My favorite "short" story of all time is The Mysterious Stranger, by Mark Twain. It was actually never finished; he died before it was compiled into a single, final version. But three different manuscripts remain that you can sort of piece together to understand some of the ideas Twain was trying to convey.

If you do choose to read it, avoid the bowlderized version that was edited and released by Albert Paine in 1916. He ripped the ending from one of the manuscripts and stuck it to another, while taking out some important content and adding a character to make the story less controversial (it is very critical of religion/the Catholic church).

The only place I've ever found all three original manuscripts together is in this book, sadly. The 1916 version can be found online for free, but it really doesn't do justice to the original stories.

This is very interesting. Though I live in that sliver of Florida near the border of the "Deep South" and "Spanish Caribbean" classification... and I'm not sure either really accurately describes the culture around here. But it is still clear that there are differences between regions of this country - and even large differences within my own state. Going to North Florida is way more like going to the middle of South Carolina than it is like going to South Florida.

I meant it would be a fun challenge to yourself to have to put yourself in the other side's shoes and argue their points from a logical position. So maybe you'd see things from a new perspective (and strengthen or revise your own position).

I like this idea, though I agree that maybe #discuss or #discussion would foster more of a cooperative and informative experience. I even think it would be neat to have some threads where people are asked to deliberately approach the issue from the other side's perspective (in good faith). Like #devilsadvocate.

Bass. It's groovy and was easier for me to start learning.

If it solves the shutdown, I'm all for it.

Oh wow, I just thought her car hit an officer's car and injured him. Though the facts are always murky within the first hour or two of a story breaking.

Did they report on who actually fired the shots? Was it the woman or the officers going after her?

I've been enjoying some Punks Jump Up remixes, since I stumbled upon them on YouTube. Particularly this Miike Snow song - Animal (I don't even like the original song).

Edit: And by extension, I just discovered Jupiter and Chromeo. Today is a good day.

S-E-X-X-Y is such a great song.

If only. Really, if only one of our parties pushed for social ownership of capital.

It hurts to have to keep explaining that a welfare state is not the same thing as socialism. Redistributing wealth accrued in a capitalist system is not even close to the concept of socialism. But it falls on deaf ears when some people are still fighting the Cold War in their minds.

I really wonder if that's because Americans are constantly comparing themselves to their European, Canadian, and Australian cousins, and realizing that their political system leans quite far to the right compared to other developed western countries.

I used to hear it said on cable news that "America is center-right". Perhaps that's true compared to, say, Sweden or Canada. But if you're measuring against the spectrum of beliefs found in our two-party system, it doesn't appear to be that way.

I'll be honest with you; I'm not always a strict by-the-book kind of baker/cook. Some people are, if they are worried about getting just the right texture or feel. And we need people like that!

But as long as you've got the proportions/chemistry right (which really, is the most important part of making a recipe work), I'm sure it will turn out delicious. I would give it a try with all-purpose flour or bread flour.

I've never actually tried baking bread in a toaster oven, but that's an interesting idea!

I think you might experience some problems trying to bake a full-sized loaf of bread in your toaster oven, depending on its size. What I would personally suggest is to find a good breadstick or roll recipe, and bake them 2 or 3 at a time (my toaster oven is quite small).

I also found a challah recipe that seems to be recommended for toaster ovens that you might want to check out.

Disco and Italo Disco (example if you're not familiar with the latter). Most people think it's lame when I talk about it, but when I throw some on, I see their heads bobbing. You can't lie to yourselves forever...

They were amazing! My mother actually developed and passed on the recipe, because she started a low carb diet and was trying to get creative.

Does food count? I tried out a new recipe, stuffing sweet peppers with pizza toppings and baking them, like low-carb pizza rolls. I also made some home-made cinnamon rolls when I was bored (I make a lot of bread recipes when I'm sitting around, so I have an excuse to play video games while the dough rises).

Oh, and I developed a bar cookie recipe that works for me, since every time I try to make normal cookies (with mostly butter), they melt and the edges burn, no matter how long I refrigerate the dough. Shortening is my friend.

On the flipside, when I have a downvote option, I feel more negative in general. With Facebook, you just hide or keep scrolling if you see something that's especially inane, and you quickly forget about it. On Reddit, you can cackle gleefully and hit that little blue arrow... but it's just negativity that doesn't need to be there. It's sort of refreshing to have that option removed.

When anyone mentions Archer, I always point them back to Frisky Dingo and Sealab 2021 (if they just got into Archer without ever seeing Matt Thompson and Adam Reed's previous work, that is).

It is nice to have some breathing room (and be able to snag a username you actually want!). I like the simple cleanliness of this site. I feel like I may stick around for a while.