As a grandmom, my Mom has decided on boxes for really lame gifts that might make you wonder if she has dementia, for gift cards.

If you don’t give her sufficient ideas for her to buy you something you enjoy, you’re a Scrooge and deserve this box of instant jello …… containing a gift card so you can get it yourself

There’s also the very important concept of a capital gains tax. Why does their income from stock sales get to be taxed at a special low rate, as if it weren’t income? That’s ridiculous

We’d go a long way toward evening it out just by deciding

• income is income. No special categories of income for the wealthy
• when your company or trust spends money on your personal life, that’s also income
• tax brackets keep going. They don’t even have to be specially high, but why does it top out so early?

Too old to understand why you’re asking about American Sign Language

Convenience appliances? You can do a lot with a microwave oven, air fryer and coffee maker, without any flame, or really any exposed hot surfaces

I leave butter out. I try to limit it to a week, and usually succeed since I cook with it now. I’ve seen it turn color and taste after a couple weeks but it’s still edible and never made me sick

My brother refrigerates and claims that if you make thin slices it gets soft pretty quickly. I’ve also seen YouTube claims to that, but I must not be patient enough

I wonder if we listen to Trump more than they do. I have a hard time believing people can listen to him speak and come out with ideas like “he’s real”, “telling it like it is”, “he’ll do better with the economy”. Ok, maybe the last one because people are dumb

People here always talk about conservatives getting their news from Facebook or Fox.

But the connection I didn’t make until way too recently…… maybe they don’t know any politics firsthand. My Facebook tells me Trump is “telling it like it is”, so I don’t need to listen to him

Maybe the opposite. Biden’s policies turned the economy around. All the numbers look good and were poised for growth that Trump will take credit for

How quickly and widely will he actually apply tariffs? If they don’t take widespread effect for two years, they’re home free

Not at all. Most of those Workstation or Fusion users are likely employed by their enterprise customers, and they need an inexpensive way to try to keep them.

I know it’s anecdotal, but when I worked for an enterprise that used VMWare, most of us also tried to use VMWare in our home labs, even though the company didn’t provide licenses.

Back when VMWare was a desired skill, many of us had VMWare in our home labs even when we didn’t have an employer that used it, to maintain proficiency. This doesn’t seem likely anymore but they probably want it

Cool setup!

What do you have for network equipment? I have 1G symmetrical unlimited, but anything faster seems to require a jump to much more expensive networking. And even then, most user equipment can’t support that

If it’s just not wanting to deal with people, it seems like most restaurants do takeout, since COViD.

Last Spring I went to this Thai restaurant I’ve been eying. The restaurant was pretty much what you’d expect and the food pretty good. Most of that meal we were the only customers, but there was a steady stream of takeout orders. That seems typical now

My remaining fast food vice is Chipotle.

We have a bit of a tradition going. When my teenager drives over from his mom’s house Friday after school, I send out a Chipotle group order so he can pick what he wants, and it’s ready for pickup as he approaches.

So fast, so convenient

Burritos are not food if you get them from taco bell

Do they have options?

I gave up Taco Bell after college as “not actual food”, and for decades only went to McDonald’s in a road trip or Wendy’s for a frosty. There was a cheap local-ish burger joint that sometimes took their place but it was a bit out of the way …… then we got Chipotle and Panera!!! Fast food that’s actual food and not quite as bad for you. And now it’s the same price or cheaper.

My burrito cost less than your Big Mac meal while being more filling. It has less sodium, less saturated fat, actual fiber and vegetables, and tastes so much better.

We do have at least one authentic burrito place that’s even better and cheaper but you can’t order online. Chipotle group orders are the god of food apps

Then go for a burrito

Don’t wait. Come talk to us. Yeah things are hectic with demands flooding in from all directions but we want to make your job easier and better

It all depends on whether they’re competent and can act together for their goals. Many of those goals are truly horrible, but

• Trumps first term was incompetent, fractured. Despite all the chaos and destruction, they did nowhere near as much damage to peoples lives and democracy as they wanted to
• My conservative brother is all too typical, dismissing the worst statements as “he’s not serious. He’d never do that”. We have to hope people like my brother are right
• their goal is narcissism and their methods are stoking outrage: is it possible they’re not actually evil, don’t actually pay attention to what comes out of their own mouths? Are they even capable of working together? Making Trump rich and stoking his ego would be a travesty, but far less damaging than what he says he’ll do

Hopefully. That’s the real fear, the real danger: this time fascists have thought ahead rather than be surprised at winning. What if they’re competent?

chose to ignore the devastating effects of inflation on normal Americans, instead of providing a concise plan of revamping the economy

Come on. The party in office when inflation came back down. Inflation rate is near normal now. Blame them for not communicating effectively or blame voters for looking at cumulative inflation over four years, rather than resulting inflation

That’s crazy, the Democrats also had a better internet game. Are you saying the Democrats success with memeifying Trump is actually what made him more accessible to younger voters?