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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlBack home
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    2 years ago

    Even if it’s not, houses appreciate 5% a year on average. Assuming average appreciation over 10 years that house is now worth ~163% of its original value. That means that the mortgage was taken out for ~61% of what a comparable house would go for today which assuming the same interest rate would be a fairly significant reduction in the monthly payment. You also have the potential to refinance to further reduce that monthly payment.

    Or you could sell it and get that 10 years of equity + appreciation out in cash and that might be enough for a sizable down payment elsewhere.

    TL;DR unless your parent’s place is a dump in a low demand area it’s an asset even if it isn’t paid off.



  • I know how pitiful our rail networks are. I take Amtrak regularly. It’s faster to drive. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Obviously I’m not talking about today, but building improved rail infrastructure over the next decade is very realistic and a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately the investment Amtrak has gotten isn’t enough to modernize our rail network, and a lot of that money is being used to improve privately owned rail lines that Amtrak leases for their passenger service.

    My point was that the US doesn’t have distances that are insurmountable that can only be traveled via plane. It’s an investment issue.


  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlPlane goes brrrr
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    2 years ago

    A lot of those flights could be replaced with high speed rail. Maybe not New York to LA, but a lot of people live in the cities in the northeast and travel between those cities would be very feasible at reasonable travel times with high speed rail.



  • Within real communist communities? No. Within revisionist communities absolutely.

    Communists haven’t supported China since the death of Mao whenever Deng Xiaopeng and his ilk took power. You can read plenty of official statements by Peruvian, Indian, and Filipino communists parties (that have actually attempted/are attempting revolution) who denounce China as a revisionist social imperialist power in exactly the same way that China denounced the USSR following the revisionists rise to power.




  • You may already know this, but this depends on the focal length of the lens. For example, a 50mm focal length on a 35mm camera will represent objects in the background fairly accurately. Larger focal lengths have background compression, making their background look closer than it actually is. Focal lengths below 50mm will have the opposite effect, making backgrounds appear further away.

    Some phones with multiple cameras have a 50mm (or similar) effective focal length lens as one of the options. Basically without knowing the focal length of the lens it’s hard to say how accurately the distance of the background is portrayed.



  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlHow i feel on Lemmy
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    2 years ago

    This is generally the thought process that Marxists have. The USSR definitely wasn’t perfect, but it is the first real example that the proletariat was capable of uniting and other throwing the capitalist system. The USSR is fantastic to study to try and determine why it failed. Similarly China is a great resource to study to understand how capitalism can be re-established from within the party.

    Most modern communist groups actively engaging in an attempt at revolution were inspired by the Chinese revolution and the cultural revolution that came after it, but none of them are trying to recreate the USSR or China because as we can clearly see those states failed to maintain a socialist character.


  • A lot of these cars are starting to get massive touch screens too. I’m looking at buying a Prius and several of the trims have a 12 inch touch screen. Why would I ever need that as a driver? Why would I ever possibly want that? Pedestrian and cyclist deaths keep skyrocketing and we continue to out these massive screens in cars that in many cases can’t be turned off. Lawmakers really need to make auto manufacturers responsible for the part they are playing in enabling distracted driving.


  • Whenever I was attempting to house shop in my city I couldn’t find anything that was livable for less than $400k. I grew up very poor so I’m not being hyperbolic whenever I say “livable”. I was not looking for anything glamorous. There were houses that should have been condemned going for $350k. This was in a “medium” cost of living area. I couldn’t even imagine what it would cost to buy in a high cost of living area.