What excuses are you referring to?

Are you also arguing that if a problem isn’t in your immediate periphery then it doesn’t exist? We are all human beings, living on the same planet.

There’s nothing wrong with feeling a modicum of empathy for those less fortunate by circumstance of geography or socioeconomic influence.

Even more simply:

Government: closes their curtains in the evening.

Just beware of their reclamation policy:

https://docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/FreeTier/freetier_topic-Always_Free_Resources.htm#compute__idleinstances

I’d say more likely to be able to declare a capital loss on taxes.

https://youtu.be/FiDY2nXVLZ0?si=LYjbmf5sgeUlIFNM

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I appreciate the info, but I am not a patient man. :)

Where on earth are you buying HP Mini machines for so cheap? Even the older gen seem to be 5 times as expensive as your estimate.

If the cast iron is well seasoned you’re fine.

The acid in the tomato will attack the coating you’ve developed but if you use it and season it regularly there is nothing to worry about.

The great thing about cast iron is even if you “wreck it” it’s pretty much always possible to fix.

As other comments have alluded to, a sharpening stone is a far better investment and only takes a half hour to learn.

Even if you do a bad job it’ll likely be a better result and better for your knives. Most sharpeners absolutely destroy knives and take far too much material off.

1000 grit is a good place to start.