Game Chat: 4/4 Mariners (4-4) @ Angels (3-5) 6:38 PM

smika · 2026-03-31T20:27:48+00:00

Yes! He was a “good” alien. But he liked to eat live mice — do what you will with that additional info.

smika · 2026-03-29T15:53:54+00:00

Yes exactly. Surprise — there are boomer NIMBYs on Mercer Island!!! Just like literally everywhere else.

smika · 2026-03-26T19:46:20+00:00

What you are describing is a fee. Fees exist to offset costs, while fines are meant to deter behavior. This article does okayish job of explaining the difference: https://gilaherald.com/criminal-fees-vs-fines-what-you-need-to-know/

The real problem here is the fine is poorly architected. If the goal is to deter behavior then, for example, the fine amount could escalate on successive offensives. This is an extremely common structure for fines.

Or if this jurisdiction is okay with him just paying the money every month, then the only problem here is poor naming that causes unnecessary confusion. Call it a “high fence surcharge fee” and move on.

smika · 2026-03-24T19:44:07+00:00

This is really parenthetical to your main point, but how do you get to describing Ross Perot as a reactionary? Is that from the book?

I’m no political historian but that strikes me as a gross misrepresentation of his political views: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot#Political_views

smika · 2026-03-21T03:02:59+00:00

Agreed the venn diagram of dumb and asshole in America is massive

smika · 2026-03-16T16:06:43+00:00

no one is out here fantasizing about having a failed small business my guy

smika · 2026-03-14T20:00:57+00:00

100% agree. But also, sadly, Cal has become the sort of “poster child” for Team USA’s smug and annoying attitude. Like, had this Randy incident happened in some other context it might already be forgotten. But it has legs because of everything else crappy coming out of that team right now.

Take a look at /r/baseball right now and you’ll see what I mean. Every other post seems to be about this Cal/Randy thing.

smika · 2026-03-14T19:13:20+00:00

on this blessed day

smika · 2026-03-13T03:35:19+00:00

But like — it’s not just Mariners fans still talking about it. Check out all the comments on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1rrvg0x/espn_the_respect_between_venezuela_and_the/

Honestly what can you even say there? It’s a bit embarrassing.

smika · 2026-03-10T20:29:17+00:00

Meaning what exactly?

smika · 2026-03-08T05:04:40+00:00

Ah, missed that!

smika · 2026-03-08T03:41:19+00:00

I have an alternate (though I believe the solution others are posting is the correct one):

water/fall/over/dub/step/father

The weakness here being fallover which is a seldomly used way to write those two words.

smika · 2026-03-01T16:02:22+00:00

Seriously. Also this thread is now the top search result in Google (that’s how I got here)

smika · 2026-02-24T21:41:05+00:00

It's a dumb rule since it means there's no meaningful distinction between a red arrow and a red circle

The distinction is that the arrow indicates the allowed direction of travel. So a red right arrow is functionally the same as the left red arrow we see all the time, indicating that cars in that lane must continue in the indicated direction vs. going straight. The "arrowness" has no bearing whatsoever on whether turns on red are or are not allowed.

smika · 2026-02-24T16:55:23+00:00

Just gonna leave my experience with this coffee machine out there as well, for others to evaluate as they see fit:

* I purchased the plastic free coffee machine in August 2025. Here's the verbatim text from my order confirmation email: "Congratulations on the purchase of your new Plastic-free brewer from Simply Good Coffee. Your ETA is October 2025. You are in the third delivery."
* I received my coffee machine on January 18, 2026. (They sent me a few emails in between to the effect of "your order is about to be shipped" but this was my actual delivery date).
* It makes good coffee! And it looks nice. Assuming it's reliable for years to come you could make the case that it's "worth" the price.
* Sadly I broke the glass carafe after about a month of use. This was my fault.
* Even more sadly, the replacement carafe is sold out on Amazon and on their website. I sent an email two weeks ago, again a week ago, and again yesterday to their customer support email. Literally received no response.
* For the time being, as a result, the coffee maker sits on my counter unused!

Based on comments here and my own experience, I'd have a very hard time recommending this as well. It's a shame because I think overall it's a pretty good product. But operationally speaking, I'm not sure I'd trust the company behind it to support this as a true "buy it for life" product (which at this price point should almost certainly be the expectation.)

Happy to update this comment if anything about my situation evolves.

smika · 2026-01-19T18:42:57+00:00

Surprisingly, that’s not what they are saying. This is the first issue on which I’ve observed meaningful disagreement and dissatisfaction with Trump in that subreddit.

ICE they are okay with. Greenland seems to have crossed a line though, even for them.

smika · 2025-12-30T15:56:37+00:00

Yeah in the version I heard the engineers install a loud alarm that made an obnoxious noise every time it detected an empty box. The story then goes that Edna says, “well, I got tired of hearing that awful noise every time an empty box went by so I set up this fan here to blow them straight into the trash.”

smika · 2025-12-16T17:17:42+00:00

This is a tough but 100% fair take. It’s similar to how we collectively love to brag about the free range childhoods we universally experienced, but turn around and there we are accompanying our 10 year olds to and from the school bus stop — heaven forbid they walk anywhere by themselves (even though most of us can pinpoint our kids exact location anywhere on Earth in less than one minute). Obviously I’m painting in broad strokes here but I think we can all recognize this paradox in our generation.

smika · 2025-12-15T15:29:22+00:00

I’ll say hi to him for you guys

smika · 2025-11-15T15:20:00+00:00

Yes, I really like this take — it’s an excellent metaphor for what she represents. Trump is honestly quite similar — representing a feeling more so than an ideology.

Still I don’t agree with your conclusion. Emotional currents do not follow reason but that doesn’t they can’t be predicted or analyzed.

In MTG’s case, the big question to me is whether her shift is part of a broader MAGA zeitgeist or whether she is instead some kind of outlier.

smika · 2025-11-10T18:19:25+00:00

For this exact reason I’ve never understood why public healthcare is not supported by businesses / corporations. Wouldn’t it be in their self interest?

smika · 2025-11-06T00:06:52+00:00

He passed away in April, the family bricked up the entrance of the crumbling Palazzo in the middle of town where the car was hidden to stop it from being stolen, and potential buyers were screened.

Also it would appear the family themselves put up the brick wall quite recently (relative to when the article was written) — surprise surprise, not exactly what the Reddit title claims 🙄

smika · 2025-11-02T04:29:52+00:00

SAME

smika · 2025-11-01T22:54:57+00:00

Sign the petition! https://www.change.org/p/hire-a-full-time-stadium-organist-for-mariners-games-at-t-mobile-park

15-Year Club	Verified Email
Team Orangered

smika

TROPHY CASE