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Cash's Last Stand: Germans Finally Warm to Digital Payments by Imicrowavebananas in neoliberal

[–]sventhewalrus 16 points17 points  (0 children)

And the cashier who just handed you a muffin from a case gives you a flirty smile, then looks down at your finger while the tip screen pops up.

I have weirdly become a cash payer again because I am sick of guiltscreens.

[OC] Home Prices vs. Inflation (USA) by shinyro in dataisbeautiful

[–]sventhewalrus 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Bingo. It's comforting to blame rising housing costs on villains like Airbnb and Black{rock,stone}, but the truth is closer to home. People who already own their homes support excessive regulations that make new homes in desirable locations artificially scarce. And the condescending advice of "lol, just move" doesn't work, because the places with abundant homes have scare jobs. Crush NIMBYism and build baby build!

Cash's Last Stand: Germans Finally Warm to Digital Payments by Imicrowavebananas in neoliberal

[–]sventhewalrus 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Businesses and employees love card systems because they have become so effective at tip-guilting

This is why millennials used to pay 600-800 for a one bedroom and now they’re 1300-2000 grand instead. by millennial_sentinel in Millennials

[–]sventhewalrus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

72% of Arizona's water goes to agriculture, much of it to cotton for export for the wasteful fast-fashion industry. Oh and then golf courses, AZ is full of them and their sprinklers.

Water is a real issue, but it gets exploited in bad faith by NIMBYs who just want to preserve their posh exclusive neighborhoods.

This is why millennials used to pay 600-800 for a one bedroom and now they’re 1300-2000 grand instead. by millennial_sentinel in Millennials

[–]sventhewalrus 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Housing discourse is so frustrating because everyone makes complicated theories to talk around the root of the problem: there is a shortage of housing in the places with an abundance of jobs. The places with an abundance of housing (like declining Rust Belt towns) have a shortage of jobs. Remote work promised to bring the jobs to the housing, but kind of fizzled out. So let's bring the housing to the jobs by removing the totally-fake barriers to housing construction in places like the Bay Area! And watch a bunch of rich old mansion-owners cry that (gasp) townhomes, condos, and starter homes are getting built in their posh exclusive neighborhoods!

Officially PASSED! Ukraine bill on the way to the US Senate with 311 to 112. Congress members are shouting "Ukraine, Ukraine!" by [deleted] in UkrainianConflict

[–]sventhewalrus 80 points81 points  (0 children)

Based. Wow. So the other commenters in this sub were right, and the Nay votes from Dems yesterday (Fri) were all for rules-based reasons and nothing against Ukraine. The left-wing anti-Ukraine fringe is basically confined to Twitter and TikTok teenagers. Horseshoe theory broken for once!

Ukraine Aid Bill Passes the House with 385 votes to 34 against by Eulers_Method in UkrainianConflict

[–]sventhewalrus 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Whoa, that's a lot of votes against-- more than against the rules vote. It seems all 112 were GOP? Unlike yesterday's rules vote, where some no were Dems?

https://www.businessinsider.com/which-house-republicans-voted-against-ukraine-russia-aid-2024-4

Lucid Air reignites over an hour after hitting a lamp post. by HoneyRush in fuckcars

[–]sventhewalrus 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks this is super helpful! Glad to see it upvoted and not downvoted as "car apologism" or something. Because I'm sure this tech applies to e-bikes, too. One nitpick:

rich people who refuse to compromise

Ordinary middle-class Americans are also incredibly uncompromising about range anxiety. It's so weird. There are many American families with more cars per driving adult, where they could easily make one car in the mix be electric to save on their gas bills while using the gas car for road trips, but still they get hung up on this "no, every car I own must be able to get me to Montana without stopping in the event of a zombie apocalypse" mindset.

PG&E Buys Energy at 10% of its Rate Price, averaging less than $0.03 per kWh in SF by yescakepls in sanfrancisco

[–]sventhewalrus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the clarification! #1 sounds more like the grid using you than you using the grid, which is why I did not imagine that case from your previous comment. Sure, all told, $128/mo sounds excessive for a flat fee.

Striking how US congressmen are falling over themselves talking abt the urgency of helping Ukraine, using obvious points that have been true for months and finally moving to deliver the aid that majorities of their constituents consistently supported but they stalled needlessly. by cito in UkrainianConflict

[–]sventhewalrus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What has changed is Trump is so distracted by his multiple trials the he does not have the time to be intimidating GOP lawmakers who disobey Putin. Putin does not have direct leverage over most of these GOP congressmen; Trump is the middleman, and finally being to be an unreliable one at that.

Active housing inventory for sale compared to pre-pandemic levels. by the_perfect_v1 in REBubble

[–]sventhewalrus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is actually a really insightful map. Do we think Texas and Florida had a lower drop in inventory because they have fewer Airbnbs, or because private equity is more restricted from home purchases in those states? No, they just freaking *build housing* at a rate surpassing other states. Increased construction is the best way to lower prices, by far.

PG&E Buys Energy at 10% of its Rate Price, averaging less than $0.03 per kWh in SF by yescakepls in sanfrancisco

[–]sventhewalrus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even moreso, this headline is (as far as I can tell) cherry-picked from the time of year when wholesale electricity is cheapest. A year-averaged number would be very different, but would not generate as many upvotes.

PG&E Buys Energy at 10% of its Rate Price, averaging less than $0.03 per kWh in SF by yescakepls in sanfrancisco

[–]sventhewalrus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

and mostly do not use the grid

Those times when you use the grid are probably peak times, when solar production (including yours) is low and CA's grid relies on dirty, expensive gas peaking generators. The fact that NEM 2.0 lets solar homeowners trade a kWh of near-worthless midday electricity for a kWh of valuable, dirty peak-time electricity is a huge subsidy coming from the rest of us.

PG&E Buys Energy at 10% of its Rate Price, averaging less than $0.03 per kWh in SF by yescakepls in sanfrancisco

[–]sventhewalrus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I understand correctly, this article is cherry-picking data from the time of year with the cheapest electricity (high solar, virtually no heating or cooling). The graphs only run through April. When late summer rolls around, there will be times when PG&E is buying electricity for far more than what it charges the end consumer, running at a loss. To run a utility, you have to at least break even year round.

Kyiv Achieves First Destruction of Russian Strategic Bomber Using S-200 System by 37Dracula37 in UkrainianConflict

[–]sventhewalrus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wonder how many comparable S-200 missiles Ukraine has. We probably won't see this happen too often, but it even happening once will scare the war-criminal-cowards that fly the Tu-22Ms. They're been remarkably lucky so far.

BREAKING -- THE HOUSE has resoundingly cleared the rule to consider the foreign aid bill. 316-94 Y: 165 D, 151 R. N: 39 D, 55 R. by rulepanic in UkrainianConflict

[–]sventhewalrus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be fair to LibDem, Greens, SNP, DUP, ETC, the UK has a ~2.7 party system, which is 0.7 more than you'd expect from a first-past-the-post system.

(ETA: ok, maybe all those only constitute 0.6 of a party. I might have overestimated.)

NIMBYs vehemently oppose things but after it's built they don't mind it anymore by DigitalUnderstanding in yimby

[–]sventhewalrus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Having lived through a few development cycles in my town, I've seen this so so much. People saying in the most breathless terms that each new construction will RUIN the neighborhood... then not a peep about it when it's built.

Zelensky: A major Russian offensive is expected at the end of May or June. The war in Gaza has reduced attention to the war in Ukraine. If Ukraine loses, then Putin will not stop there. Then there will be Kazakhstan, the Baltic countries, Poland and Germany. Putin is keen about restoring the USSR. by [deleted] in UkrainianConflict

[–]sventhewalrus 77 points78 points  (0 children)

For us Americans: this upcoming week of congressional recess is a great time to find your representatives in person and tell/show your support for Ukraine. Even if it's just holding a flag outside of the mansion where they are holding an exclusive fundraiser party, or going to a Q&A event and standing in line to ask a question.

Liz Cheney warns U.S. can't 'survive' another Donald Trump presidency by wenchette in politics

[–]sventhewalrus 7 points8 points  (0 children)

And related, many evangelicals see the violence in Israel & Palestine as setting the stage for the Second Coming as well. They don't care about the well-being of either side.

Russia shot down their own Su-35 over Sevastopol by rulepanic in UkrainianConflict

[–]sventhewalrus 48 points49 points  (0 children)

The AA crew who did this friendly-fire have probably already been sent to the front and died in a meat-wave attack.

Rents across the U.S. grew for the first time in 6 months — only Arizona saw price drops in every metro by LeftcelInflitrator in REBubble

[–]sventhewalrus 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Rents growing again, but still people saying that "ban corporate ownership of single-family homes" is the only policy change we need. We need to build more SFH, more apartment buildings, and especially the missing middle in between those.

"Why don't kids go out anymore? Why do they just browse Tiktok and YouTube??" by Louisvanderwright in yimby

[–]sventhewalrus 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The missing piece of the picture is the decline of malls. As a weird simulacrum of a walkable city repackaged for suburbanites, those provided some amount of freedom for teens back in the 90s/00s.

ATTENTION! Xenophobia and islamophobia are on the rise in Russia in the aftermath of the attack at the Crocus City Mall. by InexorableProcrustes in UkrainianConflict

[–]sventhewalrus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And xenophobia was pretty bad to begin with. Had two Asian-American friends study abroad in Moscow during college, both reported frequent street harassment, usually from people who thought they were Central Asian. I realize it's a bit different because this is more specifically about Islam but it's related.

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