American here. Cars that size are a available here, but most of them are getting phased due to people buying crossovers instead. It's true that if you count sales by vehicle nameplate trucks come out on top, but trucks as a share of market are far outpaced by smaller SUVs.
I totally agree that there is an American preference for larger vehicles than Europe, and that the bigger size often isn't justified. It's just not quite as stark as that picture shows.
I have done zero research, but that figure seems crazy. I could see it holding up if you were trying to build a single tiny home as each of the contractors will want to ensure a full day's worth of income. However, if you're build 100 units the piece cost should fall substantially. 240 square feet is truly tiny, so it should be pretty fast to assemble and wouldn't take much raw materials. One other possibility for keeping costs down is volunteer labor, similar to habitat for humanity. That type of model won't scale, but it can help keep prices low for a handful of jobs.
I suggest something where you get to work with a wide range of the populus. Opportunities are basically all service industry jobs: waiting tables in a restaurant, working retail, working in a hotel, etc. Learning how to interact with wide swaths of humans is an invaluable skill that will serve you well in your future professional career. I would focus on building social and emotional intelligence.
That's the problem in a lot of the US too. We transitioned from building massive subdivisions of small/cheap homes to smalle subdivisions of larger/more expensive housing. This is due to a mix of zoning that favors single family detached housing, land availability, and consumer tastes.
Homes have drastically grown in size over the past 200 years while the number of people living in them has decreased. Not to mention nicer material, which also contributes to cost. No more "builder grade" cabinets and formica counters these days.
These places are tiny at 240 square feet. There's not going to be much $$ tied up in them for material and utility costs can't possibly be that hught because the homes are so compact.
If each home cost $40k, which is probably generous, over 30 years that's $111/mo. Internet is probably a commercial line to the site and then a local network type setup. The real question is how much the land cost.
Rent might not cover everything 100%, but it would be close. It wouldn't surprise me if some money from the locality was involved since people living on the streets isn't free and simply providing housing can be a massive first step to getting people reintegrated back into society.
To build on top of this excellent reply, put some fiberglass on top of the wood if you to the two part epoxy route. It should be transparent when done and you'll get a more ridgid and ding proof surface. That's why many wooden water vehicles have a layer of fiberglass embedded into their epoxy.
Now this I totally agree with. Between everything you said above, climate change, and many societies having a birthrate below the replacement rate, it will be very interesting to see how the next century or two plays out. Not that I'll be around to see it.
I am not a fan of many of the current administrations coming into power across the globe, but I do not think that an insidious plan to make us less free thinking/cognitively aware is the primary cause of this wave.
I don't know that I've ever seen a bee around our daffodils when they bloom. They're one of our earlier flowers and there's not much other pollen available, so I suspect the bees are still doing their over winter routine.
Has the printer been used recently and put out good prints? Has anything about the setup changed including a slicer update or different slicer?
I have two knee jerk reactions
Is there an under-extruded section of the print, similar to the corner closest to the camera on the lower section of the print, on the top section of the print? You might have a retraction/priming problem. A quick retraction test print would make this pretty obvious.
You might have had a partial clog that resolved itself, but the fact that the extrusion issues change with the topology of the design makes me want to suggest something else. Try the print again. If you get the same outcome filament isn't the primary cause.
Largely agree. The "right" degree in the "right" field you can land a decent paying job. There's no guarantee that this degree/field lines up with your personal interests, which will make it harder to do well in the field. There's also no guarantee that the the degree/field will remain relevant over time. If you're in the corporate job a fun/rewarding/engaging job is not common. Much more common is a boring, soul crushing, or grind fest type position. If the only life advice you get when you're young is "go to college" the odds of choosing the "right" degree/field is not very high.
You can absolutely make more going into a trade. Be a plumber, an electrician, a lineman, etc. Beyond trades, America is forgetting how to make stuff and that was a major source of higher paying jobs. There are also a number of interesting shocks on the horizon - the decreasing birthrate, changes in worker aptitude, a culture that leans into instant gratification (action!) over long term results, etc.
Schools are expensive because the amount of public funding to universities has been slowly shrinking over the past 60 years. College in the US back in th 1960s was very cheap.
Student loan amounts due did not change, but income based repayment options did which means people's minimum payments went up
Students in the US were told college is the only career path for the past 40-50 years. This obviously isn't true and is why we have trades shortages. In many cases, that's also all the advice people received. There was no coaching for what kind of degree to pursue or what field to angle for, so a number of people got expensive degrees that didn't have good career prospects. To be completely honest, I lucked into choosing engineering because of my interests and the interests of my friends
My mom qualified for, and received, federal student loan forgiveness. Yes, she had to make payments and work in a qualifying job for 10 years but due to her low income the payment amount was adjusted down.
Unless you're in a position that qualifies for loan forgiveness, and you trust that forgiveness will be there when you qualify, income based payment rates are not a good idea. The total amount owed by my mom actually grew over the years because the amount she was paying was less than the amount of interest charged. For a bit when she was 8 years in she had a scare that she wouldn't qualify and was shocked to find this out, despite saying "I've paid thousands!!!".
Your average American isn't very financially literat, or lives in the land of denial, which makes them easy to take advantage of.
The sticks loose a lot of their scaryness when they're not consistently wielded. See the on again off again tarrifs on Canada/Mexico and their constantly changing scope. The lack of consistency and predictability makes it very hard for businesses to make decisions.
American here. Cars that size are a available here, but most of them are getting phased due to people buying crossovers instead. It's true that if you count sales by vehicle nameplate trucks come out on top, but trucks as a share of market are far outpaced by smaller SUVs.
I totally agree that there is an American preference for larger vehicles than Europe, and that the bigger size often isn't justified. It's just not quite as stark as that picture shows.