonna be too short according to that woman you picked up at the club last weekend. I honestly suspect we are going to keep using a bastardized mixed system for a very long time for common everyday usage while doing "official" things metric.

The real question is: Where did all those 9/16" wrenches disappear to during the "good ol' days." And why can't I find that bloody damn 10mm socket today? What is up with that?

Yep, I have a good friend that ran into this issue on his home he bought 20 years ago. After 5 years of living in the home and making payments on it, it was finally discovered that there was no clear title to the property going back 60 years..............

It took another 2 years to clean it all up, but it required the township, county, and a state agency to get involved to make a couple of problems "just go away".

Those touch screens are all a part of the accessories. And I dislike them intensely also. I also find it very disheartening that in some new cars a software up date is needed to make the dock locks work. A friend had to take his mother's Kia in to rematch the door locks to a new key. They needed to remove the door handles and plug them into a computer to do so.

The last new car I bought, (2015 Jeep Patriot), made me search EVERY car dealer in 2 states before I found one that had manual door locks and manual windows. I often haul dogs around with me and while they are quite good at locking doors and rolling up windows, they really, really suck at rolling them down or unlocking the doors. It took me a couple of months of weekly searching to finally find one for sale.

As someone who actually lives amongst them all, they mostly aren't all that much of a threat to your safety. But yes, they will eat you if hungry enough. Which they can be when it gets cold and the snow is deep, and you can be sure your ass will eat just as good as a deer. And you might be easier to catch to boot since good cardio training only goes so far.

I have a laptop that runs Win11. I have had no issues with it since I did the upgrade when it first came out and as far a Microsoft products go, it's OK. But with the addition of the AI, I know at some point it will piss me off and I will wipe it and chose a distro to take it's place.

I'm retired now, and I no longer really need the Fusion360 install that one customer requested I use for their designs nor do I play games beyond a little mahjongg and solitaire in the evenings if I feel the need.

Windows is merely a tool and a means to an end. It's NOT the end in itself. Use the tool you want/need to and feel the best with and just get on with the job.......

Which is odd because I do want the health stuff, but don't want the rest of that stuff that is useless to me. I don't need the texting, music, weather, or the phone stuff - my smart phone still needs to be in bluetooth range for it to work anyway.

But I do value the ability to take a pulse, blood pressure, and count steps. It has increased my self-awareness and improved my health consciousness - small changes can make big differences. And for $40US, I found a decent watch that actually works pretty well.

Home Despot - a place for wannabe interior decorators. Like Ron Swanson said to an employee at HD "I know more than you."

People with manly man projects go to real lumber yards where you lean on a counter and talk to a clerk and a yardman pulls and brings you your materials with a forklift and loads them on your trailer - because strapping your load down to a trailer and driving away is a manly man thing to do...........No little carts needed.

There are them that shouldn't take drugs. And there are them that NEED to be taking the proper ones under medical direction.

I've been thinking Musk needs to be taking some under a Doctor's care...............