So, I don’t know what 3/4’s of those pictographs on the chart mean. Am I in the wrong place?

Do you want to pay for the heating and cooling of a bunch of those tanks out of your pocket? Or even the cost of upkeep to keep the tanks clean?

Yeah, those are going to last at -40F/-40C nights we often experience where I live. Nor do I see them being able to add any cool relief from their shade on a hot day.

That said, it is hard to grow healthy trees in the poisoned soils of a big city. They tend to struggle and be sickly when choked by concrete and asphalt.

Turn signals are cool. But let’s ignore the fact I live in a very rural area and there is often no one within miles of me when driving. In that case, who am I going to signal to? That suicidal deer in the ditch? That’s the last SOB I want to have any clue about where I’m going. But anywhere I meet or see traffic I do use them. And definitely the once a month trip I make to a real town.

I do not, as a rule, place any great amount of faith in turn signals. And that paranoia has saved me more than once. Far too often I have seen a driver with a turn signal blinking merrily blow past me either straight ahead or turn in the opposite direction. Had I believed those signals, I would have been tee-boned.

The only thing I believe in is the direction your steer tires are turned. Turns out your vehicle will go in the direction they are pointing. Any of you new drivers, this is an excellent safe driving tip. Pay attention to the steer tires. Those tires will tell you the truth about the real intentions of another driver.

In any case always remember-- it’s just as easy to be dead being dead right as it is being dead wrong. Be safe out there…

Well, at least they are building the new phone from recycled materials…

And having your house warm enough to fish in your underwear while drinking said beer and fishing.

Yep, just like Kleenex, or Xerox, (a faded term for mimeograph/photocopy), Google has become a generic verb/term for search in virtually every language now. To google something is synonymous with search. It no longer implies a specific search engine. (I use Ghostery private search myself). Google has lost the war on their name and “It’s a Good Thing^tm”

But there does seem to be a greater amount of “search entitlement” these days for even the easiest of problems. People as a very general rule don’t seem to want to be bothered by the need to learn things on their own. They expect others to provide them all the answers in an effortless format.

I’ve even provided detailed answers to people on some ‘life threat level’ activities that were rejected because I didn’t simply reaffirm their ignorant and misguided thoughts in looking for shortcut answers.

When I spent a few years teaching in the local school, one thing I taught was a class on Design and 3D printing. The VERY first thing I always had to teach was “how to use a mouse” before I could even begin to start teaching CAD modeling.

I swear, smart phones and touch screens are a curse and pox on humanity.

Short answer is No. It suffers from many of the same issues of echo chamber, bias, and bullying. Just on a somewhat smaller scale due to fewer users. And never forget - Winter is coming. There will be a time in the future the bots will notice lemmee and come for it also.

But I suspect this is all a human thing. We are a contentious bunch at best and down right hateful at worst. We build communities only to poison and kill them in the end.

Thanks! Turned that BS off right now!

Japan still has a higher density of population and far less landmass to cover. My nearest neighbor is over a mile away. Are you going to build a bus route or light rail just for me? Or through county, state, and federal forest lands? Logistics is a bitch.

Yep. I live the same life in a very rural and somewhat remote area also. Population density is very low making modern conveniences non-existent and not ever likely to exist in such places.

Other things to consider: Kids often ride a school bus for an hour or more to and from school. Nearest hospital is 40 miles away. And it’s a Level 3. This means it’s pretty much a bandaid station. I used to work as a medic up here. The number of times I had to literally turn the lights on in the ER and wait for the doctor to get out of bed and drive to the hospital would shock you. Nearest ambulance is 20 miles away and you better hope they aren’t already busy when you dial 911. Because if they are, it could be several hours before they can get to you. The US Postal Service will NOT deliver mail to my home. I need to pay $160 a year for a post office box, (no free delivery for me!), and drive the 12 mile round trip to town, (Pop: 150), just to get my mail.

So how does rail solve the Last Mile problem? It does no good to say “take the train” if the nearest train station is 60 miles away. And is it the best use of a train to run tracks to a town/village with a population 150 people or less?

Someone wasn’t listening when they were supposed to learn the Golden Rules of EMS -

‘You are there to be a part of the solution. Don’t become part of the problem.’

And for those that are wondering about the rest of the rules:

‘If you think you understand what is going on, you haven’t been paying attention’

‘PPE! All the time, every time!’

And finally - ‘…into the recovery position - Always roll the patient towards you partner so you don’t get puked on.’

Applesauce is considered a substitute of oil when baking. There was a time that applesauce was cheaper and easier to come by than cooking oils. It’s been done for a very long time.

Yep. Applesauce can be used as a replacement for oil in cakes and some quick breads. I’ve done it on the rare occasion I’ve been short of cooking oil for a cake. Don’t think I’ve ever swapped it in for all the oil though. It does give a bit different texture and flavor, I find it kind of pleasant myself. And youy will need to probably bake the cake for a bit longer too. YMMV based on your oven.

I personally would not use applesauce to fry in though. But perhaps Flying Squid’s mother should experiment for use and they can report back to us on the results.

You are surprised? We argued over tomatoes being a fruit or vegetable and if they are a vegetable, then ketchup must count as a serving of vegetable. So the argument over tacos and burritos being a sandwich only surprises me in that fact it took so long to argue about it in court.

Still faster than the 286 with math co-processor that I started with at home.

folks here are ready to join a violent uprising at any moment if the banner is right

They are right up until it’s their time to bleed.

While a baby is more laundry than you are used to, try having 4 teen-aged Daughters in the house.

I swear the washer and drier ran 24/7 from when then oldest hit about 12 years old until the youngest moved out for collage. I went from needing to wash kids clothes to repairing the washers and driers they went through. I even needed to take my own clothes to the laundromat in town 6 miles away so I could have clean clothes more than once…