I can’t speak for NY but that is the situation in Cleveland. I have a customer downtown on city steam. I watch hot water discharge to a drain at the rate of about 3 gallons a minute and there’s 1440 minutes in a day. When it was built I’m sure they reclaimed most of it (80% return is considered good) but over time the pipe corrodes and you have leaks.

It’s terribly inefficient. The efficiency is lost when the steam that condenses back into hot water is lost and none of it is returned to the boiler to be reheated. Rather than reheating this returning water which normally is at 120-160 degrees Fahrenheit, fresh water is used which in the winter here is around 56 degrees. Aside from this the cold water taken in contains impurities such as dissolved gasses which cause corrosion and dissolved minerals which can cause scaling that acts as an insulator raising the amount of energy needed to heat the water.

If it were that simple everyone would have done it by now. This method of heating your building is very expensive. Long story short, I’m in the HVAC business and two of my customers have made themselves independent. One was a private property management company that gutted an empty building and was successful, the other is a federal building that hired a private company to convert over and got screwed.

Some big cities originally heated their buildings by producing steam in one one centralized building and delivering it to large buildings thru pipes underground. The steam you see is from leaking pipes in this antiquated infrastructure. It’s a very inefficient method if you ask me. Cities should offer these buildings low interest loans so they can update and be independent but they never take my advice

If i recall correctly you are correct, he did this at 50

I love this film, Richard Proenneke is the real deal

Been a while since I kept a garden but if I remember right you have to keep piling dirt on top (after transplanting of course). I put mine in the ground then set a cardboard box around it, adding dirt inside the box as it grew. The dirt needs to be loaded and loose for the potatoes to grow. Maybe this method was just to make harvesting easier. I recall something about the potatoes being toxic if they grew in sunlight?

I saw but it is a real place. I was zooming in looking for the hidden panel the wall

Am I the only one that thought this was a video game?

If I knew how I’d already have a cult of my own. I hear being charismatic is a prerequisite

Start a cult

Eat em all at once. Right before your appointment at the dentist to have your teeth cleaned

I’m curious, have your interactions with Americans been with those that have traveled to Europe? The reason I ask is because I was able to visit years ago and wondered if maybe European’s view of Americans is skewed because they mostly see those of us that come from well off backgrounds (upper income). I met young Americans that had been there multiple times because their parents paid their way while they were on summer break from school. In contrast, I was the exact opposite. You’re not likely to see many low income folks visiting so you may have a skewed viewpoint.

This just in… Sunlight causes cancer! Exactly why I have this big scab on my cheeks. Get screened folks, especially if it runs in your family

I don’t doubt you’re right nobody cares about the lowly pigeon, in fact some cities encourage nesting of raptors to keep their population in check. I do doubt any protected birds are allowed to be kept. Hawks are very common where I live, seeing a red tail or cooper’s hawk is a daily occurance where I live so I assume the regulations are for humane treatment rather than preservation. My friend and his son came across a dead bald eagle while hiking and they kept it as they had a large skull collection. I looked it up and as you said it’s against the law with very steep penalties so I advised him to make sure his son kept his mouth shut in school.

There’s a homing pigeon club not far from where I live.

I once went down a rabbit hole looking at falconry. In my state its heavy regulated, it’s probably the same with pigeons.

OP if you are concerned about frozen water lines a couple of tricks are to leave cabinet doors open under sinks or leave faucets cracked open so water trickles out slowly. If you have access panels to crawl spaces that contain water lines leave those open too.

If you have PVC drains (probably unless very old) most likely you can unscrew the fittings by hand, very simple. Take the trap off (the curved part) and just pull out the clog. It’s not hard at all, take photos as you dismantle it if you’re worried about remembering how it goes back together.

Maybe you should make sure this doesn’t happen in other industrial countries before shitting on the US

Of course, that’s why I said follow your conscience. Social media particularly Lemmy is a terrible place to ask questions like this though. You may as well as if it’s okay to become a cop LOL. The truth is the world does need landlords and cops. When they get demonized good people are less likely to become them and narcissists will take their place.

I was a landlord and had no problem saying so here. No matter what I said, people cut me down. My renters called me the best landlord, one called me the coolest landlord. Their opinions are the ones I care about. I charged $300 less than the house next door. None of this mattered to folks on Lemmy. I don’t take it personal. People talk differently anonymously online than they do in person. That’s their shortcoming not mine.

Good luck with whatever decision you make. I hope you have someone to mentor you in real life. I had several plus friends who are carpenters, plumbers, electricians and HVAC techs. They were invaluable