Earhart_Light's recent activity

  1. Comment on "Americans get screwed because they can’t read" in ~society

    Earhart_Light
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    The thing is, in modern law I don't think there's really such a thing as a loophole. The companies involved all donate to their favorite politicians, who then use corporate feedback when crafting...

    The thing is, in modern law I don't think there's really such a thing as a loophole. The companies involved all donate to their favorite politicians, who then use corporate feedback when crafting applicable laws. Which would be fine if everyone was agreed that the purpose of the laws was to protect people - but the laws wouldn't be needed if that was true. So the corporations deliberately push for seemingly-clear-sounding language that includes "loopholes" that they know they'll exploit later on, and the legislators know this but have been paid enough not to question things too closely. And if the corpos can't get enough of what they want, or there's pushback from the legislators, the corpos will astroturf a "citizen's response" to get what they want.

    When they were trying to roll out state-wide broadband in New Jersey a decade or two ago, the state sought feedback from the corporations on what was reasonable to include - after all, the corporations knew the technical requirements and stuff best, had been studying it for years and knew what was feasible. So the [?law ?contract] was written with the intent of requiring the winning company/corporation to be legally required to run FiOS to pretty much every household in the state, and Verizon won a (I think) $10,000,000,000 contract to do just that.

    And they got right to work on it, wiring all the easy, high-return, high-density areas and some of the county seats, and the state was pretty satisfied - until the roll-out slowed down noticeably a couple years later. So the state went to Verizon and said, "Hey, what's up, you're supposed to be wiring the rest of the state?", and Verizon turned around and said, "Read the [?law ?contract]. Technically, we're only required to wire the county seats of each county in New Jersey, not anything else. We''ll finish the county seats, but otherwise we're good where we are." And that's pretty much exactly what happened.

    Any time there's a chance for money to be made, or expenses to be avoided, there's going to be some corporation there, busily working to insert innocuos-sounding language that really means something entirely different.

    10 votes
  2. Comment on Advice for dealing with racist/pro-Donald Trump family? in ~health.mental

    Earhart_Light
    Link Parent
    I'm just thinking of those posts that show up sometimes, where the MAGA person is all "My children no longer talk to me, and they've never told me why" and then there's a bunch of probing and it...

    no matter how matter-of-factly you lay it out, they will refuse to comprehend it. You can send them a 10+ page document

    I'm just thinking of those posts that show up sometimes, where the MAGA person is all "My children no longer talk to me, and they've never told me why" and then there's a bunch of probing and it turns out that, yes, the kids did tell them why, repeatedly, but the MAGA never heard them. :(

    3 votes
  3. Comment on Why I’ve tracked every single piece of clothing I’ve worn for three years in ~life.style

    Earhart_Light
    Link Parent
    Yes! And I've been trying to figure that out. I did a kind of vague count of the total days worn by all the footwear and came out to 1280. Three years of days is 1095, so he's only wearing two...

    Yes! And I've been trying to figure that out. I did a kind of vague count of the total days worn by all the footwear and came out to 1280. Three years of days is 1095, so he's only wearing two pairs of shoes in a day like once every other week; most days, when he puts on his shoes for the day, that's what he wears.

    They say you should replace your sneakers every six to eight months for best support. The stuff in the "retired" column is between 49 and 102 wears - let's call it between 2 and 4 months - which is low. But -- they also say that you should replace them every 300 to 500 miles.

    Of the four pieces that are still in use and have over 100 wears (and assuming the pictures are correct), there's one set of outstanding sneakers, two pairs of leather shoes, and a pair of hiking boots. The hiking boots have been worn like 210 times in 3 years, or once every 5 days; that's a lot of hiking. If we extrapolate the retired sneakers and assume the writer retires their footwear based on miles worn, you get someone who runs 5 - 10 miles a day and who goes hiking on weekends.

    I'm still at a loss as to how t-shirts only last 20 wearing, though.

    3 votes
  4. Comment on IUD insertion is painful. For the first time, the CDC issued guidance for US physicians. in ~life.women

    Earhart_Light
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    Yeah, this one annoyed me - a lot. For decades, women have been complaining about this, only to be told that we're exaggerating, it's not that bad, we're being emotional, it's all in our heads....

    Yeah, this one annoyed me - a lot. For decades, women have been complaining about this, only to be told that we're exaggerating, it's not that bad, we're being emotional, it's all in our heads. Then, hey!!

    One study found that doctors regularly underestimate the pain that patients report experiencing.

    Great! We're going to get more pain options!! Yippee!!

    “When considering patient pain, it is important to recognize that the experience of pain is individualized and might be influenced by previous experiences including trauma and mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety,” according to the CDC’s guidance.

    Oh, it's all in our fucking heads again, is it?! #^&)(*%#&%_!!!!!!!!

    40 votes
  5. Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food

    Earhart_Light
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    I just got my farm share for the week and, based on what they gave me, it's going to be eggplant parmesan, twice-cooked cabbage, feta-crusted baked tomatoes, stuffed peppers, cinnamon-roasted...

    I just got my farm share for the week and, based on what they gave me, it's going to be eggplant parmesan, twice-cooked cabbage, feta-crusted baked tomatoes, stuffed peppers, cinnamon-roasted potatoes, salad and peach kuchen. We got a bunch of extra tomatoes due to the storm, so I'll make some marinara and some tomato paste either tonight or tomorrow, and I'll probably pickle the beets, beans, and okra at the same time. (The extra herbs get cleaned and frozen every week, then I dry them all in one big session at the end of the season.)

    1 vote
  6. Comment on Court says Andrew Tate can leave Romania but remain in EU as he awaits trial in ~tech

    Earhart_Light
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    Oh, he is absolutely going to flee somewhere - he said himself the reason he based himself in Romania was that it was so corrupt he could bribe his way out of anything there.

    Oh, he is absolutely going to flee somewhere - he said himself the reason he based himself in Romania was that it was so corrupt he could bribe his way out of anything there.

    12 votes
  7. Comment on How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment? in ~life

    Earhart_Light
    Link Parent
    The next time you're there, you might try asking the people at the farmer's market (the head farmers behind their stands, and the market people at the info desk) if they know of any CSAs either in...

    The next time you're there, you might try asking the people at the farmer's market (the head farmers behind their stands, and the market people at the info desk) if they know of any CSAs either in the area, or that deliver to the area - there are CSAs that deliver shares to local farm markets, or that have pick-up locations farther out from the farm.

  8. Comment on How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment? in ~life

    Earhart_Light
    Link Parent
    Yay for more CSA lovers! If the concept interests anyone, check around your local area. I'm really fortunate that where I live (in the Northeast US), there are CSA's for produce, but also meat,...

    Yay for more CSA lovers! If the concept interests anyone, check around your local area. I'm really fortunate that where I live (in the Northeast US), there are CSA's for produce, but also meat, eggs / dairy, grains, apples, and mushrooms! [TBH, I've only done the grains, apples, and mushrooms, but I've really enjoyed the variety!]

    3 votes
  9. Comment on How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment? in ~life

    Earhart_Light
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    Something I've been doing for quite a number of years is buying a farm share (CSA) each fall. It cuts out the middle-man, so the farmers get more money - and importantly, they get that money up...

    Something I've been doing for quite a number of years is buying a farm share (CSA) each fall. It cuts out the middle-man, so the farmers get more money - and importantly, they get that money up front, before the growing season, so they have money for their expenses and don't need to borrow from banks. As the crops come in, I get a certain share of it. If the harvest is good, I get extra stuff; and if the harvest isn't as good, well, things would have been expensive at the grocery store anyway.

    It cuts out the middle-man on the other end, as well: the stuff I get from my farm share was picked the previous day, at the peak of ripeness, instead of being picked earlier, shipped to a sorter, sorted graded and re-sorted, packaged, sent to a chain warehouse, sent to a store, and then put out for sale. The food that I get has more flavor, tends to last longer, and you usually get versions of things you often don't see in stores - heirloom or unusual varieties of produce. One CSA grew 14 different varieties of basil, another had 7 different types of corn (including popcorn-on-the-cob).

    My current CSA is $375 for ten large boxes of veggies during a 24-week growing season. I'd estimate the boxes to be a little under a bushel each, and I choose the weeks I want a box. It also comes with pick-your-own access for higher-manpower crops (for example, I might get 3 pints of strawberries, with a PYO option to pick 3 more pints), or for stuff that they have in large abundance (I usually stock up on peppers and tomatoes at the end of the summer). They also have PYO herbs. I probably get about 15-18 bushels of high-quality veggies for my money, so less than $25 for a really big box of veggies. Sometimes there are extras included outside the box as well - watermelons, pumpkins, canteloupe, honey, dried heirloom beans, etc.

    I get my farm share on Thursdays and Thursday night I sit in front of the tv, chopping, slicing, dicing, etc, put everything into storage containers. I also figure out what I want to do with the food. Friday night I go shopping for whatever bits and pieces I need for my recipes. Saturday morning, I spend an hour or two cooking large amounts of a couple meals - eggplant parmesan, 7-layer casserole, french onion soup, stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes, zucchini boats, etc, etc. Those get split into serving-sized portions, half of which are frozen (I usually have ~40 servings of 12-15 meals in the freezer at any given time), and the other half are eaten during the week.

    Sunday night, I sit down and make ten salads - one for lunch and dinner each day of the week. I'll vary the salads, so they're not all the same. Maybe I'll make a couple sweeter ones by including a little fruit (from a fruit cup, or dried fruit, or cutting up an apple) and using a sweeter dressing, maybe I'll make some a bit fiery with extra peppers and radishes and a more robust dressing, etc. Veggies go on the bottom, lettuce on the top so it doesn't get crushed, dressing in an old pill bottle on the side, and anything crispy like croutons or tortilla strips in a re-usable ziploc on the side.

    My goal with each box is to use up everything in those first few days. I don't always manage to include everything in a specific dish, so I do other things: I'll make strawberry preserves and stick them on the shelf, I'll make blueberry muffins or pancakes and freeze them, I'll pickle green beans and cabbage and beets and giardinieri, I'll make marinara or salsa and can it, I'll cook tomatoes down into cubes of tomato paste and freeze them, I'll slice/dice/mince onions, carrots, celery, garlic, etc, etc, and freeze them to be used as ingredients in future dishes.

    Once you get the hang of things, it doesn't take "much" time at all: I do all my prep work and package the salads in front of the tv, so I don't really count those as work time; cooking itself is usually 1-2 hours on Saturday and it results in almost all the meals I'll eat for the next couple weeks, specially designed around my tastes (don't want carrots in your pot pies? don't include them!), plus more for the winter. It also means that the meals I'm eating don't have all the extra chemicals and stuff they include in store-bought food, plus I'm not spending a bunch of money on, say, a pot pie that turns out to be 50% pie shell and 40% carrots and potatoes and gravy.

    When I look at it directly, yes, $375 is a lot for veggies. But it guarantees the farmers a sustainable income, provides me with a range of high-quality produce with more variety than I might otherwise eat, and gives me the base material for a range of home-cooked meals and snacks that I can eat throughout the year.

    11 votes
  10. Comment on How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment? in ~life

    Earhart_Light
    Link Parent
    Check with your theatre. Some places do volunteer ushering, where you show up an hour or so beforehand, show people to their seats, then sit and watch the play. Occasionally there's a little extra...

    Check with your theatre. Some places do volunteer ushering, where you show up an hour or so beforehand, show people to their seats, then sit and watch the play. Occasionally there's a little extra work, like putting a "Cast Substitutions" note into the playbill beforehand, or picking up spare playbills afterward, but it's a really affordable way to see a bunch of plays at theatres who do this sort of thing.

    5 votes
  11. Comment on Hey, monthly mystery commenters, what's up with the hit-and-runs? in ~tildes

    Earhart_Light
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    In the aftermath of rexxit, I applied to tildes (bc the discussion aspects are something I enjoy), kbin (as a possible rexxit alt), and re-joined imgur (gotta get my memes from somewhere!). kbin...

    In the aftermath of rexxit, I applied to tildes (bc the discussion aspects are something I enjoy), kbin (as a possible rexxit alt), and re-joined imgur (gotta get my memes from somewhere!). kbin approved me right away and it took several weeks for tildes, so I'd already joined communities and stuff over there, where a lot of my posting remains. I still check in here once or twice a month, and occasionally comment if the thread is still fresh, but I almost never get to any replies while they're still fresh and I generally don't necro topics.

    2 votes
  12. Comment on Reddit pops as much as 70% in NYSE debut after selling shares at top of range in ~tech

    Earhart_Light
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    The enshittification continues.

    Reddit is betting that data licensing could become a major source of revenue

    The enshittification continues.

    14 votes
  13. Comment on Israel’s ultra-Orthodox don’t serve in its armed forces. That’s getting harder than ever to justify and threatens Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. in ~humanities

    Earhart_Light
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    Right. Because that's what any country looks for in immigration: a very large, very insular, uneducated group who relies on government welfare and only wants to leave because they might be called...

    Today the Haredi community numbers some 1.2 million, more than 13 percent of Israel’s total population. And because this community has the highest birth rate in the country, its ranks will only swell. [...] Because Haredi men can maintain their military exemption only by remaining in seminaries until age 26, they rarely enter the workforce until late in life and lack the secular education to succeed in it. As a result, nearly half of the ultra-Orthodox community lives in poverty and relies on government welfare. [...] This past week, Yitzhak Yosef, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, declared that “if you force us to go to the army, we’ll all move abroad.”

    Right. Because that's what any country looks for in immigration: a very large, very insular, uneducated group who relies on government welfare and only wants to leave because they might be called upon to do their duty to the country that has provided for them all these decades. I can't imagine any country that would pass up this golden opportunity ...

    42 votes
  14. Comment on I'm thoroughly done with my choices being only "yes" or "not now" in ~tech

    Earhart_Light
    Link Parent
    OMG, thank you for this! Especially since it works on Firefox android, where I keep fat-fingering onto Shorts (grrr).

    There's an extension called youtube unhook

    OMG, thank you for this! Especially since it works on Firefox android, where I keep fat-fingering onto Shorts (grrr).

    2 votes
  15. Comment on What rooms would you deem necessary for a house, and how necessary are they? in ~life.home_improvement

    Earhart_Light
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    I think a lot of it depends on what type of person you are. Some people like having things visible or they find comfort in clutter and wouldn't much mind not having closets and storerooms; other...

    I think a lot of it depends on what type of person you are. Some people like having things visible or they find comfort in clutter and wouldn't much mind not having closets and storerooms; other people find it very distracting. Some people like minimal possessions, others like a lot of variety and comfort. Some people need lots of space, some don't; some are happy and safe outdoors; others have issues (asthma, bad neighborhoods). You need to define the things that are important to you.

    Myself, I mostly find a place within my price range and within a half hour or so of work, then work with what I have. If there's no closet, I might get a clothes rack or chifferobe or over-the-door hooks to hang the clothes I need to hang. If it's too cluttered-looking for my taste, I can put up a decorative screen in front of whatever is annoying my most; that kind of thing.

    I will say that the one thing that's important to me is sound. Lots of constant sound puts my nerves on edge. I need either a quiet neighborhood (or where the noise mostly happens on a regular basis, like the couple hours after school lets out), or good soundproofing. And yeah, I can wear noise-cancelling headphones and white noise machines, but that gets really tedious. So sound is actually the third thing I look at.

    I also find that, if I have two floors in a place, I tend to spend my time mostly on one floor, with the other floor existing mostly for either cooking or sleeping. It's nice to have everything on one floor.

    The number of rooms also depends on whether you live alone or with other people, whether you plan to have company over, and how neat you are (or how embarrassed you are when you're not neat). If you live alone, don't expect company and aren't bothered if there's a mess, then one room is fine. If you have company over and aren't neat/are embarrassed, it's nice to have a bedroom where you can be messy (or shove messes into) and just close the door when company comes over.

    Rooms? Start with one room, no barriers, everything is there in the open. What do you want to segregate off? First is probably the bathroom, for hygiene and vulnerability reasons.

    Second is probably the utility room. Now, things like the washer and dryer could easily be located in the bathroom, but you also have things like the hot water heater, and the main electrical panel and whatever HVAC arrangement you have, which are traditionally hidden off in a closet somewhere. You can easily make the utility room where you store the household cleaning supplies, somewhat dangerous chemicals that you want to keep separate, and a small set of tools - a vacuum cleaner or broom, household bug killer, drain cleaner, bleach, etc.

    The third and fourth areas to segregate are probably the kitchen and bedroom, though the order that occurs in will depend on the person. Some people hate having an open kitchen, others love it; some people love having a separate 'bedroom' area; others are perfectly content with daybeds or Murphy beds. But if you're designing or building from scratch, you can also achieve visual separation with architectural elements - a half-wall or island to separate the kitchen from the living room, for example, or making a small loft area for a bedroom.

  16. Comment on Google sued for negligence after man drove off collapsed bridge while following map directions in ~tech

    Earhart_Light
    Link Parent
    From the Sky News article someone posted above: So it looks like one of those "sue everyone potentially liable and let the law sort it out" suits.

    From the Sky News article someone posted above:

    The North Carolina State Patrol had said the bridge was not maintained by local or state officials, and the original developer's company had dissolved. The lawsuit names several private property management companies that it claims are responsible for the bridge and the adjoining land.

    So it looks like one of those "sue everyone potentially liable and let the law sort it out" suits.

    17 votes
  17. Comment on On this day in 1999 the moon was blown out of the Earth's orbit: Space 1999 in ~tv

    Earhart_Light
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    For anyone who's never seen it, you should check out "Message from Moonbase Alpha", which was created for the 1999 convention. It wraps up the series, and introduces an interesting paradox at the...

    For anyone who's never seen it, you should check out "Message from Moonbase Alpha", which was created for the 1999 convention. It wraps up the series, and introduces an interesting paradox at the same time :)

  18. Comment on Short(er) easy reading fantasy series that isn't YA or Discworld in ~books

  19. Comment on Michigan Republican fake elector for Donald Trump outlined Jan. 6 plan to present Mike Pence with "dueling electors" in December 2020 US radio interview in ~society

    Earhart_Light
    Link Parent
    Yeah, I don't care - they're still giving power and legitimacy to the national Republicans, and we know the direction the national Republicans are headed in. Or, as my grandad used to say:...

    many Republicans in the Midwest are mainly only interested in mundane technical issues like attracting business and keeping a balanced budget.

    Yeah, I don't care - they're still giving power and legitimacy to the national Republicans, and we know the direction the national Republicans are headed in.

    Or, as my grandad used to say: "There's a word to describe all the different Germans who went along with the Nazis because they were interested in improving the economy or providing jobs or focusing on internal issues or dampening crime or were working too hard to care, or any of a thousand other reasons.

    "You know what the word is? Nazi. History doesn't care what their reasons were, and neither do I."

    23 votes