Alabasata
11mo ago
I'd be curious to hear why Captain DeJearnette deserves similar disdain for having a red headstone. Unless both of them simply paid extra for a custom piece.
Alabasata
1yr ago
Electric - A new 20A circuit dedicated to the microwave, toaster oven, and possibly food prep items (e.g. mixer, food processor). Proper grounding for the existing 15A circuit feeding the overhead lighting, front porch, and ceiling fan. Moving the 50A cable to match the oven's new location. Moving other 15A outlets to match new geometry of kitchen.
Physical - Tearing up 3 layers of tile and replacing with LVP (original floor is pine & not fit to refinish). Opening up the kitchen by replacing an L-shaped wall (blocking view of the front door) with a straight wall. Building a P-shaped peninsula with oven cutout on the top of the P and an extended counter for the leg. Knocking out a window-shaped hole on the opposite side of the peninsula to make a garden window over the sink (for year-round herbs). Moving the refrigerator to a different location on the wall and building a proper 2-cabinet pantry in its place.
Finally, moving the swamp cooler from the new location of the refrigerator to the roof of the house & building ductwork to match.
I'm not gonna be done til around April/May at the rate I'm going. Which is perfect timing for the new swamp cooler to activate.
Alabasata
1yr ago
What's the virtue in balkanization, and how do you balance that against becoming a smaller power compared to your neighboring countries?
Alabasata
1yr ago
Any recommendations for open source or free programs to draw electrical schematics? I'm working on remodeling my kitchen and there will be some major changes. New 20amp circuit, new ground wire, stuff like that.
I could MSPaint or hand-draw it, but I also want to add to my resume.
Alabasata
1mo ago
If you focus on the gaps, you'll see gaping maws everywhere. An incel may see all the reasons why they're undateable. A Black-pilled HBDer may see themselves as inherently slower.
If they can't start with seeing themselves from their strengths, they are unlikely to grow into the best they can be.
I know many retired E-9s of color. The oldest is a Vietnam veteran. He needed help taking the placement test in the way his white peers did. After he got that help, he did the right thing and passed it down to his mentees. It's not just innate intelligence that gets passed down, but also experience. Experience, expectations, and emotions.
There's a strain of community activism called Asset Based Community Development. Like many programs, they started with the initials (ABCD) and made a bacronym. Unlike many other programs, they prefer a bottom-up approach. They assume people, all people - limited though they may be - have put in the work to get good at something. Good enough that they should be valued.
I don't know what your life goals like like. You may not reach the intellectual & career heights of people that we write about. (SPOILERS: most of us here won't either.) But if you can operate in your zone of excellence, and help a brother or two get at least half as good as you are - that's still a life of positive impact.
Alabasata
1mo ago
If I remember right, the law claims there is no such thing as consensual sex in prison. It's just selectively enforced by the wardens to minimize the effort needed to maintain control. Having a zero tolerance policy for prison rape creates more work, so is naturally opposed by the wardens.
Alabasata
2mo ago
For an Anti-capitalist Psychology of Community by Nick Malherbe. (ISBN: 3030996956)
Trying to find textbooks for my neighborhood organization that could be used as 'best practices'. This is certainly not going to be one of them. I've never read a community psychology book in full before. Mostly because I wouldn't normally be introduced to this text until I've gone through a full undergrad program. Which ain't happening, lol.
After a scan of Intro To Community Psychology - and seeing their stated core values - I was not surprised that the field would be Left-dominated. Figured I might as well hear experiences from the source as they saw it. It is obvious from the get-go the book would be explicitly anti-neoliberal and anti-capitalist.
It was not obvious this person would seek to (a) be upfront that anti-capitalism & community psychology as movements had inherent contradictions (b) celebrate those contradictions in a "I contain multitudes" sort of way. Nor that he would call out other anti-capitalist works as primarily fatalist in nature - seeking to close on a hopeful note himself. (I have not made it to the end. No telling what the author believes is hopeful rhetoric.)
The writing style is...not great. The overuse of in-the-field phrases ends up creating semantic satiation more than clarifying any points. And yet, it isn't nearly as dense/absurd as Sokal Squared would attempt to create. This is probably not written for a layman like myself. But I can understand the general thrust of the topics contained within so far.
I'll probably get around to finishing the book this week and moving to anodyne on-its-face works like "Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and Community Engagement" or "Cultural and Critical Explorations in Community Psychology: The Inner City Intern". Culture War addicts will get a kick out of titles like "Decolonial Feminist Community Psychology" and "The Taliban's Virtual Emirate: The Culture and Psychology of an Online Militant Community".
Alabasata
2mo ago
This is interesting to me because I am also on the board of a local nonprofit. However, we are a neighborhood organization - not a mission-based org. The dynamics are going to be different because entryism is kinda-sorta desired on my end.
I can understand how a mission-based org wants to protect entryists from threatening the ability of the org to handle the tasks at hand. Sometimes they require specialized skillsets or networks, and access to those things must be a high priority. If they are good at maintaining a pipeline to keep around people with those skills dedicated to the mission, then they should be in good shape for years to come.
On my end...well, since my neighborhood is not an HOA, this org requires buy-in from residents to function effectively. Currently, less than 1% of residents are dues-paying members. It is safe to say that even though the neighborhood org makes statements to the city about zoning changes & attempts to oust the elected city councilor - they do not enjoy much support from the neighborhood itself. One bad round of flu could wipe out half the board due to advanced age, leaving the org little choice but to shut its doors. If the org is to survive its founding leadership, they must find a new generation interested in taking over the reigns. And the generational & demographic politics of that turnover is going to be quite interesting.
We are not in the same shape as @Rov_Scam 's org. Nowhere near. Entryists are not necessarily "barbarians at the gates" to all groups. Just specific ones.
Alabasata
4mo ago
The last time this happened to me, it was for temperature-related reasons. We were outside below 60F, and taking off my shirt was a bad move. Blood rushed to where it needed to go, not where I wanted it to.
If you're indoors, it couldn't hurt checking to see if you need to turn up the heat in order to turn up the heat.
I joined because I bought a house in the neighborhood. I'm not from here, and this is probably the best I can do as far as what I can afford. (Six years later, I'm priced out of buying in this neighborhood. There's nowhere cheaper to move to within an hour's drive.) Might as well figure out how to help make where I'm at the best that it can be.
Looking for podcast recommendations on neighborhoods. So far the only ones I've found care about infrastructure & city planning (e.g. Strong Towns, Not Just Bikes). Nobody I've found wants to talk about relationships at the neighborhood level.
It makes sense that real estate podcasts won't due to steering laws. But I'm surprised that I haven't found anybody has taken up this topic yet.
Alabasata
10mo ago
Had my first workplace injury in a very long time. The short version is, I twisted my ankle hard enough to put a hairline fracture in my talus. There are a great many doors this experience opened for me.
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How much it sucks to go through workplace insurance to get medical care. There are 2 open urgent-care facilities within cycling distance. I drove past at least 10 open urgent care units to get to the first one that was in-network. It shouldn't be this hard.
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This is my first week-long vacation at home in years. I've been able to see so much more of my neighborhood. There are a lot of things I could like about it if I were around more often. This is another reminder that I need to figure out how to get into a line of work where I can stay mostly within 5 miles of home. Also a reminder that keeping connections in the neighborhood is still very, very important.
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I've been able to catch up on some house cleaning & repairs. Also created a template spreadsheet for future real estate investing.
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My employer will have me on light duty next week, which could give me the opportunity to actually make connections with the office & sales staff. Hoping to make impressions that I provide value in ways more than the trade they hired me for.
RATING: 7/10, would break my foot again.
Alabasata
4mo ago
Unfortunately, "none of the above" is not an option at the polls. Until that's the case, my default option is "someone will win this election, and the consequences of who wins is directly proportional to my likelihood of voting".
Alabasata
4mo ago
I'm a fan of absurd YouTube titles. It mixes the routine of the "same old workout" with "new thing to hear". Keeps the boredom at bay.
Alabasata
4mo ago
This sounds like a great time to talk about our panics when dating.
Here's a fun one for you. Have you ever been out for a drive with a woman, limp as a wet noodle, and it is only after she leaves that you get erect? This happened with one woman who I met while hawking meats at a grocery store.
Have you ever had your leg suddenly shake uncontrollably when both your pants are off? This happened with a woman that I used to know back in my freshman year of high school, that I reconnected with in my early 20s.
Have you ever accidentally eaten so much at a date, all your blood rushes up into your stomach - leaving you unable to escalate the rapport? This happened after meeting a woman on a flight home from a job interview.
Guys, I have fucked up so much due to anxiety and inability to predict my own biology. It's kind of a wonder I managed to have kids at all.
If you're failing, at least it means you're trying.
Alabasata
8mo ago
Back in the 1970s, they saw sitcoms presenting the Hapless Husband. They listened to "Paradise By The Dashboard Light". They read about Billie Jean King's challenge and David Bowie's trysts. This isn't terribly different from gender roles and non-conformity today. Heck, you could go back to Chaucer's Wife of Bath. How different have things really gotten since then?
I suspect you'll see more of the same. People seeking novelty will gravitate to the Gender NonConforming (GNC). People who wish they had more will fight for their side of the fence. People concerned about keeping what they have will play concern troll. Professors will abuse their authority, and schoolmarms will abuse theirs. The cycle will remain unbroken.
Round and round we'll go - until medical tech figures out stuff the smut-writers on Fictionmania.tv have been dreaming about for decades. Now that will be a fun wrinkle.
Alabasata
1mo ago
We are kinda in an anomolous time. The ratio of median home price:median income is in uncharted territory. Granted, this is a national ratio, so local market movement is a huge factor.
Without major amounts of extra supply coming on your local market or an exodus when Lake Mead runs dry, I don't see a regression to the mean happening any time soon. It's a hard choice, given your increase in housing cost.
Alabasata
1yr ago
The War on Christmas will continue until the merchandise retreats from November.
Alabasata
4mo ago
Seth Kaplan's "Fragile Neighborhoods". Heard him interview on a couple of my podcast subscriptions: Stacking Benjamins and Strong Towns. Surprisingly easy to breeze through the first 50 pages where he makes his case. But it's only easy because it's either referencing a whole bunch of stuff I've already heard before or telling stories I'm inclined to believe. For instance, Trump's support in the 2016 primaries being heaviest among the disconnected and disaffected, and the unsourced claim that most money America spends on foreign aid doesn't end up where it's supposed to go.
This would probably be a much different experience if I were to take the time to backtrace all of his citations. I am not that sort of man these days. But I am noting that I feel like he's saying things I should look deeper into, because something is probably being smuggled.
But that was Part 1. Part 2 ought to set the stage for where to work in neighborhoods, and Part 3 plans to tackle the how.
Alabasata
6mo ago
I wasn't reading comics when Dave Sim went over the deep end during his Cerebus run. But I did see Ishida skew his views over the years. And Jon Schaffer go from "historical re-ennactment" metal to 6Jan attender. I guess if you're going to be playing with ideological tropes in your day-to-day work, you're likely to get changed by them.
I - for one - am thankful I never made a career out of being creative. Probably would have been at least as insufferable as these folk.
Alabasata
11mo ago
Friday is my last day as an 811 utility locator. There are a lot of reasons I'm leaving the job behind: contractors abusing the free service, no reasonable opportunities for additonal training or advancement, out-of-touch upper management. I am accepting a position as a engineering locator that is a double-edged sword: I'm effectvely taking a paycut because there's less overtime available.
Thankfully, my budget is at a surplus of $1500/month, so I can currently afford the hit. However, I ought to figure out how to do more valuable things...and I am just at a complete loss on a path forward.
If there is anyone else here who is construction-adjacent and can offer some advice on how to clear six figures within 5 years, I'd love to hear it.
Alabasata
4mo ago
So I've made a lot of headway into my local neighborhood. Next month, I'm set to join the board of my neighborhood organization. I'm replacing a member who has too many commitments. (Note: this neighborhood does not have an HOA, so membership is voluntary.) I'm also the volunteer webmaster, so thankfully I get to structure how our online real estate looks and feels.
My goals as a board member are twofold:
- Provide good reasons to be a member.
- Replace the membership that has dropped off in the past 10 years. We just built a bunch of apartment complexes; surely some of them are civic-minded enough to want to participate.
Out of curiosity: what would be some good reasons to join a group that reviews building permits, holds open meetings with bureaucrats and local elected officials, and serves cheap chicken dinners to dues-paying members?
Hell of a selling proposition, I know.
Better yet, what more would we need to do to make it worth leaving your residence on a Thursday night? Y'know, instead of being here on The Motte with you fine folk? 🙂
Alabasata
6mo ago
I was one of the one-term-and-done enlisters, like my forefathers before me. Back in the 00s, we had similar problems with the anthrax vaccine. I think the strangest side effect of that round of shots was a new allergy to eggshells? I'm sure there were probably worse that existed, but this was what my cohort experienced. Most of the people who were most vocal to me about anthrax were also the least fit. I noticed this, got the shots, and kept my opinions to myself.
A 9/11 joiner in my circles literally walked away from retirement due to the Covid vaccine. While I do not agree with his decision, he approached it with an honor that I can respect. He also went through the anthrax bit, so I will eventually need to remind myself of his change in position.
I wish I could give more than anecdotes, but that's all I have to give.
I and another new member are well aware that the status quo is not attractive. I am probing the other board members to find out where their curiosities & passions are. They used to have tables at city-permitted events, but that dropped off years ago.
One thing I'm thinking of is using the speaker as a platform to reach out to people further down on the career pyramid. As an example, in April we'll be having the city's parking manager presenting. This could be useful for people working as traffic control, as valets, as meter maids, et cetera. We have local nonprofits literally training people off the street for these entry-level positions a mile away from our meeting location. This is a working class neighborhood, and this could attract those whose aspirations aren't yet smothered.
The intended message: "He started from the bottom, now he's here. You can learn from his example. We're capable of bringing in Top Guys. You want access? We make it happen." This can increase the range of speakers in the neighborhood beyond just civil servants and new arrivals.
This is just one example. There are more, but I'll wait for another time to add them.
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