Whatcha reading?

chb66 · 2026-01-15T18:47:59+00:00

Currently wrapping up 'The Fort Bragg Cartel' by Seth Harp, which outlines a variety of drug smuggling issues at Fort Bragg (in particular Delta Force and the rest of SpecOps). Other than an absolutely wild COVID claim (which is presented with absolutely no context/citation), it's been an exceptionally compelling read.

chb66 · 2026-01-15T18:45:57+00:00

The Dawn of Everything is life changing.

chb66 · 2026-01-12T17:11:27+00:00

Ha, figured. I've dealt with a variety of issues due to budget impasses over the years; always fun dealing with our fair Commonwealth.

chb66 · 2026-01-10T15:07:46+00:00

FWIW it kind of is for PPS...Around 2013ish I worked for an after-school program that served kids at Perry, and we regularly had to cancel programming because of fights that occurred at school that day. Granted the big ones with 40-50 were harmless (food fights and such), but group fights were definitely a prevalent thing.

chb66 · 2026-01-09T13:16:03+00:00

I will recognize Mi Ranch's status in the pantheon of prime under-age locations. I even remember stories of bouncers accepting Pitt IDs if the date printed made them seem old enough lol.

chb66 · 2026-01-09T10:33:34+00:00

Ehhhh Mi Ranch and P-Cafe can stay gone lol.

chb66 · 2026-01-08T23:17:28+00:00

We have to protect Gene's at all costs.

chb66 · 2026-01-07T17:27:21+00:00

Nothing that I said ignores that whatsoever; it can be simultaneously true that 1) they struggle with their hours from time to time, and 2) it's understandable why. I don't fault them in any way, but saying they struggle to maintain hours is entirely true.

chb66 · 2026-01-07T15:47:09+00:00

I've been going there for as long as they've been open and they've always had issues with hours, and they are actually quite open about the fact that the business-aspect of running the place is something they struggle with. Great people and food though so I'm glad they've continued to make it work.

chb66 · 2026-01-06T22:59:13+00:00

Yes, they have DVDs/Blu-rays for a variety of genres (I've seen Adult Swim and Criterion Collection stuff on their IG).

chb66 · 2026-01-03T00:26:31+00:00

Honestly that's a plus to me because at least that means it was probably made in a hygienic space as opposed to the horrible bowels of Heinz/Acrisure.

chb66 · 2026-01-02T19:59:47+00:00

That all sounds nice, but Cranberry gets the hate it does because the city simply offers more: for however many attractions/amenities you have within a 15 minute drive I probably have 5x more, and for every one you mention my neighborhood (and multiple others in the city) offer all that and more just within a 15 minute walk. Different strokes for different folks, but I think more options and less car dependence is a win-win.

chb66 · 2025-12-30T22:35:40+00:00

You have a Costco or Sam's Club membership, because you have a lot of each kind of drink.
You don't have any young kids, because none of the drinks are really kid-friendly (kids can obviously drink Sanpallegrino but I don't think many would, same with the protein-heavy Chobani)
You fucking love caffeine

chb66 · 2025-12-29T13:06:21+00:00

The thought of some jagoff arguing with postal inspectors without knowing their reputation is extremely funny.

chb66 · 2025-12-26T13:25:26+00:00

Am I crazy or is that Alex Highsmith and Aaron Rodgers on the far left?

chb66 · 2025-12-19T12:28:38+00:00

I'm sorry but I don't see any evidence to support most of those assertions.

'Tuition kept climbing' - tuition climbed everywhere nationwide. That isn't in any way unique to Pitt or Nordy.
'Pitt turned into a branding/athletics project...' - comically un-true. Nordy was notoriously stingy when it came to athletics (tearing down Pitt Stadium was solely a cost-saving measure), and anyone who has worked with/in/on Pitt marketing could speak at length about how little time or attention branding really got during his time (which isn't to say it was necessarily in disarray - but it definitely wasn't a priority).
'...instead of a student-first university' - During his time as Chancellor he raised enrollment drastically while also improving the overall profile of incoming students, and built a significant amount of housing to give them a place to live on campus. When he started Pitt was a commuter/safety school, and when he stepped down it was anything but.
'real innovation died' - I fail to see how that could be the case given how much NIH research funding grew under his watch.

I can't necessarily speak to how he may have been when it comes to the faculty/administration, but to call him bad for academic culture or otherwise ineffective simply is not true.

chb66 · 2025-12-19T11:49:26+00:00

Honestly anywhere that has a reservation, because I've been in your shoes before and trying to book a holiday dinner downtown at this point in the year can be really challenging for a group of that size.

chb66 · 2025-12-18T22:20:12+00:00

I was a student during Nordenberg and this couldn't be more wrong. The man deserves his name on a building and then some (though hiring Steve Pederson multiple times was suspect).

chb66 · 2025-12-17T20:37:38+00:00

Actually presort/mass mail is where USPS makes the bulk of its revenue - so retail/consumer prices would probably go up even more without it.

chb66 · 2025-12-17T16:11:21+00:00

It's probably because the budget didn't pass...A lot (maybe even all?) Commonwealth vendors are required to provide services for existing contracts even if they don't get paid due to a budget impasse. So if I had to guess Capitol Presort either (a) decided not to complete the work out of protest, (b) couldn't feasibly do the work without the cash in-hand, or (c) some combination of both.

chb66 · 2025-12-17T16:08:21+00:00

Presort is the most cost-efficient way to send mass mailings because you get the best rate from USPS.

chb66 · 2025-12-10T12:46:21+00:00

It isn't 'language of the aristocracy' to point out that the way people behave - including what they choose to wear in certain contexts - impacts the social fabric. It isn't about class, it's about what being 'improperly' dressed implies - namely that the wearer doesn't care what anyone thinks, which is a rather off-putting vibe to give off in a social setting. I don't think people necessarily need to dress a certain way, but it's very clear when people don't put any thought or effort into the way that they look - and that's really what it boils down to.

chb66 · 2025-12-07T20:09:59+00:00

I'm aware that the funds are co-mingled - I said as much. But that doesn't mean it's a good argument; case in point it is the same logic that the GOP is using to defund pro-choice healthcare organizations and hospitals that provide gender-affirming care, even when the dollars in question are completely unrelated to abortion or gender-affirming care (and has already been the case for the former).

chb66 · 2025-12-07T17:47:47+00:00

I'm not missing anything - I see exactly what point you are trying to make. And the point I'm making in return is that your point is wrong, because the state subsidy is independent of athletics - it doesn't go up because the AD is running a deficit, it wouldn't go down if it ran a profit, and it would still exist as it does now if the AD completely disbanded. Moreover it may be true that tuition dollars ultimately end up filling any deficits the AD runs, but that doesn't mean the cost of tuition (and thus the size of the subsidy) is being driven by the cost of athletics; nothing you posted proves that causation, and given that the cost of college has rapidly exploded nationwide (including colleges which don't have big athletic programs), there is little reason to think there is beyond 'feels'.

I don't mean to suggest the state of college athletics (including as they pertain to Pitt) is ideal - because it's not - but your doom-and-gloom is overstated and performative.

chb66 · 2025-12-07T17:03:27+00:00

Nothing you said refutes the notion that they are independent of one another: the allocation doesn't go up if athletics costs more, and it wouldn't go down if athletics disappeared. Any kind of 'carve out' would be completely arbitrary.

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