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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • It doesn’t help that alternatives have been lowering their prices. For example Wine prices have been decreasing due to a large amount of over-production. When a can of fancy beer cost $7 and a decent bottle of wine cost $9-12, economics wins out.

    Oh and south central Washington (Yakima valley) is taking a beating on Hop prices. Most of those expensive beers have a lot of hops in their recipes. Add in they are highly dependent on immigrant labor and they are truly fucked for the next few years.



  • Few things:

    First off find out the age of the well and the pipes.

    The water is very soft and acidic (low pH). This means that if the pipes/well casing are slowly being disolved. That’s likely why the iron is high. If the pipes contain lead anywhere, they are also dissolving the lead.

    Only real solution = all new well and 100% plumbing replacement.

    If the system is not that old and the groundwater is contaminated , a filtration system is required. Look for a whole house filtration system.

    Either way it’s an expensive fix. I would get some experts out to diagnose the issue. Then require the seller to pay for the necessary fixes as a contigency on your offer.




  • I got my license in the U.S. when I was 16. Then in my early 20’s I lived in England for few years. I was able to drive on my U.S. license for a year. During that year I had to go through the process to get an english license to drive in the country after that. I did the whole learners permit, driving lessons, etc that first year.

    Let’s just say it was much, much, harder to get a driving license in England. I had driven over 100K miles in the U.S and 10K miles in the U.K by the time I took the test and I still barely passed it.






  • I have a friend who grew up on the coast and her family always sailed for fun.

    When she got divorced she bought a sailboat and traveled for a bit in it. She then parked it at a marina and lived in it for so many years close to her kids and grandkids. She paid $100K for boat and her marina fees were $300/month. The boat was paid off with the divorce settlement.

    The cheapest 1 bedroom apartment to rent nearby was $3500/month for less square footage than her boat. The cheapest small house was around $1,000,000 or around $6000/ month at the time. The homes around the marina were all priced at several million dollars.







  • The place was a toxic cesspool at the time. An investment group had purchased 7 different companies and forced merged them in the space of 3 years and went on a massive hiring spree. The company I started with was 350 people. The company I left was over 4,000 people

    It was an illegal layoff that I could taken them to court over. However the in-house lawyer knew what was going on and made them give me one hell of a severance package to stop me from suing them. I basically got everything I reasonably would have gotten if I sued.

    That ended up being the most profitable year of my life.

    My boss ended up CEO for a few years. It didn’t go well. They have 1/2 the number of employees now and 50% less market share.


  • I am on my 3rd layoff in 10 years.

    First one I had all sort of dirt on my boss who was kissing ass to climb the corporate ladder. I was a massive liability as I knew what a waste of space he was. They laid me off with some really week excuses and a years wage/benefits to keep me quiet.

    Second one we got a new CEO who decided to make massive changes to the company “to make it more profitable”. It hasn’t shown a profit since and the layoffs are a yearly tradition now.

    The last one was this past fall. Smaller company over-invested when times where good. Then the market turned around and they are in trouble. One of those small “family” businesses, me and 20 others got kicked out of the family.

    So as of now I have my own business. I am on track to make 100% more than I ever have before working for someone else.

    Just for shits and giggles I also have an interview tomorrow for a C-suite position in a tropical country. It’s too fucking cold here.



  • Please do NOT attempt to disinfect your own seeds. It sounds like a good idea but in practice it’s not.

    It takes some very precise equipment to effectively utilize this method. If you don’t do it correctly you can kill the seeds or select for resistance to the disinfectant in the pathogen. Neither is a good option.

    It also doesn’t work that well unless you do all the things not in the paper perfectly. Stuff like, harvest the seed at the correct maturity, treat the seed within a limited number of days. Disinfect at the right moisture level etc… it all gets extremely complicated and very species specific.

    Oh and you also have to be sure to know the pathogen you are disinfecting. For example bleach and hot water does little against TMV in tomatoes and peppers. Now a TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) bath immediately after harvest is highly effective.