My guess is that this is a holdover from when rich people did have train cars (and sometimes even full trains!).

I would bet there are still a couple of rich people living out their train fantasies.

I feel like this map must be some sort of trolling for people that have any understanding of the United States. I could write a doctoral thesis for how badly this would disenfranchise people, screw over others economically, and involves taking over territory that isn’t even fully American.

Let’s just talk about your “territories” region. It is somehow supposed to compete on the world stage when it has less population than New York? Far less accessible resources? Peoples that may not even want to be part of the US given a choice?

The Western area is taking over tons of Native American land and have no water.

The middle area has the same population problems (except Texas) and the territories. Plus, they largely rely on Federal tax dollars and that would dry up.

The Eastern section would be dominated by the North East and people in the South would rather die than be lumped in with them.

I could go on?

All of this for what? Some sort of global representation? Each state already represents itself globally. For smaller regions of representation? Well, these are still huge (and uneven) regions that ignore population.

The major issue is that land doesn’t vote. Take away the electoral college and first pass the post voting and, suddenly, America works much better.

The problem with this is you are screwing over liberal bastions (e.g. Chicago) in conservative zones. Or what about somewhere like New Mexico? We’d be grouped with Arizona and Texas? New Mexico is liberal and that’d kill us. The arrangement also gives even more power to sparsely populated sections of the country vs highly populated sections. It is almost like you are suggesting gerrymandering at a regional level.

Keep in mind that we already have regional representation - state governments. They don’t work great because of the lack of attention they get vs presidental elections. The here part is that states need to have power, but there are things they are insane to declare as “states rights” issues. How do we divide them up? I don’t know. We even have “majority agree” as you suggested via constitutional amendments.

The generally accepted definition of a society is a group of people living together in an organized way. There are more things that go into it, but clearly a single person doesn’t qualify as a society. I would argue that general usage would also preclude super small groups of people, but that’s not core here.

What is core here is that you are arguing a straw man argument. All economies, large or small, exist as cultural constructs that mediate how the resources will be divided. The shape this takes is absolutely “made up” and we could decide at any moment to change how it functions.

Economies do not exist outside of culture and culture is constantly negotiated between those participating in it. Therefore, economies are absolutely made up and I believe it is you who does not understand economy.

So was I.

The legal decision is important for a slew of reasons including taxation, SNAP benefits, etc. The decision was less about science and more about the reality of how tomatoes are used in our society.

I am an avid collector and drinker of Chinese teas, particularly oolongs and puerh. I had been drinking them for years when suddenly the absolute asshole Dr. Oz went on TV claiming that puerh tea was some magical cure for anything and everything that you might have.

Normally, I get excited for new people to share tea with, but this fad caused prices to rise across the board and caused the market to get flooded with awful quality tea. These people were drinking some of the worst quality (fishy, shou/cooked puerh) teas and were more obsessed with how to mask the flavors with milk and sugar than actually slowing down and enjoying the tea.

The fad faded and people went back to putting matcha in their morning milkshakes. Even so, I still run into people that reflexively associate incredible tea with Dr. Oz and the disgusting teas he foisted upon his audience. Sad.

They were trying to capture the dialect of a pensioner. I’m positive the word choice was intentional.

How about slim pillows? I usually put two in a pillowcase. Example: https://a.co/d/drT0UwS

Thanks, I’ll check it out!

I listen to many, but here’s my favorites:

• Chilluminati: Takes a comedy focused look at supernatural, paranormal, and just weird topics. After a few episodes, the hosts really build excellent rapport. When it is at its best, it reminds me of some weird AM radio program you’d catch while night driving across the country.
• The Beef and Dairy Network: The leading podcast about beef animals and dairy herds. Start at episode 1.
• The Climate Denier’s Playbook: “Rollie Williams (Climate Town) and Nicole Conlan (The Daily Show) are two comedians with Master’s Degrees in Climate Science & Policy and Urban Planning. But don’t get too excited, because they’re here to examine the pervasive myths and misinformation campaigns that are making it obnoxiously difficult to address the looming climate crisis you’ve probably heard about.”

I used Twitter for emergency updates, saved me multiple times.

What possibly was the logic here?

This is 100% correct. I’ll add that the best thing you can do is to watch and listen to your crew. Everyone has a job, yes, but they also play a role on your team. Understand what those roles are, how work actually flows around, and what motivates people. Be a servant that helps facilitate that structure.

I’m not sure how you feel about the limiting thing, but it is controversial in the US. Some departments do limit, others feel that isn’t fair. Personally, I think we should understand why the academia system is set up the way it is and ask if it makes sense in the modern world.

As a grad student mostly. That said, non-tenured professors also have to work their asses off. The pyramid scheme dream is becoming tenured and having a large pool of grad students to abuse help you with your work.