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BilboBallbins

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BilboBallbins ,

Sadly, what it means in practice is that access to outdoors is strictly controlled or forbidden, and the factory will probably kill all the chickens and throw them in the trash if a disease outbreaks. There’s a bunch of talk now in big ag about biosecurity, and how small farms are a risk because they can introduce disease. How about actually have a natural farm instead of a micromanaged industrial operation, and then maybe the animals will be robust to illness.

US sues Amazon.com for breaking antitrust law and harming consumers (www.reuters.com)

WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.com (AMZN.O) on Tuesday, charging the online retailer with harming consumers through higher prices in the latest U.S. government legal action aimed at breaking Big Tech’s dominance of the internet....

BilboBallbins ,

I’ve completely switched to eBay for most purchases. Yes they are also a giant company, but more focused on used goods and small sellers.

It’s often cheaper than Amazon too, and most major brands have their own official store page. Certified refurbished items come with a 1 or 2 year warranty. I always buy used if it’s available, and from the smallest seller, so it recirculates products and helps everyday people who are trying to declutter.

Selling fees have gone up over the years (about 13%, but still much lower than Amazon). And eBay does a lot more advertising for new products now, so I’m not so hopeful long-term. If there was a smaller company offering the same benefits I would switch, but so far nothing comes close (in the US at least).

So long... I'll not be returning (lemmy.ml)

I’ve used most available services, but discontinued one after another along with promises that a better user experience will be provided with reduced content and removed functionality with the slight price hike. YouTube was my first and last video service I paid for, only Spotify remains on the borderline.

BilboBallbins ,

In addition to Newpipe, there is Freetube for desktop: freetubeapp.io

BilboBallbins ,

This isn’t true and how dare you suggest otherwise! 🌼

BilboBallbins ,

Never posted on reddit, most communities seemed hostile and unwilling to hear different perspectives. People here seem a lot more reasonable.

BilboBallbins ,

If I had to pee really bad I would eat bread or crackers because it would absorb the pee and not make me have to go.

BilboBallbins ,

Any idea around what model year this started to take off? I drive a 2000 so I’m not worried now, but thinking of upgrading to something slightly newer.

There are EV conversion kits available, so it is possible to turn an old car electric. They won’t have the storage capacity of a natively electric car, but it is an option.

BilboBallbins ,

Citing a Wikipedia article that categorizes things as green or not green is not a reputable source. Anyone could edit the page right now and invalidate your claim. I’m not convinced you are right or wrong but I’d like a stronger argument.

BilboBallbins ,

I have an SDR and experimented a little with it. What do you do with it or suggest for a beginner?

Are you active in ham too? I’m interesting in long distance comma but haven’t got the license required yet.

BilboBallbins , (edited )

Shampoo: Washing away the natural oils in our hair, causing the body to produce them in higher volume, causing our hair to get greasy, creating a need for shampoo.

Recycling: Only about 10% of plastic is actually recycled, the rest is sold to countries without environmental laws, and they are dumped irresponsibly. Composting is simple, effective, and would reduce landfill use by about 30%, not to mention creating a useful end product. Yet it is rarely promoted.

Mattresses and box springs: They are worse on our spines and end up causing neck and back issues. Sleeping on a firmer surface, even a thin mattress or pad on the ground, alleviates these issues.

Lawns: Turning a useful piece of land on which we can grow food into a barren wasteland and making it into a chore that requires expensive equipment and encourages chemical use.

Sales tax on food: Some countries and US states have them. It’s a tax on existence. Also, taxes on gym memberships and personal protective equipment. The government simultaneously claims it wants healthy, safe citizens, and charges them when they try to be healthy and safe.

BilboBallbins ,

Libraries are gradually moving along the scam spectrum. They now have a single vendor that they are obligated to buy from at a set (high) price, and if the vendor doesn’t have the book or item they can’t buy it anywhere else. They also don’t accept donated books for circulation, so even if you donated a new book they wouldn’t put it on the shelf. This is based on my experience in several US states.

And agreed, most things in everyday society are scams.

BilboBallbins ,

It clicked with me the other day that store credit cards are an evolution of the original idea of credit, where an individual lender would allow purchases on credit. But now they are pretty much all the same Visa/MasterCard with different company logos and colors.

BilboBallbins ,

The US doesn’t have health insurance, it has a health cartel. It’s like if you wanted to fill up your gas tank and had to file a claim with your car insurance first.

And you can only change your policy during a small window of time during the year. Real insurance would let you make whatever changes you want any time, like when I changed my auto policy a few weeks ago and it reflected the next day.

BilboBallbins ,

If we want better options we can vote for third party candidates. I have no faith in the system, and a third party candidate will almost never win. But if enough people vote for them it gets them more recognition, which could eventually shift the narrative. Gary Johnson got over 3% of the vote in 2016, and Ross Perot got as high as 19% in the 90s.

BilboBallbins ,

Agreed, not to mention they are a public place where you can relax without being pressured to spent money. But since we are in a post about scams it felt relevant to mention.

BilboBallbins ,

We all have different body dimensions so there’s definitely not a single solution that works for everyone. My optimal setup is some of those interlocking foam exercise mats, with a thin mattress on top of it. One important thing is to flip the mattress and let it air out once a week or so. Sweat and moisture can’t evaporate from underneath like it would with a traditional setup.

I tried a hammock a few years ago but wound up with worse sleeping posture because of the way my back curled. But I also have a friend who loves hammock sleeping.

BilboBallbins ,

Yes this does happen at first. If you can stick it out for a few weeks your body will adjust. For me it took about a month. Also no shampoo doesn’t mean not washing or scrubbing your hair. I use a comb to exfoliate the scalp skin.

BilboBallbins ,

As far as pollutants go you may be right. I haven’t considered that, just the fact that my head always felt greasy before I stopped shampooing. And you can use a soap without chemical additives every few weeks without triggering your body to go ham on oil production.

BilboBallbins ,

But from where I’m sitting, it’s all hopeless. I don’t want to feel this way.

I feel this way too. But if we as individuals recognize that the system is going to screw us no matter who is elected, then if we vote it might as well be out of principle. Have you ever shared a fact or opinion or taught someone something, and later noticed that it changed their behavior in some small way? Someone on the internet might see Perot’s (or more relevant, Gary Johnson’s since it happened only a few years ago) vote count on Wikipedia and it could lead them down a rabbit hole that ultimately gets them motivated to take initiative in the local community. So yeah, I feel you, at the federal level it’s hopeless. I think the real change will happen within families, friends, and local communities.

Now, without looking him up, tell me one issue George Wallace ran on in 1968.

I’ll guess ending the Vietnam war…

BilboBallbins ,

I’ll give baking soda and vinegar a try. How often do you do that?

BilboBallbins ,

I think it’s because it gives people a feeling of being in control of something.

BilboBallbins ,

You make good points, and it is a perverse line of thinking. However I do think that homes and land are the only real investments we can make. Not in a sense of trying to make a profit on it, but as something to put our money into.

BilboBallbins ,

If you feel like you vote consistent with your principles that’s respectable. Since we can’t do anything about the shitshow that is the federal government, other than voting I try not to stress out or think about it otherwise. It’s a waste of the energy that we can direct to our local communities, which we can do something to improve.

The libertarian party aligns closer to my values, but if the Green party candidate was the only other option I would pick them without hesitation. Regardless of what any politician says, they are self serving and will change their stance when it benefits them. If the green candidate sounded like an idiot with bad policies it wouldn’t give her less credibility from the other idiots who wouldn’t follow through on their policies anyway. So at least supporting third party candidates changes it from impossible for them to win to incredibly incredibly unlikely, but possible to influence others to open their mind to the idea of something other than the official media narrative.

Somewhat unrelated: what are your issues with libertarian policy? Their general sentiment is consistent with many of the issues you listed. Regarding the green party, I am strongly pro conservation and against rampant consumerism and corporate greed, but I’m not confident that the government will solve the problems without making things worse and wasting tons of money in the process.

BilboBallbins ,

I agree and disagree with this. I don’t think the US inherently must be car centric because it’s big. But I do agree that Europe has superior pedestrian infrastructure because it developed for most of its history without cars. Auto and oil industry lobbying has instigated the situation in the US, but their agenda was only achievable because the technology existed to make large scale changes to the terrain, mass produce vehicles, etc. It’s very likely that there were people throughout Europe’s history who tried to monopolize bridges or horse wagons or other forms of transport, but the technology wasn’t sufficient for it to materialize. Warsaw was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt, and it’s developed to be very car-centric compared to other cities in Poland and Europe.

BilboBallbins ,

Account owner like hobbit and also think sounds funny

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