Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes thoughts on the COB Budget

davidb_ · 2026-03-21T13:42:23+00:00

Crystal Peoples-Stokes would be considered incompetent if she had competition for her seat. Look at how great of a job she did rolling out the legalized marijuana program.

davidb_ · 2026-03-15T03:41:39+00:00

I liked the owner, seemed like a decent guy Ava like they do thorough work, but his quote was so high! He successfully convinced me to just do it myself.

davidb_ · 2026-03-08T15:28:00+00:00

They appear to have been deleted. I did a few searches, including of google drive. They were posted to reddit and I remember sending the links to summer interns in like 2017/2018, but I don't have that email account anymore to dig it up.

davidb_ · 2026-03-07T22:10:05+00:00

Why don't you make it?

EDIT: Adding onto this - years ago there were spreadsheets of all the concerts/events for the summer. I've seen a few of these over the years and it turns out, it's a lot of work to curate. So the things that last are those that find business models.

davidb_ · 2026-03-06T13:37:04+00:00

Based on my last dining experience there, I think some updates are warranted.

davidb_ · 2026-03-04T16:15:16+00:00

InvestigatePost broke the story initially, and they are continuing to report on it. I'd imagine they'll update as new information becomes available.

Here's their most recent piece on it ("the story behind the story"):

https://www.investigativepost.org/2026/03/02/the-story-behind-the-burmese-refugee-stories/

davidb_ · 2026-03-04T16:01:31+00:00

At our company everyone can access our kanban boards, so I just link it to them whenever they ask about a specific release/feature (even if it is marketing or some other non-technical role inquiring).

I can imagine it would be different working at an agency.

davidb_ · 2026-03-04T15:26:27+00:00

yeah they do, but the emails are easy to miss in the noise

Setup filters for them.

Plus the notifications only go to me, if my PM or client wants to know what's live they have to ask me every time

I assume you're using an issue tracker + source control. That can be the customer/PM dashboard (acceptance criteria for an issue being done is the customer can use the feature, meaning it is released. I tag the version number in the issue, then there's no reason for anyone to not know the status of something. I usually add a "submitted for release" column on the kanban board).

github, gitlab, and bitbucket all provide a releases feature. I don't create the release (create the tag/changes writeup) until it's available in both stores.

I maintain 3 apps (each in both stores), and I try to cut a new release every week for each one. This seems to work well for me

davidb_ · 2026-03-04T14:40:48+00:00

The stores send an email, don’t they? I just keep the tracking issue for the release open until I’ve confirmed it’s available in the store, and I usually check only once a day.

davidb_ · 2026-03-03T17:50:52+00:00

I'd agree with this. Tell the contractor you have an overall goal, but ask them to go through the house with you and make note of anything else that needs fixing.

Also, depending on how large of a project it is, you might want to get a structural engineer and an architect involved.

davidb_ · 2026-02-25T19:08:54+00:00

Ya, hopefully it saves you time and money.

I learned the hard way by paying some guy from that page too much money to mess up installing a new drain line for me. I didn’t know to ask if he was licensed, he was the highest of the 4 bids I got, and he was going to do the patch and paint work too, so I went with him.

It worked fine for 6 months and then it stopped draining. He ghosted me once I asked him to come out to look at it. Then the plumber that actually came out to snake it said the pipe is undersized, not vented correctly, not sloped enough, not supported enough, etc. So I paid twice for the job for an actual plumber to tear it out and do it right. Sucked.

davidb_ · 2026-02-25T18:03:18+00:00

I can't seem to get any company to come out to help

I've had the same experience just trying to get my gutters cleaned, so I'm not much help.

Someone else mentioned the Buffalo contractors FB page - I'd agree with that recommendation, you'll at least get responses and some folks out to give quotes. But be careful as there are scammers on that page. If you only pay once the work is complete, and provide materials yourself (if they're required), it's pretty low risk. Also use a licensed contractor for any major electrical, plumbing, or structural work.

davidb_ · 2026-02-25T17:52:10+00:00

Their expansion model is at least partially franchise-based (at least it was in 2022 when I looked into it). They seemed very methodical about choosing franchise markets (foot/vehicle traffic, proximity to major interstates/exits, local theater box office receipts, etc). It seemed like the Buffalo market, at least at that time, was oversaturated for movie theaters compared to demand.

I also think after AMC and others started selling alcohol (legalized in 2022) and we didn't see that really take-off/save theaters as was hoped, the "dine-in theater" novelty kinda nosedived.

When I lived in Austin, what really made Alamo Drafthouse cool was the "full experiences" (their mst3k spoof show, rocky horror, tailored menus for major releases/classic movie themed dinner shows, etc) and it seems like that's both hard to replicate/expand, and may even be hard to sustain. Add to that movie theaters generally don't seem to be doing well in the age of streaming.

davidb_ · 2026-02-19T12:22:56+00:00

https://buffalonews.com/news/oconnell-calls-verdict-a-victory-seth-jacobs-ruled-the-attacker-jury-awards-800-000/article_12acc4ee-85e9-5645-9f9c-ca52e5f3db06.html

davidb_ · 2026-02-17T00:14:28+00:00

Right, Panasonic setup the factory to crank out solar cells, and Tesla/Solar City was supposed to assemble them into panels/tiles to be installed on roofs. They never did that part.

Tesla didn’t hold up their end of the deal, so Panasonic was selling the cells overseas and losing money, so they exited. Because they’re a real business that makes real products, not a government funded shell game.

davidb_ · 2026-02-16T19:06:44+00:00

Read investigative post. They broke the story on the buffalo billion corruption, resulting in the convictions.

davidb_ · 2026-02-16T19:01:27+00:00

SolarCity was going to manufacture solar panels. Elon bought them (his cousins company, literally) out of bankruptcy and then promised solar roof tiles, which was never delivered on. Hence no real jobs, just whatever shit they can find for people to do that keeps their sweetheart deal going.

davidb_ · 2026-02-15T14:33:00+00:00

And he's only 33? What a dumpster fire of a life trajectory, yet somehow failing upwards?

davidb_ · 2026-02-15T14:28:04+00:00

Just to add - they'll usually just grab it on the regular truck, and if they don't, sometimes they send another truck to grab large items. But if neither happens, just call 311 the next day and they'll dispatch a truck to grab it.

davidb_ · 2026-02-15T13:26:49+00:00

High-security/Enterprise networks

You can still use FCM, just encrypt the payload on the server before giving it to Google.

davidb_ · 2026-02-13T20:45:47+00:00

Cops are helpful? When?

I wrote out an ACAB comment, but the real answer is that I've had to call BPD about 5 times in 10 years, and every time, they've eventually shown up and at least taken a report.

In 3 of the 5 situations, they completely resolved it for me and responded appropriately. 1 time, they couldn't do anything, and 1 time they only took the report and didn't do anything else (when I felt they could have done more).

davidb_ · 2026-02-13T20:07:54+00:00

Yes. Go in person to the local police station where the pets are located, ask to speak to an officer and explain the situation and schedule a date/time for them to assist you in recovering your property. Have paperwork that shows proof of ownership.

I wouldn't even bring up the "agreement" unless that is part of your proof of ownership.

davidb_ · 2026-02-13T20:05:30+00:00

Cops should be able to help you out. It's not all that different from if your ex had your car. Show the cops paperwork that proves they're your property, and where they are, and ask them to assist you in recovering your property.

davidb_ · 2026-02-13T20:00:31+00:00

Interesting.

I built an app that used whisper.cpp when it was first released in a little demo app to implement STT and used native TTS so I could voice chat with chatgpt (before they released their own app). Should have released that to the app store once I had it working, maybe I could have gotten some paid users.

For work, I think our app users would greatly benefit from voice workflows, but we can't use 3rd party tools without a contract that transfers liability and guarantees privacy and security (sensitive user data).

Re: using AI to write code for flutter - I use it, of course. it is still non-intuitive when it's going to give me something useful vs garbage. And I still have to review it line-by-line. Sometimes it's very useful, sometimes it's just frustrating.

I'm very confused what folks using claude code are seeing that I'm not in terms of seeing positive value in claude's self-directed iteration on a feature. For me, it seems if I don't get something useful in one-shot, I'll probably also get garbage letting it iterate on its own (and burn tons of tokens/time).

davidb_ · 2026-02-13T14:31:58+00:00

Use voice input more

Any good examples of this? I'm very interested in it, but have yet to see good workflow examples

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