EZEtoGRU

Yes I've heard that after you shred the potato, you need to rinse the shreds thoroughly and dry them to get the starch out. I suppose most places are not doing that. In fact, most places probably are not even shredding the potatoes themselves. The likely buy the potatoes already shredded. I'm sure lack of using butter in the cooking process is at least part of what's missing as far as flavor goes.

Not hash brownies!! One of my culinary pet peeves for the last 40 years is that seemingly no-one knows how to make hash browns anymore. They used to be served crispy golden brown with a savory buttery taste. They paired well with breakfast egg dishes and were a delight(albeit not healthy) to eat. What happened? I travel all over North America and rarely find even decent hash browns anymore. They often arrive undercooked, oily, soggy, and hardly browned. Worst of all, there is rarely even a hint of any flavor. The most common version you see now is barely cooked shreds of potato in an oily mess with zero flavor. I'm not a cook, but I assume that butter is no longer used in the cooking process anymore and most places opt to cook them in cheaper oils. Why are they so often undercooked? How did has browns used to be prepared versus now they are done nowadays. What changed? Any thoughts?

I was in Ft. Lauderdale for the entire weekend and went to Johnson’s Fri/Sat/Sun nights. I stayed multiple hours all three nights. I felt the line-up was pretty weak overall. No true body builders. A few muscled guys but no one seriously big. 2-3 guys had very handsome faces but most of the rest were average looks-wise IMHO. As mentioned above by others, the overwhelming majority of guys are Latino. I’m fine with that as I speak Spanish. I did not see any of the Montreal dancers there all weekend. I guess they are all back dancing at Campus in Montreal for the summer. There were female and trans patrons all three nights. Thankfully they were not obnoxious and didn’t do a lot of screaming and shouting. I still had fun. However, I saw nothing there that would cause me to rush back anytime soon. I’m aware that the Florida clubs are now in the slow summer season. Some of the hottest dancers only dance during high season from Jan-Apr. I think I’ll wait till Nov/Dec before I go back. Time to look at getting back to Montreal!!

He has changed his name on RM multiple times in the last few months. Not sure what his current handle is. Great body on him but very average endowment. If penis size matters to you, he is not the guy for you.

What a bunch of ugly tattoos on Bad Bunny. Nice body and bulge though.

Ticket prices for most entertainment events skyrocketed after Covid. It worked for a few years but was not sustainable. Everything tourism related is slowing down at the moment. I was in Savannah a few weeks ago for three nights. The weather was perfect (high 70’s-low 80’s and no rain). It seemed unusually quiet there. The hotel was empty. I never saw anyone else on the elevator. All restaurants widely available I echo other’s comments on Vegas. Everything got over the top expensive on the strip. I understand the newest strip properties of Resorts World and Fountainblue are bleeding money. Stories of people going to the casino and no one is there. Even talk of possible bankruptcy filings. Janet is just another casualty of the times. The perfect storm has descended on LV and other US tourist hotspots: * COVID revenge travel is over * Canadians don’t want to visit the US * Economy slowing down * Folks fed up with high prices * General unease about the economy. Something had to give. I just don’t see people spending money this year like they did the last 2-3 years.

Wait till the impact of tariffs hits…coming soon to a grocery store near you. That is if your preferred item is actually available on the shelf. Get back to me in 60 days.

The show will close this month...so you weren't the only one that wasn't impressed.

I'm happy with the choices. I voted numerous times and mostly my choices ended up getting through. Particularly happy that The White Stripes (originally a Detroit band) got through. Also, thoroughly pleased that Joe Cocker, Chubby Checker, Bad Company, and Cyndi made it.

You keep changing the metric. First it was if she’s adding dates or not (she did add multiple dates in multiple cities). Now the metric is how quick her shows sell out. No-one has claimed she is as/more popular than Swift. My point is I doubt they are ready to pull the plug on the whole tour. I just don’t think the situation is that bad…the only caveat being if the numbers we are being told on ticket sales is low-balling the actual situation. I have no doubt there is ticket-price fatigue going on in general. I note that Gaga has opted to do shows in arenas rather than stadiums for her recently announced US tour. She did mostly/all stadium shows for her previous Chromatica Ball tour.

Two points: 1. These are not arena shows they are in stadiums. 2. She indeed added multiple shows after the original tour announcement. Beyoncé adds five more shows to 'Cowboy Carter' tour: See the dates, locations WWW.USATODAY.COM She coming! Beyoncé added five more stadium shows to her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour due to high demand from fans.

AFAIK, Beyoncé’s upcoming tour is a stadium tour. Most stadiums hold 40,000 to 80,000 seats for a concert. Having a few shows where3-5k seats have gone unsold isn’t the end of the world. Maybe there’s a little Beyoncé fatigue at this point. Or maybe the post Covid concert boom is over. Or maybe everyone blew their wad on the Swift’s Eras Tour and Beyoncé ticket sales are suffering as a result. Maybe the slowdown of the global economy is taking hold and people are cutting back. Pick the explanation of your choice. If the numbers we read are true, I see the tour forging ahead with few problems. If, on the other hand, ticket sales are worse than they are currently revealing, ok there might be a problem. I’m not a huge fan so I won’t be going to any of the shows.

Well the market is back down this morning. Despite yesterday’s pause, so much economic damage has already been done. Make no mistake, the recession is still coming. Heck, it may have already started.

The US blinked on reciprocal tariffs by delaying them for 90 days except for China. DOW is back over 40,000. Anyone else smell market manipulation here?

Delta Airlines will report Q1 results and it's full-year outlook tomorrow Wednesday April 9th. It will be the first US airline announcing Q1 results. It should give important insight into whether future demand for domestic and international travel is starting to soften in light of falling US consumer confidence and concerns raised by foreigners relative to potential travel to the US. My expectation is that the Q1 results will be pretty decent but that the full year outlook will be quite bearish. I expect that future international travel bookings could be quite soft...particularly for foreigners booking flights to the US. Let's see.

Well, the DOW closed below 38,000 today. Anyone for 37,000 tomorrow?

Everyone knows one can make money during a market collapse if you have disposable cash. Duh! The thread topic is more about whether a recession is starting, how deep will it be, and for how long will it go on for.

It’s comical how there is complete silence from our posters who wailed for four years that a recession was coming (it never happened). Now that the stock market is in free-fall mode, unemployment is rising, consumer confidence is collapsing, and we are almost surely entering a recession…it’s crickets from the peanut gallery. Anyone surprised about that? Separately, what are poster’s views on if the administration might get spooked with the reaction to recent actions and possibly reverse course on the tariffs?

Also, the US unemployment rate rose slightly in March to 4.2% from 4.1%. A minor increase to be sure, but let’s see how the trend line moves in the coming months. I predict a hockey stick graph as the deep recession takes root.

All so predictable. Let’s see how long the stock market rout lasts. Corporate layoffs have already commenced today also. Stellantis (Chrysler/Ram/Jeep) announced today that 900 US employees will be laid off.

Further news revealing how poor Tesla's sales have been so far in 2025. Keep in mind that the anti-Musk momentum didn't really gain traction till sometime in February so I would anticipate QTR2 sales to be worse than QTR1. Unsurprisingly, sales in Europe have been devastated. Tesla sales plunge: Biggest decline in history | CNN Business WWW.CNN.COM Tesla sales plunged 13% in the first three months of this year, as the company reported the largest drop in deliveries in its history by far, as backlash against CEO Elon Musk, and...

That's good to know. I had no idea.

Can you actually decline an Uber because of the kind of car used?

The judiciary causing chaos? On a related note, during my most recent trip to Fort Lauderdale I went to my favorite strip club on multiple nights. Several of the dancers voiced a general concern over the increased enforcement action related to immigration. They also mentioned that several dancers were not dancing much in order to keep a low profile for a while. I assume that likely means doing escorting or other activities away from the bar. Whilst my comment is not related directly to escorting per se, it is kind of escorting-adjacent. Anyway, I thought it was interesting because the dancers raised the topic not me. Taken to the extreme: Imagine if all the illegal escorts/dancers are returned to their home countries, most US-based folks are going to have to travel to Canada/Mexico or elsewhere to get our fix. The few remaining legal people still in the biz in the US will have such high prices, very few people will be able to afford them. It's the law of supply & demand you see.

One day of trading data is meaningless unless one is looking at very short-term gains. Tesla stock has already given back some of that gain. A long-term investor will be very wary of acquiring new Tesla shares. Someone who invested years ago is kicking themselves for not selling at the end of 2024. Yes a day-trader will buy for short-term opportunities but that is it. I see no long-term upside for Tesla. Too many bridges burned and the leader’s eye is off the ball.