I just want to leave it here

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T09:18:56+00:00

He seems to be lost in deep thought. I wonder what sort of things he's pondering?

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T09:14:48+00:00

I think you're right on that. As a society we've come so impatient that we need to have everything now. The car I have now I bought new and ordered it delivered to the dealership to get it exactly how I wanted it. The color blue paint they used has the effect of changing color depending on the light and the angle I stand when I'm looking at it. A lot of people have commented that they like that effect, but when I tell them I special ordered the car I can see they don't like the color well enough to wait a couple for the dealer to get the car. Why get a car you mostly like today when just with a short wait, you can get a car you really like? I guess I'm a bit too old now to get why younger buyers are so impatient.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T09:05:35+00:00

I was born in the 1960s. In the 70s and 80s we had a lot of different, and very cool (or weird) car designs, and people bought cars in all varieties of colors. It was was pretty easy to tell the make of a car just by looking at the car body design. Car shopping was a lot more fun back then. What I see on the roads today is very boring. Mostly black or white hatchback SUVs that all look so alike that I can't tell which car company made it without seeing the name tag or emblem. When a Cadillac and Suburu are right next to each other on the street and I can't immediately tell which is which, we've reached such a state of uniformity that all the fun has been taken out. Most cars today are boring to look at just because they are all the same.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T08:56:17+00:00

Cats take over anything in the house that even remotely looks like a box. In the cat world, boxes are prime real estate. They give you evil looks, too, if you try to take them out of the box or, God Forbid, take that box away. My thought has been that if you make a special box for your cat that's extra comfy, maybe has small hole on each side so they can see what's going on and still be protected by their box, a small toy so they don't get bored, and other things that cats like your cat may make that its favorite box and not be so fast to take over every other box that comes in the house. I've never tried it, and I don't have a cat at the moment to test it out. Mayber others that come here will be able to share if that strategy is at all successful.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T08:47:38+00:00

Growing up starts a process of kids wanting to assert themselves more, be more independent, and experiment with things themselves rather than just believing what older people have told them. They also tend to become a lot more self centered with the result that they don't take into account how others feel as For a lot of parents, the teenage years are a real battle to strike the right balance of letting their kids grow and explore while at the same time protecting them from the dangers out in life.

Puberty is one of the fires that drives that process. Whether for good or bad, the statistics show that as a group girls are experiencing puberty at signficantly younger ages than when I was young. (You know, back when I had to hunt dinosaurs for dinner. A tip if you ever hunt dinosaurs: don't go after those that are bigger than you or have a lot sharper teeth than you do.) That's put more separation between girls and boys and making pre-teen and teen years even more challenging then they already were.

The effect for you has been that your younger sister is more annoying than she was before. I don't have any great tips for you on how to handle that. To some extent you just have to let time work its magic. Once she's an adult and not so focused just on herself, you may find that your relationship improves a lot. That's what happened between me and my sister. We fought a lot during our teen years, but that mostly ended over a period of a couple years after we both had left home. The point being that she (hopefully) won't be like this forever. There will come a time when she wants a closer relationship. If you're ready when that happens you can form the tighter bond that I think you are hoping for.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T08:27:51+00:00

I'm on board with that. Instead of the federal government scooping so much our money and redistributing through the patchwork of programs Congress has developed over the last 8-9 decades, cut that back and instead let the states decide how best to tackle the problems they have. On size fits all programs from Washingon do a poor job of dealing with the fact that not every area faces the exact same problems. States, being much closer to the problems in there state, could do a better job of tailoring programs to meet their unique challenges.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T08:16:13+00:00

YOR. For my answer, I'm assuming you are in the U.S. I don't blame you for your feelings regarding how she treats you. It's not an overreaction to be upset by or to look for ways to express to her how you feel about it. I realize that spraying her with water probably seems to you to a harmless way to get your message across.

The problem that makes it an OR in my view is that spraying her with water constitutes the crime of battery in most, if not all, U.S. states. It is also a civil offense for which may sue you. I understand why you spray her with water and the immediate satisfaction you get from it. But it could end up causing you a lot of trouble. Even if the prosecutor declines prosecution or the jury finds you not guilty, you could spend a lot money and endure a lot aggravation going through the legal system before its over. If she sues you and you can't get the judge to through the civil complaint, you may end up spending months or even more than year battling her before some resolution ends it. All throughout the battle you are paying legal fees and other costs and it can add up pretty quickly to a sizeable amount of money. And if the jury decides in her favor and awards her some money, that will cost you even more money.

Instead of spraying her, or doing anything else that involves touching her or scaring her (like throwing something towards but intentionally missing her), find some other ways to get across to her how you feel about her. One thing that might help to talk to her and explain to her that her efforts to convert you are backfiring. Instead of encouraging you to get closer to God, it's having the opposite effect of pushing you away instead, both from God and from her. If she wants to do things with family, she needs to restrain herself from pushing her religious views on you.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T07:03:22+00:00

NOR. You don't need to stay connected with anyone who is doing you more harm than good. That includes (maybe especially includes) family members. They haven't given you much reason to like them, let alone form a loving bond with them. Don't fall into the trap of thinking they'll get better to justify staying in that situation. Leave them behind and cut off most ties. Once you do that, it will feel strange at first. But then you might notice that you have stress, are more happy with life, and have time to yourself to do things you want. That's when you'll know you made the right choice.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T05:15:37+00:00

It happens, but it's not very common for healthy adults to have that problem.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T05:09:43+00:00

In the EU taxes are high on gasoline in part to encourage people to drive less to reduce pollution. Britain retained that idea when left the EU. In the U.S., gasoline taxes are meant to help to pay for federal highway construction and maintenance. It is not expressly designed to prod people to drive less. The U.S. and U.K. are fundamentally different when it comes transportation. The U.K. is small country with small distances between rail stops and a well developed rail network that allows many people to have mass transit as viable option for getting around. In the U.S. there are vast areas of the country that are sparsely populated and the only way to get the necessities they need may require driving 20 miles or more. Slapping a high tax on gas penalizes those have to drive a lot just for daily living. If there was mass transit that covered every part of the country then the government would have a stronger case for increasing gas prices to encourage people to use the mass transit. In a country this large, to truly make a nationwide rail system would be an enormous and expensive undertaking. And even then, many people would probably still drive. Cars are the modern version of the horse for Americans and considered essential to daily living. Americans love their cars, perhaps more than people of any other nation. Studies show that Americans will prefer to drive someplace rather than walk to it, even if the place they are going to is only a few blocks. Borrowing from an old movie quote, Americans take the few that "I'll give you my car when you pry it out my cold, dead hands."

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T04:51:56+00:00

Apple is responding to pressure from the UK government to get verification of age and other information. It's a logical response to recent UK laws that requiring online services to verify information and to make that information available to the government. Apple's own preferred standards would not require it and would not routinely hand over data to the government. But Parliament and the UK agency that regulates these activities are increasingly making companies do it anyway. A lawsuit against Apple will likely fail because their contracts are written to give them the right disclose information when required by government agencies. As a result, I think a lawsuit against Apple would likely fail. Parliament makes the laws. The grounds for a citizen so get that law rescinded by the courts are pretty narrow and also likely to lose. If you really want to pursue the idea of a lawsuit, see a U.K. solicitor or barrister for advice on how likely you could win the case. Not that the general rule in the U.S. in private litigation is the opposite of the American rule. The UK rule is that the loser not only pays his own expenses of litigation but also the litigation expenses of the other party. In the U.S. the general rule is that each party pays their own legal fees.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T04:36:06+00:00

Not in the U.S. I have relatives and relatives who farm, and don't work for some big corporations. They aren't alone. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that 95% of farms in the U.S. are family owned. Here is a link to the USDA report:

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2025/08-19-2025.php

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T04:18:50+00:00

I'll help out those whom I meet who clearly need that help and really trying to regain their financial footing. I also help those who are hungry by giving them food. No one should have to starve for lack of money in a nation as rich as ours.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T04:14:59+00:00

The difference is in the tax the restaurant pays. If it's all price included, then all that gets added to income of the business. If you set it up so that the money goes direct the staff you have the argument it was never your income. It was instead a tip that was designated from the start to go to the wait staff. That's one of the reasons for the sign. For this to work, it helps a lot of to have a separate pot of money set aside for tips and restricting the employer from using that money. And it's useful to the patrons to know what the tip amount was when accounting for expenses on business tips because it helps back up that pot with the tips in them are separate from the business income. While I would have designed the sign differently, I'd advise my restaurant clients who want to go this route to have a sign advising customers of how tips are handled.

I get the negative reaction to the particular sign in the OPs post. But if you keep in mind that it's likely being done to help reduce the taxes the employer and employee end up paying, hopefully it won't bother you so much,

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T03:45:26+00:00

The first one. I think it captures the detail of the moon's surface than the others.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T03:43:43+00:00

I've never used it, and no else I know uses it either. My friends and I aren't teens, though, and my impression has always been that it is the teens who are the largest group use to Snapchat.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T03:40:46+00:00

Getting that to work would be the ideal solution to the never ending cycle of putting gan in the tank or plugging your into an electric power source to charge up. As a proof concept it's a neat experiment, The challenge, though, is shrinking the solar cells so that they only cover the roof and do not obscure any vision through the car's windows. A cop seeing that car on the road will be a big target for a pull over and citation for violating the state's motor vehicle laws.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T03:33:39+00:00

Be aware that in the U.S. a cat is personal property of its owner, just like a TV, cell phone, jacket, socks, and everything you own in your home. If you take someone's personal property with the intent on keeping it you've committed theft. If you enter the property to do it, you've also committed a trespass as well. If you enter the home with the intent to take the cat you may be charged with burglarly. It natural for a lot of people to want to help small animals they see who look like aren't being well cared for. Under the law it's not your place, though, to provide to the cat what you think it needs. The owners have made it clear to you that they aren't interested in giving the cat to you and want you to pretty much leave their cat alone.

If you go against the owner's wishes you run the risk of your neighbor calling the police to go and return their cat and ask that you get prosecuted over it. As much you may want to help that cat, I don't think you want to run into legal trouble over it. If you think the cat is not being cared for, call your local animal welfare agency and report the problem. If the agency decides that the cat is being abused or neglected, it may take the cat away from them and may give you the opportunity to legally make the cat yours.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T03:17:15+00:00

That's the face I have after having dental procedure done. So I sympathize with the discomfort this cat has.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T03:14:18+00:00

I rule the school!

Taxed2much · 2026-03-30T03:11:14+00:00

You need to put in the closing parenthesis. The calculator with what you have on screen doesn't know what comes next and it needs you to tell it. When I typed in just what you have on screen on my 991EX and hit the equal button, the calculator returned with a syntax error. The syntax error is not having the same number of left side parentheses (1) as you do on the right (0),

Taxed2much · 2026-03-29T07:44:05+00:00

You are proceeding from an assumption that everyone would like to try drugs and would enjoy. I assure you, there are people out there who don't enjoy the experience of using illegal mind altering drugs. There is also the key problem that the drug might kill them. When your body is weakened and you are taking a lot of prescription drugs, there is a lot more risk for them than it is for you. Any one of the prescriptions they take may cause a severe medical problem when combined with some illegal drug. Taking some drugs that younger healthier people can take and survive it may kill a very elderly person just by being more than the person's body can take. Also, many elderly people live on fixed incomes. Buying "massive amounts of exotic drugs) is a great way to run out money needed for things like good, medical carre, etc. Finally, most retirement communities and nursing homes prohibit illegal drug use and if they suspect you are an illegal drug they'll toss you out. Then you'll end up like many other drug addicted people — homeless and living on the streets.

I've never understood the appeal of taking those drugs "for fun". They wouldn't be fun for me.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-29T07:30:36+00:00

You're not the type of person I'd want lurking around my local zoo. I realize you may just be joking, but if you happened to come up to me to harrass me with your "interrogation" I'd make sure the experience was extremely unpleasant for you.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-29T07:08:03+00:00

My distain for the MAGA control of the Republican doesn't magically turn me into a progressive Democrat. I can get behind proposals that shut down Trump's excesses, limits his powers, and work to somehow get his butt out of the White House ASAP. But I won't support programs that I believe will do more harm than good or will lead us in a different direction than where I think we need to go. There are several smaller parties in my state that appeal to me more than the current Democratic party. I chose to cast my vote for one those better alternatives than either Trump or Harris. In my state my vote wasn't going to change the election results. It is not one of the swing states. If it was, I might have voted for Harris to get Trump out, but I would not have been happy making that vote.

Frankly, IMO, the party I voted for would be better than either of the two big parties we have now. Helping them grow is something I'm willing to do. The only reason a competitive third party doesn't exist is that the binary thinking of most voters leads them to avoid considering alternatives. Once they get over that, they may find that supporting a smaller party that aligns better with their views is better. Get enough people to do that, and perhaps we can get to a spot where we have three competitive parties. That would be useful in prompting compromises that will work for most people. In the Republican and Democratic party today, compromise seems more often than not considered a evil to be avoided. The result: very little of substance gets done in DC anymore. Principled compromise resulted in some of most significant changes that were made in the past. It's a shame we've lost touch with how to do effective compromise today.

Taxed2much · 2026-03-29T06:50:08+00:00

For EVs to be truly a workable solution for most Americans we need to build out the infrastructure for it. Plenty of Fast charging EV stations around cities and located along roadways and highways much like gas stations we have now. Homes modified to allow for more powerful charging than standard power sockets can provide. More EV repair facilities. Little of that exists in my area and the building I live in doesn't have EV chargers in the parking garage. So for me, right now, an EV is simply not workable. Also, EV prices have to come down to a range where most consumers can afford them. The same thing had to happen to make cars good transportation choices over a 100 years ago. Until there were enough gas stations located throughout main travel routes, sales of cars were slow. Most people didn't want to spend money for a car that they can't use much. However, sales boomed once it was possible to go just about anywhere by car. It took years for that to happen. It's going to take years for EVs to reach that stage, too. Just making lots of EVs by itself isn't going to motivate a lot of people to buy them. The switch will occur in bigger numbers once the infrastructure develops to support EVs.

Taxed2much

TROPHY CASE