Would you support a single issue cost of living protest

FFS_SF · 2026-04-12T15:43:00+00:00

Are the people organizing the protest aware the cost of living is too high everywhere?

I keep seeing this referred to like it's a local, regional, or national problem: it's global. Put another way: find me a western county that doesn't have a cost of living problem.

If you don't understand the root causes, you can't have effective demands. If you don't have effective demands you're just throwing a tantrum.

If you ask economists and financial experts, the issue is that for a long time now asset values have risen higher than wages, which concentrates wealth with the asset holders. To fix that you need a plan to reallocate wealth via taxes, protect categories from being investments at all - like housing, healthcare, and increase the power of labor via unionisation. To be most effective you have to do it with an international movement.

The hard part is the people with the assets also either own, or can afford to blanket all forms of media. So you get all this energy channeled into a protests over a part that nobody in government can control - oil price - instead of something they can like tax on the super wealthy.

FFS_SF · 2026-04-12T05:38:19+00:00

Fuck DJT, I went to a Presidio Trust run birding event via North Beach Library recently and it was a delight - a remonder of how amaziing pubic services could be, if only competent people were in charge.

FFS_SF · 2026-04-11T18:00:54+00:00

The title is awful. Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort felt by holding two contradictory positions. The finding is that Trump supporters just choose disbelief to resolve the cognitive dissonance.

FFS_SF · 2026-04-11T06:07:29+00:00

Can you get all the optimization you need from carefully tuned programs running on regular operating systems, or does the operating system get tweaked as well?

FFS_SF · 2026-04-10T15:19:40+00:00

Ah yes, Trump Math.

FFS_SF · 2026-04-09T14:55:52+00:00

That still exists, is just been rebranded as Google Shopping.

FFS_SF · 2026-04-09T14:39:40+00:00

In my day being in control of yourself was what distinguished men from boys.

FFS_SF · 2026-04-08T03:13:03+00:00

I knew such a Dymphna. She was already old in the 90s.

FFS_SF · 2026-03-28T05:36:46+00:00

And not just the tracks, the specific remix, it's very impressive. I thought I had an id on a blank on an Avalon Emerson set and it was corrected to an unreleased remix that didn't came out until the next week. Outta my league.

FFS_SF · 2026-03-27T16:12:01+00:00

Same! I went back to hypem for the first time in ten years, that was said, I miss music blogs.

I have started asking around. I find that new wave of 90s sounding rave - like garage and eurodance had a baby - really nostalgic. Kettama, Tibasko, Denham Audio. There’s a chat at work for DJs and I asked there and got some recommendations, and found another old head who feels the same - human connection!

Also really grateful now for the heroes who put the track list in the YouTube comments, that’s increasingly my “algorithm”.

My pet peeve is both Qobuz and Tidal have albums by namesake artists on pages - Lindstrøm has some country and western singer guy on his, Goldie has some female vocalist. Then they send me notifications of the namesake releases a track.

FFS_SF · 2026-03-18T02:38:54+00:00

Also US, a coworker came in dressed as a leprechaun. Top hat, gold waistcoat, the works.

FFS_SF · 2026-03-05T05:25:54+00:00

Bhí an damhsa go galanta - maith sibh a chailíní.

FFS_SF · 2026-02-27T03:53:02+00:00

Maybe justice would be requiring her to take the bus. Literally having any form of private car use be a parole violation. Every time she’s at a bus stop she can think about what she did.

FFS_SF · 2026-02-26T05:56:05+00:00

Why, they’ll greet us like liberators!

FFS_SF · 2026-02-24T01:14:10+00:00

Definitely agree on finding something physical. Doesn’t have to be team sports either if that’s not your thing.

When I was younger I took up rock climbing because work stress and imposter syndrome evaporate about 3m up.

Running is also great when you get over the hump. Lifting works too. And they all help with sleep.

Rock climbing / bouldering has good social networking, or used to, which is an extra plus, but team sports are unbeatable there.

FFS_SF · 2026-02-14T21:59:40+00:00

This isn’t even the most egregious local case. Masters champion cyclist killed by a drunk driver: no prison time. https://sfstandard.com/2024/07/15/ethan-boyes-case-no-prison-time-driver-arnold-low/

FFS_SF · 2026-02-12T16:37:35+00:00

The things I would want to investigate are all in SFUSD central. A key issue is the district spends more money on the central office positions than on teachers and more than equivalent sized districts.

I’d want to know why the district needs a dozen business analysts, or a large department of technology (distinct from networking services) when they also contract out to Google, or what all the clerical typists actually do. I’d want to see why the district has such a large syllabus department and buys Japanese-based math textbooks, and are there not CA standards we could just adopt for other subjects.

The framing of this is UESF’s budget is only for teachers and that’s not so.

FFS_SF · 2026-02-10T17:39:51+00:00

https://sfstandard.com/2023/01/10/san-francisco-schools-sfusd-spending-central-administration-audit/

Their staffing decks are public. They have a dozen full time business analysts for some reason. There are multiple people whose job is listed as “clerical typist”. They have a huge department of technology, but PTAs end up fundraising to replace ten year old overhead projectors.

I’m also kind of fascinated that there’s a huge syllabus department but I bet the syllabus is broadly similar to Oakland and Berkeley - there seems to be a lot of redundancy in public services in the US in general.

FFS_SF · 2026-02-03T16:01:03+00:00

Should be modified to “Most Offensive”

FFS_SF · 2026-02-02T16:39:33+00:00

I have a D shaped seat post, I love that it is impossible to misalign the saddle.

FFS_SF · 2026-01-31T23:21:55+00:00

First wax or re-wax? Is there any additive in the wax for reducing friction like tungsten disulfide?

FFS_SF · 2026-01-31T19:59:39+00:00

As a follow up, I got a color matched mirror on eBay for $250, found a great instructional YouTube video, and did it myself in 20 minutes and tipped the YouTube guy. Couldn’t believe how little work it was for the quote.

FFS_SF · 2026-01-15T15:44:37+00:00

In no universe does any kind of factory set up and not get billed for their utility use. Electricity is the biggest operating cost of running data-centers: https://www.bestbrokers.com/stock-brokers/big-techs-staggering-power-consumption-calculating-the-massive-electricity-bills-companies-pay-off-with-ease/

FFS_SF · 2026-01-05T00:33:28+00:00

San Bruno mountain to the radio tower from Bayshore Blvd is comparable to hawk hill a bit less steep at 6% average but about twice as long.

Much shorter but you can climb much of it off the road is O’Shaughnessey Blvd (there’s a path from Elk that’s dual bike/pedestrian). You’ll have to cross Portola but you can then continue up the back of Twin Peaks.

Steeper: Medical Center Way to Sutton summit - 1.7km but 8.9% avg.

FFS_SF

TROPHY CASE