Take it from a resident of the state with more earthquakes than the rest of the states combined, and 75% of all earthquakes over magnitude 5 in the USA: you are a complete idiot if your bed is under a skylight or if you hang anything heavy or hard on the wall over the head of your bed. I have nothing on the wall above…

Take your rings off first and put them in a safe place. Use light weights but make your movements very slow, e.g. count to ten as you curl the dumbbell and another ten as you lower it. Use a mirror to ensure your form is good, and pay attention to the rest of your body, not just your arms. Lunges are also a relatively…

Re “be quick about it” — you do know one of the reasons why it takes women longer to pee, right? It has to do with clothing, especially in places where women are likely to be dressed in skirts, tights or pantyhose, etc. It takes a lot longer to declothe our urethras than it takes most men to whip it out through a fly.

Abortion is the big exception here.

I use black electrical tape to cover the annoying tire pressure warning light on my dash. Where I live we use studded tires seven months out of the year, and I have mine mounted on steel take-off rims so I can switch then out myself — cheaper, faster, and far more satisfying than waiting in line at the tire place…

I am so sick of hearing Kavanaugh defenders refer to the presumption of innocence. This isn’t a criminal trial, for God’s sake (although maybe there should be one), but a Senate advise and consent process. The presumption of innocence plus high evidentiary bar in criminal cases ensures that only those proven guilty…

I’ve got a set of flat and Phillips screwdrivers in various sizes that all have handles with triangular cross sections. The amount of torque I can apply with my tiny lady hands is massive with these things.  So much better than the standard hexagonal tools.

I’ve got a set of flat and Phillips screwdrivers in various sizes that all have handles with triangular cross…

Note that the Alaskan city formerly known as Barrow changed its name to Utqiagvik two years ago.

Don’t ask the FAs for re-seating help. If you have to board without having seats together, your only hope is getting other pax to swap. And don’t expect those with aisle seats to swap for a middle!

Agreed. And, furthermore, some of us frequently fly across locations where either, or both, air-to-ground (cell tower based) or air-to-orbit (satellite based) coverage is poor or absent. Flights over the ocean obviously have no ATG coverage, and ATO is bad at high latitudes because geosynchronous satellites orbit…

Lime is the common term for calcium oxide, which is a strong alkali. It is very caustic, reacting with water and producing lots of heat. When you heat CaO to 2400 C, you get limelight. Lye (sodium hydroxide, or NaOH) is also a strong alkali, and can be used to “digest” animal matter (including human corpses) when…

Huh?  I still barely weigh 106 (I am 63).  Menarche at 13.

That’s actually the plane’s main gear, located right beneath its original center of gravity, in contrast to the nose gear.

Bingo! I live in Murkowski’s state and have had to add a dozen or so numbers to my call block list in the past couple of months — too many national organizations (that I am in sympathy with) calling to exhort me to ask my senator to vote against confirmation. I’ve already let her office know I don’t want Kavanaugh on…

Calibre, and Apprentice Alf if you must.

Why not freeze shampoo? Not that you need more than 3.4 oz/100 ml on short trips, but there’s no reason to think thawed shampoo would not work. I live in Alaska and lots of things have frozen in my car when I’m doing multi-stop shopping trips.

You have mis-stated the choice here, which is *not* “Is it better to spend money on humans or to spend money on animals?” Your failure to grasp this, as well as your stubborn insistence on imposing your personal moral code on the pig-owning protagonist, makes you come across as a rigid bore.

Huh? Your comment does not seem to relate to what I said in any way. Where does the human:animal hierarchy, if there is one, enter into a private decision about how to spend money?

If it’s their money, why should they be any more ashamed of spending it on their pet than people who own multi-million dollar second or third homes are ashamed of spending money to buy more real estate instead of donating it to a sick, underinsured person? Conspicuous consumption of non-essentials (multiple cars,…

Keep in mind that there is a high degree of heterozygosity in the genes responsible for determining whether you are a fast, intermediate, or slow caffeine metabolizer. In lay terms, this means that due to common genetic variations, your body may overproduce the enzymes that break down the caffeine, clearing it from…