Wait, you said a 1x can have a similar range, and then immediately followed up with:

you do have to sacrifice either a bit of top end speed or climbing ability

It is impossible for both statements to be true at the same time.

The root cause of what you describe is a build or maintenance issue. Properly built, tuned, and maintained bikes don’t drop chains.

Bicycle drivetrains keep getting more complex and expensive. A 3x9 drivetrain is beyond adequate, bulletproof, and inexpensive. But NooOoOoOooo, it’s nearly impossible to get a quality bike with 3x9 now, without a full custom, DIY build. Everything has to be 1x11/12, which is expensive, touchy, and very particular, all while still lacking the gear range of 3x9.

It all seriously sticks in my craw.

That’s your example of softcore porn? There’s much racier content on magazine covers in the grocery checkout line. Stop trying to impose your puritanical aesthetic on the rest of the world. It’s called /all for a reason. What’s wrong with you?!

I see a lot of “For the PR” comments. This is only a fraction of why ads are purchased by utilities, large companies, and other entities with whom you never directly do business. The overarching reason they purchase ads is to have influence over narratives by those networks.

Source: used to develop software in the energy sector for a multinational; my employer and their corporate customers regularly bought ads to help bolster energy efficiency initiatives. These initiatives and interventions are frequently countered and opposed by exactly the corporate dickwads you think would oppose reduced consumer energy consumption.

• The United States is a righteous, fair, and just country.
• Success and a comfortable life necessarily followed hard, diligent, smart work
• Adults, by virtue of having been around longer, necessarily knew more and knew better than I.
• Socialism bad.
• All kids get beaten on a daily basis for transgressions such as a B grade on their paper, a speck of food still stuck to the dishes after washing, or for listening to music on the radio that their parents didn’t like.

Oh, yup! I totally missed the approximately sign.

Except… that it doesn’t. Serious question: am I OOTL on a joke?

Edit: I totally missed that it was an approximately sign. Derp.

I had a partner with genital HSV-1. YMMV, but in general:

• No BFD; the stigma of HSV is the result of a marketing campaign in the 70s (not 100% on the date) by a company selling HSV treatments
• Be honest and inform your prospective partners; yeah, some people who haven’t done the reading are going to react negatively
• Antiviral treatments are available; the one my partner was a daily pill
• In eight years of unprotected sex with her, she never had an outbreak and I test negative
• You may never have another outbreak, you may have regular flare-ups, or something in between
• Talk to your doctor and any take all of my previous comments like the Internet rumor it is

I love when someone writes a pleasant “this is my experience and what worked for me.” And then people downvote. ITT some real night owl/daywalker tension. :D

Just to add some crunchy bits to the batter, your circadian rhythms will most likely shift as you age. For example, I used to be hardcore night owl, and couldn’t imagine my life ever going differently. Then I couldn’t do it anymore and managed to become a second-shifter. Now I’m all about getting in bed early and up early.

Your point is spot-on. Fully agreed: modern dishwashers are way more energy- and water-efficient than manually washing dishes. Like at least an order of magnitude.

I personally struggle with this one for different reasons. Energy and water consumption are a very tight concern since I live on a sailboat. I can’t just crank the tap to get more water. Marine health is also a concern since, ya know, it’s all around me, and I eat some of these critters around my boat. Surfactants in detergent are deeply problematic in the environment and are not removed by most wastewater treatment. Moreover, surfactants impede wastewater treatment because of the emulsification interfere with aerobic treatment (Poland seems to be actively working on the problem). FWIW, manual dish detergent also has surfactants, especially SDS/SLS, so manual washing is not a panacea.

I don’t think there is a “right” answer to be had. But it sticks in my craw both ways.

She didn’t change; she finally revealed herself. In short, her attachment type is anxious-avoidant. That shit burns down everything around it. She was jealous AND cheating, which was just rich given that we were ENM/poly. I was so busy with life, work, and my sailboat that I only had romantic bandwidth for her.

I am forever changed. I went on an intensive therapeutic and introspective journey. Anxious-avoidant people can be immensely attractive anxious attachment types like me. I identified that in myself, addressed my own life traumas, and developed my personal boundaries. These days, I’m less poly, more monogamish. I approached dating with explicitly defined intentions and must-haves, rather than just random chance. I found the partner of my dreams, and we’re about to celebrate eight years together.

Early on, there were mutual warning signs, but we both thought we had the tools to face any challenges. As I mentioned, I had poor boundaries, which now would put an immediate end to any such bullshit.

What can I offer now?

• Learn Attachment Theory and know yourself
• Read John Gottman books before and all during your relationships
• Get professional therapeutic help; CBT, DBT, EFT… you might already have all the tools, but a good therapist will teach how to use them in integration
• Learn non-violent communication and/or take a workshop; this will provide massive return on investment in all aspects of your life
• Practice meditation and mindfulness; also pays dividends everywhere

Electric murder racquet FTW! Mosquitoes and houseflies don’t stand a chance.

Whenever even a slight amount of water flows, it spins. Shut off all the faucets and spigots, and it should not move. If it moves, you have a leak.

Oh, it’s unreal. You probably know this, but for anyone else reading the thread: water meters have a leak indicator. On analog meters, it’s a small spinning indicator; it could be a dial, needle, or just a spinning icon.

Humorous on face value, but that’s not what utility companies do. In every utility district I ever lived (and it’s a lot), if the meter readers were “unable” to read your meter, the consumption was estimated.

I had many conflicts about this because I traveled a lot for work and knew that there was no possible way I could have consumed as much electricity as they estimated. It turned it that meter readers could just claim the meter was inaccessible, and their job was considered completed.

Ah, yeah, that makes way more sense. TIL mirror wrap is a thing.

If this is real and setting aside the steaming pile that is the Cybertruck… The effort required to polish that much stainless steel to that level of finish is astounding.

Poor taste but amazing execution!

Depends on which context in which you’re interested. Internet? Hm… For the refit part and thinking through/designing for all of these factors, maybe The Duracell Project (https://www.youtube.com/@TheDuracellProject/videos). Most of the people I know actually doing this stuff are… actually doing it. There’s not a lot of time and bandwidth to create an accessible internet resource. And the seriously salty folk, most of them barely have email. Among my sailing peers, I’m the most technologically capable, and that’s not saying much. :D We tend to eschew the high tech that invariably will let us down when we most need it. Much of seafaring knowledge and skills are born from hard experience and sitting around getting drunk with old salts, which is its own kind of hard experience. :D

You start small, push the limits, break shit, find fixes in order get back to port, and find what works for you with what you have at hand. Anything you couldn’t fix, you go to your marina neighbors or the internet to find jury-rigs for that specific failure mode. In your day-to-day life, learning some basic knots, how to make whoopie slings and soft shackles with Dyneema, wilderness first aid, wilderness first responder training, even basic disaster preparedness all help change your perspective on how you approach your day. For example, drilling for natural disaster response, at least for me, shifts my mindset into a “what could go wrong,” “what are the failure modes of [this critical component]” way of thinking. These are aspects you can explore without a boat or having wilderness nearby.

I haven’t watched a lot of her stuff, but Wind Hippie Sailing (https://www.youtube.com/@WindHippieSailing/videos) is a seriously badass solo dirtbagger (not a pejorative; it’s technical term cribbed from rock climbing). Solo sailors are a breed apart and a few steps above the rest of us salty dogs who have crew.

Downloaded to my Kiwix app or installed on phone/tablet and mirrored across a bunch of backup devices:

• 100 Rabbits
• Ready.gov
• Animated Knots
• U.S. Army Ranger Handbook (hard to ignore 200 years of military refinement)
• Survival Manual (sadly no longer available)

Now if you’re okay with books, lots of great resources there.

• “Sailing Alone Around the World” by Joshua Slocum
• “Sailing a Serious Ocean” by John Kretschmer
• “Cruising in Serrafyn,” “The Self Sufficient Sailor,” “The Capable Cruiser” by Larry and Lyn Pardey; hell, almost all of their books are great reads; they sailed the world for decades with almost no electric and no engine
• "Where There Is No Doctor and “Where There Is No Dentist,” Hesperian Health Guides
• “Annapolis Book of Seamanship” by John Rousmaniere
• Just about anything by Fatty Goodlander, funny stories on the dirtbagging lifestyle

Let me know if you any additional questions. Happy to share.

Edit to add: Practical Sailor (https://www.practical-sailor.com/), a great internet resource . JFC, how did I forget that?!

The diarrhea is going to be one of the biggest challenges. The differences is food, parasite/microbiota challenges… dehydration and acclimating to the local food supply are going to present problems.