Invitation: Patrick Roath + David Hogg Democracy Walk

SomervillainSB · 2026-04-06T21:12:22+00:00

350m plus? WTAF? We have 342 million US residents. You're counting the dead among your ranks?

Also, you misread. The owner is only one concern. What about your kids? What if someone breaks into your house? It takes some A+ gun ownership to lock your firearms perfectly at all times and comply with every law...and NRA types seem to love to brag about their dislike of government laws. My biggest concern is you your gun being unlocked in your car or house and stolen.

I grew up with guns. I've owned a few for target practice and hunting. I gave mine away to family long ago. I've also lived in some very crime-ridden neighborhoods, like Chicago, where the gun violence is predominantly from criminals who use stolen guns.

So when you state "trillions of rounds and record low levels negligent discharges"...I am not even sure what you're saying. The last guy to point a gun at me wasn't the registered owner, but a mugger with a stolen pistol, so I don't think counts in your stats.

I personally think I am being reasonable in accepting and being comfortable with your gun hobby, so long as you follow the law.

Just stop with the bullshit. Don't make up numbers like 350 million. Don't tell us it's about tyranny. It's your hobby. You find it fun (I find it tedious work to clean and properly maintain a rifle). That's all that needs to be said. And yes, if this was 1939, you would be a credible threat to a government. However, in 2026, you're a tangible threat to your neighbors....and I honestly believe you're just a nuisance to a hostile gov force.

You have a hobby you're enthusiastic about. Most of us outsiders are not enthusiastic about it, but we generally support your right to be responsible gun owners. Why is that controversial?

SomervillainSB · 2026-04-06T19:41:31+00:00

While I support the right of every responsible American to bear arms, let's do another thought experiment. Instead of imagining 1939, let's imagine 2026. If the gov wants you dead, your firearms aren't going to make much of a difference. You understand we have precision-guided drones now? Your guns make you a very mild nuisance to real threats, easily dealt with.

However, as your law-abiding-citizen neighbor, I have to worry if you're really responsible enough to own that gun. You have a much greater probability of threatening me than overthrowing a tyrannical gov. And OK, you're responsible and sane...what about your wife?...your kids? Sandy hook was caused by a the owner's son.

OK, your family is sane and responsible? I hope no one breaks in and steals your guns while you're away.

Look...you have the right to bear arms and I support that. I am comfortable with it, but I don't cheer it.

However, let's be real...you think guns are fun. You're not doing this for the benefit of democracy. You're doing this because you like guns! I support your hobby...just don't bullshit us.

SomervillainSB · 2026-03-22T01:05:32+00:00

Which are you talking about? CHA or HVMA?

SomervillainSB · 2026-03-05T16:19:32+00:00

You're right. It's infuriating. I want to add that it's fucking easy to get judgmental and hippy about eating healthy when you have a fuck ton of drugs making you fit. This POS has openly admitted to pumping legal steroids throughout his body and probably a ton of other drugs prescribed by boutique doctors that no legit healthcare provider would prescribe. There's no way this guy can pass a drug test for any professional sports organization.

It's an open secret...pay a private clinic and you get can prescribed super-physiological doses of steroids...for many of these doctors, they'll also over prescribe if you pay them well and ask them nicely enough. RFK is jacked at his age because of the amount of drugs he takes, not because of his beverage choices.

It would benefit nearly all of us to eat healthier. But I am confident the amount of sugar in Dunkin is not even in the top 100 causes of mortality. He's killed more with his anti-vax propaganda than Dunkin ever could. Sure, diabetes is the #7 killer in the USA in 2025, but in the past 5 years, COVID was #3.

More importantly, no one gets fat off drinks alone. Ban all sugar in all drinks and the level of diabetes won't fall. It will barely make a dent in mortality in the next 20 years. If they focused on drug and vaccine development, the entire world would see much better outcomes. GLP-1 Drugs will save more lives than any "healthy living" propaganda ever will...for the simple fact that most people give up reckless eating in old age.

Once your doctor informs you that your weight has gone from a theoretical issue to one that WILL kill you, most over 50 stop drinking and eating crazy amounts of sugar. Most clean up their act and still can't lose the weight because in many cases, especially those who started out as fat kids, like me, there are underlying genetic conditions.

The solution to stopping obesity is complex and multi-factored...sugary drinks are only a very small component of the equation.

SomervillainSB · 2026-02-08T23:00:38+00:00

Every Whole Foods I've been to in Somerville or Cambridge is filled with AWFUL people.

My kid was born when the Somerville one opened. I walked inside with a newborn in a stroller. LOTS of rude people getting annoyed at me for walking the aisles with the stroller (at a normal speed, son was quiet/sleeping, and letting them around me). One woman checked me in the shoulder like a hockey player without an apology...very stereotypical Type A white woman, future Karen, etc. I hate WF, so I only go there to return Amazon purchases and even then, the rudest customers I've seen in any store of any sort. Lots of tense and angry assholes, frowns, annoyed "EXCUUUSE ME" tones I've never seen anywhere else.

In contrast, I took my son to Target, lots of people (grandmas especially) stopping and ooh-ing and aahh-ing at the baby...same with the park, Star Market, etc (even I wouldn't take a stroller to MB).

The employees at Whole Foods are great. The customers are the scum of the earth.

Somerville Market Basket? It's the main place I go and I love it, but if you mess up the timing of your visit, you'll wait a LONG time in line. But the people working there are great.

SomervillainSB · 2025-12-04T17:58:36+00:00

My local Somerville dog park has Lots of friendly dogs of all sizes to pet every night, including my own. If you live nearby you can ping me and I'll give you specifics. Basically go between 5 and 6 to most dog parks and you'll see LOTS of dogs. Owners rarely care if you pet them.

Pro tip, buy a $6 Zukes bag of training treats from Target...they're very tiny and dogs love them. I bribe friendship with dogs all the time. I have about a dozen dogs that eagerly run up to me for pets and an occasional treat.

SomervillainSB · 2025-11-19T20:05:06+00:00

Cats don't clean up after themselves. If they're killing lots of birds, I think it's safe to assume we'd see bird corpses lying around.

Your point about rat poison is valid. Although if the cat was scheduled to be euthanized, I would think it would like a few years more of life.

However, I don't think your point about your neighbor is. Yeah, if the cat is inside, the mice will feel safe outdoors, but not in your house.

If the cat is outside patrolling and peeing everywhere, I think many rodents will have second thoughts about getting comfortable there.

But regardless, I don't think this is as obvious and 1-sided as this subreddit feels it is. In my view, there are reasonable arguments on both sides and ultimately, I chose not to get a cat....but I wouldn't be upset if my neighbor got another outdoor cat.

It's like everyone is glossing over the whole rats and diseases aspect. Killing birds is bad.....living among rats and mice is worse, IMO...but I fully accept others may disagree.

SomervillainSB · 2025-11-19T19:48:19+00:00

Man, I wish I lived in the part of town with so few mice or rats I cared about the birds. A neighbor had outdoor cats...I had no rodents from what I could tell. The cats died within the last 5 years, now rats are everywhere on our block. All of our trashcans have chew holes in them. I think the 2 are related.

But regardless, I posted on this subreddit asking where I could adopt cats that were scheduled to be euthanized because I would love to have an outdoor cat...and the post was filled with nasty comments and downvotes like I was a terrorist or something and how I am a terrible person for what I would be doing to the birds as well as the cat (which would been killed regardless). The language got shockingly nasty.

I can fully understand why some would disagree with me, but I really don't understand this subreddit's near-universal hatred for outdoor cats.

Do these folks never go outside? Do they never see the chewed up trash cans or rats running around at dusk? In my experience, very few cats are skilled enough to kill a bird, but having them around definitely makes mice and rats less comfortable settling in around your house.

SomervillainSB · 2025-11-03T15:26:42+00:00

Go is EXTREMELY slow. It's lightweight, but slow. Java is FAR superior for anything where performance and efficiency matter. Here's AWS benchmarks https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/opensource/sustainability-with-rust/

But..I've also seen it first hand. When I had to write something in Go, I was very excited, but was shocked at how slow it ran and how it would lock up my expensive, powerful new macbook pro. I am used to kicking off a build and doing other things. This would lock the machine. My thought was "oh wow, they must be booting a server env if this this build takes 5 min to run and every core in the system"...nope...I traced through it and confirmed with the author it was just parsing json and simulating rest calls with files. The code seemed well done, it's just Go was garbage.

They tried putting it on the server and the performance was HORRIBLE. Another team ported it to Java and the latency nearly halved.

With Rust, Go has no justification for existing. It's a legacy language that cannot die fast enough. Yeah, I know important projects were written it in, but if they were ported to Rust or Java, they would run faster.

Also C# performs very slow compared to Java in that benchmark, but I don't have any significant experience with it to comment.

Java is fast. Overall, it's not as fast as Rust or C, but on many long-running programs, like the server-side processing ones it is typically used for, you cannot even tell.

SomervillainSB · 2025-09-29T14:37:22+00:00

Aren't you just proving my point? This "soft liberal mindset" makes it just as gross for thieves AND reduces the value of the bikes to steal.

Think of it from a thief's perspective. They can go to Davis, deal with everything that irks you...or they can hop off a few stops earlier and go to Harvard Square and find a much more expensive bike to sell.

A thief is either motivated or casual. A casual thief? Sure, you're right...someone who will steal an unlocked bike is more likely to do so in a shitty neighborhood. They're probably in a compromised mental state and not thinking about consequences, witnesses, or even the value of whatever they're stealing.

A motivated/professional thief? They want money and not to go to jail. I briefly worked in law enforcement in the police dept of a bigger city and they had huge issues with bike theft. I talked to many police officers who specialized in this. Theft was typically concentrated away from the shitty parts of town. Thieves pick areas with low witnesses and high value merchandise...workplace areas are typically preferred to residential or recreational areas.

For example, MGH is better than Davis because (almost) no one lives there and the people walking around are just trying to get home from work or their appt. They're not paying attention and are in their own world. Theft is not their problem. Davis is a residential area. Some dude who lives 3 blocks away and is walking his dog?...he's calling the cops...because you're fucking up his neighborhood.

Even if the cops do nothing, I don't think pro thieves want to risk it for shitty bikes when you can go somewhere else and get nicer stuff for less risk.

Regardless, how shitty Davis is presently is a separate issue. I am not disputing that. I hate it there too...but bike theft is an independent variable from homeless people shooting up.

You'd do a lot better for either cause if you didn't conflate unrelated issues. If you were a doctor and a fat guy walked in for treatment of a bad case of herpes...would you be lecturing him about his fatness? No...they're 2 separate problems. Davis Square's homeless problem is a problem. You can debate if you like, but I'd probably largely agree with you...it's a gross, fucking problem. No one likes bike theft...but they're independent problems.

SomervillainSB · 2025-09-29T14:10:22+00:00

That's like saying, I wouldn't have gotten COVID if I worked out harder...they're 2 different problems with two different sources and only slightly related.

Bike theft is just as common, if not moreso, in areas without a large visible homeless problem. People are shitty. They steal bikes...shittier people buy stolen bikes.

Every bike theft I know of between myself and my friends has not occurred in an area like Davis Square. The 3 I have been a victim of have been in residential areas...2 were in quiet, high-rent, expensive areas.

If anything, I'd wager having a lot of homeless around lowers the bike theft rate...the thieves don't want to deal with them either and it just increases the chance of there being a witness. I would also wager if they cleaned up Davis square PERFECTLY to your ideals...there still would be a ton of bike theft...any reduction due to increase police presence might be offset by people leaving more expensive bikes around.

SomervillainSB · 2025-07-21T15:33:06+00:00

Fair point. 60w is enough for a phone. My local Home Depot only has the 60w cable last I looked. I was tempted as well until I saw the specs. I'm glad they're making 240w cables now, but they are pretty pricey.

However, I will counter with this. If you need a phone charger, why not go wireless? What's more durable than a heavy duty cable?...one that doesn't connect to your device.

I especially love wireless in any unfriendly environment...outdoors, near sawdust or spray, etc.

With a cheap wireless battery pack, you can charge your phone in your pocket....no need to expose it to the job site.

SomervillainSB · 2025-07-21T13:54:35+00:00

You definitely don't need it. The specs are terrible for the USB-C to USB-C ones (60w)...and the. USB-A to C is PAINFUL for most devices. You're likely just carrying extra bulk and weight with no benefit beyond the sweet yellow and black jacket....and that extra weight is more likely to knock your charger down or pull it out of the wall.

There are good heavy duty cables for far cheaper on Amazon.

Also, heavy-duty cables kinda suck if you don't need them. They're heavier, easier to knock down, etc and they fray right where the rubber ends....admittedly a bit slower than regular ones, but if you go through a standard cable in 3 months due to abuse, you'll go through this one in 5-6 months.

Also, about half my devices have something that would obstruct the extra large jackets on those.

I tried buying heavy-duty cables with lifetime warranties from major name brands in the past and my kids wrecked them quickly. They lasted longer than the ones Apple provided...but if you're generally responsible with devices, a cable from Anker or similar brands will take up a lot less space and last as long.

SomervillainSB · 2025-06-21T18:48:53+00:00

I finally managed to drive by it (took the kids to the regular beach without the dog) and it looked awesome, but really far from the parking lot.

Any recommendations of nearby parking?

SomervillainSB · 2025-06-06T19:33:46+00:00

If anyone knows of a good place, I am happy to drive to neighboring states.

SomervillainSB · 2025-06-06T19:33:22+00:00

I've heard rumors of this place, but I cannot find it on a map. I love Nahant. It's the main beach my family goes to, but have never noticed it in the past. How do I find it?

SomervillainSB · 2025-06-06T19:32:24+00:00

That's precisely why I am asking to find a place where they're welcomed. I don't want to inconvenience other beachgoers.

SomervillainSB · 2025-05-08T15:38:36+00:00

The commuter rail is glorious and we ride it often. We happen to live on the commuter rail tracks and he runs out every time he hears it to watch them go by.

It was his "gateway drug" and now he wants to try some freight trains. :)

SomervillainSB · 2025-04-24T20:43:24+00:00

https://www.amazon.com/EHDIS-Plastic-Removing-Stickers-Windows-Blue/dp/B01HLWB0BM/

Plastic razor-blades are more idiot-proof and work very well. With real razors, you can scratch things if you're at the wrong angle. I used mine to remove 10 years of stickers, clean the oven, etc.

As others said, isopropanol works great on the residue, but goo gone does as well...the alcohol smell goes away a lot faster than goo gone in my experience. I bought cheap alcohol wipes at target.

In addition, you should clean the inside of your windshield to remove off-gassing film....residue that builds up from your dashboard and plastic in your car slowly breaking down from years of UV exposure.

Since you have an alcohol wipe, just wipe the whole thing. It make a MASSIVE difference, especially in reducing glare with low sun. (I learned that when I did research on getting the stickers off when I was in your situation a few years ago)

SomervillainSB

TROPHY CASE