I was in the rough carpentry game 20+ yrs ago so it’s been a while for me also. For the most part I think if you buy SPF you’re getting some sort of pine species. But it wasn’t super uncommon for us to find a couple dozen fir studs in a bundle.

Framing material in the US is called SPF, which means spruce pine fir. Any of those species may be used and they have similar enough engineering characteristics that they are interchangeable. Occasionally a building will be designed to use a specific species (southern yellow pine etc). But mostly we engineer stick built structures for SPF framing.

Sigh…

People who have enormous fame or import like miss swift can’t exactly travel public roads in an unmodified car from fucking Avis. Not only is fame a tremendous distraction on the road, but she is also a lightning rod for insane people who are known to be heavily armed.

I mentioned the president’s motorcade because she has some of the same problems. She and the president share security problems you don’t have. Those security problems have expensive and carbon intensive solutions. You’re not smarter than all the people who work on the problem. I promise.

Now, before you start name calling on the internet why don’t you flip that dog’s breakfast of yours into the on position.

How does car get to the place the jet landed? Another bigger jet full of cars? That’s how the presidential motorcade works. Seems really consumptive, but it’s one person who leads a nation of 350M, so it also doesn’t make me angry.

Meh, sometimes I drive places a really should have walked. Same shit different scale. I am not moved to anger by this. Eliminate fame or accept that it’s resource intensive.

I’m not sure I fully understand the criticism to be perfectly honest. Is it actually possible to have a mega pop star of that type without them having a more intensive carbon footprint? Like she can’t really fly commercially for a lot of reasons. Tour schedules are one thing but can you imagine the scene it would make?

Fame is really just letting one person, who we consider special for some reason, use the resources of many. They get to live an extravagant lifestyle and we get the cultural benefit their work.

Bottom line: private jet travel seems to me like a requirement of her job. I’m not about to sit here and shame everyone for the carbon output that their job requires of them. She is not some capital class, passive income, leech. The lady works.

FWIW, I don’t really think I could name or identify one of her songs. Everything I know about her is what bleeds through into my media sphere. She could be a real shitheal for all I know.

The length of a day is variable. You would have to update the second (and every unit derived fro It) after every big earthquake, and a thousand other events.

The solar system does not give a shit about your preference for base 10 numbers there will always be (roughly) 365.25 rotations per revolution and you don’t get a choice about that.

The real charlatans were the “the technology has promise” people. No, the technology was dumb.

It’s an interesting argument but I think it is stretching things too far. Also isn’t a little anthrocentric to assume that our relationships are unique and different than all other living things here.

A pine tree drops needs that are so acidic few other plants can grow near it. Is it damaging the ecosystem?

Our relationship with bovines is weird right. probably the most successful large mammals on earth. Their success is completely due to being a great machine for turning grass into human food. It’s symbiotic in a lot of ways: we clear pasture and kill predators for them, but also, we eat them. Great for the cows and us, sucks for the trees and wolves.

Ants and aphids have a similar relationship. Great for the ants, and the aphids, not so much for the plants.

If you want to conflate human economics with the natural world, you would have to admit that nature is the domain of the most ruthless of capitalists. Christ, the whole point of a lot of leftist thinking is that we must “rise above” our animalistic nature.

What annoys me about this meme is that it is the same relationship that underpins all business relationships. I understand you are not happy with the state of things but showing a drawing of “capitalism” at work in nature isn’t really making the point you think you are making.

This might as well be a pic of two guys in suits trading on a stock exchange floor with the same caption. Or add this to a caption to a pic of a lion eating a baby gazelle while its mother watches from the tree line. What point are we even trying to make here??

Criticism of Israel and Hamas seems pretty neutral. Praising Israel seems pretty Islamophobic and praising Hamas seems pretty antisemitic.

Halloween is more fun in your 20s without a doubt. Going out to bars and parties dressed in costumes is a blast. As a little kid, I liked both but I think Christmas was a bigger deal. As an adult with kids of my own, Halloween is all hassle no fun but Christmas is still fun

I like a feasting holiday, I love making all kinds of food and serving my family. Thanksgiving and Christmas are for me.

You could also do (lower prices) (better quality) and have consumers slapping the red button. People love that Walmart trash. Fill a whole house with garbage they don’t really need.

The prices they paid for that high quality stuff 50+yrs ago would make you gag. Of course grandmas iron still works she paid the equivalent of $150 for it.

Exactly. If it is practical and money can be made doing it, then continuous, ambient sound parsing will be the norm. Currently it seems like it’s not a valuable business. When it is valuable to them, they will add a checkbox somewhere in your account to disable it, and most people will not be bothered enough to look for it.

Man some of y’all are just wildin’ out.

YOU hired these people to keep secrets so that YOU could enjoy advantages over people from other nations. YOU spend a shit ton of money to make sure that they do a good job. YOU should be pissed when those things get leaked because your employees fucked up.

If you want us to be full disclosure with the Chinese and Russian governments (as well as everyone else). Start voting for that, and expect that your peers (other voters) are going to strongly disagree.

Why do you care? Seriously, think about it. Shitty products in every possible category come out everyday and it doesn’t bother you. You do need these products. if they don’t meet your standards, don’t buy them and move on with your life.

Like, you don’t need to get on line and act as thought you have been personal insulted when there is a moldy apple at the grocery store. Just leave it and keep shopping.

Granted I don’t exactly run in the conspicuous consumption crowd, so maybe I’m out of the loop. Cope Luwak was a thing I heard about in the late 90s but have never seen in the world, ever.

I suppose this is one of those products that has a reputation for being expensive so rich people buy it to flex and that creates some demand. Like gold pizzas or whatever other dumb shit gaudy nouveau riche assholes are doing to get attention.

I’m sure there are places in the world where you can forage the shits and have something unique, but I highly doubt that what makes its way to fintech bros in manhattan has any real value at all. Just a cruel gimmick.

What is that top image from? Why is he wearing a Michigan State shirt?