Have u seen my hinge???

I disagree with the applicability of that metaphor to infrastructure entirely. It’s not a community you’re participating in, it’s a tool. Abandoning that tool to the worst of us to prove you’re not one of them is self defeating.

I remember people making this same argument but for social media, doesn’t make any more sense now than it did then. Corpos are the ones in control of that tool, using it helps them so much more than it does you. If you don’t want to support the ideology that developed it, you really need to just not engage.

Seconding gnucash, there’s modern stuff that’s slicker but nothing that works better imo

For me firearm ownership is about responsibility and independence. If you’re going to eat meat, you should participate in the process and understand what it means. If you don’t trust the state with a monopoly on violence, you should be a part of distributing that power as widely as possible. Guns are one of the most powerful tools in the modern world, and I value them for the same reasons I value my drill or computer: they expand my capabilities.

There’s a single payphone still standing at the end of the road in the town nearest me. It was disconnected when I found it, but I got phreaky and hooked it back up + bypassed the coin mechanism. Mostly out of nostalgia, partly for the love of fixin’ stuff :)

The only exception I’m aware of to all fridges having a compressor is propane models. There’s a vessel they heat to build pressure in its place, and sometimes an (incredibly inefficient) electric mode where a resistive heater acts on that vessel. They’re very uncommon, pretty much exclusively used off-grid, and in no way specific to the US.