They literally sell sex toys at Target and other such stores these days. It’s not as edgy as it used to be. Spencer’s feels like that “hey fellow kids” meme at this point.

Let’s hope it isn’t actually a sign of how infrequently they wash their hands.

This is the exact sort of response I expected.

My point here is that there is a lot of class struggle that actively works to prevent individuals from voting. Putting the blame just on those people misses the mark and will not fix things.

Take one example. Some people get to make a choice. Take time off of work, stand in line for literal hours, and try to vote or feed their family today. Is the solution to blame the individual or to address how fucked up the system is that prevents them from voting?

Yes, there are idiots who could have voted, but didn’t. They deserve derision. But, if we don’t identify that voter suppression is real, if we place the responsibility on people entirely, we play directly into the hands of those who don’t want people voting.

I hate defending non-voters, but a large number of people are unable to vote or aren’t well informed enough to know what’s going on. In the former camp, there are lots of people who can’t get to the polls because voting day isn’t a holiday or because there aren’t enough polling locations in their area, or because they are sick, etc. etc. Most of the time politicians actively work to make it harder to vote.

Of course you can feel however you’d like about the latter camp, but being uninformed is also being encouraged. People are often undereducated. Some people just don’t consume news. I’d be willing to bet there are some people who didn’t know an election was going on and some who couldn’t name the president.

It’s an indication that the distinction is quickly dying. If native speakers struggle with it, soon enough there may only be ‘who’.

What’s interesting about this is that we are not taught how to take notes. People used to have classes that taught what is actually a complicated skill. I have gone through enough schooling that my note taking just happens without much thought, but it took me real effort to get there.

“Colon W Q!”

:x! Is the way

What everyone is missing here is that it isn’t just about knowing things, it is also about how you communicate those things and how you present yourself.

My guess is that this is a holdover from when rich people did have train cars (and sometimes even full trains!).

I would bet there are still a couple of rich people living out their train fantasies.

I feel like this map must be some sort of trolling for people that have any understanding of the United States. I could write a doctoral thesis for how badly this would disenfranchise people, screw over others economically, and involves taking over territory that isn’t even fully American.

Let’s just talk about your “territories” region. It is somehow supposed to compete on the world stage when it has less population than New York? Far less accessible resources? Peoples that may not even want to be part of the US given a choice?

The Western area is taking over tons of Native American land and have no water.

The middle area has the same population problems (except Texas) and the territories. Plus, they largely rely on Federal tax dollars and that would dry up.

The Eastern section would be dominated by the North East and people in the South would rather die than be lumped in with them.

I could go on?

All of this for what? Some sort of global representation? Each state already represents itself globally. For smaller regions of representation? Well, these are still huge (and uneven) regions that ignore population.

The major issue is that land doesn’t vote. Take away the electoral college and first pass the post voting and, suddenly, America works much better.

The problem with this is you are screwing over liberal bastions (e.g. Chicago) in conservative zones. Or what about somewhere like New Mexico? We’d be grouped with Arizona and Texas? New Mexico is liberal and that’d kill us. The arrangement also gives even more power to sparsely populated sections of the country vs highly populated sections. It is almost like you are suggesting gerrymandering at a regional level.

Keep in mind that we already have regional representation - state governments. They don’t work great because of the lack of attention they get vs presidental elections. The here part is that states need to have power, but there are things they are insane to declare as “states rights” issues. How do we divide them up? I don’t know. We even have “majority agree” as you suggested via constitutional amendments.

The generally accepted definition of a society is a group of people living together in an organized way. There are more things that go into it, but clearly a single person doesn’t qualify as a society. I would argue that general usage would also preclude super small groups of people, but that’s not core here.

What is core here is that you are arguing a straw man argument. All economies, large or small, exist as cultural constructs that mediate how the resources will be divided. The shape this takes is absolutely “made up” and we could decide at any moment to change how it functions.

Economies do not exist outside of culture and culture is constantly negotiated between those participating in it. Therefore, economies are absolutely made up and I believe it is you who does not understand economy.

So was I.

The legal decision is important for a slew of reasons including taxation, SNAP benefits, etc. The decision was less about science and more about the reality of how tomatoes are used in our society.

I am an avid collector and drinker of Chinese teas, particularly oolongs and puerh. I had been drinking them for years when suddenly the absolute asshole Dr. Oz went on TV claiming that puerh tea was some magical cure for anything and everything that you might have.

Normally, I get excited for new people to share tea with, but this fad caused prices to rise across the board and caused the market to get flooded with awful quality tea. These people were drinking some of the worst quality (fishy, shou/cooked puerh) teas and were more obsessed with how to mask the flavors with milk and sugar than actually slowing down and enjoying the tea.

The fad faded and people went back to putting matcha in their morning milkshakes. Even so, I still run into people that reflexively associate incredible tea with Dr. Oz and the disgusting teas he foisted upon his audience. Sad.

They were trying to capture the dialect of a pensioner. I’m positive the word choice was intentional.

How about slim pillows? I usually put two in a pillowcase. Example: https://a.co/d/drT0UwS

Thanks, I’ll check it out!

I listen to many, but here’s my favorites:

• Chilluminati: Takes a comedy focused look at supernatural, paranormal, and just weird topics. After a few episodes, the hosts really build excellent rapport. When it is at its best, it reminds me of some weird AM radio program you’d catch while night driving across the country.
• The Beef and Dairy Network: The leading podcast about beef animals and dairy herds. Start at episode 1.
• The Climate Denier’s Playbook: “Rollie Williams (Climate Town) and Nicole Conlan (The Daily Show) are two comedians with Master’s Degrees in Climate Science & Policy and Urban Planning. But don’t get too excited, because they’re here to examine the pervasive myths and misinformation campaigns that are making it obnoxiously difficult to address the looming climate crisis you’ve probably heard about.”

Just a reminder that the designer of the West of Loathing games is an accused abuser.