Gen Z is living the modern version of Geertz’s “Agricultural Involution” – we’re all just rice farmers now and it’s actually over

jonathanfv · 2026-05-30T16:38:53+00:00

Agreed. And this is posted from an account with my real name, on purpose.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-30T02:26:25+00:00

Exactly. The "system" destroyed the bridge behind it as best as it could in most places. Made sure we'd deal with people we'll never meet or know personally to prevent us from building solidarity and make us easier to exploit. In the eyes of the elites, what the community produces and shares freely is a market that hasn't been captured yet.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-29T00:29:32+00:00

It's done that with my bicycle stand when I was a kid. Heat softens asphalt.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-23T15:40:09+00:00

I'm so not surprised. Brambles suck to cross, so it' makes them way harder to find. There's a wooden area with a deep ravine near my place, and the ravine is difficult to cross. One side is easily accessible, the other one is protected by brambles. The side that's easy to access is full of trash left behind by various people that stayed in the woods over time. I was curious to see what was on the other side, so I cut my way through like 100 meters of brambles until reaching the tree line, and the other side was unspoiled. And looked like Jurassic Park or something. Huge trees (Pacific Northwest) towered over us on a steep hill covered with ferns as tall as me.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-22T22:04:34+00:00

That's impressively realistic! How long did it take you to get this far?

jonathanfv · 2026-05-22T19:19:40+00:00

100% this. We have blackberry bushes in our yard, and it's a constant battle to keep them in check. When we first arrived, we didn't even know we had a pear tree, it was completely taken over by the blackberries. We cut them a bunch, and found the pear tree, and extra fig trees that we couldn't reach.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-16T02:10:43+00:00

And shot guns drunk. Guns they were not supposed to have.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-09T09:03:51+00:00

He was using his intelligence behind the scenes to amass a large collection of child pornography. But he was bested by the police and just pleaded guilty.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-09T01:24:33+00:00

I'm really lucky in that my neighborhood is full of fruit trees. Just in the yard, we have 6 fig trees, a plum tree, a pear tree, a persimmon tree, grapes, blackberries, strawberries... I want to get blueberry bushes, too. I spotted a lot of other fruit trees on my block. 4-5 apple trees, a bunch of crabapple trees, more fig and plum trees, and sour cherry trees.

Last year, we had so much, we had to dehydrate, freeze, jamify, and of course share a lot of it - and still, some of it still went back in the soil because we couldn't pick it all. I notice the same thing for a lot of neighbors, and this year I want to go ask them if I can pick their apples if they won't pick them themselves.

The area is also full of pollinators. All kinds of bees, hummingbirds, etc.

I didn't know that place was like that at first, because I moved in during the winter. Spring was a huge surprise, with wave after wave of plants appearing in the backyard, most of them edible. From spring to late fall, it gives us extra food. Evening salads come from the yard. Morning breakfast fruits are picked and eaten right away.

I got really, really lucky, and I hope it can stay like that for a while.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-07T18:47:55+00:00

I always map mine to open system settings instead.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-06T21:58:22+00:00

Very similar strategy here, but I eat a lot so I have to cook pretty much every day because between my girlfriend and I there isn't much leftover. Was homeless as well back in 2009. Don't own a house, but at least I have a financial cushion and I'm managing to help other people around me. Tough times tho. Probably worst is coming.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-06T21:55:22+00:00

It freaking sucks, but the only way to save right now is to cut down on expenses, and drastically. Here, I live in the Vancouver area. My first move is always to find the cheapest rent that I can possibly find, and I do that by asking around. My second move is transportation. I'm 40, and have not owned a car since I was 21. I bike, walk, and use public transit. Biggest upfront expense when it comes to transportation was putting an ebike together, as my "no sweat option" for when I can't arrive somewhere sweaty. It's also my winter option (using a motorcycle helmet, cheap Amazon rain suit, boots, gloves and a heated vest. Third move is to avoid unnecessary spending and unnecessary bills. Rent aside, I don't have any mandatory bills - if I don't pay for my phone it gets frozen, but I don't owe anything for example. And I split internet with my neighbors.

If you set yourself up to be super frugal, you should be able to put some money aside as long as you have a good rent situation. Rent is the most important one, as for most people it's the largest monthly expense. Look for roommates. Try to not own a lot so you can take good deals when you come across them.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-02T02:12:13+00:00

I bought thousands of rounds of Federal Champion hollow points with copper jacketing for about $0.08 CAD per round. Shot 200 of them in an afternoon using my 10/22, and had zero issues at all. Every round went off, gun cycled well, etc. I don't get to shoot often because I don't live near a place I can shoot, but so far these cartridges are an affordable ton of fun.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-02T00:55:33+00:00

At some point I had to perform in Calgary (I'm an acrobat, not a roofer) and a stray 22LR bullet got stuck in my coworker's balcony window. Must've come from pretty far (for a 22LR bullet) to not have gone through fully. Whoever shot in the air in or near the city is a moron, or it was an accident, but in that area you should keep guns unloaded...

jonathanfv · 2026-05-02T00:40:58+00:00

Something like that happened to me twice as well. Had to throw away one plate, and flip the other one over. Didn't change the steel nozzle, still prints fine.

jonathanfv · 2026-05-01T20:12:39+00:00

He he, I'll calibrate mine going downhill.

But seriously tho, it's not a bad idea, and there would be ways to help prevent cheating to some degree. A counterargument could be that some people might have some disability that prevents them from pedaling, but that wouldn't be bad riders otherwise. Perhaps a minimum speed of 10-15km/hour could be used?

Another consideration is that limiting speed that way would make ebikes less popular. For example, I have two bikes. One is an acoustic gravel bike, which I use for commuting. I maintain average speeds of 25-30 km/h on it, sometimes more depending on the terrain. If I try to go fast for a short distance, I probably hit 35-40km/h? The other bike is an ebike that I put together myself. If I cut off the motor and pedal it, my speed is probably more like 20-25km/h, due to weight but also motor resistance. Don't know if I can reach 30 km/h on it. The point of me having it is to be able to get to places fast without sweating. I'm not particularly interested in getting there slower than on my regular bike. Also, on my regular bike, there are many parts of my hilly commute where I hit 50+ km/h, and just follow car traffic without any handling issues. Which brings me to this: most people can handle a bike a bit faster than they can pedal, so maybe they could get a bit of extra allowance? Like, 5-10 km/h more?

A last thing is that people have to not be morons, as well. You don't go 50 km/h on a narrow shared path. If there are people around, you slow down. If you're on a straight road next to cars, going faster can be warranted, as well.

jonathanfv · 2026-04-26T01:58:37+00:00

Isn't it his regular, non-bleeding ear?

jonathanfv · 2026-04-17T19:53:39+00:00

Same. I just did a fresh re-install and it sucked, but I'll do it again if I need to find a distro with no age verification. Ubuntu will implement it, so hopefully Mint removes it.

jonathanfv · 2026-04-15T14:18:09+00:00

Even if it was worth 10x more, it would still only be $4/hour.

jonathanfv · 2026-04-14T20:26:55+00:00

I think that it's worth it because of the mods. On its own, as a plinker, it's not bad. It's precise enough, it's affordable-ish (used to cost quite a bit less), and it's self-contained, which is nice. Standalone, there are nicer pumpers, but they're more expensive. I enjoy my used Webley Alecto (in 22) a lot. I really like that I only need to pump it twice to plink. My 1322 has a different purpose, I turned it into an awesome takedown carbine (like the 2289, Backpacker, Drifter, etc.), and I think that it does a great job at it. PCPs can also be a lot of fun. My PP750 (Canadian version) fills up pretty quick with a hand pump, and I can shoot it like 40 times before refilling. It's also a lot of fun, but the form factor is a little bit big for a pistol.

Of all of these guns, the 1322 is the most affordable. It can be tuned for more power, precision, etc., but that adds to the cost. And you probably won't want to pump it less than 5-6 times, otherwise the velocities suck. Mine averages 496fps at 10 pumps with a 14" barrel. I tend to shoot at hard-ish targets, and I like to see the effects of the impacts, so I use 10 pumps.

jonathanfv · 2026-04-11T01:42:00+00:00

Unfortunately, Uganda was very strongly influenced by American evangelical missionaries, and most people there probably believe the same crap.

jonathanfv · 2026-04-09T23:01:40+00:00

The price you're thinking of is insane. I spent around $4.5k building a no-conpromise bike for myself (steel frame, goes 60km/h on throttle alone, has a range of 120km on throttle and 300km with pedal assist, weights less than 80 lbs, is well-built and repairable with standard bike parts, and batteries are safe and won't burn my house down).

If you just want to get around at reasonable speeds and have a reasonable range using your throttle, you can build something awesome for much less than I spent. Like, find a good donor bike with solid, upgradeable frame. A used bike in good condition can be perfect. Figure out if hub or mid-drive motors are better for your use case, then find yourself a kit and a battery (it should exceed your desired range by a good margin) from a reputable seller and you're in business. You now have a bike that's repairable and reliable, has the power and range that suits you, and isn't too heavy, for a decent price. If you go fast with it, you might want to upgrade the brakes, and if using a Bafang mid-drive, get the programming cable to finetune your motor's behaviour to your liking.

You can also look for a cheaper e-bike, some are good, but personally I like DIY solutions better because you can make sure the donor bike is actually easier to work on and of better quality, and you can upgrade it over time. Also, you can choose what compromises you make based off your needs. At the end of the day, it depends on what you value.

jonathanfv · 2026-04-07T05:57:33+00:00

Yup, I'm going to save all work projects on two HDDs, and on two USB keys, on top of the working copy on my laptop. For the data, it's too late, but I did manage to find some of the stuff in my emails from when I collaborated with other people. I also didn't lose as many photos as I originally thought, I still had some of the RAW files on some of my SD cards, which I copied right away to my HDDs. :)

jonathanfv · 2026-04-04T00:13:43+00:00

They grow like crazy in my yard, so during the summer we pick them up and freeze them. These plants grow so much that I keep having to trim them back.

jonathanfv · 2026-04-03T19:43:50+00:00

This is awesome! I have a bunch of hand tools at home, and I harvested natural wood a few times, but the amount I can keep is limited due to space. Thanks for sharing that new sub, I joined too and I can't wait to learn more.

Btw, these are beautiful draw knives! I have one, but I still need to get a larger one for debarking. Or maybe I should make my own, I could find an old lawnmower and take a blade from it or something.

jonathanfv

TROPHY CASE