I also really liked Vermont while I lived there, and everything that you mentioned are great features. That said, the state (and much of New England) is overwhelmingly white. I am white-passing, but my spouse is not, and they felt consistently othered while we lived there. Not in an aggressive or hateful way, but in a “strangers see me as a novelty” way that you tend to get in homogenous communities. Burlington is probably a bit more diverse than the relative middle of nowhere where we lived, so your mileage may vary.

Dragonfruit is delicious, but this depends heavily on where you get it. Most non-tropical markets get imported dragonfruit that was picked too early and shipped/stored over long periods, resulting a relatively bland taste and drier texture. Ripe, fresh dragonfruit is lovely. It’s in my top 5 fruits personally.

Why would you hurt me like this?

A lot of folks thought he would push fascist policies, though? He was notable for his nativist and protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail. The audacity of it all is what got him all that free print and airtime.

By hour count this year:

1. Behind the Bastards
2. The Dollop
3. The Best Thing Ever (used to be called Read it and Weep)

Wow and I thought I had a lot. I salute you.

I will never understand how the cruise industry still exists. I cannot fathom the appeal, nor how the companies survived Covid.

Extreme wealth and a love of authoritarianism, name a more iconic duo.

For real. Each sentence made me want to throw up in my mouth. This misogyny combined with wealth worship and zero-sum outlook on life is an unforgivable character flaw. What a vapid, worthless existence.

🎉

I’m surprised not to see more people mention From Software games. Going all the way back to demon’s souls they consistently teach you how to understand the tools at your disposal, the challenge that you currently face, and how to use the former to overcome the latter. I learned how to “read” opponents to find and exploit vulnerabilities while playing dark souls way back, and that general approach is consistently useful in all sorts of other games. There are lots of other translatable skills involved, of course, like timing and resource management.

Scientists have GOT to stop allowing religion-flavored nicknames for phenomena. It imports a bunch of inappropriate connotations and confuses the message. “God particle”, “demon particle”, etc. What is this clownshoes nonsense?