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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: September 23rd, 2023

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  • Yes, Massachusetts. I have a dual fuel heat pump with natural gas backup installed in 2020, so it’s a newer system. And I have one heat pump mini split in the least energy efficient, but most used room in my house (large, high ceilings, exterior walls on three sides, and a skylight).

    The first couple of years I noticed when it got just below freezing, the central heat pump seemed to struggle to keep up. Then this year I replaced my windows and got new wall insulation in both of the main bedrooms and bathrooms (previous insulation was original from the 1960s and shredded to bits with huge gaps.)

    After those improvements, I’ve been running my heat pump down to 20⁰F/-7⁰C so far without any issues at all. I’m excited to see how cold we can get and this system still keep up. I am still supplementing my one large room with the mini split, but that’s mostly because all my plants are in here, so I keep this room warmer than 68⁰F/20⁰C.




  • Use Amazon as a search engine, find what you need, then Google the manufacturer and buy it directly from them. You’d be surprised how many have free shipping . It’s usually not two day shipping, but what do you really need that fast?

    If it’s electronics, buy online for local pickup at Best Buy. If it’s tools or house supplies, buy online for local pickup at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Buy online for local pickup at Target.

    I haven’t purchased anything from Amazon in 4 years. It’s honestly way easier now than it was before Amazon started, but no one realizes that because Amazon got them locked in.





  • Fresh episodes of X-Files and Star Trek: TNG every week.

    Just that whole experience of something on television being a cultural zeitgeist because everyone had to watch it at the exact same time because that was the only time it existed. Sure, you could record it on VHS and watch later, but it wasn’t the same. Even being at home watching alone felt like participating in a social event.



  • Nothing at all bad happened to the two German journalists who published the Panama Papers. Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier are both very much alive and well, and have started a nonprofit organization in honor of their friend and colleague, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered by an operative of the Maltese government officials who she was investigating for corruption that was revealed in the Panama Papers.

    The investigations and revelations produced by The Daphne Project are ongoing. These are journalists who refuse to be silenced by one woman’s murder.

    But to understand that, you’d have to be interested in not being ignorant for five seconds instead of just parroting things you saw online because you think it makes you sound smart.

    https://www.occrp.org/en/thedaphneproject/



  • Favorable terms with no means of legal leverage are just wisps of air. They can and will be rescinded at the earliest convenience of the corporation, which is literally why we’re in the current situation we are today. The strongest middle class in the US existed when unions were at their peak. That is not a coincidence.

    A formal, legal union gives employees power and leverage to enforce the favorable terms that they negotiate with an employer. You can argue that unions as organizations can be subject to similar corruption as any other organization, but contrary to popular propaganda, there is nothing inherent in the existence of a union that requires or lends itself to corruption any more than any other power structure.

    Employees are legally permitted to organize a formal, legal union of their own outside the existing union organizations, but then they’re starting from scratch. Existing unions have been through negotiations, have experienced lawyers, know the process and all of its pitfalls. The vast majority of workers are better off joining an existing union because of this.


  • As a person who has had many cats in my life, I am of the opinion that two cats is the best number of cats. If you can afford to care for and have space for a second cat, I’d say go for it.

    If you’re not really experienced with cats, be aware that cats almost never get along immediately. It can take weeks of them seeming to hate each other before they become friendly. It’s helpful to put the new cat in a cage where the current cat can see and smell them, but can’t reach them with claws. That gives them a little space to get to know each other before the current cat feels like its territory is being invaded.