Re: Burger King Smoothies and Frappes

[Geoff Miller]

Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:

> For how long they take to make, the ice still isn't chopped up well
> enough to fit though the straws so they end up getting clogged.
> Might as well just throw the straw away.


I haven't used straws for shakes or other frozen fast-food beverages
in years. I remember how, back in the '80s, McDonald's increased the
diameter of their straws so they could be used with shakes, but that
still wasn't good enough. So I just remove the lid and drink them
straight from the cup.

Speaking of shakes, what I find annoying is the way Carl's, Jr. has
taken to serving its shakes in cups with open-topped lids so that they
can put whipped cream on them. I'd gladly do without the whipped
cream in order to have a shake that I won't have to worry about
tipping over and making a mess in the car.

And yes, my car is equipped with cupholders. But like all cupholders
(or at least, all of them that I've seen), they only support about the
bottom 10% of any decent-sized cup, which makes them useless for any
scenario other than driving in a straight line at a constant speed.



Geoff

--
"If vocal homophobes are suppressing strong homosexual urges, I guess
we can conclude the same thing about anti-racists." -- Jim Goad

[Peter Lawrence]

On 4/17/12 8:56 PM, Geoff Miller wrote:
>
> And yes, my car is equipped with cupholders. But like all cupholders
> (or at least, all of them that I've seen), they only support about the
> bottom 10% of any decent-sized cup, which makes them useless for any
> scenario other than driving in a straight line at a constant speed.

You must some pretty poor cup holders in our car. Any car I have driven in
the past ten years have had zero problems in keeping a 24 oz or smaller
milkshake cup in place (including those from Carl's Jr.). I have had more
problems with hot coffee spilling out that little hole one sips the the
coffee from if it's been filled to the very top of the cup, than something
as thick as a milkshake toppling over if placed properly inside of cup
holder. YMMV I guess.


- Peter

[Peter Lawrence]

On 4/18/12 12:46 AM, Sqwertz wrote:

> On Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:26:16 -0700, Peter Lawrence wrote:
>> On 4/17/12 8:56 PM, Geoff Miller wrote:
>>>
>>> And yes, my car is equipped with cupholders. But like all cupholders
>>> (or at least, all of them that I've seen), they only support about the
>>> bottom 10% of any decent-sized cup, which makes them useless for any
>>> scenario other than driving in a straight line at a constant speed.
>>

>> You must some pretty poor cup holders in your car.
>
> I don't think he has ANY functional cup holders in his car. I'd think
> he bought a new car now(?). A Gremlin only goes so far.
>
> 10% by volume isn't unreasonable for older cars. And on twisty roads
> it seems like even less.

I think prior to Y2K, there were some questionably designed cup holders in
some vehicles. But in the past 12 years or so, every car or truck I've
driven, including many rentals, have had decent cup holders that had no
problem securely holding the standard sizes of cups used for fast-food
milkshakes, including those from Carl's Jr.


- Peter

[Geoff Miller]

On Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:46:08 -0500, Steve Wertz wrote:

> I don't think he has ANY functional cup holders in his car. I'd think
> he bought a new car now(?). A Gremlin only goes so far.

Er, I have a Lexus LS430 with the optional sport suspension. Does
that count for a decent car? (It ought to, for what I just spent on
tires for the SOB...) I'm the terror of Bear Creek Road.

Although, truth be told, I've always liked the Gremlin. I'd love to
have one as a "fun" car, especially a Gremlin X with the 304 V-8. With
the Levi's denim upholstery option, natch. It'd pair up nicely with a
Starsky & Hutch-replica Grand Torino. Once you get locked into a
serious (if ironic) Seventies car collection, it's hard to stop.

> 10% by volume isn't unreasonable for older cars. And on twisty roads
> it seems like even less.

I meant 10% by height. The cupholders I've seen have all been
unreasonably low relative to the height of any decent cup. Especially
those "commuter" coffee mugs with the small-diameter bottoms, which
you'd think cupholders would be designed around. Reminds me of how
the bomb bay of our first jet bomber, the B-45 Tornado, had to be
modified after the fact because the AEC wouldn't release he dimensons
of the atomic bombs of the era. You could look it up.



Geoff

--

[Geoff Miller]

Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> writes:

> You can't do that with a BK Frappe.


Nor would I try. Frappes are for women and hom'seckshalls.



Geoff

--
"I don't know much about female circumcision, but I assume
you'd have to use a very tiny knife." -- Jim Goad

[Peter Lawrence]

On 4/19/12 10:13 PM, Geoff Miller wrote:
>
> I meant 10% by height. The cupholders I've seen have all been
> unreasonably low relative to the height of any decent cup. Especially
> those "commuter" coffee mugs with the small-diameter bottoms, which
> you'd think cupholders would be designed around.

It's probably not very "GREEN" of me, but I don't use those reusable
"commuter" coffee mugs while driving. Instead, I have a supply of
disposable (gasp) insulated 12oz and 16oz paper coffee cups (with
corresponding plastic lids) that I use when I take homemade hot coffee along
for the ride. Those paper hot cups fit just fine in any vehicle cup holder
that I've encountered.


- Peter

[Geoff Miller]

Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> writes:

> Didn't you have a Volvo or something when you first migrated up there?
> Somebody was complaining about running bicyclists off the road and
> spilling their coffee in the process [the horrors].

I'm pleased to say that I've never owned a Volvo, although I've run my
share of bicyclists off the road. I had a Toyota Supra when I moved
to Colder Bleak.

Coincidentally, as I was driving home this afternoon, I was
remininscing fondly about Glen Appleby raising the ire of the cycling
community by posting about cooking and eating bicyclists back when he
and Cathy lived in that tapaper shack off of 236.


> Might have been another sysadmin from when I worked at SCO. Maybe I'm
> getting my BOFH's cornfused.

I never worked at SCO. But I know several people who did, most of
whom I'm still in touch with.



Geoff

--
''Those who say people only dislike Obama because he's black are the
same ones who only voted for him because he's black." -- Jim Goad

[Geoff Miller]

Peter Lawrence <humm...@aol.com> writes:

> It's probably not very "GREEN" of me...

You say that like it's a bad thing.

I've about had a bellyful of "green" this and "environmentally
friendly" that. In the spirit of Jolt Cola ("All the flavor and twice
the caffeine"), I have a pipe dream of opening a store that would
specialize in "environmentally insensitive" merchadise. If it pissed
off the likes of PETA and the Sierra Club, it'd be in there. I figure
there's got to be an untapped market of people who arer as tired of
all that tree-hugging crap as I am -- a "silent majority," as it were.

When I grabbed my mail this afternoon, in among the bills and the
local "throw away" freebie newspaper was the new issue of AutoWeek. I
was disgusted to note that it was the annual "green" issue, in
commemoration of (gack) Earth Day.

*Fuck* the environment. There. I said it. (The audience gasps...)


>...but I don't use those reusable "commuter" coffee mugs while driving.

I only tried them because they were given to me as "swag" by various
computer companies. They seemed like nice pieces of kit, all brushed
aluminum and high-quality plastic, so I figured I'd give the whole
"coffee on the way to work" thing a try. I decided that I've usually
had enough coffee before I leave for work.



Geoff

--
"This is America, goddammit, and if you don't like it, you can
go to California." -- Jim Goad

[Jerry Sauk]

"Geoff Miller" <geo...@netgate.net> wrote in message
news:d5eso7h1s171lj7va...@4ax.com...

>
>
>
> Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:
>
> > For how long they take to make, the ice still isn't chopped up well
> > enough to fit though the straws so they end up getting clogged.
> > Might as well just throw the straw away.
>
>
> I haven't used straws for shakes or other frozen fast-food beverages
> in years. I remember how, back in the '80s, McDonald's increased the
> diameter of their straws so they could be used with shakes, but that
> still wasn't good enough. So I just remove the lid and drink them
> straight from the cup.
>
> Speaking of shakes, what I find annoying is the way Carl's, Jr. has
> taken to serving its shakes in cups with open-topped lids so that they
> can put whipped cream on them. I'd gladly do without the whipped
> cream in order to have a shake that I won't have to worry about
> tipping over and making a mess in the car.
>
> And yes, my car is equipped with cupholders. But like all cupholders
> (or at least, all of them that I've seen), they only support about the
> bottom 10% of any decent-sized cup, which makes them useless for any
> scenario other than driving in a straight line at a constant speed.
>
>
>
> Geoff

Personally, I prefer to use a Spoon when tasting milk-shake's or Wendy's
Frosty. It's just easier that way.

[Peter Lawrence]

On 4/21/12 11:24 PM, Geoff Miller wrote:
>>
>> ...but I don't use those reusable "commuter" coffee mugs while driving.
>
> I only tried them because they were given to me as "swag" by various
> computer companies. They seemed like nice pieces of kit, all brushed
> aluminum and high-quality plastic, so I figured I'd give the whole
> "coffee on the way to work" thing a try. I decided that I've usually
> had enough coffee before I leave for work.

I don't use the reusable commuter coffee mugs simply because I don't want to
deal with cleaning them up each day (since they require hand-washing – I
don't think I've run across any that are dishwasher safe). It's simply more
convenient to use a disposable cup and toss it in the trash when I'm done
with the coffee. (But to ease my conscious, I'll even toss them in a
recycling bin if one happens to be nearby.) ;)


- Peter

[RWW]

On 4/22/12 1:24 AM, in article 0q77p79rv88knjoed...@4ax.com,

"Geoff Miller" <geo...@netgate.net> wrote:

> *Fuck* the environment. There. I said it. (The audience gasps...)

I take pride in maximizing my carbon footprint.

You should see the coal-generated electricity
consumed by my activities.

Maximizing one's carbon footprint ensures
one's legacy.

[Geoff Miller]

"Jerry Sauk" <jerr...@hotmail.com> writes:

> Personally, I prefer to use a Spoon when tasting milk-shake's or Wendy's
> Frosty. It's just easier that way.

There used to be a chain called Bob's Big Boy[*] that had chocolate
shakes which were really frozen yogurt. The were served in steel
goblets, and the only way to eat them was with a spoon. They were
served with a long- handled iced-tea spoon (as opposed to a
"teaspoon").

The Bob's Big Boy in my hometown, Mountain View, California, is now an
Indian place called A Passage To India. Or as my friends and I call
it, Back Passage To India, or simply Back Passage.


[*] Called deifferent things in different parts of the country. For
instance, in the Pacific Northwest the chain was known as
Shoney's.

[Earl]

Sqwertz wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Apr 2012 23:09:22 -0500, Sqwertz wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:59:54 -0500, Sqwertz wrote:
>>
>>> And then I remember Fritchs's Big Boy. I thought Cindy's (formerly of
>>> the south BA) was BB franchisee at one time, but I find no mention of
>>> that, or even where that Cindy's used to be - I thought it was
>>> Mountain View.
>> I should not that i but their Roquefort Dressing
> I don't "but" it, that would be gross. I buy and eat it. Stinky
> cheese rules.
>
> -sw (who just saw the SouthPark "Cheesing" episode for the first time)
Roquefort was common in the Midwest and I had it often years ago when I
was there. I'm a fan of Bleu Cheese so that it my #1 choice with
Roquefort usually unavailable.

[gregz]

Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:

> On Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:20:57 -0700, Geoff Miller wrote:
>
>> "Jerry Sauk" <jerr...@hotmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> Personally, I prefer to use a Spoon when tasting milk-shake's or Wendy's
>>> Frosty. It's just easier that way.
>>
>> There used to be a chain called Bob's Big Boy[*] that had chocolate
>> shakes which were really frozen yogurt. The were served in steel
>> goblets, and the only way to eat them was with a spoon. They were
>> served with a long- handled iced-tea spoon (as opposed to a
>> "teaspoon").
>>
>> The Bob's Big Boy in my hometown, Mountain View, California, is now an
>> Indian place called A Passage To India. Or as my friends and I call
>> it, Back Passage To India, or simply Back Passage.
>>
>> [*] Called deifferent things in different parts of the country. For
>> instance, in the Pacific Northwest the chain was known as
>> Shoney's.
>

> My first job was at a franchisee of Bob's Big Boy in Pittsburgh - Eat
> 'n Park <Recently awarded the Achievement of Excellence award from the
> American Culinary Federation, no doubt due to my part in maintaining
> the most popular salad bar in town circa 1982. My first day of work
> was my 16th birthday - the day my work permit took effect.

>
> And then I remember Fritchs's Big Boy. I thought Cindy's (formerly of
> the south BA) was BB franchisee at one time, but I find no mention of
> that, or even where that Cindy's used to be - I thought it was
> Mountain View.
>

> -sw

I don't have recall of it being bobs big boy. I knew it as the home of the
big boy.
In California, I heard it called bobs. I know the bun boy's in Barstow and
baker made great hamburgers. good fish sandwiches.

Oh, everyone must know eat n parks strawberry pies !!
I don't get there, but hear it's still good.

Greg