If you're asking "what if they hadn't divorced," your holidays and life in general would have been much more miserable by having two people who hate each other forced to stay together "for the kids." That's great that you still have relationships with them. Never look to the past except to inform your future decisions.

It seems like airports should have a designated area behind the security checkpoint that allows people to smoke and let their pets relieve themselves. As a non-smoker and non-pet-traveler, I don't really care if that area serves both purposes. If you're on a layover that's only 1-2 hours, it might not be possible to…

If you're on a direct flight that makes a pit stop, do you have to get off the plane? If not, do you have the option to do so (e.g. to get a better snack than what is available on the plane)? I've only ever been on non-stops or connecting flights.

There's a little bit of range in between body weight exercises and proper weight lifting. I've been doing this by just attaching weights to my body when doing my normal "equipment-free" exercises, especially big ones like push ups, pull ups and squats. I'll usually attach the weight to my upper back (push ups) or…

I grew up in a "suck it up and carry on" household, so I used to be in that camp. I literally cannot understand what it feels like to be depressed, as distinct from temporarily sad or bummed out, because for me logic always wins - "why be depressed about something over which you have no control?" and other such…

I don't know, to me it does seem that more people are actually depressed now than a couple decades ago, two big reasons in my mind being that it is easier than ever to avoid human interaction, and it's much easier for more people to pretend they are living glorious lives which makes non-glorious people and/or…

Agreed. I will rent an appliance the same way I rent a car - for a specific use and a fixed period of time, where borrowing one from a friend is not an option and purchasing is not worth it.

Amen good buddy. Shit was really bad in the 80s for a lot of people, but it seems so much worse now for MORE people. I would be curious about depression diagnoses across the broad spectrum of humanity now vs then, but of course it was so underreported in the 80s and earlier that we will probably never know for sure.

Well done. Of course, vendor lockout is a bitch.

Maybe I'm a little tired but I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or not. I don't have any hard data or anything to back it up (and don't care to because it's a moot point), but my impression is that many of the social justice issues that are popular today became popular from the comment/reblog jungle that is…

I would submit that the website to which you are referring is Tumblr, not Jezebel. And the MRA movement has latched on to the feminism/women's equality movement like a swinging dingleberry. As the latter gains traction, so does the former.

I live in a bumpkin town and still do this, just in my own very nice apartment complex. I pull into the garage, lock the garage doors to bring up load 1, lock the apartment door and go back down to get load 2. Everyone else leaves shit open all the time, keys in ignitions, etc. but there is something in me that can't…

I would also add that if your dad was in a position where he did actually have to use deadly force (i.e. his life is actively being threatened by an intruder instead of the intruder trying to escape), he's probably screwed. The shotgun is very unwieldy in close quarters and only fires one round at a time. Unless he is…

Unless your local emergency responders have a unique approach to vehicle fleet management, he would probably have left in an ambulance even if he was in a body bag.

A crime is never the victim's fault, but leaving a window open that is easily accessed from the street without so much as a motion-activated flood light, let alone a security system, in a neighborhood that the victim knows to be a high-crime area - and with an infant at risk to boot - is naive & irresponsible at best.

I second this; an oasis in the middle of this festering city, and you can just chill in Prospect Park after you're done, which also has a ton of free events (some unofficial and you'd have to dig around).

Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn is also a good time for wandering around. They offer paid tours as well, most of which I haven't been on. I would advise against the walking tour on Halloween (sold out according to the site) - it is the slowest, most boring tour I have ever been on, complete with a couple guys playing…

Definitely not always. For consumer gadgets that's usually fine. For servers, core switches, potential malware infections and things like that, you might lose critical troubleshooting information with a reboot; the problem will remain unsolved and probably reappear at some unknown future date. Killing and restarting a…

I hate to use the term STD because they can certainly be transmitted non-sexually. If you consider the disease-free virgin who shares needles, has blood transfusions, or may be exposed to the blood of infected people (e.g. law enforcement and medical workers, anyone in a sufficiently bloody street brawl), there is…

For the intents of this sermon, I think "biblical" sex also means to not mess around orally or otherwise at all, even with your spouse.