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pusher_robot

PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS

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joined 2022 September 04 23:45:12 UTC 

				
User ID: 278


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
pusher_robot


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 23:45:12 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 278


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 2, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Firstly the choice to want an EV in the first place is purely virtue signalling - nobody I know ever justified it with anything other than highfalutin saving-the-planet rhetoric




This really is way out of date.  For a lot of people in cities and suburbs, 99% of driving tasks are within a hundred miles or so of home and an EV provides lower TCO, the more so the more miles you drive.  It especially makes sense for a family that already has an ICE car to use for road trips.  I am even aware of militia-adjacent preppers that are high on EVs due to being able to fully sustain them off the grid.


I personally will probably want to replace my 2012 Fusion at some point in the next few years and am waffling between EV or ICE.  I don't tend to drive a lot of miles so TCO is probably a wash unless gas prices go way up, but the raw performance of electric and idea of being able to "refuel" in my own garage is really appealing.  Having to charge on road trips is the biggest downside.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Housing is a natural investment vehicle for two reasons:


    

  1. It's an asset that is likely to hold its value over a long time, and
    2. 

  2. As an investment asset, it provides you housing for "free".
    3. 



In other words, while property is not a completely safe investment, it's a relatively safe one (if you're smart about it), and unlike other relatively safe investments like index funds and treasury bonds, you can live in it. Notably, it doesn't need to greatly increase in value for this dynamic to be controlling. That's just a quirk of certain spots becoming much more highly desirable.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 1, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Are you talking about social Darwinism?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The year is 2050.  Mass unemployment has been forestalled by government revenue per employee maximums.  Practically speaking, this means the vast majority of jobs are sinecures, but the social prestige of being sinecured to a particular firm or brand has skyrocketed in value, and likewise the PR cost of sinecured associates can potentially be Bud-Light-level apocalyptic.  As a result, sinecures at highly-desirable firms often take on substantial relations efforts on behalf of the firm for free, both to maintain their sinecure, acquire additional sinecures, and potentially rake in social media influencer consulting fees), but also to increase the social prestige of the firm overall, and by proxy, themselves.  Having multiple sinecures is possible for people who are motivated to do things that increase brand value or mindshare, and people with exceptional social desirability may acquire many more.  Income supplementation via gig work will still be possible for things that can't be done as well by computers and robots or require the human touch, though naturally the returns will be low since the supply is huge.  Of course, anyone with valuable sinecures must be on good behavior in public, for bringing disrepute or negative reaction to the firm will mean instant termination, and potential blackballing.


Those who have been blackballed or otherwise unable to merit a sinecure on the basis of their social worthiness must provide by going and doing actual labor, probably many hours of grinding gig work, or finding a valuable contracting niche.  Most actual work below executive level done at the firms is performed by independent contractors, who supplement their sinecures (if they have one) with hourly contracting fees.  And of course, there's always welfare, but which only provides at sustenance levels.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


women gaining ever more status and wealth




And weight


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A noteworthy exception, but a Crown possession in living memory, and possibly not scalable past city-state.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
"Helps" not really in any formal sense.  Republican Congressmen are not actually in thrall to Trump to the degree you seem to think.  He got very little from the Republican Congress his first term (not even border wall funding!) and seems likely to get little from them his second term either.  Key members have interests more or less orthogonal to Trump's.  He could possibly pound the table and demand legislation, but I'm skeptical how much it would move the needle - after all, Congressmen are not elected nationally.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If it is indeed hopeless, than we can at long last dispense with the concept of building anything for the future.  Loot what you can, while you can.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Under Article I, legislation must be passed by Congress.  The President only has the power to veto or not.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I mean, plenty of Asians preferred living in the US (where they were a minority) to living in Asia, because by and large, being an ethnic minority is not that bad a deal in the US.




I think there's a reasonable fear that the "being an ethnic minority is not that bad a deal in the US" is only the case because of the unusual and ahistoric forbearance of the existing ethnic majority.  There's a disquieting dearth of places friendly to ethnic minorities that are not run by white people.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 23, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have been using Pop! OS on laptops that don't support Windows 11. It seems nice.


Just a caution to the OP though: I've been down this road a few times, and family members did not really appreciate the benefits of Linux compared to the hassle of not being able to use the Windows apps they are used to. Even the ones I thought for sure only used web and email. In every case, I ended up having to abandon the effort.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 19, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Maybe you're thinking of Biden? https://youtube.com/watch?v=ciwyYnwYFaQ?si=nEANKgR7xGw6h2Vk


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 12, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I agree with this. It would be far less troubling to just slide the hotel clerk a few bucks and ask if they have any scarves that haven't been claimed for a long time.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Tinker Tuesday for May 13, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've used https://www.taydaelectronics.com for a few projects and found them to have a limited but pretty useful inventory at very reasonable prices, aimed at hobbyists rather than manufacturers.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It prominently features the iconic Windows 95 startup sound famously created by Brian Eno on commission from Microsoft.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If you're a Millennial, this Windows 95 theme ambient track is probably pretty nostalgic.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Atmosphere does actually absorb a lot of radiation.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A Martian settlement would not be a sealed system without inputs or outputs, so the example of the biosphere projects is less relevant than, say, the ISS.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This doesn't make sense to me.  Building and operating resort hotels is largely orthogonal to colonization settlement, especially where (as in the case of Mount Whitney and Antarctica) the insurmountable obstacles are legal, not technological.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 30, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Did you parboil?  The one thing I find a little tough about brats is that if you are grilling from cold, it can be a challenging to make sure they are fully cooked before the outside over-chars.  I usually parboil the brats prior to grilling, in a bath of light lager and sliced onions.  That way, they're fully cooked when you put them on the grill, and the only thing you have to worry about is imparting the grill flavor and getting the perfect char on the outside for your tastes.  As a bonus, you can drop them right back in the beer bath to keep warm, and they stay nice and juicy for hours.  And, the onions go great on top.


Agree that a gas grill is really just a gas range that happens to be outside instead of in your kitchen. No comparison.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Tinker Tuesday for April 29, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not replacing the outer stops, which are rather rough and still have some old paint. The new window pushes up against it from the inside, so the caulk would, I guess, create a seal between the stop and the window. Granted, I'll  also caulk between the edge of the stop and the window on the outside so maybe it's not that necessary anyways. It's just what the installation instructions say to do.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Tinker Tuesday for April 29, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Working on replacing a couple of the hundred year old double hung windows in my house. Not really that challenging as far as home improvement projects go, if you order prefab vinyl pocket replacements. But I'm at the point now of being ready to install the new windows and am wondering is there is a better way to seal it on the outer stop than applying a thick bead of caulk and then working fast as hell to shim it true and square as is reasonably possible in such an old house.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 25, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Haha, same.  I've been getting by with Polo RL Blue since I was a teenager.  Question for afficionados - if you wear high-complexity scents on the daily, do you forgo underarm deodorant entirely? Or use unscented?  It seems to me that they are often sufficiently strong to at least compete with if not overpower more nuanced scents.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Zorbathustrians, perhaps


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Wisconsin has open court records, so you can view the case details here: https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2025CM000814&countyNo=40&index=0&mode=details#summary. It does indeed appear to be three charges of misdemeanor battery.