It’s confusing since espresso is a type of coffee, and coffee (aka “drip coffee”) is a completely different type of coffee.

Coffee is both a class of item, and also a specific item within the class.

If you say coffee, it could mean the class of all kinds of coffee, or you could be referring specifically to the coffee item in the class coffee. If you say espresso, it’s still in the class coffee, but it’s a specific type of coffee that cannot be conflated with a different kind of coffee.

English sucks.

An Americano isn’t coffee.

It’s a watered down espresso.

The only reason it exists is because Americans visiting Europe would ask for coffee, and many euro coffee shops only had espresso, so they just added hot water to espresso and that was close enough for the tourists.

At least, that was what I heard.

I mainly use Windows and Microsoft almost exclusively uses “disk” everywhere.

I don’t think you’re wrong at all, but even after I’ve been working in tech for so long, all the terms for everything get confusing for me too.

Just saying.

Round optical disc in a hard caddy/shell

I can clarify some of the tech stuff.

A “disk” is a concept. It’s an object which contains data.

“Hard” disks and “floppy” disks are always referring to the rigidity of the internal storage media. 7", 5.25", and 3.5" floppy disks have the same round magnetic storage material. The only difference with a 3.5" floppy disk is that they put a hard case over the floppy disk.

CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc are both disks and discs, as their typically handled without a caddy/case. So technically both apply.

SSDs are still disks, just solid state, rather than floppy/hard spinning magnetic media.

Technically flash drives are also solid state disks, but we don’t generally conflate the two terms for clarity.

$20 CAD each (ish) and they come with the heater?

That’s actually pretty good for pricing. The ration heaters are not cheap.

Most MREs that I’ve looked at are a bit more elaborate than your average canned product.

But the idea is the same, yes. It’s more interesting than your typical canned meal, and it’s more expensive, but the quality of the food, if you can call it that, is not dissimilar.

MREs usually are a more “complete” meal with a variety of components, while canned meals are just a volume of a single component.

For me it’s mainly that it adds variety.

And sure, there’s MREs that are like, stew, or soup, that you would probably be better off just grabbing a can of ready to eat Campbell’s or something… But there’s way interesting options than that too.

I once saw a “taco” MRE. It was little more than some “beef” (that you had to heat up) and “cheese” and some other fairly sad toppings on a small tortilla… But I would still take that over a can of chunky beef soup any day.

The nice thing is that MREs are shelf stable for a really long time, so you can get a box of them and shove them in your trunk, or into a desk drawer and then you don’t have to worry about lunch for a month. Longer if you occasionally go out for lunch with coworkers to local food places near your workplace.

Presently, I don’t work in an office (my job is 100% work from home), so I don’t really need it. I can get the same variety from a frozen meal, which is arguably easier, and it’s definitely cheaper than MREs.

I also have considered buying a few boxes as emergency food and throwing them in the trunk of my car. I live in Canada, and getting stranded in a blizzard isn’t impossible. I have access to my trunk from the cabin of my car, so I shouldn’t need to get out to get them and I could stay nourished while waiting for rescue. MREs are supposed to be paired with heating/cooking packs, which would help the car warm up when I’m having one, and with a decently sized container of drinking water, I could wait weeks for rescue, as long as I have adequate protection from the elements (jackets, blankets, etc), and some way to dispose of my bodily waste without contaminating my “living” area. I almost always travel with a radio (I’m a certified amateur operator, aka, ham radio), and a battery bank for my cellphone.

For a couple hundred dollars (maybe? Maybe more? IDK what the prices are for MREs right now), myself and a passenger could survive for a while being stranded in the white wasteland of Canada, without really having to do anything… Just waiting for rescue.

With global warming, last year we barely got snow where I am, and I don’t travel much, so the whole thing is on the back burner at best. The idea was to have it, and if I don’t need it, a few months before everything expires, the MREs become my lunch, and I buy a fresh box for my vehicle.

I’m not a monster.

I’ve seriously considered buying MREs because I can’t be bothered to meal prep.

Thanks, I hate it.

Are you still using them?

I left Facebook when they banned me for not using my real name.

I was left in limbo indefinitely, because I challenged their assessment, and every time I try to log in now, it says that my account is “under review” or whatever.

Been like that for… Going on 6 years or so now. Maybe more.

Six of them.

At this point, “centrist” is slang for, “I want to argue for what I believe in under the guise of being the ‘Devils advocate’”.

I made this decision when I purchased a house… Or rather, the bank purchased it, I just live here and pay them instead of a landlord.

I went with DeWalt and I don’t really have any regrets. I had one of the really basic 12v drills from them for like 10+ years. It mostly rattled around my car’s trunk during that time. I’ve purchased two additional batteries for it, one was shortly after I bought it, so I’d always have a charged battery on hand, the other to keep on the drill. When I needed to swap, I’d just take the dead battery into my home at the end of the day and charge it overnight, then dump it back in the car the next day.

I used it mainly for computer stuff, since I work in that industry… Racking equipment in server racks, opening computers, etc. Rarely did I need to actually make holes or anything with it… The third battery was purchased when the original battery that came with it, stopped working. The drill and two remaining batteries still work fine, though I don’t really need/use them anymore.

I might “donate” it to a young relative someday, for now it collects dust in my basement.

When I replaced it, I got all 20v DeWalt everything. I bought a pack of tools that came with a couple of fairly basic battery chargers, a couple batteries, a hammer drill, impact driver, reciprocating saw, oscillating tool, a circular saw, and a portable light… It even came with a carry bag, which was promptly tossed in a corner and hasn’t been touched since, except to kick it further into the corner.

After a short while of owning the house, we added a small (additional) set of batteries… I think 3 more? And picked up lawn equipment that’s also 20v from DeWalt. A string trimmer (aka a “whipper snipper”), and a hedge trimmer. I feel like I’m forgetting something… Oh well.

The odd man out, so to speak, is the lawnmower, we ended up picking up a DeWalt mower, but it’s 20v/60v, so it will take either pack. We had all 20v so we just stuck with that.

Then, I think last year? DeWalt released a snowblower, but it’s 60v only. So we had to get specific batteries just for that. The 60v ones are compatible with the 20v tools, but the blower will only take the 60v packs, so we have two 60v packs for it (and the lawnmower, I suppose, since they can take advantage of the extra juice), and 20v packs for everything else.

Everything is cross compatible, with the one exception of the snowblower, so we’re all set.

My experience with the 12v drill heavily biased me towards sticking with DeWalt.

I won’t tell anyone to buy DeWalt or Milwaukee, or any other brand. You’ll have to make that decision got yourself. I don’t have any strong feelings about other brands because I simply don’t have the experience with them to have an opinion… Except Ryobi. Fuck Ryobi. My brother used Ryobi for a long time, and he had nothing good to say about them besides the fact that their tools are cheap. They’re cheap in every way. You’ll spend more trying to keep them working than you’ll spend simply by buying better tools. Don’t do it.

The platform isn’t the problem in this context.

This is a people problem.

Since the people here, mostly came from there, we’re going to see these issues.

I’m not sure if we can reasonably expect any different

… Except the breaker only interrupts the connection on the “hot” line…

Christmas lights.

Strings of them have a plug on one side and a receptacle on the other. When hanging the lights, people don’t notice if they have someone backwards and end up with a receptacle facing a receptacle. Rather than do the smart thing and turn the lights around, they go to the hardware store for assistance in killing themselves.

Another common one is backup generators.

Someone will turn off the breaker in the service panel, then plug a suicide cord from any receptacle in the circuit, to the output of a portable generator.

I’m sure there’s more.

Anyone suggesting you should skip a light because you’re on a bike, is not someone you want to listen to.

Stay safe out there.

I agree with the cascade effect, it’s literally the reason why bad driving compounds into a traffic jam.

The thing is, if you leave sufficient following distance, someone is going to take it as an invitation to merge, so people in general, wanting to be in front, tend to follow more closely, so nobody else can get in front of them and push them further back in traffic.

So they follow too closely, someone brakes, and cascade of failure. Why they brake? Lots of stupid shit, often because someone entering the lane of traffic in front decided they’re getting in front of someone else even if it kills everyone, then brakes, and cascade… The cycle continues.