• 18 Posts
  • 213 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: December 30th, 2023

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  • Got a Chevy Bolt used with a battery replacement after their warranty debacle. They had a glut of them due to that. Never looked back. It got me, realistically, 200+ miles of range. I never had a problem. No mechnical, no range issues, nothing. I’ve never had a flawless car experience before that.

    If you have the ability to charge at home or reliably at work, get an EV. There is nothing to fear.





  • This is not an issue in the Netherlands. There are not giant vehicles, kids have autonomy at a younger age, and society is structured around allowing family and play time. Infrastructure allows kids to visit friends and play safely. Kids can run off and do anything, adults rarely intervene. Its a kid paradise compared to the US today and is more aligned with the 80s and 90s you describe in the US. I remember those times too. But its not perfect here either.

    There is a line between autonomy and trauma. A kid is free to make a decision, but also free to suffer horrendous consequences without any empathy or adult support to help them recover. At least in my experience. For instance, a kid did not bring gloves to school and thus was not prepared for a sudden sleet storm in the ride home. Asking for help and telling people they were in pain and scared only to be responded to with the dutch equivilant of suck it up kid - you aren’t made of sugar. Thats trauma for damn sure that will come back to guide their actions as an adult.

    There has to be a balance, and I fear many peoples are not meeting it.


  • Leaving the Netherlands. Need to file a US tax extension which is pain. My partner got the “ghosted at the border” issue resolved. An HR person made a mistake but it got fixed. We can move forward with relocation in Canada. That was an anxiety producing 5 days!

    Sad that the Netherlands was not for us. Housing crisis + academic burnout + just not fitting in + no job = move. I am recording my bike rides with a go pro knock off to remember the lovely biking infrastructure ans nature. As well as the insanity of biking rush hour.

    I did help our friends move from the US to down the street. They are a gay couple and finally feel safe here. That means alot to me as there are no better people I know than them and they deserve peace and happiness.








  • The manner of communication and lack of help or empathy was cruel. Thank you for the validation on that. Upon review, my partner revealed she received no help, guidance, or support from them too. Her recruiter was helping unstick things instead as needed. I fear we are dealing with a terrible HR department and it worries me as this is a new job doing very important work around novel virii. Let alone the aforementioned insanity. Being left to our own devices and stonewalled though is the biggest concern.

    We are hopeful for movement today and my partner is receiving our house hold goods today too. So a nice distraction. We will review your suggestions and inform ourselves. We are meeting with our immigration attorney today, too (me virtually) to investigate plan B and be ready for new avenues. I really hope we can resolve this. My partner deserves some peace.

    Thank you for your detailed and helpful response.











  • That’s a good read, thank you for sharing. I do not believe that a lack of privacy and surveillance are a given. You can have a strong Democratic state with surveillance, if you have strong privacy guarantees and the means to enforce them. I’ll point to the, for the time, rapidly expanding surveillance state of revolutionary America in the 1770s and 1780s for that, but I admit, this is a much larger discussion, but your article and point are well taken.

    Edit: Update based on additional thoughts and comments below. This reply is to the perspectives and argument offered by /u/euxotic and my response is: “Circling around to say I thought about this over the last four days. In brief, my perspective that you can have a surveillance apparatus and a contemporary democracy in the 21st century were misguided. You are right.”