This is a long one, and I want to start by saying that your comment is a super popular belief. Even so, I think misses the mark a little bit.

Everything in the political sphere is emotions based. ‘Murder is bad’ isn’t some ultimate truth. We care about other people and ourselves. That emotion then leads to the reasoning that murder is bad and should be illegal. Same goes for everything else.

What conservatives tend to do is say ‘murder is bad’ and ‘there is a group that I hate’. They then abandon the truth of what murder statistics tell them and blame it on the out group which justifies the second emotion. They’re not wrong because it is emotionally centered (again we all do that). They’re wrong because they aren’t willing to examine that emotional motivation vs reality.

All of that to say that if we think the problem is emotionality we are probably making similar mistakes even if the outcome is better. To paraphrase a very true statement in Futurama - There is no scientific consensus that life is valuable.

This is absolutely true for a lot of people. A salary isn’t guaranteed just because you’re in a union, and it is often a lesser salary on strike to preserve funds. I think this person was asking about starting a union too, so there would be no fund set up unless they joined into a larger union.

‘Ask for more’ is different from ‘Get more’. The labor contract is a negotiation. Ultimately, the only card unions have to play at an impasse is a strike. If they use that tactict the workers of the union won’t get paid while the contract is unresolved.

Let’s say you’re supporting your kid, don’t have savings, and are offered a raise and some meager time off. Do you feel like you have the freedom to push harder, ie go on unpaid strike longer, or do you vote to accept the deal and get that paycheck again?

I just lost my dog after her needing people around pretty constantly. My partner and I can mostly arrange working from home, so the situation is not the same. What is the same is how you approach how your dog feels and how to tell when it’s ‘the time’.

You’re probably the most important part of his life. The shelter might let him find a home that can care for him better or it might not (because people are hesitant to adopt older dogs with health issues). What they can’t give is the stability he gets from staying with you. It really sucks that we can’t ask them what they want. I know that my pup would never have chosen a longer life if it meant giving us up.

When is it time? There are resources online about how to judge quality of life. For us it was as simple as picking her favorite things to do and watching to see if she still wanted to do them.

I have second guessed myself a lot - should we have done more vet care, should we have spent more time with her, etc. You’re in a hard situation. The decicions don’t get easier and sometimes are no win. My advice is to make your decisions for him as best you can knowing that your best is not ever going to be the perfect ideal AND it will be good enough.

The op has it right. Definitely dahlias. I can see why you’d think zinnias though. It’s interesting how different (or similar) we can make plants look with dedicated breeding efforts.

Seattle bedazzle

Look up “pink tax” and “gender pay gap”.

Are you using https? On mine the app doesn’t allow just http.

Am I really bathing if I’m using water I cannot drink?

Yes, drinking water is cleaned to the point that it will not make you sick to drink assuming a normal immune system. That is extreme over kill for bathing (and toilets, laundry, etc). The only reason we use drinking water for everything is because infrastructure is expensive and laying non-potable water pipes would cost tons.

Native plant/ecosystem restoration and gardening especially where it intersects edible plants. Also especially around the 45th parallel in N. America.

Yes, and you have to dig deep in some places to get below the frost with your foundation. In those places a basement makes sense because you’re digging that far either way. Texas frosts don’t get very deep, so you’re able to have a shallower foundation making a basement just an extra cost.

How about gum and flavored water?

Wow, that’s great!

It’s so small! I wouldn’t have expected it to fruit that quick. How many years had it been since you took/rooted the cutting?

Yep, 100% reuse of all wastewater and solids!

Nice work on the write up! It is hard sorting things out when they’re half true. For me, drinking water is especially important to get the fact straight on because of how bad it can go if the system fails. It would be silly to disregard anyone saying water wasn’t up to a safe standard, but separating things I would care about out from the fluoride and chlorine background noise is tricky. Thanks for the deeper dive!

Just generally, you can get a report of your municipal water testing. The biggest safety variable that I would be worried about testing at home for is lead in the pipes between me and the treatment plant. That includes my house/building and the municipal pipes.

Now taste, that’s a to each their own situation. Sulfury water is my limit for sure. No thanks!

I think hey are talking about the chloramine that Minneapolis uses to disinfect. It is more stable and isn’t just chlorine, so it would be in a “combined” result. The levels are page three of this report https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/media/content-assets/www2-documents/residents/2022-Consumer-Confidence-Report-FINAL.pdf It looks like 2023 isn’t posted yet, but I doubt it changes much year to year.

Are you talking about using chloramine in disinfection? I think conflating pool water and drinking water standards is a bit of a mistake. Things get added to pools from people’s bodies after chlorination that cause weird combined results. Drinking water is disinfected (chlorinated) as a final step. I would object to my municipality using chloramine, but not because I wouldn’t drink it.

The computer is constantly both bricked and not bricked. No way to know until you push the power button