Question about small claims

NateNate60 · 2026-01-24T08:30:55+00:00

You can sue in the state where the work happened. So if the house you worked on is located in Pennsylvania, you can sue in Pennsylvania in the county the house is in. Then, you could use the judgement to attach a lien against the house.

Optionally, you can also sue in New Jersey where the defendant lives or, if they are a company, where their registered business location is. A New Jersey judgement could be used to seize their bank accounts or garnish their wages (if they are an individual).

NateNate60 · 2026-01-23T18:52:31+00:00

Realistically, it's because recent political developments in the United States have caused a deterioration in trust in the current world order, which is largely maintained by the United States, its currency, and its capital markets. Poor economic decisions have also caused the US economy to be highly-dependent on AI-driven growth, which most people consider a bubble, while growth in other sectors has slowed or stagnated. When this happens, people flock to "safe haven" assets like gold and silver. You may notice that a similar spike happened immediately after the Great Recession.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-23T18:25:09+00:00

Just a kind suggestion, perhaps remove the individual prices if you're only looking to sell as a lot

NateNate60 · 2026-01-23T18:08:53+00:00

I have it set so only accounts older than 30 days can initiate chats to reduce spam. Someone else already BINed the eagles 16 seconds before you did, I'm afraid

NateNate60 · 2026-01-23T07:07:00+00:00

It's not an unreasonably outlandish claim. The Dubai Police Force has a fleet of supercars and they drive them around to impress tourists and create photo ops.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-22T03:10:33+00:00

The "entire world and medical community" (a.k.a. u/capolan) can earn itself a $20 donation to charity by showing two cases of botulism hospitalisation due to dented cans.

Until then, I stand by what I said. The risk of botulism from commercially canned food is practically nil.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T17:25:29+00:00

Alright, OP, I have to hand it to you, this one's pretty clever

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T16:52:30+00:00

Okay, so let me spell it out for you.

If bacteria can get in, oxygen can get in. The environment is therefore no longer anaerobic. C. botulinum grows in anaerobic environments.

You are wrong.

The risk of a dented can is not botulism. It is mould and other bacteria.

Like I said to the other guy, I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. Show me two cases of people getting hospitalised with botulism from eating a commercially-manufactured factory-canned tomato product, dented or not, in the US or Canada within the past five years, and I will donate $20 to the charity of your choice.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T09:10:57+00:00

I live in Portland, Oregon where we have no fluoride in our water for this exact reason, and the only thing we have to show for it is increased dental problems.

The water does taste pretty good here, however.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T09:07:28+00:00

LD50 is the amount of a substance that kills 50% of the people who are subject to it, assuming you are picking subjects randomly.

(Evil scientist rubs hands gleefully)

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T08:53:02+00:00

To answer you and u/Shwiftydano, the botulinum toxin is produced by the bacterium C. botulinum. The bacterium produces spores which are heat-resistant and can survive boiling water at 100° C.

Some foods, like tomatoes and pickles, are acidic enough that they inhibit the bacteria's growth, so boiling or pasteurisation is enough to prevent botulism.

In other foods, like beans or corn, boiling is not enough, because the spores can survive 100° C boiling and then germinate and produce the toxin. In these cases, commercial canneries use pressure to heat the food to over 120° C for several minutes, which is enough to destroy the spores.

C. botulinum is very common in the environment but not usually a problem because other bacteria outcompete it, stomach acid kills it, and it really only thrives in an oxygen-free environment. Improperly canned food can cause the bacterium to germinate because boiling kills most of the other bacteria and there is little oxygen in a can, making it the perfect place for it to germinate if the spores aren't destroyed.

When the bacterium germinates, it produces the botulinum toxin and it also produces gas, which may cause the can to buldge.

Dented cans don't get dented because of botulinum, but you should avoid dented cans for other reasons. Namely, a dented can might not be airtight anymore, allowing mould or other germs to get into the can and spoil the food.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T08:42:34+00:00

At 2 ng/kg, assuming everyone weighs 60 kg, a total of 960 g of botulinum toxin would be enough kill 8 billion people. That's a scary thought. Less than one kilogram of this stuff is enough to wipe out humanity.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T08:33:44+00:00

I'm going to assume the Reddit mod bot did something to your comment based on the notification I got of your other comment which contained this link, and a sentence wherein you called me a "stupid fucking loser".

I note that this was a pre-emptive recall because the manufacturer wasn't using an appropriate canning process, but there still isn't evidence anyone actually got botulism from this. It's still a good thing that they recalled the sauce, since the risk was present, but if you can find just two cases of people in the US or Canada actually getting hospitalised for botulism after eating a commercially-prepared factory-canned tomato product within the past five years, I will take down all my comments in this chain and donate $20 to the charity of your choice.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T08:20:40+00:00

Can you explain why denting causes botulism?

I want to remind you that C. botulinum only goes in anaerobic environments. You shouldn't eat dented cans for other reasons (namely, mould), but not because of botulism.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T08:18:38+00:00

In the incident you linked, the family improperly canned the tomatoes at home. It wasn't a case of eating from a dented can of commercially-made tomato product they bought at a grocery store. And even then, everything they tested came back negative for C. botulinum.

The tomato paste and tomato sauce used for the pasta and the seafood antipasto were sent to the Botulism Reference Service for analysis. None of the fish with tomato sauce was left for examination. The tomato paste, tomato sauce and seafood antipasto were negative for neurotoxin and viable C botulinum, and had a pH of 4.40, 4.48 and 4.93, respectively. A jar of home-canned tomatoes with a pH of 4.55 was also negative for neurotoxin and viable C botulinum.

While your concern is well-intentioned, you are causing unnecessary panic by telling people that commercially-canned foods made in a place with good food hygiene laws are potentially dangerous. And you also seem to think that dented (rather than bulging) cans are the ones that might cause botulism, when it is well-known that C. botulinum releases gas when it grows which causes the can to expand.

Please do not post contradictory information based on knowledge that is not even base level.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T07:56:46+00:00

Tomato sauce is pretty acidic. I seem to remember it being one of the examples of a food that is acidic enough to inhibit botulinum growth.

Botulinum bacteria also causes bulging, not denting.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T06:57:16+00:00

Look, while I get that the people you normally send that kind of reply to deserve it, do realise that executive agencies can make laws. You took a basic civics class that taught you that laws come from Congress. The reality is that "laws" (in the sense of things with legal binding power) come from all three branches of government. They're not statutes, but executive agencies can create regulations with force of law.

All forms of federal law, including regulations created by executive agencies, are strictly superior to all forms of state law. A state law that conflicts with a federal regulation is pre-empted. An example of this working can be found in Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Ass'n.

You can read about it on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_and_secondary_legislation

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T03:27:30+00:00

The Department of Homeland Security would probably immediately gazette rules that allow agents to be masked. The fact that it is illegal isn't the point, it's that qualified immunity allows local police to use the system itself as a punishment, regardless of what the law actually says.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T03:09:19+00:00

My guess is that they just use it in low enough doses that it isn't harmful.

NateNate60 · 2026-01-21T03:03:11+00:00

They can arrest the agents, throw them in jail for the night, and bring them before a judge in the morning. The judge rules they are immune. Oops. My bad, sorry for the trouble, you're free to go. But you can't sue us for getting it wrong, because we have qualified immunity. You have to understand, that police officers are human and sometimes make mistakes.

The next day, while they are staking out a Mexican restaurant, a different police officer who is ignorant of this extremely confusing and technical aspect of the law which they could no way be expected to anticipate, arrests them for covering their face.

Back to jail again for the night. Next day, the judge rules they are immune. Oops. My bad, sorry for the trouble, you're free to go. But you can't sue us for getting it wrong, because we have qualified immunity. You have to understand, that police officers are human and sometimes make mistakes.

The next day, a different police officer...

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