If you are wondering if others are on the road with you, you’re doing it wrong.

Turn signals are cool. But let’s ignore the fact I live in a very rural area and there is often no one within miles of me when driving. In that case, who am I going to signal to? That suicidal deer in the ditch? That’s the last SOB I want to have any clue about where I’m going. But anywhere I meet or see traffic I do use them. And definitely the once a month trip I make to a real town.

I do not, as a rule, place any great amount of faith in turn signals. And that paranoia has saved me more than once. Far too often I have seen a driver with a turn signal blinking merrily blow past me either straight ahead or turn in the opposite direction. Had I believed those signals, I would have been tee-boned.

The only thing I believe in is the direction your steer tires are turned. Turns out your vehicle will go in the direction they are pointing. Any of you new drivers, this is an excellent safe driving tip. Pay attention to the steer tires. Those tires will tell you the truth about the real intentions of another driver.

In any case always remember-- it’s just as easy to be dead being dead right as it is being dead wrong. Be safe out there…

I’ve switched away from DDG after many years of use. I have gone to Ghostery Private search. It seems to be better for my search results with a lot less garbage mixed in.

Which businesses? Foreign companies or local ones? Do you wish to have your money shipped overseas to purchase a vacuum cleaner? Or would you rather pay a bit more and have you hard earned dollars stay here in at home to help pay wages to your neighbors?

There is a balance to it. Yes, local manufacturing will make things more expensive. But making more durable goods tends to pay better wages for more people. And let’s be honest here, most people can’t be a doctor or write code. High paying collage degrees are beyond them. Or we can maintain low paying retail jobs for the majority of people.

But the is a balance and it can’t be done over night without causing large amounts of economic pain to many people.

Have you spoken to your healthcare provider about Viagra^tm? It may be able to help with your issue. (Please seek immediate medical help with an erection lasting more than 4 hours).

I already wear a smart watch and use the vibrate reminders. It’s not particularly effective. After a lifetime in the harsh sun, there ain’t a lot of feeling left. Maybe once out of three times I might notice the vibration if I’m not distracted doing life things.

As a boomer with tinnitus, (I’ve had since maybe 4 years old), and now hearing loss, I can’t hear shit on my cell phone at 50% volume. And I have alarms set to remind me to take certain inhalers at set times during the day, (Thanks Long Covid!). So, yeah, I have the volume up enough to probably piss you off. It pisses me off too-- I hate those things and having to live like this. But it’s not like turning the volume off or down is really an option for me.

But chances are I probably forgot the damn thing at home anyway.

And that’s where you want to put them down-- the local and state elections. Controlling the house and senate is FAR more important than POTUS. Because the house and senate make the laws and write the checks.

Yes, dictatorships and monarchies sometimes have a petition process, but they tend only to pay lip service. Not because they care, they will do as they please becaue they have the power-- hence a dictatorship. See: North Korea or a few countries in the middle east. Imagine trying to petition the Afghani government as a gay or worse, a trans person.

Governments of any kind are large and ponderous beasts. They cannot change direction as easily as you would like. And like it or not, there are rules and processes that must be followed to make changes. And those things are in place to provide continuity in government and protections to the populace at large. Imagine how much more damage trump could have done without those processes and rules. Imagine what he could do if he wins again after the last SCOTUS ruling.

Like it or not, Biden is bound by a lawful treaty ratified and codified by congress a long time ago. He cannot undo that treaty on a whim. Only congress can do that at this point. Make your changes there. And representatives and senators are local elections and not national. Best of all, YOU could be the change you want. Don’t expect someone else to do it for you.

But it IS the process to get it done. I never said it was ideal. If you don’t like the process, then vote for those that WILL change the process. But that takes time. Until then, we ARE stuck with the laws we currently have in place. That is the reality of the situation. I hope this helps you understand representative democracy vs a dictatorship.

Ding! Ding! Here is the correct answer.

I’m beginning to think that liberals and lefties have no clue how government works and they want a strongman/dictator as much as the magahat idiots. They just want one that aligns with their beliefs instead.

The POTUS is NOT all powerful and can make what ever decisions they want. Controlling the house and senate is far more important than whoever is living in the White House. The House and Senate writes the laws and checks to pay for everything. AND they ratify the treaties making them formally binding.

If you want to stop the genocide, elect the people in the house and senate that will effect the actions needed to make it happen.

Lutefisk. Served with heavy cream and melted butter. And Potato Klub as a side.

I leave it the reader to google it - if they dare.

Short answer is No. It suffers from many of the same issues of echo chamber, bias, and bullying. Just on a somewhat smaller scale due to fewer users. And never forget - Winter is coming. There will be a time in the future the bots will notice lemmee and come for it also.

But I suspect this is all a human thing. We are a contentious bunch at best and down right hateful at worst. We build communities only to poison and kill them in the end.

Yep, 80% of the time it works every time!

The point is, if you fix things, you WILL run into left handed threads at some point. I’ve found them in washers, vacuums, blenders, bikes, and cars. Left handed threads aren’t the most common thing, but they are out there waiting to screw with your mind and ruin your day…

Spindles and shafting are places you can find left handed threads. And it depends on the direction of rotation like that bike crank. Can’t have things coming lose due to the way bike cranks turn, so they a left handed thread to stay tight.

It took me a long to time learn that when dealing with such things that I need to stop, look, and think about how things are assembled and why.

Got that tee shirt too!

Thanks! Turned that BS off right now!

A nice thought until you run into a left handed thread…

Meteorologists do those graphs. What do you expect. Having set through more than one lecture by NOAA person for certification as a weather watch person as a firefighter. They love graphs and photos of clouds. Sooooo many photos of clouds…

Still, they are easy enough to read once you get used to them.