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On Having Enough Socks (2019)

gwern.net

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Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m Australian, it is mildly surprising. America is the land of convenience, and I’ve found an electric kettle even at 120v is still faster than boiling water on an electric stove, and much faster than boiling on a gas stove.

> much faster than boiling on a gas stove. There is no way an electric stove is quicker than a gas stove. I did a quick google search and a standard gas stove on high is 12,000-18,000 BTU, which is 3.5-5.4kw.

A lot of the heat is lost on a gas stove, though. Or is that the number after accounting for that?

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#92
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m Australian, it is mildly surprising. America is the land of convenience, and I’ve found an electric kettle even at 120v is still faster than boiling water on an electric stove, and much faster than boiling on a gas stove.

The difference is that Americans don't drink very many boiled-water drinks and so don't really need them. And the ones they do are easily handled and better handled by the specialized <100$ gadget that is a coffee machine.

I don’t drink much tea at home but I still use it all the time for pasta, eggs, instant noodles etc. literally any cooking that needs boiled water.

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, I was considering going the other way. I was hoping HN knew the holy grail of high quality, ambidextrous, single color socks

Try Vermont darn tough. Made in USA. Lifetime guarantee. https://darntough.com/

I bought three or four pair of Darn Tough seven or eight years ago, and have picked up an average of another pair about every year since.

I've yet to discard any of them, though one of the pairs from that first year is juuuuust about shot and probably needs to go.

My only other socks are a pack of cheap white athletic socks (only worn for... doing athletic things, not counting stuff like hiking) and a pair or two of very thin non-wool black dress socks that I almost never wear.

A warning: I'd avoid buying them on Amazon, I got one pair on there that I'm pretty sure were counterfeit (felt much cheaper, developed holes after just a couple wears, fit was way different from all my others) so I only buy straight from DT now.

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#94
post #18

There's a few comments - seemingly from our American friends - that seem to suggest that left / right socks are a thing. I'm hoping I'm parsing those comments poorly, but ever since the revelation that Americans don't have kettles , I'm prepared for the worst. I got fed up with poor socks a few years ago and embarked on a project to try to find the best, or at least consistently decent, work socks. That's work in the…

Is it really so surprising that we don't (as a rule) have electric kettles? I think the reasons are pretty clear. First, Americans are mostly coffee drinkers, not tea drinkers. The coffeedrinkers are mostly using coffee machines that heat the water for you, so you don't need a kettle to do it. This is true from the low-end $30 drip machine to multi-thousand-dollar espresso machines. Second, America is on 110, not 220…

> Second, America is on 110

Kind of: 240V is fed into homes (along with a neutral), and gets split in half.

Most receptacles are 120V for most appliances, because it gets the job done. There aren't many appliances that need more than that. The two main ones that do have 220V plugs are clothes dryers and kitchen ranges (hobs/ovens).

If you want a kettle that boils faster change your NEMA 5 socket (and breaker) that does 120V (at 15A or 20A) for a NEMA 6, and get an UK/EU kettle and change the plug.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector#Nomenclature

(Not sure how up to code any of the above would be.)

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#95
This should not be a hard problem. All my socks are identical and they have their own drawer. When a sock gets a hole in it I throw it away. When the drawer starts looking sparse I pull out my phone and add another 12-pack to my next grocery order.

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m Australian, it is mildly surprising. America is the land of convenience, and I’ve found an electric kettle even at 120v is still faster than boiling water on an electric stove, and much faster than boiling on a gas stove.

They're a waste of space if you don't make tea much, or one of the fancier and more-manual coffee-making methods. Most people in the US don't make tea much, and just use an automatic drip machine or a keurig for coffee, so of course they don't have a kettle. We have one, but it's because we drink more tea than most Americans, and since we have it for that, it's space-saving for me to also use it for pourover coffee (…

It’s absurd that as a country you drink so little tea that you wouldn’t need electric kettles.

At least, I can totally see how it would seem as such to anyone from the UK (and most of the world).

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#97
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're a waste of space if you don't make tea much, or one of the fancier and more-manual coffee-making methods. Most people in the US don't make tea much, and just use an automatic drip machine or a keurig for coffee, so of course they don't have a kettle. We have one, but it's because we drink more tea than most Americans, and since we have it for that, it's space-saving for me to also use it for pourover coffee (…

It’s absurd that as a country you drink so little tea that you wouldn’t need electric kettles. At least, I can totally see how it would seem as such to anyone from the UK (and most of the world).

Ted Lasso's reaction to hot tea is probably about the median US attitude toward it. We're just not used to it, and those of us who dive into that world usually have to kinda acquire the taste through some effort, before we start enjoying it. Very few of us take our first sip of typical black or green tea and go "oh yes, that's delicious, I'd love to drink that every day". Black coffee's not far off, but it's more culturally present so there's more pressure and opportunity to acquire that taste.

For my part, despite working at it for years, I still don't really like cheap tea (the stuff I could actually afford to drink every day, and that can be found without seeking out rare-in-the-US tea shops or ordering online), though higher-end tea is really good.

We drink a ton of iced tea, but that's easily made on the stovetop in a large pot, and can be bought in gallon-quantities at the grocery store. Having a kettle doesn't improve iced-tea-making very much.

[EDIT] Part of it may be that we drink on-the-go more than other countries. Just a guess, but might be true. Iced tea and coffee (hot or cold) are both much better for that than hot tea—one doesn't usually make a thermos-full of hot tea and drink it straight from the thermos, I'd expect (but maybe I'm wrong?) but that's normal for coffee.

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#98
I think it’s more that I know I ordered 10 pairs of socks half a year ago, and I know I threw 3 pairs out, but I somehow have only a single pair left.

I don’t want to buy a new set because I refuse to believe 5 pairs of socks vanished into thin air…

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#99
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that Americans don't drink very many boiled-water drinks and so don't really need them. And the ones they do are easily handled and better handled by the specialized <100$ gadget that is a coffee machine.

I don’t drink much tea at home but I still use it all the time for pasta, eggs, instant noodles etc. literally any cooking that needs boiled water.

I have a kettle and it has never occurred to me to use it for cooking food.

Re: On Having Enough Socks (2019)

#100
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t drink much tea at home but I still use it all the time for pasta, eggs, instant noodles etc. literally any cooking that needs boiled water.

I have a kettle and it has never occurred to me to use it for cooking food.

Just to be clear, don’t put food in the kettle! It’s just a lot faster to get water boiling than starting from cold on the stove.
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