I seriously appreciate all of the points you're making, but the idea of men and women as cohesive social units here might not be realistic or helpful, especially for issues affecting sub-groups. Sometimes the people actively working to improve something are fighting an uphill battle against societal expectations and/or larger portions of their own group who don't recognize it as an issue. I'm sure you know that doesn't make it any less valid.

There's that and the fact that most people who sell a house will still need new housing afterward. The value can be kind of moot unless you're in a position to majorly downsize or relocate to a lower cost-of-living area.

Yeah, this is kind of the issue with walling the workers off from the success of their product and converting it all into poker chips for other people to play with. Imagine how different things could be if everyone's pay grew with the success of the company.

While I'm fully uncomfortable with the influence donors have over these institutions, I also feel like the handling of some of those hearing questions was catastrophic. Lady got maneuvered into giving them exactly the weak non-answer they were fishing for. It's bad all around.

It took me like three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip.

Not that we had much choice along the way, but you're right, we were almost completely in the dark about how much anything was going to cost as it happened. Various groups were mailing us bills for the full amounts even before insurance had settled their portion. Nobody in the entire insurance and billing game is on your side.

Definitely seems like a pattern with these things. So many of these people who are into some stuff, but rather than accept it as a personal battle, they channel everything into finding some external "evil" to help them rationalize the existence they're struggling with. It's too bad they can't see how many others they're hurting.

I would guess it's about as calculated as a fish swimming. The guy has simply always done this in all situations, and it has never not worked, so why would he stop. It's like the world-record run of playing "Do you know who I am?" with the police officer.

Moments of panic all through Monday and Tuesday as you check again which day this is, and confirm that you haven't somehow missed the Wednesday morning appointment.

The old "just walk out" skeleton meme has never been more relevant.

If anyone believed the line about how community members should have a say in what happens to their subs, there you go. Congrats on your upgrade to Democracy Gold.

Imagine we're at the point where the Titanic has split in two, and the remaining portion is held afloat by trapped air. You can patch the hole made by the iceberg, but it probably won't change my plans too much.