I still don’t really understand how trees could possibly suck something up higher than air pressure can push it. Are they like using surface tension or something?

My dad always corrects me to: you never get more than you pay for.

handmaid means servant

… And servant is a common euphemism for slave in the bible.

In modern language a servant is someone that is paid money to do work and can leave the relationship without fear.

A slave is someone that does work because of obligation and isn’t necessarily provided anything to survive (ie may also need to labour to provide themselves food/shelter) and cannot leave the relationship without fear of retribution.

Which word seems more accurate for what’s described in Luke 1:26-38? Was Mary’s consent sought, or was she just informed what was expected of her? To me it seems like she doesn’t say “Oh Elizabeth, remember how I’ve always wanted to have God’s baby, but now that I’m married to Joseph I can’t” instead she is informed of the plan and just says “if you say so”.

I think it would be more likely that a good god would obtain consent, but that Luke didn’t find evidence of it, and so he wrote his own account of what happened based on his cultural expectations of what that interaction would have been like. What do you think? Would the Gospel of Luke be better of it presented the importance of consent, like maybe that would help men to treat women with respect.

Is handmaid a euphemism for concubine/sex slave?

Or is it more like “well he’s my boss so I guess I have to”

The Iranians have not gotten justice. I don’t need convincing that he was a bad dude, but his death doesn’t cement freedom, and imo the attacks reduce stability and prosperity for Iranians.

Isn’t it a probabilistic extrapolation? Isn’t that what a guess is?

This is what a person blackmailed by Epstein would say. Gosh how could Epstein get leverage to blackmail someone like this?

Hoodoo? You do! Do what? Remind me of the babe!

With friends like these who needs enemies?

IIRC Abraham Lincoln once jumped out a window to prevent quorum for a vote his side would lose.

Facebook sucks and has for quite some time.

In Canada we passed a regulation that social media sites have to pay our media companies to link to their articles. Google is paying up, but Facebook said no, and has banned news. It has made Facebook here much less terrible.

I went to China on a business trip about 10 years ago. I was gobsmacked by how good they are at flattery. I was totally unprepared for it, and they didn’t even want anything from me.

Halberdiers?

I’m in Canada where we have restricted some food dyes. I miss the old colours of Froot Loops and Smarties (similar to M&Ms, not rockets). But it’s fine because those colourants really do only exist to make junk food look good.

It’s not clear to me the exact scope of what they consider to be artifical dyes though. Is a dye produced by a genetically modified bacteria natural enough?

Conservatives have been saying that Dems want to force them to eat bugs, so it’s a little strange to be tacitly encouraging the use of Natural Red 4 which is made from crushed beetles.

My buddy warned me about the mint the pervious owners planted, and I pulled it right away. It was right by our basement entrance so I frequently peer in and inspect for mint shoots. I think there must be a buried barrier or something (like landscaping cloth) preventing it from spreading outside the bed it was in. I found a small sprig 4 years after pulling everything I could find.

Could you suggest alternate wording that succinctly conveys what the commenter obviously meant?

Obviously Canada wouldn’t be allowed statehood.

I think the real question is what are Americans willing to sacrifice in terms of civil rights to subdue Canadian insurrectionary impulses.

America could conquer/economically annex Canada’s territory, but to conquer Canadians is a separate question. I think it would take a 10+ year suspension of civil rights in America to achieve.

Yes

I was told there was no such thing as a shortage in a free market, why won’t the executive branch embrace free market economics?

Anchoring is legitimately a negotiation technique where you start with an absurd demand to set the framing of the haggling.

Ie now the idea of expanded sea port security integration doesn’t seem like a crazy thing to exchange for elimination of tariffs.

But guess what, expanded sea port security integration would drastically reduce our ability to economically pivot in the face of future tariff threats. Ie if expanded sea port security integration means the USA can prevent us from using our sea ports.