Well, unions definitely helped, but unions were first founded and grew in the late 19th century.  And they were instrumental in improving work conditions.  But the shocks of WW1 and WW2 are what really disrupted the old order.  Union membership peaked in the 1950's, and trends in inequality didn’t shift again until…

I played my Switch a little on my public transit ride, but could only get maybe 30 minutes in. I’ve recently moved though, and once I finish up my book, I’m going to go back to playing Switch. I have 65 minutes on the commuter rail now.  It just sucks that the wifi on the trains are garbage.  Hell, even the cell…

Boston gets more rain on average than Seattle!  

Streaming has become cable.  

Brine your chicken. Even the saddest chicken breast can be yeeted into greatness with a good brine.  Don’t be afraid of salt.  You need more than you think in cooking.

In place of a grill, you can use the broiler on your oven.  If you don’t have an oven, you probably don’t cook.

In general, the AT is safer than most places, at least when it comes to safety from other humans.  You could encounter a guy like this anywhere really.  I guess you’re just more isolated from help on the AT.

Ownership of property has been and is the primary way for most americans to build wealth since the 1940's. In fact, it’s the primary way most people in the US, Canada, and Western/Northern Europe built their wealth. Until People are more likely to own a home than have a retirement account.  Without it, we’d still have…

If you’re using a non-stick griddle or skillet, you don’t even need oil.  Pancakes come off of it easy.  You only need the grease for like, cast iron or stainless steel. 

Add berries. Blackberries. Strawberries. Raspberries. Blueberries. Whatever, just add berries to your dressing.

The rubber band never works.  

That last part is quite important. People who bitch about taxes and like to hark back to some idealized colonial vision of government, conveniently forget that while the colonies enjoyed a bit of autonomy in their own affairs, they ultimately had little say in the governance of the land in which they lived.  The King…

The Player’s Association would be having shit fits over management forcing a player to say they are injured...if they were run by somebody competent that is. 

That song was a crappy SoCal vibe ripoff from a band that was from Toronto.  The Vampire Weekend album is supposed to be more of a California album than East Coast/Ivy league feel from the last ones though, so I'll give you that

Yup!  Kinda weird.  I may have bought a couple once to see if buying them got you better stuff, and it doesn’t.  So there is no reason to buy them.  If you play enough, you get the boxes anyway as you progress (play games, complete games, win “medals” for top performance, and bonuses for queuing with friends).

Well, I can’t speak for all games with purchasable loot boxes, but in Overwatch, they are awarded to you as you play. The levels are meaningless except for the fact that each new level you get is a new loot box, plus you earn them by completing challenges or special events. You can earn a bunch of cosmetic shit and…

Yeah I get that, lawmakers won’t know or care about the difference.  But Jason lumped them together, which maybe for the purposes of this, makes sense.  But if you take this tack on it, you have to look at trading cards and games as well.  You are basically gambling a small amount of money to hopefully get a…

I feel like it’s a bit of a disservice to lump loot boxes from a game like Overwatch, which are completely cosmetic and add nothing to your ability to win the game, to the ones that give you power ups to beat a game or advantages over other players.

I guess I didn’t know the details, but I did read that Bungie was owned by Microsoft, and then spun off to be independent.  Maybe I confused myself.  Maybe I don’t fully understand the vagueries of the studio/publisher/developer ownership and relationships.  But one can dream, can’t they?