Wow. How ignorant do you have to be to move to Russia to avoid your children being taught about acceptance and inclusion (LGBTQ+).

But I doubt Fox News is picking up this story, so the people who need to hear this the most never will.

I was debating doing something like this; install my build in the crawlspace below my desk. It’s just an exterior wall, so running a big enough channel through the wall would mess up the insulation. :(

That’s a sweet setup.

IIRC, that 70 US citizens deported by ICE statistic was from prior to Trump II. The current authoritarian secret police have definitely more than doubled that number in 3 months, I reckon.

I feel heartbroken for my Ameribros. We were so close, once. But I started boycotting you when you reelected Bush in 2004, pausing only briefly for a few years before the Tea Party took over in the Obama years. My passport expired over a decade ago and I haven’t needed to renew it.

I hope you all make it out of this okay! And that you don’t take us down with you.

Hit the nail on the head.

Millions and millions of print books are destroyed all the time, and very rarely is anything of value lost. Libraries, thrift stores, and used book stores get inundated thousands of books donated to them, most of which nobody wants. Unless you, personally, are going to take on sorting, transporting, and storing dozens of duplicate copies of books in poor condition, and have some purpose for them (presumably?), then get off your high horse about the destruction of bulk-purchased used books.

Individual copies of mass-published books are not precious. Only rare books are important for preservation. And, even then, digital copies are much more practical for long-term storage than physical books. Anna’s Archive’s preservation project as a shadow library is only possible because data storage is very cheap, infinitely replicable, and practically free to transport.

Nope. Ebooks are a license, so the First Sale Doctrine does not apply. Buying ebooks is nearly useless, legally.

Actually, no. Not according to the research. (Which I can’t find right now; just in a quick break.)

Essentially, somewhere (?) had the whole region take vacation at the same time, if possible. (Not essential services and obviously vacation businesses, lol). They found much greater benefits when there’s a large chunk of the population all off at the same time, and makes everyone happier (even those who have to still work).

They think the reasons are twofold:

1. We’re social creatures, and being able to connect with people meaningfully depends on them also being available at the same time.
2. When the region is on “vacation”, everyone gets more relaxed/chill, even those who are still working. Basically “vibes”. (They were a lot more technical in the study, lol).

Sorry I can’t link it, but something like “everyone who can be is off from July 15-August 15” would have big societal benefits.

ngl, that’s a pretty good persuasive essay. Since the OP gave the prompt, it also took creative risks with an essay topic that is original, and doesn’t just parrot the consensus opinion on a well-trodden topic.

I’d give this a really good grade up to grade 11.