>In the end, it’s probably much like wine (or anything else). There’s reasons some bottles are more expensive

From Food & Wine Magazine:

>But despite the fact that more than 330 dairies hand-produce Parmigiano-Reggiano, all of these cheeses taste surprisingly similar. That's because the methods of production are so tightly regulated. By contrast, with French wines, for example, you'd pay close attention to the winery, even with bottles from the exact same appellation. But with Parmigiano-Reggiano, the producer is of less importance. Either the Consortium approved it or it didn't, and if it did, you're getting quality cheese.

Parmigiano Reggiano is made to very exact standards, and every wheel is inspected by the Consortium before being approved for sale. There are ~46 exporters of the cheese listed on the Consortium website, but basically the whole point of the Consortium is to ensure that all Parmigiano Reggiano is made to the same high standards. The flavor does change with aging, but I think you'll probably find that any Parmigiano Reggiano "brands" that you encounter in stores here have been aged for about 2 years -- and that they all taste extremely similar. This is from the Consortium's US website:

>The PDO certification for Parmigiano Reggiano is the equivalent of a legal guarantee by the European Union that the product is “the real thing”. In order to earn this certification, the entire process – starting with the milking of the cows and ending with the aging of the finished product and its packaging – must all take place exclusively in the specific region in Italy that is included in the official Parmigiano Reggiano DOP mandates – the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the left of the river Reno and Mantua to the right of the river Po.
>
>Parmigiano Reggiano is subject to very strict rules and regulations that are carefully monitored to ensure the highest possible quality standards. In order to be called Parmigiano Reggiano, the cheese must be made with the same three natural ingredients that have been used for over 900 years...
>
>Also, Parmigiano Reggiano must be aged for at least 12 months before it can be sold in stores, while other hard cheeses don’t have an aging requirement – which is why they are often less complex in flavor and aroma.

Incidentally, although it is no longer the case, Walmarts in this area used to sell blocks of Locatelli Pecorino Romano (which is excellent cheese).

^This is definitely the best that I'm familiar with, but it's a little pricey. I think I need to try somewhere that I haven't shopped at for cheese before, like maybe Mama Jean's. As an example, these are prices that I just found for Parmigiano Reggiano on a few sites:

Brown Derby: $24.89/lb

Target: $22.15/lb

Mama Jean's: $21.29/lb

Hy-Vee: $18.99/lb

Walmart: $18.61/lb

I use the one at Eagle Stop on Battlefield. Buying a wash when you fill up will lower gas by $0.20 per gallon. The wash price range is from $5 or $6 up to $10. I get the $8 wash, so it's costing me around $5.50-ish when factoring in the fuel discount. I don't know exactly how this compares to other touchless car washes in town, but I think it's probably a little less expensive than most when considering the discount on gas. FWIW, this station is unfortunately a big hangout spot for motorcycle douchebags.

Other options in town that I've never used are Patriot Auto Wash and Auto Spa.

Yes

If you've seen The X-Files episode "Humbug," it featured some of the same people.

Ticket Stub

I'm not really sure what my first live show was, but I was at that one, and it might have been my first concert without my parents present. Mustaine had some kind of problem with someone in the crowd and said something like, "Stop or I'll kick your ass. And if I can't kick your ass, then all of these people will kick your ass!" I had never heard of STP at the time either. IIRC, I was wearing a jean jacket with an "...And Justice for All" patch on the back. I was so young at the time, I don't think that I had even started smoking yet. I know that I was chainsmoking in there when Nine Inch Nails played at the Shrine a couple years later.

How is that a good example?? This stadium was BUILT privately, and now it is the CITY buying it for much less than the cost to build it. SMH.

ETA:

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/35149258/deal-finalized-divide-rams-settlement-money-st-louis

Based on what was said at the press conference, it sounded like that's almost certain to happen at some point in the future -- but probably not right away.

"One of the terms of the lease is that (changing the stadium's name) is possible in the future. The naming rights for the field would turn into capital projects to keep improving the field. If the name does change, we want to make sure the money goes toward improvements."

Yes, Springfield's $12 million purchase of an existing minor league ballpark [$32 million build cost; ~$50 million adjusted for inflation] and parking lot is definitely comparable to MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR stadium projects in other cities with "median public contribution of $500 million per sports stadium." Good catch, r/springfieldMO.

That was nice to hear, but the city was in very real danger of losing the team if they didn't buy the stadium. If someone didn't buy the park and upgrade it, then the Cardinals were going to move the team.

https://twitter.com/sgfcitizen/status/1620890263567859714

We had a massive snowfall during finals when I was in school there 20+ years ago, and they didn't cancel. It sucked; I lived miles from campus.

Springfield public made us go to school in an ice storm when I was in high school. Then they were like "wait... this was a bad idea," so they released us in the middle of the day, like that was going to make it better.

I've been pretty disappointed with it. ABC and FOX are still broadcasting in 720p. My NBC affiliate's 1080p broadcast has been so shitty and compressed that I flip to the old 1080i ATSC 1.0 broadcast.

That wasn't necessary for me with EEAAO; I watched this on opening night, and there was only one other person in the theater.

I've never heard of that. They automatically charge 18% (?) gratuity now, but I'm not aware of any other charges, and I assume that goes to wait staff. FWIW, I ran a credit card for the gratuity when using a coupon for free popcorn in October, but I tipped in cash because the waiter returned a receipt showing my total as $0.00. When I got home and checked my card history, they had charged gratuity to my card. I've had more problems with food service and billing there than I would expect from any ordinary restaurant. Also, the majority of my scanned Fandango QR codes have for some reason printed tickets for the wrong screenings at the box office. They switch screenings to different auditoriums a lot (which created some chaos on $3 movie day last year), and they completely canceled one of the last screenings that I purchased a ticket for.

AMC brought open caption screenings to a large number of theaters in late 2021.

OT, I avoided auditoriums 4 and 7 at Springfield 11 for years because the screens were damaged. However, I was forced to see something in 7 recently, and the screen was fine. So, they seem to have replaced those screens sometime in the past couple years. The projection has not been upgraded. I mostly go to Springfield 11, but the projection is better at Alamo and the Branson IMAX.

Alamo has finally adopted discounted ticket pricing on Tuesdays, although it's not as low as other chains: $7.00 + tax now. They have also effectively abandoned Victory Rewards. Springfield 11 Tuesday pricing is $5.49 + tax currently.

I haven't seen most of his movies, but if you'll accept a mini series as an answer, he's not a villain in the old and excellent Brideshead Revisited series.

I don't know anything about it, but 911 call history shows calls at 2:22, 3:07, and 4:28 PM for that location. Two are marked "SHOPLIFTING - CUSTODY."

I think I've only bought them online, but they're shown as available on the Mama Jean's website, so you should hopefully be able to get them there.

Bad storm, but at least it didn't happen again for... about a year.

I guess a lot of hotels won't rent rooms to locals. Apparently this (drunk?) person wants to rent a room, but they live nearby and can't find a hotel that will rent to them. It's legal for hotels to refuse to rent to anyone who lives within 40 miles of the hotel, according to this.

I haven't used Mint, but I recommend looking at Red Pocket if you want something more affordable. They have a range of annual prepaid plans from $30 to $360/year, and with most plans, you can choose your network. So, bring your own device, choose the network that you prefer, and choose the plan that works best for you. I've been with them for years.

https://www.ebay.com/str/redpocketstore?_sop=15

It was unquestionably the worst. But as someone else mentioned, it had some Fathom events and other screenings that aren't carried by our AMC or Alamo. So it was a nice option to have, even for people who didn't particularly like driving downtown to visit the shittiest multiplex in Springfield.

I very rarely enter the store, but I buy from them occasionally. Best Buy had a great system in place that allowed me to actually buy a PS5 within days of launch, unlike other shitty retailers that made it impossible and/or bundled the system with $500 of other shit that I didn't want to buy. Even Sony's own queue system was arguably worse, and I had already failed through that several times. You can get Tidal subscriptions through Best Buy almost for free, and I don't think there is anywhere else to do that (although that doesn't require visiting the store). They sometimes have good deals on movies, games, gift cards, and various other crap, mostly in November. I hardly bought anything from them in 2022, but I bought more in 2021 and prior years. I think it has been a little over a year since I actually went inside the store.