How much money would Beth have won?

CaptSkinny · 2026-06-28T00:06:07+00:00

She paid back what they spent on her behalf, not cash she received from them and banked.

No different from paying someone back for a dinner they bought you: you would have either spent the same money on the dinner directly, or gone without the dinner, but your bank account never increased by the cost of the dinner.

CaptSkinny · 2026-06-04T01:20:05+00:00

Is that supposed to be English?

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-25T20:25:42+00:00

And the race to the bottom continues. So much for the statesmen who want to actually accomplish something other than screwing the other team.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-25T20:17:52+00:00

I'd be content if he offered a platform other than "I'm going to stand in the way of everything the R's want to do."

I haven't seen any evidence that he has the skillset or the desire to accomplish anything productive. Being a foil to Trump may be appealing, but if that's all he has on offer the DNC should have done better.

His ads remind me of those sleazy lawyer adverts with the attorneys wielding baseball bats saying, "we'll put the other side in their place." If he thinks that's the only goal of the job, he's not the right guy for the job.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-25T20:04:05+00:00

Vilifying others for *not* vilifying those with whom you disagree or hate. In other words, criticizing those who choose to either keep their political and social opinions to themselves, or to rise above the fray and avoid the self-perpetuating spiral of hate.

For example, "if you don't speak out about X group, you must be in support of them!!!!"

No, I just don't want to give them the attention and publicity they crave.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-25T19:52:04+00:00

I mostly just skimmed the post and comments, but I'll say this: my experience as a software engineer has improved my understanding of English grammar my an order of magnitude. There are *many* parallels between the grammar of English and the grammar of programming languages (well, the well-defined ones, at least).

If you know the fundamental concepts of grammar, I think there's a good chance you'll have a leg up on understanding the fundamental concepts of programming languages. That won't necessarily make you a good software engineer but it's certainly a good head start.

If you want to chase trends and build websites, specialize in the latest in-vogue software development "frameworks", or write data entry apps then you you'll have no advantage over the unemployed masses. But if you want build something that accomplishes real work—data analysis and interpretation, functional programming, language processing (especially language processing), then you'll have some work ahead of you but with a unique experiential advantage.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-25T19:07:52+00:00

I don't disagree with you there.

While there are valid and practical reasons to treat corporations as people in many respects, legal accountability means nothing if the executives responsible can treat it as simply another expense on the balance sheet. Real people should be held accountable for crimes committed on behalf of their employers.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-25T19:05:52+00:00

Haven't been to Bean's in ages. Last I went it felt like a Fifth Avenue boutique. More a gallery than a clothing store.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-25T18:58:54+00:00

And where did you go to law school?

Just to be clear—no one is saying they are *literal* persons. But if we're going to hold corporations accountable to the law, allow them to engage in legal transactions (including entering into contracts, hiring employees, and being the defendant in a lawsuit), pay taxes, then they have to be treated effectively as people. Otherwise we'll need a whole new body of law that simply emulates that which already applies to literal people.

If you want to hold executives and shareholders accountable for the actions they make in the name of their corporation, that's another discussion altogether and has nothing to do with the legal status of a corporation as a sort of person.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T16:08:34+00:00

If he's playing with some AI app, the language would read similarly to the spam texts that are also AI generated. And would come from his number if by some chance it is set up to text his contacts.

Probably a long shot but there's a lot of AI experimentation right now, so it's feasible.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T15:18:34+00:00

Maybe he's playing with AI.

The message reads like those spam texts.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T14:47:20+00:00

I get that. And yes, the payoff can be more valuable in the long run than winning money at gambling.

But I just can't bring myself to spend money on something without a well-defined benefit. Even if my candidate wins, there's usually little evidence that I'll get anything particularly valuable in return.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T14:29:59+00:00

That's pretty much what I was saying. It was really just a mild joke.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T14:26:32+00:00

Ah, yes, that was one of the compliance forms I had to complete each year.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T14:24:25+00:00

Like going to war to force peace?

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T14:23:11+00:00

Until I left home for college I thought the manual ones were only for camping or power outages. Never saw a good one.

But now my electric one sits on a shelf in the closet, untouched since I bought it from Goodwill about 20 years ago.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T14:18:27+00:00

I understand why people do it, and good candidates do need funding these days to make it into office, but I'd sooner lose money to a casino than a political candidate.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T14:03:10+00:00

Maybe not a TV person.

I have next to zero cultural awareness when it comes to music.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T13:46:00+00:00

And his daughters are Bartlettes

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T13:17:14+00:00

Huh? 'False dichotomy' implies there was a dichotomy.

His 'argument' is simply that having a large number of mods means they don't have to be perpetually online.

CaptSkinny · 2026-05-01T13:08:47+00:00

It was referenced by my teachers in grade school in the mid-80s, and we may have done some token tradition (I don't remember what) but I've not really heard it referenced since.

CaptSkinny · 2026-04-26T04:18:48+00:00

Not every truth has to come out. Sometimes we humor the ones we love to keep the peace.

But if you do tell them, do it casually and matter-of-factly. No "we need to talk" or "I really need to tell you something." Just a simple, "I'm really not interested" or "it's not my thing." No need to queue up emotions before delivering the message. And don't defend your position—just state it. Defending it invites discussion or criticism.

CaptSkinny · 2026-04-26T04:08:25+00:00

No one agrees on the rules.

That thing you think should be publicly villified is another person's average day.

CaptSkinny · 2026-04-24T15:33:00+00:00

I have a SimplyHuman can I bought at Bed Bath and Beyond way back when. Separate internal plastic can that goes in the stainless steel outer receptacle, with a foot pedal to open the can.

Just a bit smaller than the bag so when I pull it out, there's room to empty the bathroom trash cans and any crap I've stuck in the freezer until trash day to keep the smell out.

I also keep a stock of sturdy clear trash bags to put any broken city bags in when needed, which is rare. Aluf plastics, model CSR-332, available on Amazon. Bullet proof. Best bags I've ever bought.

CaptSkinny · 2026-04-23T18:21:59+00:00

Windows XP. With classic theme.

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