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Wohlf

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This is categorically not what happened during the industrial revolution, you're thinking of the second industrial revolution and even then it's a less rosy picture. The first industrial revolution did not lead to rapid growth and in fact led to brutal methods to increase cheap resource extraction like children working in coal mines, expanded slavery in the new world, and brutal colonialism.

They may have expected typists coming over from typewriters to hammer on it for 8 hours a day, or to give them a similar feel to ease the transition and limit complaints.

Many experts completly forget what it was like to be a beginner. That's why I've found it's generally best for absolute beginners to learn from an apprentice, and an apprentice to learn from a journeyman, because they still remember what it was like to be at the previous level.

Speaking of heat pumps and water heat, I installed both a heat pump and hybrid water heater to save on electricity. The water heater doesn't seem to have made much of a difference in my electrical bill, my guess is the problem is peak demand so I should have gotten a much bigger tank than before. Ambient garage temperature may also be an issue but it exhausts outside and the garage is insulated so it generally stays above 55 degrees.

I've found Ikea furniture is great and lasts a long time as long as you don't move it to another apartment, that seems to really stress the joints and it will get rickety after 2-3 moves.

Particleboard is absolutely useless, MDF is mostly useless except using as a guaranteed flat surface on top of something to support it, hardboard is pretty useful in certain applications though. OSB is great and extremely affordable as sheathing, and there's a massive variety of plywood that's great for their respective purposes - from cheap rough sheathing, mid-grade for shop projects and filling large gaps in furniture, all the way up to beautiful and supremely strong Baltic birch.

Insulation is very important! I live near Portland in a fairly new construction and found my attic insulation is the bare minimum, currently planning to blow-in more soon. After running the numbers, between federal credits and heating savings it'll pay for itself within 2-3 years.

Several dictionaries define civilian as those not in military or police forces, the Geneva conventions only dictates language in the context of war.