A decent bike needn't be expensive. For as little as 300€, you can have a new bike that'll do just fine for recreational use and simple commutes. Used bikes can usually be had really cheap, too, but for that you'd best know how to check the components and what to look for.
Race bikes, mountain bikes and pedelecs are a different thing, but those are either specialty sports equipment or luxury items.
Either way, (normal) bikes are easy and cheap to maintain, if used correctly.
Your thoughts are valid and I agree – in principle.
The proportionate punishment does, however, depend on the severity of the violation. In an academic context, there are few things as severe as blatant plagiarism. Being caught in not just cheating but brazenly copy-pasting other people's work can imho be appropriately punished with expulsion, be it in the US or elsewhere.
On the flip side, all threat of consequences works as a deterrent only when there's the expectation to be caught and punished.
By always catching but never handing out punishment to kids violating rules, you only teach them that consequences are inconsequential.
That's our rule. We're seven players and on the day before our regular date, we make a roll call. 3 or more players in means game day, otherwise it's the next week. Works like a charm.
The original meme template has the guy leaving without looking back due to whatever he sees on the woman's cupboard, implying that there are private ideologies/hobbies/affiliations so repulsive that you'd back out of a one night stand at the last moment.
In this variation of the meme, what he spots on the cupboard seems to be so attractive to him that they have sex until he is exsanguinated, or "pumped empty".
First shave: A Braun oscillating electric razor I kept using for a few years while in highschool. I wished for a closer shave soon, but th notice for the heavily-marketed Gillette cartridges really put me off. I used those with canned gel during the first years of college, but as poor college students do, I over-extended the cartridges life by far and got serious razor burn regularly.
Cue DE razors: I somehow stumped upon w_e on Reddit and got myself a Wilkinson Sword Classic, as those are readily available in drugstores in my area. Being the overly-mild razor it is (and the enclosed WS blades in the black box being generally unkind to my skin) it led me to putting far too much pressure on the razor from the start. My shaves sucked, but at least they were inexpensive. Later, I switched to a cheap drugstore brand boar brush and a Palmolive stick. From there, RAD, BAD, and SAD set in.
Now, most of my shaving paraphernalia rest in an easily-accessible box in the attic, and the bathroom cupboard houses only two sets:
Mühle R41, Semogue SOC Taj Mahal, Tabac soap and EdT, and
Edwin Jagger 3one6, Razorock 400 butterscotch, The Goodfellas Orange Empire soap and Barrister & Mann Seville aftershave.
And a 400ml Pump-Spray bottle of Floid The Genuine (new formula) on the counter for everyday use.
Property acquisition in the US more expensive than in Europe? I think not, at least for the immense swaths of land that make up most of the US' land mass.
The legal fees I see, but that's why most developed nations have legislature for disowning property owners of land necessary for infrastructure at a set compensation. Whether that's fair or just is up for ideological debate, I'm sure.
The Commission transmitted a proposal to the European Parliament. The Parliament and the European Council have to discuss and pass the proposal for it to go into effect.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 made me a meme at my local network provider store between 2013 and 2015. That model just kept on breaking for no discernible reason.
My first S4 (S4 0), the one that I actually bought with my new service plan, held up nicely for about half a year. Then, it started to randomly power off. Using my phone as my alarm in the morning, I overslept several times due to this. It also just randomly turned off in my pocket, and later even in my hand. I was able to replicate the error in the store. They replaced the phone with a new one (S4 1).
The entirely brand-new phone had a swelling battery after three months, which I replaced out of pocket with a new original one. This one, too, bulged up soon. A third, off-brand battery did the same. Back to the shop I went. Of course, they told me it ought to be user error, which I couldn't disprove on the spot. So I offered to insert one of their brand new batteries and leave my phone with them for two weeks, using a loaner. They accepted and, lo and behold, the phone inflated that battery, too, just lying in their shop drawer being charged. This got me my second replacement device (S4 2).
This phone had no electronic problems. The screen, however, sat visibly snuck between the bezels. I applied a then-novel glass screen protector to the screen instead of the usual adhesive films. The screen developed tension cracks below the screen protector. Back in I went and got the screen replaced under warranty (to my own surprise). I even had them apply a new protector screen which had a little bubble around a speck of dust at the bottom. We were on first name basis at this point, so we laughed about it, arguing that the bubble needn't annoy me too, since I'd be back soon anyway.
I was back soon, anyway. The screen cracked again. They remembered the bubble, saw I hadn't dabbled with the protector, and surmised that the fault needed to be this phones faulty manufacturing. I got the third replacement (S4 3). It'd be my last one, too.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 was a great phone, in and of itself. It had great features at a competitive price point, was really slim and offered good performance while not entirely buying into the whole phablet trend. I liked it, in concept. The people at "my" cellular shop assured me that it was, in fact, freaky how often I had problems with the model. They were said to be as reliable as the current iPhones.
My last Galaxy S4 started to show the known power-off issue a few months shy of 2 years since my original purchase, meaning the EU-mandated warranty was about to run out. I sold it as partly defect and got a different brand phone.
Is there an SCP for this?
Given that I don't have any personal gain from proliferating biking as a means of personal transportation, I'd rather consider myself a bike preacher.