What grinds my gears!

Mandle · Fri 27/07/2018 16:40:15

Quote from: Frodo on Fri 27/07/2018 15:30:19
What grinds my gears is dogs on those extendable leads, getting in everyone's way and tripping everyone up.

But without them we wouldn't have had the first puzzle in the Blackwell series!

(I remember Dave Gilbert mentioning what an absolute pain coding that puzzle was so that the leash behaved just right..

)

Tycho Magnetic Anomaly · Wed 08/08/2018 19:52:46

Super Market Frozen Pizza Toppings Distribution.

So I pop the oven on in preparation to scoff down a tasty pizza. Just before the oven gets to temperature I take the super market frozen pizza out of the fridge and introduce it to the pizza baking tray. Often then not at this point I am in shock at the sheer incompetence of the pizza company's ability to distribute the toppings evenly on the surface of the pizza. The very companie's that clearly state their product is best cooked frozen.

So out with my stake knife and tea spoon, and with a combination of both, some dexterity and a lot of brute force I embark on spending at least 5 mins hacking my way through the completely solidly frozen pile of toppings. It's either that or wait for the pizza to thaw somewhat that often results in a sub-par tasting pizza. Yes they really do taste much better when put into the oven frozen.

Mind you its not all frozen pizza companies that seem to have no control whatsoever in the placement of toppings, yet, surprisingly it seems to most happen with the larger, internationally recognized brands.

Its as if somewhere along their production line, the pizza base arrives by conveyor at a person (or chimp) whos only sole job it is is to place the toppings on the base of the pizza. Of course all this person's focus is on clock-out time, so instead of taking even the most primitive care to place the toppings in some basic fair and even distribution, they grab a fist of mozzarella, swing their arm over to the pizza base and simply open their first over it, repeat with other toppings and off this horrific mess goes to be fossilized through deep freezing.

But wait, you would think these large companies would have machines to place the various toppings, surely automating the process will result in a consistent even distribution of toppings, perhaps so if they bothered to calibrate their machines to start doing so.

I say...

dactylopus · Thu 09/08/2018 08:59:14

I think they thaw a little and shift during transport. But either way, it has always ground my gears as well...

Mandle · Thu 09/08/2018 10:41:24

Quote from: dactylopus on Thu 09/08/2018 08:59:14
I think they thaw a little and shift during transport. But either way, it has always ground my gears as well...

I doubt that... They would be stored flat and therefore any bump in the road wouldn't do much. Also, frozen goods are usually not allowed to thaw majorly at any point during transport by existing companies.

By which I mean: Any company that lets its frozen goods thaw out to a major degree before reaching the consumer probably doesn't exist anymore.

I'd say the original post is spot on saying that the initial prep is at fault.

Slasher · Thu 09/08/2018 10:48:03

You should have seen/tasted the UK's first commercial frozen pizza's....

Beyond words... YUK springs to mind with the taste of cardboard...

Cassiebsg · Thu 09/08/2018 20:39:34

I actually had a nice frozen pizza just last sunday... for once in my live it was good and properly balanced.

Blondbraid · Thu 09/08/2018 22:15:09

Quote from: Slasher on Thu 09/08/2018 10:48:03
You should have seen/tasted the UK's first commercial frozen pizza's....

Beyond words... YUK springs to mind with the taste of cardboard...

From my travels in Scotland, I've found most of the UK's food in general to be kind of greasy and not having much taste. $:-\$

Still though, there's no excuse for uneven pizza toppings. The most annoying part for me is when the shredded cheese is spread out so that it's all over the edges, giving you no way of eating the pizza without getting your hands dirty,
or in worst case scenario drip down over the crust and down into the oven.

dactylopus · Fri 10/08/2018 09:07:07

Quote from: Mandle on Thu 09/08/2018 10:41:24
Quote from: dactylopus on Thu 09/08/2018 08:59:14
I think they thaw a little and shift during transport. But either way, it has always ground my gears as well...

I doubt that... They would be stored flat and therefore any bump in the road wouldn't do much. Also, frozen goods are usually not allowed to thaw majorly at any point during transport by existing companies.

By which I mean: Any company that lets its frozen goods thaw out to a major degree before reaching the consumer probably doesn't exist anymore.

I'd say the original post is spot on saying that the initial prep is at fault.

Fair enough.

Mouth for war · Fri 10/08/2018 10:15:36

Uff frozen pizza is almost heretic IMO. It's always better to do it yourself but I understand there's not the time for it. I don't know how it is where you guys live but here, if you don't want to make the bread yourself you can simply buy just the bread from a pizzeria then you go home and put whatever toppings you'd like...I prefer doing it from scratch dough (yes pun intended)

Mandle · Fri 10/08/2018 10:32:11

Quote from: Mouth for war on Fri 10/08/2018 10:15:36
I prefer doing it from scratch dough

This just ground my gears!!!

Mouth for war · Fri 10/08/2018 14:08:05

Oh pizza real shame that I made you upset with this. Yeah that's right I can say even worse!!!

Danvzare · Tue 14/08/2018 13:52:18

Here's something that grinds my gears.
You get a game that a lot of people recommend. You play it a bit, but you find it incredibly boring and tedious. All of the recommendations seemed to have neglected to mention that the feature they hyped on about, is actually a tiny aspect of the game, and that the whole game is a boring slog with plenty of questionable design decisions. You complain about the game, BUT because the game is known among its fanbase for being "difficult", everyone reacts by saying that all you need to do is "git gud".

The game wasn't even difficult! It was just boring!
I've played difficult games! I've even enjoyed games that are so difficult that I can barely make any sort of progress in them, let alone complete them! The reason I dislike this game isn't because it's difficult! It's because it was CRAP!

Blondbraid · Tue 14/08/2018 18:38:51

@Danvzare
I agree, it reminds me of when people say stuff like "You totally have to watch this show! Sure, it starts off really bad, but after the first two seasons it gets good!". I used to be less picky with what games I played and what books I read and so on when I was a teenager, but at some point you will realize that your time isn't infinite, and time spent watching a bad show or playing a bad game is time wasted that you could have spent watching something actually good, and I'm done wasting my free time on something mediocre just in the hopes that it could potentially turn good in the future. I have a personal rule, that if a piece of entertainment fails to give me any intrigue, entertainment or any other good reason to keep watching within the first 15 minutes, I'm done with it, and I've never regretted having that rule.

Danvzare · Wed 15/08/2018 11:02:04

Another thing that grinds my gears.
The fact that review scores go from 7 to 10 (or 70 to 100).
Apparently, anything less then a 7, is the equivalent of getting a 0.

Maybe it's just me, but 7 seems like a pretty good number. If 5 is average, and 6 is above average, than 7 must be pretty good. But nope. According to reviewers it goes like this:
7 - Bad
8 - Good
9 or 10 - Great

Mandle · Wed 15/08/2018 12:05:10

Continuing with this ratings convo:

It really grinds my gears that Finding Dory has something like a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (and about an 85% viewer rating) when it was just as much an insult to the original movie as Cars II was to Cars I...Worse actually because the original Cars was only alright, but Finding Nemo was one of the greatest modern animated films.

I know I'm probably late to the party here but I only watched Finding Dory yesterday for the first time and ...wow ... It was crap!

josiah1221 · Thu 16/08/2018 05:29:18

Quote from: Mandle on Wed 15/08/2018 12:05:10
Continuing with this ratings convo:

It really grinds my gears that Finding Dory has something like a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (and about an 85% viewer rating) when it was just as much an insult to the original movie as Cars II was to Cars I...Worse actually because the original Cars was only alright, but Finding Nemo was one of the greatest modern animated films.

I know I'm probably late to the party here but I only watched Finding Dory yesterday for the first time and ...wow ... It was crap!

Haha, funny that you mention that. Finding Nemo is one of my fav. animated films since The Lion King. I've had Finding Dory on my "to watch list" for the past 2 years, every time I think about wanting to watch it I always have something else I want to watch instead. Seems that has been a good thing, lol!

Mandle · Thu 16/08/2018 08:54:45

Quote from: josiah1221 on Thu 16/08/2018 05:29:18
Haha, funny that you mention that. Finding Nemo is one of my fav. animated films since The Lion King. I've had Finding Dory on my "to watch list" for the past 2 years, every time I think about wanting to watch it I always have something else I want to watch instead. Seems that has been a good thing, lol!

I'd be interested to hear your opinion if you ever do watch it. Of course, when I say it was crap, I mean crap for a Pixar film: It was visually lovely, it was funny a few times, but I feel it was really aiming mostly at the kiddies and selling a bunch of new character merch to them.

For example: there is absolutely NO reason for Nemo to come along on the mission and it actually makes Marlin look like a very irresponsible parent for bringing him along. If we accept that they probably live in The Great Barrier Reef a journey to California is potentially much more dangerous than the trip to Sydney (even though the actual journey only takes like 3 minutes of film time... hahaha... yeah... pretty dumb). Nemo is obviously only in the movie because the kids expect him to be. He has no reason to be there and his presence changes the story in no way, except he is quite nasty and obnoxious to Marlin at times just to give him lines to speak I guess.

Retro Wolf · Thu 16/08/2018 13:06:47

If anyone asks me to rate something I use: buy, borrow, avoid.

josiah1221 · Fri 17/08/2018 22:31:13

@Mandle: If I do watch it, which I eventually will, I'll let you know my thoughts.

OK, stupid Captchas grind my gears to no end!!!! Yes I'm a damn human, stop making me type in nonsense words and click on stupid pictures

Mandle · Sat 18/08/2018 03:00:50

I actually enjoy the reality-check now and then to prove to myself that I'm a human.