TheDoozer

I thought Hephaestus split Zeus' head open to release (a fully grown and armored) Athena, who has been hammering in his head building the armor and causing him terrible headaches.

This reminds me of an anecdote talking about language differences between the US armed services:

If you told a Marine to secure a building, they would kick the door in and take control of the building.

If you told a soldier in the Army to secure a building, they would set up a fence around it and establish a sentry.

If you told a Navy sailor to secure a building, they'd turn off all the lights and close and lock the door on their way out.

If you told an Airforce airman to secure a building, they would write up a purchasing contract.

When you are talking large income to larger income, that makes total sense, but are there limits for access to things like child tax credits where if you go over you are no longer eligible, causing significant increase (I just looked, and it's at $200k single of $400k jointly, so unless you have A LOT of children, I suppose there wouldn't be a huge effect)? Similar to people on government assistance who go from getting full assistance to getting nothing at a certain income level?

I'm no expert, but I also accuse them of that.

It does suggest that the people who requested it were more likely to be near end of life, exactly when someone (generally) might want an out.

I prefer the more accurate "there is no evidence that God exists." What proof do I have there is no evidence? "Behold, my field of evidence of God's existence, and notice it is barren. To my knowledge, there is no evidence. If you have any non-anecdotal evidence of God's existence, I'd be happy to look at it, but absent that, there does not appear to be any evidence."

If pressed, there's no evidence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, unicorns, or leprechauns either. Does that mean they don't exist? I guess that depends on who speaks first, right?

The only reasonable way to think and live is to only believe in things that have evidence they exist. To, as a default, believe in something and then require proof of its non-existence doesn't make any sense. There is literally no end of things that "exist" if you just believe in things without evidence. Therefore, requesting "proof of non-existence" makes absolutely no sense in any context except when evidence of existence has already been established (e.g. someone declaring the moon landing was faked, where there is established evidence showing the moon landing having been real. A case would have to be made why that evidence was somehow illegitimate).

I think the difference is the opera singer is their own name and you can point to some parts or performances, but the songs belong to someone else. "Toxic" by Britney Spears is considered her song... even though it was written by other people, for example. Nobody thinks that Queen of the Night is Diana Damrau's song.

And I get there's a difference, because nobody think Beyonce's version of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" is anything but Elton John's song regardless. But the line is so blurred amongst pop singers (as some write their own and some don't) that credit seems falsely attributed often.

Basically, if you're a songwriter/composer, you have songs. If you're a singer, you have performances.

Man, I do enjoy taking the wind out of the sails of presumptuous people knee-jerking a response without knowing any specifics.

I spent most of my career flying in relatively dangerous conditions in helicopters (or on small boats, before I went into aviation) in order to save people from drowning in the ocean or freezing in the woods. I've had two coworkers who've crashed (in separate incidences), one of which was at the door sending a dewatering pump to a sinking boat. I specifically joined the service I did because, as I told the recruiter, I can choose to join, but I can't choose where I'm sent after, and I'm still responsible for my actions because I chose to join in the first place. There's nothing morally ambiguous about saving somebody whose boat is sinking.

Now, don't get me wrong, having more and more of our people being sent to "defend the border" definitely falls in the realm of "not what I signed up for," but I haven't personally been forced into that, and am extremely unlikely to.

So I may have dealt with some brown kids whose lives were threatened, but certainly haven't found any that were a threat themselves (except to themselves... boaters tend to be their own worst enemies).

I remember that time well. Mine are 5 and 10, so I'm moving out of the more intensive child-rearing time. When I retire, they should both be at or near the "too busy for Dad" time, so other than giving rides, my days should be free and clear. I'm really looking forward to it.

Good luck with the little ones!

I retire (military) in 4 years, and my countdown feels like this, but more specific. I just had to re-enlist, and I was asking if I had to do full years, or if I could do 4.3 to line up with the anniversary of my enlistment (to retire THE DAY I am technically able to).

Not that I don't enjoy my job, because I do, but I'm excited to be able to do whatever I want with my time and let my wife be the primary support for us for awhile.

I just came up with a joke from this:

A Russian politician is found dead below an open window of his high rise condo. In investigative team comes in, but since it was a high-profile death, they are brought in one at a time by two large FSB agents.

The first one walks in, and says "clear signs of a struggle, with blood on the window catches. Also, the body below shows signs if damage other than the fall. Clearly, this was a mur-" and before he can finish, one of the burly FSB agents picks him up and throws him out the window.

The next comes in, sees the other investigator is nowhere to be seen, breaks into a sweat and looks down, seeing the two bodies. "P-please... don't murder me as..." and the FSB agent tosses him out the window.

The third walks in, looks around wordlessly. He calmly steps up to the window and looks down, seeing two investigators' and the politician's bodies. He shakes his head and sighs. "What a shame.

This appears to be a very popular suicide spot."

"Get up, go run to that tree, and come back" was sometimes at least somewhat effective, particularly with younger children. Also, getting up and moving for a minute helps with learning anyway.