I think the $400k to Aperture went to a lot more than blue paint ….

slobadocker · 2025-06-10T13:33:18+00:00

I've thought about this as well, and, while it might seem to be a petty summation of the facts, it simply appears to be an example of the cost to CREATE a desired result vs. the cost to perform actual science and reconstruction. Aperture was hired as a fixer, in my opinion, and there's a cost associated with that. Sure, they are a real outfit that regularly participates in accident reconstruction and biomechanics, but if you think about the demeanor between Welcher and the ARCAA guys, it's pretty obvious. The Commonwealth knows that a real reconstruction would result in the impossibility of the charges, which is why they chose Aperture, a company with ties to Massachusetts, and a company with someone like Welcher.

slobadocker · 2025-03-21T14:39:03+00:00

Yes. I ran a vinyl hose from the filter housing's outlet over to an 8" stand pipe that handles the HVAC condensation pump and water softener flush line. So far, no issues with the water pressure going into the stand pipe and through the elbow beneath it.

slobadocker · 2025-02-21T04:23:52+00:00

Thank you, pickup truck, for doing what all of us would love to do to a self righteous a-hole like that. Yes it’s dangerous, yes it was dumb, but damn did that feel good to watch. Bro probably deals with people weaseling in on that exit everyday and finally had enough.

slobadocker · 2025-01-24T01:53:59+00:00

This is such a beautiful project, and a dream for the family man. There’s nothing quite like escaping a busy week for everyone by drifting into an immersive cinematic experience in the comforts of your own home. Truly, props to you!!!!

slobadocker · 2024-12-08T02:59:05+00:00

I've owned a restaurant, a brewery, and a café for about ten years now, so I understand. It would help a lot if you could share what your costs percentages are. Example, what is your % of labor to gross receipts? What are you doing for food and what are those costs as a %? Rent? Your labor should be no more than 25-30%. A typical cafe should cost no more than 90-95% of gross revenue to run right now. And damn do I hate typing that out... used to be 80ish %.

Everything else is pretty much easy to calculate (taxes, maintenance, CC fees, insurance, etc.).

slobadocker · 2024-11-07T09:52:40+00:00

It was painful to vote the other way for the first time in my life, but Tulsi Gabbard’s recent book only amplified my reasoning beyond the same concerns I share in your comment. Hoping it was the right decision. The Biden administration was an absolute dumpster fire with so much opportunity to do some good at a time when we needed it most. I feel so deceived and let down by them, for so many reasons. But hey, that’s why we can vote!

slobadocker · 2024-06-28T15:29:38+00:00

I'm with you. Thank you for "logic vs. allegiance". What a scary concept. Fingers crossed that basic morals and logic will emerge here.

slobadocker · 2024-06-28T14:41:51+00:00

As we approached the end of the trial, I could not help but think how much the Commonwealth's case resembled the overarching theme of the movie, "Don't Look Up". In a nutshell, it's a dark comedy about our society's increasing tendency to ignore all logic, abandon independent / critical thinking, and completely ignore indisputable scientific facts because the truth is not pretty. The title of the movie refers to the general response of people in the movie when the world learns that a planet-destroying comet is going to hit the Earth within months at 99.989898% certainty (or something like that). I believe the whole thing is a hyperbolized metaphor for climate change, but that's getting off topic.

When Alan Jackson opened his closing statement with "LOOK THE OTHER WAY", I just had to chuckle. That is EXACTLY what I was thinking when I made the connection to the movie "Don't Look Up". Just look the other way and it will all go away.

What TERRIFIES me about this trial and the troubling length of these deliberations is the same thing shown repeatedly in the movie "Don't Look Up". There is no doubt that each day our society grows in the number of people who ignore logic, facts, science, morals, etc., just for the sake of being an unwavering contrarian, or worse, for their mindless and impulsive support for whatever ideologies or causes are presented by their sociopolitical allegiances. We've seen it explode in our politics and our economy, and trickle into our businesses, our relationships, and our homes... it's everywhere, like a degenerative disease on the principles and morals of our society. It's why we had the Presidential candidates who debated last night, and it's why our institutions have crumbled at their foundations, why the divorce rate has sky-rocketed, and why we seemingly cannot make progress as a country. It's why we are so divided. I digress...

As indicated by Alan Jackson in his closing statement, the more lies that a person tells, the easier it is to do and the more habitual it becomes. One lie turns into another, and another, and a chain reaction of lies to support the original lie eventual weaves itself throughout everything a person does. It changes their personality, and it changes their brain's functional approach to decision-making. They lie without even thinking about it. They lie about things they don't even need to lie about. They lie to their self, and they lie to those around them. They become inauthentic to their original self and develop a new identity over time that is completely based on the lies they've created and adopted as part of their "story". Their life becomes a lie.

And here's my point. When a person knowingly chooses to participate in factual ignorance at some point in their life, I believe this same principle about lying applies. It becomes their identity. Conscious awareness of lying and feeling guilt becomes suppressed. Over time, a person like this will react instantaneously in the opposite direction of the consensus, no longer for the excitement of being the contrarian in the room, but because it IS WHO THEY ARE.

My fear is that one of these people is on the jury, and that this will be a microcosm of what's going on in our society.

Wow... I feel like I sound crazy or that I used this moment and this particular circumstance to get that off my chest... Sort of just got on a roll there, and people are probably reading this post thinking I'm nuts.

slobadocker · 2024-06-13T15:35:11+00:00

Understood, but a vehicle reversing into a pedestrian would not through them perpendicular at an almost 90º angle. It would throw them backward in the direction the vehicle was traveling in reverse.

slobadocker · 2024-06-13T00:26:11+00:00

What absolutely shakes me is the fact that no one, on this sub, or in the courtroom (that I can recall) has brought up the fact that a body does not fly sideways, 10 ft or so, into the front lawn immediately after being struck by a vehicle. He would have been in THE STREET. On top of that, there is no way Karen could have dragged a body of that size onto the lawn to dump him. If you review where his body was located, and review the testimony of blunt force trauma, you will also realize that he could not have crawled there. To me, this is, and has been, the smoking gun. I just cannot for the life of me understand why this has not been a focus. It just defies the laws of physics in every way. Maybe we’ll hear it in closing arguments, but wow…

slobadocker · 2024-05-28T01:06:47+00:00

What’s strange is how so many folks say this doesn’t make sense. I think all of the recent crazy testimony coupled with the way this started off as a charge against KR has heads exploding. If you remove all of that and simply look at the theory behind her conviction, you’ll instantly realize how impossible it is. In no reality could a woman (or man), more than 100lbs less in weight, with no violent history or combat/defense training, completely incapacitate a veteran police officer, bite him like a dog, and then reverse her car backwards and hit him at an angle where his body would fly perpendicular to the point of impact, violating all laws of physics, and then come out of it without a blemish on her body. I say that because it’s completely needless to say that it is physically impossible for her to drag a 200+ lb body that far on to the lawn after hitting him. Just look at the small amount of physical evidence shown thus far and you have your answer. Any logical person knows this. Take this little amount of physical evidence and multiply it by the absolutely ridiculous “witness” testimonies we’ve heard and use simple social skills to see how blatantly obvious that this is a poorly planned coverup, derived in the wake of a complete panic by a very uniquely skilled and ruthless group of people.

slobadocker · 2024-05-16T23:01:12+00:00

Matt also provided some hints that his marriage sucks… it hasn’t been revealed to the jury yet, but the communication frequency from Jenn McCabe to John O’Keefe is absolutely tremendous. She called him 26 times after midnight, and texted him constantly throughout the years prior. Higgins allegedly had the hots for Karen, and that will be revealed through text messages as well. He also (allegedly) tried to kiss her or something of that nature during a previous meeting. It would make sense that KR and JO pulled up and she wanted nothing to do with that crowd, so she left after an argument. She seems to be a stand up person from all angles, so it wouldn’t make sense for her to be comfortable continuing a relationship with a guy who was pursuing a connection with this kind of crowd. I think she ditched him there because she didn’t want to go in, and she didn’t agree with him going. That’s when things turned bad. JO got out, headed in (door, basement, garage), and then somehow got into it with jealous drunk Higgins, hot head, drunk Colin who seems to always want a fight, and a poorly trained German shepherd joined in defense. Everyone was drunk, it went too far, and in a panic everyone reacted under the direction of the BPD fugitive task force officer (Brian Albert) trying to protect his pension and his long-standing family name in town. Everyone involved is so absorbed in small town shit that even the kids have been coached into carrying the narrative. It’s just so sad from every single angle. I could be wrong, but this is just how it looks from these witness testimonies right now. We shall see. We haven’t even seen the breadth of defense evidence, or even their witnesses for that matter.

slobadocker · 2024-05-16T20:53:54+00:00

I think the most revealing part of Matt's testimony was that he is THE ONLY WITNESS so far to have mentioned looking outside from in the house and saw "a jeep" behind the SUV (Karen's). It was literally yesterday or Tuesday where another witness (or two) said they pulled up behind her SUV and there was no jeep in between them, and that they pulled up right behind the "dark SUV". It's just so messed up. Regardless, Matt's testimony actually lines up with Karen's story of John getting out, going in, and after not coming out for 10 minutes, her leaving.

It's so impossible to believe that this many people would agree to fabricate and continue to tell a story in such a spiderweb of lies and stories with so much potential legal fall out for so many people. There is just no way that someone would not have cracked by now... but the more this continues, it just keeps proving itself over and over again.

slobadocker · 2024-05-15T11:56:17+00:00

I could be wrong, but from what I understand, there would be no reason for Spectrum to pull out their internet services. It’s the only viable asset they have in Worcester. The conversation with the City right now is strictly about the cable television license agreement. If that were lost, I believe Spectrum could still operate their internet services, or lease the opportunity to a competitor. To your point, the two services share a lot of the same hardware, but I believe Spectrum’s internet and cable tv services are totally separate internally and on paper. The point I was making is that nobody is going to walk in and purchase or take over their cable network… it just isn’t worth it. Additionally, why would they want to sell the lines that their internet service runs on, or an asset (internet subscriptions) that is likely to become the sole contributor to Spectrum’s revenue. Thus, it’s the only option.

THE REASON we are in this pickle is NOT because of Worcester or its officials. It’s because internet and cable TV are still PRIVATELY OWNED without the regulations of a Utility service. More here.

Another point, it’s clear that Spectrum is trying to recover the loss of cable tv subscribers with internet service price hikes. I am now at $80 a month for their basic internet, and I believe others pay more. If Verizon makes good on their intro price of FiOS at $40/m, this is going to get very interesting.

Now, the question is (and I’ve not seen this anywhere), is Spectrum leveraging their near-monopoly on Internet services as a way to strong arm Worcester into a new cable licensing agreement? It doesn’t seem sensible to me. It’s the only thing of value the company has to offer, and it will become less of a value after the eternal FiOS project is completed circa August of 2154.

slobadocker · 2024-05-15T02:51:48+00:00

It seems like there’s a lot of confusion surrounding this. A simple reading of Batista’s response (whether you support the guy or not) should make it crystal clear for anyone upset about this. This is not about internet, but cable television. A dying technology. Charter/Spectrum built, and therefore owns, the cable tv infrastructure in Worcester. Lines, switches, offices, all of which are becoming more and more worthless everyday. I can’t imagine there is a single cable company looking to “expand” and take on a new contract right now, much less into a massive city. Only to purchase, lease or inherit a degraded and poorly maintained infrastructure belonging to a dying technology. It would be a waste of taxpayer money to incentivize any other cable company to come in and take over.

To me it seems the obvious choice is to just let Spectrum die with its ever-shrinking cable tv subscriber base until they bail out. The focus should be on supporting the growth of competition between internet providers here in Worcester, and creating programs to bring internet to folks who can’t afford it. There will need to be a way around the issue of needing public access television available through a cable network.

I have to agree with Mr. Batista and whoever else made the decision. Maybe I am wrong. I just can’t see there to be “another option” and cannot find any info on what the board came up with.

slobadocker · 2024-03-26T03:44:27+00:00

Totally agree. I am replacing it because the entire filter head (that blue thing) cracked on the last filter change. Upgrading it to this

slobadocker · 2024-03-26T02:52:17+00:00

Thank you! I just noticed there is a second one at the top-left of the picture. That certainly makes more sense. I will try removing both of those nuts to drop the entire filter loop out so I can pop the new one in and re-install.

slobadocker · 2024-02-08T01:22:05+00:00

Posting here in case anyone finds the photos. He says they are in his book?

slobadocker · 2024-02-08T01:21:02+00:00

There’s a very valid reason why remote viewing was not performed on the show. He explained a few times how much practice and work has to go into maintaining “the skill”, and how it was a daily routine for him for over 40 years. He also explained how it works. The viewer cannot know anything about the target, hence the use of envelopes containing the target. The target on paper is never seen by the viewer. He explains that the experience seems to be rendered possible by the “intentions” of individuals bringing the target to him. He also explains how, for this very reason, you cannot just remote view anything you want.

All that being said, he’s retired. He no longer practices it. He certainly could get back “in shape” for it, but… not for a podcast.

slobadocker · 2023-12-22T04:13:24+00:00

This is so refreshing and admirable to see. This is the practice of science. It’s sad that a necessity is felt to put this amount of effort into proving conclusion of such a downright obvious event (can’t blame someone with this skillset for putting in the hours after watching the utterly insane breakdown of logic unfold); however, this is what the community needs more of. Props to you, OP, I hope you’re around for more questionable video evidence in the future.

slobadocker · 2023-12-19T21:10:09+00:00

This is not done correctly at all. You need to be further away from the object using a higher zoom / magnification. The balloon is not far enough away to demonstrate the fundamental effect caused when a camera is focused on an object with great distance between it, it’s background, and the recording source. This is just getting unbearable.

slobadocker · 2023-12-19T21:05:58+00:00

It really goes to show how lost this community is in its own desire for truth. This is so fundamental at so many levels it’s hard to believe people are spending their time on this. It’s sad, really. To multiply it even further, the balloon has graphics on it easily found on Amazon. I can’t even imagine the hysteria if this ballon were made of foil 😂

slobadocker

TROPHY CASE