My gen alpha kids got it in 3rd grade. Or rather one did and one is about to.

I got this exact same one. WTF?

Remember when the country came together after 9/11 because there was an enemy that was not a different half of our populace? We could have had that again with covid, but nooooo, we had to turn to infighting instead (and villainizing China while we were at it).

That’s not what they’re saying. It’s essentially a “door ajar” warning. The sensor is what’s failing, rather than the physical part.

A winter bird where I live! First time I saw some (a flock in a neighbor’s tree) I was surprised by how small they are. I always pictured them bigger, like jay size.

Federal, maybe, but it’s still important to vote for down ticket races, and your presidential vote can at least be a statistic toward the popular vote count. I get what you mean though, I’m from a consistently blue state.

I tend to wonder how these polls are conducted and who is answering them? Does anyone get polls via email or text? Are they still just calling people? I’m in my 40s and basically no one I know my age or younger answers numbers they don’t know anymore, and texts are ignored or flat out blocked because if you respond, they barrage you later, or at least that’s what we all assume.

So I’m not convinced polls have any bearing on what will happen anymore. VOTE!

As a Californian, my vote for president is practically moot, but I still vote because my votes for state and local elections are much more impactful, and I try to do at least enough research that I’m not stabbing in the dark, and if I don’t feel informed enough, I leave that one blank.

My husband follows a Facebook group that’s something about “Silicon Valley reinvents the bus” (meaning shuttles) or something like that and it’s a gold mine for the shit these self-centered, egotistical tech bros think. My husband is an engineer, and I work in the arts so very much two different worlds, and I find most of the people at his staff parties to be completely out of touch with the way regular people live. Some of them have good intentions but are very much in their own little bubble.

Anyway I’m glad this is on hold. I hope it fails. They need to reinvest into existing communities, although somehow without furthering gentrification… ugh, it’s complicated.

I’m quite aware; I voted for her!

As a Californian, I’m always surprised when people think Newsom has a chance. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say I’m a fan but I think he’s done a lot of good (just wish he’d distance himself from PG&E especially) but I always rather assumed that in today’s political climate, anyone from California is considered toxic. Is that not the case?

I don’t want someone to kill me; therefore I believe it is also not okay for me to kill someone else. It’s just the golden rule. I am not a student of ethics or philosophy but it seems pretty straightforward to me.

I would not say there is specifically an upside to keeping a serial killer alive, but there are many downsides to the death penalty both ethically and in practice, not the least of which is the chance that you would execute an innocent person. For those of us who are anti-death penalty, that is usually where we’re coming from.

I have one of those too. Due to lack of space, my desk is next to the tv and couch, and she gets pretty demanding when she thinks it’s couch time but I’m working.

I guess I don’t think of the higher agencies as cops, even though they are. And those higher agencies (FBI, NSA, CIA, etc.) don’t strike me as the type of groups who want to keep the public informed—quite the contrary, actually. I would expect local cops to praise themselves if they got something right, sure.

Or they have stopped them, so we haven’t heard about it.

I’m not advocating giving up privacy but you don’t know for sure that these tactics don’t “work.”

I wasn’t actually so mad at first. They bought back our smaller cheaper car and we felt very compensated. But for the second car, which was much bigger and more expensive, they only offered a “fix” which they said wouldn’t affect performance (yeah right), and a small amount in restitution. It felt like a slap in the face. In hindsight I would have gone about things differently but let’s just say that I have little to no faith in the way our justice system works anymore due to how we decided to proceed after that, and we will never buy a car from VW ever again.

Meanwhile, we actually replaced those cars with Teslas. And now we feel like we’re kind of back in the same place, having given money to a company that is pretty shit. We try to vote with our wallets as much as possible but there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, after all. It’s just really depressing and disheartening and makes me not want to buy anything anymore.

Please tell me about any sewing-related communities you’re subbed to because I want to make sure I am also subbed to them! (I love linen)

I’m in the opposite camp. What are the reasons you don’t like Rivian? (I don’t like VW because we had not one, but two vehicles caught up in Dieselgate. They’re dead to me. Which is a shame because I really liked them.)

I won’t