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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 30th, 2023

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  • I got lucky on this recently. Saw someone threw away a working washing machine. I will never buy one because it supports companies who block repair (all of them have contempt for repairers). So the only way for me to get one is to pull one from a dump. I saw on one on a curb saying it just needed to be cleaned or something. I went straight to a shop that has cargo bikes and was able to rent one on the spot. They take reservations but I got lucky. Went straight to the washing machine and it was still there. I was surprised the bike could take the weight and was surprised how well it handled.

    but fuck apps

    The problem with most shared bikes is they impose a closed-source app exclusively from Google. I got lucky that a local shop has a website for reservations and you can just walk in and pick it up at the shop – which means a human has to collect a cash deposit. But no shitty app.

    Mulo seems pricey as well. I would not pay more than $/€ 25/day (not electric). Maybe Mulo is electric.

    Locomotion is donation based… interesting that that works.



  • activistPnk@slrpnk.netOPtoNo Lawns@slrpnk.netsheep mowers, not lawn mowers
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    2 months ago

    I can understand the /fuck lawns/ ideology in some specific contexts, like lawns that are in water-starved regions. But I don’t get the across the board blanket stance that all lawns are always a bad idea.

    What about buffalo grass lawns, as opposed to blue grass? Or whatever kinds of sustainable grass species that do not need to be watered artificially for a given region?

    What about use cases like turf for dogs and kids to play on?









  • The EU has been grappling with right to repair laws for over 10 years now. It’s a complete shit show.

    At the moment, a washing machine maker in the EU is only required to release repair documentation to professional repairers who are insured, not consumers. And they only have to do it in the 1st 10 years, not in the time period that things actually break. At the 10 year mark, they automatically lose the docs and stop making parts.

    The law you reference is not yet in force AFAIK. But when it comes into force and each member state eventually legislates, look at what we are getting-- from your reference:

    A European information form can be offered to consumers to help them assess and compare repair services (detailing the nature of the defect, price and duration of the repair). To make the repair process easier, a European online platform with national sections will be set up to help consumers easily find local repair shops, sellers of refurbished goods, buyers of defective items or community-led repair initiatives, such as repair cafes.

    That’s crap. It’s fuck all. Consumers are not getting service manuals. They are just being told where they can go to get someone else to do the work. We can of course already find repair cafes because they publish their own location. But repairers at repair cafes are just winging it. You cannot bring them a large appliance like a washer. They don’t even have water and drain hookups. And even if one repair cafe made an exception for large appliances, their repairers are not insured and thus cannot legally get access to service manuals.

    Everything at the state/fed/intl levels is a total shitshow. This is why I asked in the OP what can be done at the local level.









  • What if you want to sell the house

    I’ve not read the contract yet. Considering they include removal an reinstallation labor for free if someone renovates their roof, they theoretically might as well relocate them to another house when moving within their service area (which is constrained as well by the region of the green certificates).

    What happens when you want to exit the contract within the 30 years?

    Certainly you can buy the gear. And if you buy all the panels you are out of the contract. Price per panel as they age is something like this:

    • years 0-5: €850
    • years 5-10: €750
    • years 10-15: €650
    • year 30: €0

    If you want to exit the contract and return the panels, I have no idea. But since these prices seem to be heavily inflated to cover their labor, I imagine it’s quite uninteresting to return the panels because they likely factor in the labor.

    When the sun is shining at peak brightness, what’s the guarantee that you get to use all of it?

    All the boxes have LCDs. The 1st box shows the power generation. Then another box shows what of that you are consuming. I don’t recall what the 3rd box shows but I can only imagine it’s the energy fed to the grid. I assume the original electric meter is still installed, in which case it might be possible to check the math.

    There could still be shenanigans because it’s probably hard to verify. I think as a low consumer I might be better off buying the panels and getting an i/o meter (not sure what the correct term is but something that compensates me for what is fed back to the grid).

    Anyway, I appreciate the reply. I’ll have to mirror some of those questions to the supplier.




  • Can you actually tell us what your post had to do with the abolition of work?

    I’ve posted there in the past about mitigating work (incl. concepts like ”quitting” but working which just means ways to not work your ass off pleasing a boss and just working at a content pace). I posted about new work reduction laws. I never posted about full abolition of work. And I commented then that it was strange that the sidebar seems to only mention full abolition of work, and I asked if there were any objections to chatter about work reduction. There were none. And those other posts were not suppressed. So I figured the sidebar was unintentionally narrow.

    I stand by the decision to remove the post and I think its kinda ridiculous how out of proportion you are blowing this instance of mod action.

    The rationale in the modlog was nonsense. Now you are giving different rationale.


  • original post text

    Progressive tax regimes are conducive to anti-work philosophy, right up until you take a year or more off.

    Having a progressive tax system means tax rate increases disproportionately with the more work you do. And that’s a good because working less is encouraged by a reduced avg tax rate.

    But what happens when you take a year (or 5 years) off? You live off savings that were taxed in higher brackets while earning zero. IOW, consider:

    • Bob works 6 years straight earning 50k/year.
    • Alice works 3 years earning 100k/year then takes 3 years off.

    They both had the same gross earnings per unit time but Alice gets screwed on taxes because of the progressive tax system. My pattern is comparable to Alice due to forced full-time gigs that refuse part-time. My refuge is to subject myself to being over-employed for a stretch then quitting for a stretch of bench time. The only remedies I see:

    1. Take a 1-year contract starting in June. Do not work the first ½ of the 1st year, and do not work the second ½ of the 2nd year.
    2. Form a corporation, work as independent and direct your own “false independent” 1-person company. Money builds in the company as you pay yourself the same amount whether you are working or not. (Some people put the company in Hong Kong because it accommodates this well and the company feeds the director gradually and persists well after retirement – or so I’m told)
    3. Work in a country that adjusts for income fluxuations by giving you a tax credit if your income drops substantially from one year to the next.

    I made up number 3. Does that exist anywhere?

    Any other techniques to hack around forced full-time scenarios? Or to deliberately fluxuate working hard and not working without the tax penalty?