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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • For urban environments I 100% agree, but e-bikes and public transport can’t help farmers* get their produce to market. I don’t know much about this truck, but if it can fill a similar niche as the Japanese kei truck, I think it’s great to provide people who actually need a pickup with an alternative to the F-150+ behemoths currently available stateside.

    *Yes there are some urban farms that totally could operate via ebike/other form of micro mobility, however most farms, even small ones, are located >10 miles outside urban centers, usually in areas only accessible by roads and highways that are currently very dangerous for non-motorized transportation modes. Fixing this problem would take decades and hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars even if the government were fully on board with the transportation network and/or land use changes necessary to allow for a true car-free society (which of course they aren’t). I’m not such an idealist as to poo-poo a significant short-term improvement to the “oversized working vehicle” problem.





  • Again, depending on where in the world you are, you may not have the equipment nor access to ingredients necessary to make these properly. You might be able to approximate, but it won’t be as good, which is the entire point of my comment.

    American pizza requires a pizza oven or regular oven with a steel/stone (or dish for Detroit-style pizza), specific types of cheese, and depending on your preference, specific toppings; these may not be available abroad. In some countries, ovens are not considered standard kitchen equipment; good luck making decent pizza on the stovetop.

    Similarly, really good BBQ requires special equipment that even most American homes don’t have, and requires a good deal of outdoor space (otherwise you risk smoking out yourself/your neighbors).

    Mexican food is more flexible in terms of equipment, but ingredients may be hard to source (especially spices).

    For ice cream you might struggle to find the right add-in ingredients depending on what flavor you’re trying to make, but again, the biggest issue is equipment. You can make ice cream at home without an ice cream maker, but it seems like more hassle than it’s worth and still requires some equipment and decent freezer space (fwiw I’ve never done it before; maybe it’s easier than it sounds).




  • There’s also a severe shortage of medical professionals ever since covid in all fields all over the country (but especially in rural and rapidly-growing areas). Good luck actually getting a medical appointment, and even if you can swing one standards have been weakened so that what would normally be a visit with a doctor (or the field’s equivalent) is now a nurse practitioner or other less-educated title. If you want a “real” medical professional you need a referral, and again, good luck getting that appointment scheduled. Everyone working in medicine is overworked and burned out. Unless you’re actively bleeding out, seeking medical attention, especially routine checkups and preventative screening, doesn’t feel worth it anymore.

    I’m not too surprised to see cancer deaths being one rare area that’s decreasing; besides strides in treatment, most cancer sufferers are older and thus wealthier and also have Medicare, plus they also probably already have a primary care physician from pre-shortage. The hardest-hit in the medical care shortage are the young and people who have recently moved, and find themselves running into the wall of “no one is taking new patients.”