Statfish

Whoa....what are you doing that you break so many rims?

If you want cheap and weight/performance's not an issue, do you have a community bike shop in your area, or some other option for salvaging used bike parts?

There are also a few, more recent companion books that give a lot of historical context to both Melville and whaling, etc

Why Read Moby Dick? By Nathaniel Philbrick

Ahab's Rolling Sea, by Richard J King

It sounds like you've got a good approach and good advice from the comments. Frustrating, for sure, but it's likely to take a lot of time and repetition. Something to add to your conversations with her - you might want to start asking about her feelings about stealing. What was the moment when she realized she wanted to take something, what did it feel like when she took it, how does she feel about other people's reactions. Lots of unpack there! Maybe it's a conversation to have away from an actual stealing incident, so that you can approach it with curiousity more than (immediate) judgement. Does she WANT to keep stealing? And if so, why? If not, does she need help coming up with strategies to deal with the feeling of wanting to steal something in the moment?

My friends, why are you even bothering to post here if your response is "I have to drive my car a million miles always?" If your work commute is a million miles, that sucks already for you, I'm sure. But, really, what are you hoping to add here??

Replacing ANY car trip with a bike trip can be pretty fun and rewarding, if that's safe for you in your community. Doesn't have to be a work trip if that doesn't work for you.

I've always loved sports; so that part's easy, personally. But I've also learned to kind of savor the feeling of using my muscles and getting tired. Whatever I'm doing, or even on days where I didn't have time to "exercise", I make a point to check in on different parts of my body, maybe tense them or stretch; just trying to notice what feels good and then really savor that feeling. I find that building that mental practice helps motivate me to seek out exercise, or power through when I'm not really enjoying a particular activity.

Cool story, bro. How do you propose to do that? You got a magic wand? How many of those ballot initiatives failed this time around?

Some level of election reform will be on the ballot in 9 states this fall. Make sure you vote, if you can!

Also worth noting that these efforts are generally led mainly by democrats, with support from some moderate republicans. In contrast, 10 republican-led state legistatures have passed outright bans on RCV. One of these parties is not like the other!

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/05/nx-s1-4969563/ranked-choice-voting-bans

Yeah, it'd be great to see more 3rd party candidates in down ballot races. Should your first seat at the table nationally be the presidency?

Easy to be idealist when you never hold office. 3rd parties never have to show where they would comprise, because they are not running for these higher offices in a meaningful way.

The republican agenda is so profoundly awful, and the US electorate has not yet resoundly rejected it. Meanwhile, we're too busy "trying to send a message" to recognize that the democrats are the only party even marginally open to progressive policies. Depending on where you live, there are a lot of groups pushing for election reform, and many places where that will be on the ballot. Get involved, help make that change happen...but you can do that and also flush the big orange turd.

How did I get dragged into this in a joke thread??

1. The two-party system is destroying the country.
2. Resoundly reject the party that is actively pushing for a weird christofascist state. <-- the us electorate has not yet done this!
3. Actively push for election reform <-- AK, AZ, CO, DC, ID, MT, NV, OR, and SD will all have ballet initiatives this November regarding election reform. VOTE!
4. Get involved with organizations that are moving to further the causes you care about, and get active in politics.

Voting for president is the smallest part of civic participation, not the end-all-be-all

Nope, but as with so many discussions of this nature, this question misses the nuance of why women's sports exist.

Hey fellow Montanan! Check out Big Sky Rail Authority's arguments for implementing a southern passanger rail service, or think of the benefits of increased bus service connecting the larger Montana cities. We have main travel corridors across the state that could be greatly improved by a public transportation network, linking rural communities and connecting them to larger city centers. Combine that with local bus service, walkable communities, and biking infrastructure in places where it can be supported like Missoula, Bozeman, Billings, etc can improve traffic and livability of the towns. Also, think of the improvement to traffic conditions for people coming into town from surrounding rural communities if you can divert a good portion of traffic to public options. In a rural state like ours, there's always going to be some need for personal vehicles, but there's still lots of places where having more public transportation options could improve our communities and lessen our climate impacts. Sure, it's going to look different than in other parts of the country, but still a lot of room for improvement around here.