Gopher and IRC.

If you’ve ever had trichinosis make sure they know to cook you thoroughly.

Yeah you understood correctly. Personal carts. Only folded up carts allowed on the bus. I can see I invited confusion, my bad. I was blaming grocery carts being taken from stores perhaps as a result of that bus policy.

Instead people (quite understandably) walk the carts home and then ditch them. So they have companies that drive around collecting shopping carts to return to stores.

I still snap my spaghetti in half and refuse to change my evil ways.

Another kitchen one. I always assumed the strongest water flow was closest to the faucet, but actually the water just about to hit the sink works better. This discovery has been useful for rinsing out things like cake icing tips and tea infusers.

Opening cereal/fruit/granola bars and similar foil wrappers. I would tear them on the serrated part and then only a sliver of the wrapper would come off and I’d have to try to widen the resulting hole in order to extract the bar, often crumbling part of it in the process. However, quite by accident I discovered that if I instead ignore the serration and tear against that foldy seam part that runs down the entire bar, then it separates right down the middle like magic and I can easily remove the bar. Often works on 8/16oz cheese too.

Nothing wrong with living in a rural area without much public transit where cars are necessary. I grew up in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and it was great. But I don’t remember many parking lots in the small towns. Often parking was the dirt in front of the store. I think the article is more focused on urban areas.

However, my vacation in Japan, and Tokyo in particular, reminds me of something. There I was in the largest city in the world, and certain places certainly were very busy and packed full of people. However, at the same time, there was a feeling of freedom of movement. Cars are supposed to represent freedom and independence, but being able to get places without needing to drive there at least for me felt way more free than being trapped in a car. We were walking everywhere, shopping, riding subways and trains and buses, and most of that was completely new to me (even the buses felt different because they were so much more competently run). Yet, at the same time, getting around felt completely natural and instantly comfortable. The stress of a busy train station doesn’t even come close to the stress of driving in rush hour traffic, and I don’t even live in that big a city. I’m mindful that I was a tourist and I wasn’t trying to get to work on time, but there is a human element and feeling of unity that just doesn’t exist driving in a car. And I never had to care about finding a parking spot.

And this might just be cultural, but even in a packed train completely surrounded by people on all sides, there was somehow a sense of privacy and ability to relax. It’s very hard to explain and it may just be one of those things that a person has to experience to understand.

The available greenery and parks were also enhanced and even in some ways felt more accessible because we would just be walking by and there one was ready to be enjoyed.

Again, not to try to take away from the rural experience, I get it. Just my thoughts that switching a dense urban area from cars to public transit, bicycling and walking can also greatly improve one’s experience.

I just realized I skipped the thought that led to my monologue: even if there are open parking spots, they aren’t very useful if they’re not close by, because people don’t want to walk.

One difficulty in switching away from entrenched car culture is that businesses are too few and too far apart. My e-bike can easily carry a week’s worth of groceries. If I didn’t have one, I’d either need to be lucky enough to live near the supermarket, or pay for a ride (cargo carts and such are not allowed on the bus). And, refilling my 3 and 5 gallon water bottles at a water station or someone needing a laundromat? Same problems. Gotta pay for a ride or pay for delivery, pay pay pay. In a car-centric city, you’re either paying to have a car or paying to not have a car. Whereas walkable cities have smaller stores that are close by.

I only have a mild one. Even though atheist, I briefly dated a Lutheran. She wanted me to come listen to a public event, where she would be singing christmas songs in her church choir. I decided to go to support her. Was a newly divorced dad and with toddlers. She knew this, but when I showed up there was no nursery or place for them to be. I guess in some churches you’re supposed to hire a babysitter for functions? Was news to me. So I did my best in a foyer (didn’t even enter the chapel) but eventually my kids got bored. Latecomers had overflowed into the foyer and people complained about them being noisy and started mobbing me, so we left. She dumped me because I guess they could briefly hear my kids from inside the chapel and it was considered disrespectful. So I had obviously violated their norms and was thus in the wrong, but at the same time if they couldn’t handle kids making noises at a public event then it was never going to work out, so it was all for the best.

So did your deflock day, unearned arrogance, and potty mouth make things better? Oh, it didn’t? Who could have possibly predicted that?

Proton Mail is already junky and slow yet I bought into the mission. I admit that I was fooled. Subscribed earlier this year until 2028, though, so I’ll be on this sinking ship for a while.

Nothing, of course. We are going to continue to be tracked and spied upon regardless. Anyone with a phone in their pocket is already being spied upon 24/7. So-called smart devices and security cameras have also been recording us for years. Even our TV sets are now recording audio.

But having a rallying cry is enough for some people who want to rage and break things to not feel as bad about committing crimes. Anything to avoid that cognitive dissonance. Same group of criminal losers that have been calling for political assassinations and that riot and destroy people’s property and businesses. There’s always an excuse, but they just want to kill and steal. Not actually to solve anything, just to satisfy themselves.

We might stop the surveillance state somehow, but not by following childish suggestions like OP’s that are nothing but pretext.

Agreed, they’re absolutely useful for more than just exercise. Even a non-cargo e-bike with a crate and panniers on the back can get a week’s worth of groceries or so.

And you don’t need to be an extreme athlete or have all the equipment, don’t need to compare your abilities to others, it’s not about weight loss, etc. There are fanatics, purists and gatekeepers in every area you can imagine, but just ignore all that. As long as heart rate is up, muscles are being used, and you’re not hurting yourself in the process: you’re good. And if you find exercise you actually enjoy rather than simply endure: even better. And don’t worry about setting goals. Goals will eventually happen automatically, and will probably change over time as well.

Personal example: For me it was an e-bike that finally got me moving. The boost of acceleration was addicting, the feeling of the wind at 25+ mph, and before I knew it I was pushing myself harder and harder, and on minimum assist. The cycling purists would say that I’m robbing myself by not riding a regular bike. But that completely misses the fact that I wouldn’t be riding at all if I wasn’t enjoying myself. And the gains are real.