MirthfulAlembic

It tends to be geographic, so if you live in a region that's able to deal with lactose, you'd have the impression lactose intolerance isn't super common. But entire regions are lactose intolerant, like Southeast Asia (including China) and about half of India.

Basically anytime you see dairy as rare or non-existent in a region's traditional cuisine, that's why.

Yes. 60-70% are the estimate ranges I've seen.

Well, there are over 5 billion lactose intolerant people out there. Coffee creamers do typically include a very small amount of milk derivative, but it's not enough to make a difference if you don't have a dairy allergy.

So this is what Cardi B was talking about.

Thank you for reminding me these existed. Unlocked some memories that have been sitting there for decades unremembered.

I basically do the same. The tiny local bookstore I like has a big table in the middle with titles picked by the owner. Something in there will be interesting. I can always just ask the owner if I'm stumped. It's a bit easier because I'm not a single-genre reader, so I'm spoiled for choice.

Quite a lot. The US did the same thing in Iraq and Afghanistan too. Who cares about who the enemy is or how many people die if they military industrial complex is making bank?

A country doesn't need to be a superpower to project some power, but very few rise to the level of global hegemony. I think China is probably in the superpower tier today. The belt and road initiative is classic economic hegemony shit.

China's GDP was lower than Canada's. Economic strength is not the only factor of a superpower, but it's significant. It's hard to project power effectively without sufficient wealth to fund those efforts.

Agreed. I didn't hear much if any grumbling from the US conservative base in the decades before Roe was overturned toward their politicians, provided that politician opposed abortion. It was enough they believed the "correct" thing and did what they could within the restrictions of the law, until process aligned in their favor via convenient Supreme Court vacancies.

Paradoxically, if you look right above that and click on whether they approve or disapprove of him, it's 49 approve/44 disapprove right now. I'm not hugely surprised, as I've met several people who say they don't like him as a person but they like XYZ thing he's said or wants to do.

If you showed me this headline 10 years ago, I'd have guessed it was a mad lib. This timeline is crazy in a bad way.

Rarely. I don't think I ever have two years in a row.

Usually only if I'm very sure it's a game I will get a lot of playtime out of due to past titles. For instance, I did pre-order Civ 7 because prior Civs have been the best hours-enjoyed-per-dollar investments I've ever made. No exaggeration, even accounting for DLCs I bought at full price.