I’m old enough that I was the parent that bought these for Christmas presents. For the kids. Yeah, I bought them for the kids...

I work with egotistical jerks all the time (academia/engineering/research), and have learned that you need to get past the someone’s personality to make any kind of progress. Setting clear meeting goals is the best way to accomplish that as you state. Second to that is to take a step back and see if there’s anything…

My father built us a bomb shelter when I was a kid. We used it mostly as storage for preserved food (we weren’t preppers, we just lived off the land as a matter of course).

I used to live at sea level and never had a problem cooking rice on a stove. But I’ve moved to 5200 feet and cannot get the hang of cooking it at a mile elevation. I wonder if the fancy cookers take high-altitude conditions into account.

Everyone is different. My wife says she’d be more interested in sex if more men were invovled.

Show me.

Up until mid-adolescence this always worked for my kids:

It depends on the schools’ requirements. Math, physics, computer science, and philosophy majors often have to take classes that focus on critical thinking for example. E.g. Mathematical proofs in higher level math, finite math or algorithms in CS, etc. For some students, it's the first time they've faced any kind of…

We just installed one last week. We have solar panels, but they can’t quite keep up with the use of the AC.

We have solar on our house (5.1kws), and have enjoyed a 1 for 1 credit/use arrangement with our electric grid utility. But the utility is making noises about trimming that 1:1 ratio down to something like 4:10, citing the expenses on their side to handle my excess energy production. If that happens, I’ll have to look…

Could you do both? Keep your Power Wall topped off, and send any excess to the gird?

I work with a lot of people with military academy class rings. I have no issue with those. The rest seem silly on anyone over 30.

I find that just being active helps tremendously. Not exercising, just moving about more than one might be used to doing. When I visit a city like San Francisco, I eat well, but since I walk everywhere, I still tend to drop a few pounds. When the weather is foul and I can't go out, I tend to pick up a few.

While I agree, I think maybe he was just trying to throw a subtle complement to his wife rather than offer some deep commentary on society.

"you also have to applaud Korean Air for not allowing their service standards to slip, even the tiniest bit."

....

They should settle this dispute via a manly game of football. Like in The Longest Yard (or 130ish feet, but who's counting?)

Mashed potatoes, stuffing, and giblet gravy, plus a bit of cranberry relish or sweet potato casserole on the side. Turkey is just a carrier for the items mentioned here. Eating anything else is just being polite to the cook.

We're thinking about this all wrong. This isn't sad or funny. It's fantastic! When's the last time you've had a major epiphany that made your life substantially better every single day for the rest of your life?

Mrs. Kumquat and I eloped. I highly recommend it. No pressure, great sex, and a head start on the honeymoon. You can always have a drunken party with friends and family that degenerates into petty shouting, hurt feelings and torn jackets. That's what Thanksgiving is for.