• 18 Posts
  • 555 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 8th, 2023

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  • Even just food aside, we use so much plastic for things like LED light bulb packaging, toys, packing materials like bubble wrap and air bags, monobags for clothes, plastic shrink wrap or uncuttable plastics at hardware stores, markets, etc.

    Like, outside of sterile single use plastics for keeping needles clean at the doctor, and maybe certain biohazards like raw meat juice, we don’t really need most plastics in consumer applications. Balsa wood, cardboard, metals, glass, rubber, paper, and waxed paper can do much of the heavy lifting.


  • While true, it’s way better better for a power source to be inefficient than all consumers using inefficient/dirty appliances.

    Once the aging coal plant is decommissioned in favor of a new nuclear reactor in a state like Wyoming, anyone using stuff like electric water heaters, heatpumps or electric bikes/buses/cars/scooters is instantly using 100% renewable power.

    Even in screwed up states like Texas, there is so much load on the grid (and the fact they cannot buy power from other states) means that cheap solar panels, battery storage and wind are way faster to put up than expensive methane/natural gas generators.








  • Really depends on where you go! Certain parts feel safer, other parts feel less safe (or less comfortable to walk through safely). I’m not going to name names, as I’ve only been to various countries for a bit at a time, it would be unfair to pass judgement on entire nations based off a small experience.

    The public transit is usually a cut above. Some of the driving feels dangerous. The food prices are somewhat expensive, but the food is generally less UPF-laced.

    The more relaxed culture around nudity is refreshing. The lack of large, wild parks is a bit disappointing (or perhaps we missed these entirely), but various nations seem to be catching on to rewilding. The history is fascinating, and europeans generally think much more long-term than Americans, but the bad blood also runs deep, which is a little worrying. I’m glad the EU keeps everyone together.

    Overall, it’s fun to visit, it generally feels safe, cultured, and the transit is very great, particularly the train systems. It has it’s problems just like other places in Africa, North America, and Central America.

    If I had to live in a non-english speaking country, I’d probably pick Spain. Wonderful people, great transit, a relaxed culture, and excellent food, though France and Germany give Spain a run for their money on several of these points.









  • You can do a whole house RO system if you really care, but you need to be mindful that it can have serious downsides if the RO water sits in the pipes for too long while you are away from your house (Bad bacteria).

    RO removes everything- the minerals that help your mouth healthy, the chlorine or chloramine inhibiting bacterial growth in your pipes, heavy metals and microplastics and PFAS that could be in the water (though this is null and void if your housepipes are plastic or lead or treated with PFAS)

    …generally, unless you are living with extremely dangerous water, or you have massive aquariums that need more than a kiddie pool of water a week, you don’t need RO systems.