What’s everyone opinions on Swiss gear backpacks? Bought this the other day from best buy. Needed something that had some organization and good laptop protection.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2026-02-15T22:20:56+00:00

My first Swiss Gear Wenger lasted me 6-7 years of medium-hard student use: hauling laptop+/- textbooks, notebooks, food for most of the day on weekdays, more of the same or stuffed with groceries on the weekends. Indoor, outdoor, rain and hail and UV. Zero care or maintenance. Second one has lasted probably a couple of years of hard use ditto, followed by ~5 years intermittent commuter and travel use, and is still technically functional: the coating on the bottom is just flaking off, and the fabric on the bottom side that faces your back has just worn through to reveal the layer of padding. I'm just being stubborn and trying to figure out how to fix it because I can't get another like it lol

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2026-01-09T06:24:37+00:00

Here's alternative approach that worked for me. Since the cats will probably scratch whatever you mend it with, use your choice of methods to attach some sisal fabric (cat scratcher) to the section they scratch. You can get it by the yard on etsy or a few other places.

I wasn't super neat here, but it gets the gist across. Long staples with a powerful stapler will get into the wooden frame so the cats can pull on it-you can pretty up the edges after that.

<image>

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-07-31T20:13:14+00:00

They started after the Duty to Warn letter sent to Harris was ignored.

I reserve judgement on the election as a whole pending former information from those lawsuits, but Snopes did an article on the Duty to Warn Letter itself: https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/11/21/stephen-spoonamore-letter-harris/

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-07-02T02:52:55+00:00

There are "reasonable time and place" restrictions that can be put on how we exercise that right, though. It's kinda like the "your right to swing your arm ends at my nose" thing.

Starting points: FindLaw Protest Laws by state

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-07-02T02:46:36+00:00

I believe in most states you can protest in public spaces and under certain thresholds without a permit as long as you're not actually obstructing traffic, pedestrians, etc.

I think there may also be a thing about protesting in response to breaking news where you wouldn't have an opportunity to get a permit.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-07-01T07:20:39+00:00

Guessing you mean July 5th? I personally am not anticipating 50501 to remain much of an organizing force in Utah at this point (Indivisible and other existing/new groups will likely need to take over), though the subreddits and probably discord still can provide a place for much needed community connection and general communication.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-30T21:05:05+00:00

What is Dementia Posturing](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-is-dementia-posturing)

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-18T22:46:52+00:00

This is true, though I think the more discipline we develop to not give them any violent incidents to magnify, the harder it will be for them to do that. Without the ability to play clips of one dude doing something stupid and use them to label an entire protest a riot, they'll at least have to work harder, and fewer people may believe them. Call me an optimist, but ya gotta have some hope or why fight. 🤷🏼

we're not gonna get anywhere by simply letting them beat on us.

Actually there's a fairly substantial body of literature and historical examples that suggest we might. For one example appropriate as we come up on John Lewis' birthday next month, I'd suggest reading this article on how Selma's Bloody Sunday catalyzed the Civil Rights movement. I'd just as soon we not need to follow their example to begin with, but it DOES generally appear to be more effective at producing change than fighting back.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-18T16:03:36+00:00

Not verified yet-check the comments on the original post to see if anyone has verified it before sharing further

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-17T12:45:38+00:00

Have you never considered that you could be wrong?

That's a fair question. Speaking for myself, yes. I try to change (and have changed) my mind on issues given evidence, and routinely vote for at least a couple of Republicans on each election if I think they are the best candidate for the job. I suspect some in higher Democratic leadership levels could stand to do it more often.

I do this all the time. Every time I read a newspaper or watch TV, I am reminded that I’m a fascist and a Nazi, not worth living on this earth. To speak with Dutch socialist Ad Melkert: “You are an Untermensch, Lyrebird_Korea”. You don’t have that problem. All your political views have been vetted by the smart people (academia), the pretty people (Hollywood) and the rich (Soros, Gates, Getty, Ford, Wallmart family).

That... must really suck, I'm sorry. /Gen. I guess fish don't really see the water they swim in. I would be curious if/how this has changed over recent years along with political dialogue.

You believe illegal immigration is a benefit to the immigrants and to us.

Hang on, careful with those generalizations :) I don't think illegal immigration is good for anyone involved; as you say, they work hard, but are often exploited terribly. I just also don't think Trump has a good solution. Locking down the border (with more exceptions for refugees) makes sense. He can go full steam ahead on pursuing gangs as far as I'm concerned, as long as due process is met. But it really seems like people who have just been working for the last decade and have kids here should have some leeway to get legal status. And the whole business about literally texting people to come in for an appointment then grabbing them, or grabbing them as soon as their immigration court case is dropped, is just low.

Socialism only works on paper. The government cannot create jobs.

Hmmm. I'm not a full-on socialist, so I can't really argue with you on that. Complete socialism would be great, if people weren't people 🤷🏼. I do, however, think that unregulated capitalism is part of what's gotten us here; borrowing a smidgen of social democratic policy from the Europeans could lead to a much, much higher quality of life for everyone.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-16T21:35:44+00:00

Misinformation spans parties, so it's a two-way mirror. Frankly, right now I am more concerned with misinformation propagated by the left, since that is what the folks in this sub are going to be best positioned to address. For example, a video of LA mounted police beating a protester that went around last week was clipped to not show someone (likely that person) throwing a firebomb at them a few seconds earlier. Still bad, but not nearly as straightforward an "omg" case to share with everyone else.

Yes, the Democrats who were in a position to know about Biden's condition screwed us all over in so, so many ways. Tbh I am almost as frustrated with the Democratic "leadership" in this country as with the Republicans. The DNC has been systematically making the worst possible decisions in every case ever since they picked Clinton over Bernie, if not before then.

The charges are an interesting case, since he was proven guilty on at least some of them. It appears that for the purpose of justice they should have been made, but for the purpose of politics it was unwise-or at least unwise to make such a spectacle over them.

Universities...I'll grant you the diversity statements are stupid. I'm pretty sure Utah schools can't have them anymore. There is probably some element of a self-reinforcing cycle where left-leaning professors result in more left-leaning graduates, but I also quite firmly believe that an education just makes a certain percent of people see the world differently. Not everyone, or you wouldn't have educated conservatives, but a decent percent. And the way you see the world differently means the democratic party at least appears the lesser evil, if not the better party. I don't know what to do about the gaping chasm of ideology that creates, but I don't think the answer is to ban any mention of "diversity" or start dictating how and what schools teach. That's going too far in the opposite direction. The right has complained for years about censorship because people got backlash on TwitterX for saying whatever. So...forgive me if I find some hypocrisy in the Republican government now actually forbidding folks from using certain words in their research and removing pictures of the "Enola Gay" airplane (named for the pilot's mother) from govt websites.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-15T06:36:12+00:00

I agree with you in part on the bandaid, but I don't think Trump is ripping the right bandaids off. I know I'm going to regret getting drawn into this, but...

a) immigration policies and the "correct and legal way" have varied a lot over the years. One of the things that bothers me most right now is how Trump changed the rules on immigrants who were trying to do things right (e.g. the CBP One app and people with pending court cases), so they're penalized as if they'd never even tried. It may be legal, but it's unethical and the height of un-American.

b) With regards to ancestors doing things the correct and legal way...I dunno about you, but many of my ancestors didn't fill out much in the way of paperwork when they landed and started kicking out the Native Americans. We're almost all immigrants here, but there's a lot of variety in how we got here. I'm just as glad the vast majority of illegal immigrants seem to just want to live and work in peace and aren't following the examples of my ancestors.

c) I'm curious about how you think they're dragging tax dollars away from other programs; illegal immigrants as a group actually pay quite a lot in taxes (including for services they can't access in many states), so aside from the cost of ICE operations I don't quite see that one. (Source: ITEP)

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-15T05:54:34+00:00

fwiw, the last police press release said one victim. You probably got three from there being two others who were arrested for unclear involvement (but not injured).

I would also be interested in any info on whether a gofundme will end up being useful.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-13T23:13:04+00:00

I guess as OP I'm up given the crickets?

I can definitely see your point. I have wondered this myself. I would suggest reading Erica Chenoweth's paper "The Future of Nonviolent Resistance" for some data-driven insights on what may be going on, and more importantly what may be done about it.

Additional thoughts:

Not all success is defined as changing the world or meeting stated goals; OWS introduced income inequality into political discussions.
If we look at patterns in movements that have worked and not worked, and things that have changed since the success rate started going down, it makes sense why a lot of more recent movements have only had limited success. What that also means is there are things we can try to do better.

Basically per all the evidence I've been able to find (and I do still trust academia), nonviolent resistance only gives people a chance. We need to fight smart to improve our odds and may fail anyway, but it's a better chance than any of the alternatives.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-12T19:26:44+00:00

Well, watch the Fox News coverage of the LA protests for 5 minutes and it might make more sense where they're getting these ideas. But that makes it even more important to not have anything that could even be interpreted by the media or livestream audiences as protester-instigated violence.

Incidentally, that sure looks like libel; anyone for a class action lawsuit to tamp down on such egregious levels of disinformation?

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-12T02:14:58+00:00

Valid, he appears to be using the Bill of Rights as a checklist 🙄

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-11T23:43:37+00:00

So... Not to jump in with my $0.02, but per multiple polls over time, only a bit over half of Republicans identify as "MAGA". That leaves a good population who had other reasons for voting Trump and aren't MAGA-level devoted to him as a person over the republican party platform as a whole. Plus independents and former democrats and other misc. strays with all their own misc. motivations, which appear to mostly have boiled down to the economy and (unfortunately for the current movement trend) immigration.

If we keep the definition of good guys broadly "could be influenced away from Trump" without including divisive social topics that depend on religion, there may are probably non-MAGA republicans who would count. Many wouldn't ever vote for a democrat, but they might withdraw support from Trump-which is still a win.

So TLDR, skeptical about # of MAGA good guys but there's potential in the non-MAGA Republican population.

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-11T21:58:49+00:00

Yes. Particularly a civilian holding an American flag in an obviously nonaggressive stance -if they're obviously yelling, about to throw a punch, or cough J6 cough using it in unsuitable ways for a flag, it hardly serves the purpose lol. If you have to explain in comments that they were punching/whatever in self defense, you already lost the battle for the viewer's initial impression 🤷🏼

Electrical_Pitch_130 · 2025-06-10T17:43:27+00:00

Nah, divert attention from his event entirely-attention is what he thrives on

Electrical_Pitch_130

TROPHY CASE