ellabee

My cat recognizes the tea kettle whistle as time to get off my lap. "Up" and "Down" mean the same thing (you need to get down so I can get up).

She's not the brightest, but a warning that she needs to move means I get clawed less.

I knew a guy in real life who got into men's rights and Men Going Their Own Way nonsense- basically, he had sex so he didn't qualify for incel, but he held a lot of the same beliefs.

I was the only woman he seemed to have any respect for. He didn't respect his mother or younger sister, felt they had taken advantage of his dad and were now taking advantage of him. The one girlfriend I know he had, was very manipulative and not a good girlfriend.

I pointed out all the issues with his thinking and his MRA, MGOTW sources multiple times. he'd come back around to being reasonable for a while, then wander back into the toxic wilds of the internet. eventually, I gave up; I can't be the only voice of reason you bother to listen to.

if I understand correctly, it's actually more illegal now, because Texas passed the CROWN act after the previous 2.

I suppose there may be differences that make a difference to the outcome, but it seems unlikely here.

I live in WA state. the state and county response to covid seemed very informed and measured; they based policy on WHO and CDC recommendations, tried to ramp up and ramp down to make it easier, and were transparent with the numbers they were looking at.

We still saw our medical facilities struggling, especially as one of our neighbor states was not particularly great at covid prevention. so when their situation was bad, a lot of them came over here.

when Roe was overturned and abortion bans started going into place, our leaders realized our neighbor was going to once again flood our medical system. so they started stockpiling abortion drugs and doing what they could to increase support.

they're also trying to increase public transit, which I appreciate. it's plagued by corruption and delays, but they are slowly making progress.

I think there's a human bias towards certainty, to believing in true facts. research is work, and when it undermines personal certainty, there's an urge to just go with whoever does seem to be most certain. if you can't be sure of the facts on a personal level, go with the guy who is loudest and most certain. and because people seeking to relay truth will make room for doubt, conspiracy theory guy wins.

understanding probability helps here - if 90% of climatologists are 90% sure of climate change, their doubt doesn't make climate hoax guy right. the podcast 538 covers politics, but goes into polling theory, statistics, and probability in ways that make it easier for me to understand and apply in other areas.

I'm in my mid 40s, high school in Missouri. I wouldn't say they taught media literacy, and despite having a computer lab with the internet, it wasn't considered.

Research was finding sources to cite for a paper and was a big chunk of the grade in English one year. They did cover what were considered reputable sources, but that meant published non-fiction, news reports, and maybe firsthand accounts (consider the source reputation). They seemed to assume we knew the difference between, say, a real newspaper and a tabloid, or the difference between Channel 5 News and Jerry Springer. The idea that the NY Times or Channel 5 News might have bias in how they presented things, and in what they chose to present, wasn't considered at all.

Since this was taught in English, it was much more about using proper citations, not full plagiarism, and writing persuasively. I know I couldn't find enough actual books on my topic in the school or public libraries, so I padded my reference list with the list the encyclopedia used. It worked fine.

To be fair, I do still use questions i learned from that research paper to evaluate info. am I seeing the same info across multiple sources, including high quality ones? can I trace it to an original source, and how much do I trust that source? can I find several high quality, independent sources for a particular thing?

I've had several ferrets, and intelligence definitely varies in them, but it's impressive what their little raisin brains can manage. watching them figure out a puzzle was the most fun.

but it wasn't always fun. I had a ferret with some serious attitude, and he and my sister didn't get along. one day, she shoved him aside with her foot and called him a little shithead. later that day, we found her phone, in it's nice leather case, in his litterbox. he knew exactly how to get even.

same little guy would push open the bathroom door if he could, see I was 'occupied', and then get up to whatever bad idea was the current favorite. it took me a bit to catch on, but I got it after the cute little weasel poked in, then went and dragged a family size bag of m&ms under my roommate's dresser, leaving a trail from my room to hers. little pest knew he had plenty of time before I could catch him at it.

it could seem disrespectful, and I'll agree that the circumstances do matter.

for Fetterman, we have a few things:

• dressing for his constituents. frankly, is be happier if more politicians paid attention to who they were representing than party or lobby interests. that said, there's a time and place - I want my lawyer to show up looking professional, so why not my legislator?

• he didn't, as far as I'm aware, request the change. he's just taking advantage of it. fair enough. it's also not a formal rule, more custom that was being enforced, and now is not.

• he's publicly been dealing with depression. maybe he can't face wearing a suit some days, but he can get his job done in something less restrictive, more familiar. I've been there.

• before the rule change, he'd show up and vote from the door in his relaxed outfit. getting his job done, not being disrespectful by sitting in his relaxed outfit. I can respect the hell out of a guy who can't quite bring himself to wear a suit, but still gets his job done and treats his coworkers with respect.

so to me, this reads like Fetterman is doing his best to do the job the people gave him, despite other (personal) issues. Schumer decided not to enforce a rule that was causing unnecessary difficulty for Fetterman (and who knows who else) but isn't relevant to the job at hand.

maybe think about it like your bank teller wearing orthotic sneakers instead of heels. not because she's being disrespectful of her clients, but because the job is easier if she's not also constantly thinking about how her shoes make her feet hurt.

depends. if I can use one of the vertical bars, going from the floor to the ceiling, I do that. but there's a lot of space between them (not every seat) and I'm a short person. I can reach the loop, I can't reach the handrail the hang from. so if the bus is crowded, I'll wind up on a loop.

luckily, I get on my current daily commute early enough to grab a seat most days, but a previous job had me hanging from the loop every day.

we need both. because, at least in the US, money speaks really loudly about what laws we get, and can drown out the voices of the majority. so we need to put pressure on both our legislators and the people with money - generally, the employers/corporations- to fund, support, and pass regulations. which will only work until the unscrupulous assholes find loopholes, but that's how it goes.

you'll be missing out on a lot of what people are talking about, but you can absolutely play through the main scenario without having any of the conversations with companions. you get the option to hire retainers instead pretty early.

the more recommended option is to engage with the companions and their stories, but be aware that some choices will lead to a romance option. some companions will just be friendly, others are a bit more in your face with the romance option.

I'm not into romancing games either, but there is so much else to dig into with this game. and the horniness at release was a "bug" presumably getting addressed so it's even less in your face. basically - go ahead and give the game a try, if it's otherwise your kinda thing.

I prefer the seats facing each other, but only because sitting sideways to the direction of motion somehow makes me less car sick.

Definitely still headphones in, eyes down. Pretend I'm focused on my phone or knitting, even if all I can think about is nausea, because i definitely don't want another awkward bus conversation. Make sure the knitting is contained on my lap and doesn't spill into anyone else's seat.

the busses were less crowded post covid here, and the solution seems to be fewer busses so it's more "efficient". which is awkward when using it to commute and my options go from "10 minutes early, on time, 10 minutes late" to "30 minutes early or 20 minutes late".