Homeland = Fatherland

My high school offered a class called Behind the Wheel, and almost everyone took it. It was classroom knowledge (no practicals), but it definitely gave us a lot of ground knowledge. After that, it was mostly our parents who taught us - most of our older siblings were too young to have younger kids in the car.

We did a bunch of stuff in the local high school parking lot, during times when it was empty. Stuff like learning to accurately judge where the corners of the car are, changing gears smoothly, backing up, etc. After that, it was time on small local roads, eventually graduating to bigger ones. Probably took about a year and a half, all totalled; had to fit things into everyone else’s schedule and when we had a car free. My parents were kind of motivated, though - I was the last one and, once I had my license, they didn’t need to drag any of our asses around anymore, lol.

March added that many facilities still lack adequate staffing due to an unauthorized prison guard strike in spring of 2025

Cute. I like how March places the blame for low prison staffing on the union, instead of on low wages, cuts to benefits, and ICE recruiting prison guards to go on slave immigration patrols.

Felix has the right idea! Go take a nap :)

I’d buy the shitty flat.

You’re 50. You don’t know how long you’ll be able to work to pay off the expensive flat, nor do you know what needs you’ll have as you get older. You can buy the shitty flat, pay it off quickly, and you’ll own it. If you lose your job, you won’t be evicted for not paying rent. Depending on where you live, you’ll still have condo fees, property taxes, or whatever, but you’ll still have more leverage and leeway than simply being a tenant.

Don’t just grab any shitty flat; think of what you want now, and what you’ll need as you age. You may not still be in the same flat 10 or 20 years from now, but make that assumption and plan with that in mind. I don’t know what you want now (lots of kids vs no kids around, etc), but some things to think of as you age:

• People hanging around outside: this may be difficult to notice this time of year (I’m assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere), but kids playing, a community garden, someone sitting on their porch smoking - anything that speaks to a level of comfort being outside. That generally means more neighborhood spirit / community involvement, and generally means less tendency toward future crime.
• Some neighbors younger than you, and at least a few kids. When you get older, you’ll occasionally need help, and asking younger people you know is the easiest way.
• A grocery store within reasonable distances that is accessible either by walking or public transit.
• Minimal stairs to get into the building, minimal stairs to get into the flat, and minimal stairs within the flat. Stairs become more of a barrier and more of a danger as you age.

Probably other stuff as well, those are just the first things I thought of.

The over $200,000,000 that Spotify paid Rogan came from somewhere, and I’m sure cutting employees (and their salaries) was part of it.

Personal choice is a lot easier when you have money, leisure time, or both. Late-state capitalism means that many people don’t have those resources.

And yet, you’re still doing it.

As they say: historians have a word for Germans who supported the Nazis because they liked their economic policies, or were afraid of Communists, or they wanted power, or they wanted the business, or any of a hundred other reasons. That word is Nazi. Historians don’t care what their reasons are.

There’s also a bunch of environmental costs.

Why are you making it snow when you know Radar hates it?!

Funny, I thought he doesn’t read the Times because it’s such a “failing” paper and he doesn’t associate with losers.

I usually feed it then freeze a bit (if I’m going to freeze any). But that’s mostly because I’ll be in the kitchen feeding it anyway when it randomly occurs to me that I haven’t backed it up recently so I’ll just do it then.

I live alone, so there are times when I get sick of sourdough, and there are times when I get overwhelmed with life and forget to take care of it. Periodically putting a bit of starter in the freezer means I don’t have to start over from scratch.

If it’s a small shop, it may be because the door is constantly being opened and they’re trying to keep the store warm for the people working there.

That looks delicious!

What did you do?!

My best advice is to take a bit of the starter and freeze it. Because at some point, you’ll become overwhelmed with sourdough, or you’ll fall behind in the care and feeding department. And there’s no telling ahead of time when that’s going to happen. But you can freeze and re-start the starter! So I just periodically freeze a bit of starter so I can avoid having to start from scratch and get right to that deeper more complex flavor when I start up again.

Good on them! (The owl seems remarkably calm for all of this.)

Fuckheaded Brexit leaders should not be listened to.

Hell, Microsoft and Apple did the same thing decades ago. Microsoft offered computer discounts to high schools and colleges, so that the students would be used to (and demand) Microsoft when they went into the business world. Apple then undercut that by offering very discounted products to elementary and junior high schools, so that the students would want Apple products in higher education and the business world.

The tactic let them write off all the discounts on their taxes, but lock in customers and raise prices on business (and eventually consumer) goods.