Been wondering how much of the resistance to touching on Gaza comes down to not wanting to break with the current administration's policy, and all that potential mess (disloyal VP! Do you want her as Pres?), plus the option for shrieking accusations of antisemitism.

And that one with the traitors chiseled into it, too!

Would you expect a certain percentage of these to be even more underfunded and underequipped than the Russian Army? Not sure any likely kind of Oblast Militia would have made much of a difference in Kursk (except to the exchange fund) or anywhere else an invasion is actually likely.

Just up the coast, in Victoria: the really old houses in the generally-acknowledged pretty neighbourhoods tend to colour and exuberant decoration. New build houses? Muted *everything* unless it's black and white. Some of the newer multiunit stuff is being slightly more daring, thankfully.

Was always surprised that one didn't get binned at one of several inflection points in Chinese history.

"HoI: The Losers! Ever wanted to lose to tech-tree-grinding peasants, a fading empire, and a country (~50 little countries in a trench coat) on the other side of a vast ocean? Discover that literally everyone else, including that partisan with two knives and a shotgun, is Better At War! Lose now!"

"Uhhh like we're a bit busy, owner's dealing with a plumbing thing (it's bad!), kitchen's shorthanded and switching from breakfast to lunch, we've got like three deliveries coming... That your SUV? You've blocked the veg guy in. And our lunch crowd are mostly super rushed and don't really talk."

The raccoons might appreciate the hint, though.

Entirely tangential, but I love the linguistic quirk of, effectively, a volume of Jesus. What's the unit of measurement?

The brew/gastro pub and dedicated burger joint are both pretty successful models! But both of those rely on relatively high-quality ingredients and at least decent kitchen staff in ways that I don't think scale to "national chain" at comparable prices.