Mama told me not to come.

She said, that ain’t the way to have fun.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • I’m a male, but I am married to someone who has periods. And yeah, they’re not textbook, but they’re generally within a couple days. We can both tell when it’s about to happen because my SO’s hormones start going crazy (alternate between angry over small things and affectionate), and like clockwork, the menstrual cycle happens about 2 days later.

    But yeah, it’s generally about every 4 weeks, give or take a few days. It used to be all over the place, but now that she’s been better about exercise and diet, it’s a lot more consistent.






  • It’s really not.

    While I agree we need to drastically reduce military spending, that decision has consequences. We’d need to shut down foreign bases, reduce naval presence around the globe, and increase our reliance on reserves instead of standing military. If we do that, that’ll embolden other countries (like China, Iran, and Russia) to fill that void unless other partners step up.

    Military spending (and deficit spending in general) is a major issue I’m concerned about, and I’m unhappy with both major parties here. I like Trump’s pressure on the EU to step up their part, but I don’t like his increases to military spending. I like Biden’s and Harris focus on social programs instead of military spending, but I don’t like their lack of cuts. Neither party is actually interested in turning swords into plow shears, they just court the military industrial complex differently.

    We need to increase taxes and cut spending, yet both parties seem to do the opposite.








  • Right, but where are the enemy likely to be? Along major roads and highways. Armies need to move their military equipment somehow, so that’s where you’re likely to see the bombs being used the most. That, and in cities to control the movements of your enemy. I doubt we’d jump straight to nukes, it’s more likely going to be a slog fest with traditional weapons until one of the sides gets desperate (e.g. Russia v Ukraine).





  • Exactly.

    I bought my current used car w/ cash, and it cost $10k. Gas in the first year would be something like $800 (45mpg, 10k miles, $3.50/gal for gas), and insurance would add another $500 or so. Let’s add $1-2k for sales tax, registration, and maybe some random things that need fixing, and round up, so we’re at $14k or so, or $1166/month.

    I’m married w/ kids, and the USDA says I should be spending a little over $1k/month on food. So even in the first year of owning a car, I’d still probably spend more on food than the car. If I was single, divide that by about 3, so the car would be cheaper than food after 3-4 years.

    There’s no way a car is more expensive than food for the average person, assuming a reasonable car and reasonable food consumption.



  • cost of owning a car is between 3k and 9k yearly

    Maybe if you drive a fancy new car, but an older, reliable car can be much cheaper. For example, I drive a Toyota Prius that I’ve had for 10 years, and I paid $10k for it (approximately, and cash, so no financing). I’ve driven about 100k miles, spent about $3k on repairs, and have spent about $500/year on insurance. So an estimate for total costs is:

    • gas - $7.8k (~45mpg @ $3.5/gallon)
    • insurance - $5k
    • repairs - $3k
    • depreciation - $7k (assuming $3k value if I sold)
    • taxes and fees - $2k (~$100/year registration + emissions cost)
    • regular maintenance - $500? (I change my own oil, so $20/oil change every 5k miles, plus spark plugs, headlights, etc)
    • tires - $1200 (changed them twice for ~$500-600 each time)

    Total cost over 10 years is $27000, or about $2.7k/year.

    So that $3k/year low end figure is actually a little high for me, and I ended up rounding most of these things up. I’m guessing a cheap EV could come out even cheaper.

    So if you’re cheap like me when it comes to cars, owning a horse could be about 10x the cost of a car.