two words: money laundering.

I've been to a ton of wine and food pairings in my local area which is a big wine producing place in the world. Definitely there seems to be a lot of phony baloney hype when it comes to describing the nose or the sensation on the palate or whatever, but it is true that a wine that is properly paired with the right food you take a smell, you take a little sip, and you go okay this is what the wine tastes like. And then you take a bite of whatever food it is, mmm that's pretty good... And then you go back to the wine again and all of a sudden you can taste the description that they were giving you and you go oh wow, that's neat. It tastes better now it tastes different, and occasionally, oh yuck, this tastes a lot worse. "Taste the season/sip and sizzle" used to be amazing to go to. Amazing. What a wonderful way for locals to go out and visit the various wineries and have a really good time. Giant thumbs down for changing completely how these events run now. Totally different 👎

I don't get it either. I'm not going to judge you if you're into it, but don't ask me to take part because frankly, idc if the home team wins.

As an outsider, your election system doesn't make sense to me at all. Why isn't the "popular vote" the normal vote? How does it make sense to give all the votes of a state to whoever got more votes?

That's so they can install updates...

I still can't wrap my head around that singularity that went bang.

You're not alone, the rest of the world doesn't understand either.

The truly sad part is that they've got everyone believing and parroting the idea that 'every vote counts'.

read somewhere it's to a) protect the poor rural US folk from 'progressive' ideas rampant in the cities and b) limit the effects of black people voting (back then 3 black votes or so counted as one white vote)

The term college is enrolled in Middle English. It is a transfer from Anglo-French that is ultimately of Latin origin; it is from the Latin name for "society," collegium, which itself is from collega, meaning "colleague." Essentially, a collegium—in both Latin and English—is a society of colleagues. Like electoral, college is related (via collega) to Latin legare—but in its senses of "to depute or delegate" or "to send as a deputy." Over its tenure, college has come to designate various groups of people who are associated by a common pursuit or have common interests or duties. Today, an electoral college is most often discussed in U.S. politics during an election year when "colleges" of registered voters will go to the polls to vote for their presidential candidate. The voting by those colleges, or groups, of electors make up the popular vote, which historically has sway over the voting by the electoral college.

For 104 years (1892-1995) the candidate who won the electoral vote also won the popular vote. When I was in high school in the 80s and we were studying elections it was treated like a footnote. It’s reasonable to say it would’ve been abolished a long time ago but it basically became irrelevant. But then 2 of 5 elections (2000 and 2016) reversed that trend, but both favored one party (Republicans). Since the Electoral College gives Republicans a notable advantage (note that Trump came very close to winning in 2020 despite a large popular vote win by Biden) they’re certainly not going to want to get rid of it.

The delegates at the Constitutional Convention were concerned that highly qualified possibilities for president might be unknown outside of their own region. (No tv or radio news, and newspapers were only distributed locally.) The electors were to be people with broad national experience, ones who would know leaders from all parts of the country reasonably well. This was hastily cobbled together at the end of the convention, and the delegates had their doubts. But they thought that any problems could be fixed by the amendment process. One big problem was fixed with the 12th Amendment (I'm looking at you, Aaron Burr.) and a smaller one by the 23rd. However it is very unlikely that the states who benefit from the unfairness of the Electoral College (the small ones) would ever vote for an amendment that would make them lose that advantage. Oh, and yes the founders distrusted the common people, and observing elections in this century might confirm their view.

Water is a very weird substance. They say it is the only material that floats in itself as a solid. That property allows life on earth.

I'd rather hire you than someone who 'thinks' they know it all.

I've heard people say that cooking is art and baking is chemistry. Often, a person is not both an artist and a scientist, so they prefer one over the other.

I pretend not to understand them so nobody bothers me at work with their It problems

After the second or third time someone mumbles to me I just respond with, "WHAT DID YOU SAY," in a loud but non-threatening tone. It usually gets the point across. I've been playing drums for over 20 years and my hearing is pretty bad as a result. People need to project their voice and annunciate syllables so I can understand them. If someone continues to mumble with their mush mouth I just ignore them. Usually, I will give strangers some grace and explain my hearing isn't great, but there are people I see almost daily who can't seem to grasp the concept.

because the rest might be conning. there is some mathematics ok, but nothing to do with the prosperity of the small "investor".

The biggest parenting secret (and, if we're being honest, adulting in general) is that we're all just winging it. You can ask for and try advice from those more experienced, but honestly, it's only a 50/50 shot that it'll work 🤷‍♀️

Come to Europe, we have more than 4 weeks!

People don't realise just how broad software engineering is. There are so many langauges, packages and libraries to deal with that you can't possibly remember them all. I have a "working set" of stuff I am using and usually a quick google will help remind me of other stuff I have done in the past and vaguely remember.

Magic ✨

Expansion and compression of a gas. When it expands it draws heat in, when it compresses it exudes heat.

People who are science majors in college are actually doing all the major experiments the famous first scientists did. It proves the science to the student and becomes the building blocks of understanding science. It has nothing to do with faith or belief. You actually do the experiments and prove stuff to yourself.

The belief that it seems to work means you're no longer pretending?

Watch one work. See how slowly it builds up layer after layer after layer. Then compare that to, say, a stamping press that can turn out thousands of identical pieces in just a few minutes.

I understand it, don't understand it, both and neither. Or none of those. I'm confused... again!

I always wondered how people fail to know they are talking too long or dominating a conversation. Do they fail to see people's attention fading away?

I wanted to have a child, because I have always felt loved by my family of origin and I wanted to give that love forward to my own child. As a family, I feel part of a unit of love and that's fantastic! Also I'm a caring person and I loved the idea of caring for a child that is my own and help that child to develop into a person and be happy. It's a delight to see them grow and learn everyday and it makes me proud beyond measure. Also I wanted to experience pregnancy, because it's a super power. To be able to grow a person in my body, give birth to them and nourish them with my mother milk was a very empowering experience that I'm very glad I was able to make.

The 7 layers of the OSI Model show how computers and software work together.

Astrology for capitalists

Sounds like a very toxic work environment

I can totally understand that. SEO and SEA manager here. I do not really understand what I am doing most of the time, but develop a sense of what works and what does not... Just some worshipping and kneeling before the allmighty algorhythms that no human being will ever be able to understand.

My Gramps always said 'Everything is 50/50, because it either is/will or isn't/won't.' That app that says 60% chance of rain? Nah, it either will rain or it won't. 3 doors, one with a prize, pick a door, it either is the prize or isn't. He even used it when he was diagnosed with cancer. I like the simplistic approach, but I also like better odds.