Running Bear's February 2023 Coffee Shop

[chadbag]

Chadbag and All: Keep in mind that most speed tests do the test to the *nearest* POP which could be anywhere from down the street to the next biggest city. Change the 'test server' to something more distant and see what you have.

Yes, and that is what you want. You want to be able to test the "speed" of the connection you are paying for, which is the wire to your house (or the airwaves to your phone). When provider X sells you a 600mbps connection, they are not guaranteeing a 600mbps to the internet (they're not actually guaranteeing anything as they use words like "up to 600mbps"). What they are saying is the link to your house should normally be able to reach those speeds under certain conditions. Once the request and traffic leaves their system you are at the mercy of the backbones providers, systems, etc that your request and traffic flow through, as well as the targets ability to serve the data. (Such home tests

However, with my "connected to the double wireless and through concrete wifi" phone and speedtest app, I changed the target servers to ones in other nearby states etc (larger providers) and the numbers were all in the same ballpark. However my ethernet connected Mac showed much more differences in data depending on what the target was. My Mac on ethernet through Comcast to a local SLC comcast target server was just under 700 mbps. To Cox in Phoenix it was just under 300 mbps, but to Centurylink in Phoenix it was just over 700 mbps. And to Axcelx Tech in Boston was about 365 mbps.

Those are interesting but the number that helps me diagnose my cable connection speed is the one to the local Comcast server.

 

[chadbag]

Erythritol

Artificial sweetener erythritol linked to heart attack and stroke, study reports

The study first published in Nature Medicine found that higher levels of erythritol were found among patients who experienced a major adverse cardiovascular event.

abcnews.go.com

The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular event risk - Nature Medicine

Metabolomics analyses reported an increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with the artificial sweetener erythritol, supported by mechanistic studies showing that high levels of erythritol enhanced platelet reactivity and thrombosis formation.

www.nature.com

Thanks! I appreciate it.

From the first one:

"for older adults consuming high amounts and already at risk of heart disease"

"Researchers caution that more research is needed. It’s too early to definitively say that erythritol causes problems for people who consume it regularly, especially as the study’s results may not be generalizable to everyone."

The second seems to be the actual study, which, like most studies, is not comprehensible to non-experts in the field (I did read the extract summary).

I use a little less than a teaspoon most days of a mixed erythritol/monk fruit sweetener along with a small amount of allulose and a small amount of sucralose (which comes in flavored syrups -- I am not using Splenda or generic sucralose by itself). Sometimes I also use plain monk fruit powder. I mainly mix it with my cocoa I make from raw cocoa powder. I don't use a ton of sweeteners on most days.

I'd also like to point out that actual sugar intake corresponds / correlates to high amounts of cardiac events / heart disease (compared to non-intake). I guess your damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[JeffH]

I try to avoid artificial sweeteners. It's hard to do.

 

[shortwrench]

I forget how many times I’ve had to teach a liberal arts student working at a McDonalds how to make change when their register stops telling them. That’s one reason I don’t go to those places very much.

They totally fall apart when the bill is $16.55 and you give them a 20 dollar bill and nickel.

Then there is the deer in headlights look when someone asks you what time it is and the reply is 19 minutes to the hour.

 

[santafewillie]

Then there is the deer in headlights look when someone asks you what time it is and the reply is 19 minutes to the hour.

Try using "quarter-past" or "half-past" an hour. It's worse! Not sure if they could ever figure out "a quarter to".

 

[santafewillie]

On the way home, I picked up yesterday's mail and there was a letter from the IRS. Whooops! I thought. Then, to quote Gomer Pyle, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" It was a check for $865 from some kind of EIC from last March. Thank you Joe Biden! Although it was 11 months late.

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Started out walking this morning at 67F and currently 82F. It looked like it was going to be a heavy rain this morning, but it passed it over. I chauffeured and accompanied MOH to drop off stuff in daughter's car then we were off to Wally World. Today was part 1 and tomorrow is part 2 with excursions to the bread store and Sam's Club.

Joe- Beautiful photo.

Karl- Nice photo.

Willie- Nice job on the people and pets.

Troy- Nice touch with the track and box cars in front of your booze

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[Bruette]

I use one pack of the first one in my coffee, sometimes. It depends on what kind of creamer we have. I drink 10-20 cups of coffee a day.

I use the second one to make iced tea. I use 1 and 1/2 cups in a gallon of tea. I drink a quart or two of iced tea a day. At Christmas, my wife makes cookies with it for me. On my birthday she used it to make me a cake.

I have no idea what sucralose is or what else is in it. As a diabetic I think it is better than sugar.

There is a name brand I can think of. I bought the Walmart brand because it is much cheaper.

 

[Jaz avalley]

Calling @Jaz avalley

Have you seen the headlines regarding erithrytol? Studies have linked it to increased risks of blood clotting.

I have, my other half and I discussed it, he said should we consider stopping our regular purchase of it.but
1. Since we stopped eating sugar I dropped 3 stone he dropped 7 plus stone, and he works out a lot….sighs
2. That loss of weight has improved our health so much , and has likely offset any fructose in our organs
3 has likely broken our reliance on sugar spiking offsetting any insulin resistance
4 this may or may not hinder any issues with dementia and altzeiners depending on which studies you look at
5 we will however cut down on our intake, he will replace sone ‘sugar’ with his tea with lemon tea which he likes but he’ll have to cull the cream and the erithritol, i like hot lemon no erithritol and no teabag yuck nasty stuff, green tea ok black tea yuck
6 we will reduce the uptake in muffins, meringues, reduce the add in the home made icecream, as we both drink cream from the cream pot….looks guilty as hell, that is not likely to be a serious problem
7 they say sweetness there are others erithritol is the birch juice, so is a good source, and it is still zero calories,
I suppose you choose your poison, he finds xylitol an issue,
but I am really grateful you pointed it out, in case I had missed it, so thank you.
fyi he clogs easily so that is an issue, I clog reasonably quickly too as well, I have my dead dads warfarin tablets…..but I was planning on using them as rat poison! We will monitor the situation.
I just bought tonnes of on offer stevia baking castor sugar and baking icing sugar which I was gonna mix with Philadelphia cheese….lip wobbles i was looking forward to that, still it’s Easter soon I’ll try it then, but we agreed

sugary food once a week, so hopefully that reduces the intake massively,
I am not cutting down my Lindt 70 percent chocolate, you won’t like me if you try to eat MY chocolate bares teeth…
he’’ll have to cut down on the pop, luckily I like tap water always have so can cut down on the pop erithritol easily
fyi homemade icecream melted chocolate and ground hazel nuts reminds me of Ferraro richer one of the chocolates no longer on my go to list….sad sigh

not on my go to dribbles
but still on the list minus the meringue sighs

and only an occasional treat lip wobbles

but hey pure cream no Sweetner icecream won’t bother me at all yah
plus I can make coconut icecream,almond icecream, chocolate and nut, and they taste as good as the first ones
the cakes….cries not so much

except Easter and Xmas then the erithritol can bite my tight axxe plus my youngest sons girlfriend - potential wife bakes as does her sister so I plan to show them these pictures and see weather they can emulate them….now I just need to get them to try Keto grin
fyi did you see the sugar free frozen yogurt make it high fat and I’m in…all in….in fact bugger it I need to buy full fat Greek yogurt next time I shop lol

 

[Jaz avalley]

I use one pack of the first one in my coffee, sometimes. It depends on what kind of creamer we have. I drink 10-20 cups of coffee a day.

I use the second one to make iced tea. I use 1 and 1/2 cups in a gallon of tea. I drink a quart or two of iced tea a day. At Christmas, my wife makes cookies with it for me. On my birthday she used it to make me a cake.

I have no idea what sucralose is or what else is in it. As a diabetic I think it is better than sugar.

There is a name brand I can think of. I bought the Walmart brand because it is much cheaper.
View attachment 163208
View attachment 163207

I avoid sucralose but it’s a win win against sugar imo

 

[Boris]

Boris
Your pic reminded me of the Bush River Bridge near Aberdeen. Not only have I ridden Amtrak over the bridge, My Ex-wife's grandparents lived near it. Grandpop kept a speedboat nearby and I have water skied under the bridge. Not only under the draw span, but through the smaller parts of the piers.

Oh to be young, dumb, and full of......

Karl: Speaking of young and dumb, I have walked across both bridges, (in the line of duty). Walking the Bush River Bridge was not nearly as scary as walking the Susquehanna River Bridge. I used to get into some of the damnedest places on the railroad, usually in the course of "investigating" unusual occurrences. At least, I managed to avoid having to walk through the B&P Tunnel, in Baltimore, like an associate did. He was checking radio reception with a "lunchbox" portable.

 

[Boris]

Willie: Around here, Ford Dealers had no inventory until recently. In Coastal Carolina, my son tells me the dealers all had new cars on the lot, but they weren't moving because of junk surcharges....Sometimes, greed is self defeating.

 

[Jaz avalley]

I use one pack of the first one in my coffee, sometimes. It depends on what kind of creamer we have. I drink 10-20 cups of coffee a day.

I use the second one to make iced tea. I use 1 and 1/2 cups in a gallon of tea. I drink a quart or two of iced tea a day. At Christmas, my wife makes cookies with it for me. On my birthday she used it to make me a cake.

I have no idea what sucralose is or what else is in it. As a diabetic I think it is better than sugar.

There is a name brand I can think of. I bought the Walmart brand because it is much cheaper.
View attachment 163208
View attachment 163207

I cannot drink more than one cup of coffee after 6pm, and nothing after 8pm or I cannot get to sleep, it leaves me bright tailed and bushy eyed til at least 2 am. Then in the morning I’m dead…

 

[Jaz avalley]

I try to avoid artificial sweeteners. It's hard to do.

I sympathise before going Keto I too avoided the artificial, but I discovered they are not all the same,
the ones with th polyols are hopefully better as those are the ones I use.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Sick and tired of cold, rain, and wind. I lost count, but looking at the "city" chart it has been overcast, and wet for 7 straight days

I remember someone complaining about a lack of rain and how dry it was.

 

[chadbag]

Try using "quarter-past" or "half-past" an hour. It's worse! Not sure if they could ever figure out "a quarter to".

"quarter of" is even worse

 

[chadbag]

I have no idea what sucralose is

Sucralose is a chemical adaptation of real sugar (sucrose) and is very sweet. It basically makes the sugar "non digestible" so that it passes through you. Far superior to traditional artificial sweeteners like Aspartame and Saccharin its still considered artificial even if made from sugar because it is a chemically manipulated and made sweetener.

Sucralose - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[migalyto]

I use one pack of the first one in my coffee, sometimes. It depends on what kind of creamer we have. I drink 10-20 cups of coffee a day.

That’s a ton of coffee my friend!!!

 

[TLOC]

Try using "quarter-past" or "half-past" an hour. It's worse! Not sure if they could ever figure out "a quarter to".

I actually a few years ago was talking to a neighbor‘s 16 year old kid looking for a job around the property. I told him to come back at 1/4 to 2. He had no clue what time that was and I could see he wasn’t going to ask. Told him 1:45 and he understood that. Did something to his Apple Watch and showed up on time. He didn’t think the pay was enough at the time. He came back a week later, got the job and still is one of the staff.

 

[TLOC]

I rarely listen or watch the evening news but it’s on as Terry is a news junkie.

I usually stay downstairs till dinner. But the chills are back this afternoon so I came upstairs from the train room. The Loan forgiveness thing is at the Supreme Court and the protestors are out front. Some lady was screaming into the microphone about the scam of these Student loan programs. So I am listening and yelling at the lady she should not have taken the loans. Seems now I am having dinner by myself.

Another train, a Seminole Gulf train derailed outside of Sarasota, Florida, 5 cars with 1 carrying propane. No known injuries. I then turned the TV off.