It’s because we have chins. They think we’re weird.

“I literally think of you all as me”? Gads, of all the egotistical absurdities I have heard in my life. He probably thought he was saying something nice.

In my hyper religious, Southern Baptist upbringing, I often heard Christians say that Christianity is not a religion. The mental gymnastics employed to explain this position were varied. Most often it was “Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship [with God]”, or something along the lines of “Christianity isn’t a religion because it’s true”.

“Religion” in general was thus deemed a bad thing, because it was a term used to encapsulate all the other (and thus false) faith-belief-philosophy systems that were used by Satan to lead the world away from God. It bears noting that Catholicism and other major denominations always all fell under that umbrella of “other”.

I don’t know the justification, but I imagine the why is that some wealthy construction company owner asked for it because providing shade/water/whatever would reduce profits, and the bribe costed marginally less than the protecting their employees.

Most public schools have a gym or other big room. Election day should be a federal holiday, on which public schools would be closed and so not in use.

You know what has to be accessible? Public schools. You know what is right across the street from the two churches that have been my designated voting location? Public schools.

Awesome! Next, do gynecology so you can help regulate women’s bodies!

As an Arch-using vegan, …I have no retort.

(I use arch, btw (also I’m vegan btw))

https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazon-joins-companies-arguing-us-labor-board-is-unconstitutional-2024-02-16/

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/trader-joes-follows-spacex-in-arguing-nlrb-is-unconstitutional

https://fortune.com/2024/01/27/elon-musk-spacex-right-nlrb-unconstitutional-says-trader-joes/

Trader Joe’s is one of those other companies that is party to this. Trader Joe’s doesn’t believe in the rights of its workers either. I have stopped shopping at Trader Joe’s and I encourage others to do the same.

Sounds like it could be interesting to try snow biking. Doesn’t often snow here, and when it does it rarely sticks. Maybe 1-3 actual accumulations per year, so my gravel bike is suitable practically all the time. It’s just the cold that makes it unpleasant to me - layering when it’s 50F is fine, in the 40s F is doable if it’s sunny. Anything below that is just miserably uncomfortable to me because of cold wind to the face and the need to adjust layers as I warm up and cool down.

Got hired at the same time as another guy. Don’t recall why, but I was in my boss’s office when he decided it was time to assign us offices despite us being in training and not needing them for another few weeks, so he grabs his admin assistant and off we go to verify which offices were open / available. I got the one with a window.

What bullocks technicality kept his social media posts from being shown in court?!

I definitely feel better overall when I ride my bike regularly. My mood is better, I have more energy, and I sleep better. I got into it around the time I separated from my ex-wife, and I think it’s a significant part of what kept me from falling into a serious depression when I got divorced.

I hate running. I hate swimming. I hate lifting weights, or anything in a gym. Hiking is nice, with the right company. But I enjoy biking around my neighborhood and along the city greenways. I was wanting to be more active, healthier, etc. but couldn’t find anything I actually would stick with until I found an activity I actually enjoyed. Lately I’ve been feeling pretty down, getting uncomfortably close to a major depressive episode, but riding my bike for a while always makes me feel a bit better, at least while I’m doing it. I think not biking, due to it being winter, is indirectly part of why I’ve been down - I just haven’t been doing much that is enjoyable while dealing with a lot of stress including some major life changes.

Fwiw, I’m a psychiatric nurse. I’ve read the science news articles that say exercise is better than anything and the ones that say it doesn’t do much. I’ve also read some of the actual research/journal articles. The reality is that we’re not really certain how much difference it actually makes, but it probably depends on a variety of factors that vary from person to person and based on the type of exercise. We do know that people who are physically healthier also tend to feel better mentally. What I have seen personally, and experienced myself, is that exercise helps with mood, but it’s not a cure-all, and it’s not instant, and it makes a difference if it’s something you enjoy doing independently of it’s health benefits. Exercising outdoors, particularly in green spaces, probably also helps.

Where can I buy a pair? … No, seriously, I’d wear these.

I see what you did there. …and I’m not proud of how long it took me to see it.

I’m not optimistic about her winning - this is Tennessee, after all. Outside of Nashville and Memphis, it’s a sea of painful ignorance and R voters. Even relatively purple places like Knoxville can’t seem to elect anyone other than R’s who are hellbent on destroying civil society for no particular reason - the pro-wrestler mayor dismantled the county health department in the middle of the pandemic, for crying out loud. And people applauded him for it!

I’ll donate to her campaign and cross my fingers, but I’m not holding my breath.

Depends on district policy and state/local law. E.g., in my kid’s district a parent can request for their child to attend any school of the same grade within the district if space is available, but parents have to provide transportation if it’s not the zoned school. For the district where we lived previously, a family moving out of zone could request that students be allowed to keep attending their current school through the end of the year.

Per the article, both state and federal law allows these kids to continue attending the same school in such situations. It’s the school’s fault because, even if their district has no such policies, the clear and obvious course would be to seek an exception until policy could be addressed to align with the law. Instead, they simply refused to meet with the mother.

Last house I rented, when I moved in the dryer lint trap and its housing were so jammed full of lint I could have made a blanket from it. It was astonishing. I don’t think the prior tenants knew it needed to be cleaned ever. I honestly wonder how the dryer wasn’t broken and no fire had started.

The HVAC filter had a solid inch thick cake of dust and dog fur.

Eh? I see propaganda accusations all the time, with widely varying degrees of veracity or baselessness, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen the left accused specifically of hate speech. I will admit that I don’t tend to frequent right-leaning opinion outlets, and so may be simply ignorant, but can you provide an example?