Cheap low-capacity 9V batteries are still 6 AAAA cells. The flat cells allow higher capacity in the same space, so you find them in the batteries that advertise themselves as long-lasting.

The most prevalent has got to be, "We prayed and -insert name- recovered - it’s a miracle!

And if the person dies: “It’s the will of God.”

Gas bubbles from rotting vegetation are the likely cause in this instance. See this article for an explanation:

Lake Ice - Gas Holes

I use the knife a lot, mostly for opening the bag of pellets for the pellet stove and opening Amazon boxes. Yesterday I was using my chainsaw about 1/8 mile from the house. The chain slipped off the drive sprocket. Out came the Leatherman and the pliers pulled the chain back into place. Saved me at least 10 minutes not driving back to the house for the tools.

Last week a little kid had a birthday party at the park. He got a remote control car, but nobody in his party had a screwdriver to open the battery compartment. I was at a nearby table and heard his predicament. Leatherman to the rescue!

A few years ago I stepped on a nail while hiking. It went through the sole of my shoe and into my foot, pinning it inside. The Leatherman let me pull out the nail so I could remove the shoe and tend to the wound. It would have really sucked hobbling 4 miles with a nail in my foot!

My buddy also wears a Leatherman. Before cell phones became common, he was walking alone on a steep hillside when he slipped and tumbled over a retaining wall that was under construction. He ended up suspended from the wall by a spike of rebar through his arm. He used the metal saw to cut the rebar. He credits the tool with saving his life, because who knows how long it would have been before someone else came along.

Not really a game, but playing Minecraft has made me wish for real-world modeling software with a similar first person interface. Select from standard off-the-shelf components, use real-world tools, and craft stuff. Then test it out. I’ve got ideas in my head for all kinds of stuff, but going from there to an actual model is tedious with standard CAD and modeling software. Why can’t I (virtually) take an 8’ Douglas Fir 2x4, cut it with a saw, drill some holes in it - you get the idea. I could make something like a shed, then stress test it in a windstorm, pile 4 feet of snow on it, or drench it with rain. Or build a go-kart and see how it would perform. Tweak the design until it does what you want. Make the app user moldable and let the community go wild adding capabilities and virtual materials. Maybe it could eventually generate real parts lists, fabrication data for 3D printers and CNC machines, and assembly drawings.

So which city are we going to tear down and rebuild first? And we have to come up with some new laws, like you can only own a home that’s within walking/biking distance of your work.

We had a taste of a viable alternative, thanks to the pandemic. Remote work - it accomplishes most of what you propose without totally ditching private transportation. Maybe we should make that a law - business has to show that physical presence is required or they must allow employees to work remotely.

The Asians who have dry ear wax also tend to not have smelly armpits. It’s a genetic thing.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-lucky-two-percent-of-people-have-a-gene-for-stink-free-armpits-2508106/

Two “gadgets” that I’m never without. My Leatherman multitool and my RovyVon Aurora flashlight. The multitool with locking blades is like carrying a toolbox on your hip. And that flashlight - it’s 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, but it can kick out a beam that lights up things 1000 feet away. Or provide enough light to read by for 40 hours. Yeah, I can use the smartphone’s flash, but it isn’t bright enough to show me if the two eyes reflecting back at me belong to a dog or a bear. That’s important where I live.

Auto body workers still need to read. Try mixing Bondo without being able to read measures or weights. How about determining which box contains the proper replacement part?

Visio penalizes you for not giving it Internet access by taking extra long to turn on while it vainly tries to phone home. There’s no way to turn off the “feature”.

Why is it not illegal for manufacturers to cripple hardware if you don’t let them invade your privacy?

Are there any alternate firmware sources for TVs that remove the smart features?

I wonder if my insurance would pay for at least part of one of these? But I don’t think it would fit in my tiny shower.

That’s why you get a bidet! With a bit more pressure they work like an enema. Just relax, fill up, purge, repeat. It’s great to combat mild constipation. Prevents butt slime - when you go and the last bit of poop refuses to come out, then slowly leaks out as you walk around.

There are cheap $20 ones that work fine. That area of your body isn’t particularly sensitive to cold water.

Has to be my back. It’s hard to reach even with a back brush because of degenerative issues in my shoulder joints. I tried one of those scrubbers with the two ropes, but it’s hard to control. Need a bigger shower so my wife can wash it for me…and get my back while she’s at it!

I use a very small plastic stool I stole from my daughter when her toddler outgrew it. Absolute game changer for washing legs. My wife loves it too for shaving her legs.

If you have a balcony or patio area (assuming you are in an apartment), you could opt for a split A/C. These have most of the A/C “guts” in a box that sits outside and a couple of hoses that hook up to the heat exchanger inside. The outside box chills water, pumping it through the inside heat exchanger. They’re more efficient than window A/C units, and get around rental agreements prohibiting window units.

What seems to be impossible is to locate businesses, their employees, and stores geographically close together. I have lots of friends who drive over an hour each way for work. I used to drive 30 minutes to my job. Now my wife and i work from home and for the first time in my life we have only one car. But there’s no way we could go without a car. Family lives 120 miles away. Groceries are 10 miles, and other necessities are 26 miles. The US was laid out to require personal vehicles. It’s too spread out to have a functioning mass transit system that’s convenient to use.

Using the such a system in the US, even if convenient, has risks. During the peak of COVID, many riders refused to wear masks. There’s no security, no hygiene or conduct standards for riders (try to sit next to a crazy homeless person or someone higher than a kite for 45 minutes), and when you try to get help from law enforcement, nobody shows up.

You’d be charged because you made and distributed a weapon that is an unregistered explosive device - AKA a bomb.

Everyone gets hung up on guns for killing. I’ve shot tens of thousands of rounds and haven’t killed a thing because I shoot competitively. It’s like Zen Buddhists who shoot the bow and arrow, another weapon designed to kill. It is an exercise of mind and body.

You know that we’ve gestated various animals in weightless conditions on the ISS, yes? They look normal.

Tell me more about this black mold… Unless eating it means I might see God in person.

The solubility of air in water depends on temperature. When water that is saturated with air is heated, the air will bubble out of the water as the solution becomes supersaturated. We’ve all seen this watching a pot of water heating on the stove. Long before it boils, bubbles of air start forming on the bottom and sides of the pot.

In your shower, hot and cold water start out saturated, but when they mix, the warm water can be supersaturated, causing tiny bubbles that make the water look milky.