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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • Long range attacks are about knocking out supplies, the ability to produce new supplies, and the ability to get supplies to the front line.

    Say Russia is getting more newly made artillery shells to the front line. The best way to fix this is to blow up the factories.

    If you can’t take out the factories directly, take out components that the factories need to operate: ore processing, fuel refineries, electricity grid, etc.

    The problem is all the critical targets are a long ways from the front line and Ukraine currently has limited capacity to hit them.

    Meanwhile Russia is targeting all of Ukraine’s internal infrastructure constantly.

    Long wars are won by the production capabilities of the groups involved as much as the front line troops.




  • I am of the opinion that most “supply” issues are due to investors. Except in certain geographic areas we do not have a shortage of actual physical housing. What we have is a shortage of available housing at a mixed pricepoints for purchase.

    All housing that investors purchase for rentals removes it from the supply.

    Traditionally investors have sought out entry level housing for rent. They invest in building rental complexes. They make all cash purchases and then rent it out to people who otherwise would have been first-time homebuyers. Investors used to be the low end offer. Blatant price fixing has increased rent outrageously. Now investors are the high end offer and removing supply constantly.

    With AirB&B, the middle and even upper range market that traditionally has had less investor competition is now a major target. This has led to price wars for investment purposes on previously safe segments.

    The first solution to the housing supply is simple: taxing income from rent so that selling the property is financially more lucrative. It will have to include a prohibition against rental increases to cover the taxes as well.

    The second is to mandate zoning and new construction to match the market needs not the needs of the investors.

    Last would be to create a program where builders who focus on entry level housing receive incentives from governments (also include hefty penalty for substandard construction).



  • I did a little assassin creed run this summer. Started with Unity and went to Odyssey.

    Unity by far has the best story-line. The game mechanics are also more focused on being an assassin, not a brawler. Sneak and stab, drop smoke and disappear when you get in trouble.

    Syndicate - they changed the focus to more brawling. However the mechanics were pretty bad and the storyline was predictable and stupid to say the least. You can still play the assasin for most of it if you want.

    Origins - They went all out into brawling with this one. Complicated all of the controls. Easiest way to make it through the game is as an archer. The story lines are dull and some are just plain weird. The offer you tons of different options in gear but only a few are worth keeping. Not much chance to actually assainate anyone. Lots of weird half baked stuff like the naval warfare in the story line but nowhere else.

    Odyssey - it’s basically the same as origins. They spent more time fleshing out the mechanics. Added in a ton of options but you only use a few. Added in a ton more brawling combat and very little assassination. In many instances trying to play as an assassin is just not possible. The combat is often broken. Beating the bosses is all the same. Spam arrows while dodging until they weaken, get a hit in and run away- repeat. Save often because the game crashes regularly.

    Yes I played all the way through and beat the main quests and side quest on all of them.


  • Iceland produces most of their cucumbers in high tech greenhouses using geothermal energy for heat and light.

    Greenhouse cucumbers grow best in temps around 25-35c. Since the ambient temp in Iceland is usually cooler than this, venting the greenhouse is uncommon.

    As the plants use CO2 in photosynthesis the levels of CO2 in the air decline and the O2 levels increase. The lower levels of CO2 drastically slow down the cucumbers growth. The growers often supplement the plants with CO2 from tanks.


  • You want to really get worried?

    Everything we produce in agriculture is constantly fighting off plagues. From insects, bacterial, fungal and virus infections. It is constantly under attack.

    In crops on average farmers have to change to new varieties every 10 years. In some species it’s every 3-4.

    Global warming is also making it much harder for agriculture. Higher temps = diseases come earlier in the season and last longer. Pest populations are not reduced as much over the winter.

    We have also reached the limits of traditional breeding in many species for disease/pest resistances.

    There is ways we can prevent the pending collapse but not without some massive investments, a complete overhaul of the laws, and fundamental changes in how we do agriculture.