Haven’t celebrated much in a while, but I am definitely a member of the PUMPKIN ALL THE THINGS crowd. My faves are Dan Lepard’s pumpkin whey bread (a savory option) and pumpkin scones and pumpkin spice bread.
Back when I lived out east, apple picking and cider donuts were a go-to. I kinda miss leaf peeping; it isn’t the same on the West Coast.
That’s odd, for short grain rice I can just throw in two cups of rice and two cups of water, do 4 minutes high pressure and 10 minutes pressure release and be good to go.
Sweet rice is a little bit more of a pain in the butt and if you do it regularly a rice cooker might work better, but I’ve been successful pre-soaking and then steaming using the trivet.
The thing I like about my instant pot is that I can do just about anything - soups, beans, yogurt, sous vide, overnight oats. It’s pretty versatile.
Instant pot > rice cooker. It cooks rice and does a ton of other things, totally worth splashing a little extra cash for.
Houseplants are great, pothos are easy care and can be hung in wall mounted pots. Also consider a window bird feeder if that’s an option where you live so you can see the wildlife.
Baskets for fruit and fridge trays for veggies can help keep things organized and help you remember stuff before it goes bad.
Coasters are always nice.
On the maintenance front, try to have stuff that you can use to avoid a maintenance call, snakes for drains, a channel lock for loose plumbing fittings, sink and toilet plungers if not already present are inexpensive options. Check your heaters and window seals for dust and mold respectively when you move in because they’re commonly missed cleaning steps (also under the fridge and stove, ew).
Edit: sneaking in a couple more things - glass pint jars are great for food storage and as water glasses and for small-batch pickled veggies if that’s your thing. I like throwing in some chopped bok choy and cherry peppers to top stir fries and salads.
Shelf liners are great and can make cleaning up when moving out easier.
I don’t think abortion moves the needle too much this round. The Republicans have been pretty quiet and, while it does drive turnout when it’s on the ballot, I think most people are still viewing it as a local issue.
Biden was successful in 2020 because the dems were highly successful at painting him as the safe option. That’s not really part of the messaging this time, so I think it’s going to be like 2016, where it’s a question of what a few key constituencies in a few strategic areas are thinking. Muslims in MI are definitely one, folks affected by the hurricane may be another, some randos in PA that didn’t constitute a coherent bloc until now and who therefore were not sampled well in polls might be a third.
The only question mark around the chuds is how motivated they are to turn out because there’s zero chance they get flipped, and they tend to be reliable voters who want to see their guy in charge regardless of the presence of an agenda.
Gaming it out on 270towin.com, assuming Harris takes NV, WI, and PA and Trump gets NC, GA, and AZ, that might make the whole election hinge on Muslim voters in MI.
Not an enviable position to be in. If they go third party or abstain and throw the election to Trump, Blue MAGA will jump at the excuse to be more racist, and if they hold their nose and vote for Kamala they have to live with the fact that it won’t do anything to stop the genocide.
I’m thinking the democrats lose at least the senate and possibly the house to boot, so domestic policy is going to be a write-off (not that the dems have a ton to show for the last four years)
Let’s say candidate one said “if I win I’ll kill 3 babies,” and candidate two said “if I win I’ll only kill 1 baby”. Then you cast a protest vote for candidate three because “they’re both bad.”
The problem is, that means you were willing to risk the deaths of 2 extra babies to prove your point, which means you’re actually a worse person than candidate two.
More will suffer with Trump in charge. So voting third party is just you using others’ pain to prove your own point.
They’re doing the murdering babies analogy unprompted now.
Link to comment just in case you think I’m making it up.
Here’s what it says on her campaign website (ctrl+f “universal” = “no results found”):
As Attorney General of California, Kamala Harris took on insurance companies and Big Pharma and got them to lower prices. As a Senator, she fought Donald Trump’s attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Vice President Harris will make affordable health care a right, not a privilege by expanding and strengthening the Affordable Care Act and making permanent the Biden-Harris tax credit enhancements that are lowering health care premiums by an average of about $800 a year for millions of Americans. She’ll build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s successes in bringing down the cost of lifesaving prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries by extending the $35 cap on insulin and $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket spending for seniors to all Americans. Her tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act gave Medicare the power to go toe to toe with Big Pharma and negotiate lower drug prices. As President, she’ll accelerate the negotiations to cover more drugs and lower prices for Americans. As Vice President, she also announced that medical debt will be removed from credit reports, and helped cancel $7 billion of medical debt for 3 million Americans. As President, she’ll work with states to cancel medical debt for even more Americans.
And Vice President Harris has led the Administration’s efforts to combat maternal mortality. Women nationwide are dying from childbirth at higher rates than in any other developed nation. The Vice President called on states to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from two months to twelve: today, 46 states do so — up from just three near the Administration’s start.
Don’t worry, the current Democratic presidential campaign is continuing its strides toward universal healthcare by…
*drumroll*
…dropping it from their campaign platform.
“It’s 2008 and the latest marquee piece of Democratic legislation is flawed and stuffed with handouts to a useless and predatory industry, but it will be a stepping stone to something greater.”
“It’s 2021 and the latest marquee piece of Democratic legislation is flawed and stuffed with handouts to a useless and predatory industry, but it will be a stepping stone to something greater.”
“It’s 2028 and the latest marquee piece of Democratic legislation…”
Culture is America’s greatest export
On March 30th , 1987, at Christie’s London, Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh sold for £24.75 million
Not so priceless after all.
Also, if the pane of glass is so potentially vulnerable, why is no one telling the museum that it needs to beef up security?
The same tone you’d see if the question was about a Yankees game 
Is this the result of the court cases or is Biden just putting up his middle finger now so it’s the last thing we see as he gets lowered into his grave?
Sorry, should’ve clarified “everyone” to mean swing state voters and the mysterious cryptid known as the moderate Republican because they’re the only ones who count under this system.
Not beating the Zionism is antisemitism charges
“Did you see that Kamala’s endorsing cryptocurrency now?”
“Well if Trump wins, he’ll… uh… he’ll…”
Is Kamala’s campaign strategy to pander to everyone and pray no one catches the contradictions?
Also: have there been any other “spontaneous” student protests elsewhere in the world that might have put you in that frame of mind, Hil? Perhaps ones that conveniently put a milquetoast neoliberal in charge?
Twilight of the Boomers will be just parking them all in front of Rocky and Bullwinkle reruns so they can see those darn Ruskies get their comeuppance.
That sounds rad! I haven’t carved a pumpkin in forever, I should do one this year.