Perma-banned, and the worst part is I’m not even sure why. I logged in while away on vacation, got hit with the ‘you’re logging in from an usual location, please confirm with an e-mail code’, and when I did that, boom, locked with no option to appeal.

I find some humor in that a robot decided I was a robot. Perhaps that will save me when the great robot uprising occurs?

A replacement PCV valve for my car.

Car was around 100,000 miles, figured it was a good time to do a big refresh & replace a bunch of stuff. Spark plugs, belts & hoses, fuel & air filters, fluids, etc etc… While I was at the parts store, guy suggested I also replace the PCV valve. But, it turned out the only one he had in stock was the store brand. $4, sure whatever. Got it home, took the factory one off the car, and sure enough it was gummed up kinda bad. But went to put the new one on, and it just about collapsed in my hands. It was so flimsy, kinda like a drinking straw. Ended up cleaning the factory one & putting it back on, threw the new one away.

Here are the Lyrics to Dead Kennedy’s “Kinky sex makes the world go round”. 1987. More relevant than ever.

https://www.elyrics.net/read/d/dead-kennedys-lyrics/kinky-sex-makes-the-world-go-_Round-lyrics.html

I’m having trouble due to the image size - can someone identify for me what size lumber he’s trying to haul? It looks like he’s got 2x4’s on the bottom and 4x4’s on the top (odd, but whatever). If they’re all 8’ long boards, that’s… sad. But they could easily be 12’ or 16’. If they’re 16’, hey that’s kinda cool - I will admit my truck would struggle.

Comrade.

My solution was pretty simple. I don’t go out to eat often. If I haven’t had fish in a while, well, hey, now I have an excuse not to cook.

Also mix it up. Try sushi, try a fish fry, try that fancy fish joint.

I believe it’s a combination of what others here are saying. We live in a world of near instant gratification, getting going on something that requires effort without an immediate payout feels too much like work.

FWIW, I find it helps tremendously to schedule a day / time in advance. For example, I spend the whole week looking forward to “Wrenching Wednesday” so I can go play with my cars. And I actually go do it now, which is something I couldn’t always say before.

We’re 4th graders, teacher stepped out for like half an hour. Comes back and we’re all playing instead of doing our classwork, because, duh, we’re like 9. Proceeds to punish the first 10 kids she sees. But then realized that’s not fair, so she lets the class vote on who caused the ‘problem’. I’m the fat kid, so naturally I get picked.

Any chance you can source your numbers? I tried to do the same calculation for my 18 year old gas car, and it came out a being a wash.

Finding hard numbers on the energy cost to build a new car was tough - the green sites showed the EV car poofed into the world with magic and butterflies, while the gas-centric sites made it sound like it took the entire world’s GDP to produce a single EV.

Also disheartening, the very few sites I could find that would list replacement costs for a battery pack had the price higher than the vehicle itself - IE, when the battery pack goes, you throw the car away & buy another one. That’s been a huge turnoff for me.

Not OP, but tire dust is a real problem. It’s one of those things we haven’t studied until very recently. It’s just gone under the radar because it’s easy to point at tailpipe emissions.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/tire-dust-makes-up-the-majority-of-ocean-microplastics-study-finds

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauriewinkless/2024/12/18/tires-shed-millions-of-tonnes-of-microplastics-into-the-environment/

Now are EVs worse? If we compare the same class of vehicle, EVs are going to be about 20% heavier, so yes, they’re going to create more tire dust. Is that worse than the tailpipe emissions from a gas vehicle? Probably not. But it’s deceptive to not include tire dust when comparing emissions between the two vehicle types.

Hmm… I don’t like these new cars with their touchscreens. I’ll just wait a few years for that fad to go away. Said me, around 2007.

No.

But to be clear, somewhere over the last 20 years it seems I’ve also fallen out of the middle class? I bought a new car fresh out of college, and then again about 10 years later. But I look at the price of new cars today, and they’re simply not a purchase I can afford. So, it looks like I’m not going to be buying any new cars anymore, Tesla or otherwise. That feels weird.

I was blown away when my die-hard Republican boomer dad said he thinks climate change is real. There’s a pond behind our house, and he can remember how big it used to get in the rainy season and how small it used to get in the dry season. Now, during the rainy season it comes up to the backdoor, and during the dry season it’s not there at all. If he can still trust his own eyes over what the TV tells him to think, maybe there’s still some hope for the world.

Go back in time and buy another 1997 F-150. The thing is an amazing example of do it simple & do it right, and it will last. But, it’s also close to 30 years old, nearly every system on it is showing the tell-tale signs of age. I would love to have an actual new one, it would last me the rest of my days. (On a happy note, I just finished putting a rebuilt motor in mine. So, here’s hoping for another 25+ years).

It saddens me that even if I could afford a new car at today’s prices, I don’t want what they’re making.

Probably not helpful, but for me I made a few changes to cut back on Cokes.

I keep the house stocked with overpriced waters and teas, and they’re in the front of the fridge so I see them first. I found I particularly like Snapple’s sugar free line. This took a lot of experimenting - be ready to spend a few months buying until you find ones you like. Don’t be shy about tossing the shitty ones either - there’s an amazing ‘variety’ of tastes here.

I also learned to make a few drinks I actually like. Right now I’m on a shaken iced tea - much like how a bartender shakes a mixed drink. Mostly just iced tea, but with a healthy splash of lemon juice, 4-6 frozen strawberries instead of ice, and sugar/sugar substitute to taste (about 1 teaspoon), then shake. Gives it a fruity-sweet flavor. And you get to eat strawberry slushies afterwards.

I do still keep Cokes in the house, but it’s the fancy glass bottle ones. They’re small and expensive, so I drink them in moderation. But simply having them in the house and knowing I can have one if the cravings really hit, somehow makes the cravings less frequent.

Just played Pauper a few weeks ago with some friends, and pulled out Paralyze as something old school & unique to throw at the group. At the time, I was thinking, hey, here’s a mechanic that I don’t think has ever been revisited. Not sure if I like it more in blue or in black, but the power creep bothers me. And yes, I know, this is small potatoes compared to some of the other shenanigans going on.

Posting in case anyone else didn’t know either. Harmonize is cast from Graveyard, and you can tap creatures to reduce the cost by 1. Had trouble finding it, as there’s also a card named “Harmonize”.

https://www.thegamer.com/magic-the-gathering-mtg-tarkir-dragonstorm-debut-roundup-mechanics-commander/

Heh, one of my favorite things to whine about is that there’s no mana dorks in red, so we have to run mana rocks & spells instead. Guess I need to pick up a couple of these & frame them. ;P

Came here to mention mincemeat. Good stuff.

For those of you who have never tried it - it’s mostly dark brown sugar, cinnamon, & raisins. But it has that fatty aftertaste you normally associate with bacon as well.

“The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.”

I attribute the quote wrong all the time, but today the internet says it’s from Julius Nyerere, who was a prime minister in Africa back in the 1960s.