Ignisnex

Thanks. It's been a hell of a year. We went from pretty financially secure in July to basically unable to pay bills in December, and we haven't changed anything. Then the food bank put out a call that they have 5000 new visitors this year, on top of the 12000 regulars. If we're in the shit, then everyone below us is deeper in it, and need cash more than we do. Not sure how we're gonna pay for our little guy though, that set us back two months wages.

Our cat got a full urinary blockage, so we've been at the vet dealing with that. My mom's horse got colicky, and seems like she's got twisted guts, so she's been dealing with that. Dad broke his hip last week, and has developed a foot infection that he can't deal with properly, so he's been at the emergency clinic dealing with that. I got socks though, and I'm super jazzed about that. And donated a bunch of money to the food bank, so at least some people can eat today.

Wow that's a quick way to find out if someone pronounces it "Rooter" or "Rowter"

That is nuts. And so complicated! Healthcare here is far from perfect (and getting worse all the time!) but at least it's not that. How hard of a concept is it that if you're unwell, you just go to any hospital and get treatment? Good to know that I'd just straight up die in the states though.

So I'm trying to follow the misery in this thread, but I don't know what "in network" means. Is there some sort of intranet that hospitals and insurance companies use to bill each other? I don't get it.

Yea my dude. If your food containers get hot in a microwave, they are not microwave safe. Could melt your plastics or shatter your earthenware. Or just burn the shit out of you too I guess.

Cold, everytime. Eating something cool or at room temp - when that thing was at one time perfectly delicious before being chilled - means the flavour is still delicious, just not the right temp. You are never getting that steak back to medium rare after a 2 minute nuke. Plus you can eat it without the fear of burning your mouth.

I see the problem! My dude isn't grounded. Static electricity is a killer!

Change needs to be made somewhere. Gas isn't the answer, so sticking with it... Kinda stupid. The "saves on maintenance" part is actually a really big deal that was just glossed over. You don't need oil changes. You don't have a transmission. You don't need radiator fluid. With regenerative braking, you're not wearing down brake pads anywhere near as much. Not to mention the gas emissions reduction. These are all highly toxic materials that are not being consumed and distributed into the atmosphere. And which mines are being operated in third world countries? If you're referring to lithium, the largest producers are Australia, the USA, Chile and China. You know, some of the wealthiest countries on the planet.... And Chile.

Understandably, hand waving "public transit" as the answer does make sense. Designing urban centres in such a way to make public transit preferable makes sense. The problem is that these changes are slow. In 20 years, you'll have a few new suburbs built with these practices in mind. The majority of everything else will still be the same, because it's not feasible to bulldoze existing infrastructure to replace it. It'll need to be aged out, and climate change isn't gonna stop for 100 years and wait for us to get our road placement juuuuuust right. Further, adding more public transit is expensive, with a high up front cost, plus a high maintenance cost ongoing. Unless you dump enough money into it such that it completely replaces the need for private vehicles, there will always be private vehicles regardless.

But the greatest benefit to EV is the pollution is centralized. Making vehicles will always suck for the environment, full stop, but EVs allow the production and majority of the pollution to occur at a relatively small number of places, which can be contained much easier.

To be absolutely clear, I don't disagree with your point, but the answer won't come overnight, and we're on a time crunch. We need lots of innovation, and early adoption of incremental gains. One day, public transit and better cities will be part of the solution. But until then, we need solutions, and this is the direction to progress.

Different strokes for different folks. You do what you gotta do to enjoy life, and if you want to read or listen to audiobooks, I wish you all the best! My particular neuosis centers around definitions, and it's insane, and I know it is. For me, the whole "I want to read more so I listen to audiobooks" statement just hits me like "I want to eat bacon so I eat lettuce". Sure, they're both crunchy, but it's like... A totally different thing. If you want something crunchy (a metaphor for a good story or something), then say that, then the format doesn't matter! This is a strange hangup to have haha I'm going to bed.

No hate for audio books, but I think it's not comparable to reading. They are fundamentally different ways to get things in your brain, and they are handled differently. It's a different thing. Granted, if you want to experience a narrative or story, fine. But it's not reading. If you want to read, you look at words on a page. If you want to listen to an audio book, you do not want to read.

When I was doing a meal plan, my breakfast was oatmeal and egg whites microwaved together, with a pinch of Splenda. None of those things should have gone together. It was not good. They would have been much better separate, but I was in a hurry. Cinnamon helped.