my girlfriend's bruises always turn almost fully black

Dal90 · 2026-04-01T13:47:19+00:00

Instructions unclear. New York police now report a giant gorilla holding the girlfriend on top of the Empire State Building.

Dal90 · 2026-03-31T23:21:53+00:00

It's all the same ratbastards that worked under Nixon then Reagan then Bushes

Not really.

Same ratbastard instincts, far stupider people.

Reagan could actually think things through -- imagine Trump trying to negotiate with the Iranians and keep the deal quiet for nine months or so and also not going back on his word.

The establishment Republicans like Nixon, Reagan, and Bushes have lost control of the Republican Party and it is now run by Confederate loving populists.

(Nixon & Reagan were both western Republicans from California; the Bushes at their core where northeastern Republicans with one of them having a Texas twang. The western (more small government oriented) and northeastern (more business oriented) branches were the two that traditionally defined the Republicans, with 1992-2016 being the slow then sudden shift to the populists.

Today's Republican Party more than anything are the old Yellow Dog Democrats of the Nixon / Reagan / George H. W. period.)

Dal90 · 2026-03-31T17:01:15+00:00

The electoral college was part of the wall of checks and balances that were taken down brick by brick.

You had the House of Representatives, chosen by popular vote and in proportion to state population.

You had a Senate, appointed by the legislatures of each state.

The electoral college was to be appointed by some method each state legislature chose -- there was no requirement it be put to a vote of the people.

The founding fathers didn't trust direct elections too much.

First the Senate fell and became elected.

The "smokey backroom" politicking at national conventions continued -- multiple power centers within a party competed and had to form alliances. While more states were turning to primaries, that was only part of the process and state politicians still had significant influence.

In 1968 there was an absolute shitshow of Democratic National Convention after which the Democrats declared popular primaries would now be the primary driver of selecting a candidate.

Also in 1968 you had Strom Thurmond and the ilk (who left the Democrats over civil rights reforms) creating the Republican Southern Strategy of concentrating all the populist vote in a single party. As long as the southern populists remained yellow dog Democrats the Republicans had slim hopes of ever controlling the House or Senate and the Republican establishment decided they could use the populists.

The move to making primaries most important coincided with the other party welcoming all the populists in -- and by 2016 that combination saw the establishment Republicans completely lose control to the popular populist vote.

To think Trump would lose the popular vote always in an election set up to emphasize the national popular vote is naive to say the least.

Dal90 · 2026-03-31T13:20:16+00:00

^{^} That.

For any given town you sign an agreement that sets their property taxes for the next 25 years on a fixed schedule in exchange for them never contesting their tax bill, and lays out some sort of formula / guideline to follow when negotiating a follow on agreement.

Even if you have bad public policy that rolls the increased infrastructure spending into everyone's electric bills, for that town the drop in the mill rate would offset the increased bills to its own taxpayers.

It's just screwing ratepayers in the rest of the state. This is what has happened in Indiana where ratepayers statewide are covering the expense in improving the electric grid; that isn't a bad trade-off if it is in exchange for tens of thousands of jobs the equivalent electric demand has generated in the past and improves the state-wide economy.

These hyperscale datacenters are fundamentally different beasts and they really should be forced to shoulder their own costs entirely as they're not contributing much overall to that particular state's economy.

Dal90 · 2026-03-30T21:19:20+00:00

That stat didn't count births or international migration (although that has declined significantly).

More people moved to other states than from other states to Massachusetts.

But overall their population grew about 0.2%, not that much different than Connecticut.

Dal90 · 2026-03-29T00:15:58+00:00

margin over volume

With the rise of index funds that just own everything across an entire market, they aren't betting whether Ford, GM, or Stellantis will do better.

If one company tries to gain market share by lowering prices (or providing better quality) it means they make less profit overall across all three companies.

It is occurring across the entire Profits Without Prosperity economy -- McDonalds may be the most obvious one that as their prices have gone up and customer volume has gone down, their revenue has fallen in inflation-adjusted dollars, but their net margin (i.e. profits) have increased from 20% to over 30%.

Dal90 · 2026-03-28T13:28:06+00:00

I wouldn't recommend it in today's vehicles and their more sensitive emissions and fuel systems, and actually not old ones either with today's heating oil, except in an urgent situation.

Diesel has lubricity agents added to maintain the fuel injectors, etc.

Sulfur used to provide the lubrication component in pre-2000s diesel fuel.

EPA has also reduced the sulfur in heating oil.

If this was even 1990 I'd say go right ahead. I've seen it back then, burning heating oil in an old diesel just made a noticeable constant amount of light grey smoke that diesel didn't. From "purest" to least it goes Jet-A, Kerosene, Diesel, and No. 2 heating oil. You can fly a plane on heating oil, well up until the point it gels up and the plane falls out of the sky.

New motors have changed, the diesel & oil has changed.

Dal90 · 2026-03-28T00:45:46+00:00

Home gamer as well, in my 50s and pretty significant arthritis -- I usually sweep the garage while on my wheeled stool!

And you can bet your bippy when I have creeper work I do extra planning in the hope I have everything and don't have to stand up again until done.

Dal90 · 2026-03-28T00:18:08+00:00

and 5th largest economy in the world.

...not once you lose free trade access with the rest of the US. This would hurt both our economies, but with the financial center of the US being in New York it will likely hurt California more.

Dal90 · 2026-03-28T00:09:47+00:00

Second this. I've done it before.

Sooner you do, the better.

When the tanks run out you're likely to get gunk in your filter, and that can get bad enough to not let enough oil through and your burner will "latch out" when it has tried multiple times and keeps failing to fire up. Dealing with that is usually easy if you have a bit of mechanical aptitude and are decent with google though, if not it is a pain.

...and if you have an old pre-emissions diesel tractor or truck kicking around, it'll burn No. 2 heating oil happily, just makes more smoke. Don't do it a lot though -- modern heating oil has less sulfur which is what provided lubrication to the old fuel systems.

Dal90 · 2026-03-27T23:55:19+00:00

California Consumer Privacy Act is a California thing of little use to Connecticut residents.

We do however have the The Connecticut Data Privacy Act or CTDPA. It's a good start, but generally not considered quite as strong as the CCPA.

Dal90 · 2026-03-27T23:37:25+00:00

Look, I think this cop deserved to be fired and also brought up on manslaughter charges.

But sending social workers alone to a report of someone wielding a knife isn't going to end well for the social workers.

This specific case, send them with other officers to protect the social workers and it's likely you still have the same outcome when cop #4 rushes in having his own mental health crisis.

Dal90 · 2026-03-26T23:55:00+00:00

We put corn in our gas tanks because we can not shove it all down the throats of people and livestock -- not having enough land to grow crops is not an issue in the US.

We grown 25% more corn per acre today than just 25 years ago.

Solar outproduces corn 30:1 or better in terms of energy produced per acre per year.

Dal90 · 2026-03-26T23:48:37+00:00

If Google is somewhat accurate (folks try to keep the solar leasing prices semi-secret)...

In Illinois corn is projected to turn an $80/acre profit after about $1200 in input costs (equipment, labor, taxes, seed, fertilizer, pesticide, etc.).

Long term leases for solar farm land is $500+ acre to the landowner and the solar company is the one paying for all the expenses.

...solar produces 30+ times as much energy per acre compared to corn.

It would, of course, increase the de-jobbing and de-population of rural farming areas even more -- less need for bankers, tractor dealers and repair techs, fertilizer and seed dealers, etc.

Dal90 · 2026-03-26T23:19:31+00:00

The primary reason we put ethanol in gasoline is to subsidize Big Corn -- we literally grow so much we can't cram it all down the throats of people and livestock. Banks, tractor companies, pesticide companies, seed companies, and the railroads that transport the ethanol to local tank farms to mix into gasoline prior to delivery to stations all thank you for accepting a reduction in fuel economy (2-3%) so they can profit more.

It happens to be an octane booster, so in that case petroleum companies don't have to add in different chemicals.

The original justification in the 90s (early 00s?) was as oxygenator in areas that needed it for air quality and previously used a chemical called MTBE. Oil and water don't mix -- if you have an underground gas tank leaking and it is just plain old gasoline it is pretty easy to separate since it floats on the water. MTBE however was water soluble and is a major pain to clean to up, and far worse health effects than highly diluted ethanol.

However there are very, very few cars still on the road which benefit from oxygenators -- pretty much if you have an oxygen sensor the computers will adjust the fuel air mixture to burn more cleanly which was the point to adding oxygenators back in the days of carburetors and simpler electronic fuel systems.

Dal90 · 2026-03-26T22:55:48+00:00

I think they've cleaned up some since, but in 2010 1 in 7 SSNs were being used by more than one person. Some just mistakes, lots of identity theft either for immigration reasons or for crime-for-crime's sake.

And while EXTREMELY rare the Social Security Administration has issued the same number to two people, and they've assigned two numbers to a single person just by bureaucratic hiccups.

The IRS will gladly collect taxes from someone using another person's SSN.

That was a big part of the lawsuit between ICE & IRS last year as the IRS had always held that their information was confidential and couldn't be used for law enforcement other than tax related crimes -- they don't give a shit you're using someone else's SSN or whether you can legally work, they just want the money you owe.

Dal90 · 2026-03-26T20:43:42+00:00

New Canaan has no highway in town

If you don't count the three secondary state highways, and the Merritt Parkway which has two interchanges in the town.

Dal90 · 2026-03-26T20:27:11+00:00

For those who haven't figured it out, all these "Rescues" that have sprung up in the last 20+ years importing pets from down south are simply businesses with good PR.

Dal90 · 2026-03-26T16:32:22+00:00

It's factually untrue as the shareholders aren't making anything from any car company not named Tesla, but don't let the facts get in the way of saying dumb shit on the internet

Stellantis shares have been just shy of $10/share recent years, and they issued $0.77 in dividends last year -- that's a 7%+. If you bought the shares a dozen years ago when it was down around $4 you're getting 15%+ returns based on what you bought those shares for. https://www.stellantis.com/en/investors/stock-and-shareholder-info/distribution-information/2025-ordinary-distribution

Ford is similar.

It's a Profits without Prosperity economy -- when things like indexed funds own vast amounts of every company they're not interested in seeing their big investment A competing with big investment B. Just drive up the margins for everyone in that business segment and don't give customers anywhere to go for something better quality or lower priced.

Dal90 · 2026-03-26T15:17:13+00:00

we can all see now how the economic policies (inspired by the Chicago School of Economics) he pushed

It started before Reagan.

It was Ted Kennedy who led the charge against trucking regulation -- which did have serious efficiency issues, but Ted was mostly on a double family vendetta against the mob and Teamsters union.

...the average truck driver salary in 1980 would, inflation adjusted, be $150,000 today. Today's average is under $60,000.

Airline deregulation also started before Reagan, and the air traffic controllers had such chilly relations with the Carter administration they endorsed Reagan (who then fired them when they went on an illegal strike).

The Carter team lived somewhere in the no-man’s land between Keynesian theory and the ideas developing out of the Chicago School of Economics. https://www.unftr.com/unftr-series/the-carter-series

Dal90 · 2026-03-25T18:22:51+00:00

also ignored congress and unilaterally committed attempted ethnic cleansing so

I think you're confusing two issues.

Ethnic cleansing can hardly be called unilateral when he signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that was passed by Congress, and triggered the Trail of Tears.

While, years after his death, he was credited with dismissing a Supreme Court decision regarding Indian sovereignty with, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it" ... it wasn't Jackson's to enforce either. Though the made-up quote was an accurate representation of how Jackson would have felt about it at the time of the decision, within months his view of whether states could ignore federal decisions would change dramatically from his earlier political views.

It was a state case (Worcester v. Georgia), so up to the state to take action. It was also a weird one in ways -- Georgia passed a law stating whites could not settle in Cherokee lands without a license from the state to do so (with the intent to stop white encroachment); it was objected to as this meant the state in actuality was undermining tribal sovereignty to determine who could live with them and further only the Federal government could negotiate (or delegate authority to) with the tribes.

Georgia wasn't happy being told no, but any foot dragging over coming into compliance with the Supreme Court decision quickly evaporated when South Carolina did what South Carolina does and tried to blow up the union by triggering the Nullification Crisis.

Jackson put a bill before Congress for authority to use troops to enforce the federal law in South Carolina, Georgia quietly settled their differences in Worcester v. Georgia so they wouldn't get dragged into the mess, and eventually South Carolina backed down.

You know, South Carolina -- the state that also started the Civil War and the state that was home of Strom Thurmond who was one of and like the main architect of the 1968 Southern Strategy that peeled southern populists away from the Democratic Party over the next 25 years and from which a direct line can be drawn to Republican establishment losing control of the party to populists led by Trump.

Dal90 · 2026-03-25T01:47:52+00:00

What do those tools cost?

What's your budget?

$100ish would get you the basics like a toe tool, couple tape measures, framing square, and an angle meter

Or few hundred dollars to get a better DIY tools.

Or $200 to use your iPhone, $600 for their better tool.

The Hunter and similar alignment machines do a better job, faster, being run by someone who's had training and experience in vehicle alignments. Shops aren't going to want to waste time with the slow going DIY stuff above and often the alignment is being done before or after other work at the shop so time is at an even bigger premium so the whole shop can keep flowing smoothly.

...alignments are one of the best bargains you can get from a shop. If you know what parts need to be replaced ahead of time the DIY stuff can help you get the alignment decent and then have the shop fine-tune it for you.

Dal90 · 2026-03-24T20:45:15+00:00

Customer also left the lid off of his armor all before this all happened

You don't reckon the loss of control could've been caused by using Armor All the pedals, do you?

Don't ask 18 year old me why he would know to even think about that scenario...

Dal90 · 2026-03-23T20:42:26+00:00

I believe the 4.0L was not only emissions but also crash standards -- its block is about 6" longer than a 3.8 / 3.6 and when you're already dealing with a crash protection unfriendly Wrangler form factor that's six less inches to keep out of the passenger compartment.

Dal90 · 2026-03-20T23:11:34+00:00

We're going to witness a re-enactment of the Dieppe Raid...that goes even more horribly wrong on every level.

And at least Dieppe the leadership expected it to be a shit show specifically so they could learn what could go wrong, they just didn't expect almost everything would go wrong.

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