Best products from r/DoesAnybodyElse

In regards to the Chinese Restaurant question. (I didn’t know the best way to make sure everyone who asked about it saw it, so I’m posting a link to this comment in response to everyone who asked me to elaborate.) Please note that there are always exceptions, and that I’m talking specifically about the China roll / wok / star / 88 / dragon strip-mall type places.

Part of it comes from this – note that I have not read the whole thing. Most of it comes from observation and logic: I’ve eaten in Chinese take out places all over Florida, as well as some in Georgia and Texas, and noticed that there are several key similarities; I’ve taken long, hard looks at what it takes to open a business (including specifically restaurant concepts); and as you’ll see, I am familiar and have done business with similarly arranged groups. Please consider these in aggregate:

1. The menus are printed by the same printers (I don’t remember the name of the company but it’s based in San Francisco, there’s another printer in NY – I have no idea if they’re related). Same paper, layout, trifold, stock photos, menu items (though one store’s Hunan beef isn’t the same as another’s), etc. Given the cost of printing and shipping, let alone the fact that there are thousands of print shops all over the country, the fact that the China roll / wok / star / 88 / dragon places all use one or two printers is surprising.
   
   
2. Nearly 100% of these places are staffed 100% by 1st generation Chinese families. If you are familiar with how difficult and expensive it is to move a family from China, secure living arrangements, develop credit, obtain a storefront, prep it, get all the necessary licenses and permits, decorations, supplies, stock, menus, and so on, there has to be some kind of arrangement. Most native-born Americans (who have the advantages of language, familiarity with the area and culture, and are more likely to secure credit/financial backing through regular sources) would find it difficult to move to some random area of the country and open a small restaurant. I mean, how does a Chinese native from the back of beyond develop the familiarity and financial resources to find, let alone move to and open a restaurant in, Alachua, Fl or Statesboro, GA?
   
   I AM NOT IMPLYING THAT THERE IS A SECRET HUMAN TRAFFICING CHINESE MAFAIA MSG THING GOING ON but I am suggesting that while there may be some well off Chinese families who can afford to pack up, move over, and open a restaurant in a big city, there’s no way that there are so many families with the resources, training, and connections to just pack up and move to every county, suburb, and podunk town in America (and then, in addition to magically procuring all the money, paperwork, and etc needed to open a restaurant, somehow magically knowing that they’re supposed to order their menus from Company X and their supplies from Company Y). China has a huge population which is almost entirely mind-numbingly poor – step outside your western context and try to imagine how the average Chinese family could pull this off with nothing more than word-of-mouth.
   
   
3. Parsing and placement. You see burger joints across the street from each other, pizza places, chain restaurants, etc. You never see that with China wok / roll / star / whatever places. So a random Chinese family just crosses their fingers hoping that when they move to Gainesville, Fl that there will be not only an available / affordable storefront, but one which is far enough away from all the other Chinese take out places that they don’t need to worry about overlapping markets/delivery areas? As my original post pointed out, most Americans don’t seem to have that foresight, and they’re not dealing with having to move from fucking communist China.
   
   
4. Because my company does business with them, I know that there is a Korean Dry Cleaning Association that operates the same way. Like the Chinese take out places, they operate on a Sole Proprietor model instead of a Franchise model (could be cultural, could be legal, could be financial – my guess is all three), and their business model is the same: recruit a family in Korea, take care of the (insane) paperwork and red-tape required to get them to America, train them, move them to an appropriate location, provide the financial backing to buy or lease the location, laundry equipment, etc., etc. It’s not like all Koreans are born laundry experts, or have access to super cheap laundry equipment, etc. The association even does collective bargaining on their behalf – they have accountants, lawyers, and account managers who procure their supplies (even things such as collective bargaining for their energy supplies, which is how I know about them).
   
   The same applies to nail salons – does anyone think that Asian women are just born with both the ability and the resources to perform French manicures (which, by the way, require cosmetology licenses in most American jurisdictions), so they just jump on their invisible jets, fly over, wave their magical “instant storefront and housing needs wand”, charm the inspectors and landlords and suppliers with their magical “expense and bureaucratic red tape elimination rays” with the end result of opening a nail salons in an almost perfect “one every five miles” grid across the entire country? How would a random Asian woman (remember, all these people are 1st generation – if you don’t believe me, you’ve never been in one of these places) even know that Americans want their nails did? (“Oh, but they already have family over here that tells them and helps them come over and do the research and get the training and secure the finances and…” Excatly.)
   
   
5. While there is something to be said about the homogeneity of culture, the fact that almost all these places have the same dozen or so names?
   
   Someone mentioned Occam’s razor. Let’s look at the two possible scenarios:
   
   1) Random Chinese family (in a communist country, no less) packs up their family of 5-10 people, moves to some random little town or suburb in America, and with their best broken English (or lack thereof) manages to find a place to live and open a restaurant (presumably using money from their Chinese money tree). Using their inborn research and networking skills, they contact one of two print shops and suppliers in America and have them send over everything needed to open a restaurant. And since all Chinese immigrants are geniuses, they manage to have no issues with all the local legal and regulatory paperwork and all the tax requirements. Also using their inborn abilities and despite the fact that China is a huge country that comprises some dozen distinct cuisines none of which come close to resembling the Americanized stuff served in American Chinese take out places, they manage to create a menu that is 100% identical to every other Chinese take out menu. It’s the American dream!
   
   2) There are one or two groups which specialize in helping Chinese families move to America and open restaurants, including all the setup and training, legal intricacies, financial and credit requirements, taxes and accounting, location research, equipment provision, housing, etc.
   
   When you take all of these things into consideration, and then remember the history of how the Chinese first came to the west (railroad workers and the like intentionally brought over for a specific purpose – that’s why there is such thing as Chinese Cubans, the most amazing people on the planet, and why the Cuban paella pan looks more like a wok than the flat-bottomed, shallow Spanish version), #2 is much more in line with Occam’s razor than the alternative.

A friend of mine has just relayed a story of him finding out this is happening to his close friend, a close friend who is making himself suffer because of it. I have two issues with that firstly you should be able to tell your friends anything, friends should be supportive when you are suffering, secondly he is giving himself a hard time about something he cannot change.

Self acceptance is key, actually genuinely, it only matters as much as you are making it. Those that know you and love you wont care, anyone else can either accept it or very simply JUST FUCK OFF.

Youre still a good person and nobody is perfect, absolutely nobody. People tend to make mountains of molehills, think you the very worst in their heads about events that havent taken place yet.

I recommend a starter of self acceptance a main course of dealing with it and a sweet of viveing the fucking difference.

I hope that helps, because its absolute honesty.

A book I would heartily recommend

Susan Jeffers - Feel the fear and do it anyway
http://www.amazon.com/Feel-Fear-Do-Anyway/dp/0345487427/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_1

It's all about overcoming hurdles, hurdles that are self imposed.

Good luck and try not to let it get you down, it just isnt worth it, learn to love yourself for who and what you are. Self acceptance, thats the place you need to be, nobodys perfect, focus on your good points, if you cant love yourself, if its getting you down, get to the docs, get some anti-depressants - they really work - and then go gen up on neuro linguistic therapy, very often, your mind plays tricks on you to the point where you need to trick it so you get back in control, it is possible and NLP works a treat. You need to get to a point where you can laugh at yourself, and it doesnt matter.

YES. I've been through countless sets of headphones trying to solve this problem and have found a few good solutions.

Took me forever to realize this, but with most standard earbud style headphones (not Apple's), if you actually invert the rubber pad on the end it'll create a very small pad over the end of the earbud. Basically remove the pad, turn it inside out and slide it back on. This works perfectly on my old Sonys and a few others too.

For the gym I use these Sennheisers. While not always the most comfortable, they pretty much stay locked in place once they're in. Great stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-MX85-Sport-Twist-Earbuds/dp/B001GSZAF0/ref=sr_1_48?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1322475298&sr=1-48


But for day to day use, I just picked up a set of these:

Klipsch ProMedia In-Ear Premium Noise-Isolating Gaming Headphones with Mic (Black/Red)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0044TZF44/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details

They're basically the S4's but with a mic. Point being, they came with a nice big pack of rubber ear buds and sure enough the smallest ones fit. Actually, smallest in the left, 2nd smallest in the right. Weird. Side note, they sound fantastic. Hope that helps.

Absolutely, I'm glad found that helpful!

And since you mentioned suicide, I am morally obligated to point you toward suicide watch. I hope you never go through with it, but just incase I urge you to reach out for help there. Depression is very very hard to deal with but it's something you don't have to go through alone. There are plenty of people out there who will be happy to help you.

Also, if you want some reading material on treating depression, I strongly recommend (Feeling Good by David Burns)[http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-Therapy-Revised-Updated/dp/0380810336/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299185786&sr=8-1] This is the only "self help" book that I'd ever recommend.

Anyways, best wishes buddy! Hope all goes well for you ;)

I don't know if you meant it to be, but I read your comment as condescending....

You're not sure if what's possible? Renewable energy? Fusion Energy? Or you don't think it's possible to focus our attention on technological advancement?


Edit: I'm impatient of your response, so I'm just going to assume that you believe the advancement of civilization can't be moved forward by resource management. There is, however, historical context for the advancement of civilization through the allocation of resources regardless of luxury. In an effort to clarify,
>The first step towards civilization is the move from hunter-gatherer to agriculture, with the domestication and farming of wild crops and animals. Agricultural production leads to food surpluses, which supports sedentary societies, rapid population growth, and specialization of labor.
-Guns, Germs, and Steel

Allocation of resources and the ability to work less and think more has happened, and continues to happen in societies all the time. I believe that by investing in renewable, clean, and cheap energy (physicists are doing amazing research into Fusion energy, it's only a matter of time...), our entire civilization can be allowed to grow technologically.

I believe this process will happen with or without your luck! :-D

I bought myself an RC helicopter for Christmas this year. I'm 29.

I was shopping online when I stumbled across one for ~$20. It got pretty bad reviews, but I found one on amazon that had great reviews, was good for indoors, and was only ~$35.

Was initially going to get it for a roommate, but decided to get them more practical gifts. I still wanted to play with that helicopter though, so I added it on as a gift to myself. Arrived yesterday, but I'm waiting until Saturday to open it. =D

http://www.amazon.com/Syma-S107-Gyroscope-Controlled-Helicopter/dp/8499000606

If you want to master these urges, it will take effort and self-discipline. The secular world will not be of much help in this area, unless you become a full-blown addict (you may already be addicted to masturbation and porn) and go into therapy.

I would recommend this book to you. It has a religious bent, but the overall message is great. If you are religious, great, the book will help. If you are not religious, it may help anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/Every-Mans-Battle-Winning-Temptation/dp/1578563682

Oh, wow. When has Afghanistan NOT been at war? America turned Afghanistan into a warzone?

I'm all for peace, and if a country is doing fine then we should stay the hell away. But Afghanistan has never been in the situation you seem to think it is. I'm glad you're passionate about a cause, but make sure you understand what's going on before you spread information like that. You get tons of people reading it and taking it for fact and eventually you have this huge group of misinformed people. I don't think I need to give you modern day examples.

I won't comment on Iraq, but you have Afghanistan completely wrong, in every aspect. And what's more is, like the people in this thread who have actually been to the country can tell you, their people actually support the US being there. If you care about them the way your posts suggests then you should be willing to take the time to learn what's actually going on in South Asia. A great place to start is by reading Taliban by Ahmed Rashid.

Ancient Aliens is awesome! I've even read the book it's based off of "Chariots of the Gods".

The jump to "Aliens did it" is a bit much for me but the show makes you think. It shows you some really cool historical locations, where a group of ancient people had an understanding of the world and technology that doesn't fit into our standard historical model.

A great example would be "Pumapunku", I think whatever the truth is behind a location like this will be far more fascinating than a bunch of grey dudes showing up for no reason other than to give the History Channel something to make money off of thousands of years later.

It is actually very interesting the way Webster proposed to change the language and in reality the logic is admirable. A Lot of people think that Americans changed the spelling of English deliberately to make themselves different from England. Webster however was already in the process of proposing the changes before the Revolution occurred. The Revolution perhaps helped to shed light upon his efforts and lend them support, but it was not in itself a cause for the changes.

If you like the idea of the history of the language an easily readable book on it is called The Adventure of English and though it sounds geek supreme, it is actually and easy read that teaches a lot.

The first definitive book on the matter: Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation

Another book I love is The Witch in the Waiting Room: A Physician Investigates Paranormal Phenomena in Medicine

They are both written by doctors with a skeptical but open-minded view of the unexplained. The first I haven't read (just summaries and through reputation) but it is referenced by the second. The second has a bibliography which is great. The second is great and covers a whole bunch of things. Also if anyone can recommend similar books (or books the scientifically refute these experiences) to me I would appreciate it.

I pretty much went to the Amazon top-rated ones in the category; I got this one first and it's great, then when we built another bathroom next to my bedroom I bought one of these because I was curious about the warm water (it's nice, but it was a bit more difficult to install and takes time to warm up anyway). Both of them were a lot cheaper when I bought them 3-4 years ago; it looks like the top-rated one right now is this; I can't personally speak about it but the ratings are good. :)

Also I forgot to mention in my first post: toilet paper lasts basically forever. Using four to six squares just to dry off it takes me over three months to use a single roll.

Wow. He deserved a DUI big time. There is a fantastic book called Traffic which is all about driving. A lot of it focuses on the sociological effects of autos, the highway system, etc. Some of the most interesting stuff is about the psychological aspects of driving. I read it many years ago, so I am having a hard time explaining it. Suffice it to say it is a hundred times more interesting than you would think.

EDIT: HERE is a pic of the inside cover with a summation.

ALSO: The AMAZON page has a good Q and A about the book .

I need that even buffer of noise to sleep. In the summer, the AC in the window does the trick, but in the winter, all I can hear are my upstairs neighbor's footsteps and the delivery trucks at the convenience store next door. I got me an Electro-Mechanical Sound Conditioner. It's the best thing ever. It's like a fan, without the moving air.

For many years, I have used a Marpac Sleepmate for white noise. They generate the white noise by using a fan inside the housing. You can adjust the housing on the top and sides to adjust volume and pitch. It's a little miracle machine. If you need white noise in the room, I highly recommend getting one. They travel well, too. I take it with me whenever I am away.

You should look into one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Marpac-DOHM-DS-Natural-actual-Machine/dp/B000KUHFGM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426608309&sr=8-2&keywords=white+noise+machine

The adjustments allow you to choose the exact type of fan noise/tone that you want and it's been pretty easy to travel with for me.

Yes, if you like that you should get a WaterPik , you would love it

This happened to me in College, and sways from crazy anxiety for years, to peace for a few years, to atheism and just generally depressed about it, back to peace and hope, to Atheism... it is never stable for me.

For me the only way I can cope with Death when I'm not feeling crazy Atheist is to find real tangible evidence of, well, some kind of existence after. (Good luck, I know.) My favorite books helping with my own personal death related anxiety are

Old Souls Dude's been studying "past lives" his whole life. Interesting to say the least, and not preachy. More objective.

Emmanuel's Guide to the Cosmos Note - there is nothing scientific about this book at all - however if there does happen to be some kind of soul-system, this one makes the most sense to me personally.

I also enjoy the Tibetian book of living and dying and reading up on weird shit the Llamas can do / have done.

Reading up on Near Death Experience can be cool, too. I know a lot of people believe NDE's are chemically induced and that is certainly viable, but I've read a couple accounts that just... ring kind of true to me, idk. You'll have to decide for yourself.

All the best.

I. Love. My. Bidet. This one is like a jet stream, so you can clean the surface or douche out your ass. Best thing ever.

https://www.amazon.com/Luxe-Bidet-Neo-120-Non-Electric/dp/B00A0RHSJO

I use a foam roller, works every time. Put foam roller on floor, lay down on it so the roller is going across your back, not vertically. Roll up and down while letting your back relax.

Something like this one. It needs to be the very stiff kind otherwise it won't work.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-High-Density-Foam-Rollers/dp/B0040NJOA0/ref=sr_1_1?s=exercise-and-fitness&ie=UTF8&qid=1375449573&sr=1-1

This is the absolute best thing I ever bought.

this book goes into it in depth. Great read.

Is it this book?

I'm going to give it a read. Sounds fascinating.

It's like an affordable prototype of these types of pillows.

Like this?

www.amazon.com/Black-High-Density-Foam-Rollers/dp/B0040NJOA0

try one of these things. i got one when i moved to NYC and it changed my sleepy times forever. it replicates the fan noise with a motor instead of a speaker.

I've bought and used multiple ones over the years. There are many different kinds, different categories, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

I've used this and this before. And my brother had something like this which was very luxurious. :-)

get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KUHFGM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1

White noise maker, people!

http://www.amazon.com/Marpac-SleepMate-980A-Electro-Mechanical-Conditioner/dp/B000KUHFGM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1261185882&sr=8-2

It started with fans. Big fans, little fans. Some were good and got me really hooked but none were perfect. I switched to sound machines later but found that the variations in the sounds (waves, bubbly brook, birds chirping) were too distracting. I finally found the perfect device. It is small, I can take it with me on trips and adjustable both in volume and tone.