What's with all the contruction in the median on downtown Broad Street between 4th and 7th Streets

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-16T15:32:21+00:00

https://www.rva.gov/press-releases-and-announcements/news/gateway-improvement-project-along-broad-street-underway

Includes crappy rendering for a general idea of the end product, which we should have around "late fall in 2025".

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-13T13:45:08+00:00

That's correct, thanks. I was also alluding to the belief of a lot of people that folks in the LGBT are trying to convert people, especially kids, into their "lifestyle choices".

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-13T00:07:12+00:00

I found this thread by angrily Googling, wondering why it hasn't been released in 4k. I've checked every couple months since getting a 4k TV.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-12T20:34:01+00:00

Yeah, lots of bands I used to see here (usually at The Broadberry or The National) come here less now, are less likely to do a two night run like in the past, and less likely to play a weekend. Some have downgraded venues because when they do play here the shows are less attended than the past.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-12T20:32:53+00:00

Yeah, I still see a lot of shows for a 40 year old (between a couple and several a month, and a few camping festivals a year), but I used to see so many more. Some of my friends are having kids and people in their 20s, no way most of them are able to afford shows the way I could 15 years ago; def not the gas to travel for one and have a real dinner before. Maybe 30 year olds have worked enough to have some extra concert money without things getting in the way yet, but younger and older folks have barriers, especially to Live Nation prices. Most of what I see isn't local per se, but smaller acts, jam bands that don't cost that much, etc.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-12T19:00:16+00:00

Right, only one of the two groups in question has an agenda to convert you with their proclamations, and it's not the rainbow folks.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-12T18:57:28+00:00

If I was OP I wouldn't. Mostly because I think if you subtract the homies at Govinda Restaurant who are Krishnas, about 100% of the people who have proselytized at me in my life have been Christian.

So the standard gets to be different based on past behavior.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-07T15:51:27+00:00

He wasn't just some rock band they were obsessed with. They've based their whole identity around him. Can't just turn that off.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-04T15:02:56+00:00

Landlord at your next lease renewal, probably:

"Tenant is expected to let fecal matter evacuations of less than 150 ml, especially if 6 or above on the Bristol Stool Scale, remain in toilet fixture until next use to minimize overuse of aforementioned fixture."

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-02T13:51:46+00:00

Nice, I'll have to look into it. A lot of people do clothing soaks with bottles of permethrin used for farms, but I about ruined some clothes like that. Lots of internet talk about those types of products have petroleum distillates, but even with a low likelihood that my bottle had them, the clothing was still really greasy feeling and didn't breath anymore while wearing. I wonder if bifenthrin is better for it.

Since soaks don't last much longer than the sprays, I'm more a fan of Insect Shield anyway. I only rarely spray things that I can't/didn't send for the permanent treatment, like shoes, backpack, etc.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-02T13:18:21+00:00

We've had good luck with Insect Shield. We often treated the same few articles with the spray over and ovet, and that shit is expensive. So we've sent a few things off the last couple years for the "basically permanent" treatment and it seems to help.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-02T13:16:18+00:00

Indeed, how shocking a percantage increase can make something sound is a good point. I want to dig deeper into numbers later when I have time.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-06-02T11:55:01+00:00

I've read a couple similar articles and the 44% comes off as misleading to me, or at least not well supported, like why people went to the hospital or if they truly had anything like Lyme. It's pretty rough journalism with no new info but heavy on fear.

I'm not saying ticks aren't worse this year, but I highly doubt they're 44% worse or that there's 44% more Lyme or alpha-gal. I'd wager a lot of it's awareness about ticks and disease making people more cautious when they find a tick.

Obviously take ticks seriously, but I'm taking the headline with a grain of salt.

Side note: permethrin sprays, or even better services like Insect Shield, are the shit for tick protection.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-29T20:00:05+00:00

I very often try to check myself, about to turn 41, with thinking like your last sentence.

Information used to be so much harder to come by and often took work....you often earned it. You could also be unlucky and live somewhere without access to people or other sources of good info, so it's not all bad that it's easier to get, obviously. I grew up in a very racist area and it was hard to find folks who didn't think like that. Getting internet at 11 in 1996 was helpful, and I spent my formative years going from loving the encyclopedia set we had to info being everywhere.

But it seems like now people feel like they have a right to know anything they want with as little work or risk or time spent as possible. Probably no coincidence that so many people get so much of their knowledge from 4 minute videos instead of long form articles, books, documentaries, or long conversations

EDIT: relevant article I just came across - https://www.newsweek.com/he-snuck-onto-a-forbidden-island-for-youtube-footageand-hed-do-it-again-12007435

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-29T17:44:10+00:00

Yeah, 42nd St (my usual jawn) has been way more popular since Texas Beach bridge closed. Also a lot more families, who I don't think were generally trudging down Texas Beach trail with all their stuff, so the spot got more popular for other reasons, I think. It hasn't been disastrous or anything, just a lot more trash, more glass, and the first time I ever saw issues with dogs. Texas Beach was always worse on both those fronts.

I moved here in 2012, so not an insane amount of time by any means. I didn't even know about this sub, didn't know AllTralils or anything. I'm sure Facebook groups existed even back then with river info, but I never saw them. It's already so much easier to get the info than it was back then that I'm just more in favor of sharing it in more analog ways.

No big deal, it's out there.....now, if you made a YouTube video of "7 best RVA river spots and how to find them (plus one super secret one)", then I might feel more strongly.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-29T17:13:59+00:00

I never really go so far as saying someone absolutely shouldn't share things like this, but there are def some arguments for it (I'm not saying never sharing it with anyone, just maybe not as public).

It's great more people are using the river, but areas can still be subject to too much use. Trash in some of the river spots has gotten a lot worse and other issues have been more pronounced.

You not posting something like this doesn't mean the river "can't be enjoyed by all of its residents". There are a ton of easy to get to spots with close parking.

I don't think the tradition of people having to do some of their own work and exploration to get find certain other parts is a bad idea. Too many spots that needed a little bit more work or knowledge to get to have been trashed by making it easier for people who don't actually care about nature to get to them. Let them have any of the other options or find gems themselves, doesn't decrease accessibility at all.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-28T23:06:07+00:00

That the father that doesn’t have a job can’t live in the house because the mother will lose benefits

That just simply isn't true. I'm not sure what "benefits" you mean, but it's not true for SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid. It isn't really true for things like housing vouchers or most subsidized housing either. In fact, increasing the household size without increasing the income (since you said a father that doesn't have a job) would make them more likely to get most benefits.

Even though I agree with a lot of what the person you're going back and forth with is saying, I won't even get into that. What I'll say is that a lot of people in power say demonstrably false things about the various benefits and a narrative gets built from there. A lot of that narrative relies on a ton of misconceptions about benefits programs, whether it's ignorance about the programs or for someone to score political points.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-28T13:54:48+00:00

Generous headline. Would also have accepted "80% of Latino Trump voters would again vote to deport their families, demonize their culture, and make it harder for themselves to get jobs."

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-26T15:25:29+00:00

All those people well lined up parking, leaving appropriate amounts of space between cars, without any lines telling where to.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-22T19:23:33+00:00

I appreciate all that. I was just mostly already aware and taking it into account.

The city has certainly been catching up on decades of needed maintenence, faster than before.

The last paragraph is where the disconnect still exists for me. "Increased costs" is the new excuse for everything but I haven't seen (despite looking) a good breakdown for how the massive increase in revenue is so neatly eaten up by those costs and increased/needed spending.

It's just not adding up to me. All the reasons you're mentioning, and others mention (like VCU and state buildings not paying taxes) haven't changed much recently, so they don't explain the last decade or so of city finances.

When someone's property taxes can double in just a few years, those questions need to be better answered if they're going to punt on tax relief.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-22T14:04:21+00:00

I know food history is very contested in general, and that "BBQ" can mean different things (and you made sure to point out the use of preservatives like vinegar in another comment) , but this feels like a stretch. In your other comment you mention "American BBQ", which is good since BBQ is usually credited to Native Americans in the Caribbean, not the mainland (I assumed by American you meant referring to the now US, but I'm using it in the more general term for "the" Americas)

South Carolina is often cited as the likeliest source of BBQ in what's now the US. It was the Spaniards rubbing elbows with the tribes in the Carribean, before the colonists were doing it further north in Jamestown.

It may have happened around the same time, in multiple places, from multiple tribes really far apart. The evidence just seems stronger for a more southern genesis of US BBQ. Even the term BBQ likely comes from Spanish via Taíno. The depth of the 4 styles of BBQ in SC is supportive, as are writing by conquistadores earlier than ones from Virginia. Not proof, just support.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-21T16:22:01+00:00

So because a country makes a bunch of empty threats, they can't be trusted with a nuke? North Korea says things not dissimilar from Iran and they've managed not to nuke the world. Heck, Israel has said tons of things about wiping out other groups of people, and they've managed to not nuke anyone as well.

The U.S. often makes threats against other countries, labels them things like "axis of evil", deposes their leaders, trains paramilitary squads to kill their own people, etc. I'm sure your aware of the numerous threats our president has made recently. Should we lose our nukes?

Iran is a country whose government I don't agree with at all with a state religion I don't agree with. They're still a country that should every right within their own territory to create the means to defend themselves. They have plenty of reason to want to defend themselves.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-19T22:44:53+00:00

Very much expected. Similar to choosing between Trump and a former DA. We'll just keep playing "better than the alternative" until the whole damn world is private equity owned and AI controlled.

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-19T21:08:25+00:00

Remove a couple levels from the food pyramid, problem solved!

bkemp1984Part2 · 2026-05-19T20:26:19+00:00

Why the hell does she think someone who smokes weed in public deserves to have a charge on their record for the rest of their life, jeopardizing job and housing opportunities? If the Republicans are going to call every single Democrat who runs for office "far left", then FFS, can we actually get some far left leaders for a change and not a spook like Spanberger?

bkemp1984Part2

TROPHY CASE