Bipartisan is such a weird concept for us living in the rest of the world. We have so many more parties than the two in the US.

Aww, I thought we were talking about Rimworld

Cats do pant, but also run hotter and enjoy higher temperatures than humans (24-26 °C depending on race).

Also, cats have lots of ways to release heat, cats can arrange their fur to release more heat (or burr it to trap more), they lay on cool ground, they can lick themselves for evaporative cooling, and of course seek shade when it gets hot.

We had a hot summer with temperatures of over 30 °C indoors and I got worried my European shorthair would overheat, got them a gel pad that wicks away heat when laid upon, but they thought it was ridiculous and just laid on the concrete floor in the shade whenever too hot and was super comfy and lazy.

And in case your brain works in a way that needs steps, for a practice trip I’d suggest these steps:

0. Prepare everything you need according to your boat, waters, weather, safety needs and trip. Make sure to double check that you have everything you need before casting off.

… Get out on the water, prepare the rig you want to practice, etc…

1. Pick a direction you want to go in, note a landmark, buoy, or something stationary to steer towards. If you don’t pick a direction straight against or with the wind, the rest will be easier.

2. Try adjusting your sails to give you some speed. If you have a common Bermuda rig, start with your foresail, it’s going to be easier to see when it’s good, and it will give you speed enough to steer. I usually teach it as: take the sail in until it gets that nice billowed curve, and then let it out again until it just about can’t keep it. Then do the same with the mainsail.

Note that if the boat changes angle against the wind, you’ll have to adjust the sails and/or start over. When you’re starting out, you’ll have no chance to keep the boat going straight for long enough to both hit your landmark and trim your sails.

3. Check your course against your goal, try to adjust course a bit (10-15 degrees) and adjust the sails as needed.

4. Now try keeping course against the wind rather than the landmark. Can you sail with the wind straight from the side? How do you adjust the sails for that? How does that affect what you need to do with the tiller to keep straight?

5. Repeat for different wind angles. Also, note that winds change around obstacles, sails, and with time of day. Typically not a deal breaker, but enough to be confusing if you’re not aware.

This is probably enough for the first dozen trips. Remember to save energy to be able to get back, moor, and set everything ship shape again.

As you get more comfortable, you can try doing tacks (same sail adjustment procedure), then try doing a tack so that you only need to adjust the foresail, then maybe trying deliberate listing, sailing donuts (with continuous sail adjusting) with a gybe, and then onto maneuvering tasks like stopping at a buoy, doing a figure of eight Man-overboard maneuver, picking up something out of the water.

And somewhere along this you start doing actual boating, learning to moor, anchoring, cooking, planning your days, routes, planning for weather, etiquette with other boats, etc.

You’re (almost) book right, but sailing wasn’t made by or for people reading/writing about it.

Most seamanship is actually about managing poor conditions, poor weather, poor alertness, lack of judgement due to weather fatigue/boredom/hangovers, but also changes in weather, wind, currents, equipment failure etc.

I would suggest you start from the opposite direction, see your boat as a tool, and explore what you can do with it.

Try what happens if you pull in your sail or not in the current wind, where is a nice sweet spot?

Do you know how to find the wind direction without your instruments? How precise can you get?

How does the tiller respond, what happens if you turn fast or slow or in between? Is there a difference up against the wind or down? Is there a difference to port or starboard?

How straight can you steer? How straight does the boat go when you steer straight? How does this change over different winds?

If you don’t try this with a comfortable/skilled sailor, you might want to avoid some things with risk of injury, like:

keep to low to moderate winds, with mild gusts, when practicing (or the forces and noise will make things unhelpfully harder),

only do tacks/turning against the wind for now (turning with the wind behind you can have the boom launch you off the boat, and wind you or even knock you out), and

Do have backup emergency equipment, if something goes bad you do want to be rescued even if your SRC got wet, mobile lost signal, and you fell overboard. Prepare according to your size boat and waters, signal whistles, flares, or automated beacons can be good. Also make sure that someone will look for you, leave a plan with check-in times with someone on land.

(A plan with check-in can be as simple as: I’m going out thereabouts over the weekend, I’ll send you a text on where I anchor in the evening, and I’m expected back late Sunday night. Here’s my number, here’s the number for the rescue service)

But price increases of cereals ( bread, pasta, grains, etc.) increased by about 7,5 % last year alone, which is more than the inflation, and more than the increase after inflation.

That’s where people might complain. They still can’t afford food, as food prices increase faster than overall inflation

I appreciate a data supported argument, and love that you actually linked sources.

One thing that I feel is missing in most of the linked analyses is that inflation has also hit unevenly, and the price of basic goods has increased significantly more than overall inflation. Which would explain why households still have less disposable income, also the mean debt burden is much higher leading to loan costs being more common.

Or brought up by a neurodivergent parent, or sibling, or have an ND partner

Cuz Size Matters

Ah, but you’re just saying that as a professional troll.

Now compare that to: I think you’re mistaken, intent matters, and I believe extending trust that both parties want to convey something, rather than just dismiss others, is necessary for a discussion, and also for a communal discourse. If we’re just shouting into the void, no trust is needed, but for interactions and building a sense of community, we will need both trust and norms of collaboration.

Baselessly ascribing malicious intent is moreso a way to sow distrust and kill off discussion.

And besides, unless local regulations expressly forbid it, the income statements of those companies are after any fines and after any profit reducing measures (e.g. Amazon famously use investment schemes to reduce taxation), they do make the money to cover them in the shorter interval, or even shorter.

Oh no, with Amazon only having a 3,5 % margin (after fines), it would take them all of 48 hours to make up the losses.

The point still stands: the fines are ridiculously low for these companies, and they have no incentive to change based on current fines.

Also quite useful for places short on water, or daylight, or clement weather, or low-value ecosystems, or where transportation is unfeasible due to accessibility, environmental conditions, market access.

Also quite good to alleviate food deserts, securing strategic supply chains, and supporting urbanisation for greenification, food supply, lowering transport and food security (with growing food also having positive mental and psychosocial effects).

Oh, so that’s why! Here I thought y’all were shufflin

Oh, we need both for sure, and renewables as well.

That’s assuming a lot of ifs resolve our way, and without power needs increasing. It’s more sustainable than coal/gas/oil for sure, but with current energy development needs it’s barely long term (IIRC about 60-140 years)

Also, on centuries timescale, we will need to find more fissiles in space. And according to our current understanding of the universe, they should be quite rare, especially compared to hydrogen.

Basically, figuring out fusion power would solve our needs for the first level on the Kardashev scale, and has the potential to be portable fuel for the rest of the lifespan of the universe.

Progress is always incremental, except in hindsight

The best thing about abbreviations is that they are entirely contextual, which means that if it isn’t obvious what’s meant, you can make up your own meaning and wonder/ask why the other person is using it so very wrong.

There’s even an abbreviation for it: TLB, which in this context means Three Letter Bullshit.

Such a classy kitty, bringing style to any encounter

Yeah, Amazon has a pretty long track record of burning through employees at all levels. From the outside it looks like it’s very much to their detriment, but I guess they feel differently since they still do it.

Sorry it’s happening to you though. Hope you find a less sociopathic employer!