The true lesson is the one the Democrats will never, ever learn.

This is going to have a chilling effect on democracy, and an energizing effect on fascism, worldwide. The movement to try to limit climate change is now dead and buried, worldwide. There is no part of the world that is safe from the effects of this.

I have a really bad feeling that the kind of events that are going to be necessary to stop the coup aren’t going to be listed on events.democrats.org.

This is terrible advice. Paying anything you can up front saves you several times over in the long run.

Usually, yes, but it’s situational.

For example, I bought my house in 2009 during the depths of the Great Recession, with no down payment, and got a screaming deal. If I had decided to wait a few years to save up for a down payment, I would’ve been 500% screwed.

(That “500%” isn’t hyperbole, by the way: that’s how much more I would’ve had to spend to buy my house now instead of back then! Actually, I’d have been even more screwed than that, considering that I’d be paying ever-increasing rent the whole time, too.)

Hi, Georgian here. Trust me, nobody wants to live in the ass-end of Cherokee County, so far north it’s only barely in Metro Atlanta, but not far enough north to have decent mountain scenery or anything. Frankly, I’m appalled at how overpriced it was at $200K four years ago, let alone now.

I think all people who keep big cats as pets are not logical.

Toxoplasmosis is a Hell of a drug.

I’ve had two pet cats as an adult. The first one was very chill, probably because she grew up as a stray and appreciated being inside and cared for. The second one we got as a kitten, and she’ll bite not only when she’s upset about being grabbed, but also to show affection. Luckily, she hasn’t figured out that biting hard is a thing yet, so she just kind of gnaws on you without breaking the skin. She hasn’t yet figured out that she can intentionally try to claw people in anger/defense either, so the only times she ever actually does damage is when she climbs on you and uses her claws to hold on.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply it was an organized operation. I think it was more just one kid who was faster/more eager than his buddies. Or maybe just standing next to them but loud, for all I know!

My home automation consists only of (self-hosted and fully local) Home Assistant and some smart outlets I’ve flashed with ESPHome open-source firmware. I found some Nanoleaf Matter/Thread smart bulbs a few days ago on clearance, but even though I got them super cheap I’m debating on whether to return them because i’m not sure if I can trust them without being able to flash an open-source firmware.

Fun fact: the entire Free Software movement exists because Richard Stallman got pissed off at Xerox one day, for not giving him the source code so he could fix his printer.

I was about to reply to the same thing to another comment about 300 tabs, LOL

It means a change either applied completely and successfully, or not at all (think “atomic transactions” in databases).

(The reference, in case anybody missed it: https://lemmy.world/post/21493783)

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth over-engineering!

A sentry gun that fires candy corn!

Reading the responses in this thread, I’m kinda starting to think we need to bring the “trick” half of the tradition back so some of these neighbors get a clue.

The last time I was handing out candy at my old neighborhood, kids would ring the doorbell but then they’d just stand there and stare at me until I handed them candy. You’re supposed to say “trick or treat”!

That was happening to me sometimes, too. I’ve tried just standing there without offering the bowl to make it awkward until they figure it out, as well as just straight-up telling them “c’mon, say the words,” but it’s just so cringeworthy that they don’t get it in the first place.

And even people who live in safe areas will like their kids into a car and go drive

Yeah, I’m annoyed about that sort of thing, too – albeit more about the car-brained laziness of parents idling a car from house to house instead of parking and walking with their kids, rather than the class issues – but that’s a different rant.

I greatly value the experience of knocking on my neighbors’ doors and it’s sad to see people discount this community building experience.

Thanks, you said what I was thinking but struggling to express.

I think maybe I’ll bring it up with my community association, to see if next year we can’t make some sort of organized effort to encourage door-answering (and communicate that renewed expectation to trick-or-treaters).

That seems plausible, except that I’ve been living here since long before COVID and have been suffering a lack of trick-or-treaters the entire time.

Actually, that reminds me of another failed hypothesis: when I first moved in, the neighborhood was just starting to gentrify and was still a little rough, so at first I figured the lack of trick-or-treaters was due to the lack of families with children in the neighborhood in general. Plenty of 'em now, though.

Who said anything about “childless?” Even if femboy sluts prefer catching, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for them to have pitched occasionally.