Oh, wow, there’s a deep cut! Love it.

Why not? They’re all still citizens of their home countries, and sometimes even physically present there.

Good. Honestly, I’m not surprised, given the way the wind is blowing, and to give props, Maria Lazar struck me as more of an old-school Republican, not a batshit MAGA that’d fire up the base.

U.S. government policy has not even closely reflected the will of the people since 1980, at the latest. Instead, the Overton Window kept moving right, and ever-more neoliberal, until we got to a point at which our only choices were between a grifter with populist energy, and a candidate offering a clearance-bin version of the “HOPE” that turned out to be more neoliberal ratfucking back when an effective salesman had pitched it to us.

And, no surprise, tons of people checked out of a political process which offered no meaningful response to their day-to-day life of getting economically ratfucked, because it just drained their energy for no discernable benefit.

So… you asked.

Our demented puppet President has powerful people propping him up. Would be mighty helpful if Germans did something about Thiel, and South Africans did something about Musk. Australians, you good with handling Murdoch? Okay, let’s go.

I used to date a woman who’s a month older than me. She used to joke about robbing the cradle. Too bad I’m not as clever as the Futurama writers, or I would’ve insisted instead that I was robbing the grave.

Don’t forget about their emotional support vehicles, for which they need cheap oil.

At least it’s better than when they cast Paul Bettany as Maturin in that movie opposite Russell Crowe. He’s not even a turtle, he just studied them.

Cars.

(And by “logical” I mean the thing that overwhelmingly poses the greatest danger to my well-being.)

“You’re fighting back against our aggression? Hey, no fair!”

e: typo

Not wolves in Pennsylvania. Coyotes, almost certainly.

The six-packs of bottles sold in grocery stores have been 500mL for years. Probably somebody filled the machine with them. (The label should say, “Not Labelled for Individual Sale” near the barcode, if so.)

We live in a society with a lot of equality almost anyone smart enough can work hard enough to get themselves out of almost any situation

[Citation Needed]

The problem with statements like this is tautological. If somebody can’t get themselves out of a situation, one can just breezily dismiss it by saying that they didn’t work hard enough.

It’s why I think that we need to send Elon Musk to colonize Mars. By himself. He’s a self-made job creator, so he can start up a successful business first, create those jobs, and then send for workers later, right? He wouldn’t even need heavy, expensive life support equipment!

If you think that this is ridiculous, then you have to concede that there are actually some structural obstacles that can’t be overcome by any amount of gumption. (And is it really just a lack of effort that explains why nobody born in Soweto in 1971 is a near-trillionaire?)

Yep, agreed, it has a lot to do with the geometry of the bike, too. The old, short-tail, drop-bar, racing-style “10 speeds” of my youth felt very precarious, and going over the handlebars was a common occurrence because of the rider’s position. The longer tails, and more-upright posture of the rider, on a city/commuter/hybrid bike puts the bike’s center of gravity much further aft. Going over the handlebars is quite unlikely, and good bike infrastructure that doesn’t put riders in the door zone (or gutter) is much more important than a helmet.

This seems to spark inchoate rage or cognitive dissonance when I point it out, but for exactly the same reason, everyone should wear a helmet when driving a car, too. Head injuries are common outcomes of car wrecks, and a debilitating injury. It may feel unnecessary, because the majority of people can go an entire, normal lifetime without a head-injury crash. But, then, exactly the same is true of cyclists.

Certainly, everybody knows somebody who crashed on their bike and was saved by their helmet. In contrast, I knew people who crashed in their car who may have been saved by a helmet. I say “knew,” because they’re dead.

I hate the word “privilege” used in this context. Words have connotations, and “privilege” conjures up images of playing polo at the country club with the upper crust of one’s community, then going back to the office to work as executive vice president of the company your father founded. Yet, the people concerned about social justice seem unreasonably attached to their particular jargon, even if it gets in the way of communication. Over the past 15 years or so, I’ve seen a handful of people get it when it’s explained to them as, “imagine you grew up hardscrabble dirt poor, but also had to deal with racism.” But mostly, the online discussions devolve into a fight over the definition of the word privilege. C’mon, let’s just ditch the word, ferchrissakes! Keep the concept, call it something more relatable!

Same with “toxic masculinity.” Yes, I get it, the “toxic” adjective is a modifier to talk about a particular type of masculinity, but the people who hear it as “masculinity is toxic” have a point, too. People use adjectives as intensifiers. I guarantee that the people talking about “evil homosexuals” aren’t adding “evil” to distinguish from the good ones.

Isn’t it gone now? I recall that God was not amused, and it burned down after a lightning bolt hit it.