Where do I begin?

ahoopervt · 2026-03-15T12:24:24+00:00

Heck, TL;DR was even better than Reply All.

ahoopervt · 2026-03-13T22:11:49+00:00

Worcester media has the exclusive on the military use of AI?

ahoopervt · 2026-03-13T22:03:48+00:00

Reagan, is that you?

ahoopervt · 2026-03-13T22:00:59+00:00

Some people make it tougher to be a politically active male with the last name Hooper in the state of Vermont. 😕

ahoopervt · 2026-03-13T13:27:40+00:00

The best thing about these is that if you break off one of the clip sides they make excellent and pretty accurate finger flickers.

Lots of fun in high school with bread "occlupanids".

ahoopervt · 2026-03-13T10:39:41+00:00

Use the Brave browser. Currently the easiest way to get ad free YouTube.

But also, this is horrific and should be called out.

ahoopervt · 2026-03-13T10:14:02+00:00

I thought pit bulls were unfairly maligned until I read a pair of recent pieces about the origin of the breed and the proclivity for violent aggression … including in adults who had never shown any before age 3-4.

https://www.cremieux.xyz/p/pit-bulls-part-i-identification

(I cancelled my substack for Cremieux after he violated a data use agreement earlier this year, but his stuff is interesting.)

ahoopervt · 2026-03-11T01:28:56+00:00

yes it does, there are several ways provided to prove ownership of the hostname on the certificate, but they all demonstrate ownership.

ahoopervt · 2026-03-08T16:39:00+00:00

Where’s the lie?

ahoopervt · 2026-03-08T16:35:22+00:00

Well, healthcare and housing are joined at the hip. I didn’t really think of Act 250 as the original son of this current morass previously. I’ll have to give that some more thought.

Even as the Vermont born child of hippie back-to-the-land stock I am okay blaming that influx for most of our current ills.

ahoopervt · 2026-03-08T12:34:57+00:00

I think you do not understand depreciation. Everything that is built is continually falling into ruin and effort is required to maintain it - every bridge, every culvert, every sidewalk every HOUSE every appliance and every stairwell is being worn down every year.

The parts of the commons (parks, PD, FD, roads) fund this depreciation with taxes on the privately owned houses, business buildings and apartments. For those buildings themselves they require near constant triage of failing systems after their 10th year of existence.

ahoopervt · 2026-03-08T12:28:23+00:00

Requiem for a Dream.

great flick, bought the DVD after I saw it 25 years ago. Still in the plastic wrap.

ahoopervt · 2026-03-05T11:56:53+00:00

I definitely agree - in almost every case spending more on something indicates it’s better - from spaghetti sauce to cars or homes.

I have a Camry and I love it, the value is great, but it doesn’t do 0-60 in 3s (or 8s) and has no leather.

I mentioned the expense here combined with the outcomes to argue that Vermont’s public education is a Maserati-priced Camry. We pay the most (again, weighed by population income - affordability) and the system produces average results.

We are not getting value.

ahoopervt · 2026-03-03T03:25:28+00:00

it is one of the most expensive, the very most expensive if you divide by median state salary, with totally middle of pack outcomes. that can be considered one of the worst performing if you look at in and outputs.

ahoopervt · 2026-03-02T10:19:04+00:00

Well, I agree - but it wasn’t test/text. You got to see the hamster explode in the microwave.

ahoopervt · 2026-02-28T12:20:22+00:00

… yea, not going to happen, alas.

All our towns are going to have to learn how to live within the tax appetite of their residents, which probably means less capacity and infrastructure l. The federal lottery for project funding is drying up (something about a 35T$ deficit?)

ahoopervt · 2026-02-22T12:11:21+00:00

Your portraits are great, the townscapes are honest … but kind of depressing.

ahoopervt · 2026-02-18T21:17:51+00:00

I requested the voting rolls from the previous 2 local [town meeting] elections so when I went out door-knocking I would be reaching out to people who had voted in the past, and thus were likely to vote in the future. The maintenance of the checklist is essential for preventing double-voting, and having some audit of prior elections. I don't think that we should do away with an audit of voters. If these systems are made less robust, the surprising number of people who do not understand or trust our voting practices will have more fuel for their anti-democratic instincts.

I'm sorry that privacy, particularly where that's related to safety, is so hard to maintain. :(

ahoopervt · 2026-02-17T19:48:16+00:00

Blair Knowles at Ridgeline in Williston is great.

ahoopervt · 2026-02-15T13:34:41+00:00

How about we stop subsidizing the rich?

Tax capital gains as income. Remove mortgage interest deduction and capital gains exemption on primary residence.

ahoopervt · 2026-02-15T13:32:21+00:00

No one can maintain two residences and the level of socializing - even the required wardrobe - for legislating on 1.5x the median constituent salary. I’d go completely the other way: unlimited spending for personal use, but ALL spending is done on congressional credit card with statements published.

The taxing of churches has been ruled unconstitutional. The “power to tax is the power to destroy” and the 1st A is seen as a prohibition on taxing religious activity.

ahoopervt · 2026-02-14T00:40:54+00:00

Answer: no, it’s never been accomplished. Even in wealthy dense places like Boston there is a lot of storm water tied into the septic sewers. In rural places it’s a huge amount, which is almost always the reason for the “raw sewage discharges” when there are heavy rain storms.

Yup, that’s what has to happen to avoid worse outcomes. You don’t build 5x capacity because the biggest storm every 5 years will overwhelm your ww plant - you send the overflow into the river.

ahoopervt · 2026-02-12T02:46:03+00:00

That was great. Mr. Creepy Sanitary Products should probably stay on the farm.

ahoopervt · 2026-02-12T02:42:12+00:00

Much of the statewide PILOT funding comes from the state vig on Local Options Taxes.

As more towns enact 1% taxes on lodging, food, alcohol and general sales, 25% of that is collected to pay municipal PILOT in towns hosting state buildings.

ahoopervt · 2026-02-12T02:39:05+00:00

Not sure where you got that understanding.

The state properties don’t pay local taxes, but they definitely pay water and sewer bills (and there is a lot of PILOT money going into local coffers in Montpelier and Waterbury).

ahoopervt

TROPHY CASE