Camden28 [any, comrade/them]

I gather it is not useful to you, but it is exactly the sort of thing I would want to hear, specifically: I would want a link to some data before any random opinion/advice. I could guess and say “lots of us feel the same way”, but I don’t know if that is true – my feeling is not data, and when people try to console me in that manner, it sounds like BS because I recognize they are offering empty platitudes without actually considering my situation. If instead someone can show me they took the time to think about my issue, and have actual information for me, then I am reassured that their opinion isn’t a flippant and unconsidered reflex.

This was from online studies, so take it with a grain of salt, but from https://news.mit.edu/2015/brain-peaks-at-different-ages-0306 :

• raw speed in processing information appears to peak around age 18 or 19, then immediately starts to decline.
• short-term memory continues to improve until around age 25, when it levels off and then begins to drop around age 35.
• the ability to evaluate other people’s emotional states, the peak occurred much later, in the 40s or 50s.

Mostly, I would guess what you’re feeling is the grind of full time work. I remember hearing that mathematicians peaked by 30, but a quick search suggests that was always a bias for rewarding people early in their careers and is not backed up my more recent data.

You can get these new, but I’m enamoured of my ‘antique’ potato ricer. Looks kinda like this:

Correct, BUT depending on when that was, I can imagine how the boss came to that wrong conclusion: inappropriate use of antibiotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria, and then antibacterial soaps came on the market despite being an inappropriate use of triclosan, and even after the FDA made companies stop using that, the whole ‘antibacterial’ idea had consumers looking for that despite the possible long-term risks. See this Cleveland Clinic piece and its links and/or Scientific American as a secondary source as I am not sure FDA articles still link to solid information. So my guess is Mr. Bossman over-applied the superbug situation to ALL soaps and washing rather than cases of misuse, and did not understand how regular soaps work: destruction at the molecular level – like fire – that is unlikely to have room for developing a resistance. tl;dr:

• soap & water = good!
• antibacterial soap & water = ?? (clean hands, sure, but maybe superbugs, too, as per above links)

Agreed, but only if they don’t want signed confirmation of the change for their records. Things change if the change is affirmed by both parties.

yup

The phone lists get circulated everywhere, so you will be blocking them forever. You can stop particular callers, but since they are mostly from volunteers using their own phones, you might get called from hundreds of different people. That said, here’s the U.S. rules:

During an election season, it is likely there will be an increase in calls and texts from political campaigns. While campaign calls and texts are exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry requirements, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) contains specific rules they must follow.

In general, robocalls and robotexts to mobile phones require prior consent. Political robocalls to landlines are allowed without prior consent, but there are exceptions as detailed below. In addition, political robocalls made to residential landline phones without the prior consent of the called party are limited to no more than three calls within any consecutive 30-day period.

…

Political Robotexts

Robotexts – text messages generated through autodialing – are also considered a type of call and must comply with the same rules as robocalls.

Political text messages sent to a mobile phone using an autodialer require the called party’s prior express consent. Messages sent manually can be sent without prior consent.

If you are receiving texts that you didn’t ask for, report the sender by forwarding the texts to 7726 (or “SPAM”).

Campaigns should also honor opt-out requests if you reply “STOP.”

Here’s why I’m against that: even in recent history, people have beaten and killed people for being homeless, or gay, or cross dressing, or being the wrong ethnicity for that part of town. The community’s idea of a ‘broken step’ could be my right to simply exist. There has to be a discussion on whether the behavior is actually harmful or just unlike the typical. Walking through a neighborhood by itself is not bad – not even if you look atypical. Walking through a neighborhood with, say, a political sign might be an issue in some cases but fine in others – unless the sign has easily recognized hate speech, a swastika, or such, you’d have to spend some time figuring out if your objection is legitimate.

That said, creating a community, book club, gaming group, or other voluntary subgroup can put hard limits on allowable behavior by members, and if the rules aren’t followed, you can educate violators or kick them out, but you still can’t beat them up just because they didn’t act as expected… Who’d join AA if people who relapsed were beaten for it?

It can block all scripts, but the current version lets some stuff through by default. You can allow or forbid scripts for each site, so you might, say, allow scripts from hexbear, forbid doubleclick, and leave gstatic on default.

It is fairly common, yes. In particular, people tend to have extra warm/loving tones when talking to their pets and babies. Otherwise, you read the room and figure out what tone you want to take. Sound and/or tone aside, “code switchting”, which is a dialectic change, is also common and sometimes considered a modern requirement for people needing to get things done in both African American and White American cultures.

While this is true of new editors and single-subject editors, and especially true for divisive issues, it can be done. Once you’ve built up a few years of good writing and good edits, you can have some success at the hot button topics – but be prepared to defend your position and reasons on the talk pages. Note it really does take YEARS to get have sway. The power users have so many trolls to swat down all the time that they don’t check every random edit from random new people.

It wouldn’t be snitches. There are paid professionals tasked with keeping your dogs out of England.

I sincerely hope your babies are not confiscated and euthanized, and I will be worrying about their outcome from now until we hear of your safe return.

I updated my comment because from the image you shared, the pupper does look like a pitbull to me. A sweetie, I’m sure, but still: they’re going by looks.

Here is the particular page from that site stating pitbulls are banned: https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/banned-dogs

In the UK, it’s against the law to own certain types of dog.

These are the:

• Pit Bull Terrier
• Japanese Tosa
• Dogo Argentino
• Fila Brasileiro

XL Bully dogs are banned in England and Wales.

more from the same page:

Whether your dog is a banned type depends on what it looks like, rather than its breed or name.

For example, if your dog matches many of the characteristics of a Pit Bull Terrier, it may be a banned type.

The key is that you are interested. Good job!

But when I read something was during a certain Chinese dynasty, I have no such frame. How to overcome this?

I don’t know anything about Chinese Dynasties, either, but I know that for me, simple timelines work and complicated ones do not – not until I know some basics – so this question sparked me to look for more information and here’s the stuff that immediately looked readable to me:

Timeline from here:

But Dynasties were not covering ALL of China, borders and regions change, so I’d also need something like this timeline page that links to maps for different times, like these: Eastern Jin Dynasty around 400 AD with the declining Northern Wei Dynasty and states of the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms: Later Qin, Later Yan and Southern Yan.

Compared to 600 years later with the Song Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty (Khitan Empire), and the Tangut Empire of Western Xia:

That’s WAAAYY too much to take in at once, but if you see a movie or play a game that involves some chunk of time or particular person, you can quick-reference where the interesting item fits. Learning any story – even fictional – helps me fill in details. Certain games, like “Plague, Inc.” might help with general geography (though that particular game omits lots of countries).