Even though we didn't get the full month of neurodiversity spotlight memes that @LegaliiizeIt was pushing for, I was planning on quitting my job anyway. And taking my skills and going into business for myself. And establishing a workers' co-op structure as soon as it becomes bigger than myself and I hire people.
A business plan is maybe about halfway drafted; I'm several months along in the process that started a year ago by cautiously asking around, as many places as I could, about what I should do. In addition to people in my municipality, I want to thank @JoeByeThen and @hexaflexagonbear and numerous others who responded to my post and helped convince me to go for it, that developing the means of production was a better idea than haggling with Porky for more crumbs. Porky still struggles to get his production up and stable, in many ways, and engages in elaborate stunts to make it look like his ideas have any utility at all.
I put in 3 weeks notice to drive home the point that they were losing one of their most valuable employees. Told them good luck, didn't tell them why they'd need it. Wore some commie gear to work for the final weeks. My last day was this past week. Today, instead of carpooling at 6 AM, I am laying in bed til 9, enjoying a long holiday break.
I'm sitting on enough savings to survive for 2 years without working a single hour, but I also have a lead on some potential funding specific for workers' co-ops. So far my bug survival metrics are already far ahead of my (now former) employer, and that's just doing stuff by hand cuz my first batch of equipment ($750 worth) hasn't even come in yet. One that and the second batch of buggy buddies come in, we'll really be rolling.
Worst case scenario, I fail to clear the hurdles of getting packaging (super easy) or a dedicated facility (a bit harder) or developing a consistent customer base (idk but probably not too hard); then I have to go scrounge full-time jobs for a few more years. Best case scenario, by 2026 I end up with a business with tens of millions in revenue, that puts 10% of profits towards radical projects and all the rest back to employees as bonuses. Is it Dubious that I could do this in a few years from scratch as just one person? Maybe, maybe not.
While @Sbebg is telling you to short TSLA (or maybe that we all should have done it last week?), I am now telling you to buy mealworm futures! I'm gonna take low-impact, well-kept, humanely-treated, ecologically-balanced live feed TO THE MOON!
:bug-facts: :comrade-fly: :stonks-up: :porky-scared:
bees teach us that communism will win
Depends on what kind of bugs! For some kinds of bugs, having 200k of them in my apartment would make me quite happy.
There are lots of different levels of cockroach activity. If you've ever been in a place that's had an out-of-control roach infestation for a while, you'll be familiar with the smell- not just of the bodies but the frass (looks like coarse ashy black dust) too. If you can smell it then there's a major problem. If you can't smell or see it then it may be at an okay level.
If you frequently wake up with bugs, try sleeping on an air mattress or something, in sheets and clothes that have all been washed and kept sterile, on a section of the floor that you've blocked off with diatomaceous earth in every direction. If the bites don't happen in a few nights of that, then you have a crawling bloodsucking insect problem.
The biggest issue is food and habitat. Every indoor environment is an ecosystem. If it makes sense for their populations to live there, they're going to, and any pest control is going to be an uphill battle.
Cockroaches like dark damp places, so if you have any leaks, they'll flock to those. If you have any standing water they will find it. If there's a leak in the walls of a stick-frame construction, the damp plywood can harbor them basically indefinitely. You can make your own traps with smooth enough conic-section 32oz soup containers: leave the lid on, cut the bottom off, oil the inside rim, place it upside down with bait on the lid. There are lots of pest control products for roaches. Don't get the endocrine inhibitors, it won't satisfactorily solve your problem; you want the straight killers like emamectin.
Flies like rotting and fermenting stuff. They'll land on it, but if it's all liquid, like a jar with vinegar sugar water, they'll drown in it. This control measure can be combined with fly strips which are pretty cheap.
Moths like tight fibrous things, especially with a carbohydrate source, even more so if that source is damp or humid. Many of them will go away if you have one of those UV bug zapper bulbs/lights.
General stuff to keep a lot of pests out includes limiting the humidity, keeping all kitchen waste in a sealed container, keeping all carpets vacuumed and all smooth floors mopped, not leaving doors open, and making sure all window screens are intact and cracks are sealed. Unfortunately in most conventional housing, every seam has cracks and many aren't reachable.
Some things like spiders will curb the population of other arthropods. Centipedes will too, but they make most people (myself included) squeamish.