Best hack for freebies at Starbucks is to visit franchised stores owned by regional grocers. The grocery market is extremely competitive right now, and many companies have taken a strong approach to customer service. If that means giving something away, then that’s fine (within reason). This also applies to general…

I can’t say that I ever got treated that differently at a Mercedes dealership when I’d show up in my SRT6. I did have to switch dealers though. The first one pushed very little AMG volume, and had issues getting parts for me. Rather than admitting they just couldn’t get AMG parts, they kept trying to tell me that I…

The station I visit the most has these. I actually don’t mind them, just as long as the volume isn’t too loud. I get a Blade Runner vibe from public tech that’s more advanced than an automatic door.

Sure, if you can verify that. Most people will be honest about the situation up front since there are people that honestly need it. Then you have people like my uncle’s girlfriend that has been scamming the system for the past two decades while living with him.

To be fair, that’s kind of how language evolved to begin with. It’s all a bunch of mispronunciations, misspellings, phonetic interpretations, slang, etc, that have been passed through the years.

We wouldn’t have the word ‘boonies’ or ‘boondocks’ if it were not borrowed from the Tagalog word ‘bundok’, which means…

That depends on if you want to use the Arabic or French pronunciation. Same with sorbet. “Sher-bet” and “Sor-bet” don’t sound as classy to me as “Sher-bay” and “Sor-bay”. Regardless, Americans created sherbet by adding milk to sorbet, so I guess we could call it Fruity McFreezycream if we wanted.

Medicare. It’s even easier to get the healthcare here than EBT since the state actually requires you to have health insurance for your kid/s (but apparently doesn’t require that you feed them). WIC is easier than both. You don’t even have to be a US citizen to get it.

Yeah, crafts can vary widely. Sessions will usually be 5% or less. Most common crafts will be 6-8%, which is the range you find between normal pilsners and high-gravs. Imperials and doubles usually get into the 9-12% range (my go-to beers). It goes up from there to the point that you have to start drinking your beer…

For the Carolinas, if you live with family, then you’re pretty much screwed, even if your living situation is no different than if you rented a room from a stranger. As far as the state is concerned, you need to be homeless or should be spending your entire paycheck on rent.

As a result, this has just caused people to…

If it takes 3-4 beers to get a buzz, then that’s either mass produced swill, or a session beer, which is meant to be weak since they were created to be drunk during your lunch break without hurting your work performance for the rest of the day. A moderate craft beer will usually have 50% or more alcohol, and barring…

Funny enough, supply hasn’t been much of an issue. It’s more that all new residential construction has been luxury apartments combined with the fact that Charlotte has traditionally been a dual-income household city. This sent out a shockwave across the region, and next thing you know, even janky old apartments in…

I wouldn’t say decline, but it’s definitely stagnant. Around 2010, there was a massive amount of stuff being added, especially with replacing Charlottetown. Then nothing much changed as most commercial and entertainment developed halted around 2012 in favor of residential to take advantage of the massive rent bubble…

I had to think a bit when you said City Mall. Almost confused it with Charlottetown Mall. Interestingly, Heroes is moving from that location to NoDa. The Starbucks is still there though.

Yeah, they did bring a bit of change in the 2000s. I’m not sure how profitable Epicentre is though. Not sure if you’ve seen it…

That’s pretty much the case here, but only due to the indie shops being about the size of a walk-in closet. Charlotte’s hipster community is actually very small relative to the total population. Definitely smaller than what you’ll find in Asheville.

We’re mostly a city of people that I’ve dubbed white collar trash. Our…

They still hit that Starbucks last I checked, but that’s because the place actually is nice and not as cramped as most of our indie coffee shops. It’s not designed like your generic Starbucks, although, the design isn’t as flamboyant as some of our other hipster places (like Amelie’s which looks like a garage sale…

This Starbucks came along back when hipsters were still flocking to them with their macbooks in hand during the aughts, and the design shows (rustic cabin hipster design, rather than the traditional shopping center Starbucks). It’s definitely not the most hipster feature in the area today. I’d say it’s the organic…

I get a kick out of someone listing Dilworth in Charlotte as “normie”. When your central fixture is the biggest Starbucks in the city, then you’re definitely a hipster neighborhood. Although, it (and Southend) are more of the “I survive on my trust fund and the bank job daddy gave me” kind of hipster, while NoDa and…

The secret to queso like you’ll find in most Mexican-American restaurants is white cheddar. Sub in Oaxaca cheese for real Mexican queso.

My guess for Chipotle is that the reason for the gritty, slightly sour taste is that they could possibly make it in a traditional manner. That means cheese, butter, milk, and a bit of…

“Yes. While the heydey of “simple” advances (telegram, radio, steam engine, etc.) are gone, we as a planet are still on the verge of a ton of bleeding-edge future stuff.”

That goes along with what Robert Gordon thinks. No more industrial revolutions, but tech will still advance due to the sheer amount of areas that can…

“there is no way they could possibly generate that kind of money without me”

Of course not. That’s the point of organizing into structured businesses. In Socialism, that business is the co-op, which happens to pay more fairly than any Capitalist business structure.

“What I don’t want to do is make them a full partner in…