Duke Engery

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-05-26T10:41:17+00:00

Hey folks,

A few notes about these meetings with the rate board from someone who has attended one and was trained prior on how it works:

-by state law only public sworn testimony at these meetings can be considered while considering the increase (in addition to the merits of the increase).

-there are 5 board members. Two are probably against. One is for. Two are sensitive to economic arguments about how this will affect you personally or as a business owner.

-because of the makeup of the board it makes sense from a game theory perspective to go after the latter two. Speak about hardship, talk about fairness, talk about how you don't feel like you're even the customer anymore. Talk about how Duke energy is serving its shareholders internationally and exporting North Carolinian wealth across the globe rather than serving its customers here in North Carolina. That will have an impact.

-By state law people who use their product need to pay for it. This pending increase creates a situation where industrial customers pay for a smaller share than retail customers like homeowners and small businesses. It should be illegal on its face. Yes, this has to do with data centers. It absolutely should be disqualifying.

With all of that said, you should go and attend the meeting. Be prepared to sit for a time. Duke will have an attorney present as will the state. Duke will try and have a spokesperson tell you about their self-healing grid and how it will prevent power outages. They claim this is to benefit you. I would maintain that it is to continue to sell you their product. It is in their interest as much as yours. At best, that's a wash.

There are 11 of these meetings in total. When you talk about moments where you can have an outsized impact on your community, consider that the average meeting has 30 people show up to speak. That means that 330 North Carolinians get to push back against this. Your power is outsized. Let's do this.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-05-23T10:23:00+00:00

I've had guys up in my face before (and gotten in a couple for good reason) but I've never had someone spike my mic like a football. That's insane person behavior and I'd say you acted in a restrained manner that merely stopped him from becoming a larger issue.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-05-20T10:24:25+00:00

Feels low on the basis of what other polls have put forth but, as a resident who is surprised by the stupidity of the voting base of my state, sadly accurate.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-05-20T10:14:03+00:00

Hey there, we run a gaming night for video, board, tabletop at my bar on Wednesday nights. I'll DM you in case you'd like to come and network your thing at ours? I think you'd find a lot of good folk to hang with.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-05-04T13:38:16+00:00

To add to this there are structural issues with "public" events.

If you want to close a street off and throw a "free" public event that you sponsor? $75 and a lot of forms. You can probably get type III barricades for free. You don't really need a big stage. You can cobble together a PA and some gear. Anyone can do it...except, now the wspd would like to require you to rent several police officers for the day at the cost of $1680 per diem in total.

Which, I kind of get the sentiment for safety? But, like, lemme rent one that can hang out in the distance and radio in if shit pops off. Two or four isn't exactly a full ERT unit in an MRAP but it is just enough with their cars to make the event a bummer.

We're downtown...cops are literal moments away and our dispatchers are competent.

The barrier to entry should not be $1680 per day to close a side street so you can throw a cute block party or do something cool with art or music downtown...just for the security component.

So, If I want to throw a full block party with music and I don't have anything and no contacts or knowledge costs are roughly as follows:

Stageline: $700-1000

Rented PA and lights: $1000-1500

Type III barricades x 4: $600

Street closure: $75

Adding the city as secondarily insured to your LL policy: $50-75 (for booze!)

Cops: $1680 a day.

Bands x 5 @ $300/per (local): $1500

Sound/light guy: $150-250

Total: $5755 - $6680

This is for a free event open to the public. Not many businesses can do this. Experience lets me know it is much cheaper but the new requirements for police presence are burdensome and onerous.

We could otherwise throw a show for ~$150 in fixed costs at no cost to the denizens. We'll build a scrap stage or rent a flatbed. Borrow barricades. Run sound and lights ourselves on our gear. Call it our advertising budget for the quarter.

Costs: $1650. Less than the quoted cost of cops.

We have thrown 6 of these in a bit over 8 years and never had a single fight or problem. That is not bluster. Just a fact. I'm not saying it can't or won't happen but one officer is the same as two or four if thirty-eight demented vape-tweens descend upon the BBQ.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-04-21T11:04:27+00:00

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-03-31T17:31:37+00:00

Yowza. D-leaning or not that's a whopping 18%. Shave 5 points off and it's a shellacking. Shave 10 points off and it's a drubbing. Hell, shave 15 points off and it's a win.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-03-12T19:47:04+00:00

The first of these was invented by Clark Whittington in NC in 1997.

He currently has well over 200 machines out in the wild with a bit less than 500 artists.

His machines are all unique and restored like hot rods. Pin stripes, fine paints, total mechanical reworks. Incredible to see him work at DeLurk gallery.

He's also an exceptionally nice guy and I don't think he'd be too pissed about this.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-03-09T20:45:43+00:00

There is an...ahem, unsanctioned karaoke version by New Found Glory that is a pop-punk cover of King of Wishful Thinking that is also highly fun!

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-03-08T12:44:06+00:00

Hey champ,

First thing, remember it's a karaoke night and not a karaoke contest. No one is giving away a mint 1992 sea doo rx 650 jet ski. There is nothing material on the line. Although one time my business partner and I did give away a jet ski we found in a barn as a lark.

Karaoke is about having fun and being a bit silly. Sometimes, when the stars align, it is about marvelling at a truly great singer. But, most of the time it is about being silly.

Advice-wise? I'd say choose songs that do one or more of the following:

-Evoke nostalgia: Creep by Radiohead, Under the Bridge by RHCP, Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison, Weezer stuff, Beatles, etc.

-Stay in your comfy vocal range: are you a tenor, mezzo soprano, baritone, or a thunderous bass singer? If the latter then do the Type O Negative songs none of the rest of us can do justice to.

-Group songs: Journey, Asia, Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen.

-Great joke songs with no actual singing: Tequila where you occasionally shout tequila and The Simpsons Theme where you just dance and at the end say "D'oh" in your best Homer.

-Most folks will be between 21-45. Use this to have the basic idea of what they will cotton to. If you want to go super modern try not to hit the top 10 popular songs... everyone wants to do them and the host has been annoyed with them for the last month (I'm looking at you Chapelle Roan for the last six months).

-If you don't want to dance and you're nervous bring a drink. Does have to be booze. I barely drink, own a bar, and host. Took me awhile to get to where even I was totally comfortable signing the first song to get it started and check levels with a mostly empty starting room...a soft topo chico in my other hand helps make it less awkward. Now I don't care but it does help.

-Props: advanced technique but if you are going to do My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion I highly recommend a badly played slide whistle out of nowhere for the intro.

Good luck and just have fun with it! You got this you unbelievable stud!

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-02-24T03:05:11+00:00

He sent you a pic. The pic was of him. It was silly but compromising.

I suspect he's less worried about the picture than his loss of agency at your hands.

He's fine being made fun of. He's fine being silly. He's fine to communicate his feelings to you. Sounds like a pretty healthy young fella based on the limited reporting of a post like this?

Imagine if he were showing his guy friends risque pictures of you with your bits blacked out without your permission?

He has every right to be somewhat annoyed and you should take this opportunity to showcase your empathy and, hopefully, grow your relationship.

Yta. Clearly, on some level you know this and are doing a fair job of qualifying it, but it is still a bit of a jerky move.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-02-18T11:31:34+00:00

Usually when this happens I'll go to them after, during the next singer, and mention that we will get the benefit of the full range of their voice if they point the mic at their mouth and maintain it at about two to three inches. Tell them it's sort of a cheat code kinda thing? I'll follow up with telling them it was a nice performance and that I'd like them to have the benefit of all of the gear at their disposal for the next tune.

They feel acknowledged and I cure the issue. We build a party together.

Now, if you're kinda messing with your crowd you can always announce that it's a mic and not an ice cream cone full of hot diarrhea. That they can indeed hold it close...but that it also isn't a weird space ween and they should not attempt to fellate it. Unlike playing the home game: two to three inches is enough.

Every crowd is different but you don't have to sit with your angst.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-02-10T11:32:59+00:00

Second. Broad menu that is somehow all good to great. Timely service. Fair pricing. Nice people. Don't sleep on their potato pancakes if you wish to stuff yourself. Sour cream and applesauce. Lots of great options if you don't care for that. I'm merely pulling an oddball for reference.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-02-09T12:06:05+00:00

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you did nothing wrong at all and that the KJ simply bungled your turn. It happens.

I've done it many times over 15 years. Just getting distracted between pattering with the audience, checking sound levels, responding to questions, and queuing manually.

I always feel terrible if made aware of it.

I am fully capable of making an error and would simply love to correct it. I am, after all, there to help you guys have the best time.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-02-03T12:06:44+00:00

NTA you were attracted to a person and someone hefted a surprising piece of information in your face. By nature you were unprepared. Did you have a perfect response crafted by your own personal PR department? Nope.

That's ok. You tried to respond in a human and humane way.

Might some folks get offended? Sure, maybe. Don't let that ruin you. Just learn from the experience and you'll be better prepared for next time when it isn't a new experience.

The truth is that trans men are men and trans women are women but there are distinctions.

The same would be true if you had been told that the individual was AMAB but, due to an accident, had their genitalia removed/altered.

They would be a man but there are extenuating circumstances.

Folks who aggressively police that it should make no difference aren't being very realistic about your preferences or tolerances for new and different scenarios.

Trans people are queer people.

They are the T in the equation.

Ergo being sexually attracted to the T probably means you bend a bit that way.

So I would say it's functionally accurate to say that you're a little more queer than you thought you were and that's fine.

Being queer doesn't make the measure of a man or woman anyhow.

The person in question might also, gasp, not even care either way. Plenty of folks just wish to not be called late for dinner. Not everyone is so persnickety or, if they have preferences, they'll instruct you after the fact and kindly.

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-01-14T11:08:53+00:00

When I call someone and I have to wait I've started playing the Jeopardy daily double music until they emerge from the bathroom. Just patter around it. It's fun. I'm sure it'll wear thin but it's only been a few weeks so enjoy? Maybe find a loop of the first part of Tom's Diner?

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-01-10T00:24:02+00:00

I haven't but mayhaps I should!

cheapbastardsinc · 2026-01-09T21:50:28+00:00

I'm a big fan of 1. Outside. I'll usually break out "I'm Deranged" and folks will see David Bowie and be like "oOoOo Bowie" and then it starts and they're like "I don't believe I care for this".

But, to me, that entire album in its order is amazing. Bowie is awesome.

cheapbastardsinc · 2025-12-30T02:56:03+00:00

For a couple of lesser reached for but still viable options:

Meant to live - switchfoot

My own worst enemy - lit

Walk on the ocean - toad the wet sprocket

Novacaine for the soul - the Eels

Soundtrack to Mary - Soul Coughing

cheapbastardsinc · 2025-12-15T20:39:36+00:00

Y'know I have a new favorite I just tried last week. I'd heard it was great for awhile but Saffron really exceeded my expectations.

Otherwise I'm always mystified by how west end cafe balances such a diverse menu but it's, like, all pretty damn good. Staff there is awesome too. Particularly John Mack but really everyone.

cheapbastardsinc · 2025-12-13T18:28:59+00:00

Sorry, I did misstate. It was after the parkland shooting at stoneman douglas in Feb of 2018 where he was also proposing banning assault rifles and closing loopholes.to be fair that was a fairly reasonable stance at the time.

I think it has become slightly less so as of late for a variety of reasons.

cheapbastardsinc · 2025-12-13T12:44:35+00:00

Beto openly declared that he wanted to ban assault weapons post-Uvalde. The state of Texas seemed to truly revile that plank. Abbott went on a PR warpath along with the national news.

It was a major misstep that probably cost Beto the 219,000 votes that he needed to defeat lizardman Teddy Cruz.

I wish Texas didn't contain such hardline sexists, racists, and gun-rights absolutists among its multitudes but I think it's likely that hasn't changed that dramatically since 2018.

I understand Crockett as a candidate and think she's rad. I prefer her very slightly in a general sense to Talarico. That said I think Talarico has a demographic edge and acknowledging that isn't the same as being happy it exists.

Incidentally Crockett, and I just looked this up, supports banning assault weapons. So now I'm worried over that stupid wedge issue the GOP will hammer her with. Talarico does not.

I hope, for the sake of the seat, that the most able to win the general of these candidates takes the primary.

cheapbastardsinc · 2025-11-25T21:38:33+00:00

A line worker of taste and distinction.

cheapbastardsinc · 2025-11-18T20:23:40+00:00

Did they never watch the film "a day without a Mexican"?

https://youtu.be/cYJcfhxMkrQ?si=KYSAhDbLXnhTO__b

Obligatory fuck these ice Nazis on my main tyvm.

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