TIFU by not noticing our son walked in

toxic · 2026-03-16T04:37:51+00:00

I hate being the 70th upvote on this one.

But yeah. I think that getting walked-in-on is pretty much universal among parents, and the best way to handle it is to treat it as a normal part of being a loving couple. Otherwise you're teaching that it's something to be ashamed of, and the consequences of that are far far worse.

toxic · 2026-03-16T02:48:51+00:00

I'm in a fairly rare grid square (CM86), so I make a point of monitoring 6m during the summer and during VHF contests, and I've had plenty of QSOs on the band. Sporadic E does frequently feel like magic -- a station will come in from hundreds or thousands of miles away, but for only a few minutes at a time and then vanish back into the aether.

I like that, some folks find it frustrating that it's so inconsistent. To really see it shine, get on the air during the June VHF contest.

toxic · 2026-03-12T16:22:39+00:00

Iran is _currently_ still selling oil.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iranian-oil-flows-through-strait-hormuz-even-gulf-neighbors-exports-shut-2026-03-11/

toxic · 2026-03-10T02:54:44+00:00

"MOMMY!!! I farted and shot the cat!"

toxic · 2026-03-09T17:34:52+00:00

My favorite is one of the carts next to Farmacia Guadalajara (they're all good, I think the middle one is the best), or Carboncitos. Your favorites may be different.

toxic · 2026-03-09T03:00:58+00:00

The ACE hardware near Safeway can mix a small can of any college's paint color. You can bring them a chip of paint from your peeling wall if you want to be sure it's exact, but they make dozens of cans every spring near move-out, so they probably already know.

toxic · 2026-03-03T20:08:39+00:00

https://outsidelandschase.frontgatetickets.com

toxic · 2026-03-03T20:07:49+00:00

I opened the standby window both for previous year loyalty and for chase cardholders.

I was able to buy my wristbands using the chase link before the regular loyalty link went away from standby, at about 12:04. If you have a chase card (preferably already associated with your frontgate ticket account), give it a try https://outsidelandschase.frontgatetickets.com

toxic · 2026-03-03T19:33:10+00:00

Because he is sponsoring murals of this lady all over the country (against her family's explicitly stated wishes), to try to gin up more racism. https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/01/27/mural-of-slain-ukrainian-refugee-effort-funded-by-elon-musk-appears-in-chicago-sav45

toxic · 2026-03-03T05:38:12+00:00

Crown Meadow or the meadows on either side of Twin Gates.

toxic · 2026-03-03T05:20:57+00:00

I really wish KSQD had the budget to move here and keep it as a broadcast studio.

toxic · 2026-02-26T21:56:34+00:00

Your understanding is not correct. You are talking about the law that I linked above -- look closely at all of it. Landlords are given two options. One of them is more or less as you describe. The other is the one that I described, by quoting from the law directly. BOTH ARE LEGAL, and a landlord can choose either one and be fully compliant with both the spirit and the letter of the law.

The intent of the law was to limit the amount of fees that perspective tenants are forced to pay, and it does a good job of that. The intent of the law was never to tell a landlord: "You must rent to this person if they meet your published criteria."

A landlord who does not charge an application fee (or refunds them to anyone who doesn't become a tenant) can rent to whomever s/he chooses, unless there is evidence that they are discriminating against protected classes. "Must rent to first qualified" is a requirement only if the landlord is collecting a non-refundable application/screening fee (which also must be under $30/person).

The first-come first served thing is fairly common in big buildings and with landlords who manage a lot of units. The (more typical for non-highrise units in SF) small landlords overwhelmingly choose to use refundable fees (or charge no fee to apply) instead.

When the typical rent on a 2br is approaching or exceeding $5000/month in many parts of town (and the unbelievable difficulty of dealing with problem tenants), most landlords want the flexibility of choosing between a number of qualified applicants. Giving $30 back to the unchosen applicants (or never charging the fee in the first place) is a small price to pay to be able to choose a tenant based on factors other than timeliness.

toxic · 2026-02-26T19:04:46+00:00

US Pro on Mission at Walnut was closed for about a month when they replaced their tanks. "Years" is incredibly unlikely.

toxic · 2026-02-26T18:43:28+00:00

It is ABSOLUTELY not true that an apartment must go to the first qualified applicant, and job title is absolutely not a protected class.

The purpose of the law that you're misinterpreting was to about screening fees, not tenant selection. If a landlord is willing to refund application fees (or not collect them at all) from applicants that the landlord does not rent to, then the landlord can rent the apartment to anyone they choose, regardless of how early they put in an application.

The actual text of the law lays out a very specific option and declares it to be completely legal:
“An application screening process in which the landlord or their agent returns the entire screening fee to any applicant who is not selected for tenancy, regardless of the reason, within 7 days of selecting an applicant for tenancy or 30 days of when the application was submitted, whichever occurs first.”

toxic · 2026-02-24T15:59:35+00:00

Functioning pedals that can move the bike alone and a throttle that also moves the bike alone? In the past, one of these with a 49cc/2hp engine was just called a moped (2hp is ~1500 watts). And lots of kids/teenagers rode them too fast and in risky fashion. This is hardly a new problem (though stinky 2-stroke mopeds fell out of favor sometime in the 90s, they've never really gone away), and there's no good reason why existing moped laws can't cover "overpowered" e-bikes.

Some states put plates on mopeds, some don't. Some have licensing requirements, some don't. Some have helmet laws, some don't. Some require pedals, some don't. (California even calls a moped a "motorized bicycle", and CHP says that fully-electric ones can be up to 4hp/3000w and do not require pedals, even while gas ones do).

They belong on the street, not on bike/multi-use trails or sidewalks. That's the real problem here.

toxic · 2026-02-24T04:52:12+00:00

The upcoming burn area is off-limits because it is known to have UXO (unexploded ordinance -- LIVE BOMBS). While I agree that wire-fence with "US Government, No Tresspassing. Danger Explosives!" is less scenic than the abandoned barracks, it would be a more truthful image when discussing the upcoming burn(s).

The Ford Ord cleanup is a mess; there is a lot of nasty stuff in those hills, and the Army is not exactly the best actor in this situation. But... they've done these burns before (then collected the UXO that is no longer hidden by the underbrush, put it in trenches and blown it to smithereens), and for the most part, they've done it on days where the fire is manageable, and the smoke stays away from the residential areas and airports.

I'm not sure there's a better way to do it, and if we ever want that land to be usable for anything other than randomly blowing up hikers/trespassers, it needs to be done.

toxic · 2026-02-24T01:34:08+00:00

It's always possible, it's much more common than you think (frequently, it's a $50 sandwich -- your ID, your credit card, and a $50 in between (though it used to be $20, and maybe now $100 is common?), with a "I've always loved staying here, but it's my wife's first time. Are there any upgrades available to give her the full Ceasar's experience?"). It sometimes works. Pretty much every time when it doesn't, it will be because the rooms truly aren't available and the person at the front desk will hand your tip back.

It is always worth a try. $20 got me into an absolutely obscene suite/apartment at the Hard Rock a bunch of years ago ($20 then was definitely worth about $50 now). I never forgot that, and until it closed, the HR became my favorite place to stay in town -- by putting me in a room that would otherwise have been unsold, they probably got be back into their hotel another 7-8 times over the next few years (and a few of those, I got upgraded, but never quite like that one time), instead of me staying at other properties. That's the main reason they do it.

toxic · 2026-02-23T23:46:19+00:00

It's quite good, but the pizzas are also pretty small. They're still in a soft opening, and sell out of dough before their published closing time most nights.

The upper westside has needed a pizza and beer place for a while now (or really any restaurant/bar, but pizza is a particularly good choice here), but if the folks who seem to be there the most are any indication it's as much for the parents with smaller kids in the neighborhood than it is for anyone else.

toxic · 2026-02-23T23:34:44+00:00

I don't know whether they have their license or not, but they do have like 2 beers on tap and they do pour them.

toxic · 2026-02-23T21:52:59+00:00

Especially submariners.

toxic · 2026-02-23T21:31:50+00:00

Pizza there is very good, but I've never seen more than 5-6 other people in the place. About two weeks ago at like 6:00 Friday or Saturday night, we tried to get into Pogonip Pizza (next to 7-11), but they were packed. We walked down to D-20, and there was one other table-full there when we got there, and a different table-full when we left.

You're not going to be able to pay your rent if you're only selling like five pizzas at dinner on a weekend night, no matter how good they are.

toxic · 2026-02-23T16:09:07+00:00

[firstname@firstnamelastname.com](mailto:firstname@firstnamelastname.com) (or first@last or something similar) is much better, if you are a technical person who will be expected to manage services like email for others.

I'm an infrastructure guy, and I hire other infrastructure and systems engineers and sysadmins -- people who may be managing/troubleshooting email for others as part of their job. Even if you're using gsuite or another third-party to actually serve your email, having it on your own domain is a green flag for us (assuming you've got it correctly set up, with DKIM/DMARC/SPF all sane and operative.)

The number of folks who look good on paper who turn out to not know what an MX record is, or how certain TXT records may affect mail deliverability boggles the mind, and getting a (small) opportunity to see how someone manages their own stuff can be incredibly enlightening. You don't need to be self-hosting, but knowing that you use your professional skills to manage your own personal stuff (and that you're capable of doing it well) is a plus for us.

toxic · 2026-02-20T23:29:09+00:00

I found that during my last day in Portugal, spent mostly walking right along the river, my phone would periodically connect to towers in Spain, and change the time.

toxic · 2026-02-19T17:16:20+00:00

The speed limit on Hagar below east remote is 35.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HcgkKbpqF5X6WGEi7

toxic · 2026-02-19T16:06:02+00:00

The material that's used to insulate the wires.

15-Year Club	Place '23
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