Appreciate the info!

Well the best 2 tours were the Golden Circle and the southern coast, where you visit a volcano, some geysers and waterfalls, and the black sands beach. Seeing the Northern Lights was amazing and the whale watching boat trip where we saw dolphins was another highlight. We’ve learned to schedule a guided food tour as our first excursion, as those guides are usually well-versed on the nuances of local spots/issues. We were blown away by how delicious all the food was there, except for the shark… it’s worth it for the experience, but hard for me to recommend as the taste is so powerful. The museums were well worth visiting!

I really enjoyed visiting there a few years ago and definitely want to go back! I’ve since paid more attention and at least from what I’ve seen, statehood seems like the best path forward. My wife and I also visited Iceland last year, but that island is in a completely different situation in multiple ways. Their geothermal power is awesome though. PR could certainly benefit from renewables but more local control and growth. You’re asking some good questions though.

Considering how under-funded and understaffed the IRS has been/is, they do a pretty amazing job with what they have to work with. Simplifying or redoing our tax codes again is a huge task that will take time. There does need to be some sort of progress though! We’ll see what type of government we’ll have shortly.

Idk… Iceland is doing pretty well with some large greenhouses. I was pretty amazed at the variety and quality of their fruits and veggies. That island has to deal with some serious issues but seem to be handling them quite well overall!

I’ve found multiple friendly employees at vape shops in both Arkansas and Oklahoma, especially in the college cities of course. But that might be a productive avenue that’s worth trying out.

Best of luck from an ally not too far away!

As a former recreational user of many substances(not LSD though), I understand your hesitancy. I had many great experiences on shrooms so I tend to recommend that before LSD. I just think it’s not as intense and has a lower probability of negative interactions or experiences, but that’s just based on what I’ve seen/heard/read. There are knock off versions of shrooms in vape shops but I have no idea what they are like.

I hear you. And I agree, I would love more independently edited press out there. PBS and NPR seem under attack regularly by the right, but they do a pretty good job of being unbiased overall.

Is it really those 6 billionaires opinions in every one of the stories their media presents every day? Seems like a stretch. I could see them imprinting their biases and blocking stories that they don’t want out, but colluding to control the narrative gives them too much credit I think. I’m lucky enough to have some decent independent journalism in my area, but I would love if there was more!

So you guys are saying I should test drive the experience before buying, especially since I already have an oculus collecting dust? I would love a great wheel, but I’m not paying out the ass for it. And want at least a good experience!

While I can concede your point that it’s feasible and possibly even more practical to open from the stem, I gotta say that since switching to the other end years ago(because I saw a similar thread on reddit), it’s been super easy and I’ve had zero issues. The stem just has a higher rate of fucking up, but it’s not like either end will fully decimate the banana. Peeling properly after it’s opened is an easy fix either way.

IIRC, the reason sodium batteries would be better is we have abundant stocks of sodium, whereas the raw materials for most other batteries are limited and require more destructive mining. John Oliver just covered some of this on his show last Sunday. If that tech can be improved, hopefully there won’t be any deep sea mining for more raw materials!

You can sail the high seas for Fallout. It’s worth it!

Maron is still going strong, thankfully. I like Seinfeld’s Netflix show, but haven’t seen any stand up of his for years… I could see it being rough.

Ooph, legit reddit vibes with that exchange, as I hadn’t seen BTB referenced on lemmy yet. I need to check out that episode too! Appreciate it

Right? I gotta upvote for how thorough this post was, and it was interesting on top of that!

I’m sure that there’s a decent chunk of corruption with inspections, but there are also states like Arkansas where we don’t ever have to get our vehicles inspected… It’s absurd how shitty some of the cars and trucks are that I see regularly.

I think you’re on the right track with focusing on the local things you can change. And keeping hope alive is important! I mean, I may not have a choice in being fucked and miserable later, so if I can avoid that now, then that’s great.

I liked Spider’s point about means testing for voting. It wouldn’t work, although it does seem like it would be a step forward. We can’t even means test our politicians which has seemed necessary more and more recently… those pesky legalities, lol.

I saw that Mr. Roger’s quote “look to the helpers” recently on here and that keeps bouncing back in my head when I get negative thoughts. I know it’s not completely sustainable, but I keep seeing the impact of positivity on my life and the people around me, which is a nice change from the norm.