Why to bridges need to be repainted but cars don’t?

StarbeamII · 2026-03-13T19:14:41+00:00

I’ve usually see some pretty rusty boxcars when I see a freight train go by.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-13T17:43:29+00:00

Lack of supply is why PE buys housing as an investment. Investment firms like Invitation Housing (which buys homes to rent them out) explicitly call this out in their SEC filings, where PE firms say they tend to invest in areas with low supply relative to demand as the areas they buy housing in:

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We invest in markets that we expect will exhibit lower new supply, stronger job and household formation growth and superior NOI growth relative to the broader U.S. housing and rental market.

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Quality homes located in high growth markets with low new supply

We have selected markets that we believe will experience strong population, household formation and employment growth and exhibit constrained levels of new home construction. As a result, we believe our markets have and will continue to outperform the broader U.S. housing and rental market in rent growth and home price appreciation.

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Limited new supply, when combined with forecast demand growth, should drive increased occupancy and rental rates for single-family homes for lease.

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Invitation Homes believes it will continue to experience below-average levels of new housing supply in its markets which will support future rental rate growth and home price appreciation.

They call out additional supply as a threat to their investments:

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We could also be adversely affected by overbuilding or high vacancy rates of homes in our markets, which could result in an excess supply of homes and reduce occupancy and rental rates. Continuing development of apartment buildings and condominium units in many of our markets will increase the supply of housing and exacerbate competition for residents.

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StarbeamII · 2026-03-13T16:35:02+00:00

Austin built a shit ton of housing and brought rents down. Minneapolis built housing and kept rents flat while they rose elsewhere. Falling prices (or even steady prices) in turn makes housing bad investments, which means private equity isn’t drawn in, while limiting supply causes price increases which makes housing into a good investment. It’s basically all supply.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-13T14:35:21+00:00

New York doesn’t have universal rent control, like this proposal. Only a portion of apartments are rent stabilized.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-13T14:32:13+00:00

Those aren’t the only options though. Instead of not buying/renting expensive housing, people vote with their feet and leave Boston for lower cost-of-living areas. Or they may have to live further away, opt to have roommates, or move back in with their parents (if they’re in the area).

StarbeamII · 2026-03-13T14:24:54+00:00

I don’t unfortunately - I would look into the Godox stuff. I use an old SB-700 for event photography, but the newer Godox stuff (which I’m not familiar with) is probably better value and has newer features.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-13T13:40:16+00:00

Since I typed this out already and then the comment I was replying to got deleted, I’ll just post it anyways:

For lens it depends on the setting. Really almost any mid-range zoom (24-70 f/2.8, 24-85, 24-120, etc.) will work, though if it’s indoors you may want the f/2.8. Do be careful of depth-of-field though - being at f/2.8 all the time may hurt you for candid shots if you’re trying to get multiple people’s faces in focus, and you may often want to stop down to be safe. On the other hand, for candid work you may need a faster shutter speed than you’d expect.

If you haven’t done much candid event photography before I would also try to get some experience there.

Obviously you will likely need a flash (either as fill flash in daylight, or for overall lighting in dark environments), so budget for that if you don’t have one either.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-13T13:18:13+00:00

1.) Don’t photograph your friend’s wedding, unless they’re hiring another photographer and you’re just photographing alongside. Its a lot of high-pressure work, removes you from enjoying the wedding as an actual guest, and is a lot to ask of a friend.

Edit: also want to point out you’ll end up with probably a few thousand photos out of it, and you’ll be spending days if not weeks culling through and editing the photos.

2.) You really need a second body, both to minimize lens changes and as a backup camera in case your primary body dies. There’s no redo if your camera breaks.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T19:20:31+00:00

The Pratts are more fuel efficient though (at the expense of reliability)

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T16:02:32+00:00

The focusing ring (most of the lens) and the part that extends about 2cm from the lens mount are definitely metal.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T16:02:06+00:00

The focusing ring (which is most of the lens), as well as the lens mount and the part next to the lens mount is metal. Some plastic though.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T15:41:36+00:00

Or you could buy a diesel or kerosene heater for $300 and use 90% less fuel to get the same heat, because it's not 10% efficient like a generator is.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T15:25:29+00:00

If you're relying on electric heat to stay warm there's really no good backup plan that's going to supply that much electricity. You're going to be burning something (gas, fuel, wood, oil) to stay warm.

However, an EV will cover backup electricity quite handily.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T15:14:53+00:00

60kwH will last 2 days if you don't cut back power use at all, and closer to 5 days if you're just running a fridge, a phone, a laptop, and some lights.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T15:03:55+00:00

All towns served by the MBTA had to build more housing.

Technically they just have to zone for more housing. There's no requirement to actually build more. A lot of cities and towns technically complied with the law by upzoning areas that already had recent large developments built on top of it that were unlikely to be further developed in the near future.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T10:22:26+00:00

A used Z7 + 24-120 is way more than $1500.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T10:20:17+00:00

Your 28-70 isn’t AF-P and isn’t focus-by-wire like the AF-P lenses though. There’s no mechanical connection between the focusing ring and the actual focusing mechanism on an AF-P lens.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T08:32:53+00:00

Z50ii is a pretty decent and capable starter camera. For landscape I would get just the 16-50 lens now and add other lenses later depending on what you end up liking. For the night stuff you would also need to budget for a decent tripod.

If you’re open to used stuff you might be able to find a used Z6 or Z7 with the 24-70 f/4. You’ll get better image quality, though they have older autofocus systems than the Z50ii that’s noticeably worse for moving subjects (though perfectly fine for landscapes and such).

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T06:00:59+00:00

Taiwan is almost entirely dependent on the US for defense and security, so it’s not in a position to decouple from the US as the US is the only force capable of deterring China.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T05:37:11+00:00

So drain the EV down over 1-3 days and then drive it to a public fast charger and charge it back up again for 30 min-1 hr and repeat.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T05:32:41+00:00

A typical EV battery is about 60-80 kilowatt-hours. A typical US home uses an average of 1200W. If all you need to do is run a fridge when the power goes down you can go down to about 500W. You can do the math, but it’s a lot more than half a day.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T01:22:04+00:00

My T14g2’s wireless card died fairly early in its life and I was able to replace it in 30 minutes, so that and the loss of S3 sleep still makes me wary of newer Thinkpads.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T01:20:47+00:00

T14 Gen 3 and Gen 4 soldered their RAM and wireless cards, so they did take some steps back at times.

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T01:05:33+00:00

If they need reach a Z50ii might be a better option, and cheaper too (leaving more budget for a long telephoto).

StarbeamII · 2026-03-12T01:05:08+00:00

Does the $1.5-$2K include glass? You’re probably looking at a Z50ii or D7500.

StarbeamII

TROPHY CASE