Even just through personal experience - I drove more than 1200 miles through the US midwest this summer. Corn country.
30 years ago I would have needed to squeegee my windshield at every gas station. This year I think I hit one bug large enough to even notice it.
My yard is mostly clover and similar ground cover, but I think my patch of lawn may be having less of an impact than industrial agriculture.
I've always preferred skirts to pants, precisely because they're less restrictive to movement. I'm not sure why, but the comment was always, "I'm not sure you'd be able to do this while wearing a skirt." It seems like people who haven't worn them habitually don't know how they work.
Worst case: I fall down and you can see my knickers. Well that's why I wear the knickers. And in nearly a half-century, I can think of maybe 2 times that's happened. Both times I was sprinting madly to catch a bus and both times were due to my shoes and/or bad decisions.
Field hockey and lacrosse are both traditionally played in kilts.
Some other objections:
Need to don some Tyvek coveralls for work? It's really no problem with a basic skirt. You just hike it up a bit. Those suits are baggy and everything fits. You also avoid the discomfort of two layers of leg fabric.
Cold weather? Tights are great, as are thigh high socks. And boots. All of these also look cute.
Oh, and packing for vacation? I can pack 3-4 skirts for every pair of jeans. It's just a simple cloth tube which folds down to nothing.
Wasn't that 10 years ago? If I remember correctly, one of those companies was partially owned by then Speaker of the House John Boehner. Yeah, that was some bullshit.
I voted against that measure simply due to the blatantly self-serving aspect. It was a fun time when reactionaries and progressives aligned to reject a terrible proposal. Everyone else was just mad that they still needed to drive to Michigan to buy weed.
But last year's less shitty ballot initiative means that the first recreational dispensaries in Ohio opened up a few months ago. There was some discussion in the statehouse about blocking that referendum, but even the dullest knives came around eventually.
Growing for personal use is also now legal. Of course that won't stop county sheriffs from raiding your home with an assist by DEA helicopters. It's "an education."
In 1996, the answer to that question was, "yes - of course." I did it when I needed to fly 1000 miles on short notice to see my grandfather buried. I think it was the same in 2001 when my gran passed.
I'm honestly not sure what the answer is today. As a frequent and cynical flyer in 2024, I'm not so sure that's still a policy. A call to customer service might get you a cheap seat, but it's rare to find a flight that isn't completely booked. (Algorithms seem to have solved the airlines' empty seat problem)
Wasn't Mitt the dude with the lady binders?
If I see gills I'm not touching it.
It's not for everyone, but Penguin Island by Anatole France features great auks. I read it many years ago and enjoyed it (in a dorky 19th century satire sort of way). Not for everyone.
I think you get it from eating turkey.
That tracks. One of mine hates delivery people, squirrels, anyone wearing shoes, and the other cats.
He is cool with moths, but he wants them to fly into his mouth so I'm not sure that's entirely OK with the moths.
This is so goddamn exhausting.
Thirty years ago I was reading poorly photostatted (sic) fliers at the local record shop explaining the difference between Nazis with red shoelaces and Nazis with yellow shoelaces. It was exhausting then, too. They're all basic bitch Nazis. Treat them the same way you would treat a potentially harmful arthropod, like a scorpion. You don't have to be a fucking entomologist to understand this shit.
Shun the Nazi. Leave it alone. Don't ask for help from Nazis.
oooh - pure destruction. I can respect that.
About a thousand (metaphorical) years ago, biochemistry and genetics was in still in its fairly early stages. I read articles about deciphering plant genomics and finding a way to make them naturally more resistant to insects and disease by exploiting the native resistance of certain plants. And I was a science nerd who had experienced food insecurity AND ready to head off to college.
"Hell yeah" I thought. "That's what I want to do with my life's work. Everyone gets to eat and we don't need to spray everything with poison to get there."
What we got was Roundup-Ready corn.
I'm glad I didn't go into that line of work because I may have tried to burn Monsanto to the ground and come to regret it later in a federal prison.