SwingingTheLamp

Same thing I've wished Democrats would do for years and years: Learn from psychology and neuroscience that language and how you use it matters, then learn how to use language to improve their messaging.

And then do it.

Politics in a big country like this is like an arena show, and Democrats treat it like a university lecture hall. Play to the cheap seats! For example, compare how I read that Harris would "address health care disparities which disproportionately affect Black men" versus "death tax." Which one is more likely to reach Joe Six-Pack? Which one has more visceral impact? Which one is more, as they say, cognitively sticky?

Worst case, he does it. Best case, he gets resoundingly thumped by the legal system. But neither of those is going to happen. If he's even still alive in four years, I don't think the people really in charge will be able to hide the dementia like they are now.

They kind of have a point about blocking roads being ineffective, but for entirely the wrong reason. Having been stuck in traffic caused by protests blocking streets several times myself, I know that for most of the drivers, it's utterly indistinguishable from all the other traffic jams. Unless you're right up front to see what's causing it, it could very well just be another event at the fairgrounds, or one of the regularly-scheduled crashes.

Put another way, maybe driving is actually a protest against cars? It is pretty damn effective at blocking streets.

That doesn't sound like anything like a problem. We had a similar discussion on a local winter biking group, and there were some people who had issues from washing their face three or more times a day, exfoliating regularly, and such. Yikes!

Hope the hyaluronic acid helps!

Bigger picture, what's your current facial skin care routine? If it includes a lot of cleansing, exfoliating, hot water, strong soap, multiple daily washings, et cetera, dial that all wa-a-a-ay back. All of those things strip away the natural oils quite effectively, which leads to that red, inflamed look in the cold. The best way to keep your skin moisturized is to keep the moisture it naturally has from escaping, and that's 10 times more important in cold, dry climates.

Be sure to drink enough water, too. It's deceptive, you lose a lot of water through breath in cold, dry air, so you can be dehydrated even without sweating.

To add to the other comment, saying "always-late wife" would convey the correct meaning to most English speakers.

If she's dead, I don't think it matters what you say.

Since this is about punctuation, what's with the double dashes? Trailing off is usually written with an ellipsis, though an em dash can be used, since this is more of a break in speech. And yes, double dashes are sometimes used as a substitute on a keyboard or with a typeface that doesn't have an em dash.

But this is hand-lettered text— just draw the em dash!

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.

I dunno, man, it just feels like the ol' fascist/totalitarian tactic of flooding the zone with shit until people get exhausted from fighting it has worked, people are exhausted, and there's this energy of elated resignation, like, we can't swim upstream anymore, so fuck it, riding the current is kind of fun (and the inevitable waterfall is out of sight and out of mind for the moment).

No, don't break it to them. Let them be surprised.

I work for a university department, and our programs strive to make "DEI" and "merit" literally the same thing. We want the best and the brightest, so we try to overcome the barriers that keep them down, such as family history and economic circumstances. Those factors disproportionately affect people from minority groups because of historical reality, and that's the only reason that race even enters into it. Many of the people in our programs are white people from poorer backgrounds. We don't control the admissions process, we just try to get the best people to apply.

Put another way, the people with the family and cultural background (i.e. money, knowledge, and connections) to get into grad school are not always the same people with the best scientific minds.

Put yet another way, if the result of your hiring process is all weathier, white men, that's prima facie proof that the hiring metric was not merit.