Dragonflies.

Their nymph phase is aquatic and in their adult phase they only fly. Their legs are only for grasping.

We are talking about beating Republicans and that doesn’t stop at the polls.

Look, Bernie was the only political race ever where I donated money, so when I say this know where I am coming from. We have no idea if Bernie would have been any more effective than Biden if elected. Maybe the right would have reacted so hard that he would have been obstructed every step of the way, accomplished nothing, and we would have gotten Trump anyway. Maybe they would have just killed him in the first year and we would have ended up in the Civil War 2.

Zohran Mamdani is a great example. He beat the Dems on their own grounds. I have faith he can be a leader against the Republican administration precisely because he proved he has a plan and the ability to execute it in spite of resistance.

We need to get rid of “first past the post” election systems. That will allow candidates like Mamdani to be competitive in a larger variety. The way I see it, this will NEVER happen through Republicans and as the system exists now there are only two viable choices. I’m not saying it won’t be an uphill battle, but at least there has been some progress in making elections more representative of a variety of political views under Democrats.

You don’t think being able to win against an entrenched power structure in spite of legislative obstruction is at all relevant to defeating Republicans?

And you don’t think the Republicans put their thumb on the scale every chance they get? The fight is not going to be fair. You have to be able to win in spite of that.

How so?

Nobody is going to “give” you a shot. The left has to take it. If they can’t figure out how to do that, they don’t have what it takes to lead the country.

If the left can’t beat Democrats, how the hell do you think they will beat Republicans?

If it holds long enough to get me unstuck from a rut, then it would still be worth it to me

I ran a drill rig for soil sampling for a few years. One day it was 100F outside and we had to drill inside a drycleaners. They had dryers and steam presses going , so it was a humid 130F inside. We used a remote drill rig which required running 100 lb hydraulic lines from the truck outside. These lines got so hot you couldn’t touch them with a bare hand. So imagine trying to move these heavy as hell lines without them touching bare skin and while having to shift your hands around constantly to avoid burns.

That ties for worst with the day we drilled at a gas station in a farm field in the middle of nowhere where it was -20F not counting the wind chill. The thing about soil sampling for contaminants is you have to wash the drill between holes. At those temperatures everything froze instantly and the machinery kept locking up with ice. It took us 8 hours to do what would normally take 2. And then we got a flat tire driving back…

And don’t take your foot off the accelerator. You need power to pull yourself through.

They make these things that are basically long zip ties with nubs on them that you can strap to your tires. They are supposed to give you traction in a pinch. A bit late for this storm, but it wouldn’t be bad to have in your trunk for an emergency. I haven’t tried them myself I admit, but it has to be better than nothing.

• turn off traction control

In some cars to turn off the traction control and ABS, you have to push and hold the button on the dash (usually depicted with a wheel and two squiggly lines). You will know it is off if the ABS and/or TCS alert lights appear on the dashboard.

1. Visible tattoos. Have to be off legal age to get a tattoo, right?

2. Talk to them. Even if it’s awkward, it’s practice.

I don’t do it as often as I should, but I like making a big batch of soup or stew and freezing it in portion size containers.

I wrote for 7 or 8 books of a popular role playing game. Won an industry award at GenCon for one of them.

It may not seem cheap at first, but 3D printing. What it costs to set up, you can quickly make up by not having to spend money on things you can just print for yourself. There are loads of little plastic parts that break that cost a fortune to replace. I’ve done new shelf brackets for my fridge and new locking clips for my windows for example. On top of that I’ve printed loads of presents for people. My mom can’t stop talking about the windmill I printed for her deck.

If the essentials of life are all shifted to “welfare capitalism” the power of class and capital to subjugate is greatly diminished. Add in mass union membership and it gets even better.

Not really. It’s entirely possible to pick and choose. We chose a socialist model for fire department because the capitalist model proved disastrous. Many countries successfully did the same for healthcare, retirement, and all sorts of things. At the same time, capitalism is great when you want a million choices on TV to watch or a grocery store with a whole aisle of different types of cookies.

To me, the difference is the impact of failures. If someone starts a company making a new type of cookie and it proves not to be profitable, it goes bankrupt. Unfortunate, but ultimately not a big deal. If someone has cancer and curing them isn’t profitable, you can’t just give up. That person’s life is more important than profit.