Yeah. This is in a city where the police abandoned a police station because they were forbidden to use tear gas on peaceful protesters in the area. In a densely populated residential area where people were complaining about the gas getting into their apartments. They tried to say the protesters were violent and using incendiary devices which turned out to be prayer candles.

No wonder they can’t solve any crimes. They can’t even read the fucking room.

I was driving the other day and saw a notification for a “Blue alert”. I never heard of one before. Turns out it’s like how we have “Amber alert “ for missing kids and “sliver alerts” for missing seniors, a “blue alert” is for someone who may be a threat to law enforcement officers. Why do we need a special alert for criminals that harm cops? Why are cops prioritized over everyone else?

All of the above plus: allergy covers for pillows and mattress, nasal irrigation with a neti pot or squeeze bottle (they sell the nasal rinse bottles and saline mix near the allergy medicine at the pharmacy), bathing your dog frequently . An allergist will have a really specific list of recommendations. Making your dog an outside dog is a terrible idea, it would be better to find a new home for your pup, rather than exposing them to the elements and leaving them outside all alone with no companionship

Pretty sure it is right in the face of the Trump hotel there.

I don’t know if it’s the absolute worst I ever read but the parts I read were pretty bad. At some point I was like “What kinda Ayn Rand bullshit is this?” and quit reading. It turns out that he was a Ayn Rand make-super-improbable-and-convoluted-examples-in-my-fictional-fantasy-world-to-justify-terrible-political-views school of writing type guy.

Ah, that’s unfortunate. If you say you’re happy in your SUV then showing you places to live that aren’t your SUV isn’t very helpful. Having a discussion about whether you’re aware of and prepared for any risks associated with living in an SUV could be productive - either you’d learn something from social worker’s knowledge of many people living in vehicles or the social worker could be reassured that you’re not in a terrible situation.

Do be careful out there! I hope you’ve got enough cash in the bank or enough credit to recover if someone messes with your SUV.

Depends on the country and jurisdiction

Out of curiosity, what were her arguments?

If you have enough resources to weather any (literal or metaphorical) storms, then you might be OK but that is not the typical situation.

China does have a lot of agricultural and manufacturing workers who aren’t on computers all day. And they have some pretty poor rural areas. But I’m calling bullshit on Japan’s numbers. Tokyo looks like Blade Runner at night but and the office culture is famous for long hours but no one is looking at screens? Get the fuck outta here.

I used to stick to that rule and get a sensible mid sized Toyota Corolla or Honda Accord that’s a few years old as needed. But in 2013 (the last time I needed to get a new car) the cost savings were really low compared to new. I think the used market was particularly hot so you’d save less that 10% of the cost, so I ended up getting my 1st and only (so far) brand new car ever.

Sounds like you’re doing everything you can. It sucks that you’re going through this; I hope the situation improves and you don’t get furloughed.

I’m guessing that if you could get to all your jobs without the car, you would have already done so? Saving on gas and insurance can help, but depending on where you live that might not be realistic.

You could try contacting local food banks and see if they ever make accommodations for people who are working during operating hours. They might not but there’s no harm in asking.

Right now you’re in a serious hole from missing work for a family emergency. I don’t have much advice for getting back onto steady ground aside from being super crazy frugal and working extra hours in the short term (which is fucking exhausting mentally and emotionally and physically). Do you have any long term plans for having more breathing room years from now? If your steady state is “one car repair or illness away from defaulting on payments” then that’s a hard path. Do you or your wife have prospects for better paying jobs in the future? Are there training or educational opportunities that could help? Are there cheaper places you could live (smaller, worse neighborhood?) to save money while working towards better job prospects? Living on not enough money in crappy circumstances sucks but it is definitely more bearable if you know it’s temporary and you’re making progress towards something better.

Good luck.

Anyone who says their smart overestimates themselves. Anyone who says their dumb underestimates themselves. How does anyone even answer this question?

I think it’s possible for someone to know that they are generally pretty smart or not very smart without over or under estimating. A lot of people will over or under estimate but if you’re just looking for a rough placement in a third of the bell curve, there’s a lot of feedback in everyday life to help.

Pedants who choose to make big deals over minor issues are always out to prove something and are objectively not smart.

Some people sincerely have trouble adapting to different precisions of language in different situations. I know some very smart and successful people with autism who struggle with this. It can be super annoying when they are way too pedantic for the context but I don’t think being deficient in this one area makes them dumb.

Up gets me every time.

Jumping between Mac and Windows I keep accidentally awakening Cortana when I try to copy and paste. Now that god awful, universally reviled feature if finally getting deprecated but it still brings up the damn window/modal/pice-of-shit just to tell me that it’s gone. If you want to be gone, then go! Don’t make a fuss telling me about it. Just go. No one wanted you in the 1st place. Fuck.

Not the main character but Gus Fring was a remarkably intelligent gangster.

Buttons can move but designers need to weigh the benefits of moving the button against the time and frustration users will experience from the move

That isn’t true. McDonalds sells tons of french fries and they rarely change (and when they do change, they take great pains to make the change undetectable)

Why? Because no one ever gets promoted by saying “leave it alone, users like it the way it is”.