That was my first thought. Where are all the self-described Libertarians who should be losing their shit over this? They should be in the street screaming “posse comitatus!” at the tops of their lungs.

Same here. Paper ballots that can be machine scanned and stored for manual audits seem like the best possible method.

Not my language, but I like the Dutch word “peperduur” for “very expensive.” I like that the meaning has both historical and emotional aspects: pepper was once very expensive, and a high price can be considered spicy.

In English, “crestfallen” is a good one. When I read it I immediately imagine someone hanging their head in dismay.

The trend toward subdued color palettes. Every new home is decorated in “millennial gray.” Most cars are black, white, gray, or silver. You have to go out of your way to find bright, colorful clothing or furniture. It’s incredibly boring and I can’t wait for the pendulum to swing back the other way.

often a really good option from a functional POV

This right here. Electronic devices are full of plastics because they are often the best, or only, way to make those devices function and remain safe. You’re not going to make a car that meets any modern crash safety standard without plastic materials. Your not going to replace medical tubing with paper or cloth. Etc., etc.

The world can certainly use less plastic, and should use less. But eliminating it completely will require either (a) developing some novel new replacement material, or (b) giving up a lot of useful things humans have developed in the past century.

The Baz Luhrmann movie is definitely worth a rewatch.

Texans will appreciate that you refer to them as Texans rather then American.

Free is good, of course. But I also have some gripes about how Band functions so I’m interested to see what else is out there. Thanks for the Campfire recommendation; I will check it out.

It depends on your plumbing. If your sink’s waste pipe is large enough, and has enough slope, and you put enough water down the drain to wash all the solids through the pipe, then you can certainly put food down the sink drain.

In my house the kitchen sink’s waste pipe is smaller than what the toilets use. And it makes a long, minimally-sloped run to the main sewer connection. That pipe will clog in a hurry if I put food down the kitchen sink drain.

I think that goes to my point about simple comparisons being difficult. Norway has a high GDP relative to its size, so 4% might be more than enough for their situation. You also have to account for things like the labor cost of teachers, which varies by country.

Comparing things like this between countries is not straightforward. For example, Australia spends $14.1k per student while New Zealand spends $8.6k. That’s about 5.2% of GDP for both countries. From those numbers, would we conclude that Australia is overpaying, or New Zealand is underpaying, or that the two countries are comparable?

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-spending-by-country

If the mountain contains valuable minerals then the cost will be negative; you can make money by removing it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining

Though, depending on the geology, you might not want to build a town on the resulting site. Sometimes heavy metals leach out of the disturbed rock, resulting in polluted surface water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_mine_drainage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit

Not so much eating, but having to choose what to eat, prepare/order it, and clean up afterwards. Sometimes, after a full day, it’s one chore too many.

That looks… uncomfortable.

It’s wild how many episodes have been edited or removed from circulation due to their content.

https://renandstimpy.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_banned/censored_episodes

Humans are messed up.

In other news, I would totally buy a box of those to gift to my family.

I just Tineye’d this one after I posted it and it’s older than I assumed. Sorry if y’all have seen it a million times.

Remember that interviews go both ways. You are trying to see if this company is a place you want to spend half your waking hours. Ask the interviewer where they see themselves in 5 years. Watch their reaction closely. Do they sigh, or hesitate? You might get a telling bit of honesty out of them.

Why was someone printing Nicholas Cage? The world may never know.

Getting an accurate tally of the total number of privately owned guns is hard, but by any measure it’s ridiculously high.

As of 2017, American civilians own 46% (approximately 393.3 million) of the world’s 857 million civilian-use firearms.
https://ammo.com/articles/gun-ownership-by-state

Yes, the more rural and conservative states have more guns per capita. But even little New Jersey, with “only” 1.1 guns per 1,000 residents, has over 102k guns in the state. Nobody in the US is lacking for access to firearms.