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smokebomb

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by smokebomb

  1. Article about the report: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/oct/04/hans-niemann-chess-com-cheating-investigation-magnus-carlsen
  2. Here is video of the Tuned Mass Damper on Taipei 101 during the earthquake:
  3. NSIAP: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/09/13/americas-most-dangerous-dog-breeds-infographic/amp/
  4. No way Cheney runs in the General election as an independent. She despises Trump and wouldn’t want to give him the election by taking votes away from Biden. She might have an ego & be ultra-conservative but she won’t do anything to help Trump win. Either she wins the GOP nomination & faces Biden in November or she loses & attacks Trump via the Lincoln Project, etc. My guess is she is hoping that come ‘24, Trump won’t be able to run or will be severely weakened due to the mountain of issues he will be facing. If that is the case, she will be one of the early front runners in the GOP primary.
  5. SIAP but I found this video interviewing folks living in Clarksville before Mopac was built: A couple notes: 1. The crosstown expressway they mention throughout the film never got built. It was going to connect Mopac & I-35 via Enfield/15th street. 2. Seymour Washington, the blacksmith, was also featured in the segment with Townes Van Zandt in the documentary Heartworn Highways (trailer). 3. Apparently East Austin was still pretty rough in the 70s.
  6. smokebomb

    SpaceX

    Bezos trying to one-up Musk in one space related thing: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-to-be-on-blue-origins-first-human-space-flight-11623066174
  7. The cab industry killed the cab industry. Cab companies were so shitty that they had a government enforced monopoly & they still failed. Uber/Lyft will return to normal over the next few months once people feel more comfortable in enclosed spaces & as people roll off government assistance.
  8. Interesting info on mortgages this year: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mortgage-boom-is-fading-11620552780
  9. Article from two years ago questioning that paper: https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-the-truth-about-that-photo-of-mushrooms-growing-on-mars
  10. I've been thinking about this for a while so I now present my longest post ever: smokebomb's Austin Homeless Solution First - I think it is important to divide the homeless up into 4 distinct groups: People who are homeless due to circumstance and are trying to get out of it. This is the population that most people are the most sympathetic. People who are homeless due to mental illness. I would argue that this segment has the a lot of sympathy from the population as well. People who are drug addicts. This population has some sympathy but is lower down the chain. People who do not want to conform to societal norms or who just don't give a fuck. This is the segment no one cares for and who give homelessness a bad name. Rightfully so. This is important because we need to create a solution that focuses not on group 4 but groups 1-3. Fuck Group 4. We can help them but we don't have to cater to their lazy asses. My solution (and it has been mentioned by many others): Use the Home Depot at I-35 & St John's the city purchased over a decade ago. We don't even need the building - just the parking lot. With the Home Depot lot: Allow anyone to camp out in the parking lot - draw out 12x12 boxes and let people put up their tents. Even offer free tents to those who need them. Provide port-a-potties. Have them emptied daily. Maybe provide some outdoor showers. Provide police patrols and implement quiet hours. Arrest anyone dealing drugs as well as buying in the parking lot. Kick out anyone who is involved in a fight or who is disturbing the peace. Make it safe but don't focus on making it a place for PIs & pot busts. Provide dumpsters & create a trustee system to pay people to keep the area cleaned. Have doctors come weekly & provide checkups. Have social workers onsite daily to help with those that need it. Eventually use the Austin City Library and provide training The above ideas could be implemented in a week (except maybe the showers). Even if it took a few weeks/months, it would be a start. Once certain people have shown they can live in the lot and contribute (maybe through the trustee system?), put them on the list for the hotels / city-assisted living. Give those that are actively trying to better situation a much needed boost. With the social workers, maybe they can identify those that really need mental help and convince/guide them to the correct facilities. With drug addicts, maybe the social workers can help them achieve sobriety. Even it is just one, it is a win. For others, they will take advantage of the system. Some of these people will not follow the rules. That is fine - deal with them accordingly. Kick them out if they cause problems but let them stay in the parking lot if they don't. Some of these folks will not want to change their situation but if we offer them a place where they can live safely and not disturb other residents, everyone in Austin benefits. However, this alone will not solve the homeless issue because a one-size-fits all solution will not work. Some people will use the above assistance while others won't. It simply provides a first step but a first step that the city council so far as failed to even attempt. Now my Adler/City Council Rant: Telling people to just camp where they want to and ignoring the situation was not a solution. It was criminal for the mayor and the city council to think so and then not do anything in the last two years to address the issue. The fact that Adler tried to make it a Democrats vs Republican right before the election was almost as disgusting as the city's inaction. However, it was even sadder that voters fell for it. The best part of last weekend's election wasn't just Yes on Prob B, it was No on a strong mayor. This showed Adler that the city is tired of his schtick. Hopefully people come out in the primary and vote his grifting ass out of office or he will continue to push his bullshit, real-estate agenda.
  11. Just use the vaccine’s imbedded 5G. Duh.
  12. https://apnews.com/article/politics-immunizations-coronavirus-pandemic-2dde2aacf486bab59844ef907a28cbce Shit.
  13. Does FitLump even know that the city council is responsible for the camping situation?
  14. He is never finishing the GoT series... https://www.npr.org/2021/03/29/982364793/george-r-r-martin-signs-new-five-year-deal-with-hbo-and-hbo-max
  15. An overview of the recent drama happening on the Court of Master Sommeliers: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epd954/inside-the-court-of-master-sommeliers-wine-exam-cheating-scandal TL;DR - People got unrequested help on the final Master's exam, whole test for that block is invalidated, bunch of people lose their Master's level, Court covers it up. I always felt the Sommelier leveling system was a bit contrived and cliquish, so I am not surprised at how its being handled.
  16. Don't think it has been mentioned here, but I installed the Octoshop Chrome extension yesterday and was able to get a PS5 bundle at Gamestop today. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/octoshop-in-stock-alerts/ahajkaoongodcmoohkcceoklokapadfh?hl=en-US You tell it what product you want and what stores to monitor and it dings to let you know when inventory is available. I'm not normally a fan of these products since they could scrape all your browsing data but it was worth it and I deleted it after i was done.
  17. Is shutting off the water to my house at the street Sunday night a good or bad idea?
  18. You may want to contact the VA for your grandfather’s vaccine. A buddy was able to schedule an appointment through them in San Antonio for his 95 year-old, WW2 veteran dad.
  19. Chris providing his take on the situation from a few years ago: The Applewhite discussion begins at 30:25.
  20. The Austin subreddit has had plenty discussions on her but the impression I got was that the media wasn’t covering a lot of her antics because it would have been mainly “slut shaming”. I think her constant need for attention over half a decade speak to her character but then again, that appears to be the norm for most politicians today.
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