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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 19th, 2023

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  • I’m fully on board with the idea of reducing plastic use, but I have some questions regarding use of and recycling of paper products. By my understanding, the vast majority of paper products are made out wood from fairly young-growth tree farms, where the trees are all cut down and then replanted so that they can be harvested again several years down the road. The paper products which are created from this process are primarily atmospheric CO2 which has been captured by the trees. Basically every proposed solution to the problem of greenhouse gases is some form of reducing emissions, or capturing greenhouse gases and sequestering them so that they can’t reenter the atmosphere. Landfills are largely anaerobic environments where materials are not able to break down for a very long time. Most of the trash in the US goes into landfills. If all of that’s true, then one of the more effective ways to sequester carbon should be to produce and use large amounts of paper products and then throw them into landfills. Paper recycling on the other hand to my knowledge at least requires a similar amount of energy to produce, but involves no new carbon capture. So wouldn’t it be worse to recycle paper than to throw paper waste in the trash?

    If the trees in these tree farm forests were not harvested, then they would continue to grow and capture carbon, but they would also release it back into the atmosphere as they died and were broken down by natural processes. It’s also my understanding that young trees grow more quickly and therefore capture carbon more aggressively than older ones…

    So what’s better? Recycling paper, or throwing it in landfills?


  • I have a small 8 oz “condiment squeeze bottle” that works great. It has a small nozzle so you don’t shoot out a ton of oil at once. If you are talking about cooking on steel or cast iron in a way that’s likely to have food stick, then you’re probably cooking something with a spatula of some kind. Squirt a little oil around the pan, spread it around a bit with the spatula (or a paper towel or something) and then get cooking. For best results, cook on a preheated pan, immediately after you put the cold oil in. I pretty much exclusively use avocado oil because it has a neutral taste and a very high smoke point so it’s great for frying or searing.





  • So is your definition of “liberal” just “someone who wants to maintain the status quo”, full stop? If so, that’s a very strange definition.

    As I understand it, Classical liberalism, as described in the link you provided generally just prioritizes individual liberty. It’s not full on anti-government libertarianism, but it favors a limited government.

    And again, as I understand it, Neoliberalism is essentially the orthodoxy of the west, post WW2. It’s still largely focused on individual liberty but perhaps not to the same extreme, and it’s largely based on the idea that capitalism (regulated, and with social safety nets) can be harnessed as a global force for good.

    I don’t see how anyone who adheres to either of those ideas could use them to justify an anti-abortion position, aside from deranged religious based arguments about fetal personhood.


  • Right, it seems pretty likely that he’s just going to run as a third party to try to spoil Biden’s vote, because at least some percentage of left-leaving people might be likely to vote for a candidate just because they see the Kennedy name on the ballot, without knowing anything about him. It’s already been reported that his biggest donors are also major donors to GOP candidates.


  • Wagner opened fire on Russian forces. Shot down helicopters and apparently at least one transport plane. That’s a lot for just playacting. No pretense would be needed to replace a general in wartime. It’s a common occurrence throughout history, and Putin wouldn’t need an excuse either way, since he answers to no one in the Russian government. As to the statement that neither Putin nor Prigozhin are stupid… Well this entire conflict has provided an enormous amount of evidence to the contrary.