Doc Martens are now Chinese made IIRC and don’t last.
Solovair is the the company that used to make Martens and you can still buy that style there. I hear they’re much better than Martens, but also occasionally a mixed review that they didn’t last very long.
I’ll offer a mixed review for carhartt…while they used to be strictly workwear, they’ve started putting up retail spaces in designer clothing areas. Prices have shot up. I had a belt from them that fell apart pretty quick with normal wear. Got a work shirt that’s doing pretty good though. IMO they’re headed down the same road as a lot of brands that get popular - price hikes with decreased quality.
The hypocrisy of the religious. Hands down the biggest reason.
The exclusivity, in the negative sense.
The constant premise that there is something wrong with you if you don’t conform or otherwise fit the mold, or bend a knee to those thought of as superiors. Dissent is not allowed.
Pray problems away instead of actually doing something about them. Like school shootings.
The toss in all the rest of the BS like fighting other religions, wars in god’s name, god gave me (the win, the victory, saved my life but it wasn’t the surgeons, spared my house in the tornado but not the neighbor’s, my Mercedes, whatever) but not you because you’re gay or support LGBTQ, liberal, atheist, etc.
There really is so much to despise about people who using religion as a shield for their shitty beliefs and actions.
Read the books and got maybe to the 5th book? 6th? And gave up. It stopped going anywhere, the politics went away, it was just people going from A to B and getting killed somewhere along the way. Just like the show, they lost direction and floundered, Martin couldn’t finish it off.
I’m not in favor of celebrity moving to politics. Even ones that I think are intelligent. Stewart has long been involved in political mockery and has actual experience in helping a bill get passed, but I think he wouldn’t survive the frustration of being forced to work in DC as President.
There’s a video out there that I can’t find where Stewart is talking to (political science students?) who ask him about his time in DC trying to get the 9/11 First Responders Bill passed and what he thought of politics there. His disgust for real politics and how politicians operate is vividly apparent and borders on revulsion.
I think he’s a good man, but I don’t know that he would be a successful president.
If war and they were in the Arms business. Krupp, Nissan, Boeing, etc. Krupp individually as a person.
If you’re already rich, Depressions/recessions are a fire sale for the rich. They buy up everything they can that suddenly becomes worth more in a few years.
Look at politicized science for your answer. I know you were asking what would happen to politics and politicians if they followed the scientific process and followed the rules legitimately seeking the most correct answers, but what they’d do in real life is cherry pick data, use poor “n” and minimal data collection to steer the results how they want, then selectively interpret the data to support their narrative with clickbaity titles attached to the results. Just like industry funded science did for cigarettes or leaded gasoline.
Hardy seems worth reiterating as it’s always in the news, but the US seems like it’s in overall decline for most any reason you can think of. Rising disparity, falling buying power for the average person, stagnant wages, increasing costs, rising political instability, rise of the far right with literal calls for civil war, rise of the far right looking to tear down any social, environmental, educational, or scientific advancements, the steady march towards oligarchy and corporatocracy, and then there’s the global climate crisis speeding up and the realization that we’ve been lied to about saving the world with recycling and EVs while the corporations rake in billions and pollute remorselessly.
30-40 years ago the economy looked steady, you could save the world by filling the recycle bin, and you could afford an education, home, and maybe retirement if you followed the “go to college and get a good job” path that generations before had followed.
Subjectively and objectively I’d say we’re worse off.
Sure, there’s some potential bright spots. Advances in medical care (that you probably can’t afford), fusion power advances (that will probably arrive too late to do any good), rising renewable energy (fought every step of the way by anti-environmental types), and a resurgence in the labor movement (also fought every step of the way by the wealthy and corporations), at least that’s something.
I’d be careful about the HVAC thing. I read somewhere a while back that it can cost more to change temperature than to just leave it slightly lower/higher and just wear a sweater or just shorts and a T shirt. Changing temperature is especially expensive if you’re drawing more electricity during peak times to make that change, like getting home from work at 6pm or so, when rates are higher. If you have a small apartment it may not be so bad to change the temp in a smaller volume of space.
YMMV, check your rates and times you’d be changing temp. Wear a sweater or strip as much as is feasible.
Beginners/basic programming for non-IT. There’s a lot of people that might want to do very simple things with arduino or other mini computers. Python, or even simple Linux tasks, that don’t want to start a whole “Programming lessons A-z” multi-stage class-format learning adventure.
Tools are kind of a cheat, they’re pretty solid chunks of metal and even halfway decent tools will work a while with care. There are absolutely lemons out there made of junk metal that will shatter.
So a shout out to Harbor Freight. Buy their Icon brand or Doyle hand tools. They are often good enough for some serious mechanics, and absolutely good enough for the home wrench slinger with normal use. Yeah, there are a lot of upper tier tools like Gearwrench that will last forever, but HF stuff will get the job done for cheaper and last just as long.
The normal kitchen aid stand mixer. A no-brainer.
A nespresso-made nespresso. Not the cheap ones made by breville or whatever that are sold at Target. Our Nespresso has been seeing fairly regular use for almost 2 decades. Don’t expect it to literally be BIFL, but it’s doing great.
Strongbags. Designed for flight crew, but anyone can buy it. Super-durable gear for travel. Maybe not fashionable in the trendy sense, but it’s well made and as close to BIFL as you can get. Doesn’t have the trendy cache of Fjallraven and the like. Had one of their coolers for 15 years now.
An odd one: Bestek. Bought one of their car power adapters. 12v with 3 12v sockets and 4 USB out. Damn thing won’t quit. Charges all the family’s devices on road trips plus runs the dashcam.
Kent comb. Yeah, it’s just a comb. However, that cheap shit at the chain drug store (like Goody) cracks, loses teeth, and is just cheap. Unless you deliberately abuse the Kent comb it will last a lifetime.