It really isn’t hard to imagine how much Lovecraftian dread pre-scientific man would have experienced when looking up at something like this.

And it’s an amazing testament to the human appreciation for beauty that we can still experience a similar sense of awe and wonder, even though we know the naturalistic explanation for the phenomenon.

Maybe you’re right. But I don’t really bother to try and read too deep into the motivations of any kind of corporation. I assume they’re all primarily motivated by profit. And my point is that individuals who have the capital to buy millions of dollars of real estate are functionally no different from a corporate investor, be it a REIT or a “housing company” motivated solely by “providing service.” They’re all going to do the bare minimum as required by the market to stay competitive and government regulation.

It should be illegal for LLCs or trust funds to purchase housing of any kind.

I completely agree that LLCs, REITs, and institutional investors shouldn’t be able to buy single family homes (and maybe even duplexes), but I don’t know about “housing of any kind.”

Large, multi family units like apartment buildings serve a vital need in the affordable housing market. Private individuals who have the capital to purchase a multi million dollar apartment building aren’t any more likely to be a conscientious landlord than a corporation. At that point, it all boils down to effective enforcement of tenant rights laws.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/16/business/bill-melinda-gates-divorce-epstein.html

I am absolutely terrified of the potential of real time deep fakes combined with AI voice impersonations being used to scam the elderly. Obviously, that’s a ways off. But I fear it’s not that far off.

“Republicans” never gave two shits about abortion. It was always a wedge issue that whipped the evangelicals into a frenzy and got their preachers to stump for Republican candidates from the pulpit, and drove them to the polls.

And in your opinion, does the 14th amendment of the Constitution prohibiting individuals who engaged in seditious acts against our democracy from holding office count as a “backdoor disqualification”?

That WHO study is highly problematic. It has some fairly serious methodological flaws. It’s been disputed by the FDA. It is biased due to the panel comprising:

eight WHO panelists involved with assessing safe levels of aspartame consumption who are beverage industry consultants who currently or previously worked with the alleged Coke front group, International Life Sciences Institute (Ilsi).

Source

But it’s up compared to 2020. Is that really apples to apples? Isn’t it reasonable to think the pandemic and resulting lockdown might have put downward pressure on the number of abortions?

Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Flourine, Oxygen, Iodine, Chlorine, and Bromine

Can you imagine living in a world where American farm subsidies went to make fresh fruit and produce affordable to all income levels, but the fuel lobby had to pay top dollar if they want to distill corn into ethanol so they can dope our gasoline?

How would this work though? You’re not ordering your food via the QR code link, you’re telling the waitstaff. Unless they ask you what price your saw, how are they going to correlate their variable price to a particular customer?

However, this would make it a lot easier to implement “peak pricing”. Their menu could automatically update based on time of day, or day of week, and certainly holidays.

To specifically answer their question: No. There is no state that will allow your family to euthanize someone who currently objects, just because that person, while younger, signed a will stating that was their wish.

Personally, I find all the other eschatological possibilities much more disturbing. The heaven/hell dichotomy is unnerving on a lot of obvious levels. Reincarnation seems fraught with neverending suffering. And the idea of becoming a “ghost” or a spirit, forever consigned to haunt some old place is as terrible as it is ridiculous.

I’m looking forward to my hard earned non-existence, thank you very much.

some functionality will be restricted without a paid license

I think that’s why. But maybe I’m just overly cynical.

This is a minor quibble, but I’ve never been charged a fee for an extra plate. They usually only charge when you request to “split the order”, meaning the kitchen splits the entree onto two plates for you.

Not on a “per calorie” basis they aren’t. And I’m not really sure by what other metric you can compare them. But look at how many calories of broccoli $3 gets you compared to potato chips. Then you have to add in the time of preparation.

Additionally, many impoverished people tend to live in “food deserts”, areas without grocery stores, but many fast Food locations.

The deck is definitely stacked against the impoverished.

Just because a slur appears with a definition in a dictionary, does not make it acceptable. And maybe it was acceptable at one time, but things change.

I agree. However, I think most republicans completely understand the implications of political gerrymandering, and embrace it with enthusiastically open arms.