Two reasons:

1. Lakes freeze from the top because the air is the mechanism that is removing heat from the water on the surface, so the surface freezes first, and as ice is lighter than water, it does not sink.
2. The heat-sink effect of the ground the lake is in. Ever notice that in winter bridges freeze over before the highway on the ground? That's why.

Hey, Sucking at something is the first step at Excelling at something.

Stick with it.

No matter how high you heat your toast or kettle, there is an upper limit to how fast that heat can be conducted through the medium (bread or water).

At a certain limited, you either just char the surface of the bread, or vaporize the water in contact with the heating element, while the inner bread or water still remains ambient.

As water is liquid, that high of a temperature WOULD result in a faster boiling time, but it would be a violent process. Not something safe for the kitchen.

Suck, squeeze, bang, blow.

Repeat

Gerrymandering is the winning side's ability to redraw congressional districts to give themselves an advantage.

In simple terms: Say you have a minority group that votes 'X' surrounded on four sides that vote 'y'. In reality you have five groups, four Y and one X.

The people who control such things redraw the lines, so that the 'X' group is broken up and merged into the predominantly 'Y' groups. The end result would be five 'Y' groups. Basically the 'X' groups votes are watered down.

This is done by all parties, whoever is in power at the time. It is allowed because it is necessary to re-draw the districts over time.

It has no bearing on the Presidential or Senatorial races. Just the House of Representatives and local elections.

A Cat Odyssey.