This isn’t meant to be some kind of “hurr durr Stalin” kind of rebuttal or anything like that, and I hope it doesn’t come across that way. I’m as dissatisfied with everything as you are. But I’m not well versed in socio-politico-economics, so I’m genuinely curious: what is the plan for avoiding what happened in the USSR with a socialist nation? What pitfalls did they fall into that spoiled the word “socialism” for everyone else?

I’ve heard of a diesel-electric logging truck that uses this concept as well. Use the batteries going up the mountain empty, charge them again going downhill loaded.

Unfortunately I live closer to the central part of the state, so if things are concentrated near Seattle then it would be a bit too far away

Washington state.

I’m an atheist / agnostic, but I miss the community of church and something about honoring the earth and the seasons FEELS sacred.

I can respect that.

On an unrelated note, anyone know where I can find one of these pagan potlucks? Asking for a friend.

BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL

The concept of having interchangeable, standardized parts is actually kind of a new idea from the Industrial Revolution. Before then, everything was custom-made to fit. The example that comes to mind is firearms. All of the muskets and rifles used in the revolutionary war, for example, were hand-made and hand-fitted. The lock from one rifle wouldn’t necessarily fit on another. If your stock broke, you couldn’t just go get a new stock and slap it on - you had to bust out the woodworking tools and make a new one.

In photography, there’s a saying: “Anything for the shot”

I don’t know if I’d go as far as this guy, but props to him for risking himself and his equipment, I guess

Is there a Redwall community? I’m tempted to make one but I have no idea how

My first camera was a Voigtländer Vito 2, don’t know the exact age but it’s from the 1950s. My grandmother gave it to me when I expressed interest in film photography, she said she hadn’t touched it in decades so I might as well have it. As soon as I put a roll through it and got the photos back, I was hooked. Even though most of the pictures were underexposed, I knew I wanted to keep shooting film.

After talking to my uncle about this, he rooted around in his closet and gave me my second camera: a Pentax K1000. Super chunky and heavy compared to the Voigtländer, so I felt more confident taking it with me places without breaking it.

I just picked up a third, a Nikon FE along with some telephoto lenses. I haven’t put a roll through it yet, but I’m excited to try.

Are you saying that if I picked up a copy of that differential equations book I might actually learn wtf is going on? Because I only passed that class with the help of wolfram alpha and never looked back

I flip off the breaker, just to be safe.

I live in Washington state, most of my electricity is from hydro or nuclear. My bill is usually about $80 a month, but it can go over $100 in the summer if I’m running the AC a lot.

I bought one of these toasters because of this video

This one got me good because Saddam Hussein was the last thing I noticed

According to Shadowrun lore, the next step is the Supreme Court allowing corporations to raise their own private armies.

A turbojet is just a desk fan with extra steps

You’ve enlightened me. I love dragonflies too now.

I love daguerrotypes, they’re such a vivid look into the past. Exposures outdoors in bright sunlight only took a few seconds, but as this one appears to be taken indoors he would have indeed needed to stand there for quite a while. That’s probably why his left hand is blurry (he’s holding the flag in his right hand - daguerrotypes were laterally mirrored).

Also, see the faint parallel lines all over the picture? Those are faint marks made by the photographer as he was polishing the plate just prior to sensitizing it and loading it into the camera.

Some kids at my high school tried that on their phones, but it never worked because all the other kids in the room would cuss them out for basically inflicting the entire room with mosquito-in-ear noises.