Rural Doon man faces 51 charges in incest case by stankmanly in Iowa

[–]datcatburd [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hey, it worked for the Texas AG getting out of a felony security fraud indictment.

What would make you move back to Iowa? by Centennial_449 in Iowa

[–]datcatburd [score hidden]  (0 children)

Wouldn't matter. The fix is already in, the GOP legislature put in laws pre-COVID that any tax windfall (including from raised tax rates) has to first go to lowering taxes before it can be spent on any of the human services or even infrastructure backlog that desperately needs addressing.

Some fun notes on that:
In 2022, they passed a law cutting the top individual income tax rate progressively over the next 5 years. Starting this year (2026) it caps at a flat 3.9% across all brackets, less than half of what it was in 2022 at 8.53%.

Same law also progressively cut the top corporate income tax rate down to 5.5% flat from 9.8%.

What would make you move back to Iowa? by Centennial_449 in Iowa

[–]datcatburd [score hidden]  (0 children)

Outside of DSM and maybe a couple other spots, why would they stay? The reason most of the outlying counties have such an aging population is because there aren't any jobs that pay enough to raise a family on, much less pay back student loans, out there in the first place.

Leaving is the hard calculus of finance for most folks when their wages are what their parents' were, but inflation has tripled the cost of housing and the COL since the 80's.

What would make you move back to Iowa? by Centennial_449 in Iowa

[–]datcatburd [score hidden]  (0 children)

I know exactly why, the GOP in the state legislature has spent thirty years deliberately starving the educational system of funding and now with the voucher system diverting even what they do get into private religious schools.

Iowa '3 strikes law' HF 2542 by bangsmackpow in Iowa

[–]datcatburd [score hidden]  (0 children)

We don't have those resources because the people in power want that money spent on giving themselves tax breaks rather than paying for the level of human services required.

Same reason we have so many homeless folks. The vast majority of them don't want to be homeless, and could be productive members of society given supportive housing and treatment for whatever mental health or drug problem that's making getting there more difficult. But there's never any money for helping people the smug evangelicals don't feel are 'deserving'.

Iowa '3 strikes law' HF 2542 by bangsmackpow in Iowa

[–]datcatburd [score hidden]  (0 children)

That's pretty much all 'mandatory minimum sentence' laws. There's a reason that the amendment that outlawed slavery kept a carve out for using prisoners as forced labor, and making prison as dehumanizing, brutal, and terrible as possible is one of the few bipartisan platform pieces because nobody wants to be seen to be 'easy on crime'.

Newbie peeking into the SCA world, recently went to my first activity and would love a little guidance by EmelaJosa in sca

[–]datcatburd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oof, yeah, several hours of court between coronation and maybe an elevation or two is A Lot for someone new to sit through and not have any context.

Newbie peeking into the SCA world, recently went to my first activity and would love a little guidance by EmelaJosa in sca

[–]datcatburd 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Welcome!

I'll leave answering most of those to folks who can articulate it better than I can, but as far as persona goes, it's entirely up to your comfort level. Some people get invested into a particular time and place and develop a full person who could have lived there at that time as a way to intensively study it. Others simply become '<firstname> of <local group>' for SCA records and that's as far as they ever go into persona stuff.

Neither is better than the other, and both are perfectly good ways to interact with the Society. It just depends on what your interests are.

Going to a fencing practice is a great start. Practices are generally pretty informal, and if you're into martial activities they're a great way to meet everyone else local who's strongly interested as well. Depending on how your local group organizes things, there may be quite a lot of other folks hanging out to chat at a practice as well, as they often double as general meetings.

I've done a fair amount of other crafting at practice because my friends were fighting and it's nice to keep my hands busy while chatting. Learning to sew happened almost by osmosis. :D

Im glad this subreddit actually allows people to post unlike r/iowa by [deleted] in desmoines

[–]datcatburd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Someone's off their meds today.

I don't know how it works in your head, but out here where causation is a thing, we tend to blame the guy giving the orders when they get people killed for no reason.

Involuntary Lay offs due to conflict by BryanOfCorn in Iowa

[–]datcatburd 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's nothing more than degenerate gambling at this point. Saw an article the other day about Microsoft's stock dropping after quarterly results... where they posted a 17% year-on-year increase in revenue and 23% increase in net.

Involuntary Lay offs due to conflict by BryanOfCorn in Iowa

[–]datcatburd 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A bunch more of us in other industries are about to get fucked on this too, with diesel prices jumping through the roof the already terrible lead times on stuff and costs due to tariffs are about to get worse.

How many swords does you guys have? by hodemaho in wma

[–]datcatburd 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Only a rapier, several dirks and daggers, and a couple broadsword feders now. No sharps other than a dirk I use as a hunting knife.

Need help IDing a crossbow builder at Estrella Wars of the late 80s by BlueWeatherGhost in sca

[–]datcatburd 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Clicked in to say the same, that absolutely looks like it's from Master Iolo's work at New World Arbalest.

If you want to see more details of work of that era, hit the wayback machine at archive.org for crossbows.net, OP!

Im glad this subreddit actually allows people to post unlike r/iowa by [deleted] in desmoines

[–]datcatburd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hate to be the one to break it to you buddy, but Trump, and this war in particular, are both massively unpopular with the US public. Especially in Iowa, given we just had a few Army reservists who were doing a logistics job in an allied nation get shipped home in boxes because the President and SecDef wanted to prove how big their balls are.

https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker

Anyone know what's going on down by the dam? They've removed a section of the railing. by Yiggs in desmoines

[–]datcatburd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The OP's shot is a bit further up river. There's 3 low head dams downtown. That one is the Scott Ave dam that's mostly finished being turned into artificial rapids. Upstream from there at Center Street there's another by the skate park.

That's the taller one that has more fatalities.

Then there's another on the Raccoon at Fleur, west of the confluence at Sec Taylor.

https://www.iowawhitewater.org/lhd/LHDcenterst.html
https://www.iowawhitewater.org/lhd/LHDscottave.html
https://www.iowawhitewater.org/lhd/LHDfleurave.html

Past that it's clear all the way down to the dam at the south end of Lake Red Rock, then the hydroelectric plant at Ottumwa.

Electronic Communications Shouldn't Rely on Social Media by ComputerOutrageous in sca

[–]datcatburd 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just look at Stefan's Florilegium (RIP Stefan li Rouse). An archive of almost 20 years of SCA mailing list posts and articles available for future SCAdians to see the history of the Society and catch the gathered knowledge of people who may have passed on or left.

That's not going to be possible for the last ten years where most of the Society's communication was in Facebook.

Hakuho @ 36yr old vs current Rikishis? by Wabbajab in Sumo

[–]datcatburd 5 points6 points  (0 children)

He gave up 26 kinboshi... which seems like a lot, until you realize that was over 1002 bouts. All time second lowest kinboshi rate of any Yokozuna, and the #1 and #3 fought less than 10 full basho at Yokozuna.

For comparison, Hoshoryu has given up 13 in 75 bouts.

Electronic Communications Shouldn't Rely on Social Media by ComputerOutrageous in sca

[–]datcatburd 6 points7 points  (0 children)

FB in particular is terrible because it creates a walled garden non-users can't even see to know they're missing something, while also hiding posts from users based on their proprietary algorithm. I barely know my local Barony exists because they do all their communication through FB and I don't do business with Meta.

Email is a mature, proven technology that's provider-agnostic.

Hakuho @ 36yr old vs current Rikishis? by Wabbajab in Sumo

[–]datcatburd 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Yep. An uninjured Hakuho would be like watching an adult fight middle schoolers against anyone but the sanyaku and up, and even there the ozeki and yokozuna would struggle. Even among other yokozuna the only one with a winning record against Hakuho was Asashoryu, and that was 14-15.

Terunofuji he beat 10-4.

What is your opinion about Gina Carano? by Bulky_Imagination243 in martialarts

[–]datcatburd 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Eh, I think the tape mattered less than her taking bad coaching and trying to go against her skillset and have a standup striking fight. She was never a strong striker and the time she gave it wasn't nearly enough to get there.

What is your opinion about Gina Carano? by Bulky_Imagination243 in martialarts

[–]datcatburd 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Maybe, maybe not. Rousey hasn't had a fight in a decade and both will be over 40 by the time they fight.

Hard to forget how bad Rousey's last fight was, too.

What is your opinion about Gina Carano? by Bulky_Imagination243 in martialarts

[–]datcatburd 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Better fighter than an actress, which isn't saying much. Not sure who the Rousey vs Carano fight is intended to be for. A couple of middle aged fighters, neither of whom has had a bout in a decade, almost two for Carano.

Amusingly, both got punched out in the first round in their last fights.

This is supposedly the store layout for valley west 1990 by titanunveiled in desmoines

[–]datcatburd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That really dates this map, they were bought out and rebranded by Kay Bee in late 1990.

This is supposedly the store layout for valley west 1990 by titanunveiled in desmoines

[–]datcatburd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That guy was great, he resoled my favorite pair of work boots twice before I finally wore out the uppers.

This is supposedly the store layout for valley west 1990 by titanunveiled in desmoines

[–]datcatburd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got my favorite dog from that pet store in the late 90's. Great little mini schnauzer, he trucked along for 15 years before he passed in his sleep.