I think it would be more useful to dramatically increase taxes on unoccupied or AirBnB properties. Increase penalties on slumlord behavior. Similar things to gently (or not so gently) discourage people from hoarding residential real estate.
Otherwise, if someone was renting my house and they wanted to buy it at $100/month, it would probably take more than 800 years to buy (if I could afford to get it into shape to maximize the appraisal).
I’m just going to drop this here:
it has pedals like a bicycle
Are you taking about the Aptera from the video you linked?
If so, the Aptera doesn’t have pedals like a bicycle. It’s a fully electric vehicle (or it will be if it reaches production).
As I understand it, it isn’t sunlight, but distance.
If a child spends all its time indoors focusing on nothing farther than the walls, myopia will result.
Because ignoring genocides is what the world does.
“This is frightening! Someone like me afraid of heights might just wet myself up there!” wrote one Chinese online commenter.
If you’re afraid of heights, why the hell would you be up there? Wrong turn on the way to the corner store?
What they thought was that they had come up with a way to move the checkout cashier job to people in India so they wouldn’t have to pay minimum wage workers in the U.S.
Pretty stupid idea, but it seems to me that it was just Amazon trying to ship jobs overseas to cut labor costs. Perhaps they thought eventually they’d be able to use AI to screw over the Indian workers too.
They only answer I’d ever give.
Buitoni Instant Pizza
Israel has decided to implement a “final solution” to the “Palestinian question”.
While I don’t disagree, I have a point to make.
Recently watched a home movie of our kids when they are little (18 years ago), so ages between 3 & 8.
It was a little horrifying to hear the absolute despair in our voices as my wife and I kept asking one kid after the other, “please stop.”
Three kids, all desperately trying to get ALL the attention. It’s amazing the five of us survived.
I don’t particularly recall the day the video was made. Hearing our voices, it sounds like we were just completely past the breaking point. Yet, consider: that was a moment that we considered adorable enough to record forever. Watching it now, they were adorable. However, it sounds like we were dying inside without realizing it.
I hear the same voices in every video. I love my kids and I love being a parent, but it’s amazing looking back how much that and all the other demands on us was just absolutely crushing the life out of us.
Well, I think it’s not about what we want at all. It’s about what they can get away with while not affecting the CEO’s compensation.
We’re just the livestock they harvest money from.
According to the article, it’s the payment processing system.
Actually, now I’m thinking I’ve forgotten how it’s supposed to work. I’ve been trying to sit in a chair and use a table.
Maybe I should be sitting on the floor.
Might need some help standing up again.
After years of my family saying I’m too difficult to buy gifts for, and me saying, “What the hell are you talking about? Just get me LEGO!”, one of my kids got the message and has been getting me LEGO sets for Christmas every year.
It might have started when I bought myself the Cinderella Castle set.
The only problem I have is I’m 53, not 13. Sitting hunched over a pile of LEGO bricks for hours leaves me in pain. I need to come up with a space where I can play without injuring myself.
One of my teachers in high school (around 1986 or 1987) said that the Russian people were incapable of freedom. He said they wanted & needed an authoritarian ruler.
At the time I thought he was just buying into propaganda, but I’ve been thinking he may have been right.
But then, it’s starting to look like a huge portion of Americans don’t value their own freedom either. At least, they seem to be willing to trade their freedom for ensuring that the people they don’t like will suffer.
When we painted our house. We got estimates from a dozen different companies. I asked them all what kind of guarantee they offered. All but one responded with, “there’s no way to guarantee paint”
The most expensive guy said the paint came with a 10 year guarantee and he’d guarantee the workmanship for 8 years.
He explained that he used a probe to test the moisture content of the wood, and wouldn’t paint it unless it was dry enough for the paint to adhere properly.
While he was painting the house, he came to me to explain that he was having trouble with the front porch. The roof was leaking and he was concerned it would never dry out enough. He said he’d do his best, but he was sure it wouldn’t work
With the exception of the porch, we got a good, solid 15 years out of that paint job.
Of course, we’ve needed to repaint for 10 years, but we can’t afford him anymore :-(
Edit: it cost about $17,000 in 1998.
It’s funny people talking about how things are done in the U.S. and giving different answers.
It would sort of be like saying how it works in the E.U., then describing how the process works in France.
In Pennsylvania, you have to be 16 years old. Initial permit and 4 year license costs $45.50
You need a physical and a form filled out by the doctor.
You need an adult to fill out a form, then you study the drivers manual. When you’re ready you go to the DMV, get a vision test, and take a knowledge test. If you pass, you’re issued a permit that allows you to drive with an adult driver supervising you.
You have to wait six months before you take the road test. You’re supposed to drive for 65 hours driving at different times, in different weather, different traffic, different roads, etc. However, it’s on the honor system. When you take the driving test, the driver who had been supervising you fills out a form stating that you’ve completed the 65 hours. I suspect the vast majority of parents just lie.
When you’re ready for the road test, you discover that now the true challenge begins: scheduling the test. They tell you to schedule your road test for six months after you get the permit, but I can’t imagine anyone would be able to get 65 hours of driving done in 6 months. So, if you can’t manage that, you have to schedule the appointment when you can, and that is another miserable task. The DMV open appointments at 4am, and they’re all taken by 4:01am.
We managed to get our oldest tested at e DMV. He failed during the parallel parking because he didn’t realize he could back out and try again. The examiner told him after he failed that he could have tried up to three times. When he retested, he passed.
When we were going through this with our next child, we paid a driving school to administer the test. The price included a 1 hour refresher course in one of their cars, then another instructor took him out for the test.
In my case, I did do the 65 hours driving with two of my kids, and it was brutal. It’s tough finding that much time. For my last child, the pandemic hit as she was at about 20 hours. I had to work longer hours, and it was tougher finding time to drive with her. We ended up renewing her permit, then eventually had to re-take the knowledge test and start over.
By this time, she was over 18, and I wanted her to have her license so she could drive at college. I took her to a driving school. I described the situation, and they recommended they take her out to see how she does. After the evaluation, they gave her a list of things to practice, and we spent a few more weeks driving, then she went to the school to take a road test and passed. I never got to 65 hours with her, but by the time she got her license she no longer had to do the 65 hours because she was over 18.
If you’re under 18, you get a junior license. You’re not allowed to drive between 11pm and 5am, and you aren’t allowed to have more than one passenger who is under 18 unless they are family. After six months, you’re allowed to have up to three non-family passengers under 18.
When you turn 18, the junior license becomes an unrestricted license.
Edit: forgot to mention: my dad (age 85) told me that when he got his license, he took the knowledge test, passed, immediately took the road test, passed, and got his license the same day. That would have been 1954. Of course, he had been stealing his dad’s car for joy rides since he was 13, so he had some experience driving.
The only worse choice for CEO is Chambers. She had a valid reason to just fire his ass. If he’s not willing to do what he’s told to do, then he’s not willing to do his job. It looks to me like the board wanted to get rid of him for reasons that had nothing to do with cancer. Why reference the cancer at all?
I have the feeling the only reason they didn’t just get rid of him was because of the cancer diagnosis. Trying to be “nice”. But even if the cancer was the reason for not just cutting him loose, there’s no reason to bring it up.
How does the CEO not know referencing the cancer would expose them to liability? Did they not sit down with their lawyers before sitting down with him?
Now they’re probably going to lose in court and be forced to pay him off.
They should fire Chambers.