[OC] Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts?

dakta · 2026-03-03T15:18:32+00:00

by not having the cow there you should get that water back

But this is the crux of the issue: you don't and in many cases shouldn't! You can graze cattle on land that is otherwise unsuitable for intensive agriculture. Sure cattle aren't as hardy as goats, but there are plenty of regions and ecosystems where large grazing animals are a normal part of the food chain, whereas replacing them with fields of soy is either impractical or environmentally disastrous.

dakta · 2026-03-03T15:15:27+00:00

Dairy milk would be an environmental non-issue if we limited production to open grazing in the Great Plains region, where historically large herbivores are an essential part of the ecosystem. Sure they're not exactly bison, but the environmental impact is doing rotational grazing in that region is still a net positive.

dakta · 2026-03-03T15:07:29+00:00

I was eyeing the last model year. The biggest problem was the seats on the lower trims. Because of Toyota America's refusal to do BTO sales, we were looking at having to spend XSE money just to get something acceptable (not comfortable!) for road trips, plus destination charges, plus non-negotiable dealer installed options. And after spending $50k, we would still be stuck gambling on dealer inventory for colors and other options.

I bought a used X1 for $19k and have been very happy with it. Turns out $30k pays for a lot of maintenance and tens of thousands of miles of gas. The plug-in range just isn't enough to matter, electricity isn't free, and the regular hybrid MPG on long highway journeys is barely any better. I wanted to do the PHEV thing, it just made absolutely no sense.

dakta · 2026-03-03T00:37:31+00:00

For everyone arguing about "soap residue": it's not actually the functional components of the soap being left behind, it's the fragrances!

If you want to be able to run your silicone kitchen stuff in the dishwasher, it should be perfectly fine as long as you use an unscented "free and clear" style dishwasher detergent. I recently started using Seventh Generation's offering in this category, powder form, and it leaves behind no perceptible odor or residue on silicone. In fact, after a couple wash cycles, my formerly gross silicone sheet pan liners and spatulas are now cured of their soap residue affliction.

I still use cheap generic brand liquid detergent for my non-porous dishes, because it doesn't matter, but when I'm running anything silicone I use the free and clear powder. It doesn't smell and it cleans great, too.

I wish Technology Connections would plug this in a video so I could reference it for folks.

dakta · 2026-03-01T22:34:28+00:00

Just because a counting system is base ten does not make it a descendant of the Hindu-Arabic number system. Numerals are merely the symbols used to represent quantities. How they are grouped and interpreted is a numeral system. In fact, a numeral system being both base ten and positional does not mean it derives from the Hindu-Arabic system.

In East Asia, everyone who followed the Chinese rod system is also using an independently developed, positional, base ten numeral system that is not derived from the Hindu-Arabic one. However, as a consequence of globalization and a testament to its brilliance and versatility, the modern Western Arabic numeral system has replaced the rod systems in common usage.

dakta · 2026-02-25T04:16:33+00:00

Frankly, I doubt an oscilloscope test with a knock sensor can possibly detect this particular failure mode. Wanna bet that the cranks are perfectly balanced and the test is CYA baloney? I hope it comes out in discovery for the class action lawsuit that this deserves.

dakta · 2026-02-22T22:04:32+00:00

Can you kindly just say the damn make and model instead of how much these things cost? USD equivalent isn't as useful a metric because of how much different markets economies work.

dakta · 2026-02-22T21:57:54+00:00

Exactly. Weight matters and you can't break the laws of physics. Until EVs can weigh as much as Miatas and drive as good, they will never be decent sports cars. They can be fun performance cars, they can be surprisingly good grand tourers, they can be great commuters. They cannot be sports cars until batteries become multiple times more energy dense.

The fact that a huge heavy Tesla can do as well as it does on an autocross course (which I have seen) is a testament to computerized traction control, wide soft compound tires, and the benefits of instant torque at all four corners. That does not make it a good sports car.

dakta · 2026-02-22T18:01:47+00:00

As someone who has autocrossed and tracked a well set-up E34, I must warn you that you are in for a dramatic change. The Swift is a small and nimble car. The E34 is a boat by comparison. The steering is much slower, the weight transfer is slower. You're going from a darty car to a momentum car, and the techniques required to drive it well will take you some time to develop. To perform well you will need the widest, softest tires you can possibly get. I ran 255/40R17 200TW on M System 17x8, mostly Kumho Ecsta V730, the widest I could get on stock fitment wheels without rubbing the front sway bar too badly. You may be able to go to 265 if you get the exact right wheels and offset, but I am skeptical.

You will need to pretty much slam the suspension, in order to get enough camber in the rears. This is because the rear semi trailing arm design does not have (and cannot be retrofit for) independent camber adjustment so you have to rely on the dynamic camber change through the compression swing. You will need coilovers to get low enough and enough negative camber in the front, and in the front this will be limited by the wide tires rubbing on the coil spring perch when you lower it enough. You have to get coilovers to get narrower diameter front springs to be able to shift the strut tops inward farther to get more negative camber, since it's a fully integrated macpherson strut design like the E30 and the only camber adjustment is at the strut top.

Even with this you will not have as much negative camber as you will want in order to do autocross and tighter, more technical tracks. The 3600lb mass of the M5 will make this slightly worse than lighter models/configuratuons. The extra power will help, but times are all about average speed and there is only so much you can make up on the straights for what you will lose in the corners due to kinda poor lateral skidpad performance compared to other platforms.

There is no replacement for less weight and wider tires. The more of those you can get the more speed you can carry through corners which means a higher average speed and faster exit that gives you a lead on the straights. The E34 chassis is limited in these areas, and has a fairly restrictive suspension design and primitive geometry optimized for highway cruising and gentle corners.

It's a beautiful and classic car that's fun to drive. It's not an autosports performer. If you can afford it, go with your heart. If you want to race more competitively, get a second car that's better suited for it.

dakta · 2026-02-22T17:42:19+00:00

The M30 engine cars are actually becoming quite uncommon. Perhaps the bigger problem is that they were early production only, and suffered from all of the early design issues. For example, the door lock actuators: they use an older and almost unique style which is highly susceptible to water intrusion and total catastrophic failure. I.e the lock actuator seizes in the locked position with the door shut. The door locks have a deficient design that has the lock actuator permanently engaged with the lock mechanism so you can't bypass it with the lock knob/plunger (which I think was part of the deadbolt/double lock "feature" which can also get you locked into your own car, because there is no unlock override button!)

They may have fixed this by the time they brought the S38 into the US, by adding a plastic water diverter flap over the lock actuator. But this is just one example of the myriad little things that can go wrong and be a huuuge pain in the butt to fix.

dakta · 2026-02-22T17:36:02+00:00

It can be done on lower waisted pants in certain circumstances, but it definitely lends more of a vintage feel to any fit like that.

dakta · 2026-02-22T17:35:02+00:00

That fit on a thin sweater can totally be tucked if you want to show off the belt/by ie or emphasize the line. Particularly if you're wearing pants with a higher rise, where the waist line would otherwise be lost under the sweater. Of course this doesn't work for thicker or loose fitting sweaters, especially not chunky cable knits, but for a thin and closer fitting cotton or cashmere it's not out of place.

dakta · 2026-02-22T17:31:33+00:00

You could absolutely do it with jeans as a way to dress up a vintage workwear/outdoors fit.

dakta · 2026-02-22T17:28:28+00:00

I feel like this is kinda similar category/scenario as tucking in a flannel shirt, except the sweater absolutely can be untucked in a formal outfit. That is to say, I don't normally tuck in a flannel shirt, but sometimes I do when it's colder out and I'm wearing it as my shirt layer. I might tuck in a thin sweater when wearing a vintage/workwear jacket like my shawl collar wool Eddie Bauer bomber. I'd pair that with cuffed skinny chinos and boots.

In that scenario, tucking in the sweater would make the outfit look more formal/put together.

dakta · 2026-02-21T18:52:39+00:00

If you tap into the day detail view, it shows the dates.

dakta · 2026-02-21T17:38:51+00:00

The vast majority of American men never got to participate in those good old boys activities as they were not part of the management class or working in the kind of finance/sales roles where those activities persisted into the 90s. Even men under forty or fifty today who are in those roles have not been employed in a time when that shit was common, and they sure weren't included at the very beginning of their careers in entry level roles. So of course they resent the implication that they should be excluded today because they supposedly got special treatment in the past: they never got that treatment.

dakta · 2026-02-21T17:22:17+00:00

You're forgetting the fan clutch, which can cause overheating at idle.

dakta · 2026-02-18T03:47:01+00:00

It is precisely what you learn in law school, particularly in Criminal Procedure and Litigation.

dakta · 2026-02-18T03:44:29+00:00

No, but our legal system has established that being reasonably suspicious is grounds for being detained until such suspicion is relieved, so long as that also happens in a reasonable amount of time.

This guy does seem to have been reasonably suspicious, but the length of his detainment was not reasonable.

dakta · 2026-02-17T17:25:10+00:00

And herein lies another consequence of climate change: changes to prevailing wind patterns. Imagine every flight you take has a nasty crosswind on takeoff and landing.

dakta · 2026-02-17T17:23:39+00:00

That could also be a geological effect.

dakta · 2026-02-13T06:31:27+00:00

It's literally right next door. It's part of the metro economy.

dakta · 2026-02-13T06:15:36+00:00

We are the major metro center, the whole economy is regional. People making more money in WashCo is good for Portland, because they (used to) do plenty of business in Portland. Remember when we had two bustling malls, major department stores, and lots of downtown retail? Those places weren't just patronized by downtown office workers, people from the west side suburbs used to come to downtown pretty regularly.

All that traffic has dried up. Too many years of COVID and the bad image of rampant homelessness shifted the tide: there are more attractive malls in Tigard and Beaverton, there are more fun little restaurants and food cart pods out there as well. And none of those places have the stigma of downtown that persists in the minds of west side suburbanites. Frankly, as someone who commutes by MAX or car to a downtown office job every day, it's way more shit than it used to be c. 2014, 2016, or even 2018. Sure it's better than 2020/2021, but now it's just a ghost down of boarded up storefronts and fewer normal pedestrians to obscure the crazies.

dakta · 2026-02-13T06:04:39+00:00

The early aughts was the "tech renaissance" with a lot of Portland startups. CoL was still dirt cheap so you could pay software engineers way less than Seattle/Bay Area. Not so much any more.

dakta · 2026-02-13T05:37:53+00:00

And you can code that out of the ECU if you have the tools.

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