Yes, the pressure is immense and I suspect most would not miss it if they could just let it go and could experience life without it.

Reduce, reuse, recycle in that order of priority.

The economics of Christmas spending is mind boggling. It’s not a harmless once a year indulgence.

Thank you, I’m grateful for anyone who gets where I’m coming from with this.

That’s awesome, but let’s not ignore the billions in profits, and questionable spending, and plastic waste production that goes on every year because people feel cultural pressure to buy things for other adults. For every one thoughtful person like you, there’s a thousand buying junk nobody wants or needs.

Thank you for the adult perspective.

So, nobody should ever nudge others towards new behaviors or ideas? And how do you know who I do and don’t buy gifts for? Lot of assumptions here.

I don’t see it as that black and white. Kids get special treatment in many different contexts.

Thank you, well said.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hope (even if naively so) for a cultural shift away from the “Black Friday” mentality that taints the holidays.

I’m sorry you can’t distinguish materialism as distinctly different from celebrating with family and friends. Enjoy being brainwashed by ads.

I specified gifts. You can still enjoy the holiday without excessive unnecessary consumption.

No, they could stack the bodies of executives high enough to build a retaining wall, and the current system will still refuse to learn any fucking lessons. Our country has an extreme addiction to profits over people.

The solution is single-payer not-for-profit nationalized health care. The stuff that mature, rational nations do as a matter of daily routine.

Socialism is not a dirty word. We need to learn that lesson, first.

Unfortunately, the new administration will make things much worse. And the incompetent reality show cast of an administration will blame Biden and the “deep state” for all the misery and suffering they cause. And the morons in the Cult of 47 will believe them.

The USA is more broken than a folk hero with a gun can fix. Though, at least he has us all talking about it.

Yup, and people younger than a certain age think email is as archaic as the pony express.

I do resin printing (SLA) and warmer is always better (within reason). On cooler days I wrap the UV shield with a brewer’s belt (AKA a fermentation belt). Then I cover the whole thing with the cardboard box the printer came in. Works like a charm. The belt keeps it nice and warm without getting scary hot (75-80F or 24-27C). It pulls low wattage, less than most light bulbs.

For filament printing, something similar might work, but I have zero experience with FDM.

Pandainfuls

You can advertise without paying millions to people who already have millions. And forcing them to reveal the cost to consumers isn’t preventing them from advertising.

IMO it’s worth the time and effort to learn the basics. You don’t need to be an elite level modeler because you’re not modeling for animation or games. I’ve had good luck with simple fixes and mods in Blender.

My experience is entirely with SLA, however, FDM might be a bit trickier.

Thank you for writing this. Small typo: focued (focused).

This is damned impressive.