TAG

TAG, 19 days ago

It is an asymmetric relationship. The landlord only cares if a tenant can be trusted to pay rent and not trash the place. On the other hand, the tenant is getting a service (shelter and upkeep) from the landlord.

Like other service providers, an aggregate rating is probably more appropriate. Some people are fine as long as they have a roof and indoor plumbing while others rate 1-star if the water takes a minute to warm up. Some tenants care about kitchen appliances while others care about an updated bathroom. Some like to be woken up by the first rays of sun while others want a dark room to sleep in. It is important for tenants to both get a good aggregate of a landlord’s quality but also understand if the landlord’s faults are ones that they care about.

TAG, 25 days ago

As mentioned in the article, now Tesla is scrambling to rehire them. I am curious how many will come back, how much of a premium they will want, and how many will stay long term. It makes sense to take the offer (especially if it comes with a better salary), wait for your former colleagues to find jobs, get some feedback from them about companies, and then jump ship.

TAG, 2 months ago

Douglas Adams is undoubtedly one of the greatest writers of the period.

He is known for light, surrealistic science fiction comedy, not a genre generally considered “high art” but his mastery of language is superb. He is a master of analogies in a way that is both funny but also makes the reader think about the roles and conventions of symbolism in language.

TAG, 3 months ago

Note, that is not 154 random people on the street. That is 154 US academics specializing in presidential politics, a much smaller total population.

TAG, 4 months ago

As someone born in the Russia, I support Zelensky looking at the old borders of the Kievan Rus.

TAG, 4 months ago

Sorry to poo poo the wholesomeness, but you should not be selling your possessions to buy an engagement ring. You should be buying a ring that is within your income to afford. An engagement ring is definitely one of those “it’s the thought that counts” purchases. If it is not, that is a massive red flag.

TAG, 5 months ago

Just keep going about my daily life. The result of the election is not going to change where I live or where I work. The Federal Government doesn’t have much of an impact on my day to day life, beyond federal laws and regulatory agencies. I don’t see those changing in an (immediately) catastrophic way. Most of my day to day life is determined by my state and town government.

TAG, 6 months ago

Trees are great on sidewalks, but it is much easier to control the weight of an algae tank if you want to make a green roof for a building.

TAG, 6 months ago

Serious question, why not? Do they produce some harmful flicker or something?

TAG, 7 months ago

StreetPass was a super cool feature. I used to take my 3DS on the subway with me and see how many new Miis I would get. Too bad there is no equally cool replacement for the Switch.

TAG, 7 months ago

That is why Anikin was too old to be trained as a Jedi. Not because he was too old to learn how to fight, but because he was too old to be brainwashed to be a warrior monk. He had ties to the outside world. If they had started his training at birth, he would have no worldly ties to hold him back.

And before anyone calls me out on it, I have not consumed any Star Wars media other than the first 6 movies. I am well aware that I am pulling lore out of my butt.

TAG, 7 months ago

My wife always gets mad when I point out that the dog sits around all day, demands the food off of her plate, and constantly interrupts her when he is bored or wants attention, but she spends hours doting over him and praising him. I, on the other hand, work all day to sustain our lifestyle, spend a lot of my “leisure” time doing chores around the house, and am mindful to be polite, but I barely get a hug and “I love you”.

…

For anyone who is in doubt, I mean it in jest. I don’t need constant reassurance and reward to keep being a responsible adult. Also, though she will not admit it, she knows the dog is much cuter than me.

TAG, 8 months ago

I would agree in principle, but there are a few issues that need to be resolved:

1. What would be the borders of the new Palestinian state? Both sides feel that they have a legitimate claim to the complete combined territory and neither is too eager to compromise.
2. The Israelis say that if they lift their blockade of Palestine, the Palestinians will import weapons and start a new war. It does not help that the Gaza strip is currently being governed by Hamas, a group designated as terrorists by many countries (including the US and Jordan). They claim that the extermination of all Jews is the will of Allah. Not really a group you can negotiate with.
3. Both governments are using the tenuous peace to stay in power. They have no desire to solve the issue.

TAG, 8 months ago

The airlines are right, pilots should not have to pick between flying a plane that they don’t think is safe and having to authorizing refunds for passengers… they should be able to call an airline safety whistle blower line so that an independent safety officer can take a look and ground the airline for not maintaining their airplanes.

Seriously, how can airlines argue against it? They are saying that they will pressure pilots to fly death traps? I think airlines would be ashamed to have airplanes in such condition.

TAG, 8 months ago

There is almost a thought pattern under which his proposal makes sense: if you cut taxes, families will have more money, day cares will be able to charge more, and will be able to hire more staff. I assume that the tax cut he is proposing is a general income tax cut and not an increase to child tax credit for very young children, so the tax cut will cost the government a lot of revenue but a small portion of it will go to the families it is supposed to help (this can either be a good or bad side effect, depending on your views on issues like taxation, social services, etc).

It primarily falls apart because the people who are in most need of help paying for child care (and tend to be most dependent on it) are lower income people. They are also the people paying the least income tax, so they are even less likely to get any (real) money from an income tax cut.

TAG, 9 months ago

So happy that some years ago we shut down the “grass roots” campaign for our city to host the Olympics. Supposedly, it was demanded by the masses, but the only people who expressed any demand for it were real estate moguls and sports arena owners.

TAG, 9 months ago

Landlords do have to pay an income tax on property regardless of whether it is occupied or not, it is just that when a property is not being rented, it generates 0 income and 30% of $0 is $0.

Do you mean some sort of land appreciation tax?

TAG, 11 months ago

If only there were people in this world who would want to come to our country . Heck, we could set up a system where employers can post jobs that they have trouble filling and we could match up people outside country who can fill that need. Then, if those people turn out to be decent and moral, we can let them stay in the country permanently.

It is too bad that everyone outside of the country is a foreigner who wants to steal jobs.