And artificially sweetened soda tastes like a load of chemicals. So?

There’s no way for science to “prove” that something “doesn’t taste bad”. If people don’t like the taste of something, then they think it tastes bad. You can’t disprove a preference or opinion on something like a flavor.

Aspartame tastes bad to me, and no science in the world is going to change that, because science…

They all have a chemical flavor.

Then why not also be pissed at the “scientists” who claim people who don’t like the taste of something just don’t know that they actually don’t mind the taste? That’s just as false as the false hate-science around aspartame. We can taste the difference, and we don’t like it.

It’s not light, fresh and crisp. It’s…

I think Splenda is as bad as aspartame.

Get a seltzer maker (Soda Stream or something else if you have an ethical problem with Soda Stream) and make seltzer. Add your own light sugar-free flavors - I recommend grapefruit, cardamom or maple bitters, orange blossom, twisted citrus peel, or orange blossom water + torn-up mint leaves. Or regular bitters and a…

I try not to either (but I do make carbonated water and sometimes add bitters, torn-up mint or orange blossom water because I like the fizz and it settles the stomach).

Though sometimes when traveling in especially hot countries after a long bus, train or car trip I’ll give in and get a Coke, Fanta or Sprite. They all…

All artificial sweeteners taste bad.

Because it tastes bad.

I would rather drink no soda than diet soda, because I can taste the chemically-ness of the artificial sweetener.

(And I normally don’t drink soda - I usually drink plain seltzer - for this reason. The regular stuff is too sugary and the diet stuff simply tastes bad).

No.

It has nothing to do with “mouth feel”. I can’t detect any difference in texture between foods with aspartame and those with sugar or something else. It’s not how it feels.

yeah you think that but everyone knew and they think you’re gross

I was going to do mine in photo form but I can’t find the picture of the can of “Bamboo Fungus Jiuce” I was handed on a domestic Chinese flight from Guiyang (I think) to Xi’an.

I can complain about airline prices because my most frequent flight (Taipei-NYC or the other way around) used to be in the $1000-$1200 range but is now in the $1500-$2000 range.

You’re right, I don’t care that much about the industry. Why should I? They don’t care about me.

As I said, the prices weren’t lumped into ticket prices before. In my experience ticket prices have gone up, not down. So yes, I would like baggage fees to go away - because if that means prices would be anything like they were before, I’d save money!

Keep in mind that where I live, no non-budget airline charges…

Perhaps they wouldn’t if people actually wanted to fly them, and perhaps people would actually want to fly more if flying weren’t such a pain in the ass. And who made flying a pain in the ass? Oh yeah, the airline companies.

They created this mess themselves. FUCK ‘EM.

I hope they DO go out of business and make way for…

If they’re having trouble making a profit it’s their own damn fault for making flying so shitty that nobody wants to do it. Perhaps they’d make more money if people wanted to use their services (that is if their services weren’t crap).

They want to turn a profit? Sure. Make me WANT to fly them and I’ll give them my…

No, they aren’t.

It used to be a reliable thing that you could fly to London from NY for $400 R/T. I see a few fares like that doing a quick check, but it’s not the given that it used to be that you will get such a fare. I used to be able to fly to Asia for $1000 - NOT ANYMORE. I used to be able to fly around the US…

I would do so...but I live abroad so I don’t have much choice if I want to see family ever.

At least I’m lucky in that I get to fly Asian airlines which are much better and international trips don’t carry a baggage fee. But yeah, I fly around the US much less than I used to, for basically this reason. It’s not fun,…

Yeah no, that’s only true if the prices were actually lumped into the ticket price that way, and as we can see from the weight these planes can actually carry...that’s BS. It doesn’t cost them $25 to take your bag when you’re already paying a fuel surcharge and THEY KNOW IT.