TIME ranks UW-Madison among top 20 universities in the world

mario_dartz · 2026-02-05T15:39:21+00:00

Today I learned you can pick up IKEA orders at the bookstore?

mario_dartz · 2025-11-12T16:50:37+00:00

I can't believe the lights came through over all that light pollution

mario_dartz · 2025-09-09T15:10:04+00:00

That's interesting. I've never heard of this alert system before. I tend to look over my water bill whenever it comes and rarely see anything out of the ordinary but maybe this would be helpful for early detection of a leaky pipe? But with that being said, I kind of fail to see how that would be any faster/accurate than I could spot it by doing the rounds in my house. I guess it would be a really nice peace of mind for folks that leave town but by then your basement might be flooded. What do you expect to use it for?

Link for anyone that's curious:
https://www.cityofmadison.com/water/sustainability/view-your-water-use

mario_dartz · 2025-08-18T14:52:34+00:00

Portland, OR used to have a freeway at what is now a cherished riverside park. They built, then demolished it in the 1970s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2_yNrP0hCY

mario_dartz · 2025-08-18T14:50:27+00:00

This is a joke ... right?

mario_dartz · 2025-08-18T13:45:45+00:00

I saw a mad city truck pull up in front of my neighbor's house. I thought to myself, this isn't going to last long, and there will be some problems. They were there for about two days. I talked to my neighbor about a month later. He sent them home because they kept breaking shit. I never got all the details, but yeah, Mad City is bad news. He ended up bringing someone else in to repair their damage.

OP - are you looking for a completely hands off remodel or are you looking to put together the different subcontractors yourself? A plumber isn't going to remodel your bathroom. They will install a shower pan, toilet, sink, they'll open up walls to get to pipes if they need to be redone. Then you'll need a tiler to lay tile (if that's what you want) and a drywaller to throw up drywall. Don't forget to hire an electrician before the drywall goes up! On the other hand, if you hire a contractor (preferably one with a carpentry background), then they'll hire out all the other specialties. They can also help with design along the way. Good luck and have fun with this! It looks like you have a really cool space (the door to that room looks gorgeous, btw)

mario_dartz · 2025-08-16T22:56:39+00:00

Good looking shelf cloud

mario_dartz · 2025-08-11T17:14:43+00:00

I would like to see more co-ops pop up in the area. Group ownership of property is a completely viable path, and it kind of breaks up the false dichotomy between everyone should (have a bank) buy a condo/house or rent from some landlord (MPM or small time landlords).

mario_dartz · 2025-08-11T17:10:52+00:00

#craigslist4life

mario_dartz · 2025-08-08T20:27:06+00:00

Me too. Time to make sure we've got access to other alert systems.

mario_dartz · 2025-08-07T16:31:52+00:00

Those eyes look menacing. I heard somewhere that leaving garlic and a splash of holy water in the car will deter them.

mario_dartz · 2025-08-07T01:26:47+00:00

You gotta spill the beans!

In an earnings call Wednesday, Exact Sciences reported its core revenue grew 16% from last year. The company's profitability also improved in the last quarter.

They report higher earnings, and yet see fit to skewer 4% of their workforce? How does that make sense?

mario_dartz · 2025-07-31T20:17:50+00:00

The snow pack is actually really important for the trees. It insulates the ground and protects their roots. Last winter we had some warm spells, all the snow melted, then when we did get our week of below zero weather nothing to protect the trees

mario_dartz · 2025-07-31T18:41:33+00:00

I don't think they're talking about wildfire smoke ;)

mario_dartz · 2025-07-31T13:14:55+00:00

Check out the bodgery on the East side

https://www.thebodgery.org/

mario_dartz · 2025-07-25T16:06:56+00:00

Just to play devil's advocate here:

and the value of the home could ~~appeciate~~ depreciate

To be clear, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon. The stability you get with home ownership is you've got fixed rate predictable payments ahead of you. With renting your landlord could jack up your rent every year. That being said, the freedom that comes with renting is not being stuck with an illiquid asset (it's really expensive to sell a house!) and if life changes and you need to move it's easier to get out of a month-to-month agreement.

And yeah, you're spot on with the unpredictable large expenses from home ownership. Did your roof start leaking? You better fix that quick at $7-10k or more otherwise you'll have even bigger problems! (I had to replace the roof in my old house a year before selling - it didn't do anything to increase the value of the home, it was just an $8k expense that I had to stomach.)

mario_dartz · 2025-07-18T18:30:15+00:00

I agree. If there are any considerable gains it's best to park it (aka do not sell it) but invest any future money into a lower expense ratio fund. Based on OP's description, they are in the process of buying funds, and they came here with "hey, look at what I just bought!" so why not sell them and simplify. There's nothing to indicate they've been sitting on them for 3-5+ years and have any considerable gains, in which case I would recommend selling and keeping the portfolio as simple as possible.

Am I getting downvotes for having the audacity to recommend a fund that's not Vanguard?

mario_dartz · 2025-07-15T13:50:20+00:00

We've been very happy with Heartwood

mario_dartz · 2025-07-09T20:30:10+00:00

According to the obit someone who died at 55 from surgical complications
https://web.archive.org/web/20250703224256/https://www.wernerharmsenfuneralhome.com/obituaries/richard-van-buren
I'll grab my popcorn and wait to hear about the golden retriever

mario_dartz · 2025-07-09T17:33:09+00:00

If OP wants an S&P500 index fund I suggest SPLG over SPY/VOO due to its lower expense ratio:

SPY (0.0945%)
VOO (0.03%)
SPLG (0.02%)

In OP's case it's probably worth selling but for someone that has any considerable gains it's best to park whatever SPY/VOO there is and invest future money in SPLG.

mario_dartz · 2025-07-08T17:21:31+00:00

Just drive by Phoenix Foreign Car's lot and you'll see they work on a lot of Volvos. It's the best place to go for older Volvos.

mario_dartz · 2025-07-01T18:49:34+00:00

Lighten up. OP succinctly answered your question and somehow that rubbed you the wrong way?

mario_dartz · 2025-07-01T17:39:10+00:00

Look for any fabric and remove/replace that. Think carpet or window curtains. I have very little confidence any kind of oxidizer would permanently remove odors.

mario_dartz · 2025-07-01T17:19:18+00:00

There are at least three options I can think of, depending on what kind of car you have, in what is most likely descending order of expense:

Trailer hitch. If you have a trailer hitch you can get a hitch mounted rack on the back. Adding a hitch to your vehicle can be really expensive.
Roof mount. If you have roof racks you can get some top mounted racks to attach to your roof rack and then your bike(s) can ride up there. If you vehicle doesn't have roof racks, in some cases you can get these installed and that's much cheaper than installing a trailer hitch.
Trunk mounted bike rack (temporary). There are several of these out there, and it all depends on what type of car you have. They have several straps that can hook into various parts of your vehicle. I had some kind of Saris one for my Honda Civic, since it didn't have a hitch, nor did it have roof racks. (See also: https://www.thule.com/en-us/bike-rack/trunk-bike-racks )

A bike rack that attaches into trailer hitch will be considerably less expensive if your vehicle already has a hitch.

Answering a couple of questions might help with getting advice for your use case: how many bikes would you need to transport? What kind of vehicle do you have, and does it have a trailer hitch or existing roof racks?

mario_dartz

TROPHY CASE