That’s amazing but I think you’re in the minority

Sure, they weren’t that formal, but they were weddings in the West where loafers were appropriate, so it depends heavily on the wedding itself. That being said OP has clarified that this wedding is black tie optional, so loafers wouldn’t be.

I think machine compatibility plays a huge role, some machines do mostly ‘just work’ while others are a pain. It also definitely requires some tinkering, though mostly on setup or on the first week or two in my experience.

Also, ymmv and a lot of people swear by them but I’ve never had good luck with Ubuntu based distro, they’ve always been super buggy with hard to track fixes for me. I like fedora a lot better and it similarly has decent (though not nearly as extensive) community support for weird bugs, but I know people swear by many things.

Not technically loafers but opera pumps would also be appropriate–though a big statement these days–with a tuxedo, if OP is determined to have slip ons

That’s how it’s supposed to be but at least in the US except in very specific crowds the decisions have blurred considerably/aren’t known

Eh, I’ve worn loafers to two weddings and been plenty formal. One was at a camp and one was in a barn though, so it depends heavily on context.

Yeah, I’ve had one hardware glitch that support sent me a detailed video how to fix by resetting the mainboard within a few hours of writing them, fixed it within 10 minutes. Other than that any issues I’ve had are linux-funkiness, like odd sound profiles on the speakers that I could fix myself, and have been gradually taken care of through updates along the way.

Taller, worse station wagons since the extra height dramatically increases fuel consumption and rates of severe injury in crashes, while also making rolls more likely.

Not unless you want to be halfway competent at both, rather than well-qualified and hireable for either. Genetic engineering in particular is a rapidly evolving field, and if you take tons of extra time to complete your degree (or finish and then work as an electrician or something else for 5 years) what you learned at the beginning probably won’t be more relevant than any other wet science experience. As the first response said, what’s important is that you demonstrate that you can self-motivate and learn. Any biology related bachelor degree should help you get your foot in the door of any biological or even chemical science job–you’ll have to sell yourself to a greater or lesser degree, but you have to do that for a job interview anyway.

All that a second qualification, whether that’s electrician, plumber, stenographer, etc. would do for you is make it more likely that your lifetime career will be that secondary qualification. If that’s what you want then why bother with genetic engineering, and if it’s not then fast-track genetic engineering and know that if you need a bridge job it’ll be at a lower salary, but that you’ll be getting your main job earlier in life so it’ll even out.

Just in case there was any doubt, the data shows 2024 as the warmest, with 2023 and 2025 competing for second.

Used to be true, not consistently so since COVID or so. I had to buy a car about two years ago and brand new cars with full warranties were only $1-2k more and with better financing offers than 2-4 year used cars with limited warranties. It got better for a bit but apparently used car prices are spiking again

Or like lawnmowers and mopeds, which typically have unfiltered exhausts

It depends heavily on the area, with the rural mountains and coast distorting the average. But in a city in the central Piedmont (where most people are moving) $3k for a 3 bed 2+ bath is probably a good median. However, our schools are in the bottom third of the country, our waterways are routinely contaminated as in this article, and our public transit basically doesn’t exist outside of very small areas of downtowns. Ohio has better public libraries, schools, and arts institutions, and was way cheaper to live in, though maybe they have higher property tax rate there even if the absolute value of a similar home is less. NJ does have wicked taxes, but you also have some of the best schools and pretty good infrastructure, so I’d take it.

Taxes aren’t even that low here for how badly public services fail.

I see two big things that others have touched on. One, you wll not believe how much of a difference a real road bike makes in your speed once you have a chance to try one, and the average speeds you’re seeing are almost definitely on road bikes. I don’t think you need to go out and get one now or anything, get comfortable with what you have first, but also know that if/when you try one your average speed will probably jump at least 5km/h.

Second, cycling takes a lot of time to get used to. Anecdotally, when I first started I was a competitive distance runner and would occasionally win smaller races, and I started riding with a bunch of older relatively out of shape guys who had been cycling for decades. On about one sprint or hill a ride I could beat them, but they would kick my butt on the rest of the ride for more than a year before my conditioning caught up and I started to be able to keep up consistently.