I have been exceptionally lucky by being in the military because our housing allowance matches the local area (generally slightly behind big market changes, though) or am just given housing with utilities paid and they take the allowance away. Also, VA loans allow for 0% down loans, which means for the same as (or in my experience, less than) rent, you pay mortgage. And the house I bought in 2017 for 180k sold for 300k in 2022 and I did little more than live in it.

Now I’m buying a house where I will be retiring, and it’s 750k. Vicious, but doable. I don’t know how other people live here (VERY high cost of living location in Alaska).

Edit: forgot to add, I’m 41, so working on buying my second house. Hopefully I’ll still be able to afford it in 4 years when I retire.

Technically an amendment to the constitution, the third section of the 14th amendment, that nobody who has engaged or helped an insurrection can hold office in the government or military (except with a 2/3 majority of congress).

Yeah, there was already established law to prevent him from running for president. It got ignored. He ran anyway. He won anyway. He became president anyway.

Any of these legal mechanisms only work if they are upheld.

When you are talking large income to larger income, that makes total sense, but are there limits for access to things like child tax credits where if you go over you are no longer eligible, causing significant increase (I just looked, and it’s at $200k single of $400k jointly, so unless you have A LOT of children, I suppose there wouldn’t be a huge effect)? Similar to people on government assistance who go from getting full assistance to getting nothing at a certain income level?

I remember that time well. Mine are 5 and 10, so I’m moving out of the more intensive child-rearing time. When I retire, they should both be at or near the “too busy for Dad” time, so other than giving rides, my days should be free and clear. I’m really looking forward to it.

Good luck with the little ones!

I retire (military) in 4 years, and my countdown feels like this, but more specific. I just had to re-enlist, and I was asking if I had to do full years, or if I could do 4.3 to line up with the anniversary of my enlistment (to retire THE DAY I am technically able to).

Not that I don’t enjoy my job, because I do, but I’m excited to be able to do whatever I want with my time and let my wife be the primary support for us for awhile.

I live in Alaska, and if nobody was talking about the eggs thing I wouldn’t have had more of a thought about it than “huh, eggs are a little expensive right now. Or are they? Have they always been this expensive?”

For reference, eggs here are $10-$11 a dozen. And for extra reference, a regular sized container of strawberries fluctuates between $5 and $12, and a carton of ice cream (e.g. Dreyer’s) is generally around $12 if it’s not on sale.

The thing is, around here people just… shift what they buy mostly. Strawberries are expensive? Time to buy apples. Ice cream is expensive? Wait to buy until it’s on sale, then buy 8. Bread is only $4.50 a loaf? HOLY SHIT, FILL HALF THE FREEZER.

I’m not trying to minimize the issue. There are lots of people who specifically need eggs (e.g. bakers), but for the most part, I feel like this is some weird hyper-fixation. This feels like toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic.

To egg distributors: sell more 6-packs. Outside of baking, I just don’t think normal people need that many eggs.

But AI had expert timing.

Do you wish to see them, PetaQ?!

Then at 40:

“Oof… my hip is killing me…”

“What’d you do?”

“Got out of bed? My fault for laying down in the first place I guess.”

But I like burgers.

I had understood it to mean, the more simple a theory is, the more likely it is to be true.

E.g. “organisms change through time to become the creatures that exist today” vs. “organisms change through time to become the creatures that exist today through the intelligent design of a creator.”

The former, having fewer conditions to be true, is more likely to be true.

Then it would seem the fork is the determining factor in this.

Even with my youngest (5), I would always use the bathroom early and check to see if they had a changing station prior to him potentially pooping himself. The majority of the time there was, but the times there wasn’t was often enough to make it worth checking. Only if my wife was with us, though, otherwise it was a roll of the dice.

A lot of people hate on Sword Art Online, but in the second season…

My favorite part is “Eat shit and die” is addressed to the enlisted (“excuse me” being the replacement) and “Eat shit and die, motherfucker” is addressed to officers (“excuse me, Sir”), because you wouldn’t be saying “sir” to enlisted members.

Ideally, yes, but that would create other issues. If there is a hard line for it (like the death penalty for those 14) and no chance of a lighter sentence, juries may be disinclined to convict (and prosecutors to charge) on those charges knowing it is the only outcome.

Gonna has to go piece by piece through this:

obviously everyman has had a dick in his hand for obvious reasons.

This line is trans-exclusive, which would probably be given a pass by all but the most ardent trans-inclusive commenters, but still not great.

And all females

Dude. There are some times when an argument is made that saying “females” is not inherently objectifying, especially in a scientific, military, or other setting where people are categorized that way, with the significant difference being consistency (e.g. man/woman, male/female, etc). Using one then the other strips all that away and makes it seem like referring to women as “females” is just your normal tendency, which strongly suggests the objectifying behavior.

And all females old enough for sexual interactions have had one in their hand.

This is just obviously wrong, as plenty of lesbians, asexual people, or those with lack of access to sexual connections with others have not had a dick in their hands, and that is not an insignificant percentage of women, I’d imagine.

The next time I shake the hand of a woman I am going to wonder how many dicks she has had in that hand.

As if to underline the “females” comment, it’s pretty telling that you feel it worth mentioning that you’re going to wonder how many dicks were in the hands of women, but not men (especially funny since any man you meet has most likely had a dick in his hand more recently than a woman).

Sometimes it is difficult to notice your own biases, so I hope this makes you think about what leads you toward thinking like this, and just general self-reflection.

You’ll never do what common people do.

Honestly, that sounds like some refreshing fun. Have the cook with a big grill out front, and putting in the order is just chatting with them.

“Hey, bud, you want a burger, hot dog, steak, or some of this brisket I been smoking since this morning? Want something to drink? There’s beer and soda in the cooler, or we got tap water. The little cooler has juice for the little’uns.”

And then have a cashier keep track of what they had, conveyor-belt sushi style. The cook chats with whoever is standing around drinking a beer with them (and is drinking beers or soda or whatever all shift), and everything gets served on paper plates. And the tables are all those wooden picnic tables with cheap plastic tablecloths.

And those who are eating there are encouraged to stand around and chat with other people as well (if they want). Just make the whole thing like a backyard barbecue with your neighbor Hank.

And hire nothing but retired men and women working part time as the cooks. Nothing but grill daddies and mommies, working just for some extra cash and the fun of barbecuing. I would take that job when I retired in an instant.

Edit: better yet, make it habachi-style, where there’s a grill daddy/mommy for every group or two, set up like a park barbecue. I love this and want to go to one or work at one now.