They’re not. The ship has 1 bad thruster, but need like a dozen to fail to make re-entry impossible. They could leave right now and everything would be just fine.

The thing is the module that’s malfunctioning doesn’t survive re-entry, so the only time to investigate the problem is before they head back.

My Dad used to be a hot-shot delivery driver.

He didn’t sit around waiting for a job. He’d go about his business and when his phone pinged he’d decide in the moment if he wanted to do the job.

Sometimes we’d be watching TV and his phone would ping and he’d get up to leave. Sometimes he wasn’t interested and he’d let someone else get it.

The issue with Uber, Lyft, etc isn’t that they treat their drivers as contractors. People who have they option of when, where, and whether to work and are paid per task aren’t employees. The problem is the pay is terrible for what they’re doing.

What you’re talking about is “waiting to be engaged” versus “engaged to wait.”

The drivers are not on set schedules and have no obligation to the company except for the time between accepting a fare and dropping them off. If the drivers were required to return to a staging area and wait for a call the they’d need compensation. But they’re not. They can do whatever they want at that point.

When I worked retail I wasn’t paid for the time between my shift’s end and the next one beginning, but that’s what you’re arguing for in this case.

The only person older than Trump to ever run in the general election is Biden.

Carriers will offer better deals on the phones though if you’re planning to stick with them.

I’m looking at a $1000 phone that ATT will give me for 2.99/month for 2 years. That’s over 85% off on the phone. The trick is they give it to you by actually charging like $42/month, but then giving a $39 credit every bill for 2 years, so you have to pay the difference on the $1,000 phone if you jump carriers.

But since they’re the only carrier that works at my office, and this is gonna be a work phone (my company pays me a monthly stipend for it), I can live with that.

Worse than that. You bought software licenses specific to that Wii, not to an online account. If it died, you lost all your purchases.

That’s also most of what’s on Amazon these days.

Doom 2016 was just about perfect. It blended old-shool FPS fundamentals with modern aiming, collectibles, etc.

We should be able to charge them for ad time. You want to paint an advertisement on my car you have to pay me. Why should it be any different when you want to put ads on my work computer screen when I’m working with clients?

Word perfect in 1990 was better than Word is today.

Those who hate homosexuals and see them as the “other side” often believe that homosexuals view heterosexuals with the same malice.

Gay people know they’re not the norm, and don’t feel threatened by straight folk unless. They feel threatened by bigots.

I like the bleep-boo sounds of the command prompt scrolling by on computers.

“.9…” is repeating, but rational. So it’s actually “1” . Let’s do the math.

.9… / 3 = .3…

.3… = 1/3

1/3 x 3 = 3/3

.9… = 3/3

3/3 = 1

.9… = 1

Still not convinced? We’ll use algebra instead of fractions.

0.9… = x

10x = 9.9…

10x - 0.9… = 9

9x = 9

x = 1

But the “…” matters.

I work in the development department of a tiny city that’s surrounded by a major city on all sides. It’s an enclave for the super-rich, with the average new house here costing over 10 times that of the surrounding area.

There’s actually sections in city code regarding the regulation of servant’s quarters.

The houses are mostly owned by shell corporations designed to hide the identity of the actual residents. But I know who a lot of them are, and you’ve definitely heard some of the names, though a lot of the obscenely-rich work hard to start out of the press. There’s a billionaire here whose picture I cannot find anywhere online.

Among my many duties, I review the plans for all the houses coming in.

They have sooo much security. You just don’t know about it. There’s multiple panic rooms, security offices, popup bollards, bulletproof windows, and more.

There are no sidewalks or parks. No sightlines from the street to the house. They build “water features” (moats) and plant vegetative screening to make accessing the house impractical except through the gate - some of which have guardhouses.

They are absolutely terrified of peasants.

Robert E Lee was the Supreme commanding General of the Confederacy, which seceeded from the United States out of fear that Lincoln and his new, progressive Republican party (times have obviously changed) would outlaw slavery.

The resulting Civil War was by far the deadliest conflict the US has ever been in in terms of US casualties. But the bonus is that since the war over slavery had started anyway, we went ahead and outlawed most slavery while we were at it.

Anyway, a lot of states, especially in the South kept discriminatory laws on the books following the war. As the Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s approached, a lot of Southern cities and states started building monuments and dedicating government buildings and parks to Confederate “heroes” and leaders.

They romanticized the Confederacy as a major part of Southern heritage (even though it lasted less than 5 years), and rewrote the history taught in schools to teach that the war wasn’t about slavery, but about the federal government trampling on states rights.

And it worked. Millions of people are brainwashed into thinking that the rebel flag is a racist symbol, but a symbol of individualism and freedom. They tricked generations of Southerners into thinking they aren’t racist.

For me it’s been “I see you bought this specific laser engraver. Would you be interested in buying that exact model?”

No. I already bought it, and it’s not a consumable. If I decided I needed a new laser a week into ownership, it wouldn’t be because I was thrilled with that exact model.

Hidden manual releases that still require you to push the door through the windows trim. FFS people have already died because of this shit. Why the hell hasn’t there been a mandatory recall on all Teslas over this?

Batman: The Animated Series.

I’m a white Christian man in Texas. I know I’m privileged and that that privilege often comes with ignorance, so I used to be really nervous about offending people inadvertently.

But I eventually learned to just ask if I wasn’t sure.

It did help that one of my best friends in college was a black lesbian who transitioned Jr year. I joked with him that he was my token “X” friend.