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November 2025
Prepare Your Car for Winter Making Sure Your Vehicle Is Ready for the Cold Months Ahead!
As the temperatures drop and the days grow shorter, Virginia drivers face new challenges on the road. Preparing your vehicle for the winter months isn’t just smart; it’s an essential step in keeping yourself, your passengers, and others safe. Check out these helpful tips as we enter the holiday season. Start with a seasonal checkup. Your tires are the first line of defense against slippery roads, and cold weather can quickly expose weak spots in your car. Check that your tire tread depth is at least 4/32 of an inch and that tire pressure is at an appropriate level. If you live in the mountains or other snow-prone areas, consider switching to snow tires for better traction. Test your battery, as freezing temperatures can cut its power by half. Make sure your antifreeze and washer fluids are topped off with winter-safe formulas, and inspect your belts, hoses, and brakes for wear. See and be seen. Visibility is key in winter driving. Replace worn wiper blades and make sure your headlights, brake lights, and turn signals work properly. Virginia law requires drivers to use headlights when visibility is reduced to 500 feet or whenever windshield wipers are in use. Keeping your lights clean and bright helps others see you through fog, sleet, and snow. Pack an emergency kit. Every car should carry a basic winter emergency kit, including a flashlight, blankets, jumper cables, first-aid supplies, a shovel, snacks, water, and a phone
charger. Keeping your gas tank at least half full can prevent freezing and ensure you have enough fuel if you get stranded. Adjust your driving habits. Slow down, increase your follow distance, and avoid using cruise control on slick roads. If your car starts to skid, stay calm, ease off the gas, and steer gently in the direction you want to go. And if conditions look dangerous, delay travel when possible. It’s better to arrive late than not at all! Finally, keep in mind that Virginia is an at-fault and contributory negligence state, meaning even partial fault can prevent you from recovering damages after a crash. Staying alert and winter- ready not only keeps you safe; it also protects your rights. The Pendleton Law Team hopes you never need us, but if you do, we’ll be ready to fight for the compensation you deserve if you get injured during the months ahead. “Staying alert and winter-ready not only keeps you safe; it also protects your rights. Pendleton Law Team hopes you never need us, but if you do, we’ll be ready to fight for the compensation you deserve if you get injured during the months ahead.”
– The Pendleton Law Team
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Before Smartphones, There Was Water
GETTING OUT OF BED LONG BEFORE THE SNOOZE BUTTON
Members of Generation Z may find it difficult to believe that people used plug-in alarm clocks to help them get up on time in the morning. However, that seemingly archaic means of timekeeping has nothing on how people managed wake-up time before cellphones and even electricity, as we use it today, became staples of daily life. In the 4th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Plato created a method to ensure students at his academy, which once counted Aristotle among its pupils, woke up at the correct time each day. To perfect a foolproof system, he turned to a surprising tool: water. He constructed a set of clocks that operated using two basins. One basin would slowly empty into the other throughout the night; when the second basin was full, rattling pebbles or whistling air awakened students from their slumber. Known as klepsydra (or “water thief”) clocks, these timekeepers were astonishingly accurate. About a century later, Greek inventor Ctesibius of Alexandria expanded on Plato’s design by incorporating mechanics that produced sounds not unlike those of the more modern cuckoo clock. Ctesibius’s version remained popular until the pendulum clock emerged in the 1650s.
Although Plato often gets credit for creating aquatic- based alarms, some variation of the klepsydra concept allegedly dates back to at least the 16th century BCE. Archaeologists uncovered a tomb inscription detailing how an Egyptian
court official of the era devised a similar system. Regardless of its definitive inventor, the water clock roused people long before phone apps, proving that nature often provides solutions to problems centuries before human technology catches up.
While the water clock was undoubtedly an imaginative masterstroke, it is still reasonable to argue that the “snooze” button remains the most critical time-related creation known to man.
Ice Cream in Your Pocket?
YOU CAN’T EVEN MAKE UP THESE STRANGE FOOD RULES
Finger-Licking Fun … or Else!
When it comes to state laws about food, specific provisions on the books from past years may leave a funny taste in your mouth, and potentially get you in a heap of trouble if you break them. This fact is especially true in parts of the South, where your lunch order may need to come with a side of legal advice. Cones and Captured Horses If you want to stay on the good side of law enforcement in Alabama, always remember that ice cream cones are for licking, not sticking in your back pocket. While it’s pretty safe to assume the thought of engaging in the latter activity hasn’t crossed a single mind in 2025, there was a time when horse thieves would stick ice cream in their pockets to attract equine abductees. Considering that we rarely share the highway with horses these days and most people would prefer not to turn the seat of their pants into a sundae, it’s a safe bet this charge won’t fill up courtrooms for the foreseeable future.
On the subject of making a mess with food items, eating chicken with your hands can be a sticky thrill and is the only way to partake in poultry eating
without running a-fowl of the law in Gainesville, Georgia. If you want to enjoy tasty chicken in that city, stock up on wet wipes and skip the knife and fork, as eating it with utensils is a crime. Although the ordinance banning knives
and forks when consuming chicken was meant as a joke
by the local police department, chucking the rule may draw some disapproving clucks when dining in the place affectionately known by locals and city officials as “the Poultry
Capital of the World,” especially during its renowned Spring Chicken Festival. Perhaps only a good lawyer can help determine whether
the law also applies to vegan “chik’n” options.
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Dividing Homes, Not Hearts
TAKE A BREAK
Co-Parent Like a Pro After Separation
Divorce or separation is often stressful, but it should never be used to draw battle lines for your children. Dissolving a marriage or partnership can be as logistically challenging as it is emotionally draining, especially when developing a positive and effective co-parenting situation. Here are a few suggestions for creating and sustaining clear communication and responsibilities when you and your former spouse/partner no longer live or parent under the same roof. The Key Steps Toward Stability First and foremost, all co-parenting arrangements need a consistent plan for success. A written co-parenting plan should include the custody agreement, travel and/or relocation considerations, financial responsibilities for both parties, schedules (e.g., school pick-up/drop-off times and who is responsible for fulfilling these commitments), and details regarding the child’s education and health care needs. A document of this nature helps solidify both parties’ involvement and holds each accountable for what they’ve agreed to do on the child’s behalf. Additionally, it helps prevent disagreements or misunderstandings that could lead to arguing in front of the child/children, a scenario to avoid as much as possible. While a divorce may present logistical obstacles for one or both parents, it is critical to work toward maintaining the child’s existing friendships and activities, even if they require spending more time with one spouse over the other. For example, if your child’s best friend lives closer to your ex-spouse, accommodating the continuation of this close relationship will help your child maintain a sense of normalcy. The Risks of Reticent Relationships When the end of a marriage or relationship results in a breakdown in communication or cooperation, these fractured ties can have a potentially devastating impact on your child. Common effects of unhealthy co-parenting on children include reduced performance at school, lowered self-esteem, and difficulties in maintaining healthy relationships with others. If communication has devolved into acrimony or has resulted in either side failing to fulfill their parental duties, seeking counseling from a trained professional is one way to help steer the ship in the best possible direction for your child’s health and peace of mind.
SLOW COOKER BRISKET
Ingredients
• 1 (1-oz) envelope onion soup mix • 1 tbsp brown sugar • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper • 1 3-lb piece of beef brisket (flat cut)
• 1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces • 1 lb baby golden potatoes • 3 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces • 1 large sweet onion, cut into 8 wedges • 2 1/2 cups beef stock • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce • 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 8 fresh thyme sprigs • 8 whole garlic cloves • 2 bay leaves
Directions 1. In a small bowl, combine soup mix, sugar, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle over brisket. 2. Place meat, fat cap side down, into an 8-qt slow cooker. 3. Top brisket with thyme, garlic, bay leaves, carrots, potatoes, celery, and onion. 4. Whisk stock, Worcestershire sauce, and cornstarch until fully dissolved. Add to slow cooker. 5. Cover and cook on high for 5–6 hours until tender. 6. Remove to a cutting board, fat side up. Remove thyme and bay leaves. 7. Thinly slice brisket against the grain. 8. Serve with vegetables, drizzled with gravy from the slow cooker.
Inspired by ThePioneerWoman.com
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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Winter Driving Tips
What Snooze Button? The Ingenious Ways People Used to Wake Up
Who Knew Eating Could Get You in Legal Trouble?
Slow Cooker Brisket
3
Divorce Isn’t Easy, but Co-Parenting Can Be
The Chocolate Event That Had Kids Crying, Not Smiling
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When AI Marketing Goes Horribly Wrong Willy’s Ruined Chocolate Experience
Never fail to deliver on a promise of chocolate to children.
(in some instances) a single jellybean served in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. The scenery was cheap, while the actors struggled to perform through hastily provided scripts. One character, The Unknown, was a masked and frighteningly attired figure that prompted youngsters to recoil and cry in fear. Perhaps most disturbingly, there was no chocolate to be found. Naturally, people called the police amid demands for refunds, and the lackluster affair was shut down. Subsequent revelations that creators used AI to generate the online marketing images and that the $44 event was not an officially sanctioned “Wonka” undertaking also brought into question House of Illuminati owner Billy Coull’s background, including his history of publishing AI-generated books on conspiracy theories and taboo subjects. Although Coull’s fraudulent and exploitative marketing scheme was reprehensible, it’s far from his worst transgression. Around the time House of Illuminati was shuttered in late 2024, he was forced to register as a sex offender after it was revealed he had followed up his “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” fiasco by sending unwanted explicit messages and images to an unidentified woman.
House of Illuminati, a London-based event company, learned this lesson the hard way when it hosted what angry parents and disappointed kids in Glasgow considered one of the biggest scams in children’s entertainment history. The disastrous day went from offering scant amounts of lemonade and jellybeans to prompting cries of terror and calls to Scottish police, and artificial intelligence was at least partially to blame. In early 2024, social media feeds in the U.K. were abuzz with vibrant images promoting “Willy’s Chocolate Experience,” an immersive event boasting chocolate fountains, costumed characters, and “a day of pure imagination and wonder.” Naturally, people assumed the event was a tie-in with the then-recently released film “Wonka” and a nod to the imaginary world created by the classic 1971 movie “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.” Unfortunately, what attendees experienced when “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” arrived that February was far from a fairy tale. Instead of rivers of sweets, they were treated to half-filled cups of lemonade and
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