jasparagus

I've totally had that happen to me before :(

That said, I love my honeywell(?) half-face respirator otherwise. It beats a standard face mask in comfort by a mile. I even got some paper N99 filter sheets + reusable holders for them, which works great and makes it so I don't blow through plastic cartridges.

Oxidation (and other processes) do affect coffee flavor, and grinding it up increases surface area / exposure to oxygen, speeding that up. Putting it in the fridge seems to also worsen flavor, but the freezer seems to be pretty reliable. Here's a nice video discussing this by a weird coffee person (James Hoffmann): Should you freeze coffee beans?

Also, KGLW, nice!

Yeah, and the the EV9 (3-row) is $60k (not remotely cheap, but the cheapest I'm aware of). It's obviously worth checking the 5-year cost proposition (given fuel vs. electricity pricing), but if the math doesn't work out for your driving needs, then you're pretty well out of options for now.

Yeah, I think if you're going to do a lot of thin strips, a jig is worthwhile (and that seems like a nice method). I liked just using the featherboard because it worked (surprisingly) well, felt safe, took a matter of seconds to set up, and doesn't require me storing a jig (I'm tight on garage space).

Schindler's List - incredible movie, beautiful case, no way I want to rewatch it any time soon.

I loved the fountain, too. It is so incredibly beautiful, and I'm glad to own it for the same reasons. I also can't imagine when I'll want to watch it again...

Thoughts on the video below? It seems like it weakens the joint a bit per his findings. I've never done it myself (I use cauls with packing tape and iterate between them and other clamps), but I've heard the salt tip recommended a lot.

https://youtu.be/QfTsHJqykMs?si=0Xq4hs7vQ6AxXwok

Have either of the kids shown a passing interest in learning to woodwork? Obviously tons of safety precautions need to be taken (including potentially changing the nature of projects to do them more safely for kids), but maybe that's a way to at least get in the shop a bit, even if it's to make some simple hand-tool boxes out of scrap with a kiddo.

Edit to add: it's definitely tough to make as much time for hobbies as a parent, and I hope you're able to find some good shop time in the New Year!

I have what look to be almost those exact wheels on my table saw platform. I have a jobsite saw for which I built a cabinet, and I also put flip casters on it. I love them! They're miles better than the "locking" ones that just roll while you're trying to cut things.

I found more up-to-date numbers that suggest it's more like 23x the aid (Ukraine:Israel):

How Much Aid Has the U.S. Sent Ukraine? Here Are Six Charts.

In any event, the US appears to have sent substantial aid to Ukraine, and it's in jeopardy only (to my knowledge) if congress can't get more through in early 2024. My understanding is that the war-specific funding (so far) requested by the Biden administration for Israel has been more to the tune of $14B requested for 2023 (e.g. this article), concurrent with a roughly-quadruple $60B+ request for Ukraine (this article).

It seems to me that the Biden administration is strongly in support for Ukraine, and is making (and, historically, getting through) requests for continued aid far in excess of those to Israel (which receives multi-billion-dollar aid from the U.S. every year and under every administration). Biden's only non-standard "funding" here is authorizing sale of arms to Israel, which is in place of any congressional funding due to the unpopularity of the Israel war in the USA (which is unpopular for a variety of, in my opinion, very good reasons).

To be clear: I'm not suggesting that the U.S.A. should blindly fund genocide. I'm simply arguing that continued (substantial) funding for Ukraine hasn't been in jeopardy until recently, and that it is still not a guarantee that extraordinary measures (beyond what Biden has already done with the lend-lease-style "loaning" of US Arms to Ukraine, etc.) will be necessary or helpful, given the broad support in the US Congress (to date) for the war in Ukraine. My expectation is that the Democrats in congress will make some concessions to the Republicans in congress, and a Ukraine funding package will pass early in the new year.

TL;DR: equating the funding of Ukraine to the funding of the war in Israel and using it to suggest the Biden administration hasn't adequately attempted to fund Ukraine doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

Israel received $3.18B in FY 2022 compared to $11.8B for Ukraine.

USNews - US Aid history

Edit to add a quote from the link:

In 2021, U.S. obligations to Israel amounted to $3.31 billion, a figure that saw Israel returning to the top spot among aid recipients that year. But in 2022, the U.S. committed $12 billion to Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion, far exceeding Israel’s $3.18 billion that year. While some figures are still considered “partial,” total U.S. aid globally for 2022 currently adds up to more than $60 billion, a level not seen since 1951.

It'll be interesting to see what that chart looks like for 2023 and 2024. And hopefully there's less genocide all around, eh?

It looks like there's some precedent for workarounds that FDR used to aid the UK when Isolationists didn't want to help during WWII, and that Biden has already been doing a good chunk of it. Without direct cash, I do think there are fewer options, but I'm curious what will happen if an aid package isn't passed by Congress in early 2024 once the current one runs out.

Politico: The WWII Strategy Biden Can Use to Bypass Republicans on Ukraine

Roosevelt’s effort to arm Britain ran the gamut from outright executive fiat (bases for destroyers, surplus transfers) to skillful negotiation with Congress (cash and carry, lend-lease). But there was a common thread running through these maneuvers: The United States never appropriated direct military assistance to the United Kingdom. It traded stuff for stuff. Allowed the British military to buy war materiel from private manufacturers and transport it on British ships. Offloaded “surplus” goods.

...

Biden faces a similar set of circumstances. To sustain America’s support of Ukraine, he will need to find creative ways to bypass the handful of GOP congressmen who currently enjoy functional control of the House. He already enjoys some leeway. Last year, he signed into law a latter-day version of the Lend Lease Act, patterned after the original law, that allows him to lease military equipment to Ukraine on a five-year basis. He might also look for ways to use NATO or other allies as a middleman in the transfer of arms.