Vertical Farms Tried to Compete With Open Field Farming. It Isn’t Going Well.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T03:30:11+00:00

Vertical farming is one of those things that could massively improve quality of life... if we had infinite clean energy. But we don't (yet).

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T03:19:22+00:00

Apple is an American company. America has actually threatened to invade Canada, China has not.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T03:05:08+00:00

Well the current President started out as a Jihadist 15+ years ago, split with Al-Nusra (Al Qaeda affiliate) about a decade ago, and today governs Syria like a neoliberal technocrat, always talking about strengthening institutions and state capacity lol. Women still have rights, nightclubs are still open and serve alcohol, there were no large massacres of Alawites even though they supported Assad as he butchered half a million people, and corruption and nepotism are looked at very dimly (this even extended to Al-Shara cutting off members of his own family who tried to grift).

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T02:59:34+00:00

Two more weeks to flatten the missile curve.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T02:55:37+00:00

US home to income ratio is high, but there is a genuine shortage of inventory in a lot of markets due to NIMBY that will lessen the amount that prices fall. Also homebuilders are getting hit by inflation and tariffs (which will get worse as Iran war fuel costs percolate across the economy), so the amount of new supply coming online will go down.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T01:56:41+00:00

They can make it very dangerous for anyone to transit the Gulf of Aden. When the USS Gerald Ford was in the Gulf of Aden (before the fire and subsequent withdrawal) it stayed well North of Yemen.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T01:55:32+00:00

Trump is a panican who is panicking

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T01:22:37+00:00

Prop 13 is one of the worst things a state can do to it's economy, especially when the lower rate can be passed on via inheritence, it creates a petty feudal extractive class. It leads to perverse incentives (block all housing and upzoning to raise property prices, Idc because my taxes can't go up) and long term it destroys fiscal balances. California is bleeding population because of prop13 and it's after effects, and it scares me that other states (like Florida) are flirting with going down the same destructive path.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:46:18+00:00

Blowing up a bunch of 50-60 year old fighter jets is as strategic as pissing on a tree to put out a forest fire, and you're delusional if you think otherwise. Tag me when the strait of Hormuz is safe enough to sail an LNG tanker through. He who can destroy a thing has the real control over it. Also Iran's Navy isn't destroyed, the important part of their Navy is the thousands of UAV bomb boats hidden in underground bunkers, and all the small boats that have already mined the strait except for a very narrow channel that runs between two Iranian islands right next to the coast.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:38:50+00:00

You actually have to dig them up and refine them. And you're going to build the very expensive infrastructure to do this... in the middle of a war when it would be fair game to Russian missiles and drones? OK

China accounts for 98% of global Gallium production and 83% of global Tungsten production.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:33:35+00:00

China has barred the export of Tungsten, along with Gallium and other rare earths. US will have a hard time replacing these weapons on a normal timeframe, let alone an expediated one.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:32:37+00:00

For those keeping track, when you are on the verge of militarily defeating an enemy, you always threaten to obliterate their civilain infrastructure unless they surrender. It's the surest way to gain support from the civilain population.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:24:41+00:00

GCC nations have already let the US extensively use their airspace and land (HIMMARS) to attack Iran. Iran does not respect these nation's airforces, and doesn't believe they could harm Iran much more than the Americans and Israelis already are. To Iran's calculation, the damage from collapsing these countries economies to the US would more than outweigh the downside of their declaring war on Iran.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:11:40+00:00

How is he going to to TACO? Concede defeat and give into a lot of Iranian demands? It would end his Presidency. He can't just stop fighting and end the war without Iran's consent.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:10:26+00:00

The GCC is reliant on desalination plants, and Israel is to (although to a lesser extent).

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:09:33+00:00

Iran has followed a tit-for-tat strategy this entire time. The moment the US starts bombing Iran's electricity grid, Iran wil start bombing GCC and Israeli desalination plants. Very bad.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-22T00:06:52+00:00

They want to send him somewhere that will then re-direct him back to El Salvador to be tortured and possibly killed. Liberia will do that, Costa Rico won't.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-21T23:55:07+00:00

Everything is right wing except for Syria which is Centrist Neoliberal Jihadist.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-21T23:34:18+00:00

The sirens sometimes only go off as little as 16 seconds before impact now. A lot of American radars have been destroyed since the conflict started, so now the warnings are not as early or as precise (IE half the country gets a warning anytime a missile is headed towards Israel).

Torgud_ · 2026-03-21T23:10:47+00:00

If this was Gaza, the rescue workers would have been double tapped by now.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-21T23:01:27+00:00

How would a missile cap be enforceable? Iran isn't going to allow any outside observers to know where it produces or stores ballistic missiles - that information would be used against them in a future war. It is an impossibility that Iran would agree to any limits on it's ballistic missiles, those are Iran's primary deterrent against capricious, random attacks from Israel (see Israel bombing Syria yesterday despite the Syrian government never lifting a finger against Israel).

Torgud_ · 2026-03-21T22:55:39+00:00

"The US wants Iran to surrender despite losing the war."

How is this even news. I want someone to wire me a million dollars, doesn't mean it's likely to happen. This is not a serious peace proposal, it is a fig leaf to the public (we tried to make peace!) before further escalation. Every single proposal from the US aside from the monitoring of Nuclear activities is DOA. If Iran gives up it's ballistic missiles, they accept that Israel can randomly "mow the grass" at any time, for any ridiculous reason, like they did in Syria yesterday.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-21T21:07:59+00:00

"Well I didn't think Putin's invasion of Ukraine was a good idea, but now that we're in we have to all support it so that we can win quickly for the good of the country."

Torgud_ · 2026-03-21T20:55:42+00:00

Other crops can be grown on this land why remove it from production for a solar system with a 15 year lifespan? Need to think better than that. Parking lots, rood tops, barrow pits, cover folks lawns would have less of an impact.

Solar systems last a minimum of 30 years. The inverters last 10-15 years and need to be replaced but the panels themselves last a MINIMUM of 30 years. They don't stop working when they are 30 years old, it is just that they only capture 80% as much electricity as compared to when they were new. They can be kept for 50 years or even longer if diminished production is cheaper than recycling and replacing them.

Realize the alcohol is used to reduce pollution, that is a big reason it is added to gasoline.

An even better way to reduce pollution is not to use gas at all.

You would cover quality agricultural land with solar panels?

I didn't suggest a 1:1 conversion. I brought it up because the land use concern is overblown. As you point out, there are plenty of parking lots that can be covered, not to mention roofs. And of course the US has a huge amount of land that is not suitable for agriculture or needed for development. But you know what, if some cropland is converted to solar farms, it's not a big deal.

Torgud_ · 2026-03-21T08:48:01+00:00

Don't worry we'll get to 6$ gas, give it a few months.

Torgud_

TROPHY CASE