That’s not true in TX cities. I’ve lived in DFW, Houston metroplex, and Austin and have never had less than 15 polling places. They might not be next door to your work, but they are within a few monute drive.

TX was also the first state to allow early voting and mandates that polls are open at least 9 hours the first week and at least 12 hours the second week and final day of voting. That’s the minimum, not maximum. There were also polling places open on the weekends.

That said, I have heard (although haven’t researched it) that some very rural areas are more difficult to vote in with only a couple polling places in the county. So that could be the case if you live in the middle of nowhere, but you’ll pass polling places on your way to/from work. Just think of it like you would a doctor appointment and put it on your schedule.

TX is pretty purple and is turning more blue each cycle.

2004: Kerry lost by ~1.9 million votes 2008: Obama lost by ~990,000 votes 2012: Obama lost by ~1.2 million votes 2016: Clinton lost by ~800,000 votes 2020: Biden lost by ~640,000 votes

In 2020, had just 3.5% more of the registered voters cast a ballot for Biden, he would have won. That’s about how many people voted each day of early voting in this election.

No caffeine after 2

Take magnesium glycinate and threonate and hour or so before bed (threonate helps me sleep but it can cause vivid dreams)

Make sure you’re comfortable in the bed both in terms of bed firmness/softness and temperature

Use a fan to regulate temperature and create white noise

Create a regular bedtime ritual (brush, floss, skincare, etc) and stick to it

Chamomile tea can help relax

I’ve also found drinking some cool/cold water right before attempting to sleep can help, because your body temperature drops as you go to sleep. I’m also a hot sleeper, so that also helps to cool down my core.

Make a regular sleep schedule and stick to it as much as possible

Write down any persistent thoughts, journal emotions, or create a to-do list from whatever might be running through your mind. Getting that out of my head and onto paper helps to alleviate any anxiety and can help stop my brain from planning and running amok while I’m lying there.

I turn off all the lights and only use some color-changing LED lights an hour or so before bed. White lights are too bright and can keep me from sleeping. Red is darker, yet still bright enough to see where I’m walking. Red lights are also best for night vision, if you go stargazing, make sure you have red flashlights, because white light will destroy your night vision for 20 minutes or so.

I also use a screen dimming app on my phone to bring the brightness down lower than the brightness setting will allow. On Apple devices, this is a regular setting in accessibility called “Reduce White Point”. Android still hasn’t figured out how to mimic that well and the best app I’ve found is Screen Dimmer Plus. It basically puts a Grey layer over whatever images show up on your phone and will mess with screenshots taken and it doesn’t change anything with the top 1/4" of the screen. The Reduce White Point setting on ios doesn’t mess with screenshots and changes the brightness for the whole screen. It’s one of the big disappointments I’ve had with android.

Get Blackout curtains to block light from the windows

Don’t exercise too close to bed. I also can’t take showers or baths too close to bed because they will disrupt my sleep.

Slow breathing and closing your eyes will lying in bed can help if you’re restless. I’ve also found that if I’m having a particularly hard time falling asleep that getting out of bed and reading a book or fiction story before returning to bed can help.

Choose something light and calming to watch as the last thing before you turn off your TV. Nature documentaries like Planet Earth or a light comedy can help you unwind and be a little more calm than watching an action, horror, or drama movie/TV show.

Another thing I’ve read about if you’re restless is to work your way uo your body squeezing your muscles for a few seconds. So start with your feet and flex them a couple times for a couple seconds, then go uo to your calves, all the way up to your eyes. The flex and release is supposed to help release any muscles that are still clenching from the day.

Spending time in nature during the day is supposed to help calm the mind and body, so finding 20-30 minutes to walk around a park could be helpful.

Don’t stress out about not falling asleep. Lying there with your eyes closed with relaxing breaths is supposed to be restful for the body

Potassium might help you relax and I think it’s also supposed to help with blood pressure if you’ve been consuming too much sodium. Not 100% sure on that, but I figure getting blood pressure under control can help you get better quality sleep.

I was hoping you’d be able to find it.

Maybe you can contact your county registrar and see what happened. The deadline for voter registration for the presidential election was October 7. Maybe there’s something that can be done.

That doesn’t look like the site specifically for TX. Not sure if there might be something that could cause another site to report an error.

Double check at

www.votetexas.gov

You’ll need to enter your TDL (Texas Driver’s License Number) and date of birth after clicking the “Am I Registered?” button

Kind if reminds me of the scene in The Truman Show when they talk about the cereal to the hidden camera.

Yeah, it’s just like growing up. I remember as a kid hoping the weather would finally cool down by Halloween so we wouldn’t sweat through our costumes. In fact there were a couple years that we changed which costume we were going to buy because it would have been too hot to wear.

Is there a particular VPN router that you suggest?

Also, is there a subscription fee or something for the VPN usage?

Thank you so much for the info!

Is there a way to put a VPN on the router, so that all devices are covered?

He set out buckets filled with water like Davy Jones to keep from setting foot on land.

I found that while popping popcorn, the finished kernel (mushroom or butterfly shaped) depends on popping conditions. I only use Redenbacher and if the heat is too high, you get the mushroom shape and the kernels are dense and if you set the heat a little lower you get fluffier butterfly kernels.

Is the popped kernel shape really supposed to be different based on what kind of popcorn you buy?

Lol, sorry I recently went to the dentist and the 2 minutes to brush your teeth was fresh.

Hand washing should be 20 seconds of scrubbing after lathering your hands in soap.

Yeah, they don’t use that specific ingredient anymore, however the same concern is still there. Some bacteria could survive the soap if everyone using said soaps don’t wash their hands properly every time they use the soap.

If I recall correctly from a report early in the covid pandemic, regular soaps attach to the cell membrane of bacteria and to oils/debris on the hands. Physically rubbing your hands together for the 2 minutes rips the bacterial and viral matter apart and dislodges whatever other debris is on them and then the water pulls the soap and everything attached to it down the drain. There’s nothing really for the bacteria or viruses to adapt to in that scenario.

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aac.02312-18

They use antimicrobials and don’t always kill everything when washing hands.

They don’t seem to use the same active ingredients as antibiotics, but the concern of bacterial resistance still apples.

"The [FDA] issued a proposed rule in 2013 after some data suggested that long-term exposure to certain active ingredients used in antibacterial products — for example, triclosan (liquid soaps) and triclocarban (bar soaps) — could pose health risks, such as bacterial resistance or hormonal effects. "

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-issues-final-rule-safety-and-effectiveness-antibacterial-soaps

There’s another web page from the FDA entitled “Antibatcerial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use Plain…” however I can’t open the link to see if there’s mote talk about bacterial resistance.

The antibacterial soaps also help create supergerms that can survive the antibiotic used. They should only be used in medical settings when necessary. The overuse of antibacterial soaps and antibiotics are going to help create more pandemics should enough bacteria become antibiotic-resistant.

This comment reminds me that one time I came across an hour and a half long ad on YouTube that turned out to be a full episode of some show and something else. It was crazy to see one that long after skipping a couple ads

Only other place I can think of off-hand is the local library for rentals. Half Price Books and thrift shops will have some for sale, but I’m not sure how much lower they may be from Amazon’s rental fee.

The rejection of fanaticism went out the door along with E Pluribus Unum in the 50’s when the Christian nationalists forced their religion on the national motto. Then over the next decade black people were lynched and attacked with fire hoses when they were asking for basic rights.

They also started conversion camps where they emotionally and sometimes physically and secually abuse minors in conversion camps to attempt to change sexual orientation.

I believe it was Nixon who helped foem fox News to pull the Republicans further right and we’ve been seeing the consequences of that.

Basically the fanaticism has always been there, but with the internet and social media, it’s easier for them to make their voice heard.

No, we don’t get letters in the mail about elections. The options are news, radio, or look it up yourself outside of social media. With streaming so popular, people don’t see near as many ads as they used to on their TV. That leaves social media as the biggest informer of upcoming elections and to hear about issues.