If it can't do a sharp 90° turn, it's not a real lightcycle.

If you buy me one, I promise to test this and report back. You have my word.

So, hivemind: share me your stories of how to make shoes not hurt?

If they have potential, I just load up my feet with band-aids ahead of time, at least for the first few wearings.

Re: pine nuts and pine mount. An alternative to cheap Chinese pine nuts with pine mouth risk and expensive Italian ones with no pine mouth risk: risk free almonds, sunflower seeds etc.. Good taste, shelled sunflower seeds are cheap (at least where I am). An no risk of pine mouth. SF seeds are a good substitute for pine nuts in all recipes I've tried. Ok, I'm a subtaster so I guess you may want to get a second opinion, though ehow agrees.

WHAT IS PINE MOUTH?

Okay, I guess I get what it is. Why is it? I mean, why should it persist? Why would you risk it? It sounds horrific.

Also, nuts, kinda ick.

OMG, I just has somebody come in - a starting out musician who was completely clueless to the fact that as a musician she needs to have an idea of what to charge to be hired. She thought she could do a "fundraiser" - i.e., to raise money so she could go into the studio and that we would hire her and she would charge for tickets. I had to explain that we wouldn't consider that a fundraiser . . . yikes. She was v. clueless and I hope she finds some help. I wasn't sure where to send her.

I wasn't sure where to send her.

Back to the school of life?

I had a pasta making class recently where they were making some of the same suggestions TB has above for making pesto or similar stuff. Also, they pointed out that if you're not sure what you have, the Italian ones tend to be more elongated while the Chinese are rounder.

I just noticed pine nuts for sale in the Mexican spices section of my supermarket, but they were so cheap, they must be the risky kind?

but they were so cheap, they must be the risky kind?

Yeah, most likely. The tricksy ones are Chinese.

From the NYU webiste, Getting to Know Americans (A guide for foreign students)

Interesting to see how we appear to others.

Americans generally believe the ideal person is self-reliant. Most Americans see themselves as separate individuals, not as representatives of a family, community or other group. They dislike being dependent on other people, or having others depend on them. Some people define this trait as selfishness. Others see it as a healthy freedom from the constraints of family or social class.

How is this value manifested into behavior? In individualist cultures, such as the U.S., it is assumed that people need to be alone some of the time and prefer to take care of problems by themselves. Another expectation is that people are ready to “do business” very soon after meeting, without much time spent on preliminary conversation. Also people act competitively, are proud of their accomplishments and expect others to be proud of their own accomplishments.

...

Americans tend to have a missionary spirit to win other people over to their way of thinking and are likely to judge other societies in terms of the United States. Americans often think that other countries should use their example and adopt their ways of doing things. Other cultures are often evaluated as better or worse than this one rather than simply being seen as different. Americans tend to think that theirs is the best way to do things, in spite of many serious social and environmental problems in this country.

Um, oops? Sorry, non-Americans.