It's technically a "half rhyme" with "boy."

Could have said "Illinois."

The "tradition" of diamonds as engagement and wedding rings is about one century old. It was invented out of whole cloth as a marketing campaign by the diamond mining industry.

The history of how the diamond industry invented the "tradition" of diamonds as wedding and engagement rings in the 20th century is a fascinating example of a con.

The evolution of language trumped all other adaptations. Houses and clothing and controlled fire followed soon thereafter. From then on, human evolution cannot be understood without considering culture.

Mars can be quite nice. It's the damn Martians though...they make us Massholes look downright civil.

It amazes me that scented candles are such a big business.

Learned it from a hunting buddy, glad it will survive

You can buy Tito's around me in rural Massachusetts. It's been a national brand for a while now.

ETA I just checked and they now have a ten story distillery and made 3.8 million cases of Tito's last year!

The new fun is American spirits. They come in like 24 varieties distinguished by slightly different colored packs. And no one knows the proper name, everyone just says the color. So it's "American Spirit Blue" or "American Spirit yellow." But with so many there are like four shades of blue and four shades of yellow now. And around me the gas stations are mostly staffed by people whose first language is Urdu or Bengali (perfectly nice people, they just don't necessarily know every English color term) and so you get into a whole thing of "American spirit gold, no the darker yellow, no that's like mustard, the GOLD, yeah no, the next one, good now up one row, yeah those." I imagine it would be challenging if you were drunk.

I could see "Tito's" going wrong in amusing ways too.

Me I like Tennessee whiskey and bug spray, but it's a beast to order "Jack n Off" when I'm wasted.

That's an oddly Panglossian take to be said about kids losing a parent at the hands of the other parent, or childhood trauma in general. "Speaking your truth" to a "positive reaction" won't bring back your murdered mother, or erase primal trauma.

I don't think there is any known episode of surface transmission even documented for COVID. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen but it's exceedingly rare if it does.

Which makes all the wiping down and sanitizing people still do hygiene theater.

ETA lol people hate it when you tell the truth, and tell them their hand sanitizer and bleach wipe theater has no bearing whatsoever on covid risk. At some point ubiquitous dispensers of hand sanitizer became a performative way of saying "this business cares about your health," with little to no actual value except in a hospital or food service setting. Like so much else in our culture it's virtue signaling. If your business rally cared about Covid you'd have a masking requirement at all times for all people in the building, vehicle, or whatever. I laugh at people who don't bother to wear a mask but sanitize their hands a lot. There are other diseases that can help prevent, but not Covid. There's not one shred of evidence it helps.

Also gonna ruin your day: the dirtiest surface many of us touch every day is the top push button on a public hand sanitizer bottle. Think about it.if you really care about hand hygiene, soap and hot water are far more effective anyway. And any man could tell you how many fellow men don't wash their hands at all leaving a restroom.

The village is not called Kat. The village is called Kaktovik. Articles about this bear have misspelled it "Katovik," hence the shortened but incorrect name.

Kaktovik is an Iñupiaq village of around 300 inside the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. I've been there. Lots of polar bears. Learn about it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaktovik,_Alaska

Did she have a sister named "Chartreuse?"

"Attrition?"

Not if you're in the US. See US v. Causby, 1946 Supreme Court case. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Causby

They've seen a few things

No, it's one of the most famous cases in modern property law from the early days of commercial aviation. The sky above your property is not your property, at least in the US.

Edit: see Supreme Court case US v. Causby, 1946

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Causby

So Boston doctors discovered effective surgical anesthesia, and the rest of the country's medical establishment didn't believe them?

Man, even back then you were lucky AF to live where medical research was cutting edge. Imagine amputation or organ removal while conscious. And be very grateful we live when we do.

Here's some deets: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1868/06/the-discovery-of-etherization/628447/

Also a Boston boy who loved living in Seattle for a few years in the 90s..: one thing is that folks there could not be bothered with using winter tires, never saw anyone swap them out unless they were hardcore mountain buffs or skiers. Everyone else makes do on all seasons. Combined with little to no snow removal or salting, and Seattle after a winter storm was one of the craziest places to drive ever. I drove a RWD pickup when I lived there, and was sort of a "head to the mountains every weekend" type, so I put snow tires on just to survive. But you knew better than to drive on icy days there if you didn't have to, because it was a skating rink on those hills.

Still miss Seattle, go back every year (or I did before the pandemic) to see old friends and get in some time on Rainier or Baker. Also have to say Seattle food has it all over any East Coast city in my opinion! But in many ways it feels fairly similar to New England culturally. I felt right at home and considered retiring there before settling on Western Mass. Homeboys gonna homeboy.

About $500 could set you up very nicely with a 2x2 tent and a 200 watt LED setup and fans, budget $200 for seeds and fertilizers and a decent pH pen (those are like $50 for quality). Grow two autoflowers at a time in staggered rotation. It would not be unreasonable to harvest 1/4 pound every 2 months with that setup done carefully.

Come join us on r/GrowingMarijuana or check out GrowWeedEasy.com

Just harvested 12 pounds of killer Blue Dream and Gorilla Glue. Costs cents per gram to grow outdoors. I give most of it away and have all I could ever use anyway. And it's fun, and if you're already any kind of gardener, not hard.

If not already a gardener, or if you don't have an outdoor space, even very limited indoor space can keep a moderate user supplied for life. Indoors costs more and has a big carbon footprint, but the resources for learning how to do it, get seeds and equipment, etc. are astounding now.

Many people can't grow due to living situations etc. But if enough of us do it, we keep driving down the price of commercial cannabis, so win/win.

Also just a pro tip: befriend an amateur but experienced grower. We always have so much more than we need. Offer to help out with trimming (the only real intensive labor involved) and expect a handsome reward.

Been smoking the stuff for 45 years, and I would put my own bud up against anything I've ever had from a dispensary.

Yeah having my ID recorded by computer on every transaction drove me to getting really serious about growing my own. No way, government.

ETA what did I trigger a g-man? Imagine if the state kept a log of every beer you bought? I prefer freedom.

They have already taken a huge hit since NYC decided to look the other way as hundreds of gray market dispensaries have opened there. A huge part of the boom in far western Mass was NYC money. Not any longer.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of profiteers.

Grow your own if you can.