I think that definitely sounds reasonable, and I think, if there’s any hope for these tariffs to actually meet their stated purpose, the government of the US would need to just say, if working conditions don’t meet the same standards, there will be additional tariffs. I think that’s exactly where tariffs ought to be applied, when some country takes advantage of, essentially, human rights. We don’t have the right to stop them, but we do have the right to tax their products for it, to the point it’s not worth it.

Obviously, that’s not how things will go.

I fast between all my meals, so yeah.

That last part for sure resonates. I can’t remember if I said it here or elsewhere, but our prices have been subsidized by substandard working conditions in China, there is no way around it. And all because large corporations wanted to make more money. And we, as consumers, shouted a resounded “hell yeah” to those Chinese suicides at Foxcon, because we wanted cheaper components and cheaper phones.

And so I basically don’t know how I feel about anything. I try to be more cognizant about what I buy, where it’s from, how it’s made, but the speed and ease, and basically not having to think, sometimes trumps those thoughts.

The only silver lining I see to the tariffs is that it could end up sticking it to all these large corporations who fought hard to move operations out of the US, to places they knew couldn’t meet US worker standards, in order to save money. Obviously, US consumers will feel the pain, but we’ve been buying products subsidized by Chinese suicides in Foxcon factories, and so perhaps it’s a comeuppance.

Disclaimer: I don’t know what’s going on.

Decade old specs for decade in the future price.

I have not looked beyond the front page of the link you shared here, and I don’t mean my criticism to be more than tongue in cheek, but oh boy, $2k for that is… Something.

And this is perhaps me using the wrong term (translator v. interpreter), as I’m talking about speaking and not writing. I can never remember which is which, if there is a distinction.

I’m doing goodly.

I worked with a translator yesterday. She teaches courses, but she said she does translation because the money is good. I’ve worked with her for a while at this point, as well as dozens of other translators, on nearly a daily basis. They’re very much still in demand.

I have a three year loan at 1.9%. Why would I cough up an additional $20k now, when I could hang on to my cash and, at the very least, leave it in an account that earns twice that (and then some) in interest?

Say what you will about RFK, but he’s broken clock right on a couple of issues, pesticides being one of them. Sure, maybe his rationale isn’t right, but his end game may be a benefit. Unfortunately it’s at odds with Trump’s complete destruction of regulation, but he (RFK) seems to be chugging along. I think making America healthy is good; I don’t think pesticides or ultra processed foods make kids transgender.

Ha, I told a joke in middle school and they had to call the police, so I feel ya. It was 25 years ago.

How about humor?

I’m all for drug legalization. It’s not legal, and trying to somehow justify someone coming to America to traffic in fentanyl, which is a straight up killer, is incredibly disingenuous. And Oregon decriminalized drugs and had to walk it back because it became a problem.

Like I said, I’m in favor of it, but that’s not what we are dealing with. Someone who crosses a border to sell a deadly drug isn’t out here to help people. And if some American rolls into Portugal and starts selling fentanyl, I can assure you it ends up in that person getting removed from Portugal.

Yeah lemme go to my local fentanyl shop. Because she trafficked fentanyl.

Are you from the generation of email chain letters that asked you to scroll down and it’s be neat ASCII designs?

Scrolled far too long to find even a mention of Zebra. Uniball is the intro to good pens, but Zebra is where you land.

As it should be!

Nothing wrong with dreaming to be a plumber.

Never try anything!

I was in the Marines and I had to buy some of my shit on my own, so yeah, agree 100%.