<story><title>First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq</title><url>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-58083385</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>asciimov</author><text>Even the dumbest among us are clever, particularly when it comes to reducing work loads. It&amp;#x27;s not gonna be long before somebody figures out an alternative way to power that washer.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; One of the biggest health problems in America is lack of physical exercise.&lt;p&gt;I disagree. The biggest health problem is the abundance of high calorie foods that are designed to taste so good that it confuses are dumb monkey brains into eat more than we should. Limiting or eliminating the amounts of sugars and simple carbohydrates in our foods would go a long way at improving our overall health.</text></item><item><author>auslegung</author><text>I read Wendell Berry quite a lot, and in one essay (I forget which) he posed a question, &amp;quot;where would our technology be if we had continued improving on simple things like the plow, without using combustion engines&amp;quot;, or something like that. I think this washing machine is an answer to that question.&lt;p&gt;What if many of our machines used human power like they did 100 years ago, but were made far more efficient and effective than they were 100 years ago? One of the biggest health problems in America is lack of physical exercise. Biking for transportation, having a manual washing machine, etc would go a long way towards fixing that problem, while also reducing our use of electricity, gasoline, etc.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>auslegung</author><text>&amp;gt; One of the biggest health problems in America is...&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; I disagree. The biggest health problem is...&lt;p&gt;You aren&amp;#x27;t disagreeing, you&amp;#x27;re making a claim about _the biggest health problem_, while I&amp;#x27;m making a claim about _one of the biggest health problems_.</text></comment>
<story><title>First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq</title><url>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-58083385</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>asciimov</author><text>Even the dumbest among us are clever, particularly when it comes to reducing work loads. It&amp;#x27;s not gonna be long before somebody figures out an alternative way to power that washer.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; One of the biggest health problems in America is lack of physical exercise.&lt;p&gt;I disagree. The biggest health problem is the abundance of high calorie foods that are designed to taste so good that it confuses are dumb monkey brains into eat more than we should. Limiting or eliminating the amounts of sugars and simple carbohydrates in our foods would go a long way at improving our overall health.</text></item><item><author>auslegung</author><text>I read Wendell Berry quite a lot, and in one essay (I forget which) he posed a question, &amp;quot;where would our technology be if we had continued improving on simple things like the plow, without using combustion engines&amp;quot;, or something like that. I think this washing machine is an answer to that question.&lt;p&gt;What if many of our machines used human power like they did 100 years ago, but were made far more efficient and effective than they were 100 years ago? One of the biggest health problems in America is lack of physical exercise. Biking for transportation, having a manual washing machine, etc would go a long way towards fixing that problem, while also reducing our use of electricity, gasoline, etc.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>majormajor</author><text>Lack of exercise is also a problem, regardless of overall weight. There are heart, lung, and joint health improvements.&lt;p&gt;Lots of skinny people in terrible shape out there.</text></comment>