-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 07-30-19  03:27 <=-

 >  > I somehow expected that response...  (G)  Just for my information, I
 >  > checked out the labels on the Wegmans sweetened sparkling water.... I
 >  > used to get them for MJ, and thought I'd remembered some significant
 >  > difference in labeling... At first, I didn't even find them, but turned
 >  > out they'd been moved to a less prominent spot...  I was correct, the
 >  > sweetened (artificially) water was labeled as Diet on the front label...
 >  ML> Good old Wegmans.
 > I've been totally spoiled....  
 ML> Weggie's does set a fairly high bar, for the states,
 ML> at least. In France there are some really nice things
 ML> even in the most supermarkety places. And J&B Scotch
 ML> for 18- a bottle, but that's not going to obtain for
 ML> much longer.

For those of us that are not globetrotters, the states is what we
have...   I do hear similar tales of bargains and wonderful things
from my son... 
 
 >  > and it turns out that aspartame is the sweetener there....  
 >  ML> I'm coming to the conclusion that artificial sweeteners,
 >  ML> including the natural artificial sweeteners, are mostly
 >  ML> equivalent and exclusively bad.
 > I've likewise been coming to that conclusion...
 ML> Steve and Ruth rely on Stevia, perhaps because of the
 ML> relative naturalness, or partially because of the name,
 ML> but to my taste buds it's not substantially superior.

Their taste buds aren't assaulted as ours are... the relative
naturalness is a good thing, as is the lowered likelihood that it would
act on the body like a "normal" sugar.... it did work well for MJ...
 
 >  > In the meantime, Wegmans introduced 3 new flavors for the unsweetened
 >  > line... and all three have met with approval in our household...
 >  > (which at the moment also includes the kid)... mango lime, lemon lime
 >  > and ginger...
 >  ML> That's adventuresome. Speaking of which, why is he
 >  ML> back, rather than risking life and limb in someplace
 >  ML> interesting like Turkey?
 > When he left, somewhat precipitously, almost 4 years ago, he left quite
 > a bit of unfinished business, expecting to be back the next year to take
 > care of it all... With one thing and another, it took a lot longer to
 > wend his way back home... And in the meantime, he's decided to get back
 > on track for his boat/ship career...  So he's back home for a few months
 > to try to wrap up more of his loose ends here, and to get some sort of
 ML> An interesting and enviable (perhaps) life.

More akin to yours than it is to mine...   I do, regularly, get the
feeling that I'm the hen that hatched a duckling...  (G)

 > work here (either in the North Country or in Rochester, most likely the
 > former) to earn the rest of the money he needs for the ocean-going
 > captain's course he is taking in South Africa beginning in January...
 ML> Does it come with a degree or just a certification?
 
It's a certification, not a degree.... 

 > One can make enough lira in Turkey to live on, but the lira is worth
 > practically nothing anywhere else.... so no good for paying for this
 > course... he seems to be able to make life interesting for himself no
 > matter where he is.... (G)
 ML> Heh. The EU seems reasonably stable still.

Thankfully...  
 
 >  >  ML> Well, there is milk chocolate.
 >  > Is that fickle, though, on the part of the chocolate or of the
 >  > eater... (G)
 >  ML> It's like turncoatism on the part of the cacao bean,
 >  ML> fraternizing with the enemy as it were.
 > Not that the poor cacao bean has much of a say in the matter... 
 ML> Neither were the victims of press gangs, but
 ML> if caught and repatriated they were punished
 ML> nonetheless as if they'd done so voluntarily.
 
True, often the case...  but the cacao bean has even less volition...

ttyl         neb

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