[-] eclectic_electron 22 points 6 months ago

They even ambush me every time I go to the grocery store. And they've doubled my bill since I signed up. Why bother marketing when you can raise rates whenever you want? They could save so much money by not mailing every day and hiring people to hunt me

[-] eclectic_electron 19 points 6 months ago

I don't think chickens raised for meat live anywhere near 2 years. Yeah, a quick google shows around a 2 month harvest time for chickens raised for meat. That's a big part of why chickens are such amazing creatures and make such an affordable protein source, they can be sustainably* harvested year round. (Sustainably as in without decreasing the size of your flock.)

Laying hens are productive for two to three years. They rarely make it into the human food supply though, after that long the texture and flavor of the meat changes and American consumers don't prefer it. You can probably get them through a local butcher shop, though they might have to order it for you.

In a small and well managed flock, chickens can live 6 to 8 years. In the wild, I don't think modern chickens would exist at all. Ask anyone who's kept chickens, keeping the hawks and foxes and raccoons etc. out of them is a constant and eternal struggle.

[-] eclectic_electron 64 points 6 months ago

The article is pretty short so it's hard to tell, but I know in other cases there can be a significant difference between whether or not you say you're an engineer when you make these claims.

The term engineer is effectively a trademark controlled by a state licensing board. They want to protect the word engineer so it's clear to the public when someone is speaking as a professional licensed engineer vs not. Overall, this is a good thing and a direct response to specific and numerous very bad things that have happened in the past.

However, this has also resulted in some very awkward situations because the word engineer has almost become a genericized trademark in that there are many people who have the word engineer in their job title but do not have or need a professional engineer's license.

Based on the fact the guy won the case, I'm going to assume he wasn't substantially misrepresenting his qualifications. The headline is very sensationalized though and the article is lacking any detail, so I don't know how relevant this little anecdote is but I find it interesting.

[-] eclectic_electron 36 points 6 months ago

This is surprisingly difficult problem because different people are okay with different brand substitutions. Some people may want the cheapest butter regardless of brand, while others may only buy brand name.

For example my wife is okay with generic chex from some grocery stores but not others, but only likes brand names Cheerios. Walmart, Aldi, and Meijer generic cheese is interchangable, but brand name and Kroger brand cheese isn't acceptable.

Making a software system that can deal with all this is really hard. AI is probably the best bet, but it needs to be able to handle all this complexity to be useable, which is a lot of up front work

[-] eclectic_electron 22 points 6 months ago

Landlords take on risk. For example, when I rented an apartment, I came home one day to a plumbing disaster. I called emergency maintenance and left. The landlord fixed it and paid for my hotel in the meantime. As a home owner now, that would be entirely on me to figure out. I'm pretty handy, but I have no disrespect for someone who doesn't want to be responsible for that.

More importantly, selling a house costs about 10% of the value of the house, and the first few years of a mortgage you're mostly paying interest. If you move every 3 years, it's actually cheaper to rent than to buy. It's just that your money is going to a landlord instead of to banks and realtors.

So while I see your argument that landlords don't "deserve" the money they make, practically they're an important part of the housing market, and I respect people who make an informed decision to rent.

[-] eclectic_electron 14 points 6 months ago

You know that's not actually going to happen though. Maybe one in a hundred will get intercepted and saved at best.

[-] eclectic_electron 124 points 6 months ago

But the stadium will bring so much economic benefit to the city! Well get at least 4 new fast food restaurants hiring only minimum wage workers, and a small boost in hotel revenue!

Transit won't bring any return on investment. Only poor people use transit and they don't have any money. And if someone who has a car does use transit that's hurting the economy! Think of the poor gas station owners and car dealers!

/S /S /S /S /S

[-] eclectic_electron 17 points 7 months ago

Because they like having money? Running a university is legitimately very expensive and there's always more to do. I think it's more common with people who went to business school or became pro athletes, etc. They end up with very profitable careers and a fond recollection of their time in college. It's worth it to the university to ask almost everyone just in case, because sometimes they find that one whale alum.

[-] eclectic_electron 17 points 7 months ago

Polls are important especially in economics because people's opinions matter. Everyone thinking the economy is bad will cause a recession even if there isn't an economic reason for one otherwise.

[-] eclectic_electron 16 points 8 months ago

School budgets are paid out of city property taxes, which are mostly paid and voted on by old people who own homes with no mortgage and little chance of increasing their income. They also don't have young kids and are probably Republican.

They'd gouge their own eyes out before they'd vote to raise their own property taxes to pay for something that doesn't benefit them.

Ergo, schools are always underfunded.

[-] eclectic_electron 19 points 8 months ago

Anything that necessitates cleaning the knife, cutting board, and skillet is not lazy. Especially because in order to wash those things the sink has to be empty which means the dishes have to be done. That's a lot of pre and post reqs for "lazy".

Not that any of that is particularly hard. A meal with a chopped onion can certainly be fast and easy, but I couldn't argue that it's lazy.

[-] eclectic_electron 20 points 9 months ago

That list records 8 fatalities related to nuclear power in the US. All time.

Coal is responsible for more than 40. Per year. Just in my city.

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eclectic_electron

joined 9 months ago