Bank currency exchange is not available if you don’t know to plan ahead, and may not be convenient ever

There’s usually a $5 or more minimum, so less than that might as well be trash. Not convenient for tolls

The only option at the border was an ATM, where you can withdraw currency, converted from your bank, but in $20 increments.

Toll booths did not take credit cards or bank cards for an exact payment. This was before electronic tolling but that still might not be a thing at borders

You definitely need to distinguish “electrical” devices from “electronic” devices but a safer approach is to read the plug.

• A power supply (ex. Phone charger) will be stamped with a voltage range and power draw, which probably includes everywhere but you can match it against the electrical service where you are. You may need a plug adapter but a simple mechanical adapter is sufficient.
• an electrical appliance (ex. Hair dryer) plug is probably not stamped with electrical requirements so the safe approach is to only use it in the intended country

Interesting rabbit hole to drill down into ……

I see the Aussie common plug and similarity to other countries. The picture shows partly insulated prongs which is a great safety feature I’ve never seen before

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets

I don’t know whether it’s physically the same size but that’s 240v and US had similar variations at that voltage

• https://www.bsaelectronics.com/pages/nema-plug-and-outlet-chart

Simple US plugs are also not (usually) reversible. Historically they weren’t but the standard changed decades (half a century?) ago to support polarized plugs with one blade wider than the other. If it matters, such as a light switch, the plug must be polarized and can only fit in one direction. For some things, like a sealed power supply it doesn’t matter

There’s always ancient outlets and ancient plugs that never got replaced but those are getting rare

If you want a bulky replaceable plug, you can get those at any hardware store. Meanwhile I’ll take the smaller more reliable, more durable and waterproof molded plastic plug

US used to be like that too. When polarized plugs first became a thing, they wouldn’t fit into older non-polarized outlets. It took decades for all those to be replaced and I’m sure they’re still out there. Somewhere

At the risk of being that idiot ……

I’m still annoyed at crossing a border over an international bridge and having to exchange currency to pay the toll. There’s a good argument that situation should support both currencies at that border.

And of course the currency exchange at that toll did not allow exchanging the amount of the toll. Scammy ripoff of people trying to cross forcing them to exchange larger amounts than they need

My now ex said “you forgot to ask for my number”

Last I saw were metal core but rubber coated.

It’s been decades since I saw the game- does it even exist anymore?

My kids. It randomly selects a photo from those containing either of my kids

Yeah, we got hit in Boston too. We have a good track record of treating undocumented aliens like people, but ice came through and violated constitutional rights, due process, and interfered with local law enforcement

My first car was my Dad’s old Chevette: we’d occasionally go on drives with a family of 6 plus dog. 6 people learned to drive a stick on that little car. My brothers and I started learning how to work on cars by installing an eight track player. At one point I replaced the springs and didn’t need a spring compresser. My little brother who got more into fixing cars said it’s great to work on because “it’s the only car I can pull the transmission and hold it one handed while still working on it”.

Even at the time, we all knew it was a crappy car, but we all learned to drive on it, all learned to fix cars on it, and we kept it on the road far longer than it deserved, with far more miles.

Yeah, I can see this. My analogy was working in a campus dining hall. Everyone else hated working dish room but I loved it. So satisfying to keep up with a lunch rush, feed the machine as fast as people got done eating.

The floor was always covered with slime and water, but once I learned to walk on it, I could walk on anything without slipping for years after. It was noisy and hectic and rushed, but we could skate in with a huge cart of dishes and gave the satisfaction of turning into clean dishes and going back out almost as fast. Speed was paramount so even if you dumped a cart of hundreds of dishes, that’s just teasing, clean it up and work even faster to catch up again. FOOD FIGHTS! Every day someone would start a food fight in the dishroom, but since we were all covered in mess anyway no one cared. I remember it as a fun break from studying, with side effects for great balance and handling slippery floors. I imagine my roommate remembers a lot more stench on me and my clothes than I ever noticed, and I’m sure it would have been a horrible job if it lasted longer or if I had to work more hours.

I loved those things when I was a kid. So much fun to throw. We also had metal horse shoes

You can’t claim superiority just because a lot of countries adopted it, you can only claim wide adoption

… I joke have gone with your view on the assumption that it’s a newer standard so likely better thought out, but not from this thread. Y’all are convincing me of the opposite

Us system makes better use of shapes, colors, and slashes to be more explicit

And they chose to highlight as a feature making it like a pC, “you also get Windows PC–like abilities such as snapping windows to the left and right of the screen.”

When we rebuild government, maybe it will actually improve service as we prioritize what is important now vs what was important historically

This would be a disaster for me: I have to eat before going to the grocery, otherwise it’s insane what I get

Peanut butter. Just peanut butter. Normally I’ll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch but when I’m stressed I might forget the jelly and bread

It’s probably a step up that it’s no longer all carbs or all sweets. It’s also used to be Kraft Mac and cheese, but I can no longer go back from real Mac and cheese

I keep meaning to make sticky rice at some point. I also tend to eat rice with chopsticks at Chinese restaurants, but anywhere else the rice is too loose

One complimented my bladder, so I guess that spleen seems mighty good about now