Wundt

I live in Texas and put tire chains on my car so I could get around.  The roads in my neighborhood are still like skating rinks, with only a few patches of exposed pavement.  Most parking lots are icy, slushy, etc.  However, the major and most secondary roads have least one cleared lane with only occasional icy patches (bridges, in the shadows).  

I know I should minimize driving on pavement with the chains on, it can damage both the chains and the tires.  But, I still really need them in the places where there is still ice and deep slush.  

Any recommendations?  What do people generally do when the conditions are so mixed.  My inclination is 'better safe than sorry,' which would suggest it is better to leave them on until I am sure I don't need them any more.  It is cheaper to replace the chains or my tires than potentially pay for repairs to my car and towing fees.

It is February, 4 months since the election, and Trump supporters still continue their efforts to illegally overturn the election.  After all of their court cases were tossed out due to lack of evidence Arizona GOP state officials are now demanding that Maricopa Country election officials turn over the ballots and ballot machines.  This request is a violation of both Federal and State election laws (it is a fundamental truth of the American democracy that ballots are confidential) and so election officials have refused.  The GOP state officials then attempted to place the election officials under arrest, a vote that failed by only one vote.  They have since retaliated against the GOP officials who are refusing to go along with this illegal and unpatriotic effort.

How can you claim to be an American patriot when your party attempts to undo and undermine the very foundation of our democracy?  

I would remind you that the "evidence" of election fraud has been refuted by state election officials (including many in the GOP), federal election officials (including Trump appointees), judges (including Trump appointees), and independent researchers on both sides.

https://www.azfamily.com/news/politics/arizona_pol...

Now Trump is threatening to jail GOP members who don't support his efforts to overturn the election results.  He has already fired anyone in his government who had audacity to say the election was fair.  How can you claim to be a "patriot" and continue to support someone who clearly doesn't give a sh!t about the law, democracy, or his own party.  What does the GOP even stand for anymore except 'support Trump at any cost'?  

In the past, when tragedies like hurricanes, tornados, illnesses, etc. happened Christians were quick to claim that it was God's retribution (hurricane Katrina was punishment for "wicked New Orleans" and AIDS was punishment for "the gays").  

Now, we have wild fires from California to Colorado, the hottest summer in American history, so many hurricanes that they've run out of names for them, and 200,000 Americans dead from COVID.  America is being hit with multiple natural disasters, and the biggest common denominator for all of these disasters is that Trump is president... largely because of Christian supporters.  In fact, the number of natural disasters SINCE Trump took office has steadily increased and we've had record wildfires, droughts, and hurricanes almost every year since he took office.   

My 8th grade son plays junior high (full contact) football.  He has ADHD and struggles with his behavior and his grades.  Being involved in sports helps him burn off his excess energy, keeps him busy, helps him make friends, encourages him to work harder in school (he needs to pass to play), and just generally provides a structured environment. 

He wants to try out for the high school football team this summer.

My wife has 'put her foot down' about high school football. She has become obsessed with the recent news about kids getting badly injured, or even dying, in high school sports related incidents.  She has no objections to other sports.

My feeling is that the benefits of him playing outweigh the risks.  It helps with his behavior and grades, and he has actually gotten injured more playing on his soccer team than playing football.      

I am curious what other's experience has been in situations like this.  

At this point, I don't have a strong preference of most of the Democratic candidates... except for a dislike of Biden. I personally hope that Biden is not the candidate.

My biggest problem is that he WOULD have won against Trump three years ago, saving us all from a lot of pain and two seats on the Supreme Court. He remained out of the race as a favor to Hillary even when it was clear Hillary was vulnerable to attacks by the GOP and Fox News.

I feel his moment has passed, and he cannot now come back and try to fix what he allowed to happen in the first place.

I own a house with an good location, large wooded yard, and good floorplan. However, it is 40 years old and is showing its age. The bathrooms need renovations. It needs new flooring throughout. And, there are other small or large projects that likely need completion.

Assuming the house has an estimated sale price around the $400K, am I better off putting $30-50,000 repairing the house before the sale? Or, sell for $30-$50K less 'as is.' I an not worried it will sell, the neighborhood is very desirable, and about to get more so given nearby new businesses. (I suspect a realtor will say do the repairs because it ups their commission.)

I lost over 50 pounds last year through a diet. I decided to start weight training to help keep off the weight, lower my body fat, and to generally feel and look better.

I am a 50, male, and have been lifting 4-6 times a week for 5 months. I have run through a "beginner's program" and am now over a month into an "intermediate program." However, I am not seeing significant gains in either the weights I can lift or improvement in my physique. I am not saying there aren't changes, just not what I have hoped after months of hard work.

Starting from nearly zero, what is typical before you really start to see results? Do they come in waves (like weight lose tends to do) or something slower and more gradual? I know it is different for everyone, I am just interested to hear what others have experienced.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/...

A father a son, devout Christians imprisoned their stepsister in a basement and raped her repeatedly. They believe their actions are entirely in line with the Bible, a book that encourages its followers to treat women as property.

I know you will say these are "bad apples." However, Christians claim that the Bible and Christianity foster moral behavior, and yet we have a many examples like this one where the Bible is used to justify clearly immoral behavior. And, people like these two would argue that Christians who condemn them are the ones who do not understand God's will.

A church near my house has advertising showing people holding cards that say, "More Change", "Less Talk", and "No religious aftertaste."

My question to Christians... What is your reaction to this watering down of Christianity to make it more palatable to a wider population? Isn't somewhat ridiculous that a church - a religious institution - is marketing itself as not religious?

I was looking at a Jobs/Careers section for a large and well known company. There are at least a dozen jobs listed that I am qualified for, but worry that if I apply to them all I might hurt my chances. For example the HR screeners will get tired of seeing my name or if some of the jobs have the same hiring manager they might be bothered that I wasn't focused on a single job. The problem is that the jobs don't have enough detail for me to know if one of them is a better fit than the others.

Should I just apply to them all on the assumption that everyone does that?

Should I just apply to a couple and hope hit the ones that are a good fit?

Or, should I consider some other action or method?

A month ago I bought to a composter with two 40 gallon barrels that rotate. I filled them both with materials, mostly from my old compost pile, mostly leaves, but some grass and food scraps, all about 1/2 way through the process. Neither of the barrels have started to heat up the way my old pile used to when I was good about keeping it turned. I even bought some "Compost Food" to see if that would kick start things.

Any recommendations to get my compost cooking?

I have had the opportunity to visit the homes of many clergy over the years. I have been to the homes of ministers, rabbis, and others. In almost every case, those homes were in nicer neighborhoods and were priced well above the average for the city; much nicer than the homes of most of their congregation. There are also frequent stories of clergy from 'mega churches' living in mansions and driving expensive cars.

Churches and other religious institutions are considered charitable and non-profit organizations. When it is discovered that a charity like the United Way or a Susan G. Komen Foundation pays their directors fat salaries and gives them huge perks, there is usually significant complaint and backlash. Does the same happen with churches?

As a member of a congregation, how do you feel when you go to the minister's or rabbi's home and see it is nicer than yours? Does it bother you that money you gave to the church is going to fund their lavish lifestyle?

You believe your religion is the only road to salvation and you are - proverbially - throwing a life raft to drowning people. You have heard others have had success when proselytizing by giving testimonials about how they, themselves, were saved (from drugs, lives of crime, abusive family, etc.) through conversion. It is unlikely that a secondhand account of a conversion story will have the impact needed to get your audience to convert.

Would you lie? Would you repeat the testimonials of others to make it appear that YOU were saved from a terrible life (addicted to drugs, homeless, in jail, prostituting yourself, etc)? Would you embellish your own stories, so that it appears your conversion was more dramatic than it actually was? Would you knowingly lie to convert others?

I live in central Texas and we are in the third year of a drought. We got more rain this year, but are still at a deficit. I have a strip I prepared for planting over a year ago, but I decided not to plant anything there until the drought was over, or at least a little better. The plan is to put in something drought tollerant, like a sage or rosemary.

We are entering the prime time for planting shrubs in Texas (Feb). I don't want to plant only to have them all die when the summer heat and dryness hits. Should I wait another year to see if the drought ends or just go ahead and plant, taking the higher risk that I will lose them. My wife is tired of the empty beds.