While getting the joke (no woosh here) "Out of the Silent Planet" was an interesting read. And like most better Sci-Fi explores concepts that couldn't normally be effectively explored in a standard fiction setting. Like with the rest of C. S. Lewis's work there is a copious amount of religion (think "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" level). None the less they were good books ("Perelandra" is the one I would consider to be the best of the 3) but for some reason I always have never follow "That Hideous Strength" so maybe I just need to reread it as an adult as the last time I did I was in high school.

And for some it prevents a very bad disease so I can help myself as well as help others since while not having it I have numbers that aren't far off.

I still love going into a proper toy or hobby store. More game, puzzles, models, hobbies, better quality toys, etc than a place like Toys 'R' Us and if you are interested in something new, like model rockets, you can ask the staff and they can answer your questions. My oldest after going several times to the local hobby shop really wanted to build and shoot off a model rocket. Never doing it as a child I didn't know what I was getting in for and they were really helpful. So now we can waste $75 in a good afternoon out in the park. Next up in a few years will be some better RC vehicles, I started with the $20 HotWheels ones (1/18 scale fairly good and inexpensive) since that way we wouldn't be very invested if he lost interest but it has proved to be worth it so we will probably move up to the much nicer and substantially more expensive ones in a couple of years.

So you are saying my kids are screwed then.

I thought some of the books I had to read where shitty book (how I hate Romeo and Juliette) but mostly because I didn't like the stories and because of how they were taught, seriously I understand what a fucking metaphor is and not everything has some deep hidden meaning. But "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is a culturally significant book for Americans (don't know about the UK) and as such probably should be taught in a children's literature class for just that reason. Same thing for other great works, like Nineteen Eighty-four, various Shakespeare works, some Poe, The Iliad and Odyssey or The Aeneid, The 3 musketeers (though I prefer the Count of Monte Cristo), Le Morte d'Arthur, etc. There are plenty of great works modern to ancient that have shaped our culture and are important for that reason. The best example I can come up with at the moment is this.

You didn't think that Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption made a good movie. Although that was a novella and not a proper full standalone book.

I really hate this thinking that there is something special about modern automobiles. The biggest differences between "old" and modern vehicles is modern ones have computers that either work or don't and have emission systems. When it comes to emission systems just replace them, and computers drastically simplify things since you aren't having to play around with a distributor and carburetor. Oil changes, spark plugs, most suspension work, belts (easier with the modern serpentine belt over the old multiple v-belts), hoses, filters, etc. are the same on modern vehicles as they are on old ones. Another benefit is modern vehicles with computers don't have tons of vacuum lines running all over the place that get dried out, leak, and make your car run like shit. From a maintenance and repair perspective even high end vehicles aren't special, the knowledge I gained repairing and maintaining my first vehicle ('85 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme) is still mostly applicable to my current one ('02 BMW 325i) with the only real differences being I don't have to fuck around with that shitty electronic carburetor the Olds had when it gets cold. I still have to do brakes, suspension work, plugs, oil, filters, etc but they are basically the same just in slightly different spots with different sized bolts and torque specs.

I paid $1000 for my Jeep and while it looks like crap runs great and has been rock solid reliable, even when it is -35F outside. You can find reliable cheap vehicles but you have to sacrifice some things like looks. This does require knowing what you are looking at and being responsible which a lot of people don't want to do. You can also find a lot of $3k-$5k lemons as well. The 2 cheapest vehicles I purchased were $150 and $350 and the $150 one was reliable for 6 until it developed a fuel leak and the $350 one ran great for 4 years until one of the fuel pumps went out. In both cases I knew what I was getting and got far more use out of them than I thought I would. So even on the really cheap side of things there are reliable vehicles but you do need to know what you are getting your self into.

Similar situation here. I have never had a vehicle repoed although my current vehicle I did take out a loan for. I did this because I saved more in gas by not having to drive my Jeep for the 8 business days it took to get the money into my account than the interest on the loan cost me. When you call a finance company to tell them that you would like to pay off a loan that even the first payment isn't due on it gets some strange responses.

Like you I have driven some junk over the years but fixing a vehicle until it isn't worth fixing anymore is the cheapest way to go. Also keeping up on maintenance seem to make them run very reliably for a very long time (my jeep has 378,??? miles on it and runs like a top) and most of the vehicles I have owned have made it past 250,000 miles unless they were totaled in an accident.

Well we do need more of that so hopefully it goes as well as all the other "war on ???" efforts.

Typically yes. A typical readymix concrete truck will carry up to 5 or 10 cubic yards of concrete and dumpsters are measured in cubic yards. Then add in that most earth moving equipment with a bucket attached has that capacity measured in cubic yards. So most things that are construction related it will be yards.

Think of it as being similar to a combined cycle gas turbine power generation with using the waste heat in the left over steam for local heating. Those setups can achieve around a 70% total efficiency electric+heat which is what the mentioned setup does as well.

Don't forget cans and paper in the list of things .22lr is good for shooting.

And then there is the three sisters form of agriculture. Corn for the beans to climb, beans to fix nitrogen, and squash to provide ground cover to keep the weeds down and prevent evaporation. Each one provides something beneficial but mechanical harvesting can't be done (or no one has bothered to figured out how to do it.). Then there is the use of various soil amendments to make terra preta which seems to increase the nutrient holding ability of the soil as well as being basically a long term carbon sink.

That isn't oppression that is called freedom.

On a serious note. I can't imagine dealing with 30 little sacks of shit from other people every day, at least without the "board" of education. I hear the stories from my wife and her fellow teachers and I probably would have ended up in jail.