I paid $400 out of pocket with good insurance for a standard checkup in the US recently. Protect that NHS or you too will get to decide if you want to live or die with every injury.

Yeah, but you already have a king and we in the US just annointed our president king. Unless something changes hard for the better of the Republic in November, we'll be a dictatorship in no time.

And your God emperor is signalling bloodshed if we let you do it.

You don't negotiate or compromise with Nazis like the Project 2025 people.

The hiding of the control panel is just extra pain for the fun of it. I know it's the same tool they've had for many generations now so they're hiding it because it's ugly, but it's the real way to get things done. Hiding it is just making everyone's life harder, which is basically the Microsoft approach to OS design.

Sorta. It's a democracy with the voting and all that at this time. Since the person holding presidency is now above the law, then as long as the current president decides that we get to continue to have a republic, then we're a republic. The moment a US president decides that it needs to be an official act to end voting, or just stall on voting indefinitely, then we stop being a republic. Basically, we're living on borrowed time until the "by the people" part of the US nation is taken away by whomever we voted in as president last.

President Biden has the idea that he should respect the Constitution. He's unlikely to decide to end the republic. If he gets reelected (and the conservatives don't just kick off a civil war trying to end the election like they failed to do back in 2020), then we buy at least a few more years. Then... we go into a cycle where if benevolent dictators keep getting elected we stay afloat. The moment a populist gets elected president who also doesn't personally decide to not take over as dictator, the republic ends.

Why that's easy. It's the top elected official, of course.

That's been a continual strategy to try to deter and block RCV. They argued that in front of the courts in Maine when the state moved to RCV.

In the end, I feel there's one big defense: no matter where my vote ends up, I only get one for the last candidate standing that I voted for.

The other voting systems where you rate candidates on a scale, it's a bit muddier as to what a "vote" is. A vote should be your voice that's the same as anyone else's in the electorate. As long as all humans get the same voice, it should be able to take any form.

Since the only other likely alternative is a fascist, insurrectionist, felon, rapist who couldn't finish a thought or sentence we've got ourselves a tough spot, but a clear better choice of the two: vote for Biden.

Having our government by a gerontocracy is not going well.

No, the goal is to sleep in silence. When I'm able to put aside my worries and truly rest I don't need any noise or background hum to be completely out.

I only use a short video (under my pillow at mom volume so I can barely hear it) to get to sleep and then I'm usually out for a long time.

I've always felt that much of getting to sleep and what makes it easy to rest is training to some extent. Changing the ambient noise (especially if you move homes) can really screw things up until you get used to the normal noises of the new location. While that happens I'll use something to fuzz the ambient sounds, but I'll actively remove the white nose or background video over time so I acclimate to the new normal.

I consider it a worthwhile goal to be able to sleep without aids, if possible. Most of the real trouble is in my head (or a neighbor with fucking loud music at 2am to be dealt with), so when I have control I seek silence and a mental even keel when possible.

As a kid? Nothing. Just silence.

Today? My tinnitus, quietly humming away.

Now,.if I'm in a very weird mental spot and just can't spin down to rest, I put on The Might Jingles' World of Warships gameplay videos. His English voice just puts me out in moments.

The EU keeps doing amazing and tough things for humanity. I'm always astounded at how much they're achieving and I wish my government had even a fraction of the EU's current operational capability.

It's a tunnel with electric trains. I volunteer my pasty white ass's house as tribute for this. My city has near zero rail service and I'll take it in a heartbeat.

Yes, the US has been using infrastructure to harm minority communities for generations, but so far this doesn't seem to be the most egregious example of that. The exhaust system being next to a school is the only concern, but only if there's a fire in the tunnel (which should be rare unless Boeing starts making trains).

Either move the exhaust or move the school while you start digging that new higher speed tunnel! Let's go for some real modern transit!

Except the Duchy won the war against the US and brought back a hydrogen bomb. They then used that threat to make the league of micro nations. The bomb didn't work, but the threat of it allowed a tiny nation to gain leverage on the geopolitical stage.

Requiring someone to provide evidence to back up a claim is not the same as taking a position that the claim isn't true. This is the root component of the burden of proof and the stance many people have towards a god claim: they aren't convinced the god exists due to a lack of evidence provided by the person claiming the god does exist. Until there's actual evidence it's rational and reasonable to withhold judgement.

The unicorn (or other mythological beings) are used as a similar case to illustrate to a theist that they have the same kind of attitude towards the idea of a unicorn existing as an atheist does to any gods. They're both neat concepts, but without evidence showing they actually exist, they're nothing more than an idea for stories and art.

Definitely a 'duh' result from a survey. The cost of childcare in the US is criminal, so of course smaller businesses will have a tougher time absorbing that cost, either as salaries or benefits.

The US government spends an average of $500 /child/year for preschoolers in healthcare, childcare, and support (like food). It's outright pathetic. We're so far behind the next OECD nation that we can't even see them on that scale. The top spender is Norway at $26,000/child/year! As a nation they take care of their people for which they're healthier and happier for it.

Yes, we're trying to raise the deductions for the business, but that only helps children with parents who can qualify for those kinds of positions. It ties workers to their jobs, just like our healthcare system does. This will create yet another hole that makes it harder for people to leave work, and more ability for toxic workplaces to abuse workers who would depend upon a given job to pay for daycare because the business gets the support and not the child. Let's start making some legislation to just directly support children, and not some Rube Goldberg machine tying us to bosses and owners.

Germany's overhaul of their immigration system added 3/5th credit to citizenship for foreign students doing university in their country. If you do a 3 year bachelor's, then a 2 year masters it puts you only two years working from permanent residency. It's a brilliant move to help highly educated people get connected then prove their commitment to the nation on a path to permanent citizenship.

The crazy variety of weapons and their interactions was great. Almost everything was dangerous in the right situation.

Blob gun? Charge it up! Blue laser thing? Shoot the ball form and shoot that for a huge boom! Double pistols? Max DPS in the game with no bullet curve!

The best maps too for CTF. Yeah, I loved that game, especially for in person LAN parties.

Then there was the fancy mustard incident... It nearly ended the USA as a world power (at least according to the right wing propaganda channels).

Don't even get us started on the coffee salute and how it made the military ready to start a coup from the disrespect. /s

WTF is happening to this nation? Somehow our politics has been taken over by Idiocracy grade stupidity as a matter of course.

If the PoE is stable, then it's a nice and relatively unique board. Not sure about the NPU support. There's a ton of boards and chips coming out with those claims, but I'd like to be able to get clearer info on drivers and library compatibility.

It sounds like he needs to get the house on the market. Keep shaking those pockets out, you fascist fuck.