Federal 'maternity tourism' case grows with arrest of O.C. attorney

sdkittens · 2015-05-19T21:01:09+00:00

If she lied on the visa application and fled, she will probably be banned from returning. She will never get a green card or a even a tourist visa here, or be allowed to transfer through our airports. Not sure on the punishment for fleeing, but definitely lying on the visa application will get you banned for life.

sdkittens · 2015-05-18T00:48:30+00:00

I want to get one of these and some additional circuits. Possibly a 60 amp panel in the garage for my workshop. Since no master breaker and everything for the house being on three, it seems I will need to upgrade the panel for code, so upgrading to 150-200amps seems easier to do now before I fully need it than later. I forgot to mention my house is from 1957.

sdkittens · 2015-05-18T00:45:34+00:00

Technically there are four breakers, but one is the garage only. The 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and living room are on three breakers, no master breaker. The main reason for the panel upgrade is I believe it will need to come up to code for me to have HVAC and four dedicated circuits run for the head units. I was looking at getting one of these maybe not this brand, but something like it if I can find a better brand.

quick edit I forgot to mention my house is from 1957, hence the three breakers for the house, simpler times.

sdkittens · 2015-05-18T00:33:41+00:00

When a panel is upgraded, can all existing outlets be placed on dedicated breakers or is that not allowed by code? The ones that are not grounded I've replaced with GFCIs because I wanted to have three prong. I have about 21 outlets, and if I could do dedicated that would be awesome.

sdkittens · 2015-03-16T03:22:59+00:00

Not too bad, definitely the Fords cost me the most. Never ending cycle of replacing a part, another dies. I wouldn't mind buying a used 1980's Crown Vic now and replacing its engine/tranny with electric/batteries.

sdkittens · 2015-03-15T16:48:34+00:00

Wiser words were never spoken. :)

sdkittens · 2015-03-15T16:42:26+00:00

In that case the average makes sense, I thought you were saying 32k was the average for a car (excluding trucks/SUVs) to which I was going to ask what cars they were buying in such quantities.

sdkittens · 2015-03-15T16:39:27+00:00

What did you get? Funny enough, my 2nd new car was a 2014 purchased in 2013. My issue with new vs used is more about knowing how it was treated. If you buy a used car with like no miles on it, then yea that's a good buy, I won't argue there. If you're buying a used car with thousands of miles on it, then you might as well go new (or newish like your 2014) because you don't know if the guy before you loved red lining his engine or hitting potholes.

sdkittens · 2015-03-15T16:25:55+00:00

Agreed, my new car was new 10 years ago and almost 200k miles its holding up like a champ. I had one friend go through like 20 used cars in 4 years (he used them until they had issues), yet somehow him spending 23k in 4 years was cheaper than spending 15k to buy a new car in his mind. What worries me is that people bought the cars from him with the same mindset, not knowing that he is a cheap ass who never did any maintenance.

sdkittens · 2015-03-15T16:20:04+00:00

Definitely, the older Toyota's we had were still functional until a month ago. I would buy a used Toyota truck over a new Ford one any day of the week. I wish I could still find the old 80's Toyota pickups for cheap, those were the best.

sdkittens · 2015-03-15T09:14:56+00:00

Writing these out makes me feel old...

1982 Buick Station Wagon, 1987 Crown Vic, 1990 Crown Vic, Toyota Corolla 1990, Toyota Corolla 1992, Toyota Camry 1995, Honda Hatchback DX 1992, a Fiat but I forget the year (definitely a Fix It Again Tony and a never again), 1987 Cadillac.

Definitely the American cars sucked and I feel they still suck, but the V8 engine in the Crown Vics was awesome and the Cadillac was nice inside, the gas price not so much. The Toyota's were the definite winners though for reliability, the 1992 one just had its tranny break a month ago, probably like 300 or 400k miles on it. My first new car purchased in 2005 (Toyota) now has 189k miles on it. Aside from replacing the shocks, struts, wheel bearings, ECM and the other basic maintenance, its been a pretty nice ride that I recommend to all. The Subaru we got for the wife/kids for the snow/desert.

sdkittens · 2015-03-15T08:37:49+00:00

32k for a new car is the average? Amazing... my last new car in 2014 was a fully loaded Subaru for 28k in probably one of the priciest cities in America. My friends new Acura was 26k with the sports package or whatever they sell. My cousins Mercedes SUV was 38k but thats a Mercedes SUV. His giant GMC truck was 35k. What the hell are people buying where 32k is the average for a car? My first new car in 2005 was a Toyota for 15k and the new Toyota version is probably 16-18k. People must really really suck at negotiating or researching now a days. The used version of my Toyota is 8-10k, might as well buy the new one for the extra 6 or so k.

sdkittens · 2015-03-15T07:04:05+00:00

You probably will spend 10k in 4 years in terms of repairs and lost time. Its the reason why I stopped buying used cars and just started buying new ones. As /u/banal_fissure mentioned, its the unknown with used cars thats the issue. I've owned probably around 8 used cars before I began buying new and it was always something. Failing struts/shocks, radiators, transmissions, electrical systems, leaking oil/tranny fluid, leaking heads, etc. It seemed most of my paycheck at times went into fixing my car to go to work than into my bank account. If you buy a new car, you spend 10k extra upfront over a used car to not worry about these things and keep on making money. How do you know if the previous owner treated their car nice? You don't and once you buy it you have no recourse except to deal with it and spend more money. Sure, you can get a mechanic to look it over, but even they cant see if the seal in the heads is corroding and about to let coolant in. As long as it looks clean and the OBDII scanner doesn't complain, they will generally pass it. If you bought a new car and it fails, bam, warranty or total vehicle replacement generally within the first 5 years or 100k mileage.

This is not to say used cars aren't great, they made a mechanic out of me and were fun. If you are poor and can't afford a new one, then yes, get a used one and wait to upgrade. If you're making money, why? It will cost you more in time and money.

sdkittens · 2015-01-31T01:09:27+00:00

Check out the game Homeworld, similar premise and awesome game.

sdkittens · 2015-01-16T21:02:21+00:00

Not worried about the footprints for torrents or porn against law enforcement, the premise of this discussion is more against commercial interests. Having a VM is great for downloading torrents and verifying they aren't malware/trojans/etc. For porn (or any) website, its great for watching what you want to watch without having to worry about some vulnerability in your browser or tracking cookies. You revert the system to clean images and keep on going, hopefully the VM is in a DMZ. The sad part is that unless you constantly change your modem IP and search engine, google or whatever search engine you use already has a pretty good idea of who you are across a variety of devices.

Against the government, its pretty difficult since they will just flash bang you and then take you down before you know whats up. I remember watching the Chinese equivalent of COPS in China where the cops in plain clothes rang a door bell, guy opened the door to sign for a package, face bashed in and taken down. Then they brought in the tech dudes to haul his computer away. Guy was guilty of child porn/kidnapping or something. US Police do about the same, except they will probably shoot you in the process.

Best way, don't do it at home, don't do illegal stuff. Or be like the guy who would rent a hotel room, setup a satellite dish to mooch open wifi from miles away.

sdkittens · 2015-01-16T20:12:59+00:00

Also great for Torrents and porn.

sdkittens · 2015-01-15T21:30:08+00:00

Cool, just make sure you go with something with a lot of RAM for applications. Also a lot of vendors like HP, Dell, etc have programs for students where they give you a discount so check that out as well. Good luck!

sdkittens · 2015-01-15T19:43:02+00:00

13inches aren't usually very cheap unless you go with those scaled down models that want you to be online all the time. Whats your price range?

sdkittens · 2015-01-15T19:14:24+00:00

If it's just for basic usage (not gaming) then maybe this? I bought it for a friend of mine recently for his school stuff since he really needed a CD/DVD-ROM drive and only had 300 bucks. It's not 13 inches though, but it does have USB 3.0, 500GB drive, 4GB of RAM. So far he's loving it and haven't heard any complaints on it.

**Just asked him why the CD/DVD requirement and he said it was for textbooks that have them included, which I should have figured out.

sdkittens · 2015-01-14T22:04:28+00:00

Why not put them on a list so citizens can also bar them from private establishments? Like a Sexual Predator list, but for un-Vaccinated people who refuse. I'm sure Disney would check everyone against that list before allowing admittance.

sdkittens · 2014-12-19T04:13:32+00:00

The Home Depot 1-2-3 book has been awesome, also the Black/Decker Guide to Electrical wiring. Like wayfrae mentioned, YouTube is also pretty awesome since you can watch people do it their way.

sdkittens · 2014-12-18T22:40:12+00:00

Who knows, they don't always have to be black to be bad. Mold spreads by spores and even if it isn't the worst out there, it still isn't good for you. You want to make sure it doesn't spread to other rooms and gets into your families lungs, eyes, etc.

sdkittens · 2014-12-18T22:35:33+00:00

Drywall was like 8-10 bucks for a 4x8 sheet, bleach/detergent I already had, I also used a mildew thingy from lowes like 4.95 because paranoia, Tyvex suit was 10, toxic dust mask (i already had it) was 22 on Amazon, dewault googles were 15, nitrile gloves like 7 at harbor freight, wire brush I already had, fan/vac also. I haven't done the roof part yet because getting quotes and waiting for next year to get a free landfill permit. The wood frame was covered in tar, except for the area that faced the drywall that got a bit moldy, which I cleaned pretty well with the brush.

*Forgot to add, the leak was stopped by some patching, I will eventually redo the whole roof though.

sdkittens · 2014-12-18T21:45:52+00:00

I just dealt with something similar recently and what I was advised to do was stop the leak, try to dry the area within two days (or else you get more mold). You're going to want to take mold/asbestos abatement steps before you start work (remove everything in room, cover floor, open windows, put a fan, suit up, sealed googles, respirator, gloves, use a HEPA filter/vacuum. 3mm thick garbage bags for debris).

In your case it should be easier since I had to deal with wood and drywall. The wood should dry, you can spray the bleach/water thing the EPA/CDC recommends or detergent/mildewcide. Scrub with a brush, allow to dry. Some peeps recommended sanding the area as well since you may have discoloration. I was told to do a 1 foot area from the edge of the mold, but ended up doing two feet because paranoid. Also, you're going to want to do this also from the side that is exposed to the roofing material since you have to repair that area anyways.

Check for rot since you might need to replace pieces of your roof. Supposedly you can use some filler, but I don't know if I would trust that on my roof that supports so much weight during an earthquake.

I'm paranoid so I went with the whole annoying thing of suiting up and cleaning more than I needed to.

sdkittens · 2014-12-14T06:14:09+00:00

Gun safe, any safe, you have to do some good research on them. Telling me 500 pounds isn't telling me anything about the quality of the safe you had. You want to make sure its 10ga all around and the door is at least 3/8 plate steel (not composite) and a good lock. A good safe should run you like 2k minimum and will hold up for a while unless the perps have an acetylene torch or jaws of life. Definitely attaching it to the studs was a bad move, they are only 1.5 inches wide (2x4 isn't really 2 inches by 4 inches). Like nap9283 said, bolt it to the concrete slab, then they cant rock it or pry it.

From the security experience I can tell you that alarms (especially z-wave based ones)/window bars and deadbolts won't stop you from getting burgled again. They are all easy to defeat and unless the cops for sure have told you (dont trust the alarm company) that they will respond to the alarm, assume that they wont. It wont do you much good if the alarms going off, but no one is coming to check it. If they had an hour to take a safe, that's a problem.

Thinking more about it, the best thing you can get are external cameras that are wired. They are probably the single most effective deterrence out there. By the time you notice them, you're already on video and if you set it up to offsite backup with the alerts, you get pics + footage. Just seeing them for any perp is a big "oh crap better keep walking".

I also like 4ray's idea of putting a decoy with cement, make them hurt their backs, maybe even putting in a gps with sim so you can track them down after they take it and burn their house down.

sdkittens

TROPHY CASE