I'm gonna ask the library to find this for me! Have you read Colin Woodard's Lobster Coast? Mostly focused on the coast, but very interesting to read.

Nah, they're unusually offended by the existence of someone they disagree with. They weren't reacting to the content of her post, but the sociopolitical identifiers in her user name.

Oh, this person chatted me last week. Asking about places to go & visit in Maine. Told them I'm a hardcore fucking homebody, not their personal tour guide, and to check the fucking megathread like every other flatlander.

I raised wages for all of my staff, none of whom make the minimum wage, because of this increase. Just worked out what percentage over minimum they had been making, then applied that percentage to the new minimum wage.

Those wouldn't be the same years when we had an active, militant labor movement with widespread union membership in solidarity with active movements around socialism, anarchism, and an active communist party would they?

You will need a coat. Down, wool, or synthetic just make sure it's big enough to fit over a few layers. A good basic winter kit list would be:

• Winter coat, choose warmth over looks. Everyone looks like a fool here in January, but we don't freeze to death.
• waterproof boots, 1 size too big for extra socks
• 6-7 pairs of wool socks. Smartwool, Darn Tough, and LL Bean are good brands. You want the highest wool content you can find, as wool will continue to keep you warm even if it gets wet. Cotton and synthetics will not.
• Wool or high-end synthetic long underwear, at least 2 sets of bottoms. The LL Bean wool bottoms are pricey, but worth it. I have 2 pair that I've been rotating through for nearly 10 years and they're just now needing some minor mending.
• A few decent wool sweaters. Get one or two before you come, then haunt the thrift stores local to where you're staying and pick up a few more.
• Good warm slippers for being inside. If your feet are cold, the rest of you is cold too, and floors get cold in the winter here.
• A warm hat. Basic wool watch cap is a good, affordable choice, just make sure it covers your ears. It's not a fashion accessory, it's to keep your ears from literally freezing off.
• Sunglasses. Snow gets really bright in the sun, as bad or worse than tropical sun reflecting off the water.
• Good gloves, two pair: one thin, lightweight wool with the touchpad-compatible thread on the fingertips so you can use your phone without taking off your gloves. Then a thick, waterproof pair of gloves or mittens (mittens are much warmer, but you sacrifice dexterity) to go over the thin ones. You'll need the big ones for walking, scraping ice off your car, shoveling, etc, but you'll enjoy the thin ones underneath when you have to actually use your hands.
• if you have or will have a car, get a good wool blanket or decent sleeping bag to keep in it, along with a bright red handkercheif, a box of protein bars and a big bottle of water. If you get stranded in the snow or run your car into a ditch, tie the red cloth to your antenna or somewhere it will be very visible to passing cars, and climb into the sleeping bag to wait.

>it’ll all depend on what you can tolerate

Did you miss where they said that they're coming from a tropical country, and arriving in January? They won't be able to tolerate shit.

Source: have helped more than one new Mainer through acclimatizing to winter from warmer climes.

A verrrrrry good egg.

Yeah, we already have a revolving door between politics & business. Term limits will only make that worse, and will also (further) incentivize short-term thinking, instant gratification as policy, and outright corruption. Not to mention jettisoning talented, experienced, passionate public servants in favor of the latest loudest screamer isnt the best plan? Would you trade Bernie Sanders for an endless parade of Madison Cawthorns? Mandatory retirement age would be far more effective, to my mind, and hopefully would incentivize the uplifting of strong young voices rather than the current trend of backbiting and internecine warfare. Pelosi should be mentoring AOC and the whole fucking Squad, not undermining them. If she knew she only had x number of years left in office, maybe she would.

Never ask a woman her age, a man his salary, or the Volkswagen corporation what they were doing between 1939-1945...

Jesus? You mean the homeless, Jewish, Middle Eastern socialist who hangs out with lepers and whores? That Jesus?

These guys don't know him. They only know his asshole cousin, Supply-Side Jesus.

You're very pedantic, but also correct. I was poking fun at the phrase "flatlander," after all, which is itself superfuckingsilly for each and all of the points you've just made. Katahdin is beautiful, and while I was born in the NW, I'll die in Maine where my child was born.

Do go check out the alpine meadows in the PNW, though. Just steer clear of Seattle/the popular parts of the Cascades and go straight from Sea-Tac up to the Olympic Peninsula and the Hoh National Rainforest, then hit the Okanagan Wilderness in north-central WA state by way of the ferry at Anacortes and the roads through the Cascades up near Bellingham. Way less populated and even more beautiful.

I dunno, I've climbed Aconcagua in summer and there was definitely snow at the top (we didn't summit, but spent two weeks hiking & camping around the foothills & lower slopes on horseback.) I'll give you points for Guatemala, though - Volcan Fuego is definitely a mountain. Seeing the lava glowing against the stars while riding the night bus from Guatemala City to San Salvador was wild, something I'll never forget.

Which, having myself been born in the shadows of Tahoma and Mt St Helens, never fails to crack me the fuck up when it's aimed in my direction.

Sorry bub, unless it's got snow on top in August it's just a hill. Mighty big hill, sure, but not a mountain.

So you know how he made headlines for "going back to bartending" after he left last time?

That was for the publicity. He actually went to work as a lobbyist.

For CMP.

It's almost as if the only constant is change....

Fuck the class sizes, think of how many hours a day some of those kids would have to spend on the bus! Some of them are already >90 minutes each way.