bluGill

Diesel is clearly better if you are driving 20,000+miles per year. However you are not doing near that, so it won’t be worth the extra cost. Today diesel is so much more expensive than gas that the real advantage is only that diesel engines last longer, and in your case the body will fail first.

How much of your driving is towing vs unloaded? If you are only towing then a large engine is better - displacement = torque = more fuel efficient. However if you are mostly unloaded something like the Ford Ecoboost engine is much more fuel efficient unloaded and when towing you lean on the turbo to use more fuel (as much as the large displacement engine!) and so still have the power - but the engine won’t last as long overall and will break more often - thus not a good choice if you mostly tow.

I would lean to the 3/4 ton trucks. While a 1/2 ton truck has the specs to do the job, all of them are aimed at the luxury car market these days, and so they will make compromises that make them not as good for real work. 3/4 ton still is targeted at people doing real work and so they will have better compromises. (if you were asking 30 years ago a 1/2 ton would be fine)

Do you need something now? Electric trucks are just coming out and should start hitting the used market soon. They only do about 100 miles when towing, but are much more environmentally friendly if you can live with that limitation. I wouldn’t think about sticking with the truck you have now for 3 more years to see what happens here (and also 3 more years to get real world experience with how electric trucks really work for people in your application)

It is up to congress to stop that not the courts. He should be impeached if he tries that.

Only if rail has to compete with ‘free’ public roads. Private rail had a long history before cars. They were not always loved, but they worked.

Finding the replacement is what worries me.

Well that and if the bed is going how is the frame

The bed is starting to rot off my 1999 truck, I’m not sure how or if I should repair it

So would I. Those in the military who are talking give me the impression they have done tests and while the results are classified (thus I don’t know what the truth is) they have counter measures (which again are classified so I don’t know what they might be)

Most of the planet was not accessable. It was there but your local population grew until the land couldn’t support more. There wasn’t much opportunity to move as the surronding villages had the same problem.

of course when a famon came you got a few generations of peace here and there

For most of history you would be better off if you could kill the next village over. You want to be friends with the people in your village, but if you kill the next one you can expand your farm/hunting/gathering grounds and then leave it to your kids - while otherwise you won’t have enough food for all the kids and your DNA is in danger of not getting passed on.

In our modern world we mostly have plenty of food (and when we don’t lack of land is not the issue), but that isn’t what our DNA is evolved to “think”

That is the meme, but when I talk to military people they point out Russian incompetence. They do not believe NATO ships are that vulnerable. Ukraine is using a lot of tanks, but because they are using them according to good military doctrine they are not taking nearly as many losses. Note that Ukraine and Russia both got their tank instructions from the old Soviet playbook not a NATO book (though Ukraine as had NATO training as well), there is nothing about using a tank well Russia shouldn’t know, but they are failing to follow their own book on how to use tanks.

Be careful here. Experts would tell you that Russia was going to invade Ukraine. However as you say Russia wasn’t ready for it.

Unfortunately China is not running out of everything and they are looking like they might back Russia here. Iran is also backing Russia and not to be underestimated.

WWI was called the great war, and the war to end all wars until WWII broke out. I sometimes call WWII just the great war part 2 - the treaties that “ended” WWI were clearly setup (on hindsight!) to make the war break out again in the future when Germany got sick of those treaties.

The point is names are added after the fact and often don’t make a lot of sense if you know details.

Often car companies offer a rebate or the low rate. If you do the math the rebate is often for more than the difference in interest payments between the low and normal rate.

We are also hoping it doesn’t turn into WWIII. It could for sure, but there is the possibility that things can calm down in a few years.

If China directly supports Russia NATO will throw sanctions on them and that will hurt China. China is supporting Russia, but they are walking a find line as China cannot afford to make NATO mad. (NATO also will hurt, which is why NATO is looking the other way, but how long will NATO put up with China is an open question)

People have been saying that about every presidential candidate for as long as I can remember. Both parties say that about the other. I’ve long ago figured out we are not that fragile.

Because it is expensive and when your grandparents don’t remember a time when food was scarce, but a lot of people can remember a time when money was tight it seems to make sense to not spend all that money on storage. (Until you reach the rich level any additional money goes to things like larger houses or nicer houses which means you live paycheck to paycheck and have about the same amount of money to spend every day - after all the deductions to pay for the above - as someone who is poor)

This is the same reason infrastructure in all areas is often left to rot - maintenance costs money and if the effects of not doing it are not immediately visible it is easy to stop doing it even if overall it makes your life worse in the long run.

Of course the above is easy to say. It is also easy to talk about places where you are an exception. However it is very hard to see the places where you are doing the same as everyone else and foolishly falling behind on something to your long term detriment. (also there are some people who talk about being an exception who are spending too much effort on things that don’t need to be done)

@PixelTron@lemm.ee

@rimu@piefed.social @breadsmasher@lemmy.world I’ve lived next to both, and it makes no difference. Both are good neighbors. I won’t live near coal power plants or oil refineries though.

Why not get a loan and buy the house as narmal?

We have perfectly good truces from 1991 and 1994. if putin can’t accept them he cannot be trusted.