My monthly cost of living, all-in, is $2000/month. It was a little more when I was raising my kid. And now, it's more than it would have been had we not had skyrocketing inflation for the past five years.
If that sounds low, it is. But, I'm old (60) and my mortgage, which is almost paid off, is, and has been for nearly 30 years, $800/mo.
I paid $6000 cash for my current car, nine years ago. Since then, it's been insurance, gas, oil changes, and one shop visit. Nothing like $1000/mo.
If you think I'm an outlier, I'm not. By definition, half of people pay less than the average.
If people didn't drive gas-fueled trucks and cars through the middle of cities, then the air would be cleaner, and the city would be quieter. But, people DO drive trucks and cars through cities, and the air is dirty, and the city is noisy.
No, I could not afford to live in a city with decent public transportation, and it has nothing to do with transportation. Nor, do I want to live in a big city, the way they are now, and are likely to be for the rest of my life.
You can hate me for being old and for any other reason you want to, but I sincerely hope you get to live as long as I have, and much longer than that.
Remember when Billy Clinton admitted he smoked pot in college, but "didn't inhale"? That's when accusations of drug use amongst political candidates became useless for ending their career. Everyone stopped caring about drug use, not to mention adultery, and a whole raft of other vices that would have been a death sentence just 10 or 15 years earlier.
I've not given a direct cent to Amazon, Facebook, or Windows in over ten years.
Apple? I have a iPhone 12 Mini. I dunno what my next phone will be, this one is still doing okay for now. But, probably, it will be either an Apple or an Android. I don't think I'm ready to try any of the other offerings, but since I only need basic functionality, I'll be looking at what's available when the time comes, with an eye toward avoiding Apple and Google.
"It is possible that the apparently non-pathological and potentially beneficial interactions between T. gondii and some of its intermediate hosts, such as rats and humans, are the result of co-evolutionary strategies that benefit, or at least do not harm, the fitness of both the parasite and the host," the researchers write.
I'm looking forward to reports of infection parties.
Ublock has always just worked for me? I mean, a couple of times YouTube did a thing, but then a day, or an hour later, Ublock fixed it. I'm referring to YouTube only.
Also, I run NoScript and choose whether I'm willing to allow a site to show me an ad, and slurp my data, in exchange for whatever is on the site that I think I want. Often, I get tired of allowing scripts one at a time until the content appears, and just close the site. Rarely, I'll bite the bullet and allow all, then go and wash my hands afterward.
Fewer than ten sites make up more than 90% of my viewing.
It would be tedious and annoying to watch a movie of real dialog. That's why there's so much editing in documentaries.
No, I don't think you want more realism in fictional writing. I've written two fiction books, and dialog is hard to get right, especially for characters very different from myself. When I first start, I don't know the characters well, and I get the dialog wrong. About 3/4 of the way through the book, I go back and rewrite a lot of the dialog because I know the characters better by then.
For me, the fascinating part about writing fiction is that I don't always know what the character is going to say, or do. I just have a general idea of what needs to happen in each section, but sometimes I'm surprised at the solutions they come up with. It really feels like I'm just an observer for parts of the process. They say what they say, and I write it down.
The worst thing that can happen while writing is to lose a conversation due to some technical reason. Because, I'll never be able to recreate it exactly as it was the first time. I just need to ask them again, and start over.
If you've never tried writing fiction, I recommend it. It doesn't need to be "good", and you never need to show it to anyone, but I think you'll learn a lot about yourself and how you see the world.
Electric buttons for door release sacrifice safety for coolness. And, maybe some convenience? There's no other reason to make car doors this way, it's just one more motor to fail when you hit 100,000 miles or whenever the warranty dies. Imagine what it would cost to fix this then, probably more than the car will be worth.
I switched to decaffeinated a couple of years ago, because of high blood pressure. I think I'll add caffeinated back for my first two cups in the morning and then decaffeinated for the rest of the day.
The most pronounced associated differences were observed with intake of approximately 2 to 3 cups per day of caffeinated coffee or 1 to 2 cups per day of tea.
My monthly cost of living, all-in, is $2000/month. It was a little more when I was raising my kid. And now, it's more than it would have been had we not had skyrocketing inflation for the past five years.
If that sounds low, it is. But, I'm old (60) and my mortgage, which is almost paid off, is, and has been for nearly 30 years, $800/mo.
I paid $6000 cash for my current car, nine years ago. Since then, it's been insurance, gas, oil changes, and one shop visit. Nothing like $1000/mo.
If you think I'm an outlier, I'm not. By definition, half of people pay less than the average.
If people didn't drive gas-fueled trucks and cars through the middle of cities, then the air would be cleaner, and the city would be quieter. But, people DO drive trucks and cars through cities, and the air is dirty, and the city is noisy.
No, I could not afford to live in a city with decent public transportation, and it has nothing to do with transportation. Nor, do I want to live in a big city, the way they are now, and are likely to be for the rest of my life.
You can hate me for being old and for any other reason you want to, but I sincerely hope you get to live as long as I have, and much longer than that.
And, yes, I agree, fuck cars.