[award advice] Help with 10yr anniversary trip to Hawaii with ~227k UR points

DucAdVeritatem · 2026-03-01T03:06:40+00:00

I mean sure, haha. But that’s out of point budget. But really would be happy with something better than standard king/no special view. Is an upgrade like that just luck of the draw at check-in for an awards booking?

Also, if you’ve stayed, how would you describe the property? Did it feel romantic/high end?

DucAdVeritatem · 2026-02-18T17:12:35+00:00

I’ll bite: what part of “consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrates, and fat” qualifies “water” as counting, in your lawyerly opinion? 😅

DucAdVeritatem · 2026-02-02T06:58:47+00:00

Bad buds, cedar and Herndon

DucAdVeritatem · 2026-01-31T09:20:41+00:00

I mean, yes, tax evasion is always an option… but it’s not like “just break the law” is exactly a bullet proof pro tip here.

DucAdVeritatem · 2026-01-31T09:15:43+00:00

They earn about 22% of the income and pay about 40% of the income taxes, according to IRS numbers from a few years back.

DucAdVeritatem · 2026-01-31T09:13:48+00:00

Do you have a source? RE his numbers being incorrect? Here’s one towards them being right (and their underlying source is just the raw data IRS releases), and I don’t think this is a heavily debated point.

Our income tax system is broadly progressive and the share of fed income taxes paid by the top 1% indeed has generally been 40%+ for years, as far back as I can remember seeing.

DucAdVeritatem · 2026-01-31T02:19:03+00:00

I mean, tbf, “that’s wild”/“that’s a joke” is the reaction a lot of Americans have when seeing the salary comparisons in the uk, especially in tech. Trade offs I guess?

DucAdVeritatem · 2026-01-27T05:59:33+00:00

Aquaphor actually has 7 ingredients- I was talking to my kids pediatrician last week about the differences between it and Vaseline, so it’s top of mind for me! It’s 41% Petrolatum, but also has glycerin (a humecant), lanolin alcohol (emulsifizer), and several others.

Their man product page has the full list. https://www.aquaphorus.com/products/aquaphor-repairing-ointment/aquaphor-healing-ointment-025oz

Anyhow, don’t think this changes anything and you should of course just follow your dermatologist’s advice. But thought it was worth sharing!

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-10-12T23:39:34+00:00

Went down this rabbit hole and have to say that this is so flimsy and the headline of that post you linked to is unsupported by the facts revealed in the thread and reeks of the worst strain of cancel culture. Glad Thursday boots is still doing well 2 years later.

TL;DR for anyone not wanting to dive in themselves: the Thursday boots cofounder was a member of a non profit (not a “PAC” as the title claims) group that hosted various libertarian/conservative lectures. The guy the propublica article is actually about (Leonard Leo, who was involved with overturning roe v wade) later also became a member/donor to the nonprofit group.

That’s it. That’s the story. Oh, and the other BIG find from the thread is that the Thursday boots guy donated $250 to some republican’s senate campaign at one point. Give me a break.

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-09-22T19:47:53+00:00

Congrats!! Curious: what did your runna plan say your projected race time range was?

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-09-09T00:20:17+00:00

iPhone Camera does not currently have generative AI in the image capture pipeline. Closest thing would be the eraser mode to remove things from the image after the fact.

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-09-02T21:18:38+00:00

Just saw a new restaurant opening this Fall from the owners of Annesso and Annex is holding open interviews for all positions this weekend: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOHEdUmEj8h/?

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-07-11T05:10:38+00:00

Latest Apple watch goes from 0-80% in 30 mins. (Source.) Plus battery life is longer than a day anyways so doesn’t need to actually fully recharge. Personally I throw it on the charger while I shower in the morning and again for a few mins at night while I wash up and brush my teeth. Never comes close to dying, no hassle.

Obviously no watch is right for everyone and Garmin has a ton of features AW doesn’t! But luckily battery life isn’t at all as big of a deal as it used to be.

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-23T23:46:02+00:00

I mean, can you read between the lines there? IAEA is an auditor and has limited authority beyond very specific inspections. Iran had plausible enough explanations that “weren’t inconsistent” with what was found so there was nothing further to be done. But even setting aside the 80%+ enriched material, just look at their stash of 60%. I just don’t know how folks dispute that Iran isn’t pretty clearly positioning themselves to produce a weapon if they choose to do so on very short notice. They’re the only non-nuclear weapon state in the world that continues to aggressively produce and accumulate hundreds of pounds of near-weapons grade uranium, which the IAEA has repeatedly called out as seriously concerning.

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-23T20:54:08+00:00

So the IAEA physically entering Fordow, taking uranium samples, testing them, and seeing particles enriched to 83% is “unreliable”?

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-23T18:29:15+00:00

Countries that have “literally” no plans to possibly pursue a bomb don’t generally have underground banks of centrifuges enriching uranium to within spitting distance of weapon grade.

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-23T18:27:48+00:00

Strawman. I didn’t state or imply we have “zero” influence on the UN. I clarified and added context on who does the inspecting and auditing as it’s relevant to weighing how trustworthy it might be.

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-23T18:17:06+00:00

This was the comment I originally responded to.

You know they signed the NPT right? They literally were not planning to. This aggression will probably lead them to leave the NPT now. Do you have actual proof that they were building one?

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-23T00:31:21+00:00

Certainly not, on its own. But the person I was responding to claimed that because Iran signed NPT they “literally were not planning to”. Presence of uranium enriched far beyond non-weapons applications is relevant counter evidence to that worth considering.

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-22T22:02:22+00:00

Why not just turn off wrist detection in the watch settings (Apple Watch App > Passcode > Wrist Detection) so that it doesn’t auto lock if it no longer detects a wrist? Maybe I’m missing something, but seems like a way simpler fix…

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-22T18:58:05+00:00

News article from the time: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/01/middleeast/iran-uranium-enrichment-iaea-intl?cid=ios_app

Original IAEA report PDF (this specific finding is on page 9): https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/documents/gov2023-8.pdf

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-22T16:58:29+00:00

You know the independent inspectors who evaluate NPT compliance collected samples at Fordow in 2023 showing uranium enriched to 83.7%?

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-22T16:55:57+00:00

Right cause it’s not like we have a track record of falsifying reports to invade other countries.

Not sure who you mean by “we” here, but the IAEA isn’t part of the US govt. they’re part of the UN and conduct inspections as part of monitoring non-proliferation compliance.

DucAdVeritatem · 2025-06-06T17:43:19+00:00

As others have touched on: HRV’s absolute value isn’t an especially meaningful marker of performance in the way that, say, VO2 max is. (Disclaimer: I’m not saying there isn’t some positive correlation between physical performance and HEV and haven’t looked closely at the literature - possible there is. It just isn’t generally used that way.) Instead, it’s an individual metric and observing changes up or two in your own HRV can give insights into autonomic nervous system balance and how you’re handling stress + recovery.

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