• 21 Posts
  • 742 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 8th, 2023

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  • Work would freak out if I accepted a gift from a client. I’d probably be fired. Yet somehow, this is okay for servants of the public.

    Don’t forget to vote this November. We are stuck with these dickheads until they die or retire because we fucked up in 2016 and Trump installed these assholes in rapid succession after McConnell refused to let Obama seat a justice. I’d also really appreciate more of the capped prescriptions Biden has done, paying $35 a month instead of hundreds for insulin. If he can cap some other medications, we will be one step closer to universal healthcare.



  • If I were you, I’d grab an ebike before tariffs on them go up. It can be a major gamechanger in a city. Saves a lot of money on gas and parking fees if you just want to hit the beach/park/commute to work. Kicking myself for not buying one sooner. Radpower, Juiced, and Aventon have pretty affordable options, and my car has been pretty much left alone most of the spring and early summer.

    Grabbed one for $1,200 and have put 624 miles on it in the past three or so months.










  • Hard to quantify, but stuff like PrEP (a drug used to prevent HIV infection) has probably saved a staggering number of lives across the globe, same with the yearly influenza vaccines.

    For a more personal one?

    I’d say the innovations to bikes, which have been staggering since 2000. Downhill mountain bikes have had staggering changes that make them lighter, faster, stronger, and way more stable, and they look dramatically different to their 90s counterparts. Stuff like dropper posts, modern full suspension, tubeless tires, disc brakes, and massive cassettes make them incredible. You can roll over a cantaloupe-sized rock at 20mph and the bike will just take it without you being ejected over the bars.

    Ebikes have totally changed the calculus in hilly cities, even in flat ones to some extent. Being able to effortlessly bike 45 miles and not be totally thrashed the next day is such a gamechanger, it’s actually beyond belief. My car has been largely collecting dust because most trips day to day are under 45 miles. And it takes pennies to recharge vs $90 or so to refill the tank.

    Bikes already help take tons of cars off the road worldwide, but ebikes could really help extend people’s ranges, particularly if they would normally drive otherwise.


  • The decline is threefold:

    1. Agriculture is getting significantly more efficient. You don’t need 300 people do backbreaking labor for 12 hours a day in the beating sun anymore. We have automated threshers.

    2. Industries are shifting. We generally moved away from manufacturing and an extraction-based economy. (Though the former is recovering, thanks to Biden’s awesome investment plan)

    3. jobs are moving to cities, where there are more schools, hospitals, high paying jobs, and may be more resilient to climate change.

    Personally, I’d never ever consider moving anywhere rural for the aforementioned reasons, but also because rural americans are against my type family, and I don’t care to be the queer pioneer family for them to realize we aren’t so bad. I also never want to drive a car for a half hour+ for basic supplies or to see friends. It’s too lonely. We have rail and ebikes here. I can get to the store or a friend’s in less than 10 minutes.