Weather is global, so agencies like the NOAA collect data from satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, buoys, etc. all over the world. NOAA’s data is a bit like GPS: paid for by US taxpayers, but used for the common good across the globe. Shutting them down wouldn’t just hurt weather prediction in the US, it would hurt everyone. Other developed countries can absolutely predict their own weather, but if they can’t include the volume of data generated by the US, their accuracy will suffer (and obviously likewise if the US couldn’t use EU data or whatever).

On the weather front (lol) one of project 2025s goals is to break up the NOAA. They want to do it specifically to hamper the ability for anyone to show the ongoing effects of climate change. If anyone thinks this is a conspiracy theory, it’s an actual conspiracy, and here is the direct quote from project 2025.

Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is useless, but its current organization corrupts its useful func- tions. It should be broken up and downsized.

Do yourself a favor and find a local small farmer to buy eggs directly from. They are much better than supermarket eggs. It’s not necessarily a matter of keeping eggs from going bad, it’s more about preserving them at that peak flavor/texture. I have no clue where this picture is from, so I don’t know if the data are sound, but you get the idea. https://digitaleggtester.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/nabel/files/images/egg/img_yi02.png

When I buy supermarket eggs, I refrigerate them because they are washed (in the US). When I get unwashed eggs (from a farm or a friend), I still refrigerate them and just wash them prior to use. I don’t have to refrigerate them since they have the cuticle intact, but refrigerating them still makes them stay fresher longer, so if I have the space for them, why would I not?

That said, the eggs already come in a carton, so I’m not going to transfer them into a separate container in my fridge for no reason.

Eggs survive in the wild at ambient temp because when they are laid, a coating basically seals off the egg. Unfortunately, chickens have one hole, and they are messy animals, so there’s often some poop, too. In many countries, this coating is left intact, and technically, you should wash eggs before using them so nothing from the shell ends up inside when you crack it. As Americans, we have bigger houses and bigger fridges, and we love convenience, so we wash our eggs prior to packaging. This means they have to be refrigerated.

Either approach works, but the important thing is not to leave washed eggs unrefrigerated.

Community canneries still exist, but they used to be way more popular. In rural communities where people grow a lot of their own food, people can their own food, but pressure canners take a lot of time for a single batch to come up to pressure, cook, and cool.

Community canneries have much bigger pressure canners where you could feasibly can everything in one batch. It’s also really enables people sharing surpluses, trading, etc.

Many hobbies are better shared, too. If you have 20 people sharing a super high quality “item”, they will have a better experience than if each of those people had to buy their own crappy versions.

Basically, a whole lot of things can be “libraried”.

Yeah, no one wants to buy a log splitter and store it for 360 days a year, but those few days you can use it, it’s really useful.

My local library system has tools, kitchen implements, a recording studio, musical instruments, stem kits for kids, video games, and art.

They need a better inventory system, though, cause all the non-book items are inventoried alongside the books. If you want to rent a shovel, you will see every book with “shovel” in the name before you see any actual shovels.

At least at my library, there’s basically just a separate form you have to sign to say that if you chop your hand off with a saw, you won’t hold them liable, and I think there are more strict limits on how long you can rent things, and what the penalties are for being late.

That is super cool! I should see if I can do that at mine

In English, there’s also “clockwise-lockwise”. It makes more sense than talking about left and right.

Lol, and Danes are definitely the most outgoing of the Nordics. I’ve found Danes to be pretty similar in terms of outgoing-ness to people from New England in the US; unlikely to start conversation with complete strangers, but certainly kind once you have that initial connection.

I’m not a medical doctor, nor am I in your exact situation, but I do know a little bit about sleep. There’s a broad category of things known as sleep hygiene that are basically supposed to be the “best practices” around sleep. Evidence is good for some things, and inconclusive for others, but in lieu of going to an actual sleep specialist, these sorts of things shouldn’t hurt to try.

Stuff like only being in bed to sleep (no watching TV from bed, etc.), avoiding alcohol and caffeine, and giving consideration to your circadian rythym (low blue light prior to sleep, coupled with increased blue light upon waking, it’s apparently the contrast that matters more than the actual amounts).

There’s also plenty of people who have undiagnosed issues affecting sleep. Obviously you said, for you, it’s depression, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be something else at play that could be addressed. If you have the means, something like a smartwatch or an oura ring (which is hsa/fsa eligible if you are in the US) could help tell you if you are moving around a lot in your sleep, or could have something like apnea. Again, not the same as going to an expert, but that’s not an option for everyone.

Yeah, that’s mostly true, but the front porch of a home is part of the home for 4th amendment purposes. Police obtaining warrant-less access to your front porch would violate this.

If someone is out on the street, it can still be illegal depending on the state. In new york, for example, the definition of illegal eavesdropping includes:

“Mechanical overhearing of a conversation” means the intentional overhearing or recording of a conversation or discussion, without the consent of at least one party thereto, by a person not present thereat, by means of any instrument, device or equipment.

There’s no no stipulation about location.

The doorbell cameras that everyone have all record audio, in blatant violation of law, and they hand it over to police. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a court case to really slap those companies on the wrist.

I have no clue, it’s just something I’ve read about a little. It’s definitely not my area of expertise, so take this with a grain of salt.

From what I understand, prostate cancer is usually very slow, and it’s possible to have a little spot of it for years that doesn’t affect you. For some people, the right answer to finding a prostate tumor is to just monitor it, but obviously, people freak out when they have cancer, and want treatment. Cancer treatments are all no joke, so it seems that you could sacrifice a lot to treat something that would have just chilled there not hurting you.

I have no clue about the blood tests. If it’s like a “yes or no” for prostate cancer, it might have that same disadvantage. If it tells the Dr something more like type of prostate cancer or growth, it’s a different story.

I would talk to your doctor about it for your case specifically rather than advocating broadly for prostate cancer screenings.

https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/document/RecommendationStatementFinal/prostate-cancer-screening

Medical authorities usually don’t advocate for getting imagery like that as a screening tool without any relevant risk factors or symptoms. Everyone has stuff that is unique and weird about their bodies but completely benign, and chances are, it turns up in an MRI or CT. This can end up leading to unnecessary invasive procedures to remove or biopsy something. The odds (in the literal sense) are that not-called for screening leads to either worse outcomes or the same outcomes as people who didn’t get the screenings.

I didn’t look up a source for MRI specifically, cause that’s pretty broad, but here’s a report that does a good job explaining it for prostate cancer screenings. The logic is the same.

https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/document/RecommendationStatementFinal/prostate-cancer-screening

I think it ends up being the same amount of work for me. Rinse rice (optional), figure out correct amount of water for that type of rice, place on heat until done. Rice cookers can effectively detect that there’s no more liquid water, but that isn’t the same as “done” unless you used the right amount of water.

IMO, rice cookers are really handy if you are the type of person who eats rice as a staple food item that you buy in giant sacks and eat the same variety of every day. I have like 6 kinds of rice I rotate through, so I think it wouldn’t save me enough work to justify a separate gadget.

I’ve never used one of the really fancy pressure cooker rice cookers, though, so maybe my feelings would be different.

Yeah, I definitely understand that. I certainly have things that I don’t use as much as I hoped (I’m staring at a solar panel doing nothing leaned against my wall). For me, I really need the resulting “thing” to be something that I will use/be excited about.

That’s why, for me, fixing stuff that’s broken, upgrading stuff, or repurposing stuff you already own is good. Replacing a worn out jack is a relatively simple task that can turn an expensive brick back into a nice thing.

The tools you need are not a very long list. You can get a cheap, crappy soldering iron for $6, solder for $4, a crappy multimeter for $7, and one of those magnifying glass/alligator clip things for $6 from harbor freight. Despite being poor quality, a lot can be accomplished with just those tools.

I ended up buying a bench power supply for like $40, but you can just get DC power supplies from the bin of assorted cords at your nearest thrift store for basically free.