[HardtailHack]

Throwing obsolete/"it was a bad idea" bike parts instead?

I've only had one bad carbon part that went to landfill.
Everything else I strip and put in to scrap metal buckets and they go to a customer of ours. Still can't bring myself to buy a carbon frame because Oz is so far behind we can't recycle plastic composites at end of life.

But if I had bulk money there's a 90% chance I'd be way more of a dick. I'd purchase rare VW's just have them crushed and upload videos to the internet.
I've always wanted to be 'Crush rare VW's rich'.

EDIT- I do buy too many tools but I do my best to buy them from smaller privately owned companies that manufacture in house.
Fuck the big tool companies and their race to the bottom.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

you know what would be better than payjng exorbidant costs for keeping people with zero quality of life alive for a few more days/weeks/months? state approved assisted end of life care. been thinking about it a lot recently. like, when i can't live an independent, enjoyable life, and am a burden for others...i want out. period.

if others quit trying to cling so long to lives that don't matter to anyone but themselves and maybe their relative's silly emotions, the world would be a much cheaper and better place in which to exist. except that far to many greedy assholes are making far too much money from helping others cling on to those last few moments that don't really add up to jack shit. so here we are.

am i wrong?

There is not an easy answer. Our medical system is fucked up and tends to overtreat and overdose at great cost. Observing residential care for a year and a half now, I'd say that a third of the residents should have been let down easy quite a while ago. The remaining two thirds do not have "zero quality of life", and have family that visits and cares about them.

Sapiens should not really mean one who knows, it should mean one who imagines. Our minds are incapable of comprehending the larger universe, and we each create small dynamic models of what the world is like. No two of us have the same model. Our brains are set up to function in the presence of a dozen or two other humans. Every larger societal construct that we have set up has been less than functional.

End game? We're doomed.

 

[Pesqueeb]

you know what would be better than payjng exorbidant costs for keeping people with zero quality of life alive for a few more days/weeks/months? state approved assisted end of life care. been thinking about it a lot recently. like, when i can't live an independent, enjoyable life, and am a burden for others...i want out. period.

if others quit trying to cling so long to lives that don't matter to anyone but themselves and maybe their relative's silly emotions, the world would be a much cheaper and better place in which to exist. except that far to many greedy assholes are making far too much money from helping others cling on to those last few moments that don't really add up to jack shit. so here we are.

am i wrong?

I'm old enough to remember when this was part of the proposed ACA (Obamacare) and fucking morons screeched about death panels. The idea that you might even talk about or educate someone on alternatives to clinging to even the barest hint of existence was too much for the proto-trump dipshits to handle.

 

[Jozz]

you know what would be better than payjng exorbidant costs for keeping people with zero quality of life alive for a few more days/weeks/months? state approved assisted end of life care. been thinking about it a lot recently. like, when i can't live an independent, enjoyable life, and am a burden for others...i want out. period.

if others quit trying to cling so long to lives that don't matter to anyone but themselves and maybe their relative's silly emotions, the world would be a much cheaper and better place in which to exist. except that far to many greedy assholes are making far too much money from helping others cling on to those last few moments that don't really add up to jack shit. so here we are.

am i wrong?

So glad we have that in Quebec. And on top of it, seems we're the world champions of "I've had enough of this shit"

Assisted dying continued to have the highest usage rate in Quebec, which accounted for nearly 37% of all euthanasia deaths, despite the province holding just 22% of Canada's population.

Quebec's government launched a study earlier this year to examine why its euthanasia rate was so high.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Read Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age, coping with digital distraction and sensory overload, by Richard Cytowic.

 

[eric strt6]

Yeah. I think whether you like / admit or not you are a lot closer to the rest of us plebes than you are to old Elon or Jeff. Those fuckers ain’t driving ambulances…

True on those two. I drive the rig because I hate being in the office. I can handle the Operations crap from the field. I make a nice paycheck as such and I am married to a partner that makes 6x what I make. We are nicely set up in life and I will leave it at that.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I think we need a new custom title for @eric strt6 - "Resident Bourgeoisie"

 

[Pesqueeb]

 

[eric strt6]

I think we need a new custom title for @eric strt6 - "Resident Bourgeoisie"

except that the SWMBO has me and her on a financial leash to have enough to stay comfortably in our house until we die (with what she sells her horses for they come out as a financial small profit, last one sold for enough to get us out of debt and pay down a significant portion of the house loan). Which is why we drive old cars (2000 Mercedes, 2011 F350. 2015 VW) I have 24 year old road bike and a 12 year old Mt bike. All our income goes into investments for retirement after expenses. In 2 years we both quit work debt free except for the home loan insurance and taxes and my SS will cover that.

 

[SkaredShtles]

except that the SWMBO has me and her on a financial leash to have enough to stay comfortably in our house until we die (with what she sells her horses for they come out as a financial small profit, last one sold for enough to get us out of debt and pay down a significant portion of the house loan). Which is why we drive old cars (2000 Mercedes, 2011 F350. 2015 VW) I have 24 year old road bike and a 12 year old Mt bike. All our income goes into investments for retirement after expenses. In 2 years we both quit work debt free except for the home loan insurance and taxes and my SS will cover that.

So when we gonna get the new custom title for this rich old Boomer?? @Sandwich? @I Are Baboon?

 

[eric strt6]

So when we gonna get the new custom title for this rich old Boomer?? @Sandwich? @I Are Baboon?

we ain't rich but we planned and avoided the mass consumerism trap. no fancy clothes, no shiny baubles, buy shit used. costco jeans, no $200/month Cable/sat tv service. when we travel an RV site is maybe $50/night or free if we boondock vs Hundreds for a hotel room. it's all lifestyle choices. we have a 1 story 1700 sq ft house that is 55 years old, nothing fancy

 

[Pesqueeb]

I think we need a new custom title for @eric strt6 - "Resident Bourgeoisie"

"Petite bourgeoisie" technically.

 

[SkaredShtles]

we ain't rich but we planned and avoided the mass consumerism trap. no fancy clothes, no shiny baubles, buy shit used. costco jeans, no $200/month Cable/sat tv service. when we travel an RV site is maybe $50/night or free if we boondock vs Hundreds for a hotel room. it's all lifestyle choices. we have a 1 story 1700 sq ft house that is 55 years old, nothing fancy

Come on, man - just own it. Warren Buffet also lives far below his means from all accounts. That doesn't make him not-rich.

I do like the "Petite Bourgeoisie" suggestion.

 

[eric strt6]

Come on, man - just own it. Warren Buffet also lives far below his means from all accounts. That doesn't make him not-rich.

I do like the "Petite Bourgeoisie" suggestion.

yeah, here is my Mc Mansion

 

[SkaredShtles]

yeah, here is my Mc Mansion
View attachment 224039

Still doesn't make you not-rich.

 

[HardtailHack]

We get a snazzy new law in tomorrow that can put employers in prison for up to 10yrs if they deliberately underpay staff-

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/news/new-criminal-underpayment-laws-start-1-january-2025

EDIT- Ooh and another snazzy one-

'A huge win': New tax transparency laws aim to deter multinational tax avoidance

Australia now has among the strongest laws globally to fight tax avoidance. Every multinational operating locally must now publicly report to the ATO more detailed information about taxes paid, in an attempt to stamp out profit shifting into once notorious tax haven jurisdictions.

www.abc.net.au

The new laws will basically out the multinational corporations that fail to meet their corporate tax obligations by shifting profits to once notorious tax haven jurisdictions.

 

[Pesqueeb]

We get a snazzy new law in tomorrow that can put employers in prison for up to 10yrs if they deliberately underpay staff-

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/news/new-criminal-underpayment-laws-start-1-january-2025

EDIT- Ooh and another snazzy one-

'A huge win': New tax transparency laws aim to deter multinational tax avoidance

Australia now has among the strongest laws globally to fight tax avoidance. Every multinational operating locally must now publicly report to the ATO more detailed information about taxes paid, in an attempt to stamp out profit shifting into once notorious tax haven jurisdictions.

www.abc.net.au

The new laws will basically out the multinational corporations that fail to meet their corporate tax obligations by shifting profits to once notorious tax haven jurisdictions.

WTF is this first world communism?

 

[JustMtnB44]

you know what would be better than paying exorbitant costs for keeping people with zero quality of life alive for a few more days/weeks/months? state approved assisted end of life care. been thinking about it a lot recently. like, when i can't live an independent, enjoyable life, and am a burden for others...i want out. period.

if others quit trying to cling so long to lives that don't matter to anyone but themselves and maybe their relative's silly emotions, the world would be a much cheaper and better place in which to exist. except that far to many greedy assholes are making far too much money from helping others cling on to those last few moments that don't really add up to jack shit. so here we are.

am i wrong?

You're not wrong and I generally agree. Maybe my perspective will change over time but I don't want to be kept alive confined to a home or bed, unable to get outside and go into the woods. I can't say that it's purely because of a profit driven system though, emotions are still the dominant factor in most cases I would think.

My personal experience with this is that my mother has had Parkinson's Disease for half of her life now, and the last 5 or so years have been shitty. She's stuck in the awful in-between state of barely being able to walk most of the time, but also unwilling to be confined to a wheelchair, at least at home because she is stubborn and tough. Talking and eating is getting harder, and she is tired all of the time and sleeps a lot. My dad is basically her full time caregiver now. But the worst part of Parkinson's is that the disease doesn't kill you directly, so the timeframe of suffering is unknown. It's more likely that she will suffer a serious injury from falling, or choking, or any other normally recoverable thing. My immediate family has accepted that in a case like that, it will likely be the end, as we have seen her suffer enough. I don't think she feels the same way though, and often downplays the severity of her condition. No easy answers unfortunately.

 

[JustMtnB44]

We get a snazzy new law in tomorrow that can put employers in prison for up to 10yrs if they deliberately underpay staff-

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/news/new-criminal-underpayment-laws-start-1-january-2025

EDIT- Ooh and another snazzy one-

'A huge win': New tax transparency laws aim to deter multinational tax avoidance

Australia now has among the strongest laws globally to fight tax avoidance. Every multinational operating locally must now publicly report to the ATO more detailed information about taxes paid, in an attempt to stamp out profit shifting into once notorious tax haven jurisdictions.

www.abc.net.au

The new laws will basically out the multinational corporations that fail to meet their corporate tax obligations by shifting profits to once notorious tax haven jurisdictions.

That's awesome. Chances of laws like this passing in good ol' USA? Unlikely in my lifetime.

 

[stevew]

there has to be a hollow point with a certain someone's name scribbled on it

 

[4xBoy]

there has to be a hollow point with a certain someone's name scribbled on it

View attachment 224203

May she see Feinstein soon.

 

[mykel]

The turn from Keynesian economics to neoliberal economics and what it has wrought...