I’m going to download the uber app when I’m not on some miserably slow internet connection and do the math, because I’m curious if it’s cheaper or not.

Right now, worst case scenario is if I have to drive my Samurai to work. It gets ~20 mpg. With insurance and gas and maintainence put together I’m spending about $4.13 to drive to work for one day.

$1300 for 6 months of car insurance

Yikes. I pay $1400 for six months of car insurance on two cars, both of which have comp, collision, and uninsured motorist coverage.

Those are fine. The fucking cars are ok too, I’m just tired.

Stop trying to make hubless wheels work. A normal bicycle wheel is stronger, lighter, simpler, and the bearings only have to handle the lower speed at the center of the wheel, instead of the speed found closer to the rim.

I’m going to guess they are terrified and excited and just yelling random cop noises.

My wife and I tried to plant a vegetable garden last year, it was our second try after learning some things the previous year. We got a lot of veggies out of it and had a lot of fun. We weren’t so interested in saving money, we were more worried about bare shelves at the grocery store. We also have a few chickens.

We are going to make it even better this year.

My new year’s resolution this year is to figure out how to build a generator capable of putting out at least 200w. The trick is, I want something that doesn’t require a manufactured fuel to run. Solar or wind are obvious options, but I have also considered a steam engine or wood gas engine.

I think food riots are just a few years off, really. Maybe when enough stock is stolen and enough stores trashed they will learn, but I expect they will try to be heavy handed, sending in the local WalMart Defense Team (a.k.a. the police force closest to a given walmart) to handle it, but there are definitely going to be problems with that considering some people go to walmart armed.

Money people are literally too stupid to understand anything other than line go up or line go down. They were told line would go up if DRM, so that’s what they want.

Oh just what I need more evidence.

I dunno, I kinda like Pithy Folk Ignorance.

The Isuzu N-trucks are much larger than my F150.

I have an F150, but believe me, I tried to go another way. A van wasn’t ideal, because I need something that has an open cargo area, unless the idea of carrying a van full of manure, dirt, or compost seems like a good idea.

What I wanted to get was one of the little kei trucks, espeically a Suzuki Carry, but at the time I couldn’t find one in running condition for less than $25k, and I wasn’t going to pay that, especially when I found a base model F150 with 81,000 miles for $12k. The market may have changed in the past two years, but I have the truck now and it would be silly to waste the time and energy to sell it and find a kei truck.

Neither the truck or the bike were very expensive… both of them together were about half the price of a base model new truck.

I have a truck that I use to move large, dirty, or awkward things for a small farm… but to commute to work I ride a motorcycle. The bike gets better gas mileage, looks cooler, is easier to park, and is considerably cheaper than a new truck.

I don’t see how much data can be recovered from broken, bent pieces. If you’re really concerned, you can use a torch to raise a magnetic platter until it glows, this raises it above it’s curie temperature so all the magnetic particles stop being magnetic.

I like to take the hard drive(s) out and either drill holes in them or beat them to pieces with a big hammer.

Dear old Dad worked in IT, and he had a clearly marked “hard drive eraser”. It was a 20 pound sledgehammer.

My wife and I tried it this year, and we ended up with a lot of food from a spot ~110 m² in size. We also have a couple of chickens, they are mostly pets that eat ticks and clear the ground while giving us eggs.

I say we need more backyard farms.

First of all, disclaimer, I’m just a random weirdo on the internet. I don’t have a law degree, I’m not a politician. I’m probably naked and masturbating while writing this.

Are we going to have a Civil War 2: Now With More F150’s where it’s the north vs the south? No.

Are we going to reach a point where the US sort of falls apart into separate little countries after a lot of unpleasantness? I’m not as confident in saying “No”.

I think what will happen first is less “civil war” and more “societal collapse”. There are very few places in the US where someone can rent an apartment by themselves, and have a decent life with nice hobbies, while only having one income. Buying a house by yourself is even farther out of reach.

But I am noticing something that is a lot closer to everyone than real estate: food is getting expensive. A hamburger at a fast food joint used to be a quick and cheap, although not healthy, way to get lunch, but now a combo meal basically anywhere is $15. For one person. So cook at home, right? Ignoring the difficulties of cooking for oneself after working both jobs, or working all day at one job, that isn’t much cheaper. Making a healthy meal for yourself and your family is a skill that not everyone has, and groceries aren’t cheap either. I think the first thing that is going to happen is going to be mass food theft, followed by food riots. It’s already starting in fact, how many memes have popped up with variations on the saying “If you see someone stealing food, no you didn’t”? Stealing food from a large company is acceptable for a lot of people. With rising COL, we will approach a point where a majority of people cannot afford food, and food isn’t a house or a shiny new car. Food isn’t a choice.

There will be hysterical articles in NYT about how these poor struggling retailers are losing SO MUCH money (but not really) from theft, and you’ll start seeing two squad cars parked outside of every grocery store and walmart - even in “nice” areas.

And that’s where things will start to escalate. Not everyone likes police now, and seeing a neighbor thrown on the ground and arrested, if not just killed, in walmart because she was trying to get food for her family isn’t going to make them more popular. One or two cops cannot fend off everyone in a walmart. Oh, the cops have guns? That’s adorable, so do some people in a walmart. Political feelings about police won’t matter when it’s your stomach growling, when it’s your children going hungry.

I expect this would be the point where food would get locked up, only distributed by employees. Which would make it cost more, and more time consuming to acquire. There will be lines. There will also be people who will grow food - but not everyone can do that, and I’m cynical enough to think that some locales will pass laws against “backyard farming” in the name of “food safety”, pushed by grocery stores trying to get that extra .025% profit this quarter.

What will happen once people can’t get food, will be the local PD being completely unable to enforce anything.

Remember that it’s bread AND circuses.

It was half the price of the next cheapest truck on the lot, and the next cheapest truck had twice the miles. But the next cheapest truck had all the whiz-bang fancy electronics, instead of being four wheels and a truck bed.

The Suzuki Carry is the one I really wanted. I’ve a soft spot for tiny suzuki vehicles.

Every time I mention not being able to find one in early 2022, people come along to show me where I can get one now. The issue was, I couldn’t find one when I needed it.