quote:

They are cheaper, greener and easier to maintain

PEOPLE born after 1980 have been slower than previous generations to settle down. Some want to explore the world before they get married and have kids. Others simply cannot afford to buy a house. But they can afford houseplants, and many are finding that nurturing them is a more manageable form of domesticity.

Since the turn of the century, exports of plants from the Netherlands—by far the world’s biggest producer of plant life—have increased from $6bn in 2000 to $9bn in 2016. In that year Europeans spent some €36bn ($42bn) on houseplants and flowers. And in America, millennials are thought to account for fully one-third of the houseplant sales. Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, began selling plants last year, and direct-to-consumer start-ups like Patch and The Sill have cropped up, delivering leafy goods in pretty pots to doorsteps everywhere.

Interest in houseplants as measured by internet search data has closely tracked the surge in sales. The number of Google searches for succulents has risen tenfold since 2010, and other green plants have had similar spurts of popularity. The data are highly seasonal: interest blossoms in the spring but is relatively dormant by December.

What explains the growth in greenery? Young people are more likely than their elders to live in city flats without gardens. Although houseplants grow and require care, they are neither as demanding nor as costly as pets or children. Instagram, a viral photo-sharing platform, can be credited for causing a spike in interest in cacti and other plants: #plantsofinstagram boasts 1.6m photographs—double that of a previous millennial fad, #avocadotoast.

Arzakon posted:

lol they made Lena Dunham contort herself to get a MySpace Angle effect

quote:

Some 60 percent of Apple workers, as surveyed by anonymous messaging app Blind, say home prices are too spendy even with salaries that exceed the national average by more than double.

quote:

In 2010, the marketing director of this product stated: 'The little black guy from the historic Congo...is something that's integrally innate in the people of Spain

EvilJoven posted:

You underestimate the motivational power of pure unadulterated spite.

ate all the Oreos posted:

The US does a mock nuclear war training exercise every year or two or something, where someone pretends to be the president (because if the actual president did it it would reveal how they would act) and even in the 100% simulated, completely consequence-free training exercise nobody has ever been able to bring themselves to order the counterattack

I mean I'm sure someone like Trump absolutely wouldn't hesitate but still, it's kinda nice to think about...

ate all the Oreos posted:

The US does a mock nuclear war training exercise every year or two or something, where someone pretends to be the president (because if the actual president did it it would reveal how they would act) and even in the 100% simulated, completely consequence-free training exercise nobody has ever been able to bring themselves to order the counterattack

spacetoaster posted:

I do not believe this.

quote:

These drills, code-named Silver Dollar, always involved a Pentagon or White House official playing the role of the president — the National Command Authority who had unchecked power to launch nuclear weapons. Once the plane was airborne, the drills unfolded the same way. The “president” would receive a mock briefing about geopolitical tensions underway, which would quickly escalate into a thermonuclear exchange. Then would come the moment of truth: The Nightwatch crew would ask for a launch order.

That’s where the system, Walrath noticed, would stop. “No one would ever press the button — even when it was clearly a drill, even when someone had been told nothing would happen,” he recalls. “It just seemed too real. You’ve suspended disbelief. It was nasty.”

quote:

In every training exercise, the “president” would wait at least until missiles hit the United States before ordering retaliation. Often, he or she would not order a strike at all, watching as the scenario unfolded and the United States was obliterated.

comedyblissoption posted:

Elman posted:

Instead of houses, young people have houseplants

Elman posted:

Translation: "It's been around since Franco's time, we're not throwing away that kind of brand recognition. I mean we took away their spears, what more do you want??"

Time_pants posted:

Thanks. Just what I needed. A reminder that babies born in the US are increasingly likely to die.

And that I want to.

ate all the Oreos posted:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outl...06ab_story.html


e: ok i misremembered parts


They'd never retaliate before most of the US was obliterated, and they'd never retaliate at all in a lot of cases

Time_pants posted:

Thanks. Just what I needed. A reminder that babies born in the US are increasingly likely to die.

ate all the Oreos posted:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outl...06ab_story.html


e: ok i misremembered parts


They'd never retaliate before most of the US was obliterated, and they'd never retaliate at all in a lot of cases

Elman posted:

Howard Beale posted:

when u nut but ur cars still suckin

Oscar Wild posted:

The mythical premature Tesla delivery.

ate all the Oreos posted:

They'd never retaliate before most of the US was obliterated, and they'd never retaliate at all in a lot of cases

ate all the Oreos posted:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outl...06ab_story.html

e: ok i misremembered parts

They'd never retaliate before most of the US was obliterated, and they'd never retaliate at all in a lot of cases

Alobar posted:

Outrail posted:

Pretty sure the authors would whole heartedly encourage its theft.

Wasn't there a 'steal this book' published back in the dark ages of the 20th century?

Testvan posted:

https://www.cultofmac.com/568093/apple-salaries-housing-market/


This is fine and sustainable.

wilderthanmild posted:

I'm not sure how accurate this is, because it's all stuff I've picked up from the internet. If I recall this same level of unwillingness to participate in nuclear war is one of the reasons nuclear missile subs drill the way they do. My understanding is they receive fake/test launch codes frequently and go through the sequence as if it was real, except that no missile launches at the end. Imagine going through some procedure you've done over and over as if nothing was happening and then suddenly there's the sound of missiles launching.

Outrail posted:

Pretty sure the authors would whole heartedly encourage its theft.

spacetoaster posted:

That's mothers, not babies.

Obesity, diabetes, and hypertension rates are also higher in the U.S. (and it's why the numbers of mothers dying is higher).

ate all the Oreos posted:

Just turn it purple like Jynx

is pepsi ok posted:

I remember downloading that thing off TOTSE a million years ago.

wilderthanmild posted:

I'm not sure how accurate this is, because it's all stuff I've picked up from the internet. If I recall this same level of unwillingness to participate in nuclear war is one of the reasons nuclear missile subs drill the way they do. My understanding is they receive fake/test launch codes frequently and go through the sequence as if it was real, except that no missile launches at the end. Imagine going through some procedure you've done over and over as if nothing was happening and then suddenly there's the sound of missiles launching.

Kazak posted:

Lol slap a parking lot on it.

Source your quotes

Kalsco posted:

all I can think is "at least it's not being destroyed arbitrarily!"

ate all the Oreos posted:

Oh yeah, there's no question that the military would be able to execute the launch order, they've spent 60+ years figuring out exactly how to get around the natural human tendency to not want to murder millions of people, it's just the initial step of ordering it that seems to cause trouble.