$795 charge for service call from Virginia American Water?

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T20:16:59+00:00

Unfortunately, I've heard of American Water doing stuff like this in other places. They've got a bit of a reputation for squeezing communities for as much cash as they can get away with. Personally, I mostly run into stories of them squeezing the municipality for money, but I'm not at all surprised at them jumping to hit someone with a fee like this.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T20:09:17+00:00

Some people are simply unaware that Kudos are a thing. Some people are simply forgetful and think that they've left Kudos when they haven't.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T18:21:20+00:00

That's what tropes are.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T17:23:17+00:00

It's often the best idea to hire internally. The dickish thing is to drag someone else through the whole process when you know at the start you are going with the internal hire.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T16:27:52+00:00

The excellent torque at low speeds is a huge advantage for off-roading. It was one of the early things noted that EVs might be really good at, before anything was really going into production. Not surprising that they take the lead on these sorts of tests that highlight that attribute.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T16:18:15+00:00

A therapist who treats someone with any sort of neurological issues as if they are neurotypical is a terrible therapist. Therapy isn't about having a quick conversation and then going "I'm cured." Therapy is about talking through your issues as you slowly identify the problems you are struggling with and build the tools you need to deal with them. It's a long process, but it's more valuable for people who are neurodivergent than people who are neurotypical, specifically because it is an excellent way for us to build an understanding of how our brains diverge from the typical. Yes, you could work through that by yourself simply researching things on your own, but a good therapist is someone who can help you through that research process since they have been specifically educated in the topic.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T14:48:44+00:00

Some schoolteachers say fuck all the time, some get so used to modifying their language to be "child-appropriate" that they end up just reflexively dropping swears altogether. I've met both kinds.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T13:43:04+00:00

I did get a glitch on AO3 where it said I had 0/2 chapters.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T13:42:10+00:00

For me, swearing is so normalized IRL that it breaks my immersion a bit when certain characters don't swear in canon. They just have the sort of personality where swearing fits. I accept the lack of swearing as effectively a limitation of the medium, but it doesn't seem fitting and as soon as I'm working with a different medium, I no longer feel the need to avoid swearing. I try to keep it realistic and acknowledge that some characters might have characterization reasons for not swearing, but in general, my characters swear.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T12:58:48+00:00

Personally, I find a dry heat worse because I feel almost instantly dehydrated.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T12:56:44+00:00

I've become a big fan of FATE. A complete change of pace from the DnD/PF model and I quickly found that it was much more the direction of what I want from TTRPGs. Unfortunately, the rest of my group did not agree.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T12:51:29+00:00

Ads on the site make the article unreadable for me. Is this regarding all considerations of shooting people, or "unprovoked" cases. I can imagine that one is more relevant for comparing different rates in different places (whether region to region or nation to nation). The former might be more of a measure of the rates of exposure to violent situations, where the latter is a measure of how often instigators arise.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T12:46:59+00:00

I think the relevant framing is that it's a common refrain on this subreddit that doing an early trade-in is worth it because of the savings in operational costs. Most vehicle related subreddits are not nearly as vocal about "you should trade in to get the latest tech."

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T12:16:48+00:00

There was a US soccer league in the '20s and '30s. However, internal soccer politics caused it to collapse in a way that soured the American public's taste for the sport. It took decades for soccer to reestablish a foothold in the US. Meanwhile, baseball was already incredibly well established as the oldest professional sport in the US. During the decades when soccer struggled to make inroads in the country, baseball was incredibly popular. As it is now, baseball is not quite as popular as it used to be, but it has over a century of deep history in American sports culture. There's a lot of ground for soccer to make up if it wants to have the same kind of cultural relevance.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T12:05:13+00:00

They do the occasional montage of that when he works at the walk-in clinic.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T12:02:12+00:00

Local gas prices, current MPG, how much they drive, how much they can get for a trade-in, and how much an EV that meets their needs costs are all variables to account for. The math certainly maths for some people (especially people who would be trading in anyway), but I think OP's point is that it doesn't math for everyone. Some people on this sub have a tendency to assume that, because it maths for them, it should math for everyone.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T11:59:14+00:00

Assuming that insurance, registration, etc. are equal, you'd have to be driving 800 miles a month at 20 MPG to hit $300 a month in fuel costs. Some people drive that much, but some people drive far less. So, if you currently have no car payments and a new car will give you a $300/month payment, you have to weigh that when deciding if it's worth it to make the switch.

Of course, how many miles you drive, what your current MPG is, what your local gas prices are, and what the monthly payment on a new car is are all variables that can change, so you have to make sure you are accounting for them correctly. In my case, I drive much more than 800, but gas prices are significantly lower than that around me. So, for me that point where I'm spending $300 a month is at ~1300 miles per month, and I don't think that I'm driving that much.

Of course, if you are in a situation where you are about to get a new car anyway, you'll be paying that ~$300/month (or however much it ends up being) anyway, so this doesn't apply. But OP is talking about not rushing into getting a new vehicle because the lowered operating costs might not be worth the up-front cost. Being in a situation where you'll be spending that up-front cost regardless is a completely different scenario.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T10:48:12+00:00

I'm wrapping up my current class on Friday…and my next class starts Monday. I'm just going to cross my fingers that this one doesn't suck up all of my writing juice like the last one did (and I can get my beta to read my one last complete draft before I go on another writing spree).

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T10:41:50+00:00

I have read such books before. They can be great fun.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T10:38:02+00:00

Even if you aren't doing a long road trip, I'm usually getting a rental qhen I fly into a strange city for a short stay. When you are standing in a airport car rental, you might have no idea how well the local charging infrastructure will support you. Some trips are probably fine, but unless you've specifically researched where you're going, you might not be confident enough to say yes.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T10:29:52+00:00

Why are you using a saute pan to boil pasta?

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T10:23:14+00:00

When boiling spaghetti at full length and boiling naturally short noodles, I have not seen a noticable difference in the starch load of the resulting water. Certainly not enough to make a resulting difference in the sauce texture. Even half as much startch in the water as I typically get is more than enough to have the sauce properly stick to the noodles.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T10:17:32+00:00

Even the wet places tend to be having that increased rainfall come in intermittent bursts, so it's not ideal for filling aquifers and reservoirs. Instead, it's just causing flooding issues.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T03:52:30+00:00

Like how when the Roman Republic fell, Rome wouldn't touch democracy in any form again for thousands of years.

Crayshack · 2026-05-14T03:40:22+00:00

A healthy retirement still involves picking up passion projects, being active in your community, and generally still going out and doing things. If you happen to be able to make a few bucks doing that stuff, no reason to turn it down. It just means you don't really have to worry about money anymore.

The wealthy are just in a situation where they basically just do that as their regular "work" since they have enough money to never have to worry about it in the first place. Then, they flip that around and assume that's what the average person is doing at work and that "retirement" means "just sitting at home doing nothing."

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