Go to a small local jeweler. They can often make you something custom for much less than the price of a chain store. They'll also be able to walk you through all the options and advantages of each. If you're having trouble finding that little mom and pop spot, Google jewelry repair. 9 out of 10 of those businesses will be more than happy to take on your project.

The 30 - 40 years part is key. You need to support them for a generation. You need to let the remnants of the old power structure get old and die. The country has to be full of people that were raised with the benefits of the new government.

You can look at Japan for a great example of this type of success.

Dark Knight, Fury Road, and... Hellboy 2019.

I feel like Hellboy is a hot take. It bombed and even other Hellboy fans seem to hate it.

This is my favorite movie. I own it in almost every format. I have the NES game complete in box, and I don't even own an NES.

I'm a little heartbroken, but I'm also curious if there is a way to get part of the tree.

I did at one point. Let me see if I can track it down. Fair warning, part of my UL motivation is saving weight for luxuries like a kindle and deodorant.

We had a baby in March so I haven't been on a trip since last fall. Hoping to do a few more sections of the MST this September.

Edit: I found my old lighterpack account, but the most recent packing list is from a few years ago. I should probably be responsible and make one for current trips. I'll send you another reply in a day or two with an update.

In the meantime here's my lighter pack from a lightweight hammock trip.. I've since decided I prefer the ground and switched to a quilt, pad, tarp, and bivy. I traded the pocket rocket for an alcohol stove (safe over here in the super damp southern US). I also cut some unnecessary weight from the FAC, cooking tools, ditty bag, etc.

OK, I came up with a new plan, and I want to make sure I'll be within the base size rules.

I'm working on a Celestial Lions conversion using the Sgt Castus model. It will be based on a 40mm base and will not be using his necron scenery. Sgt Castus is the same size as other Primaris marines, but he shipped with a 50mm base. I want to confirm I'll be OK to enter him in the contest as long as he's on that 40mm base instead.

That's fair and I understand.

Perhaps for future competitions the defining factor for small models should be the "infantry" keyword? Between scale creep and GW's arbitrary basing decisions it can be hard to define model size by the base.

How strict is the base size requirement? I just picked up a Leviathan Captain for a conversion, but he has a bigger base. It also rules out characters like Helbrecht.

I think part of it is because lemmy has historically been welcoming to people with different ideas. If your views aren't welcome elsewhere, you can just host your own instance and say whatever you want.

But I also think we're witnessing coordinated propaganda. It reminds me so much of the pro-russian trolling and memes that took over 4chan in 00s and early 10s.

This is awesome! I might have to dive back in.

You're right that most utility markets are regulated, but it is typically handled at a state level, not local. In most of the US, municipal governments are not the provider of electric and gas utilities, although there are certainly many exceptions. Additionally, when those small local utilities are given a service territory they are often just reselling energy purchased from a large utility.

I've worked for a large utility for the last decade. We're a business just like McDonalds. We take in raw materials and convert them to a product that our customers want to buy. We try to attract new customers through advertising and good service. We lobby the politicians that regulate our market. We do all those business things, and we do it in the name of profit.

There are a lot of small co-op utilities that don't work quite the same way. If large utilities were banks, those little co-ops would be credit unions. That type of utility is awesome because they are able to be more customer focused. Unfortunately most of them lose out on economies of scale, so their customers may not actually see any savings in comparison to the big guys.

If you still don't believe utilities are big business, look at NextEra Energy. They're worth about $150 billion, give or take a couple billion. That means they have a higher valuation than the combined worth of Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Longhorn, etc), Dominos, Wendy's, Papa John's, Chipotle, Burger King, and the Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, etc).

These large utilities aren't just bigger business than most restaurants. They're an order of magnitude larger.

No big business utilities? PG&E is worth $35 billion. Duke Energy is close to $70 billion. The list goes on. These are fortune 500 companies that employ small towns worth of people.

Utilities are damn near as big as it gets.