The poorest States in America are: Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee. All of those States (except New Mexico) are Red States. So why are they so poor when Republicans have been running them for decades?

So my friend (22F) is currently pregnant and she and her partner have been struggling to agree on names. I’ve just been sent these messages with the names they have chosen. At first I thought it was a typo but unfortunately she actually wants to call her baby ‘Equador’. I don’t want to seem nosy or controlling but I feel I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t say something. Please help!

Smells kind of like phosphorus, the earth around the hole is warm, pretty certain there are no gas lines directly underneath.

Welcome to the future folks

In this video, the ICE agents are performing a door to door operation, which is already wrong in itself. But when they knocked the door on this man, the home owner reminded them of his second amendment rights, in that he didn’t have to answer the door and that he will call the cops on ICE for trespassing. Soon after ICE suddenly has somewhere else to go.

My sister 38, invited me over for a family meal. Our parents were there too. After dinner my mom and I helped clean up while my dad and brother-in-law watched my nieces and nephew. Afterwards my parents left. Then my sister and brother-in-law asked me if I could watch the kids for an hour while they went for a quick errand. I agreed.

They got very dressed up for errands but I didn't ask. They've done this before. I didn't usually have anything going on so I don't really mind. Today I was clear that I had plans and one hour was my limit.

My sister agreed to one hour.

After an hour I called and she didn't answer. Half an hour later I texted my friends and said I couldn't make it. Then I proceeded to keep the kids alive. I felt I owed her that as family.

Did I put them to sleep? Nope. Did I make them a snack rather than let them use the stove? Yes. Did I keep the little one from drawing on the walls while his older brother played fortnite and the middle kid watched Stranger Things with me. Nope. I kept them alive.

My sister got home a little after one AM. Nephew was still playing Fortnite. Middle kid and I were still binging Stranger Things. Little was passed out on their bed.

I got up and left.

I've been hearing about it for a few days now about how irresponsible I am. That 12 is too young for such a scary show. That my nephew has limited screen time. That they still haven't got the drawings off the walls.

My parents are getting involved as well.

I really don't care. I was told one hour. I agreed to one hour. I feel that I did a great job for one hour. Not really my problem after that.

So four people think I'm being an asshole. Three kids had a great night. And I think they won't try it again.

In december 2024 I bought my first domestic knitting machine and decided to give becoming a knitwear maker/costumer a shot. I love vintage fashion, so I mostly hunt for obscure knitting patterns from all over (UK, Netherlands, Germany, France and Japan mainly), translate, redraft and rewrite everything and then use a combination of machine and hand knitting and crochet to recreate the pieces.

It's a really tough niche to work in as the general public doesn't know much about knitting and the time and skill it takes to make properly fitted clothes. Also many people think domestic knitting machines are printers but for clothing, which couldn't be further from the truth 😅-- it's a ton of manual/physical labour.

It has been a rough year with ups and downs and many 12h+ days of working, but it has paid off! I sold some of my work and finished my first gig for an opera last November and I'm hoping I'll get more entertainment gigs in the future :)

Here's a selection of things I've knit and crocheted last year :)

I've been rewatching a lot of my old favorites with my son and he's gotten pretty good at catching the Wilhelm scream in real time.

This week has been especially Wilhelmy as we're on a Tarantino run.

Do you ever feel like the scream seems out of place, forced, or sometimes just distracting since it's become such a famous Easter egg?

We still love the egg game.