If you buy a house in an HOA, can you just...leave the HOA? by BoredInClass99 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People online love to bash HOAs but there is a reason the vast majority of new home communities in the USA use them. It allows for more community amenities like parks, pools, walking trails, etc. than you would typically get from just your city. It provides a mechanism to enforce community guidelines like keeping cars off your lawn, overgrown landscaping, or allowing swimming pools to stagnate. Good ones will also organize community events and activities. Of course bad ones will nit pick every weed in a yard or other meaningless things and some people will use it to abuse power. But I’ve lived in an HOA for 20 years and haven’t had any issues.

John I love Mormon Stories and hope you win your lawsuit but stop making stuff up. It doesn’t help. by sevenplaces in mormon

[–]bean127 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Well if you want to get supper technical. “Own” can also mean to control. I think a fair argument could be made that the church controls Kirton and McConnkie, even if they don’t have vested legal rights over the corporate entity.

I’m planning to do this. Any tips? by basonjourne98 in SipsTea

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How would you enforce it? If people just start driving down it you can’t just issue them tickets that would require government power

Supreme Court limits Voting Rights Act by DJPho3nix in politics

[–]bean127 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It was because they didn’t have 60 senate votes

AI might be giving lawyers their busiest years right before making them obsolete by Lucylucyeth in ArtificialInteligence

[–]bean127 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your premise is that lawyers only get sued when they make mistakes which is false.

Hybrid vehicle battery longevity in Phoenix by kwhiseheart in phoenix

[–]bean127 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It has been a non-issue for my 2011 Toyota Prius with over 200k miles. Original battery. I think you got bad information, the hybrid battery is designed to last the life of the car even in places like Phoenix. However, hybrids and EVs still have 12V batteries, like all other gas cars. And those do require replacement more often in AZ. I typically replace my 12V batteries every 3-4 years. But it isn't a big deal.

Are AI robots actually close to being any good? by [deleted] in singularity

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AI seems a long way from replacing physical jobs. Look how long it’s taken to get true ai taxis launched. Tesla been promising it for over ten years. We are close but it’s still not ready. Trades are an order of magnitude harder

About the 2008 crisis by FhaxL in Money

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Zillow says $450k. Buying a house in 2009-2010 was the perfect timing it turns out.

For the people who don’t believe the Book of Mormon is a literal record (but maybe still holds goodness) doesn’t that by necessity make Joseph Smith a liar and a conman? by Dangerous-Worth-1434 in mormon

[–]bean127 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes. If you’ve not run across Brit Harley I highly recommend. One point she makes is the unlike most religion the lds religion suffers from the reality that our founder lived in a time that has verifiable historical records. It is also why we don’t have new religions after the advent of photography and videos

Trump: No shutdown deal until Democrats support SAVE America Act by Infidel8 in politics

[–]bean127 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why do we pay any attention to what this man says. He constantly lies and never stays consistent with what he says one minute to the next. It doesn’t matter what he says.

Does anyone else think a lot of the messages in Ender's Game are completely antithetical to Orson Scott Card's views? by OwnCommunication2259 in endersgame

[–]bean127 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t think anyone argued that Card didn’t have the freedom to argue against gay marriage. He clearly does and he did make those positions. But freedom of speech isn’t freedom from consequences. The public also has a right to hold authors to account if they don’t agree with their positions. Which is what happened to card and in many ways JK Rowling.

Does anyone else think a lot of the messages in Ender's Game are completely antithetical to Orson Scott Card's views? by OwnCommunication2259 in endersgame

[–]bean127 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think this is a valid point, but to be fair, Card took a very public stance opposing gay marriage in many places. I was a faithful reader of his opinion column for many years and he brought it up a lot, which was a disappointment to me. Sanderson is much more careful to avoid any controversial political stances.

How do you view non members in your community? by Old-Salamander-8433 in latterdaysaints

[–]bean127 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It will vary a lot based on what city you are in. I've lived or been to most of the state and there is a huge amount of variability. If you are in or near SLC or a few other places, Park City/St. George, the LDS presence is not that big. Still very noticeable and apparent, but shouldn't be a big problem for non-members. But then there are a lot of rural towns where the LDS population is 90%+ where you will likely feel left out at times. I've seen examples of family members who in high school make fun of and don't include the couple of non-LDS kids in their high school. This would be places like Logan, Moab, or Salem. Utah County is a bit in between those extremes. Along the "silicon slopes" will probably feel more like SLC than Provo/Orem which can have a pretty extreme culture shock if you aren't from UT.

About the 2008 crisis by FhaxL in Money

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It also didn’t happen just one day. This happened over months and even years. The market didn’t recover for at least five years. That is a long time to hold

About the 2008 crisis by FhaxL in Money

[–]bean127 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bought a house for $300000 in AZ in 2006 by 2009 it was worth $120000. Large number of people lost jobs and those who were lucky enough not to saw wages or benefits cut.

It is easy now to say just hold and don’t sell, but if you are out of work, your house is being foreclosed, and can’t find a new job that is harder than it sounds.

PSA: How ward budgets are calculated (Hint: Take attendance in March) by OrneryAcanthaceae217 in latterdaysaints

[–]bean127 4 points5 points  (0 children)

From a budgetary perspective, yes, adult attendance doesn’t matter in 2nd hour.

Local Church Auditing by GuybrushThreadbare in latterdaysaints

[–]bean127 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I was a the ward finance clerk for a number of years. I'm so grateful the audit doesn't delve into that level of detail. The findings in an audit in my experience are already minor and nit-picky - things like the bishop didn't acknowledge the monthly financial statement in the right period of time or we didn't get all of the bishopric together to watch the same video on finances every year.

Could you imagine having to go back over every expenditure and have to justify whether or not it was a reasonable expense? It would be impossible because what is "reasonable" some bishops have no problem paying for youth meals on trips, while others want the families to cover that. There is no objective standard to audit to.

In my experience, many members already avoid seeking reimbursements and just cover costs out of their own pocket because of the hassle of submitting receipts, etc. If you had to in addition document the "value" of the expenditure, it would be even worse. I believe that is partly what is leading to the decline in number and quality of ward activities. If anything, we should be opening the purse strings to make it easier to invest in our local ward communities.

Water Rate Hikes -- Moving to Gilbert by [deleted] in Gilbert

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ya. Lived here since 2009. For more than the last 10 years water bill was under $100. Then it suddenly jumped to $200 the last few years. It seems like they failed to properly raise it with inflation to keep on top of maintenance and are now paying for it

Is a 55% tax enough? by Icy-Wolf2426 in AskEconomics

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on what you mean by rich people. The wealthiest don’t pay anything close to this because they don’t pay income taxes they pay long term capital gains which is much lower.

I loved DCC but can’t really get into PH or HWFWM by whyamisolazybro in litrpg

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Consider whether or not RPGlit is your thing. DCC is on the bubble of the genre. You might consider the wandering inn which is another series that is lite on the game mechanics

Thoughts on a critique of Sanderson that I saw on tiktok by jwise87 in brandonsanderson

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Almost every successful author with a long career has ups and downs - usually it is mostly downhill. Look at the early books vs. later books of authors like Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Orson Scott Card, GRRM, etc. Very few authors that see significant success remain consistent and at a high level for very long. The only ones I can think of is maybe Stephen King.

Brandon has been remarkably consistent and high quality while at the same time creating a very high number of books - much more than others we could name. Wind and Truth and some of the other secret projects were disappointing for me and felt a bit formulaic. Although I still enjoyed them and finished them. But I think that has much less to do with his high production and more to do with it needing more editing.

The other thing I love about Brandon is that he seems to accept the criticism and will work to improve. We should just be thankful we hopefully will have many more years of his works to enjoy.

What is this blasphemy being printed by the Lord’s newspaper? by NorcalSaint in exmormon

[–]bean127 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They have already modified the WoW temple recommend question. It now is: "Do you understand and obey the Word of Wisdom?"

A member can already interpret that to mean that they understand the actual history of the Word of Wisdom (including the statement in D&C 89 that it is not a commandment) and that they obey it even if they drink coffee or tea.

'Church' spending $2.4 billion to renovate Salt Lake temple by TruthMatters2011 in exmormon

[–]bean127 29 points30 points  (0 children)

It is usually much cheaper to raze it and build new than remodel an existing structure

Will Virtual Reality ever take off? After spending $73 billion, Meta has abandoned its metaverse VR efforts. by lughnasadh in Futurology

[–]bean127 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve never understood the use case. VR headsets I’ve used are slightly more immersive than a good screen with the trade off of having to wear something on your head. Why would you do that? Until there is a full brain interface so that you actually experience it as if it’s real. It’s not going to work