I first saw it as ‘coop’ and immediately thought, ‘hell yes, I’d support a community-owned coop, but only if there were lots of fluffy chickens and a 24/7 camera on them’.

Then I realized what you really meant. Which I’m also not opposed to, if it was set up well.

I mean, since this is Death cosplaying as the Hogfather to keep the Hogswatchnight magic alive, technically you’re both correct.

I hope every time he gets out of bed he steps on a Lego. And when he hops off it in pain, he hops onto another Lego. Every time he goes barefoot, he steps on a Lego. For the rest of his life.

This, basically

It is, though—women having children later in life are at higher risk for complications for both themselves and the baby. It also has a higher risk of birth defects.

Probably because it used to be that being ostracized from our towns/clans/whathaveyou was basically a death sentence.

Getting criticized for something could potentially lead to the town/your family driving you out. Either through the people listening to the complaints deciding you weren’t ‘good’ for the town, or others dogpiling on with their own complaints, real or imagined.

You have to remember, there were bandits, wild animals, and deadly weather outside the protection of our small groups. And that’s assuming you got to survive the ostracizing in the first place.

The Bible gives a rather chilling example: if your kid is disobedient or troublesome, drag them to the front of the town and loudly criticize their behavior. Then, it is the moral imperative of the town to assist you in stoning your kid to death.

With things like that being a social norm, is it any wonder we developed a fear of criticism?

You’d be surprised how much effort people will put into proving you wrong.

Works on my phone

And? He touched on deep philosophical points all the time.

? How so?

Having an imagination counts as a mental illness now, according to this revisionist.

Pineapple hits with a one-two punch. Raphides, sharp microscopic crystals of calcium oxilate, scratch the mouth, causing micro-abrasions, while Bromelain breaks down the proteins of the mucus lining the cheeks and tongue. Together they allow the acid of the pineapple to more effectively attack the mouth, giving that traditional stinging sensation.

Honest question: have you considered getting him desensitized to the sound? It’s totally doable; hunters teach their dogs to not be afraid of the bang from their guns after all.

I’ve got a reverse one for you then! I have a friend who’s allergic to a ton of things, and we were eating roasted pineapple at a potluck. She said, ‘I love pineapple even though I’m allergic to it! The burning isn’t too bad.’ And I was all like, ‘it does that to everyone; those are the digestive enzymes in the pineapple.’ She was amazed that she’d found a fruit she wasn’t allergic to lol.

My uncle is a pastor. So when his kid came out as trans, he and his wife did the ‘good moral Christian’ thing and shamed her and harassed her until she committed suicide.

Then deadnamed her at the funeral, and wrote and published a book about how ‘his betrayal’ and ‘his unfortunate death’ were just tests from God to test their faith.

This is not a rare or unique story; many people all over the world have stories like this. Is it any wonder those who pay attention find religion distasteful? It may be a part of humanity, but many unpleasant things are, and there is nothing ‘edgy’ about rejecting them.

Yes, there are ‘good’ churches in my town that feed and clothe the poor; a far cry from my uncle’s church. But they are part of the same religion, and the fact that religion accepts both, morals be damned, means I have no interest in it.

With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion. -Steven Weinberg

There was a book like that, but this illustration is from a calendar James Gurney did.

I mean, it’s supposed to be.

Probably still won’t stop future humans from opening the vault, sadly.

And that is why I love having AAA.

The issue there is ‘middle of nowhere’. I remember in an episode of Top Gear they bought a house in Detroit for like $5000. But that was because it was in one of the worst parts of Detroit, which has virtually no jobs, no industry, and high crime rates.

Houses are cheap where there’s nowhere to work nearby. Land is cheap if you want a 5-8 hour drive to the nearest store. So if you want to buy a house, you need a remote job. And you won’t even get that probably in the middle of nowhere unless you have Starlink.