At-home laser tag game? When we were kids my brother had one - 2 battery powered chest plates you wore and 2 guns. We’d turn the lights off in the basement and play.

From the original court filing: “Defendant would show that any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been sustained by Plaintiff, Mary Doe [the 9 year old girl], were proximately caused by Plaintiff's own fault and negligence, were proximately caused by Plaintiff's use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”

American Airlines is passing the blame to their “outside legal counsel.”

Parentheses and emphasis are mine.

For bills that are due on a regular basis but not monthly (car registration, oil changes, pet’s annual check up, HVAC check ups if you own a home, etc) - figure out how much each costs per year, add them all up, divide by 12, and set up an auto-transfer to a savings account for that amount every month. Don’t forget to include that amount in your monthly budget too.

9:15 then. At 9:15 we’re definitely going to bed.

Knitting a pair of socks for my spouse.

It’s from a single skein of yarn that goes from light gray to gray to black. I split the skein up so both socks would end up being the same gray on the leg part, but it’s taking longer to get to the gray than I’d planned so they may have a pair of mismatched socks.

Edit: I can’t html tonight

Having worked with several large tortoise species, this is true. They can be much quicker than you expect, especially when they notice you have their favorite food.

It looks like either a Galapagos or Aldabra but I can’t tell for certain.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

While it may not put on much in the way of body fat, chickadees’ brains gain weight to remember where they hid all their food for winter. This may apply to tits as well since they’re related but I haven’t seen any studies for them specifically.

Sending you and Greta hugs! Here’s our doofus.

It’s similar to a pretty normal human walking pace, more a “walking up to a restaurant to meet your friends inside” speed than “slowly strolling through a museum looking at art.” If that makes sense? Fast enough I’d have to step quickly to get away when I’d see the one tortoise who liked to use my pants as her napkin heading toward me with bits of food stuck to her face.

See also: “Just do (whatever task you’re struggling with).”

As if it’s as easy as that for everyone.

Watch a hummingbird nest in California - they have babies rn!

Animaniacs!

Sending you a hug

For one week. And they can only be bought online.

Hello Mittens

Cherry for me. Common flavor in lots of fruity candy mixes but not my favorite. I do like cherry sours on their own though

"Based on the information available to me, it is my assessment that the IDF strike on the WCK aid workers was not knowingly or deliberately directed against the WCK."

Maybe I’m just too jaded, but this statement bothers me. No, I also don’t think Israel woke up that day and said, “Let’s take out some World Central Kitchen today.” But what the world wants to know (more like wants confirmation of) is that Israel knowingly hit an aid convoy. And to me his statement doesn’t clear that up.

Edited to add the emphasis in the quote is mine

If you can, get some photos and/or videos of the puppy on your property to show animal control.

We had a similar issue with our neighbors (except several adult dogs coming into our yard). We tried asking nicely, we tried appealing to them as fellow pet owners (don’t want our dogs to hurt each other), we tried yelling.

In the end we had to call the police (no animal control in our area), and the officer asked if we had any photos so he could see which dogs it was.

For kitchen stuff - If it’s not dishwasher safe I don’t get it or don’t keep it (if it was given to me).

We have a robot vacuum and litter box. I am grateful for them every day.

Getting myself and my kid out the door in the morning feels like climbing Everest every day. One thing she almost always forgot was to put socks on when she got dressed, so she’d have to go back upstairs. Since she’s also neurodivergent there was a good chance she’d get distracted upstairs and 1. forget to get her socks, 2. lose track of time or 3. both. I put a bin by our shoes and now her clean socks go in there.

I get job alerts from a site called Rat Race Rebellion and see help desk type jobs pop up pretty often. The jobs are almost always work at home and supposed to be confirmed legit job postings - which so far the ones I’ve looked at do check out.

It’s most likely a boomer ball

I’ve been on 2 cruises and enjoyed them, which still kinda shocks me because I’m generally an introvert who doesn’t like going to crowded places. However there are a few reasons I liked the cruises I took and would consider going on one again:

1. The first cruise only had 1 “at sea” day (out of 7). The rest of the days we were in a port. The 2nd cruise did have 2 at sea days but they were at the beginning and end of the cruise. I’d probably stick with just 1 at sea day if looking at a cruise in the future.

2. To me the ship is just the hotel. It’s where I sleep, and the food is decent with the added bonus that I don’t have to cook or wash the dishes. With the cruises I went on, we got deals where it was cheaper per night than sleeping in many hotels. And we never had a problem finding some quiet corner to hang out if we didn’t want to be in our room when we were on the boat.

3. I didn’t take any tours offered through the cruise. Instead we would get off the boat and use public transportation or a cab to take us to where we wanted to explore for the day. This let us avoid the cruise crowds.

4. I didn’t feel much sales pressure. Yes they mentioned a couple times about getting a deal if you book your next cruise before the one I was on finished, but I knew I wasn’t interested. I just ignored it and no one bothered me about it. I also didn’t have any presentations I had to sit through either.

It’s definitely not the only way I’d vacation, but I’d take a cruise again under certain circumstances.

Baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, pasta, yogurt, steamed veggies, lots of rice dishes, pulled pork, chicken, venison, Thanksgiving turkey breast when it’s just the 3 of us

It’s extremely helpful when I forget to thaw meat for dinner (which is more often than not)

There is a trick to the pasta, but it saves me from panic dashing into the kitchen when the pot boils over because I forgot to check it

I cook most of our meals in it. We even have 2 so I can cook the meat separately since I’m vegetarian

But wait! There’s more! (not really, I just know I sound like an infomercial)

Me too. Then the whole day is gone and I didn’t leave the house.

Those eyes 🥺

I had to read it twice. I forgot what the top said when I read the bottom

Someone curling their eyelashes while driving 65mph

I have another example from work. Most if not all of the people I work with have personal boats, ATVs, etc, and so in their free time tow trailers pretty regularly. We also use trailers at work. Some college interns start working with us, and no one bothers to check their trailer knowledge because (you guessed it) it’s common sense. Which resulted in the college interns trying to drive a vehicle into the trailer when it wasn’t hitched up.

What the interns didn’t know is you want the trailer to be hitched to a vehicle so the front of the trailer stays in place when you’re putting weight on the back. Otherwise the trailer becomes a seesaw and the front end jumps up into the air.

My general rule is if you’re about to say something like, “That’s just common sense,” you should stop yourself. Common sense to whom? In my experience people call something “common sense” when it’s something they’re used to doing and they forget not everyone is used to doing it.

I watch a tv show on my phone. I know it goes against all the traditional advice, blue light is bad for sleep, blah blah blah. For me, it means I can get 7 or 8 hours of sleep instead of 3.

I don’t watch just any tv though. It has to: 1. Be a show I know well enough where I can tell which character is speaking when I’m only listening. 2. Have a good amount of seasons (8 or more) so I don’t get to where I’ve memorized the episodes and my mind starts to wander. 3. Is one I know in general what’s gonna happen with the characters (so I don’t have to stay up and find out what happens) but isn’t one I love so much that I can’t stop watching. And 4. Doesn’t have a bunch of nonverbal stuff that’s important to the plot.

I have a sleep headband with little speakers in it so it doesn’t keep my partner up. When I’m ready for bed, I make sure my screen brightness is turned all the way down, I put on my sleep headphones, and I lay down and close my eyes to listen to the show. Usually I can fall asleep in less than an hour, as long as I keep my eyes closed. Otherwise I get caught up watching the show and before I know it I’ve watched 3 episodes and I’m still awake.

“Lemme just scooch in here so you can get my good side”

It comes as a shock to me every day that I need to make dinner. My family needs to eat again? So soon?

We have a rabbit and a cat. The cat has been with us longer. Whenever I’m petting the rabbit, the cat comes up and wants to be pet too. And only with the hand I’m already petting the rabbit with. If I try to use my free hand, he’ll ignore it and head bump the hand petting the rabbit.

Cassowary has entered the chat

Canid and canine generally mean any of the dog-like animals: domestic dogs, wolves, fox, coyotes, dingoes, jackals, wild dogs

Parrot applies to members of the Psittacine family: parrots, macaws, parakeets, cockatiels, cockatoos, parrotlets, lorikeets

Herps and herpetofauna are used to collectively refer to amphibians and reptiles: frogs, salamanders, newts, lizards, turtles, snakes

Bear means all actual bear species but is also often used in reference to pandas and koalas (just don’t say it in front of my scientifically accurate kid)

Waterfowl is ducks, geese, swans

Depending on why or how you’re using categories, you can also group by characteristics: Do they have fur, feathers, or scales Do they lay eggs or give birth Are they predator or prey Do they eat meat, plants, fruit, pollen, or some combination

If you have insurance through your employer, then no the insurance company can’t raise your rates. And part of the reason for the Affordable Care Act (ACA, sometimes called Obamacare) was to make it so people who are getting the insurance themselves also can’t have their rates raised or get turned down for insurance because they have pre-existing conditions. However insurance companies can raise everyone’s rates when the insurance is up for renewal each year.

Most insurance plans have several different costs: 1. The monthly premium you pay to have insurance coverage. Some employers pay this themselves, otherwise it gets taken out of every pay check.

2. Co-pay: Usually a set amount ($30, for example) you pay to see a doctor for office appointments that aren’t an annual check-up*. So say I get an ear infection and see my primary doctor to get it treated, I’d pay the co-pay for that visit. Sometimes things like x-rays, blood work, CTs can be a set amount, other times it’s something like insurance will cover 65% of the cost. For some plans, co-pays are included when figuring out if you’ve reached your deductible.

3. Deductible: The amount you have to pay before “co-insurance” kicks in. Co-insurance being the percent of your bill insurance will pay (for us it’s 75% after we pay $3500 in a calendar year).

4. Out of pocket max: When you’ve spent this amount in a calendar year after that insurance covers 100%. Often plans have both individual and family maximums, with the family amount being higher.

Usually the more you pay in monthly premiums, the lower your deductible and out of pocket maximums will be. So each year people have to try and decide what they think their health bills will be next year when picking their plan (you can’t change plans mid-year unless something happens like changing job, getting married/divorced, having a kid). If you’re pretty healthy you might pick a lower monthly plan with higher out of pocket amounts because you don’t expect to have to pay much out of pocket. If you’re someone with a chronic condition or you’re expecting to need surgery or a costly treatment you might go with the higher monthly plan so you don’t have as high of out of pocket amounts.

For example, my spouse had to go to the ER a few years ago for what turned out to be a collapsed lung. They didn’t have to stay in the hospital overnight. I forget the total bill (or I’ve just blocked it from my memory), but our part ended up being about $5,000. Insurance kicked in after the bill got to $3,500, and they covered 75% of everything that was over $3,500. The most we would’ve paid was $6,000 (the individual out of pocket max), however we would still have to pay bills for myself and our kid up to $12,000 (family out of pocket max).

*Another part of the ACA was to make annual preventative screenings (like annual physical, mammogram for women over a certain age, prostate screening for men, etc) free.

I have a cat, a dog, a rabbit, and chickens. Now I’m wondering what people assume about me because of them.

I think people who have active dog breeds (like shepherds, huskies, and other working dogs) are probably active themselves. Beyond that it’s more telling to me how they treat their pet, regardless of what kind of pet it is.

I almost spit out my tea when I read this

English word: curmudgeon or cattywampus

French word: hippopotame

Poor, long-suffering baby! Obviously needs more balls to lose and an automatic ball retriever