aramis87

Trump just "pardoned" an Oregon(?) state election official, convicted on state charges of (?)election interference. It's symbolic, not I fully expect them to try to press that through officially.

The face of a man who has had his privilege card revoked.

I figured my first degree had to be something that could make me a living, so I looked where the decent-paying jobs were / were going to be at the time (and where the field wasn't saturated). I also wanted to maximize the amount of learning I was getting from college, so of the decent-paying / non-saturated majors they had, I deliberately chose a major I knew absolutely nothing about. At the time, that was programming.

It gave me a degree to aim for and I figured if I hated it and changed my mind, it didn't really matter, since the first couple years you're mostly taking basic courses; if you change your major in the first couple years, you don't end up too far behind. And if you change it a bit later on, you can still declare your previous major as a minor, or do a double major.

Turns out, I really liked it, was good at it, learned an awful lot, and got my major in it.

I also read on another thread: many of the plant workers are immigrants and there's been increasing tension between the workers and the "native" townies. So there's a decent contingent of town folk who are happy the plant is closing, and think their communities will adjust to living without the plant workers spending their money locally.

"Even knowing what I know, I'd still have voted the same way." Okay, cool, please accept my lack of sympathy for your current situation. Also, emphasis added:

he now sees as directly responsible for shutting down ONE of his family’s businesses.

Yeah, let me expand that lack of sympathy ....

The court will order those things to be paid. Her actually getting the money is an entirely different matter.

You can post it if you want. Sorry for the reddit link. The copy I saw was on imgur but search just brought up the reddit one.

I saw a post yesterday from some SAHM with two young kids, who's influencer channel is apparently filled with tradwife shit about supporting your husband in all his works, etc. And she's crying because her husband wants a divorce, has cut off her credit cards, she doesn't have any money of her own, doesn't have any credit of her own, she hasn't worked in 15 years and has no idea how she's going to support herself.

What level magnification are you getting, and is there much distortion when using it to read (or to examine objects)? The only thing I know about Fresnel lenses are lighthouses!

The story notes that the pool was near in size to the car. That would mean that, regardless of water pressure, you wouldn't be able to open the doors. My next try would be the windows but it's possible that it was such a tight fit that they wouldn't be able to get out the windows either.

My next option would be to pull down the back seat, exit into the trunk, and use the interior trunk release to exit the trunk. However, that also may not have worked, depending on whether the car's weight was on the trunk (preventing you from exiting the trunk), or whether there was enough room along the back or sides of the trunk (preventing you from making your way to the surface).

My final option would be to try to kick out the windshield and exit there. I'm sure many people would try it earlier; my assumptions are that the weight of the engine would be holding the front of the car closer to the bottom of the pool; that momentum carried the front of the car close to/into the edge of the pool, limiting space to exit that way; that front airbags may make the exit awkward; and that a possibly shattered windshield and crumpled front of the car make exiting through the windshield a more dangerous route.

Other than those options, I'm not sure what you could do.

A friend of mine's cat does a less aggressive but similar thing. They now have a ritual every morning and every night, where she gets out a paper towel, the cat jumps into her lap, and she rubs/scrubs away at her ears for a few minutes. My assumption is that my friend's cat has a mild allergy of some kind.

Assuming that it is an allergy: My personal philosophy on this sort of thing is that I'd rather prevent / minimize the allergen from reaching the cat, rather than letting the allergen reach the car and then treat the symptoms: allergic reactions cause inflammation, which can increase your risk of other health issues later on.

My personal suggestions, in the order I'd make them, due to the effort or side effects involved:

1. I'd try gently rubbing the inside of your cat's ears once or twice a day, maybe with a tissue or paper towel. Hopefully this will help reduce her desire to scratch while you're working on diagnosis.

2. Cats can be allergic to their litter, particularly the dust, clumping agents, or fragrances. Don't switch to a corn-litter, as that's a common-ish food allergy in cats, plus if you have one allergy, you're likely to have others. There are litters marketed as hypoallergenic, but I'm not sure how truthful those claims are. You're looking for one with no fragrances, no clumping agents (an older-style fragrance-free clay litter might work), and minimal dust. Note that some cats get annoyed at litter changes, so you may need to mix old and new litter in increasing percentages over like a week for her to accept the new litter. Once it's full switched, give that a couple weeks and see what happens.

3. If the litter-change doesn't work, try transitioning your cat (transition over a week or so to avoid stomach upset) to a hypoallergenic cat food. Give it a couple weeks and see if things are better. If it is, then it's likely some kind of food allergy; you can look over the ingredients between the hypoallergenic food and her regular food, to try to determine what she's allergic to so that you can switch her to a less expensive or more readily available food. [You'll want to check wet food, dry food, and all treats.]

4. If it's not a food allergy, it could be an environmental allergy (the litter is an environmental allergy, but it's also the easiest thing to change). Does the problem get better and worse at different times of year? In that case, it might be something like a pollen allergy (indoor cars can also have pollen allergies). You can get the cat tested for those, not I'm not sure it's worth it because I'm not sure what the allergist would recommend. My suggestion would be to vacuum and dust the house thoroughly, especially the areas where the cat spends much of her time to get rid of any allergens currently present. This does include things like cat trees, cat beds (wash it if possible), etc. Once that's done, I'd put pillowcases or similar small pieces of cloth in her favorite nesting places, and wash those weekly using a fragrance-free laundry soap. I'd install HEPA filters on your HVAC system, and consider one of those room-purifying air circulator units if needed. Doing one thorough cleaning, putting down a washable barrier layer that gets washed regularly, and limiting pollens getting into the house should significantly reduce environmental exposure, particularly if she's an indoor cat.

I agree that Benadryl is an option, but I'm leaning against it being your first option because it doesn't work in all cats and, like I said, I prefer addressing the cause and not the symptom. But if it is an allergen and you can't figure out the root cause, then Benadryl may be your best option. If you go the Benadryl route, check with your vet for dosing, frequency, safety and side effects (or they may have a recommendation for another allergy medication as well).

Good luck, and please let us know how you get on!

If Democrats ever get back into power, they'll get yelled at for not fixing all this shit fast enough.