Bilbo_Haggins

@Bilbo_Haggins@lemm.ee

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Bilbo_Haggins ,

This is actually the main policy stance of the Liberal Gun Club. That we're spending all this time regulating guns and ignoring/underaddressing the root causes like mental health issues, domestic violence, toxic masculinity, income inequality, poverty, etc.

Not to say that guns shouldn't be regulated to some extent, but with the way mental health is in America I'm pretty sure we'd just see a spike in knife and baseball bat crime and suicide by hanging if we somehow magically got rid of guns.

https://theliberalgunclub.com/about-us/root-cause-mitigation-2/

Bilbo_Haggins ,

Ataulfo mangoes. At least in the northeast US, they are reliably delicious and ripen on the counter.

Cortland apples

Bilbo_Haggins ,

Environmental engineer. I clean up chemical messes like oil spills, and make sure that the resulting land is safe enough for people to live on it.

It's fun and challenging, if somewhat depressing at times. Some things take a LONG time to clean up. On the plus side, I have great job security.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

I think it depends on your field of engineering and how much you enjoy the work. I find environmental engineering to be satisfying and a very dependable/lucrative income compared to many other non-engineering fields I might have been interested in.

Add to that most other fields that pay similarly or higher (doctor, lawyer, etc) require more/costlier schooling and it's a pretty sweet deal to be able to go into the job market with only a bachelor's or masters and making a decent wage right off the bat.

Of course the same enshittification/race to the bottom for prices affects us too but I don't know if there's any career that escapes that entirely.

I would also think maybe certain engineering fields are more stable than others. Mine is particularly recession-proof since we're driven by regulation (and bipartisan-supported regulation at that), not the economy. Massive layoffs are not that common in many of the other more "physical" engineering fields like structural, electrical, or mechanical either and even if you are laid off there is usually another company hiring. The skills are pretty portable as well so if you want to change careers you have a pretty good chance at being successful.

Is it a field of rainbows and butterflies? No, but it's a hell of a lot better than plenty of other jobs out there and it pays the bills.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

Yeah I feel you on that, the fieldwork stage of the job can get tiring really fast, especially with the more routine stuff like asbestos and LNAPL spills. Vapor intrusion work is less of a bear, we're doing a lot of that lately and it's nice because it's indoors in the winter. I work in a larger company with a variety of projects so I'm not always doing the same thing and that definitely helps. In my current company people do tend to graduate out of the field positions fairly quickly (like 5 years) and move on to a desk job or at least a partial desk job but those first few years when you're in the field a lot can be hard and maybe impossible if you have any dependents that keep you from traveling.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

You would need a pretty big solar array to power a construction site with it. But you're headed in the right direction. Not only is it an option to use renewables to power battery-powered vehicles, but also pretty much any form of electricity generation increases in efficiency and decreases in emissions (per kilowatt generated) as it scales up. Even if you are burning the same fuel at the power plant, the emissions are going to be lower overall than the equivalent number of individual internal combustion engines because the efficiency of the power plant is much higher than an ICE. Vehicle engines are ridiculously inefficient overall and when you use a more efficient fuel like natural gas it is even more drastic of a difference.

It's also much easier to put stack controls on a power plant to capture or reduce emissions than it is to put emissions controls on all construction equipment individually. This has implications for carbon capture, which could happen right at the stack. However, there's a non-climate change benefit here as well which is that the local air quality would be greatly increased around construction sites. Currently most construction equipment does not have much in the way of emissions controls for other things like sulfur and nitrogen oxides or particulate emissions. Power plants have to meet emissions standards for all of these.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

To build on this, just because something didn't work one year, don't give up on it entirely! Tweak something and try again. I had a terrible year last year with one of my dwarf tomato breeds, but this year they're doing great because I kept them warmer as seedlings. Similarly my cilantro that never took off last year is going strong this year due to more watering.

Gardening is a learning process. Embrace what works for you and change what doesn't.

Also I'd never heard of aeroponics but that is super cool!

Bilbo_Haggins ,

Dwarf/small plants for small spaces. I spent years trying to grow regular sized tomatoes on a balcony and having them go totally wild. Now with dwarf tomatoes I can easily fit them in pots in my yard. Same with sweet peas- they make varieties that grow shorter, which is great if you don't have a super tall space to grow in.

In general find varieties that work for your space/garden and grow those. It's okay to not grow the same stuff as everyone else.

Also, grow potatoes in buckets. Gosh darn it but the home grown veg guy is right. It's just easier.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

I find it almost impossible to pick a favorite poem of hers, but if I had to it'd probably be "Tutaj" ("Here" in English) by Wislawa Szymborska.

https://medium.com/illumination/here-671e29357dcc

"Starvation Camp Near Jaslo" and "Foraminifera" are two other favorites and Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak have done an amazing job at the translations.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

Did his share of the housework. My dad didn't know how to cook well, but you bet your butt he did laundry, vacuumed, dusted, washed dishes, whatever was needed around the house he did it. And he did cook at least once a week, although it was always stuff like grilled cheese or pancakes.

Growing up in a household where both parents put in equal effort at home really set up the expectation for me that this is how relationships work.

My dad was also very loving and openly affectionate to us all. He would give us hugs, tell us he loved us and how proud of us he is, even to the point of tearing up sometimes. I love that about him and see it as an admirable quality in men.

Girls learn what to expect from men based on what they see their fathers do. Be kind, gentle, and respect your daughter and that's the kind of men she'll surround herself with.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

I would have had a local barbecue joint cater the wedding instead of getting a fancy caterer. The food was the most stressful part of our wedding and it wasn't even that good for the price and trouble.

Would keep the strawberry shortcake instead of wedding cake though, that was bomb.

Other than the food I wouldn't change a thing. I married the right guy and he's just gotten more awesome with time. And we had a (relatively) low-key wedding to start with so there's not much I have in the way of regrets.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

Jaws doesn't quite fit the prompt but although it's a good movie, the book is essentially a sub-par beach read. And there was no USS Indianapolis monologue in the book.

What's growing on, Beehaw? (Garden Chat)

Today marks the beginning of the second full week of Spring in the northern hemisphere, even if some of us are stuck in second winter. Share your garden goals, projects, challenges, and successes for this growing season; share your tips, tricks, and garden hacks, or anything else you'd like. Let's all help each other grow...

Bilbo_Haggins ,

Calendula, bachelor's buttons, and strawflower are all sprouted and looking healthy! For food plants, I've only started greens so far (collard and tatsoi). Soon it'll be time to plant peas outside though and I'm stoked! Also got some potatoes chitting on the windowsill to plant in buckets. Those did really well last year.

Also we have one super collard who overwintered from last year and I'm excited to see what it does.

I'm apprehensive about the bunnies this year but more prepared to do battle. Last year they mowed most of my new plants down to the ground until I put little fences up. This year I'm gonna start with the fences from the get-go and see if I can get more plants past the tender chompable stage and into maturity. The only problem is I tried winter sowing a bunch of natives this year so I'll need to notice when and where they come up and get defenses around them.

Apprehensions aside, though, I'm glad it's spring! Bring on the gardening fun.

Bilbo_Haggins ,

Just a foot and a half high, but they were individual for each plant so each fence circle was like 1 foot diameter maximum. I think if you had a bigger fenced area you'd need higher fences.

I made them out of hardware cloth and took them in over the winter and they've held up really well, so at least I don't have to make new ones!

Bilbo_Haggins ,

AFAIK, micro greens are just regular greens that you plant really close together and then harvest before they get mature.

Please someone correct me if this isn't technically microgreens but what I've done in the past to get mini salad greens is you just get one of those larger seedlings trays (or you can use old milk cartons cut in half), put some soil in it, and plant seeds in really dense rows (like >10 seeds an inch). Then you just harvest them when they get to be an inch tall or something similar. I just use regular collard, kale, mustard, and lettuce seeds from the garden shop.

You can also grow stuff from the grocery store. One of my favorites to grow is pea shoots. You literally buy a bag of dried peas from the grocery store and plant them like I described above. Then harvest them when they get about 3-4 inches tall. They go great in spring salads. Mung beans are another grocery store staple that I love sprouting on my own instead of buying the sprouts.

Not sure what your kit looks like but you can definitely grow micro greens in potting soil as well if you run out of whatever the kit has! Just make sure you're keeping an eye on moisture so they don't stay too wet or get too dry. Because micro greens are basically seedlings, you don't actually need to fertilize them at all and they can actually grow in pretty spare soil.

How often do you change your mobile phone plan?

I feel like every two years I need to call my carrier and complain if I want a decent deal. They will do things like upgrade my plan on their website to have 10 extra gigabytes of data but won't upgrade me to it until I contact them. There's also all the new member exclusive deals that I feel make it impractical to just sit on...

Bilbo_Haggins ,

I pay $15 a month for a plan with 5gb data. But even their unlimited plan is $30 a month. So yes, mint is cheaper assuming you are talking about just one phone.

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