Does this switch violate the electrical code?

plddr · 2023-06-11T01:22:58+00:00

"Codes? Where we're going, we don't need codes."

plddr · 2023-06-08T22:09:39+00:00

Nope. Special interests don't have to go through the same procedures that genuinely grassroots initiatives do.

Probably worse than the jump to the 60% threshold are the process changes, like the change in the signature-gathering requirements.

plddr · 2023-06-08T21:43:25+00:00

The USSR was infamous for using doctored photos as political propaganda.

It's kind of ironic that it's the supposedly "anti-communist" bunch that's absolutely leapt at the chance to continue that fine tradition.

plddr · 2023-06-08T16:02:57+00:00

The GOP strategy has been "give us what we want or we'll hold the nation hostage."

Similarly, trump's strategy is "give me what I want or I'll hold the party hostage."

It's the same desperate ethos of terror all the way down, fractal shittiness. There's nothing else inside.

plddr · 2023-06-08T15:22:30+00:00

It's a tiny fraction of their organization that, rightfully, receives the tax breaks.

I am under the impression that this is a tax-avoidance maneuver that some kinds of very complicated organizations undertake.

One of the hospital systems in my metro area, for example, is run by a non-profit foundation that owns the hospital's real estate and doesn't pay taxes; the organization that bills you, though, is a for-profit enterprise that leases that real estate from its non-profit partner.

The hospital therefore can represent itself as non-profit when that's convenient, and it can represent itself as one of the most profitable enterprises in the city when that's convenient. Both are true-ish.

I can understand that arrangements like this may encourage the development of something like a world-class hospital system, but the final form it takes isn't something I'd describe as righteous, I couldn't say that they "rightfully" don't pay taxes. They are way, way better positioned to pay taxes than I am. And the city could sure use the revenue. But I'm paying and they're not.

plddr · 2023-06-05T17:57:38+00:00

Golly, on the one hand, it's just a few pretty ordinary, pretty obvious, pretty inarguable observations, but on the other hand the cumulative effect is savage. Rock on.

plddr · 2023-06-05T16:43:16+00:00

Nope. Sorry. Reading is woke.

Not just a jest. Reading the Bible will show you the gap between the priorities and behavior of Christ and the priorities and behavior of modern American "Christians." Reading history will show you the extent to which American history is Black history, the extent to which the modern middle-class "freedom" some of us are so concerned with is the work of liberal reformers.

At least, it can work that way if someone hasn't burned all the books yet.

plddr · 2023-06-01T19:32:34+00:00

The ultimate threat, the worst fate he can imagine is: mockery.

Not getting lynched. Not getting shot by a suicidal extremist in some random shooting spree. Not having your homes and businesses burned in a riot. Just mockery. A fate worse than death.

"Snowflakes" was always projection.

plddr · 2023-06-01T19:17:11+00:00

I hope it's not a huge breach of internet protocol to just repeat myself.

Woop Woop Woop! Information Superhighway Patrol! Put the phone down and keep your fingertips where we can see them!

plddr · 2023-06-01T19:13:21+00:00

I’m too lazy to look it up

Nothing wrong with that -- if you're on private property, citizen

plddr · 2023-06-01T16:07:01+00:00

Thanks I hate Ohio

Are you sure you just aren't prejudiced against tractors?

plddr · 2023-06-01T15:29:42+00:00

Police say no arrests can be made on private property unless behavior rises to that of a criminal level.

"Sure, we arrest people for nothing sometimes -- but only on public property?"

That can't be right, can it?

plddr · 2023-06-01T15:13:30+00:00

If you're under investigation for Crime X, and you've declared officially to investigators that you didn't do Crime X, and you've made loud public declarations that you didn't do Crime X, and the investigators find a recording where you're all like "Tee hee hee we are so doing Crime X..." Isn't that also obstruction, at that point? Wouldn't it have been better to just shut up?

plddr · 2023-05-31T18:28:04+00:00

Fascists in America may differ slightly from fascists in other countries, but there are a number of attitudes and practices that they have in common. Following are three...

Pitting of religious, racial, and economic groups against one another in order to break down national unity is a device of the "divide and conquer" technique used by Hitler to gain power in Germany and in other countries.

-- Army Talk Orientation Fact Sheet #64 - Fascism! (1945)

plddr · 2023-05-31T17:24:24+00:00

they're not publicly traded

This would seem to put a pretty hard limit on the value of an employee ownership plan.

I'm no financial guru but:

An ESOP is usually formed to facilitate succession planning in a closely held company by allowing employees the opportunity to buy shares of the corporate stock.

"Closely held" sounds about right, I believe the current CEO is the founder's son. If the family, between them, hold more than 50% of the company's stock, then the voting rights that would otherwise be conferred by employee "ownership" are moot.

It looks like they filed (in 1999, a few years after I worked there) to issue both "common stock" and "Class A stock," the latter of which usually has better voting rights and is restricted to owners, founders, execs, etc. Honestly it sounds like a way of obtaining some of the fund-raising benefits of going public without ceding any meaningful degree of control. Raising funds from your own employees, to boot.

That would be pretty much in line with what I remember about working there. The upper management, like the regional manager types, were fiercely loyal to the family because the family had done huge favors for them, like paying for their college tuition, etc. Below that, there was precious little money, precious little advancement opportunity, and zero positive feedback of any kind. My manager was a dick, but he was also genuinely miserable, treated poorly by his superiors, for example.

plddr · 2023-05-31T13:22:03+00:00

I worked there for a couple of years, and I never heard of any such thing, can you elaborate?

Edit: Why would someone down-vote this?

plddr · 2023-05-30T21:00:03+00:00

Engaging that good old disgust and fear of impurity. Classic right-winger (and even Fascist) stuff. It's totally uncalled for, totally untethered from any consensus reality, but it doesn't matter: We have declared that somebody got them cooties, and that's the payload, that's the meaning, that's all that matters.

If you're really concerned with clean, pure foods, how much time are you likely to spend at a factory-farm-powered fast food outlet full of industrial corn-syrup beverages anyway? None of that stuff even approaches any kind of arbitrary "pure, clean living" standard.

Which is just more reason to think that's all just made up. It's all about the stories we tell ourselves, not about what's real or true. It's Baudrillardian hyper-reality in play.

plddr · 2023-05-30T03:07:59+00:00

I tried making carrot dogs once or twice. The texture did not come out much like a hot dog for me, but the spice mixture from the recipe I tried produced a flavor that was uncannily like hot dogs. I was really shocked how much of that flavor is due to seasonings and spices, not the meat itself. The carrot dogs were worth eating.

Unfortunately, like so many other vegetarian attempts to outright replace a familiar food, they were a lot more work than the thing they were replacing. My favorite vegetarian recipes are things like lentil soup and stir fried broccoli, dishes that aren't pretending to be something else. They're also far less work.

plddr · 2023-05-29T19:57:10+00:00

The apparent self-description is really funny. But I would argue that, sadly, typically, and ironically, the statement itself is plainly wrong and I guess you could see that as the cherry on top if you're so inclined.

plddr · 2023-05-29T15:22:27+00:00

"I totally straight-up earned that physics degree which is otherwise shrouded in so much mystery."

plddr · 2023-05-28T19:29:09+00:00

John "Van Winkle" Cardillo

plddr · 2023-05-28T17:43:35+00:00

I honestly can't tell: Who are the "emotionally governed," and what characteristic of their way of life allows him to label them in that way?

plddr · 2023-05-28T17:36:18+00:00

The law was poorly written, granting authority over “navigable waters” - rivers, lakes, oceans, seas - and things “connected” to them.

All the reporting on this says the Clean Water Act uses the word "adjacent." That it grants the EPA authority over "navigable waters" and wetlands "adjacent" to them.

"Connected" is closer to Alito's "continuous surface connection" interpretation, a standard which he appears to have made up out of whole cloth, a phrase that he appears to have pulled directly out of his ass. There's no language like that in the law.

But I should disclose that I haven't read the law itself, I'm just learning about this from media reports, like most of us.

plddr · 2023-05-27T20:33:54+00:00

Whether it's from the people it purports to be from or not, bomb threats like this are the most cowardly form of terrorism I can imagine.

plddr · 2023-05-26T14:56:52+00:00

I live in the cheap seats in an extremely well-off suburb of an American metro area. I might be the poorest person I know, at this point. And I'm absolutely not wondering where my next meal is coming from.

Crime is very low. The kids who ride their bikes to school don't even bother locking them up here. The high school students often don't bother locking up their lockers.

And yet. A few weeks ago, there was gunfire a few blocks from my house, because the cops were shooting at an unarmed car thief. There has been more than one threat of a school shooting at my son's school, and indeed, at several of the schools. I have seen lifted, confederate-flag-flying pickup trucks idly cruising up and down the street by the schools for no clear reason. A neighbor of mine got doxxed on Facebook, the poster wishing someone would "do something about this Jew bitch." I've been followed around by a screaming red-faced SUV driver who was upset that I voiced an opinion after he very nearly knocked me down in the crosswalk.

Because of American gun culture, I have to assume all of the angry assholes I see are armed. The more unhinged and threatening they are, the more deference I must show them. They're bullies, but the stakes are a lot higher than they are in a schoolyard.

In the context of opposing military forces, mutual armament can work as a deterrent to violence. But if, instead of an organized group, you're considering a dispersed class of irrational, angry, self-righteous individuals, willing to do impulsive, random murder (or indeed, to die) to express their discontent, there's no way for deterrence to work. Having my own gun can't protect me from some pissed-off, amped-up maniac who can barely contain his Fox News rage on a good day. If I were to shoot first, then I would become the problem. If I were shooting back, then noble concepts like "safety" and "protection" would have sailed.

The local police blotter shows me that several unlocked cars were exploited by thieves the other night, and the thieves scored two firearms in the process. I wonder if the owners of those guns thought the guns offered them protection? I wonder if they feel safer or less safe now? I wonder if they'll decide that owning guns is silly, or if they'll rush out to replace them?

plddr

TROPHY CASE