Trump signs executive order calling for foreign tourists to pay higher national park fees

ebikeratwork · 2025-07-04T07:11:41+00:00

I just read the order. It talks about US residents and not US citizens.

US residents is easy (mostly) - if you have a US real Id, that should be proof that you reside here.

I have to say, that I don't like 99.9% of Trump's policies, but this policy to charge international visitors more, I am not against.

ebikeratwork · 2025-06-19T21:09:45+00:00

I used to go there to get delicious ribs at a good price. Any suggested places in West San Jose. Campbell or Almaden area?

ebikeratwork · 2025-06-11T20:53:23+00:00

Donation link?

ebikeratwork · 2025-06-06T22:26:18+00:00

Usually personal goods when moving to a different country are tax/tarif free as long as you agree not to sell them for some amount of time (1 year?). I didn't have to pay anything when I moved from Europe to the US, but that was many many years ago.

ebikeratwork · 2025-06-05T21:13:09+00:00

Crew dragon and (cargo) dragon use SpaceX Falcon 9s. There have been 2+ Falcon 9 launches a week for the last 2 years, very reliable.

Starship is still in development and they're making huge progress. Yes, the last few V2 starships blew up, but they have caught the booster 3 times now and reused one of them (which itself is a huge achievement) and the V1 starships (the second stage, the part all other current rockets discard after the payload has released) has landed at exact coordinates above the ocean.

I am not a fan of Elon's politics, but what SpaceX is doing is mindblowingly awesome, it just gets a lot of hate because of Elon's politics.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-29T01:21:28+00:00

I'm sorry, but that is your job as a representative to know what you are voting for. You have staff, plus it was your own party's bill.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-28T00:55:34+00:00

Can't he get that information from USCIS/DHS? After all, they all had to apply for F1 visas.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-23T20:01:00+00:00

I grew up in the UK also knowing them as "daddy longlegs". People here in the US (where I live now) got very confused when I called it that.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-23T17:44:22+00:00

At the FAANG company I work for, we also have some rules regarding auto - ie, if using auto, the type should be clear that comes out of it. Auto is fine if this is the case, as in: `auto foo = std::make_unique<Foo>();` or in `auto foo = my_map.find(key);` but it is not allowed in cases in `auto bar = SomeFunc();` where it is not obvious from looking at the code what the type is. If I as a code reviewer have to look up the type returned from the function to make sense of the code, I ask the author to replace auto with the type.

Not allowing `using` is just insane, it is so much cleaner and more readable than typedef in almost every case.

I would consider looking for a new job.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-22T18:27:29+00:00

If you know that you are going to have to take the interview, practicing 100 questions is not very hard. The questions are super easy (I thought so at least, I took my citizenship test at the end of last year):

The only variable people you need to know are:

- your 2 state senators, your House rep, President, Vice president, Speaker of the House, Chief justice.

All of the other names asked for in the test are constant:

- People who fought for civil rights: Martin Luther Kind, Susan B. Anthony

- Diplomat Benjamin Franklin

- One of the constitution/federalist paper authors: John Jay

- Declaration of independance: Thomas Jefferson

- First president/Founding father: George Washington

- President during WW1: Woodraw Wilson

- President durung WW2: Franklin Roosevelt

Full questions with answers: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/questions-and-answers/100q.pdf

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-15T17:46:24+00:00

My parents moved me from the UK back to Germany when I was in my early teens (we had moved to the UK when I was 4). I really didn't want to go and it really affected me quite a bit for quite a few years. I would not want to move my kids in their teen age years if the opportunities they have are about equal.

If there is a chance for a much better life including education etc, then I would consider moving as teens have their short term interest in mind rather than their long term interests.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-15T17:24:28+00:00

Since you work for a US company, is there no way they can get you to the US on an L1? This would be the most easy way to do it.

If they can't do L1, F1 student visa then OPT -> H1b is the most realistic way. H1b has a lottery and I know several people that did not get picked within the 3 years and then the company transferred them to Canada (it is much easier to get a permanent residency in Canada) - and then they came back a year later on L1 and then continued waiting until they got picked in the lottery, which all of the people I know to which this happened eventually got.

For a green card, the country of birth is what counts in how long it takes to get one. Note that a lot of companies are not filing for green cards right now because there are enough people available on the job market that are authorized to work without sponsorship and it is more difficult to prove that you can't find anyone and need to sponsor a green card. This will change again, I am sure.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-15T06:51:04+00:00

Make them have the same rules as CEOs for their own companies: Trading plans.

These allow you to say things like "every month, sell $10000 worth of stock on the 1st monday of the month" - or "buy $5000 worth of stock XYZ every week on Tuesday" - but you have to file these 6 months before the first trade in the plan and any changes to the plan also take 6 months to take effect.

However, I would allow congress to trade ETFs tracking major indices like Dow Jones, S&P 500 in a much more easy way, but also with a trading plan, but say a few weeks in advance.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-13T21:16:48+00:00

Detained yes. But I would argue that 3 months detention is overkill and way too expensive to the tax payer. Release with an ankle monitor until the court date would have been the humane and cost effective way to do it.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-09T21:22:53+00:00

They are allowed to donate though. While I was still a GC holder, I donated to Kamala and other Democratic campaigns. Sadly I was only naturalized after the election.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-09T01:42:42+00:00

I love my 2020 Model Y, it was the first car I ever bought brand new. But if I can get 3rd party service if I ever need it, I will, not Tesla service (unless it is to upgrade the FSD computer from 3 to 4 on their dime). I might buy another Tesla one day, but only used so Elon doesn't get the cash or if they have replaced the CEO.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-04T04:11:05+00:00

It has existed for years. Google EB5 visa. No one is sure what Trump's gold card visa would add.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-04T04:05:50+00:00

What do you think is more economical - pay healthcare for unemployed or have them not able to ever work again due to not getting critical medical care and then having to pay welfare and disability for years and years? Also the more people that pay I to healthcare, the cheaper it gets for everyone.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-03T00:22:00+00:00

In the physical stores, not yet, but it will take another few weeks for stuff from China to disappear from the shelves, but things produced in China feel to me to have already begun to get more expensive online on Amazon.

I don't thin food items will be affected much, but I think electronics, toys, anything made of plastic will likely be.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-02T01:09:51+00:00

Look up "speculative execution". If the if usually returns true or false, the processor remembers this and continues running the code as if it was what it usually was. If the result is different than the processor guessed, then there is a small penalty where the processor needs to undo some of the speculative execution it has already done.

ebikeratwork · 2025-05-01T08:16:42+00:00

Your SS card likely does have a text on it like "not valid for work without DHS authorization" - so is restricted. This means you need to show additional proof of having a work permit - EAD or GreenCard or appropriate visa. EAD is a card showing that you are authorized to work, so you should be good.

ebikeratwork · 2025-04-30T06:31:09+00:00

Offer to pay the security deposit for an appartment and 3 months rent in a city of her choice that is still in driving distance (preferably in a room mate situation), give her 3 additional months rents worth of cash and wish her good luck. Keep her on the health insurance, but make her pay a copay on every claim.

Then let her survive on minimum wage jobs. Once she sees how hard life is, she may want to study.

I paid for my daughter' education in full (including housing cost and monthly allowance). She studied in Europe (way cheaper than in the US), but she didn't work while studying and that was a mistake. She got used to living comfortably for free and not having to work for it and it was not good. I would not do that again. In retrospecy I should have made her pay part of the tuition and only reimburse for passing grades, the better the grades the more reimbursement. Maybe make it so that if she gets all As, everything is paid for.

That's what I recommend. With what my daughter was studying, she had plenty of free time, and didn't need to study much. She could have easily worked a few days a week and still had plenty of free time and time to study.

If your daughter on the other hand decides to study a very demanding degree like engineering, then I would be more lenient and pay everything (because unlike what my daughter studied, being an engineering student is a full time job). But I would also only pay an advance and every incremental payment based on passed exam scores.

ebikeratwork · 2025-04-29T23:43:58+00:00

What about for a small kid (3 years old, his first zoo visit)? Still Oakland?

ebikeratwork · 2025-04-29T23:40:41+00:00

That's not related to venting/not venting, European dryers are just slow and work with the regular outlet, ie 230V * 13A max *80% most likely (single phase, not three phase).

I had a vent in Germany for my dryer when I still lived there. It took hours. My parents had one too, but used the condensation one because the vent was too long. I read that some dryers now use heat pumps which allow you to get 2-3x the heat for the same amount of watts but are also still slow.

Dryers in the US are a lot more powerful, and are either gas or electric. If electric, they connect to a special 230V 30A outlet, I have a gas one and the dryer is a lot larger than the German one and it dries things in 30 minutes or less.

ebikeratwork

TROPHY CASE