I also had a handful of interactions with her as a student reporter back in the early 90s. She was always very gracious and engaging, but in my experience that’s kind of true of all politicians by definition.

The one thing that always stood out to me is the way she handled the dual assassination of mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk. I was just a little kid at the time, and the way she stepped up and took control of the situation filled me with admiration and confidence.

Maybe that was the high-point of her political career, I don’t know.

That said, you couldn’t be a Northern Californian at that time and not appreciate her leadership, no matter what else you may have disagreed with her about.

I say all of the above while not touching the obvious fact that she stayed in office far too long.

Oh good, a pompous, nonsensical, deeply condescending, deliberately inflammatory, provincial and unhelpful comment! That’s just what we need, said no one, ever.

Bullshit. There are vast areas of the western US and Alaska where this simply is not economically possible or even desirable. The same is true for huge parts of Canada and Australia and other countries that have very remote and thinly settled regions. Even when I lived in Ireland, which is tiny and relatively densely populated, there were rural communities that only had bus service once or twice a day.

You mean my kids?

My cat’s name is Nancy Reagan. She’s almost lived up to it. And no, she doesn’t like you either and if you try to pet her you’ll get what you deserve.

Some cats have official titles. I had another cat whose title was “Chief Inspector.” He was known to do home invasions and conduct snap inspections of my neighbors houses. He had more friends in the neighborhood than me.

Not true at all. There’s tons of adaptive pressure. If there weren’t, we wouldn’t see the thousands of pelagic and shorebird species that we do. But even if what you say about the threat from predation were true --its not-- there would still be adaptive pressure from differential reproduction rates and access to nutrients.

This. I entirely understand that some people don’t have that option, but it’s worth reiterating that if you have a choice, you’re best off not to have partitions at all.

I run Mint on an 8-year-old Mac desktop machine with no partitions and it’s lightning-fast for everything I need it to do.

It’s also worth mentioning that I have said desktop machine because my wife is a pro photographer and Apple and Adobe have colluded for decades to create a kind of “planned obsolescence” whereby professional photographers are ostensibly locked out of the current industry standard unless they run a very recent version of Photoshop that by design isn’t compatible with hardware architecture that’s more than about 5-years-old.

Is it not the case that kale, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are all basically derived from the same plant?

This is what I’ve been told, but I am very ignorant of such matters and while you will say that I can simply Google the issue, which is true, it’s never been enough of a priority for me to do so, goddammit.

As for Sequoia sempervirens or Sequoiadendron giganteum being forms of broccoli, I do in fact know enough dendrology to know that it’s bullshyte.

I used to be a big tele skier, but over the years I figured out that I prefer riding a snowboard when it comes to steep and deep powder.

To me it just feels better.

You do what makes you happy and I will as well.

I’m old, in my 50s, and have no interest whatsoever in telling anyone what to do or how they should enjoy the mountains.

I leave that shit to the kids. No one my age actually gives a fuck.

Thanks for the response. That makes sense and I think I’m probably on-board.

Cry me a river…

I’m increasingly of the same opinion, however, I dislike the fact that even talking about nuclear as a potential bridge technology is such a polarizing issue.

I am very far from being an expert on the subject and accordingly don’t have a strong opinion either way as to what role, if any, it can usefully play in transitioning to sustainable energy models.

What I don’t like is the immediate labeling of either side of the issue as somehow automatically being indicative of bad faith or “shilling” on behalf of a larger, nearly conspiratorial interest.

I’ve worked for a lot of super rich people over the years in high-end construction. Most (not all) of them are deeply un-self-aware and have no idea how they are seen by regular people because it would never occur to them to ever think about it. The lives of most people are like some strange and exotic foreign country that they’re vaguely aware of but that they have no real interest in. They’re aware of poverty as a concept, but that’s as far as it goes; it’s not something they actually understand or have any desire to understand or even think about.

A lot of this, I think, is somewhat deliberate in that it allows them to ignore how unjust their hoarding of wealth and resources is.

“There’s nothing here but war, where the murderin’ cannons roar, And I am sick and tired of this hard fighting.”

Ok Big timer.

Cool. Everything you say is true, but I’m just telling you that you’re wrong if you think that organized labor is or should be somehow against the Biden Administration.

The reality is that he has appointed the most pro-union and labor-friendly NLRB in modern history.

I’m actually a bit disgusted with people like you who think you know how it is down at our local union halls.

You are the elitist motherfuckers who tell us what we should and shouldn’t do or believe in.

Here’s a cordial fuck you!

Local 10 till I die!

So is yours, ambiguous I mean.

In other words, I think you’re being ridiculously over-generous in your interpretation of ancient knowledge.

If it were in fact the case that the ancients had any real notion of Darwinian theory, I think they would have stated it in unequivocal terms, as they did with so many other Platonic and/or Aristotlean concepts.

Vaguely suggestive biblical lines interpreted as somehow suggesting an understanding of Darwinian theory strikes me as wishful thinking.

Agree. I also think that it’s inevitable that when he dies, leaving aside the fact of his old age and poor health, it will necessarily result in a cataract of deeply stupid conspiracy theories.

This is the world we live in, unfortunately.

It’s partially but not entirely true. Having correct technique in your upper body matters too, as does accuracy, timing and the ability to create collisions.

All else being equal in terms of technical skill and leg strength, the guy with the bigger arms, fists as shoulders will have a stronger punch.

I had a ton of muscular atrophy in my right upper body due to a bulging disk in my neck --since corrected by surgery-- and I definitely noticed a huge diminution in my striking power, as did my regular sparring partners at the gym. So it definitely does matter.

I’m doing better now, but still not back to 100 percent and probably never will be. But that’s OK since I’m pretty old anyway.

That’s a very generous interpretation. I don’t think anyone can be blamed for not taking it seriously.