unicorn

Texas welcome sign (ironically, the word "Texas" meant "friend" in some local languages. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-origin-of-name "The word texas (tejas, tayshas, texias, thecas?, techan, teysas, techas?) had wide usage among the Indians of East Texas even before the coming of the Spanish, whose various transcriptions and interpretations gave rise to many theories about the meaning. The usual meaning was "friends," although the Hasinais applied the word to many groups-including Caddoan-to mean "allies." The Hasinais probably did not apply the name to themselves as a local group name; they did use the term, however, as a form of greeting: "Hello, friend."..."

Well, the man will probably be charged with murder, since the boys were running away. One caveat which one should add to the story was that this prank happened at 11 PM, when one would hope parents would know where an 11 year-old is. Of course, that's no excuse for the heinous murder, although it does give some context. Things also do vary quite a bit from state to state. One has to be especially careful in red states, especially Texas, because anyone can be carrying a concealed weapon, even out in the streets, not to mention in one's own property. In Texas, and some other states, one does not even have to fence one's property or put up No Trespassing signs. All one has to do it slop on some purple paint on a tree every 100 feet (30 meters), or on a post every 1000 feet (300 meters) in unforested land. You cross that, and you may be shot. I stayed at a hotel in a rural area in Texas near Big Bend National Park once, and there was a notice that if a guest were to climb a hill behind the hotel, he could be shot without notice. One does have to be mindful of local laws and customs. https://www.ktsm.com/news/what-do-purple-fence-posts-mean-in-texas/ If you’re in the woods and come across a purple stripe, whether it be painted on a fence post, tree or somewhere else, you may not know what it means. While the unusual sight may make a nice backdrop for a photo, it’s also meant to convey an important message. As fall weather ramps up and hunting season continues, remember that in Texas, a purple stripe means “no trespassing,” so if you see one, don’t go beyond it. In Texas Penal Code §30.05, if a property is fenced, posted with at least one sign, or marked with purple paint, it is illegal for anyone to enter. The fine or jail time for trespassing in Texas can be up to $2,000 or up to 180 days. The law specifies the purple marking must consist of “vertical lines no less than eight inches in length and not less than one inch in width, and the bottom of the mark not less than three nor more than five feet from the ground.” The marking must also be placed at locations that are readily visible to any person approaching the property on trees or posts “no more than 100 feet apart on forest land or 1,000 feet apart on land other than forest land.” Typical Texas/red state sign:

Well, not having and using a smartphone does represent backwardness and technophobia. It helps me drive or go on public transportation, and is even necessary to get into most entertainment venues, at least here in Los Angeles. The only venue I know of which will even issue paper tickets in LA is the LA Opera (which, after all, caters mostly to senior citizens). Had our friend (as mentioned in the OP) not gotten into us in for free as VIP's, I would have needed my iPhone just to get my tickets. I did need to use the phone to enter the parking garage (in downtown LA) and to get out. One could waste massive amounts of time if one didn't use the navigation application, as the app tells the user the fastest way under current traffic conditions (and sometimes even corrects itself with other suggestions en route, as traffic conditions change). I'm a season subscriber to Broadway in Hollywood, for example, and they informed me that paper tickets are NOT an option. I do agree that simply calling someone on his cell phone number without first texting to ask if it's an OK time to call is a bit rude. The whole point of the different methods of communication are that they are appropriate for different time frames and purposes. (1) Direct phone call without texting first. Rarely appropriate, but OK for true emergencies (such as a friend or hospital telling you a relative or close friend was taken to the hospital or in an accident and needs immediate help). (2) Texting. These are best suited for something quick, which is not an emergency, but for which one would like an answer within a few hours. The texter would be expected to understand that he won't get a response if the person he's texting is in a business meeting, at the theater/opera/movies, at a social dinner, having sex, or driving (although I have hands-free capability/BlueTooth in my car). However, it's reasonable to expect a response within several hours. (3) E-mail. Something which is non-urgent, and may require more input, such as asking a friend about plans for getting together in the not-near future, business requests, and so on. Reasonable to expect a response in 24-48 hours. (4) Snail mail. Mainly for distant and/or very formal requests, such as a save-the-date for a wedding, wedding invitations, 30-year high school reunions, formal parties, and the like. I do recognize that there are certain people I know who won't respond to certain methods, and I have to learn which methods they use, but that just represents stubbornness on their parts. For example, I have one friend wouldn't answer a text to save his life (or the life of anyone he loved), but will answer cold phone calls (I consider a call without a text first to ask if it's OK, to be a cold phone call). Of all of these methods, texting is the easiest and can be done at a convenient time (for example, after the movie is over). There is no rational reason to completely refuse to use it (though, again, I do understand that such people exist, mostly elderly).

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the movie also stars the dreamy Jonathan Bennett:

We just saw a movie we loved, Potato Dreams of America, which is a dark-humor autobiographical movie which portrays director Wes Hurley's migration from Russia after the fall of the USSR to the US. The director as a teenager is played by very hot actor Tyler Bocock, although he was 29 when the movie was filmed (he's 33 now). There are even some racy scenes with that actor, including full nudity. The movie has 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it was one of the favorite movies I've seen so far this year. There is also a short movie called Little Potato, in which the director and his mother simply describe the events portrayed in the longer movie. The 14-minute short is available on Vimeo.

Here's a link to a variety of methods: https://www.nixalite.com/products/crow-raven-control Crows are unusually intelligent, so I doubt scarecrows or stationary plastic/ceramic owls would work, unless maybe they move or otherwise react to movement.

I agree that when I don't get responses to repeated texts (usually when I don't get an answer to a text after 3-4 hours, I use the question mark emoji, though your shoulder-shrugging one would do as well), I take it as a passive-aggressive no. However, I still find it offensive. It literally only takes lifting a finger to answer a text. It's insulting to me when a friend literally won't lift a finger to help (or even acknowledge) me.

It seems that I come across a lot of people who are passive-aggressive when it comes to texting, and it rubs me the wrong way. For example, we have some married friends who live about 1.5 km from LAX, and they've let us park our car at their place on extended vacations (the drive to that airport typically takes well over an hour from our place, and ride-share or taxis typically cost $100 each way). I made a group text with the two asking if we'd be able to park our car at their place for certain dates, and Husband A answered that it was OK with him if it would be OK with Husband B, since Husband A would be out of town during that time. Husband B never made any response, and after a few days we just asked another friend to drive us, taking him out for dinner as a thank-you. I should comment that we've helped these two out a few times, including a few weeks ago when Husband B was too drunk to make it to his place, and my husband stayed up to make sure he wouldn't flip on his back while sleeping and possibly choke on his vomit. As it turned out, he was kept on his side, and threw up on our carpet. Another fairly recent example involved a more casual friend. At a neighbor's party, he told me of some upcoming performances he was doing, and that he hoped we could come. I tried to get tickets, but the event was sold out. I texted him, informing him of my attempt, and asking him if he knew of a way to get tickets. I received no response for almost 2 days. During that time I became worried that I'd offended him and overstepped our friendship. As it turned out, he was able to snag us a couple of (free) guest passes, for which we were quite grateful. However, I wished he'd responded with "I'm not sure, but I'll see what I can do" after I texted him. Since I didn't know him well, I was worried that he might have mis-interpreted my text. If someone asks me something in a text, I can usually give a definitive answer within hours. After all, my calendar is right on the phone to which they're texting. At worst, I can respond with something along the lines of "I have tentative plans for that day, but can let you know by Wednesday," or "I'll let you know after speaking with my husband, who's at yoga now." How are you with texting? Do you acknowledge texts from friends in a timely manner, or do you sometimes let texts hang for days? Does it irritate you when people don't respond to your texts? When one of the people I use as handyman refuses to answer his text for days, I simply move on to another. But when a friend does it, I feel disrespected.

I don't understand why people are still arguing with Moses. When he isn't lying, he puts up the most asinine arguments that I'm sure he himself doesn't believe. He obviously isn't convincing anyone.

Maybe things are different in places where it's humid, rather than here in Los Angeles, where it's quite dry. So how often do you get your trash bins cleaned?

I saw this commercial on TV about companies which actually go and clean, "disinfect," "deodorize," and "sanitize" trash bins after one's regular trash collection every week. It seems rather crazy to me. Obviously, there's no way to "disinfect" a trash bin, and, even if there were, you're just going to put in rotten food, dog doo-doo bags, etc., in them on the next day or two. Yet there are obviously enough people who have such "cleanliness" concerns to keep these places in business. Do any of you worry about "sanitizing" trash bins? https://freshbinsla.com/

Wow. There are no depths of lying to which you won't stoop. How can you have so little shame? How can you sleep at night? No conscience? This comes from the very source you quoted: https://english.nv.ua/nation/zelenskyy-leads-in-first-round-vote-but-zaluzhnyi-would-win-runoff-poll-50525230.html "...If Ukraine’s presidential election were held today, 30.9% of decided voters would back incumbent President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi would come in second with 27.7%, new poll suggests...". There is the perfect word for people like you in Spanish: sinvergüenza (meaning shameless scoundrel).

You might agree with Trump that some museums are too "woke" because they keep emphasizing "how bad slavery was"... https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-smithsonian-how-bad-slavery-was-review-museums-rcna225964 President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has ordered his attorneys to conduct a review of Smithsonian museums, calling their portrayal of U.S. history too negative and focused too much on “how bad Slavery was.” Trump said he would subject the museums to “the exact same process” his administration has conducted of universities, with the goal of making the Smithsonian less “woke.” A White House official told NBC News on Tuesday night that Trump plans to extend his review of museums beyond the Washington-based institution, saying the president will hold the Smithsonian "accountable" and "then go from there."

On the subject of giving people advice when they haven't requested it, I saw this video which discussed various nut-jobs on airplanes...

I'm not that old, but he was still emperor on my first trip to Japan in the mid 80s. At the time, years were indicated by the year of his reign, which was along the lines of year 57 when I was there, rather than the Gregorian calendar year. I haven't seen that old convention being used on my subsequent trips to Japan--they seemed to have switched to the Gregorian calendar.

I asked AI, and it seems as though there is no specific prohibition against slavery in Canada, although it seems to be illegal in practice: AI overview: Canada's Constitution doesn't directly mention slavery, but it has strong protections against it and similar practices. Here's why: British Empire's Abolition: Canada was part of the British Empire when the British Parliament abolished slavery in most parts of the Empire in 1833. Early Canadian Legislation: Upper Canada (now Ontario) passed the Act Against Slavery in 1793, which was among the first anti-slavery laws in the world. This law, while not immediately freeing existing slaves, prevented the further introduction of slaves and stipulated that children born to enslaved women would be freed upon reaching the age of 25. Judicial Decisions: In the early 19th century, Canadian courts, particularly in Lower Canada and Nova Scotia, made decisions that effectively limited the enforceability of slavery. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: While not explicitly mentioning slavery, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is part of the Constitution, protects fundamental human rights like life, liberty, and security of the person, according to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. These rights are incompatible with slavery. International Commitments: Canada has also ratified international conventions that explicitly prohibit slavery and forced labor, such as the Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery. Modern Laws: Additionally, Canada has enacted legislation like the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, which aims to combat modern forms of slavery within supply chains. This Act mandates that companies operating in Canada disclose their efforts to eliminate modern slavery from their supply chains. I don't suppose that Canada is still subject to British laws, so the British law abolishing slavery wouldn't still apply to Canada. I looked up the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that's dated 1982! As for the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, that didn't come into effect until 1/1/24, presumably after the last Air Canada contracts were ratified. So Canada only formally began forbidding slavery in 2024, and is still dealing with that fact?

According to the New York Times, "The reason Air Canada restarted talks with the union was not immediately clear. But on Monday, Patty Hajdu, the labor minister, said that she had started an investigation into the issue of unpaid work by flight attendants while the plane was on the ground. In an interview with CBC News, she called the issue “deeply disturbing.”" So maybe slavery is, in fact, illegal in Canada.

I suspect that most of us aren't that old... 😉

It seems to me that the time they're required to report to work should be the time they start getting paid (assuming it's required). This reminds me of when I was working as a government physician. We had mandatory weekly meetings at noon, which were off the clock, but for which sandwiches were brought down, so that we could attend to the meetings promptly after our last morning patients. Someone was *shocked* that the government was buying rich physicians sandwiches, so those got cut out. Well, since we were off the clock, we just went out for lunch instead. In the end, they ended up having to cut the last two patients off of our roster, so that we'd have time to get or prepare lunch, then paid us for the hour of the weekly noontime meeting. The savings of the cost of the sandwich ended up costing 100X more.

I keep hearing/reading that the biggest sticking point seems to be that Air Canada doesn't pay workers for the work they're required to do before and after the planes are in the air. I can't imagine that this could be legal in the US, since the US Constitution plainly forbids unpaid work (with the exception of jury duty, I suppose). Does Canadian law, or whatever equivalent there is in terms of a Constitution, not forbid involuntary servitude? What's the legal basis for Air Canada forcing their workers to perform unpaid tasks? Clearly, much work needs to be done before and after the planes are actually in the air. https://apnews.com/article/air-canada-flight-attendants-illegal-strike-eca99afe8651b9bf64acd708ae987f5f "...Air Canada and CUPE have been in contract talks for about eight months, but remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work that flight attendants do when planes aren’t in the air...". https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/air-canada-union-chief-prefers-jail-being-forced-end-cabin-crew-strike-2025-08-18/ "...The flight attendants, who are pushing for a negotiated contract, are striking for wages similar to those earned by cabin crews at Canadian carrier Air Transat (TRZ.TO), opens new tab, and to be fully paid for work on the ground, such as boarding passengers...".

Another candidate for the Darwin award: https://abcnews.go.com/US/tennessee-hiker-dies-after-bitten-venomous-snake-officials/story?id=124678239 "A man has died after he was bitten by a venomous snake at a Tennessee state park, according to park officials... A witness told first responders that the hiker picked up the snake, which is believed to be a Timber rattlesnake, and was bitten on the hand, Griffith noted...". Of course, my first instinct when I see and hear a rattlesnake is to actually pick it up. 🙄

And yes, he does have an OnlyFans. 😉