You mean that they aren’t just cursed for having made a deal with demons? /s

Though that is a shitty thing that I heard on American (religious) TV 20 years ago. Poison to understanding & compassion.

My local favorite is apple slices+bacon, it’s the best.

When I went to price it out at the store, the line for a dumb phone was going to cost $30/mo more than a smart phone. It was dumb.

Closer, but also, everyone was sick of the Republican bullshit as Bush was on his way out and the economy was collapsing. McCain had a really hard sell.

I’ve had a lot more fun with Bible stories since I started subbing in “teenage Jewish hoodlums who know how to get shit done” every time “an angel of the Lord* appeared. I mean, why would actual magical angels need blood painted on doors to know which houses to avoid? Hoodlums, however, can use a code like that. Or how about removing the tombstone and telling the Marys " why do you look for the living amongst the dead?” That’s a place for a bunch of enthusiastic, anti-empire teenagers if I ever saw one.

I’ve found periodically cleaning mine with rubbing alcohol and a qtip vastly improves charging, fit, and sound. Still thinking about upgrading sometime soon tho.

Ooh, remember the cordless landline phones? I’d always see how far from home I could walk before they’d cut out

As someone working at a college–yup. A lot of students don’t know how to log out, or find save files. Where would they have learned it, though? You never log out of mobile devices.

Oh friend, what a ride you’ve been on. I grew up LCMS, and so lemme just say thanks for not doing that to your kids. I noticed what you said about immigrants trying to assimilate in LCMS as well. Particularly when I would visit family in the Midwest, there was a Chinese buffet that we would always visit, and my anti-immigrant (in general) family would proudly say how he went to their church, that the church wrote on his behalf to help get him citizenship, etc. I saw that less in my own community, but LCMS is not the biggest fish in that pond. Baptist is. I’m sorry you had that experience. Bad theology hurts people, and I’m glad you’re making it out on the other side.

Wait till they demand contractor rates!

I can appreciate that approach. But the biggest problems I have are when they nest in the railing of my little wooden deck. Every year it’s the same fight. So I’m a little leery of using fire.

Lol, not while I’m holding the bottle.

But seriously, where are the drones made specifically to spray stuff on wasp nests? I wouldn’t feel the need to use the foaming, bad stuff that hurts the bees if I could try a robot applying something like this. Or at least if it sprayed foam, it could be in significantly smaller amounts, much closer the the nest of trouble.

And that skipping KILLED the batteries.

Probably something like this

Seconding Magnatiles

Also, marble runs!

Mental health is a squishier standard. Let’s say I had depression and decided to talk to someone about it, get the help I needed to become mentally healthy again. Should that necessarily be penalized if I want to go buy a gun to go out to the range or hunting with my buddies? Should seeking help disqualify someone entirely? Does that prevent people from getting help they think they might need, stigmatizing an already stigmatized practice?

Meanwhile, if Dave down the hill has a record, he’s already shown he was willing to do an illegal thing, whether or not the record is fair. If he already has reports against him for domestic disturbances, that’s pretty cut and dry violent behavior that ought not be allowed to intensify.

I’m not saying mental checks aren’t a good idea or aren’t worth it. I’m saying that they’re a harder sell because a) they take more nuance to formulate well and b) the propaganda machine will have an easier time telling people how those checks are overreach.

That sounds like the kind of conversation worth recording and taking to a lawyer. I can’t imagine a call that goes “Hi, I’d like to cancel my service. What do you mean you can’t do that? No one at the company can help? I’ve been on the phone with 4 different reps. Fine, I’ll just call my card to stop paying. What do you mean you’re going to send me to collections?!” wouldn’t get done kind of positive movement.

Ahh, the ol’ Alberto Gonzales effect.

If a person killed 8 babies, by definition, they have killed 7, and thus fit the “worst” standard that OP specified.

Your comment led me towards an amusing thought: in the Harry Potter universe, goblins sell things to wizards for the duration of the wizard’s life, but then they expect it to go back to the goblins because ownership works differently for them vs wizards. Wizards don’t always/usually understand or respect that. So… If I ever was in the position to open a brothel, perhaps I’d name it “The Goblin’s Den.” I… Don’t know what kind of clientele that would attract though.