I guess we can no longer have it "our way" at Burger King

[usagora]

Fine, but the thing is that some people, a LARGE number actually, Have No Choice! 'Food deserts' are real! People surrounded with no way to 'eat right'. Kids mercilessly advertised to demand HFCS laced 'food' and drinks. Sunny-D should be labeled toxic! It's total crap! How many 'fruit juice' containers announce 0% fruit juice? Or way less than 99%.

The crap that is out there that people are almost literally forced to eat is heartless, cruel. No wonder the world is getting fatter, AND 'American food' is sold around the world, and is often made dramatically more healthful in countries that require it. People carp about the EU, but they are putting the screw to the corporations pushing diet busting crap on people in their countries. It's real... America has a 'food' problem. It's more a delivery system for diabetes and obesity, and too many people have no choice.

As the other poster mentioned, the main thing is the calories. So if for some reason you're being forced to eat fast food for every meal, then you need to look up how many calories you need (based on your age, height, current weight, and activity level) to either maintain your current weight or lose weight (if needed) and stick to that. I actually use what they call a "zig-zag" calorie plan to maintain my weight. Here's the calculator I use:

Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs

www.freedieting.com

Hint: if you're using up your entire daily calories on one fast food meal (which is easy to do if you don't count calories), you're going to have trouble!

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Oh cry me a river. People always have a choice. Nobody's fault if they make the "easy" choices but their own.

Here is why people get fat: they eat more calories than they burn. It's not magic. It's not rocket science. If you eat at McDonald's every day, because somehow, that is the only place you can find food, then you should be running there and back, rather than driving a car. After you eat, go for a 20 mile run. Problem solved.

But when the 'food' you eat has increased in calories over the years, you would have to be a whole lot more 'busy' than in the past. It's true that 'food' has increased in calories. And regards to physical exercise, I am always amazed and comforted to see so many people walking their cities when I have visited other countries. Montreal for example, people walk all over their city. Speed limits are highly controlled so walking is really pretty safe. People even walk to public transportation, and much more people bike to work and shopping. Burlington Vermont was an awesome vacation. Many stores had huge bike lockers for people that rode to the store, and ride to work. But many cities almost openly discourage people walking and riding bikes. Manhattan blows me away because even though it's a HUGE city, there are many bikers and some fantastic places to ride/run/walk. My own home city has half hearted 'bike lanes', and yet the neighboring city has them all over the place, and has several large bike rail trails.

People will walk/ride if it's safe and they can get where they want to doing it, even if it involves public transportation. *shrug* People that have gained a lot of weight also fight joint problems exacerbated by their weight. It's a hard thing to get back into, being mobile. But you are right, people are lazy. Some people, you just can't save. So why try?

*shrug*

 

[monstermash]

As the other poster mentioned, the main thing is the calories. So if for some reason you're being forced to eat fast food for every meal, then you need to look up how many calories you need (based on your age, height, current weight, and activity level) to either maintain your current weight or lose weight (if needed) and stick to that. I actually use what they call a "zig-zag" calorie plan to maintain my weight. Here's the calculator I use:

Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs

www.freedieting.com

Hint: if you're using up your entire daily calories on one fast food meal (which is easy to do if you don't count calories), you're going to have trouble!

Another hint. Most fast food places offer SALAD. Very low calories. And guess what? You're not required to put salad dressing on it either. You can even get it without cheese!!! You don't even have to get that 55 gallon drum of soda either. You can drink WATER!! The original zero calorie drink.

So it is ENTIRELY POSSIBLE to go to virtually any modern fast food place and get something to eat that isn't a 3000 calorie meal.

 

[usagora]

You might not care about data collection but some of us do and try to minimize who has said data. I'd rather protect my data, as best I can, versus get free fries from McDs.

Please explain to me why the McDonald's App needs:

• Location Data: Chances are they just scan a code on the phone to record your purchase so their internal systems would know what location you are purchasing from yet for some reason the app needs to record identifiable location data? How much location data is it storing? Just purchase locations or others during the day if the app is open?
• Browsing history: why does the app need to know you were on apple.com earlier in the day?
• Search history: why does the app need to know you searched for info on Honda cars earlier in the day?
• Contact info: why do they need to know my physical address, email address? I just want a ***** sandwich?

Unfortunately the average person never reads the fine print and they are commonly amazed at the level of data collection taking place when told about it.

YMMV but it is certainly not just about "McDonalds knows I like their crappy sausage McMuffin with no egg and crappy hash browns". Ever read about Facebook ghost profiles? Don't have to be on Facebook for them to collect data on you.

The Chick-Fil-A app, for example, uses your location to know when you've arrived at their store (after placing a mobile order) so they automatically start preparing your food. And obviously contact info is needed for just about any account you create nowadays, especially when financial transactions are involved, so I'm not sure why that surprises you. As for browsing/search history, I have absolutely ZERO fear that these major companies are doing anything other than targeted advertising. But you can also simply close any apps in question when you're not using them if you're paranoid about it.

 

[usagora]

Another hint. Most fast food places offer SALAD. Very low calories. And guess what? You're not required to put salad dressing on it either. You can even get it without cheese!!! You don't even have to get that 55 gallon drum of soda either. You can drink WATER!! The original zero calorie drink

So it is ENTIRELY POSSIBLE to go to virtually any modern fast food place and get something to eat that isn't a 3000 calorie meal.

Exactly. Or you can just use some of the dressing (which is what I do . . . nothing grosser to me than a salad swimming in dressing anyway--yuck!). And that's what I like about these mobile apps--it makes it easy to customize meals at your leisure rather than trying to give all these details at the counter/speaker and then hoping they're understanding you.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

As the other poster mentioned, the main thing is the calories. So if for some reason you're being forced to eat fast food for every meal, then you need to look up how many calories you need (based on your age, height, current weight, and activity level) to either maintain your current weight or lose weight (if needed) and stick to that. I actually use what they call a "zig-zag" calorie plan to maintain my weight. Here's the calculator I use:

Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs

www.freedieting.com

Hint: if you're using up your entire daily calories on one fast food meal (which is easy to do if you don't count calories), you're going to have trouble!

A key indication: Outback Steakhouse has (had? a menu item called 'The Awesome Blossom'. It's a deep fried huge onion that as I remember is covered with what looks like a gallon of liquid cheese and salt, grease and gorp. The calories in that one 'appetizer' is more than the daily calorie needs of everyone except farm animals. I was sickened to see how many people would order that hot mess and eat the whole thing, and an entree AND pound down a few beers/wine AND a dessert! YIKES!!! And the company behind them refused to list their nutrition information. I don't know what happened after that because I stopped going there completely years ago. I tried to order a 'healthy dinner' there once and was told that they didn't serve 'dry' veggies, and also couldn't serve salmon without what looked like a whole stick of butter melted on it. I finally got it 'my way', and it was so much better.

I got used to ordering food at 'sit down' restaurants 'my way', and also didn't eat all of it (American portions have exploded over the years too) and lost weight. But try that at a 'fast food' joint. You get what you get, and will like it.

 

[monstermash]

Celebrating this thread. I just placed a order at Wendy's and I'm gonna go get it. Added bonus, I got a free large fries with the app!! Now they can use all these data to destroy my life. Oh, woe is me, woe is me!

 

[usagora]

I got used to ordering food at 'sit down' restaurants 'my way', and also didn't eat all of it (American portions have exploded over the years too) and lost weight. But try that at a 'fast food' joint. You get what you get, and will like it.

This is simply incorrect. I can customize pretty much anything on fast food meals I order through their mobile apps.

 

[icanhazmac]

I have absolutely ZERO fear that these major companies are doing anything other than targeted advertising.

Then why were a good number of large corporations apps caught scraping the clipboard when iOS 14 was in beta?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/linkedin-sued-for-reading-universal-clipboard-data.2245397/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/reddit-to-release-fix-for-ios-app-to-remove-clipboard-copying-behavior.2244523/

TikTok says it will stop accessing clipboard content on iOS devices

The company says it’s submitted an update to the App Store

www.theverge.com

Tons of news apps caught unnecessarily snooping on iPhone clipboard

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, and scores of other apps may have accessed your passwords and other copy and pasted data.

www.inputmag.com

Naked Security – Sophos News

nakedsecurity.sophos.com

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/tiktok-app-to-stop-accessing-user-clipboards-after-being-caught-in-the-act-by-ios-14.2243024/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/tiktok-app-to-stop-accessing-user-clipboards-after-being-caught-in-the-act-by-ios-14.2243024/page-3?post=28609077#post-28609077

 

[icanhazmac]

I have absolutely ZERO fear that these major companies are doing anything other than targeted advertising.

FTC Accuses Data Broker of Selling Sensitive Location Data

Federal regulators have sued a data broker they accuse of selling sensitive geolocation data from millions of mobile devices.

www.usnews.com

How companies are using cell phone data

The exact same data that is used to predict traffic patterns can also be used to predict other kinds of information – information people might not be comfortable with revealing.

msutoday.msu.edu

Data Brokers — The 4,000 Companies That Are Selling Your Data

This article is based on mePrism’s podcast series–a conversation between Tom Daly, founder of mePrism and Will McKissick, Head of Strategy…

medium.com

There’s a Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data – The Markup

A huge but little-known industry has cropped up around monetizing people’s movements

themarkup.org

 

[usagora]

Then why were a good number of large corporations apps caught scraping the clipboard when iOS 14 was in beta?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/linkedin-sued-for-reading-universal-clipboard-data.2245397/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/reddit-to-release-fix-for-ios-app-to-remove-clipboard-copying-behavior.2244523/

TikTok says it will stop accessing clipboard content on iOS devices

The company says it’s submitted an update to the App Store

www.theverge.com

Tons of news apps caught unnecessarily snooping on iPhone clipboard

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, and scores of other apps may have accessed your passwords and other copy and pasted data.

www.inputmag.com

Naked Security – Sophos News

nakedsecurity.sophos.com

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/tiktok-app-to-stop-accessing-user-clipboards-after-being-caught-in-the-act-by-ios-14.2243024/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/tiktok-app-to-stop-accessing-user-clipboards-after-being-caught-in-the-act-by-ios-14.2243024/page-3?post=28609077#post-28609077

And if you actually read those stories, it's clear that either these issues were bugs or--if not--that the intent was not malicious. I mean think about it--why would any of these huge companies risk their entire business to try to maliciously gather user data? Do you think they're hurting for money and are just dying to get your bank info and passwords so they can transfer a few thousand dollars to their account? Come on. Stop buying into the assumptions, hype, and fear mongering that too often surround these sorts of stories.

 

[icanhazmac]

And if you actually read those stories, it's clear that either these issues were bugs or--if not--that the intent was not malicious. I mean think about it--why would any of these huge companies risk their entire business to try to maliciously gather user data? Do you think they're hurting for money and are just dying to get your bank info and passwords so they can transfer a few thousand dollars to their account? Come on. Stop buying into the assumptions and hype and fear mongering that too often surround these sorts of stories.

Ok, its obvious that you implicitly trust all the corporations. Have fun with that and enjoy.

 

[usagora]

Ok, its obvious that you implicitly trust all the corporations. Have fun with that and enjoy.

I've been having "fun" and "enjoying" it all my adult life, and so far no ill has befallen me. I guess I'm just incredibly lucky 🤣

 

[icanhazmac]

I guess I'm just incredibly lucky

Yes, apparently you have been. I have not been so lucky and through no fault of my own. See post #48

it's clear that either these issues were bugs or--if not--that the intent was not malicious

What did you expect them to say? You really think they all had the same "bug"?

I mean think about it--why would any of these huge companies risk their entire business to try to maliciously gather user data?

They weren't risking anything, they got caught taking advantage of the clipboard in an unintended way and all of them quickly fixed their "bug". Do you really believe that all of those major corporations apps had the same "bug"? That is just willful ignorance. That many developer eyes didn't miss that "bug" across that many major apps.

Do you think they're hurting for money and are just dying to get your bank info and passwords so they can transfer a few thousand dollars to their account?

No, of course not, but if they collect the data what happens to it? What are the retention policies? What happens when they are hacked? Or don't major corporations get hacked?

Come on. Stop buying into the assumptions, hype, and fear mongering that too often surround these sorts of stories.

I don't feel that being prudent about what information I put out there is buying into fear mongering. I use Apple pay whenever possible because it limits my financial info to just 1 processor, is that buying into fear mongering or just being smart about the choices I make?

 

[macsplusmacs]

Now I feel like a hamburger for dinner.

 

[monstermash]

Now I feel like a hamburger for dinner.

Like someone is eating you?

 

[monstermash]

But when the 'food' you eat has increased in calories over the years, you would have to be a whole lot more 'busy' than in the past. It's true that 'food' has increased in calories. And regards to physical exercise, I am always amazed and comforted to see so many people walking their cities when I have visited other countries. Montreal for example, people walk all over their city. Speed limits are highly controlled so walking is really pretty safe. People even walk to public transportation, and much more people bike to work and shopping. Burlington Vermont was an awesome vacation. Many stores had huge bike lockers for people that rode to the store, and ride to work. But many cities almost openly discourage people walking and riding bikes. Manhattan blows me away because even though it's a HUGE city, there are many bikers and some fantastic places to ride/run/walk. My own home city has half hearted 'bike lanes', and yet the neighboring city has them all over the place, and has several large bike rail trails.

People will walk/ride if it's safe and they can get where they want to doing it, even if it involves public transportation. *shrug* People that have gained a lot of weight also fight joint problems exacerbated by their weight. It's a hard thing to get back into, being mobile. But you are right, people are lazy. Some people, you just can't save. So why try?

*shrug*

With tight speed limits, it's probably just as fast to walk, so may as well save on gas money.

 

[usagora]

Yes, apparently you have been. I have not been so lucky and through no fault of my own. See post #48



What did you expect them to say? You really think they all had the same "bug"?



They weren't risking anything, they got caught taking advantage of the clipboard in an unintended way and all of them quickly fixed their "bug". Do you really believe that all of those major corporations apps had the same "bug"? That is just willful ignorance. That many developer eyes didn't miss that "bug" across that many major apps.



No, of course not, but if they collect the data what happens to it? What are the retention policies? What happens when they are hacked? Or don't major corporations get hacked?



I don't feel that being prudent about what information I put out there is buying into fear mongering. I use Apple pay whenever possible because it limits my financial info to just 1 processor, is that buying into fear mongering or just being smart about the choices I make?

Or maybe it's that you've been incredibly unlucky.

They didn't all say it was a bug. TikTok, for example, said it was intended to combat spammers.

I understand your concern about others (hackers) accessing such data, but my contention was with your original assertion that these companies themselves are using "spyware" (they're not). What you really mean is that you don't like that they collect certain data. Fair enough--then just don't use those apps (and I take it you don't) or just completely quit them when you're done using them. Others like I have no qualms about it and are getting along just fine. Could something bad potentially happen if they retain certain data and are hacked? Yes. Life is basically a collection of compromises we make between security/privacy and convenience.

My "fear mongering" comment was in connection with assuming these companies were up to something nefarious.

 

[monstermash]

I would love it if someone could figure out a way to suggest to me stuff I would actually want to buy or bring to my attention. I mean, for real. Most of the stuff suggested to me is stuff I would NEVER buy. How they come up with their crap suggestions is beyond me. They clearly need more data. I would be happy to give it to them if they could deliver relevant suggestions for stuff. Hell, I would PAY for such a service...maybe as much as $100/year. Call it "Amazon Prime Plus" or something.

Just because I looked at new cars doesn't mean I'm buying one.

I have plenty of headphones. Stop suggesting them.

Not in the market for a tablet. Stop suggesting those too.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[macsplusmacs]

And some fries and onion rings to go with it.

 

[compwiz1202]

I fear I have turned into my father. At 50+ years old, these places just rub me the wrong way from all ends.

• Fast food drive-throughs are now the slowest way to get your food, not the fastest.
• Fast food is now significantly more expensive than just buying the same items and cooking them yourself, and often times more expensive than a decent sit-down restaurant when you're talking about a family of 3 or more.
• Good or bad, you used to be able to count on consistency with regard to the food. That hasn't been the case in years. I've always been a sucker for McDonald's French fries—but anymore, depending on the location and time of day, you can get either end of the spectrum.
• Forcing me to get a software engineering degree to figure out how to use an order kiosk inside a store is just beyond me. More often than not, I see an employee having to stand in the lobby next to the kiosk to actually place people's order for them because the stupid machines are too difficult to use. It's a cost-saving thing, I get it. But is it really saving anything if they have to pay someone to use it for their customers, and it takes more time than just walking up to a register and saying "two cheeseburgers, small fry, that's it."

There are other reasons (such as "I'm getting older and fast-food just ain't good for ya") that I don't get fast food very often, but the main reason is that it's just too expensive for what you get. And Burger King has always been more expensive than most similar fast-food burger joints. I'm actually surprised they're still around as much as they are.

All that stuff is true, and it has nothing to do with our age. All companies care about is $$$$. They don't take any pride in their work anymore. When I worked at McD 30 or so years ago, we had average DT times of UNDER ONE MINUTE. All kinds of awards and smack talk to the losing stores. Now you're lucky to get acknowledged at the speaker in less than a minute

 

[compwiz1202]

To each their own. My go-to is large pan extra pepperoni extra marinara. I don't like any other crusts except the pan crust.

Yea I've never had a bad PH Pizza. I just wish they would stop ending eat in everywhere that is fast. Hardly ever do DT anymore because $$$, time, and you're lucky to get a correct fresh order most of the time.

 

[compwiz1202]

The Chick-Fil-A app, for example, uses your location to know when you've arrived at their store (after placing a mobile order) so they automatically start preparing your food. And obviously contact info is needed for just about any account you create nowadays, especially when financial transactions are involved, so I'm not sure why that surprises you. As for browsing/search history, I have absolutely ZERO fear that these major companies are doing anything other than targeted advertising. But you can also simply close any apps in question when you're not using them if you're paranoid about it.

That's the one thing I don't understand about Target now. They used to use the GPS to know you were there. Now they have stupid signs with space #s. Why?? One time when it was the old way, the woman was waiting with the bag. I opened the window, took the bag, and drove off in less than five seconds. The other disadvantage is you can't pull through the spaces anymore, so you have to back out, which is way less safe in a busy parking lot.

 

[usagora]

That's the one thing I don't understand about Target now. They used to use the GPS to know you were there. Now they have stupid signs with space #s. Why?? One time when it was the old way, the woman was waiting with the bag. I opened the window, took the bag, and drove off in less than five seconds. The other disadvantage is you can't pull through the spaces anymore, so you have to back out, which is way less safe in a busy parking lot.

I've never done curbside pickup at Target, but it's the same thing at Chick-Fil-A. They have about 25 numbered spaces and you still have to let them know which space you're in once the app has detected you've arrived. I'm sure they'd still find you if you didn't, but it just makes it easier for them when it's so crowded.

 

[usagora]

Yea I've never had a bad PH Pizza. I just wish they would stop ending eat in everywhere that is fast. Hardly ever do DT anymore because $$$, time, and you're lucky to get a correct fresh order most of the time.

Thankfully I have a Pizza Hut 1 mile from my house. It's a dine-in one, but I always just pick it up at the drive-thru and eat at home. Always hot out of the oven when I arrive, but I'm sure it varies with location (obviously yours isn't as great).