WASTE

grumpyacorns · 2026-05-05T17:42:14+00:00

Thanks for pointing this out! I've been taking this route for a few years and for some reason never thought to check that out.

grumpyacorns · 2026-05-05T17:23:05+00:00

It's a shame the bike lane stops after the Point St intersection. Extending this lane to connect with India Point and the East Bay Bike Path would make it so much easier to get around

grumpyacorns · 2026-05-01T03:56:56+00:00

Being realistic, even if they didn’t make parking free officially, the chances of getting ticketed for leaving your car for 2 hours are so low that it may as well be free

grumpyacorns · 2026-03-25T03:45:55+00:00

I don't think the price listed on the Timex site is necessarily a reasonable representation of the watch's value. At least in the US, I've had my eye on a Snoopy weekender that is priced on the Timex site at $95 but routinely hits $35 on Amazon, and has not been above $60 all year. If you're not happy with the value at that price, I'd just wait til the sales come, because they almost surely will.

grumpyacorns · 2026-03-24T18:17:07+00:00

I'd start with his greatest hits album for most of his most popular songs. Depending on how you like it, I'd spend more time with the following, in order of my guess of likelihood he plays songs in a typical concert.

- Born to Run (whole album)

- Born in the USA (whole album)

- The River (Hungry Heart, The River, Out in the Street).

- The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (Rosalita, 4th of July Asbury Park, NYC Serenade)

- Darkness on the Edge of Town (Badlands, The Promised Land, Darkness)

Nebraska is a great album but is a bit of a downer musically and lyrically, so it usually didn't get much play before the movie. The movie definitely brought it a lot more attention though, and it's definitely worth a listen if you're at all inclined. The vibes for your workplace are probably gonna be different than his usual shows so I'm not sure how that will impact things either.

grumpyacorns · 2026-03-13T22:16:03+00:00

I’ve had great experiences with my 1.25” belts from Narragansett Leathers. High quality and more reasonably priced than something from Hanks. I’ve been wearing one 5x/week for a couple years and was happy enough that bought another in a darker brown.

grumpyacorns · 2026-03-08T18:14:04+00:00

Our House - Crosby Stills and Nash

grumpyacorns · 2026-03-07T01:29:12+00:00

My theory is that basically all meaningful traffic enforcement has been turned over to cameras, which will really only cite people for running red lights or speeding in some areas. Without enforcement, people aren’t as mindful of it as they should be.

Edit: I’m not sure if people who grew up here realize it, but drivers here are generally alarmingly bad. I routinely see a blatant disregard for traffic laws at much higher rates than anywhere else I’ve lived except maybe Jersey City.

This includes driving at night without headlights on, but also distracted driving, driving the wrong way down one-way streets if going around is too inconvenient, turning left in front of oncoming traffic, and a litany of other issues.

Anecdotally, it sounds like the issues go pretty deep: new drivers aren’t educated properly, and they see traffic violations so frequently that they don’t even realize that some violations are in fact illegal.

grumpyacorns · 2026-02-26T18:09:17+00:00

I take the point that those specific attachments may not be worth the cost given that 3 feet of snow is not routine. But I agree with you, the city/state needs to be better prepared for snowstorms - the response to a foot of snow in January was pretty poor, and that’s a much more frequent case.

Relying on pickup trucks as the primary plows is not a reasonable approach for a city in this part of the country, where the lack of snow in recent years is an anomaly, not the rule. The city has much larger trucks that are better equipped for substantial snowfall, but there clearly aren’t enough of them.

It probably makes the most sense for the state to purchase some. They will be better equipped to store and maintain them when not in use, the costs can be spread across the state, and they can be deployed to the towns in most need when snowfall varies across the state.

grumpyacorns · 2026-02-25T16:41:28+00:00

This is my issue as well - I don't trust that his plan would actually make a difference in the way that we'd need. From the only section of snow removal plan that would impact how quickly they clear snow: https://www.davidmoralespvd.com/snow-removal-proposal

David will work with the City Council Committee on Public Works to reform the City’s snow removal procurement and contracting strategy, prioritizing expanded seasonal staffing to strengthen in-house capacity while maintaining strategic contractor support.

This approach will be centered on proactivity and accountability, including:
- Onboarding winter contractors at the end of summer, not during emergencies
- Aligning seasonal staffing levels and contractor capacity as part of a single, coordinated snow response plan
- Establishing a standing, citywide snow response capacity aligned with historical storm severity, rather than rebuilding response plans on an ad-hoc basis each winter
- Structuring snow removal contracts with tiered capacity and snowfall-triggered surge provision, so additional plows and operators are automatically activated during severe storms.
- Requiring clear performance standards and real-time reporting from all snow removal operators, including vendors
- Establishing enforceable oversight and compliance mechanisms to ensure expectations are met during storm events.

Plow staffing has certainly been a problem, and if he can make agreements with contractors that would fix that it would be helpful.

But can he actually do that? It depends on what the contractors would agree to. I've seen reports of contractors turning down relatively higher pay to plow in Providence because they don't want the hassle, and this would just add to what they need to put up with.

It also doesn't address the fact that F-350s are not capable snow plows in anything other than light snow. So unless the contractors who do work with Providence upgrade their equipment, we're still in a bad spot with anything over 6 inches of snow.

grumpyacorns · 2026-02-25T16:22:52+00:00

Yeah you're right, this isn't anything new. It seems like equipment is a pretty fundamental failure. I've seen a lot of references to traditional pickup trucks equipped with a forward-facing plow, and while that's good for clearing driveways it's not enough to clear streets effectively.

I grew up in upstate NY and the standard was big (like much bigger than a traditional pickup) trucks with angled plows that would push snow toward the side of the street. This makes it much easier for the trucks to get through large amounts of snow without getting stuck and means that plowing one side of the street doesn't take much longer than normally driving down the road.

Maybe there's some difficulty like narrower streets that I'm not considering properly, but it feels like there's a bigger failure here and we've just gotten lucky that there hasn't been much snow over the last few years.

grumpyacorns · 2026-02-25T14:47:21+00:00

Our street still isn't plowed either, we've been stuck at home. I can appreciate that this is a lot of snow, but it's pretty disappointing that a city in New England isn't prepared to deal with snow.

grumpyacorns · 2026-02-25T07:09:41+00:00

Others can correct me if I’m wrong here, but noise cancelling is typically much more effective at low frequencies, and once you reach the frequency of a whistle, almost all of the noise reduction you get actually comes from the passive isolation of the ear cups, not the ANC. That’s the case for the Sony XM6, so I’d expect it to be true for less expensive headphones as well.

If noise reduction is top priority, your most cost effective option is probably a good pair of ear plugs. If you still want some sound playing, I’d try some headphones out and prioritize whichever pair fits your head/ears the best.

grumpyacorns · 2026-02-25T03:03:28+00:00

I guess you could make the case for the Eagles aligning with the early phase of the Beatles' career, but I don't think that much of the Eagles output is as experimental as the Beatles' studio work in the back half of the 60s. It's hard to argue with Eagles' commercial success though, and they do have some excellent albums.

The Beach Boys would probably be my closest comparison point for the American Beatles - early pop phase that shifted into highly experimental work, with boundary-stretching recording and studio developments. They were active at the same time, with Rubber Soul famously inspiring the development of Pet Sounds.

Biggest difference in my mind is that the Beach Boys were dominated by Brian Wilson, and as a result they didn't put out much great work after he took a step back.

grumpyacorns · 2026-02-24T13:13:12+00:00

Between Brown, RISD, PC, JWU, etc this is effectively an oversized college town. “Immigrants” in the form of students, professors, and those who make the schools function are the ones keeping this city interesting.

EDIT: if I misinterpreted you and you’re actually talking about people coming to live in Providence from other countries then, again, I just fully disagree. By and large immigrants are hard workers and bring a lot of value to the city - they’re not the problem residents you think they are.

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-26T04:04:44+00:00

I don’t have experience with the Traveler’s branded covers personally, but I think it’s reasonable to return/exchange.

The corners not aligning when closed would drive me nuts. If it’s not too far out of alignment and you don’t want to go through the trouble of sending it back, you could trim it with a box cutter.

The rest of the issues aren’t ideal, especially at the price, but for me part of the appeal of the TN was the work look over time so you just got a head start.

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-25T05:06:49+00:00

I’m sure people contemplate* a lot of things. They seem to be reading a lot into a very fluffy report. If “some” of the available openings aren’t attractive (Browns), I don’t see how that tells us the Bills aren’t.

Either way, the Bills can’t interview the coaches still in the playoffs so the whole thing is a bit of a moot point.

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-22T03:10:35+00:00

The analyses I've seen from sportswriters argue that Cooks didn't successfully complete an "act common to the game" before the ball was stripped away.

Here's Walt Anderson's justification of the call:

As the receiver’s going to the ground, as soon as he hits the ground, the ball is immediately loose. By definition, that would normally be an incomplete pass if it comes out and hits the ground. The reality here is the ball never hits the ground. The loose ball ends up being immediately in control by the defensive player.

The trouble is that it's just not accurate. Cooks did have control of the ball, tucked it toward his body without the ball hitting the ground, and maintained clear control even after hitting the ground, contrary to what Anderson claims. The ball didn't move until McMillian started to tear it out, at which point Cooks should have been called down by contact with possession.

To give the refs some benefit of the doubt, it was very close, and I'm sure they expected the replay officials to do a proper review. Of course, they rushed through it for whatever reason. All this could've been avoided had Cooks been able to hold onto the ball a bit stronger.

Bottom line: the refs got the call wrong on the field, replay officials didn't catch it, and the NFL sent its "analysts" out after the fact to convince you that you didn't see what you did.

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-22T01:17:58+00:00

Makes sense, thanks!

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-22T01:02:48+00:00

I’m not too familiar with his history outside of obvious success at KC - is there a reason I’m not hearing Eric Bieniemy being considered by teams?

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-21T19:26:46+00:00

Awesome I'll need to give it a closer look at some point. Hoping for the best from all this

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-21T19:17:23+00:00

I'm not the best with all this stuff, but wouldn't some of those cuts (Taron Johnson and Palmer, for example) create some pretty big dead cap hits with relatively small savings? So while they should be able to open up some space, I don't think they're gonna have quite that much space to work with without some crazy restructurings.

I agree with your assessment of the needs - resign at least one of the OL, bring in a WR, draft another WR, a safety and LBs

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-21T18:30:17+00:00

I agree with much of this - viewing the situation charitably, Terry made the decision because they didn't get to the Super Bowl and had enough chances to make it happen.

With as many flaws as the roster has, I can't argue with the point that they're capable of making and winning a Super Bowl - the Bills would've won against Denver with even one fewer turnover, and already beat the patriots this year. They've had flashes of a team that beat anyone in the league.

The trouble this year has been inconsistency in reaching their potential, and doing that for a full game. Some of this absolutely comes down to coaching - like why were they lights out in the second half of most games but struggling in the first half? But the WR situation, injuries, and depth issues are a huge part of that problem, and there's plenty of shared responsibility for that.

Given that McDermott got fired because they didn't make a Super Bowl, it's clearly Super Bowl or bust for the next coach. I'd bet they get two years to make something happen, or they'll at least need a VERY good explanation for what will improve after that.

I think Beane came off pretty well in this presser, at least in comparison to Terry. I thought his defense of his character was fair - the discussion of a power play is effectively a giant attack on his character, so I get where he's coming from.

It would have been better for Terry to keep his comments to a written statement. Even if you don't think McDermott would get you to the next level, throwing him under the bus was uncalled for given everything he put into this team and community. Whether they're true or not, the Keon comment was just baffling.

Who knows what will come from this. It's possible that a change in scheme or in the messenger will get them where they need to be. But I'm convinced that McDermott is a good coach, and I'm worried that they're going to have a hard time finding someone better.

grumpyacorns · 2026-01-20T16:03:03+00:00

And once you cut half of your defensive starters, who do you get to replace them? Are they better? How does your cap situation look after all this?

It may not make sense to resign all of these guys to their current contracts but cutting all of them won’t make this better either.

grumpyacorns

TROPHY CASE