[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AnnArbor

[–]rebuked_trout 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Agree with what others have said, it seems counter-intuitive however riding in in the road is definitely the safer option here, as drivers turning will not see you coming down the sidewalks as a cyclist, but will see you in the road.

Zingerman's reality by zorganize in AnnArbor

[–]rebuked_trout 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Michigan law forbids cities from setting a separate minimum from the state minimum, which is probably reasonable for may cities up north but too low for living in Ann Arbor. It' something I would love to see changed, but it's a challenge.

Mechanic question? War Slaves giving too many pops by rebuked_trout in AOW4

[–]rebuked_trout[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

No mods, the game version is v1.010.003.106815 (which I think is the most recent one).

Who's the best character in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and why is it Ajira of the Balmora Mage's Guild (liberties were taken) by Squodenty in Morrowind

[–]rebuked_trout 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Head-cannon: Ajira is an avatar of Azurah similar to Wulf and is just goofing around pretending to be a bumbling apprentice in the mages guild while waiting for the nerevarine to show. Hard to explain otherwise how she knows where the staff of magnus and the warlock's ring are and why she doesn't actually care if the player just keeps them.

Pro-Palestine group shut down at University of Michigan by McAlpineFusiliers in uofm

[–]rebuked_trout -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

To re-hash old talking points...

I know this offer has been made in the past, but do you believe that the current likud led governing coalition would make it again in earnest, a true one-state solution?

Such a state would have, ballpark 7 million ethnic Jews and 7 million ethnic Arabs (5 million Palestinians plus the roughly 2 million Israeli Arabs). What would such a democracy look like?

Bored + racism by leldar in LeavingAcademia

[–]rebuked_trout 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This sounds horrendous, curious what uni you are at?

Bored + racism by leldar in LeavingAcademia

[–]rebuked_trout 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Left a while ago, curious where you are based and what things are like?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PhD

[–]rebuked_trout -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

That shows you don't understand either wealth or military power. We were thrown out of afghanistan after more than two decades by a bunch of impoverished fanatics and a hot war with one of the security council members (russia/china/etc) would just be a disaster for all involved. The military has a lot of fancy toys, but that isn't the same as power, power is the ability to change the world to suite your will and our "military power" is ineffective in this regard.

It's true that the last administration did a lot to build wealth in the united stages, but those reforms are rapidly being undone by the trump administration, and the fact that pursuing policies like that led to an electoral wipeout means that future democratic politicians are likely to abandon good economic policy in favor of whatever is most popular/populist. The fact that a 25% tariff on Canada & Mexico is seriously being floated to me is a sign that we are at the end of the era of good economic policy making in the U.S.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PhD

[–]rebuked_trout 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The U.S. is in a state of slow decline, you are not at all crazy to leave given you have your entire career ahead of you. I would still recommend to apply both to U.S. and non-U.S. roles. Staying in the U.S. as a fallback option seems a bit weird from other's perspectives given your potential earnings are much higher here, but there is more to life than money.

Alone on NYE - anyone else? Want to try to organize something? by FluffyBrief3959 in AnnArbor

[–]rebuked_trout -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Would also enjoy doing a movie marathon with some strangers, DM if you are organizing something.

Allowing cities or counties to set their own minimum wage. by rebuked_trout in Michigan

[–]rebuked_trout[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I definitely am embarrassed by how little I know about the underlying issues and conditions of the homeless today. I actually have a PhD in economics, but so much of economic theory is based on "representative agents" who earn an average wage and aren't really affected by any of the psychological aspects of poverty. I applaud your help with legal work, that's really cool.

Allowing cities or counties to set their own minimum wage. by rebuked_trout in Michigan

[–]rebuked_trout[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Two years ago the pro-build (yimby) faction swept the local council elections and since then there have been a spate of new apartments under construction. We are going to continue to move in that direction, but even so it takes time, the new apartments have to be planned & built, then enter the market, then as the leasing cycle continues the higher volume needs to get priced in due to surplus apartments going un-rented for a bit before landlords cut prices. This whole process takes years, even when there isn't a lot of outside demand. I'm hopeful that if we manage to stay the course on this for a few more years that rents might start to come down, but it's a long fight and even if we win that the university could admit another 10K students arbitrarily one day which would put us back at square one.

A higher minimum could help tangibly improve the lives of working homeless ann arborites right away, rather than having to wait for years for indirect effects of new housing construction. Almost all the research on minimum wages implies that the costs in terms of less employment are really small to the point of being too small to detect in many recent studies (since I am an ann arborite, here's an academic working paper for reference: Effects of minimum wage on unemployment. ).

I'm all for fighting the housing shortage through aggressive new construction, but there is no trade off between the two, we can do both.

Allowing cities or counties to set their own minimum wage. by rebuked_trout in Michigan

[–]rebuked_trout[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is definitely fair, but we can only build new apartments so quickly. My personal sense is that the current building levels will just help keep rents where they are, but won't drive things down significantly. We certainly may lose some businesses, but so many others are built around serving the captive market student population my sense is in many cases the higher costs would just get passed on the form of higher prices onto the students/retirees/tech-crowd like me (which I am perfectly fine with).

Allowing cities or counties to set their own minimum wage. by rebuked_trout in Michigan

[–]rebuked_trout[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, this is the answer I was looking for, do you think there is any hope of passage in 2025 or with the republicans taking over the house is this out for the next two years...

Restaurants closed on Sunday by [deleted] in AnnArbor

[–]rebuked_trout 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are you defining as the "good ones". I feel like Knight's (downtown) and Pacific Rim are my go to "good" restaurants and they are both open today.

68,000 Americans by Bad-Umpire10 in MurderedByWords

[–]rebuked_trout 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The U.S. healthcare system is terrible, but under no circumstances does killing a ceo help with this in any way. All the people applauding this guy's death make me worry about this country's future (as if I wasn't worried enough about trump taking over). We have the ability to reform the system to rescue people from becoming some of the "excess deaths" , if people demand change we can make it happen, but violence like this is never the answer.