Yeah, this really resonates with me. I have family and friends who I would describe as good people in general but for whom the maga era has completely unhinged their rational faculties. It's really sad to see. It also makes it such that there's really not much to discuss with them, because so much has been impacted by the MAGA lies. Politics, religion, current events, weather (it's cool in the fall, so global warming isn't real), local matters, what my kids are doing in school, the list of things that the MAGA infection has affected is stunning. I guess technically the MAGA movement has just exposed some of the brain rot that was already there in my family, but I also think it has actively made them less rational. Fucking populism.

Yeah, I thought it was a metaphor. That's a beautiful photo though.

Earlier in this fever-dream hell-scape timeline, I didn't imagine that kids would literally need a VPN as they tried to just exist. Yet here we are, and I'm right with you, I've been setting my kids up with VPN as well, and talking to them about what sort of things they need to be careful about looking up without the VPN connection. Fucking dystopian.

Number one, that's some seriously good craftsmanship. I love this. It looks so cool and detailed. Number two, I have zero knowledge about the historical way these were done, so apologies for a very ignorant question. Did metal suits of armor have padding like this? It occurs to me that it makes total sense to have padding, but I don't recall ever seeing "historical" preserved pieces with padding like this. Was that the norm? Either way, that's the type of helmet I'd want. Looks beautiful.

I can't believe that you've left out Portu-gulls.

This makes the most sense.

This made me laugh. I'm in my early 40s and in the past six months I've been using the Merlin app to identify birds by their song. It's really fun to see what's going on around me in terms of birds. I had no interest before.

Just to be safe, yes.

Yeah I bought a Samsung range and it started to fail after the warranty ran out. Terrible quality. Range eyes stopped working so we wound up with one eye that we could cook on, and the oven temperature sensor went bad and after replacing it twice (an easy part to replace) it wouldn't keep temperature. I'll never buy a Samsung appliance again. Went with an inexpensive, used Frigidaire Gallery and even though it has fewer features, it's rock solid.

YES. Yes yes yes.

I'm not sure what it means, but I avoid anyone who has any form of flag on their truck/hat/coffee mug, etc. Experience has taught me that the louder, more vocal or self-proclaimed "Patriots" are just ignorant, bigoted blow-hards.

Thanks! I appreciate the response. I've seen some videos on 3blue1brown and I've really enjoyed them. I think if I were to go back and fill in all the blank spots in my math experience/education I would enjoy math quite a bit.