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Larry T. Spider

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Everything posted by Larry T. Spider

  1. Much appreciated. We were thinking about going in August or September, unless you would recommend against it. I know August will be more crowded. Early October is also fine but would likely mean the beach clubs are closed. Viareggio is close to Florence and accessible by train. Lucrino is accessible by train from Naples. Pescara is a little further from Rome but I don’t mind the 3.5 hour train ride. Open to any other options you would recommend because I know nothing outside of some Google searches. I value simplicity over having the perfect experience since we are first timers.
  2. Superintendents won’t publicly say this, but they don’t want to ask the taxpayers to pay for these mega-complexes either. The problem they face is the rapid population growth/movement in Texas. New families are coming in and deciding where to live, and schools are a big part of that decision. A former superintendent I worked for called it the “drive by test” when families would scout out an area and be wowed by all the expensive ass facilities. If all your neighbors are building this stuff, then you are at risk of being left behind. With funding tied to attendance, it’s not worth the risk for them.
  3. Not much movement yet, but it can take a while for all the water to make its way to the lakes. The drought has been so bad in the areas that drain to the highland lakes, the land will suck up a lot of this rain.
  4. I think it’s part book banning/maga hell raising but it’s also that these types don’t have answers for the real problems. People that show up to these elections understand the challenges with funding, staffing, test scores, growth/decline in student enrollment, etc. When voters are frustrated because districts can’t hire bus drivers so routes are getting cut, they don’t give a shit about some book their kid is never going to read. When art and music classes are getting cut, people don’t care about fake litter box hoaxes. When half of the teachers being hired are uncertified, people want solutions.
  5. Thanks. What time of year was this? I’ve seen the question asked so many times but rarely a good answer.
  6. I follow Williamson county pretty closely and it had been trending more blue over the last 15 years. I personally think it will continue to trend that way despite Trump winning here in 2024. Whatever Trump tapped into at a national level applied here, but didn’t trickle down to Cruz. Donald J. Trump (50.21%) Kamala D. Harris (47.71%) Ted Cruz (47.85%) Colin Allred (49.32%)
  7. Texas will go as the burbs go. Cities are blue, rural is red, burbs swing the state. Especially true for inner ring burbs. The trends were looking good for Dems until the last presidential election. Will be interesting to see if that was a blip on the radar or something more significant.
  8. They already fucked their small towns for eternity with the voucher bill.
  9. Turnout > changing people’s minds
  10. I don’t give a damn about soot until they cut down every invasive cedar tree. F the warblers.
  11. I know administrators that have had to release public statements saying they do not have litter boxes in their schools. It was actually a campaign issue in Round Rock a few years ago and the district had to release a statement. It reads like an onion article. https://www.kxan.com/news/local/williamson-county/tables-not-being-lowered-for-furries-rrisd-responds-to-candidates-twitter-claim/amp/
  12. The Uber situation was very predictable and I was warning about it on here 8 years ago. Driver pay was continually cut to the point that desperate immigrants living in their car and methheads are your main driver candidates now. Drivers used to get 80% of the fare. It varies now but 45-55% seems standard. This will get fixed when self driving cars are the main option.
  13. Was wondering if anyone has experience with Italian beach clubs. We don’t need anything high maintenance, just an umbrella with 2 beach chairs and drink service. Hoping for some good options within a few hour train ride of Rome/ Florence that would let us book ahead online. I’ve found getting useful info on this much harder than flights, hotels, trains, etc. We haven’t book flights yet because we want to make sure we can get a few beach days in and our travel schedule is very flexible.
  14. Worth it to check both for cost and estimated wait time. Takes about 30 seconds and there can be a big difference on both cost and wait. Main problem I’m having right now is that uber is flat out bullshitting on their wait time estimate unless I’m DT.
  15. My viewpoint on homelessness in Austin has become a bit cynical. First, these people are transient by nature so they are naturally going to gravitate to the areas offering more services. I’m all for spending more money on homelessness but it has to be on a state or national level. One city trying to do more than their neighbors will get a never ending supply of new people and there will never be enough money. Second, until we have properly funded mental health institutions that include drug rehabilitation, the most at risk population will stay on the streets. There also needs to be a compulsory part when people get to a certain point. I am highly sensitive to civil liberties concerns, but cycling people in and out of jail every 24 hours is no better. We need a plan for the most severe cases first. Third, where’s the MFing train lines that people voted for? If people are paying ungodly money for something that is being significantly scaled back and delayed, work on that first.
  16. Not sure how it is taxed but there is a ton of oil out there.
  17. Heaven?
  18. What year was this? It was being discussed by leadership in 2021 when we were so desperate for teachers. Most of their potential candidates would have to drive by 20 schools on their commute to an AISD school. Combine that with most suburban kids being easier to teach and the funding being better - it was a tough sell to come to AISD.
  19. With the looming budget shortfall, my partial solution has always been to close campuses, consolidate, and sell the real estate. It causes problems in various communities, transportation, and a host of other issues. It can also lead to further enrollment decline, which turbofucks the recapture calculations. However, you can get a one time cash infusion, reduce overhead, and stop maintaining some of the expensive old buildings. You also get kids into the bigger schools with more specialized services. Every time you close a school, you save the cost of principal, AP, music teacher, art teacher, PE teacher, cafeteria workers, custodians, librarian, and office staff. You don’t have to lay these people off, there are so many openings each year that can absorb them.
  20. Haven’t verified the accuracy of this, but it underscores the problems in trying to run two different districts at the same time.
  21. Do you even bonanza for America, bro?
  22. I’m pretty sure you missed the part of the conversation where we were throwing out scenarios where the lege steps in to fix recapture. Of course all the options are outlandish. I guess the use of “long shots” wasn’t sufficient. 🙄
  23. Houston ISD didn’t even have a recapture payment in 2023-24. Austin ISD paid over $ 11,000 per student. These situations are nowhere near the same.
  24. HISD isn’t in nearly the same situation as far as recapture, especially on a per student basis. The optics of republicans saving AISD is also different.
  25. The difficult issue for AISD is that they have to sell their schools as a good place to send your kids or else they lose enrollment. That makes the recapture situation even worse. However that masks a ton of problems that people should know about. Stuff like basic building repair. At my last school it rained inside when it rained outside and the kids were trained on where to put the trash cans. Not sure if the video will work. IMG_8107.mov
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