No! The food is in the dining room! You’re getting in the way! Smacks with wooden spoon Stop licking the beaters!

The original thirteen colonies worked exactly like that. From then on, it went something like “Hey, federal government, we want to be a state. We’ll follow all your rules, pinky promise.” “Aight.”

Originally the US expanded quite slowly, due to difficulties in travel and surveying. States were small and communities were close together, about as far apart as a person could walk in a day. At the end of the 1700s, it was only about as big as the blue area in the post above. But in the 1800s, after the Louisiana Purchase, we began to very aggressively expand westward. The construction of the Intercontinental Railroad helped immensely, and towns were being built almost faster than they could name them. The government began giving away land for cheap or sometimes free for anyone who could develop it. Native Americans were forced off their land and onto reservations. State borders became straight lines encompassing vast areas.

Hell, I listened to this album sober, and I understood.

Actually, he’s busy playing Call of Duty 2 zombies while driving

When I started interacting with a non-binary person more often, the only reflexive pronoun that came to mind was ‘themselves.’ As in, “They bought themselves a pair of socks for their birthday.” It felt a bit awkward since I couldn’t shake the plural association in my head, but I still used it to be respectful.

Then I remembered that the word ‘themself’ exists and I felt stupid.

They were designed so that the wheels would be the same width as the tracks on an Abrams tank.

And this is exactly why we don’t see small trucks like Rangers or Dakotas anymore. I don’t know if it’s because it’s impossible to make an engine that efficient or if manufacturers are just lazy, but the consequence is that they can avoid stricter efficiency requirements by simply making bigger (larger wheelbase) and heavier (body on frame vs. monocoque) vehicles.

It’s got a 6’ bed, perfect for lumber or whatever else. It also has the extended cab with the jump seats, kinda useless for people but I keep ratchet straps and other junk back there. My only complaint is that cargo space is very minimal if I don’t want to just throw it in the bed, like luggage or stuff that’s weather-sensitive.

Yup! It’s an ‘09, and I got it from some old guy who barely drove it so it was practically brand new. I’ve put over 150k miles on it since then, with the only major maintenance being a new clutch. It’s got a manual transmission, manual locks, manual windows, and a plain-Jane radio with an aux input - it’s all I need and nothing more.

I did get the chance to drive a 2020 Ranger once, and it was very nice and cushy, but didn’t feel like a Ranger, if that makes sense. Didn’t help that it was just as big as an F150.

I’d probably do the same if I had a four wheel drive vehicle, but it doesn’t snow too often where I live so my little 2wd ranger performs just fine. Sandbags in the bed, drive slowly and deliberately, and keep a set of chains when shit really gets bad. It bugs me how some people in my area have a mindset where they think they need four wheel drive in the snow. No you don’t, you just can’t drive like a moron.

collectively make a fuck-ton of noise

Wow, they really are the perfect mascot for the US

Macrowave

This building was a fire station, and bunker gear is the protective clothing that firefighters wear. I guess they didn’t want you bringing dirty/smoky clothes into the break room

Ah, that makes a lot of sense.

Asparagus made a lot more sense to me once I saw one go to seed. It branches out and looks more like a normal plant. We just harvest it before it gets to that point. Same with artichokes, they’re just an immature flower bud.

At this point I’m so desperate for a woman to want to spend time with me I’d take it

/s but not really

Their secret? They had superior morale and esprit de corps!

I flip off the breaker, just to be safe.

I don’t know where this meme format came from but I love it