Author Topic: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.  (Read 204881 times)

Imma

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #300 on: May 31, 2018, 11:58:05 AM »
Rant on Putin that I was going to put at https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/modern-day-slavery/100/
This is the better thread.

I don't get, and despise the way Putin is glorified ( good or bad).


Yes Putin (Russia) has nuclear weapons to saber rattle and has a seat on the UN Security council.
But:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_%28United_Nations%29
Russia is 9th after Bangladesh:
Do you glorify/fear/know who is, the head of state of Bangladesh?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29
Russia is 13th after Australia
Do you glorify/fear/know who is, the the head of state of Australia?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita
Russia is 70th after Equatorial Guinea (wholly crap, I was not expecting that).
Do you glorify/fear/know who is, the the head of state of Equatorial Guinea?

That said:  Putin is not someone I'd want to meet in a dark (or lit)alleyway, or across a negotiating table.
Putin is the obvious leader of Russia, able to swim in the dangerous currents of Russian politics (Po-210 anyone?)

When Putin passes from the scene (a "cold" like old Soviet leaders) the succession crisis should be interesting, as most high grade successors are likely "minimized".

One word answer: 'Energy'

"The Russian Federation supplies a significant volume of fossil fuels and is the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the European Union. In 2007, the European Union imported from Russia 185 million tonnes of crude oil, which accounted for 32.6% of total oil import, and 100.7 million tonnes of oil equivalent of natural gas, which accounted 38.7% of total gas import.[1]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_in_the_European_energy_sector

This + NATO / EU.

In many countries there is a large minority of people with Russian heritage, because those countries were under Russian influence for a long time. Russia maintains a territorial claim to these areas and has already invaded one place that they feel should be under the Russian influence. Ukraine was not part of the EU or NATO and nobody feels that area is important enough to risk real war. He was testing us and he got away with it.

But Russia has the same claim to the Baltic states. The Baltic states are EU and NATO members and historically have strong anti-Russian sentiments. If Russia would invade there, those countries would certainly ask for support against Russia. The Russian threat to their territory is why they joined NATO in the first place. This request would likely divide the EU and NATO and severely disrupt the stability of the EU and the single market/euro. The EU is trying to stay afloat, but 10 years after the first crisis happened it is still very fragile.

Whatever you think about Putin, he's a clever man and a strategic thinker. Is he interested in an all-out war with NATO? Of course not. He has very little to gain from that. But he's interested in power and money, and that's exactly what he's gaining now. He's getting involved in international conflicts, enough to divide and confuse his enemies. Whether or not he actually did try to influence the US elections, the Trump presidency has certainly been weakened by these claims, which in turn damages the relationship between the US and Europe. He's meddling in Syria both to to expand Russia's influence and crush the Chechens there, and also to show off his military power. Our economic dependence on Russia gives Putin power.

The scary part about guys like Putin and Erdogan, or any illiberal democracy, is that unlike true authoritarian regimes, they have a strong popular support and get a certain legitimacy because of it. They then use this to get rid of things like free press, free elections and opposition leaders, but there is no doubt that they maintain a strong fanbase, their domestic popularity is not just based on fear. We used to believe that slowly, all countries would progress to liberal democracies and then we would have world peace. It seems the other way round: democratic countries are slowly corrupted and become illiberal democracies.

markbike528CBX

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #301 on: May 31, 2018, 12:32:40 PM »
Liberty Stash and Imma,

Energy and USSR/Imperial Russia history/ toward Europe definitely answers my question.
As an American I had forgotten the euro energy thing. The Saudi oil kings play a similar role in the US.

Travis

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #302 on: May 31, 2018, 12:33:52 PM »
Rant on Putin that I was going to put at https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/modern-day-slavery/100/
This is the better thread.

I don't get, and despise the way Putin is glorified ( good or bad).


Yes Putin (Russia) has nuclear weapons to saber rattle and has a seat on the UN Security council.
But:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_%28United_Nations%29
Russia is 9th after Bangladesh:
Do you glorify/fear/know who is, the head of state of Bangladesh?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29
Russia is 13th after Australia
Do you glorify/fear/know who is, the the head of state of Australia?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita
Russia is 70th after Equatorial Guinea (wholly crap, I was not expecting that).
Do you glorify/fear/know who is, the the head of state of Equatorial Guinea?

That said:  Putin is not someone I'd want to meet in a dark (or lit)alleyway, or across a negotiating table.
Putin is the obvious leader of Russia, able to swim in the dangerous currents of Russian politics (Po-210 anyone?)

When Putin passes from the scene (a "cold" like old Soviet leaders) the succession crisis should be interesting, as most high grade successors are likely "minimized".

One word answer: 'Energy'

"The Russian Federation supplies a significant volume of fossil fuels and is the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the European Union. In 2007, the European Union imported from Russia 185 million tonnes of crude oil, which accounted for 32.6% of total oil import, and 100.7 million tonnes of oil equivalent of natural gas, which accounted 38.7% of total gas import.[1]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_in_the_European_energy_sector

This + NATO / EU.

In many countries there is a large minority of people with Russian heritage, because those countries were under Russian influence for a long time. Russia maintains a territorial claim to these areas and has already invaded one place that they feel should be under the Russian influence. Ukraine was not part of the EU or NATO and nobody feels that area is important enough to risk real war. He was testing us and he got away with it.

But Russia has the same claim to the Baltic states. The Baltic states are EU and NATO members and historically have strong anti-Russian sentiments. If Russia would invade there, those countries would certainly ask for support against Russia. The Russian threat to their territory is why they joined NATO in the first place. This request would likely divide the EU and NATO and severely disrupt the stability of the EU and the single market/euro. The EU is trying to stay afloat, but 10 years after the first crisis happened it is still very fragile.

Go to Google Maps and zoom in on the Polish/Latvian border.  You'll notice a couple things. One is that the border is very narrow. The other is that there is a little province to the west that is technically Russia and Mother Russia acts very protective about that slice of land.  It's difficult to defend an ally (Poland and all three Baltic states are NATO members) under such circumstances.  Our allies up there are a little nervous given what Russia has done to Georgia and Ukraine in the last decade and Putin has never liked how friendly we've become with former Soviet countries.  Russia flexed it's fossil fuel powers before and gave western Europe a very cold winter when there was a dispute. An economic crisis combined with another territorial crisis involving an EU/NATO member on the European periphery might make other nations choose one membership over the other.

Also, I don't understand using Bangladesh, Australia, and Equatorial Guinea as comparisons to Russia. One is an ally and the other two are too poor or small for anyone to notice while Russia has been an enemy/rival/concern for much of the last century.

markbike528CBX

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #303 on: May 31, 2018, 12:54:33 PM »
...snip.....
Also, I don't understand using Bangladesh, Australia, and Equatorial Guinea as comparisons to Russia. One is an ally and the other two are too poor or small for anyone to notice while Russia has been an enemy/rival/concern for much of the last century.

The comparison was the main point.   By GDP per capita Russia should have to sit at the little kids table, not with the big boys.

Imma

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #304 on: May 31, 2018, 01:20:34 PM »
A guy I know doesn't believe in global warming. He's also strongly against lefties and clean energy initiatives and looks down on non-western cultures. He dislikes Arabs and Russians particularly (he loves SE-Asians though).

We have some fossil fuel resources in our own country, but the government is trying to stop drilling because of the earthquakes it's causing. This guy was ranting about how there's nothing wrong with fossil fuels and clean energy was a hoax and actually much worse for the environment than fossil fuels. Then I asked him 'when fossil make us dependent on Arabs and Russians, doesn't that mean transitioning to renewable, local sources should be our main priority?' He then switched to a different subject ....

What I don't get about this is that first of all, no logical thinking person doesn't believe in global warming, but even if you believe fossil fuels don't cause global warming, they still make us dependent on shady regimes and we're going to run out at some point, so developing renewable sources of energy should still be a big priority.

Travis

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #305 on: May 31, 2018, 02:57:23 PM »
...snip.....
Also, I don't understand using Bangladesh, Australia, and Equatorial Guinea as comparisons to Russia. One is an ally and the other two are too poor or small for anyone to notice while Russia has been an enemy/rival/concern for much of the last century.

The comparison was the main point.   By GDP per capita Russia should have to sit at the little kids table, not with the big boys.

Got it.  Aside from everything discussed above, Russia helped build the big kid's table and the rules don't let us vote them off the island.

fuzzy math

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #306 on: May 31, 2018, 05:25:02 PM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

Dicey

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #307 on: May 31, 2018, 07:48:10 PM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.
We replaced our lawn with slate chips last year. It looks awesome, and it wasn't terribly expensive, especially compared to other non-grass options.

Chris22

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #308 on: May 31, 2018, 08:12:05 PM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

HBFIRE

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #309 on: May 31, 2018, 08:22:20 PM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

you don't water or mow it?

Morning Glory

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #310 on: May 31, 2018, 09:07:22 PM »
I don't get ABATE. If you are going to take a political stance against something, why helmets? Aren't there more important causes out there?

pbkmaine

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The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #311 on: May 31, 2018, 09:49:02 PM »


A thousand times this. Proper cycling gear ensures you cool down faster in hot weather, and is faster than ordinary clothing by a serious margin - we're talking in minutes rather than seconds for a ten mile ride. If you ride ten miles each way to work, proper gear could save you five to ten minutes each day.



I'm all for proper gear, but really, shave MINUTES off a 10 mile ride?  Any data to support this?  You're really telling me by putting on tight cycling clothing instead of my baggy underarmour shorts I'm going to shave minutes from my ride?  Sorry, this is super hard for me to buy into without seeing some actual supporting data.

Quote from: CyclingWeekly
Cycling Weekly’s own tests show that an aerosuit can save around five watts of energy compared to a close-fitting jersey and short combination and 10 watts over loose-fitting clothing, equating to time savings of 45 seconds or more over 25 miles.

Not exactly a massive time savings, and this is for top tier cyclers.

Our European friends find it hilarious that Americans need special clothes for riding bicycles. Unless we are trying out for the Tour de France.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2018, 09:50:38 PM by pbkmaine »

HBFIRE

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #312 on: May 31, 2018, 10:01:47 PM »


Our European friends find it hilarious that Americans need special clothes for riding bicycles. Unless we are trying out for the Tour de France.

Yeah I could see that.  Tell them we find their tight speedos hilarious too :D.  That is, unless they're trying out for the olympics haha.

Chris22

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #313 on: May 31, 2018, 10:23:21 PM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

you don't water or mow it?

Water,  no, we get plenty of rain.

Mow, yeah, you’re right, I’ve gone through about one $3 gallon of gas this year.  $38, my bad.

runbikerun

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #314 on: June 01, 2018, 02:33:50 AM »


A thousand times this. Proper cycling gear ensures you cool down faster in hot weather, and is faster than ordinary clothing by a serious margin - we're talking in minutes rather than seconds for a ten mile ride. If you ride ten miles each way to work, proper gear could save you five to ten minutes each day.



I'm all for proper gear, but really, shave MINUTES off a 10 mile ride?  Any data to support this?  You're really telling me by putting on tight cycling clothing instead of my baggy underarmour shorts I'm going to shave minutes from my ride?  Sorry, this is super hard for me to buy into without seeing some actual supporting data.

Quote from: CyclingWeekly
Cycling Weekly’s own tests show that an aerosuit can save around five watts of energy compared to a close-fitting jersey and short combination and 10 watts over loose-fitting clothing, equating to time savings of 45 seconds or more over 25 miles.

Not exactly a massive time savings, and this is for top tier cyclers.

Our European friends find it hilarious that Americans need special clothes for riding bicycles. Unless we are trying out for the Tour de France.

I'll just note here that I'm European rather than American. And if you're cycling more than about four miles or so, you're probably going to need to change into fresh clothes when you get to your destination - so you may as well opt for the useful stuff.

On the aero benefits: I think what's being referred to is the difference between skinsuits, tight-fitting jersey-and-shorts combos, and regular fit jerseys and shorts. In other words, you get 45 seconds over 25 miles when you go from "already pretty tight" to "cartoonishly tight". Comparisons to a T-shirt and chinos would, I suspect, produce a vastly larger figure. If I had the time and the patience, and a power meter, I'd head down to my local open air velodrome and do a few laps in different gear to get some hard numbers.

All of this, however, is a bit off topic, so apologies.

Imma

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #315 on: June 01, 2018, 04:00:29 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

you don't water or mow it?

My total spend this year was €20 for some seed. I don't water, rain does that for me, and mowing doesn't cost money, as long as you do it yourself. I haven't mowed this year yet, but I should do it this week.

I have never had a lawn before and I'm really looking forward to having one so I can picknick outside in my own backyard and have BBQs.

Hirondelle

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #316 on: June 01, 2018, 04:07:29 AM »


A thousand times this. Proper cycling gear ensures you cool down faster in hot weather, and is faster than ordinary clothing by a serious margin - we're talking in minutes rather than seconds for a ten mile ride. If you ride ten miles each way to work, proper gear could save you five to ten minutes each day.



I'm all for proper gear, but really, shave MINUTES off a 10 mile ride?  Any data to support this?  You're really telling me by putting on tight cycling clothing instead of my baggy underarmour shorts I'm going to shave minutes from my ride?  Sorry, this is super hard for me to buy into without seeing some actual supporting data.

Quote from: CyclingWeekly
Cycling Weekly’s own tests show that an aerosuit can save around five watts of energy compared to a close-fitting jersey and short combination and 10 watts over loose-fitting clothing, equating to time savings of 45 seconds or more over 25 miles.

Not exactly a massive time savings, and this is for top tier cyclers.

Our European friends find it hilarious that Americans need special clothes for riding bicycles. Unless we are trying out for the Tour de France.

I'll just note here that I'm European rather than American. And if you're cycling more than about four miles or so, you're probably going to need to change into fresh clothes when you get to your destination - so you may as well opt for the useful stuff.


Fellow European here and I don't get why I would need to change into something fresh after 4 mils (25 mins approx)? Unless you're biking on hilly terrain, at a high speed (>20 km/h I'd say) or in very hot/humid weather I don't see how biking would get me more sweaty than walking. Would you also change into something fresh after a 30 min walk?

Now I have to note that I'm Dutch, so the weather and landscape are both bike friendly. And we also think helmets are unnecessary so yeah, maybe we just don't know how to bike properly ;)
« Last Edit: June 01, 2018, 04:09:03 AM by Hirondelle »

PC2K

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #317 on: June 01, 2018, 05:52:58 AM »
Other Dutch person here. Cycle to work (and supermarket, city centre, gym, pool); i do not change clothing. I do put on some lycra while roadbiking or MTB ing.

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #318 on: June 01, 2018, 05:55:12 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

I enjoy mowing.

Davnasty

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #319 on: June 01, 2018, 06:24:03 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

you don't water or mow it?

Water,  no, we get plenty of rain.

Mow, yeah, you’re right, I’ve gone through about one $3 gallon of gas this year.  $38, my bad.

You're also forgetting annual cost of the mower, mower maintenance, and opportunity cost for all of those monies :)




slappy

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #320 on: June 01, 2018, 06:25:59 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

I love my lawn. I love to watch my 4 and 2 year old just wander around the lawn exploring. We have a backyard full of stuff for them, sandbox (hubby built), swingset (free), kozy coupe car (free) and they do play with that as well. But sometimes they just wander exploring the lawn, dandelions and trees at the edge of the yard. Its fun to watch them and wander what their little minds are thinking.

slappy

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #321 on: June 01, 2018, 06:26:45 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

you don't water or mow it?

Water,  no, we get plenty of rain.

Mow, yeah, you’re right, I’ve gone through about one $3 gallon of gas this year.  $38, my bad.

You're also forgetting annual cost of the mower, mower maintenance, and opportunity cost for all of those monies :)

Our mower was $25 used and we replace the blade occasionally ($10?). 

Dicey

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #322 on: June 01, 2018, 06:53:23 AM »
I am still ridiculously happy to have discovered that the previous owner of our latest flip project left behind a new-ish push mower. It came with the $725k house, so...free? I guess that will depend on if we make money on the house, right?

Chris22

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #323 on: June 01, 2018, 08:38:41 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

you don't water or mow it?

Water,  no, we get plenty of rain.

Mow, yeah, you’re right, I’ve gone through about one $3 gallon of gas this year.  $38, my bad.

You're also forgetting annual cost of the mower, mower maintenance, and opportunity cost for all of those monies :)

10 years ago I received the mower as a housewarming gift from my inlaws. It cost $320 or so. Every year I pay Ace $10 to sharpen the blade.

fuzzy math

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #324 on: June 01, 2018, 08:46:58 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

That's fabulous that you have a few bare spots. Most of my lawn is a bare spot and we've seeded twice. So yeah that gets time consuming and costly. I also have terrible grass allergies and my husband had surgery so I get to do all the lawn tasks this summer. Turns out he bought the wrong type of seed (fine feskew) and our lawn is going to die again next month and then I will have to re-seed a 3rd time in the fall.

Chris22

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #325 on: June 01, 2018, 08:49:54 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

That's fabulous that you have a few bare spots. Most of my lawn is a bare spot and we've seeded twice. So yeah that gets time consuming and costly. I also have terrible grass allergies and my husband had surgery so I get to do all the lawn tasks this summer. Turns out he bought the wrong type of seed (fine feskew) and our lawn is going to die again next month and then I will have to re-seed a 3rd time in the fall.

So I get FOR YOU why a lawn is bad and expensive, but can you se that isn’t the case for most people?  If they don’t share your highly specific circumstances the downsides aren’t the same?

Roadrunner53

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #326 on: June 01, 2018, 08:54:42 AM »
My Hub has the solution. He would like to concrete the whole yard and paint it green. Then he wants to cut down all the trees too so there will be no leaves to deal with in the fall.

Dicey

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #327 on: June 01, 2018, 08:58:27 AM »
My Hub has the solution. He would like to concrete the whole yard and paint it green. Then he wants to cut down all the trees too so there will be no leaves to deal with in the fall.
Pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

FIRE@50

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #328 on: June 01, 2018, 09:04:29 AM »
I don't get lawns either. I'm very much in favor of a low maintenance wooded lot.

Roadrunner53

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« Reply #329 on: June 01, 2018, 09:19:45 AM »
My Hub has the solution. He would like to concrete the whole yard and paint it green. Then he wants to cut down all the trees too so there will be no leaves to deal with in the fall.
Pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

We wouldn't have enough money to pave the yard considering we are on an acre, but he likes to dream!

ChpBstrd

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #330 on: June 01, 2018, 09:46:26 AM »
Lawns became a part of the housing landscape when dog ownership became more common and the "greatest" generation was nostalgic about the "simpler" times when most people were small-time farmers. The market's solution to these emotions was to create fake mini-farms where the crop is grass and the livestock is a dog. People could then cultivate the grass and raise dogs while living a good distance from each other. Suburbs also served the function of maintaining racial segregation - which was otherwise breaking down by the 1950s and 60s - because at the time only the privledged classes could afford the large plots of land and high transportation costs associated with living this way. Being a fake mini farmer became a mark of class distinction - an exclusive club with a high fee at the door. Paying that cost is what people have been working for for decades.

That's where lawns came from.

Roadrunner53

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #331 on: June 01, 2018, 09:55:53 AM »
Sand and cactus yards sound desirable. Plus, I would like to have the entire inside of the house made of concrete, stainless steel with drains in the floor so all of it could be hosed down with water and the dirty water would swirl down the drain.

OtherJen

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #332 on: June 01, 2018, 09:59:01 AM »
Sand and cactus yards sound desirable. Plus, I would like to have the entire inside of the house made of concrete, stainless steel with drains in the floor so all of it could be hosed down with water and the dirty water would swirl down the drain.

You sound like my long-lost sister. Everyone else looks at me like I'm nuts when I say that I wish I could just hose down my entire house rather than fussing with dustcloths, brooms, mops, etc.

My parents have a small yard and replaced the entire back lawn with a patio and landscaping and half of the front yard with landscaping about 10 years ago. It takes my dad about 5 minutes to mow the front yard, and both parents spend hours tending flowers and enjoying the patio. It's pretty great.

HBFIRE

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #333 on: June 01, 2018, 10:02:42 AM »
Lawns became a part of the housing landscape when dog ownership became more common and the "greatest" generation was nostalgic about the "simpler" times when most people were small-time farmers. The market's solution to these emotions was to create fake mini-farms where the crop is grass and the livestock is a dog. People could then cultivate the grass and raise dogs while living a good distance from each other. Suburbs also served the function of maintaining racial segregation - which was otherwise breaking down by the 1950s and 60s - because at the time only the privledged classes could afford the large plots of land and high transportation costs associated with living this way. Being a fake mini farmer became a mark of class distinction - an exclusive club with a high fee at the door. Paying that cost is what people have been working for for decades.

That's where lawns came from.

Actually lawns have been around in Europe since the 16th century.

RWD

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Proud Foot

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #335 on: June 01, 2018, 10:11:30 AM »
Lawns became a part of the housing landscape when dog ownership became more common and the "greatest" generation was nostalgic about the "simpler" times when most people were small-time farmers. The market's solution to these emotions was to create fake mini-farms where the crop is grass and the livestock is a dog. People could then cultivate the grass and raise dogs while living a good distance from each other. Suburbs also served the function of maintaining racial segregation - which was otherwise breaking down by the 1950s and 60s - because at the time only the privledged classes could afford the large plots of land and high transportation costs associated with living this way. Being a fake mini farmer became a mark of class distinction - an exclusive club with a high fee at the door. Paying that cost is what people have been working for for decades.

That's where lawns came from.

Actually lawns have been around in Europe since the 16th century.

So funny the discussion on lawns is going on.  Freakonomics did a rebroadcast yesterday of their podcast How Stupid Is Our Obsession With Lawns

GuitarStv

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #336 on: June 01, 2018, 10:18:04 AM »
https://earther.com/lawns-are-an-ecological-disaster-1826070720

We don't water or fertilize the lawn, or use pesticides or herbicides on it.  It's certainly never been seeded or aerated in the eight years where we've been living at our home.  I'd have to guess that it's pretty close to entirely native grasses at this point . . . or at least is composed of grasses that are perfectly adapted to the conditions we live in (there's a patch of it that is clover in one corner of the yard, and another patch that is mostly escaped chives/green onions in the other corner).  The lawn grows pretty quickly in the spring and fall and needs to be mowed once a week.  In the summer it can go two or three weeks between mowing depending on the heat and rain.  My lawn looks fine (although it's greener in the spring/fall and goes kinda brownish when we've got a particularly hot summer)

My point being that lawns don't have to be particularly high maintenance, expensive, or bad for the environment.

Roadrunner53

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #337 on: June 01, 2018, 10:20:27 AM »
Sand and cactus yards sound desirable. Plus, I would like to have the entire inside of the house made of concrete, stainless steel with drains in the floor so all of it could be hosed down with water and the dirty water would swirl down the drain.

You sound like my long-lost sister. Everyone else looks at me like I'm nuts when I say that I wish I could just hose down my entire house rather than fussing with dustcloths, brooms, mops, etc.

My parents have a small yard and replaced the entire back lawn with a patio and landscaping and half of the front yard with landscaping about 10 years ago. It takes my dad about 5 minutes to mow the front yard, and both parents spend hours tending flowers and enjoying the patio. It's pretty great.

Hahaha, OtherJen, we are soul sisters of the hosey house! Bring it on!

OtherJen

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #338 on: June 01, 2018, 10:26:55 AM »
(there's a patch of it that is clover in one corner of the yard, and another patch that is mostly escaped chives/green onions in the other corner). 

We planted a small clump of chives about 10 years ago. I'm pretty sure that about 20% of the backyard "grass" is now chives. It's an interesting smell when mixed with standard mowed grass aroma.

GuitarStv

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #339 on: June 01, 2018, 10:35:00 AM »
My policy is that if it's green, and underfoot it's lawn.  :P

OtherJen

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #340 on: June 01, 2018, 10:39:23 AM »
My policy is that if it's green, and underfoot it's lawn.  :P

Pretty much. Our yard is also infested with wild violets, but the leaves get mowed just like grass and occasionally we get a burst of pretty purple flowers. I'm okay with it.

Travis

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #341 on: June 01, 2018, 11:30:35 AM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

That's fabulous that you have a few bare spots. Most of my lawn is a bare spot and we've seeded twice. So yeah that gets time consuming and costly. I also have terrible grass allergies and my husband had surgery so I get to do all the lawn tasks this summer. Turns out he bought the wrong type of seed (fine feskew) and our lawn is going to die again next month and then I will have to re-seed a 3rd time in the fall.

So I get FOR YOU why a lawn is bad and expensive, but can you se that isn’t the case for most people?  If they don’t share your highly specific circumstances the downsides aren’t the same?

I just moved from CO, live currently in the Phoenix area, and Los Angeles is just across the border. NONE of these places should have lawns, yet there they are in significant quantities sucking up external sources of expensive water.  If you live in a place that gets a good amount of water year 'round and grass can grow naturally, then this complaint doesn't apply to you.

jinga nation

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #342 on: June 01, 2018, 12:23:05 PM »
Something "I don't get": older kids (and adults!) obsessed with Legos. Seems rather infantile in addition to the crazy high price and how uncomfortable they are to step on!!

Love me some Legos.  I'm not obsessed by any stretch, but I threw a $100 car Lego set on my Amazon wish list and my mother in law bought it for me as a Christmas gift, because she didn't know what else to get.  It was perfect.  I had fun putting it together, and now it sits on display on my dresser.  And I love elbowing my 6y/o daughter out of the way so I can assemble the Legos she gets for gifts.  I love to give Legos as gifts, they're generally played with more and better built/designed than so much other of the plastic crap that passes for toys these days.

+1. My kids and I fight for the Lego pail. I had Lego Technic as a kid. I still play with Lego as it keeps my mind busy. Sometimes I end up resolving work technical issues in my head while fiddling with Lego. It's a productive time passer, promotes creativity and thinking and planning ahead. And can be used and re-used, break down a build, start a new one.

If you get a chance, see Nathan Sawaya's work. http://www.brickartist.com/about-exhibition.html. I went to see "The Art of the Brick" exhibition last year when it was in town. Stupendous!

What I don't get is adults obsessed with going to baseball games, having ball-park food, and then sleeping most of the game. But then I didn't grow up with baseball, so what would I know?

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #343 on: June 01, 2018, 01:13:47 PM »
My policy is that if it's green, and underfoot it's lawn.  :P

Pretty much. Our yard is also infested with wild violets, but the leaves get mowed just like grass and occasionally we get a burst of pretty purple flowers. I'm okay with it.

I've always thought of the manicured plots made for looking at as "lawns" and the grassy areas full of dandelions and onions that are good for playing sports and running around in as "yards". I don't know what the official designations are and there's certainly some overlap but that's how I use the words.

ChpBstrd

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #344 on: June 01, 2018, 03:04:10 PM »
https://earther.com/lawns-are-an-ecological-disaster-1826070720

We don't water or fertilize the lawn, or use pesticides or herbicides on it.  It's certainly never been seeded or aerated in the eight years where we've been living at our home.  I'd have to guess that it's pretty close to entirely native grasses at this point . . . or at least is composed of grasses that are perfectly adapted to the conditions we live in (there's a patch of it that is clover in one corner of the yard, and another patch that is mostly escaped chives/green onions in the other corner).  The lawn grows pretty quickly in the spring and fall and needs to be mowed once a week.  In the summer it can go two or three weeks between mowing depending on the heat and rain.  My lawn looks fine (although it's greener in the spring/fall and goes kinda brownish when we've got a particularly hot summer)

My point being that lawns don't have to be particularly high maintenance, expensive, or bad for the environment.
Same here, except mowers emit more noxious fumes than a modern car. Start a mower inside a closed garage and you could be dead in 5 minutes. The earth works the same way, it just takes longer.

The new $400 battery mowers are supposed to resolve this, but how much diesel was burned to mine the battery metals?

Now if you're using a reel mower, I bow down.

pbkmaine

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #345 on: June 01, 2018, 06:29:08 PM »
My Hub has the solution. He would like to concrete the whole yard and paint it green. Then he wants to cut down all the trees too so there will be no leaves to deal with in the fall.
Pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot?

Carrie

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #346 on: June 01, 2018, 06:49:23 PM »
Our lawn serves a purpose by controlling erosion on our slopes but I like the  ground cover better. Greenery is nice for absorption of rainwater, less heat island effect, and playing/picnicking. Wish we didn't have to mow so often, but at least it's a workout.

fuzzy math

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #347 on: June 01, 2018, 08:12:11 PM »
Lawns. They're awful, expensive and largely pointless. Buy chemicals, water, mow. All for the privilege of having y9ur neighbors critique how well you use chemicals, water and mow.

What’s this expensive noise?  I spent a grand total of $35 this year, $10 for some fertilizer and $25 for a little seed to fill in some bare spots. That’s it.

That's fabulous that you have a few bare spots. Most of my lawn is a bare spot and we've seeded twice. So yeah that gets time consuming and costly. I also have terrible grass allergies and my husband had surgery so I get to do all the lawn tasks this summer. Turns out he bought the wrong type of seed (fine feskew) and our lawn is going to die again next month and then I will have to re-seed a 3rd time in the fall.

So I get FOR YOU why a lawn is bad and expensive, but can you se that isn’t the case for most people?  If they don’t share your highly specific circumstances the downsides aren’t the same?

Dude, it's a rant. This is the I don't get it thread. If you get off from lawn maintenance more power to you, but I despise it. Its the epitome of keeping up with the Joneses.

Dancin'Dog

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #348 on: June 01, 2018, 09:28:46 PM »
I mow to keep the snakes away from the house. 

Dicey

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Re: The 'I Don't Get It' thread. Rants accepted.
« Reply #349 on: June 01, 2018, 11:48:29 PM »
My Hub has the solution. He would like to concrete the whole yard and paint it green. Then he wants to cut down all the trees too so there will be no leaves to deal with in the fall.
Pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot?
Don't it always seem to go...

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!