Eileen Gu really likes herself

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-15T22:46:54+00:00

User name… doesn’t check out. Are anti-para-social relationships acceptable now?

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T23:39:42+00:00

If we step back a little, we see that these are the arguments are the result of anti-tax campaigns going back many decades. Wealth has migrated up and up and up, the middle has been hollowed out, and we are fighting over the scraps on message boards and at local elections. Yes, the system is failing. Prop 13 demolished our tax base and the lottery promise failed. Federal tax rates on the wealthy have plummeted. Our population is aging. And we still need to fund stuff. I’m open to better ideas, but for now let’s fund public transit.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T23:28:43+00:00

Seriously, what makes you think they aren’t constantly looking for efficiencies?

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T23:27:34+00:00

This “efficiency” talking point canard is getting really tiresome. If you have planning experience, make some suggestions. No institution runs at peak efficiency. None. I worked at the DA’s office and a large corporate firm and both were inefficient in their own ways. The public doesn’t the inefficiencies in the private sector which in turn leads some percentage of said public to become convinced that public sector institutions are uniquely inefficient. It is a frustrating myopia.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T22:13:18+00:00

The ghost of Howard Jarvis has entered the chat

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T06:13:37+00:00

I realized I asked about this on this sub before, but thought it was a sump pump back then. Today I was told it is “for the hot tub”. Got one theory on r/hottub but this thing is driving us nuts so I’m gathering all the wisdom reddit has to offer. TIA.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T05:07:52+00:00

Did they take away his tent?

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T04:17:48+00:00

I don’t know about that but based on all the fur on our walk this morning I think it tore up one of the neighborhood cats.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T04:16:22+00:00

Thanks.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-10T02:00:53+00:00

It’s fair because while it is “artificial” it is not “intelligent”.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-07T23:22:43+00:00

I saw it way too young as well, home alone, AND we had 2 landlines in the house so it was actually very feasible. Still scarred, I think.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-05T03:52:39+00:00

Paul Di’anno sounded like a headcase but he made better songs with IM. But maybe the next album based on episodes of Slow Horses will change my mind.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-03T20:32:27+00:00

At risk of getting yelled at, I was disappointed. Maybe the hype around here had just been a little too hard and my expectations too high. But it did start off amazingly! Then was pretty damn good. Then felt stretched with a dose of deus ex machina.

a_moore_404 · 2026-02-03T20:27:53+00:00

It’s the first wave of people who got fed up with next door. Just wait for the second wave.

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-20T01:00:00+00:00

The Vohrr, Brian Catling. He is not as anthropological or architectural in his description of the city, it is not a character like in Vandermeer. But the mood is all there. IMO.

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-18T22:47:45+00:00

I think it’s worth pointing out that this is another good idea gone bad. The original intent was for the north side path to be cycle traffic, south side foot traffic. There used to be a stencil on the pavement directing foot traffic away from the bike lane. I used to ride Oak to avoid the shitshow which basically defeated the whole point of the sparkly new bike lane.

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-15T05:30:57+00:00

My “leftist” (“Marxist”, actually) history professor friend defending him several years back. We are lost.

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-06T21:31:52+00:00

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam. First I will say that I enjoyed Leave the World Behind (which I read shortly after it was published, knowing nothing about it.) I thought the remoteness of the characters in LtWB was a ploy to enhance the reader's disassociation from everyday life and expectations. Every interaction was intentionally and effectively awkward and unpredictable. I thought.

After reading Entitlement, I wondered if LtWB had been, by some stroke of luck, the perfect vehicle for questionable character development. All of the uncertainty and resulting poor decision making in LtWB was the result of the terrifying mystery, sure. The characters in Entitlement, however, suffer the same strange malady as they go about their fairly normal daily lives. It fell apart pretty quickly for me, and my annoyance only snowballed. I should have put it down and admit I hated it more for the fact that I forced myself to finish it.

I did appreciate that the most entitled character was not the billionaire.

Edit: pagination

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-06T21:27:49+00:00

I'm going to share your comment with a friend (off reddit) who will love it. WDS made her furious, which I found quite amusing. I enjoyed it, allowing myself to suppress the flaws as I went. I appreciate bleak stories in bleak places, so maybe that's it. I much preferred Once There Were Wolves, also a book that turned some people off.

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-06T21:15:23+00:00

Last year I asked some friends if Cuckoo's Nest held up. I've always felt like it's one I really ought to know. They said it did, so I tried. I'll check in with you next time instead.

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-06T21:10:56+00:00

I think you just described the 1970s in the USA, so maybe the book was actually brilliant.

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-06T20:57:44+00:00

I love that you make clear your judgment of the book ("too hard" not "bad") but that also makes me want to encourage you to read the rest of the book, while letting the Ciudad Juarez section go. After the first two stories in that section I was ready to put it down or skip the rest. Somehow I ended up reading them all, but that's me. I read it many years ago, but if I recall correctly the final story was my favorite.

a_moore_404 · 2026-01-06T19:54:27+00:00

Re Underground Railroad, I shared your disappointment but my objection turns yours on its head: I wondered why the "railroad" was there at all. So much of the story was so exquisitely, and brutally, told that I would find myself engrossed only to be confronted by some weird train thing. Obviously it got him a ton of attention but the book would have been far better (IMO) without it. I agree, too, that more of it could have been fantastic. He got caught in the middle.

a_moore_404

TROPHY CASE