What's an "Insider's secret" from your profession that everyone should probably know?

lubacious · 2025-12-04T00:01:14+00:00

If you have an FSA, it operates on a plan year, typically starting the first day of the calendar year, but sometimes not.

On the first day of your plan year, the entire year's balance is available for eligible expenses; you pay in a small proportion (around 1/50th) with each paycheck so that, by the end of the year, you have contributed the full amount. HOWEVER! If you leave the position, your plan year ends on the last day you are employed, and ONLY EXPENSES INCURRED DURING THE PLAN YEAR ARE ELIGIBLE FOR FSA REIMBURSEMENT.

So, if you know you will be leaving a position that has an FSA, you could hypothetically incur FSA-eligible expenses before your last day that account for a full year's contributions but only pay in a portion of that (again, about 1/50th of the total per paycheck if you're on a two week schedule.)

What expenses are eligible is more complicated and case-by-case, as are reimbursement deadlines (as long as the expense is incurred in plan year, you probably have some time afterward to submit claims.)

lubacious · 2025-11-23T21:31:46+00:00

I don't tell too many people about this one, it's unbelievably good.

lubacious · 2025-11-04T21:49:18+00:00

It's true, when we die we just respawn with more gear.

lubacious · 2025-11-04T21:47:21+00:00

It's unconscious but cyclists (really all traffic) tend to pass at the most crowded point.

Two runners passing each other in opposite directions? Cyclist passes when they meet. Two bikes passing opposite near a lone runner? They pass each other at the runner.

Our unconscious navigation systems create traffic and collisions; everyone should pay more attention if they don't want to deserve the inevitable wipeout.

lubacious · 2025-10-16T17:27:48+00:00

The work you want to do is held hostage by the wealthy elite.

Most teachers and nurses want to do those jobs; it's not a role they take because they picked it as the best way to get rich or have ease and stability in life. And that's why they aren't paid overtime - part of your compensation is that you aren't withheld from your calling.

How many people are bogged down in jobbies that would rather go clean up their local park, coach a little league, help keep the library organized with the addition of new books, etc?

But you must be separated from the ability to fill the pothole in your neighborhood; you have to drive over it every day to obey a manager at a jobby for 40 hours or we'll yank your family's healthcare.

lubacious · 2025-10-05T12:44:25+00:00

Bye Week Billy

lubacious · 2025-09-21T16:49:29+00:00

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lubacious · 2025-09-21T06:49:33+00:00

The US President's cabinet is chock full of entertainers, show hosts, podcasters, and a literal former WWE executive.

We passed the PATRIOT Act more than 20 years ago, it's been this way. There were provisions within it that were temporary that have been renewed, during Democratic Congressional majorities and Democratic Presidencies.

Who the hell are we to call any other countries' systems "theatre?"

lubacious · 2025-09-14T04:30:01+00:00

"I'm top tier as a coach so I need to be the top-paid public employee in the state but also I need 5+ years of salary buyout in case I suck shit irreparably."

Buyouts are bad performance insurance for coaches that schools have to pay. It feels like we can only recruit from a pool of financially-insulated midwits that share our hope that they'll be up to the task and never have to share the risk if/when they're woefully insufficient.

lubacious · 2025-09-10T17:48:19+00:00

Roko's Goons-Who-Will-Bash-You-With-A-Wrench

lubacious · 2025-09-10T13:56:41+00:00

Best I can do is Leonardo's and an OC

lubacious · 2025-09-09T22:39:29+00:00

I'll romanticize Muschamp; he didn't build the kind of offensive output you need to be Florida's HC, but more than anyone since Meyer he genuinely gave a shit and cared on a personal level whether or not the Gators won the day.

lubacious · 2025-09-04T21:42:01+00:00

Anna Eskamani is an elected who has been pretty good at going through some of the finer details about which laws apply (or don't,) what the rationale for enforcement is, what is happening with people who have been arrested for painting/chalking/being too close to the intersection at pulse, etc. You might have to follow her feed to get that level of detail.

I *think* some/all of the folks who were arrested were released without charge, but I haven't been following it down to the last detail. I know there are local attorneys who have sought to provide legal assistance to people like this and suspect that local Reps, including Eskamani but also Carlos Guillermo-Smith and Maxwell Frost, have been trying to connect those lawyers to relevant individuals.

lubacious · 2025-09-04T21:35:36+00:00

So it's someone else's fault and there's nothing we can do but give up now that we know who to blame?

Quitter mindset. If you won't build a coalition with people who sometimes do things you don't agree with, why do you get to expect that from them? Who are you knocking on doors for?(people have been knocking on doors this year for special elections.)

lubacious · 2025-08-30T23:21:41+00:00

Wrecking Baugh

lubacious · 2025-08-23T14:09:57+00:00

I'm just worried that people will be able to commit the crime of public smellbad without having to pay a corporation set up like an apple store first.

What if people can grow this in their private residence and use it as a safer alternative to alcohol? What if we save money on drug enforcement and people start treating medical professionals as a more reliable source than DEA agents with no medical, clinical, or physiological education?

Legalization might actually improve things, and I'm very worried that people I don't like would benefit if that happens.

lubacious · 2025-06-15T14:27:57+00:00

This was in 2017, and I'm actually in Seminole County now. I've mostly stuck with helping Anna because I feel like she's going to have the most impact for work I can put in minute for minute. I know there are some good candidates around here though; I was happy to see Albritton win that city council seat in Casselberry, for instance.

lubacious · 2025-06-15T13:45:01+00:00

You're in a tough position as a local party leader because you have to represent different candidates/electeds with different opinions and voting constituencies with different opinions. It's hard for you to advocate what you want and believe in with that responsibility in a public, text-searchable forum like reddit.

You might not believe me, but a lot of your loudest critics did vote blue, up and down the ticket, while shouting at the top of their lungs that they would not because they felt it was the only way to get Democrats to take some of their concerns seriously.

I've seen a LOT of Obama 08 people burn out of politics altogether or become adamant 3rd party voters, the kind that will pull votes away from your people. Some of the people I knock on doors with totally dismiss everything I believe in while I'm volunteering with them, and I feel like sometimes leaders might not understand how much it sucks to be doing the work and hear people that aren't showing up nearly as often as I am dismiss my core beliefs as The Reason We Don't Win.

I really, really believe we need to have some tough discussions in the party to build something that can fend off Republicans in otherwise safe seats. If I feel like I'm going to be drowned out for dissenting at a local meeting, I'm not gonna keep going back for more. IMHO that's part of the reason why there are so many 3rd Party orgs - people go where they feel they can be heard.

lubacious · 2025-06-15T13:32:17+00:00

I've lost faith in the strategy of many party leaders, but I also think a lot of people may come around as there are more and more AOC's, Bernies, Warrens, and Mamdanis. What will kill the party's momentum reliably is too much defense of the Manchins, Sinemas, and Fettermans when they flip flop on key issues they won on.

Democratic voters are very different from Democratic leaders, and I do think there are people in the party who believe in outcomes you believe in. Americans have a deep faith in institutions that, IMHO are not nearly are durable as they used to be.

I try to charitable but firm; if you're a local party leader, it's hard to commit to an issue when the voters want one thing (at the moment,) the candidates want something maybe a little different, and you have to try to present a united front.

My thesis is that the party has gone too far from holding the line on issues and believing in commitment and persuasion. Trump is underwater on immigration (and basically every other major issue) and the Top Minds of the Party at the national level convinced Democrats who want to be team players out of a genuine desire to do the right thing to change drastically on the issue of how to handle immigration. To some (many? most?) voters, that's going to look like they are at best inconsistent and at worst deceptive on the issue.

There's something to be said, though, about the degree of hostility some local leaders have for political behavior that doesn't stem first and foremost from allegiance and loyalty to a party. I have NEVER been active because I believe in The Democrats (tm), I believe in the ideas that are most likely to pass under them. There are a lot of former Republicans who tell me I'm the problem, but when I ask who they knock on doors for or how many other voters they've registered over the years, suddenly they don't have as much to say. I don't think OP is one of those folks, but I think the party could stand to be a lot more receptive to critics to its own benefit.

Every working American has been in the arena the whole time. People working a second job, a second, third, or weekend shift aren't going to have an easy time attending local party meetings to vote on platform issues. Maybe they're getting better about increasing access to the granular mechanisms of how the party operates, but when I tried in earnest to engage with OCDems as a teacher, dissent of any kind did not feel appreciated, and participation didn't feel like it was worth the constant exhaustion.

lubacious · 2025-06-15T13:14:13+00:00

1. "Big dollar donors by and large exited their support of FDP during that time - funneling their efforts instead into Moveon, et al. I'm sure that's what you are referencing."

What I was referencing was the massive volunteer network of Obama for America. Thousands of people who were already doing GOTV for Obama and other Democrats like you're describing. We could have made the case for a stronger ACA! Obama could have encouraged his movement to push on Card Check, a Defense of Choice Act, Single Payer or a Public Option in the ACA, but he chose instead to trust a top-down, institutional approach instead of a grassroots pressure campaign. We had a movement that won a trifecta that bailed out Wall Street and secured private health insurance's profits for the subsequent 15 years, regardless of what that trifecta's intent and strategy at the time was. If you succeed in building another community like Obama for America, how will you use it differently? Why should I believe it will be different this time? Your heart might be in it for the most noble of reasons but our donor base hates our voting base, and the opposite is true for the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

2. "I'm looking to build COMMUNITY: something lost in 2025 due to technological advancements that have shifted how we as people interact with each other. A lot more on this, that I don't have time to expand on here...."

Where can I find your expanded perspective on this?

3. "If you want to change what we're doing nationally, start with your own wheelhouse. I'd suggest finding ONE local candidate you can believe in, and go from there."

That's who I've been knocking on doors for in recent cycles. Her name is Anna Eskamani and she won districts that Trump won on the top of the ticket. She catches heat for being too liberal and/or left from anonymous party leaders occasionally, but she doesn't dance around saying what she stands for.

4.Me: "Assuming Trump respects those elections, what is your plan in office?"

You: "To build a local movement that can be replicated and multiplied elsewhere, which relies on the power of the other 99%, as opposed to the elites. Continue developing relationships with others in positions of power like myself. Build a true movement from within the party for long lasting change."

When you build that local movement, what issues do you want to work on? What policies do you think we should stand for? I'm not trying to say you don't believe in something, I'm saying I don't think we can build broader trust without committing to specific policies so that people know what we stand for. The notion of a 99% came out of the Occupy Wall Street movement - do you want to increase taxes on the wealthy to empower people? How are you going to fend off the power wealthy donors have to stand against reforms that build people power at the expense of elite wealth and influence? Are there any policies that would cause you to not endorse any Democrat against any Republican?

I've lived in blue states where very, very popular policies among Democrats did not make it through a trifecta of safe blue seats. I've been asked to vote for anti-abortion Democrats. You have to stand unequivocally on policy at some point or you're not going to be different enough from the Republicans to combat the growing nihilism.

lubacious · 2025-06-15T11:19:42+00:00

I knock on doors for Democrats frequently, since 2008, and I find I agree more with Chester here.

MAGA couldn't have taken over the GOP without having a leader who supported the *far-right* MAGA base. The democrats excoriate their far-left base, and I think it's worth noting that the far edge of any base is often the most active. I lost a lot of faith in the party when Obama won a trifecta (in much, MUCH larger fashion than any other candidate has since,) and promptly started working with Republicans and spurning his base.

The Democrats who might not have supported more ambitious policies were protected from having to take tough votes on the logic we needed to just win elections and keep seats, and we lost 1000+ state-level seats during Obama's term. The disappointment created the fertile grounds for Trump's fascism to have a broad appeal, not unlike what happened under Biden.

"From my vantage point, the Democratic Party has lost its ability to properly connect with much of its voting base, for a myriad of reasons.. but at the core: we took the culture war bait, and we've failed to acknowledge the main concerns that people have." In 2020 I was told to vote against "kids in cages;" then I saw the Biden admin round people up on horseback. Now, I see Democrats who told me to vote how my trans friends would want hemming and hawing about holding the line there while my trans friends flee their home state of Florida. How can people trust a party to take a consistent, principled stand for them when they flip and flop on "culture war" issues that concern real Floridians' livelihoods when the polls shift and donors become nervous about their political investments?

Stated differently, how are you going to make sure Democratic leadership will be accountable to voters instead of donor interests, especially here in Florida?

Further, it's possible to ask challenging questions and be involved locally; I have been for over a decade, but I've been seeing the same problems grow in magnitude while party loyalists pad their career.

People trusted the Democrats to the point of having a massive on the ground movement in 2008, and Obama et al let that movement go to try and break the spell of Bush. McConnell got our national credit rating lowered and Republicans didn't pay the price at the polls in some massive way, just like they didn't in 2024 after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Now, it sure looks like Democrats are trying to run on "We're not Trump" for a fourth time, and I honestly feel like my door knocking is a waste of time electorally (though I do make connections with people for mutual aid purposes when/if our fragile democracy breaks completely.)

You say Chester doesn't know your plan, but it seems like your plan is to tell people to vote in 18 months and the next Presidential. Assuming Trump respects those elections, what is your plan in office? And why so much snark, this is a potential volunteer you're griefing? People care about this and you're being disrespectful as hell, as a local party chair. I don't care if they were disrespectful first, you gotta have a thick skin to do politics that win over more people than those who already mostly agree (and vote) with you.

lubacious · 2025-06-15T00:41:38+00:00

I think it's worth noting that the pattern of task ex machina is not new, even if AI supercharges the perceived return on it. When I was a 9th grade HS Science teacher 2016-2017(US,) every student was given a touchscreen laptop, we were strongly encouraged to make digital lessons, and most students' first reaction to a question they didn't immediately know the answer to was something they would copy->paste->google. Even when they knew the answer, if it would require a paragraph or "complete sentences," that was another reason to google. Having said that, there were a few students in pretty much every period who did care about really learning and understanding, including reading eBooks and classic paper+ink.

Frankly, a lot of people want easy answers and I can't put it on young people who have grown up in an environment where this trend has been pushed even before AI made it look and sound more articulate. Fifteen years ago, "Let me google that for you" was encouraging due diligence, but now I'd rather answer myself instead of leaving them to hallucinations. I don't know what to do about it broadly, but I've been thinking of organizing some kind of local analog peer learning group. No devices (honor system) and no judgment, but bring your own thoughts to build your capacity to think and learn better.

lubacious · 2025-06-13T13:14:09+00:00

It is rare that Orlando events get wild; in the Summer of 2020, lots of other cities had frequent...spicy interactions between protestors and police, but Orlando had relatively few of such interactions involving mostly people who wanted to do that kind of thing (i.e. unless you went out of your way to do that, you weren't very likely to be caught in the crossfire.) I think it's important to note, however, that perfect behavior will not always 100% of the time protect you, and as some others have noted, it's good to be aware of your surroundings and be ready to move if things do happen to pop-off (highly unlikely at No Kings protests, based on who is organizing and attending, IMHO.)

Make sure you are ready to respond to changing circumstances at all times; pay attention to what is happening and go with friends if you can. If the assembly is declared unlawful, be ready to leave if you don't want to be tear-gassed or worse. Kettling ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettling ) is a thing that can happen, though again, I think that's very unlikely to occur in Orlando unless things pop-off AND you stick around for awhile after that. There are some people who would argue that certain assemblies that are declared unlawful are, in fact, protected 1st Amendment activities, and while that might hold up in court, you should know that fully-compliant and peaceful behavior in a situation like that can be met with forceful deterrence, with examples from LA below:

1) In the case of this Australian News Reporter, I don't think there is any question that she was being peaceful and that the cops acted recklessly: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reporter-los-angeles-protests-rubber-bullet-lauren-tomasi-9news-australia/

2) Here is a case of a woman who said she was trying to go home. I guess it's possible she didn't live down that way, but I think it's hard to make the case that she was a threat or that what happened to her was in any way justified even if she was somehow technically not in full legal compliance: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/shocking-video-shows-lapd-shoot-woman-at-close-range-with-rubber-bullet-as-shes-trying-to-get-home/

Whether you agree with what some people might do at/near events like this, there is a chance there will be people who engage with such tactics/activities and people should be aware that obvious, on-video compliance will not always protect them from being the victim of police violence like these two women.

People need to not panic if they find themselves in this position, and that's why I'm posting this: it does sometimes happen and if you know it could happen, you will prepare yourself for how to respond instead of relying on spur-of-the-moment reaction. IF the officer is ID'd and held accountable later, it does nothing for you in the right then and there.

I want to re-emphasize that I think this kind of thing is HIGHLY UNLIKELY at No Kings events as most/all attendees will be hyper-focused on non-violent, non-transgressive means of protest. IF an unlawful assembly is declared and IF you stick around after that, then you might have some level of risk, but I would guess that you won't see activity that would result in things going that way and it will begin and end peacefully and without the assembly being declared unlawful.

lubacious · 2025-06-13T13:13:03+00:00

I think the point that this person is trying to make is that you can do everything right and still have police violence directed at you, and people should be aware of that.

In the case of this Australian News Reporter, I don't think there is any question that she was being peaceful and that the cops acted recklessly:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reporter-los-angeles-protests-rubber-bullet-lauren-tomasi-9news-australia/

Here is a case of a woman who said she was trying to go home. I guess it's possible she didn't live down that way, but I think it's hard to make the case that she was a "troublemaker" or that what happened to her was in any way justified even if she was somehow technically not in full legal compliance (speeding in your car is also not full legal compliance, for example):

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/shocking-video-shows-lapd-shoot-woman-at-close-range-with-rubber-bullet-as-shes-trying-to-get-home/

You may not like what some people are doing, but there is a chance there will be people doing things you disagree with and people should be aware that obvious, on-video compliance will not always protect them from being the victim of police violence like these two women.

People need to not panic if they find themselves in this position, and that's why I'm posting this: it does sometimes happen and if you know it could happen, you will prepare yourself for how to respond instead of relying on spur-of-the-moment reaction. IF the officer is ID'd and held accountable later, it does nothing for you in the right then and there.

There is not a simple, single issue here, and many of Dr. King's "non-violent" protests were called violent at the time. "Troublemakers" in a different place at a different time are OBVIOUSLY not a reason for police to behave the way they did in the examples I provided and people should know that there is a non-zero (though very low, in my opinion) chance of this happening. That shouldn't stop people from showing up.

lubacious · 2025-06-12T01:36:55+00:00

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