May I suggest Solaris by Stanislaw Lem? The alien is a sentient ocean that doesn’t understand the distinction between past, present, or future, or between dreaming and wakefulness. It causes some issues…

It’s a modern convention. In the Celtic calendar solstice marked the middle of winter and older Christmas carols mark Yule as midwinter. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1_R3GPkIDeM

Most drain cleaners are not acids but bases - same basic idea but the other end of the pH scale. Bleach is an example of a corrosive base you’re probably familiar with. Bases were used because they were more compatible with the solder that connected copper pipes in older homes. For non-corrosive cleaners they fall into a couple classes:

Fizzy things. These loosen clogs by bubbling them apart. They are typically made by mixing a weak acid with a base - hello vinegar and baking soda! The acid may help a bit with dissolving some clogs. These can take a while

Enzyme based cleaners. An active enzyme will digest some of the bonds in hair and other components of the clog. These can take hours to be effective so don’t be in a rush.

Temperature based. Fats often make up a big component of clogs. Something as simple as boiling water can do a lot to loosen up a clog. There are fancier mixtures that will warm up the pipe to try to get things flowing.

It never would have been charged if he wasn’t the President’s son. He paid everything and a penalty in top of it so there was no reason to seek a conviction.

This really about a definition of “working class”. What’s always interesting to me in these arguments is that it’s a Britishism originally tied to class consciousness more than economic circumstances.

Vicars, writers and such were examples of “genteel poverty” who were very well educated but still lived a hand-to-mouth existence. They were not considered part of the working class even though they very much had to work, and were often poorer than many tradespeople. Because of education and contact with the well-to-do, those workers had an expanded world view and thus not considered part of the “working class” who were focused on tawdry gossip, when they were going down to the pub, and what was for lunch.

Stout.

Shoes are sized for socks.

A tablet is a pad of paper that’s glued on one edge. You can flip the sheets or tear them out. The full name for a binder is a “loose leaf binder”. Because it’s designed to bind…loose sheets!

I drive a 2010 Acura MDX. When I bought it, it was one the largest SUVs in the market. When I bought it people thought it was ridiculous. Jump to today. It’s midsize. I can’t even find it parking lots as it’s dwarfed by every truck and SUV around. Including what used to be economy and entry level vehicles. I have crossbars on it for my kayak to boot.

It’s voter suppression. By limiting the number of voting locations and understanding them you make long lines where people will wait for hours to vote. By not allowing food or water to be handed out they hope people will get discouraged and leave the line. The official reason is that it could be construed as a bribe to vote a certain way.

Just bewilderment. Because snubbing Harris will get you Trump. Who’s a great friend to Gaza /s. So cui bono?

It may helpful to think of this in terms of human rights; some rights apply to individuals so even though there may a group of them we’d refer to them as persons e.g. displaced persons. Some rights are held collectively and we would refer to them as a people e.g. Indigenous People of the Amazon.

eta: “Those people” and “you people” are both seen as racist dogwhistles. Your sister was probably laughing because you didn’t intend or get the subtext of your phrasing.

This is true for every regulated profession. It’s not exceptional.

I blocked that annoying piece of shit. It added nothing to discussion.

We don’t have any contact with candidates after the interview apart from a firm rejection. I’d love to provide feedback and advice to people but legal won’t let us.

Lol. Check out Denmark. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_law

Social diffusion is an explanation of how information spreads, not just names.

My understanding is that unique names and neologism have long been a feature of African-American culture where North American Caucasians followed a family naming tradition. I think what has happened is some celebrities have moved towards a unique name scheme. But it feels like a mainstreaming of AA culture more than anything.

The impetus has been there in Europe. Many nations have/had very restrictive rules about names. They’d only have rules against it if people were trying to do it. I had Swiss friends who were very excited that their daughter was born in Canada so they could name her “Sora” which wasn’t in the approved name list in Switzerland.

Because he’s a long way away. Longer than miles away…maybe…light years?

Because their continued employment depends on them hitting their targets so they need support staff to do their jobs.

I was married to a lawyer for years. They have to bill somewhere from 1700-2200 hours a year to stay on partner track. And they can’t bill every hour that they’re working (although they can double up sometimes by using the minimum 2/10ths of an hour). My sympathy is with the lawyer. It’s not a power dynamic, it’s how the firm makes money and what you’re there to do.