I don’t really bother with the middle of the restaurant industry (and it’s not just me, as chains like Chili’s and Applebee’s have complained about the trends hollowing out the middle). It’s just not enough of an improvement over fast food or fast casual to be worth the higher cost, slower service, etc.

If I’m hungry and don’t want to cook/clean, I’ll grab fast food.

If I want to sit down at a full service restaurant, it’ll probably be an expensive trendy place with recognition from James Beard or Michelin.

I think this is a good scale.

Managing the relationship between interior temperature and outside sear (without burning) is a skill worth mastering first. Like you say, burgers, steaks, and other flat cuts are easier than irregular shapes.

Another skill to improve on is smoke management. Controlling both the temperature and the quality of smoke with fuel, heat, airflow is a balance: choking off burning wood to keep the temperature from rising too high tends to produce bad-tasting smoke, and giving enough oxygen for that thin blue smoke you want can sometimes cause the vessel to get a bit too hot.

Then, being able to control all of those things (internal temp, external temp, smoke quality) over a long enough period of time to cook tougher cuts is an increase in skill/difficulty. Smoking chicken might take an hour, while smoking ribs might take 3 hours, and smoking brisket might take 12+ hours. Some cooler cooks, like cold smoked salmon, can be challenging, too. Getting a feel for adding fuel to a cook and how to do that while maintaining the same steady stream of high quality smoke of the right temperature requires some experience.

Which also isn’t to say that there isn’t some room for a high level of skill on short cooks. Working with embers and wood and flame to make short cooks over high heat can be challenging, too. Smoked or wood fired vegetables are especially interesting, as some introduce moisture control as an element, over time frames short enough to precise timing starts to matter, too.

If you think about it elevators are just vertical trains

Exactly.

I’m probably generally more optimistic about the future than the average Lemmy users, but even if I were pessimistic about the broad big picture questions, I’d still have plenty of local bits of local optimism. I really enjoy the company of my friends and family. I’m excited about my kids growing into cool adults who will do good things, from the tiny and mundane (a piece of artwork, a joke that makes me laugh) to the medium (taking an interest in my interests) to the big stuff (making big moves to change the world for the better).

I can’t end poverty or hunger. But I can support the food bank in my neighborhood and volunteer/give to organizations that are doing good work at alleviating hunger and homelessness. And maybe feeding someone a single meal doesn’t change the systemic problem that made him rely on my charity, but you’d better believe that meal still makes a difference to him in that moment.

Same with getting local kids their school supplies, helping a neighbor raise funds to pay off some medical debt, getting someone work clothes so that they can go interview for a job, teaching people how to negotiate and organize for better pay, etc.

We have plenty of power, collectively. Let’s not waste it being miserable and unproductive.

Now I make 230

Yeah the break even point is like the early 30’s, even among people who are killing it in either path.10 years of $100k+ in your 20’s won’t be able to build up enough of a buffer against $200k+ after 30, when retirement ages are around 60.

a number of students that were attending just because family wanted them to, but their heart wasn’t in it

There are probably an even higher percentage of those in trade schools or entry level trades roles. You can’t compare the worst outcomes in one category with the best outcomes in another, and should instead compare medians.

Seems like there’s a way to analyze this in a systematic way, from social security name data. Any name that popped up as a newly popular name and fell back off within a decade or two would probably eventually become a marker of that generation.

Gladys was popular between 1900 and 1920, and became known as an old lady name by the 80’s or 90’s.

Karen was popular between 1945 and 1965, and is regarded a prototypical boomer name.

The Baby Jessicas of the 80’s will be retirees in the 2050’s. Ashleys and Emilys will probably be that in the 2060’s. There will be Britneys and Emmas.

But the methodology could probably be applied to the data in a systematic way.

Nah, that advice is still correct. The 4-year degree provides a huge benefit over not having it.

It’s just that a lot of people don’t realize just how much shittier not having a degree in 2024 is compared to not having a degree in 1974.

So while the baseline has gotten worse, and the actual benefit of college has shrunk, it’s still easily worth the 4 year commitment and the tuition/opportunity cost.

From a Tumblr post that has been reposted a few times (in fact, my link is to the earliest repost I could find, as I think the original is long gone):

The sun is probably the closest thing we’ll ever have to a true Eldritch Abomination. Hear me out here-

• Older than recorded history; was here longer than any of us and will be here long after we leave. Has a finite beginning and end but is still incomprehensibly ancient
• Burns itself into your vision instantly and can blind you if you look for too long
• Further prolonged exposure can cause cancerous growths
• Non-humanoid shape floating through space; colossal flaming tentacles angrily lash out on occasion
• Sort of just appeared one day and is now surrounded by the corpses of its stillborn children
• People used to sacrifice other people to appease it
• Pretty sure it screams at us sometimes