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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • We all know this. We are all powerless to change it. Corporations and governments control whether or not it can be changed. Politicians worldwide are being fed by the pollution industry. The poors voting changes nothing until the corporations and politicians decide to do something about it.

    Walkable cities? Great idea. Needs politicians to approve zoning restrictions. Don’t drive cars? Great idea. Needs politicians to build public transportation infrastructure. Electric cars? Great idea. Needs corporations to produce them at an affordable cost. Etc etc etc.

    There will never be a day when 10 billion people in the world get on the same page to demand the end of anything. We can’t even get a tenth of that many to agree to stop killing each other over border squabbles.




  • Where I live, I have hills, big hills in every direction. I own both types of bike, a rad runner 6 for long, fast rides from my house, and then 20 miles up into the mountains along back roads.

    I have a road bike that I bought when I couldn’t really afford it, and paid about 1,000 for it. It’s a tomasso. It’s ok. I wish I had a trek, or a specialized hybrid road with the slightly thicker tires than the tiny ones my road bike has. I can’t really afford those.

    I use the RAD bike more for cardio, generally leave it in pedal assist 2 or 3 and just try to get a quick workout during lunch time. I take the other plain road bike out with a cycling club locally one or two nights a week. I don’t own a car, and I work from home. Biking makes me happy, but I get lazy when it’s really hot, so I ride the e-bikes more when it’s hot.

    I’m 45. It’s not as easy as 45 to build muscle back up and get superfit in a short amount of time. The e-bike helps with cardio and keeps me excited about taking a quick spin without getting totally smoked by all of the hill climbs it takes to get out of my neighborhood, much less through the foothills of the smokies and Appalachians.


  • Even if you’re going off to the side you’re on, it’s a distraction. It will draw my attention back to see if you’ve fallen, crashed, or gotten hurt. I will check my mirrors for you to see if there are additional dangers to me. I ride around bike-like objects all the time. Passing you isn’t even going to be a thing that I notice. You’ll get a “On your left, passing” from me when I’m about to go by so you know not to do any funny business in my direction. I don’t expect you to exit the lane. Heck, if you’re doing 15MPH, we might ride and bullshit with each other for a bit.



  • It wasn’t (and isn’t) a law. It’s a procedural norm that the Senate follows (except when they don’t want to) to make judicial branch nominees need to overcome a filibuster for approval, but it wasn’t required. In the past, most judges would get confirmed in the Senate with votes in the 95-0 range. Here’s a list of Senate SC confirmations. Many passed with voice votes only (didn’t even count). One (Matthews) even got confirmed with a vote of 24-23 (less than half of the total Senate voting at all).

    That was, until Mitch McConnell decided he would completely block Barrack Obama’s appointments, not just to the Supreme Court, but to any federal court. McConnell blocking all Obama appointees in 2012(ish) led to Harry Reid removing the filibuster “requirement” in 2013 when the Senate made their rules. This back and forth between McConnell and Reid was really an extension from McConnell’s time as a staffer I’m the Senate when Nixon was in the White House, which the PBS article talks about. We’re just now (in the last decade or so) seeing the effects of things McConnell decided in the 60s. This is gutter politics resulting from the Senate’s bullshit rules that allow the minority party to prevent change unless it benefits the rich and powerful.


  • This is such a short-sighted take. My wife was prom queen… 3 years before I met her. I forgot about it completely until I read your post and thought, “what a childish thing to say, no one cares about that.” Why? Because I have 20 years of history with my wife. 2 children, a good job, a good life, and a happy family. Exactly 0% of that has anything to do with a prom that happened years before we met.

    I want to live a long and happy life, and have as many days as possible with my wife, my children, and maybe their children (if they decide to have any). The things that worry me aren’t whether or not I’m having sex with a former prom queen, but how can I stay healthy so I can have a chance to make as many memories with the people I love as possible. It’s about whether or not they feel loved, accepted, and fulfilled. High school popularity has no value whatsoever to healthy, adjusted adults.