ToaKraka
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User ID: 108
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1mo ago
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In year 2012, Michael dies. His two sons, Dennis and Roman, don't bother to probate his will, so Michael's house remains titled in Michael's name. Dennis is left in charge of maintaining the house.
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In year 2017, the property taxes on the house are not paid. In year 2018, a company spends 7 k$ to buy from the municipal government the right to foreclose on the house.
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In year 2021, the company starts a foreclosure proceeding against Michael, and serves Dennis with the complaint. Nobody responds to the complaint in court, so in year 2022 the judge declares Michael to have defaulted, and the company successfully forecloses on the house by paying off the delinquent taxes of 55 k$. In year 2023, the company sells the house to a third party for 325 k$, yielding profit of 270 k$.
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Just a few days before the sale, Roman learns that the house has been foreclosed on. Months after the sale, a year after the foreclosure, and 11 years after Michael's death, Roman finally probates Michael's will, is appointed the administrator of Michael's estate, and in that capacity moves to (1) vacate the foreclosure because he had no notice of it and (2) recoup the 270 k$ of profit under the recent federal Supreme Court decision forbidding the "theft" through foreclosure of home equity in excess of the delinquent taxes.
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The trial judge denies the motion, and in year 2025 the appeals panel affirms. Service of the complaint on Dennis, who resided at the house, was proper. And the Supreme Court decision prohibiting "home-equity theft" is not retroactive.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
4mo ago
Court opinion, simultaneously hentai-adjacent and terror-inducing:
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A husband and a wife are sleeping in their bedroom. The wife, a labor-and-delivery nurse, is suddenly called to the hospital in the middle of the night, and does not wake up the husband to tell him that she is leaving the house. The couple's daughter has a nightmare and enters the couple's bed (an occasional, but not frequent, occurrence). The husband wakes up and attempts to initiate sex with the wife through digital penetration. Being half-asleep (a heavy sleeper with the disorder of sleep apnea) and in a pitch-black bedroom (with blackout curtains due to the wife's inconsistent sleep schedule), he fails to realize that the 37-year-old wife has left and the 11-year-old daughter (who is similar in size and shape to the wife, and has developed pubic hair) is there instead. After the daughter realizes what is happening, she fully wakes up the husband, who apologizes profusely for the accidental digital penetration.
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Three years later, the daughter confides in a friend that the husband accidentally penetrated her digitally. However, the friend thinks that the touching was intentional rather than accidental, so she reports it as a crime. The husband is charged with "aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under twelve", is found guilty by the jury, and receives from the judge the mandatory minimum sentence of thirty years in prison.
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The appeals panel vacates the conviction by a vote of two to one. The prosecutor presented absolutely zero evidence that the digital penetration was intentional rather than accidental, so no reasonable juror could have convicted the husband of the crime "beyond a reasonable doubt". (The dissenter thinks that the jury was perfectly entitled to disbelieve the husband's assertion that he couldn't tell the difference between a 37-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl.)
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
24d ago
Very interesting article: Under shadow of Trump warning, Africa pioneers non-dollar payments systems
Africa's push for local currency payments systems, once little more than an aspiration, is finally making concrete gains, bringing the promise of less costly trade to a continent long hobbled by resource-sapping dollar transactions.
The move by Africa to create payments systems that do not rely on the greenback mirrors a push by China to develop financial systems independent of Western institutions. Countries like Russia, which face economic sanctions, are also keen for an alternative to the dollar.
But while that movement has gained a sense of urgency due to shifting trade patterns and geopolitical realignments following President Trump's return to the White House, African advocates for payment alternatives are making their case based on costs.
"Our goal, contrary to what people might think, is not de-dollarisation," said Mike Ogbalu, chief executive of the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System, which allows parties to transact directly in local currencies, bypassing the dollar.
Africa's commercial banks typically rely on overseas counterparts, through so-called correspondent banking relationships, to facilitate settlements of international payments. That includes payments between African neighbours.
That adds significantly to transaction costs that, along with other factors like poor transport infrastructure, have made trade in Africa 50% more expensive than the global average, according to the UN Trade and Development agency.
It is also among the reasons so much of Africa's trade—84%, according to a report by Mauritius-based MCB Group—is with external partners rather than between African nations.
According to data compiled by PAPSS, under the existing system of correspondent banks, a $200 million trade between two parties in different African countries is estimated to cost 10% to 30% of the value of the deal.
The shift to homegrown payments systems could cut the cost of that transaction to just 1%.
Using currencies like the Nigerian naira, Ghanaian cedi or South Africa's rand for intra-Africa trade payments could save the continent $5 billion a year in hard currency, Ogbalu told Reuters.
Launched in January 2022 with just 10 participating commercial banks, PAPSS is today operational in 15 countries including Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Tunisia, and now has 150 commercial banks in its network.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1mo ago
A friend of mine, who is a retired engineer from PennDOT, said of speed limits that "they aren't suggestions; they're requirements".
As a civil engineer: LOL.
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If a road has a posted speed of X mi/h (Y km/h), its actual design speed on which the civil engineers base all their designs is (X + 5) mi/h ((Y + 10) km/h).
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When a civil engineer designs a curve, he can't make the curve too tight, because the "side friction factor" between the pavement and a car's tires will be too small to provide the required centripetal force, resulting in skidding and loss of control. But the side friction factor that's used in design is based on poor weather conditions—ice, rain, et cetera. I don't have the AASHTO Policy on Design in front of me at the moment for the exact numbers, but friction obviously is a lot higher on a dry road than on a wet road, and therefore you can go a lot faster quite safely.
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A hill, or a roadside forest on a curve, may block your view of an upcoming intersection or crosswalk. You probably learned in your high-school driving class that your "stopping sight distance" increases with the square of speed, so you do want to slow down at these locations. But these claustrophobia-inducing segments don't really have anything to do with your speed on segments of the road that have good visibility.
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Obviously, at high speeds it's harder to keep your car going where you want it to go. I personally don't feel comfortable driving faster than 75 mi/h (120 km/h), or 80 mi/h (130 km/h) if I'm in the left lane of a three-lane freeway and there's somebody right behind me. But I don't bear much ill will toward people who flash past me at 90 mi/h (145 km/h) in the left lane when I'm in the middle lane (of three).
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
5mo ago
There has been some discussion of the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) area recently. Does anyone have any opinions on this proposed reorganization of that region?
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1mo ago
Personally, I don't even remotely enjoy juggling around a zillion different names (IRL, ToaKraka, a single-purpose name that needs to be active only on certain rare occasions, a single-purpose name that used to be active but now is inactive due to my lack of energy/willpower, a few single-purpose names that are inactive but can be used if necessary…), and I wish that I could just operate under a single unified identity. But I feel like your analysis goes too far. None of my pseudonyms tries to project a unique personality. They speak with exactly the same personality—just on different topics. Your analysis applies, not to "everyone", but only to those public figures who actually try to project unique personalities on social media.
Also, you forgot to link to the definition of "becoming a deranged parody of oneself", flanderization.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
6mo ago
Gundam Battle Operation 2 gameplay: 42-Year-Old Gamer and Spider-Chieftain
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1mo ago
Possibly relevant link: AI Child Porn Will Probably Save Real Children
Child porn is created when people get paid to make child porn. The rarer you make it, the more they get paid. The best way to protect children is to kill the economic demand. Flood the market with AI generated, freely accessible stuff that's created with zero harm to kids.
This is by far my most controversial tweet, for reasons that are now obvious to me but were not at the time I tweeted it.
People somehow have interpreted this as me supporting child sexual assault, which is confusing to me but makes more sense if I model people as being LLMs that get triggered if you say too many negatively-flavored keywords too close together.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
6mo ago
IIRC (I probably don't): A while ago, a user on this site kept posting about how he was going to be dropped off by helicopter with nothing but a knife in an isolated location as a way to forge himself into a real man or die trying. The isolated location was Hock Mountain, so he called this escapade "the Hock". The moderators eventually banned him for being a single-issue poster, since he kept talking about it but never actually did it.
Random opinion from the US Tax Court:
During the years at issue Mohamad Nasser Aboui was the sole shareholder of HPPO [Corp. Autoville Motors], an S corporation for federal tax purposes. HPPO owned several used car dealerships. Mr. Aboui formed HPPO in 2009 by consolidating multiple used car lots that he owned. He contributed $5,167,089 of used cars to HPPO for its starting inventory.Most of HPPO’s customers had poor credit. Many did not have checking accounts and paid HPPO in cash. Often HPPO used the cash to pay its employees and other expenses and did not deposit it into HPPO’s bank accounts. HPPO offered in-house financing to its customers. It financed approximately 90% to 95% of its sales and retained security interests in the cars. When HPPO financed a car purchase, it reported the sale price as income in the year of sale.
Customers repaid the loans in less than 10% of HPPO’s sales. HPPO repossessed approximately 25% of the cars within three to four months of purchase and approximately 50% within one year. During the years at issue HPPO was unable to repossess over 250 cars after the buyers stopped making payments. When HPPO repossessed a car, it typically was in worse condition than when HPPO had sold it, sometimes with serious mechanical issues from the buyer’s failure to service the car.
HPPO bartered with mechanics for repair services in exchange for rental of HPPO’s garage space or as payment for the purchase of a used car. Mr. Aboui started using the barter system to recoup equipment and other costs that he incurred to set up HPPO’s repair services. Typically, the cars that HPPO sold to the mechanics were older and required too many repairs for HPPO to fix for resale. The mechanics submitted invoices for their services. HPPO reported the invoiced amounts as expenses and also reported the related income.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
8mo ago
It is worth pointing out that the Kingdom of Canada is still technically a vassal of the British Empire, so pressing the claim would mean with war with the top liege and all his vassals, which probably include nuclear Gandhi.
(1) It is somewhat interesting to note that Victoria 3 has introduced a new tier above empire, called "hegemony". (It reminds me of my abortive attempt to make a Crusader Kings 2 mod with all the titles shifted down by a step, so that "mega-empires" like India and Rome could be on their own tier separate from regular empires like Bengal and Italy.) In-game, India is a hegemony, Britain is an empire, and Canada is a kingdom. Personally, though, I think it makes more sense to call Canada an empire, with each province afforded the dignity of kingdom status in the federation. (The USA's states, with their tradition of "dual sovereignty", definitely should count as kingdoms.)
(2) Canada is not a vassal of Britain. Rather, the title is still personally held by Charles himself, though he has delegated the administrative minutiae to local steward Trudeau. Call it a personal union. (India does count as a vassal.)
What benefit will you have if your plumbers and doctors and teachers can go about their lives high as kites without any legal repercussion or stigma?
If a plumber, doctor, or teacher causes injury or damage due to being intoxicated on the job, he can be sued for negligence in civil court, even if the intoxicating substance (whether alcohol, marijuana, or some other drug) is legal.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
2mo ago
"Legalized prostitution is good"? For every independent escort charging rich businessmen $5000 for a dinner and a gentle romp there's multiple women turning tricks for their pimps in exchange for a small cut of the profits and a daily dose.
This sounds like a strawman. What about the middle of the curve—the prostitutes who are neither desperate streetwalkers nor luxurious escorts, but merely work for reasonable wages in clean, legal brothels?
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
3mo ago
The Supreme Court orders "wrongly" deported man to be returned to the US
That's a gross exaggeration of the order's actual text.
(1) The district judge ordered the government to "facilitate and effectuate" the alien's return by the end of April 7. The government appealed.
(2) Chief Justice Roberts issued an administrative stay so that the Supreme Court could consider the appeal.
(3) The April 7 deadline expired and became moot. The Supreme Court refused to reverse the rest of the order, but instead merely vacated and remanded so that the district jude could clarify what "effectuate" means, since it "may exceed the District Court's authority" (by forcing the US government to negotiate with the El Salvador government).
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
6mo ago
Please remember that "50 percent plus 1" is an incorrect description of a simple majority. Robert's Rules of Order edition 10 § 44:1:
The word majority means "more than half". For example (assuming that there are no voters having fractions of a vote, as may occur in some conventions):
- If 19 votes are cast, a majority (more than 9.5) is 10.
- If 20 votes are cast, a majority (more than 10) is 11.
- If 21 votes are cast, a majority (more than 10.5) is 11.
"More than half" is not the same as "at least 50 percent plus 1". Assuming integer votes, if 19 votes are cast, "more than half" = "more than 9.5" = "at least 10", while "at least 50 percent plus 1" = "at least 9.5 + 1" = "at least 10.5" = "at least 11" = wrong.
What is your favorite puzzle game? Tetris? Puzzle League? Klondike? Minesweeper?
I recently started playing Puzzle League (specifically, emulated Tetris Attack), and I have to say that it's the most fun I've had with a video game in a while.
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Tired: Camping out at the electronics store to buy the latest underpriced graphics card
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Wired: Camping out at the govt.-owned liquor store to buy the latest underpriced bourbon whiskey
"It's really crazy. People are climbing into delivery trucks to look around, stalking clerks, sneaking into storerooms. Sometimes they will line up before opening just to be the first to ask whether there's anything new," said the press secretary for the PLCB [Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board]. "We want to give the average Pennsylvanian the opportunity to buy a once-in-a-lifetime bottle. We don't jack up the price, and we don't make it hard to find."
Through the Attestations, the PLCB showed that Pennsylvania's bourbon-whiskey enthusiasts have a strong desire to lawfully purchase bourbon whiskey at the PLCB's [govt.-owned liquor] stores, causing annoyance and inconvenience. With regard to a "risk of physical harm to or the personal security of an individual" [sic], as required by [the law], the Attestations provided mere speculation. Therefore, we conclude that the PLCB failed to meet its burden of establishing that the requested records are exempt from disclosure under the personal-safety exemption.
When will people learn that high prices are better than shortages?
New J*rsey has joined the surprisingly wide ranks of states that impose no sales tax on precious-metal bullion. However, capital gains on bullion remain taxable by both state and federal governments, despite one federal representative's efforts (1 2).
Project Gutenberg was ready for Public Domain Day, and released a rendition of All Quiet on the Western Front.
At the time of writing, a /pol/ thread claims that this passage, in which Vance admits to masturbating with the lubed interior of a rubber glove held between two couch cushions, was in the first edition of his book, but was deleted from later editions.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
3mo ago
From New York comes an interesting demonstration of how intestate succession works when all the decedent's close relatives are dead, forcing the administrator of the estate to search for distant relatives. If I cut out a bunch of supporting evidence, it looks like this:
Gary S. Stomporowski, a bus driver in the Town of Cheektowaga, died intestate at the age of 68 on September 26, 2021, leaving an estate valued at approximately $250,000.
Decedent's nearest living relatives were a maternal aunt and numerous cousins on both the maternal side and paternal side. Letters of Administration were issued to two of those cousins—Diane Sikorski, a paternal first cousin, and Tina Niespodzinski, a maternal first cousin.
At the kinship hearing, three witnesses testified: Tina, Diane, and Timothy Deck, a genealogist. I find all witnesses' testimony to be credible and persuasive. Five exhibits were entered into evidence, including a binder of documents compiled by Deck.
I find that that decedent was not married at the time of his death.
I am able to conclude, based on the totality of the evidence before me, that decedent had no children and the class of children can be closed.
Under the totality of the circumstances, I find that both of decedent's parents predeceased him, and the class of parents can be closed.
I am satisfied that decedent had one sibling, Timothy, who predeceased him, and that this class can be closed.
Based upon the testimony of Tina and Diane, I find that the class of nieces and nephews is closed.
Included in the Genealogist binder were copies of death certificates for both paternal grandparents: Isadore died on September 23, 1928, and Michaeline on March 4, 1959.
Based upon the totality of the evidence before me, and based upon the thorough research conducted by Genealogist Deck, I find that decedent had four paternal aunts who all predeceased him and the class of paternal aunts and uncles can be closed.
I conclude, based upon the evidence before me, that Sandra and Diane, both claimants herein, were the only children of Aunt Stephania and Bronislaus.
I find, based on the evidence before me, that Dennis, Kenneth, and James were the only children of Aunt Frances and Victor, and that all three survived decedent and are claimants herein.
Based upon the totality of the evidence before me and based upon the thorough research conducted by Genealogist Deck, I find that decedent was survived by five paternal first cousins, Sandra, Diane, Dennis, Kenneth, and James, and that the class of paternal first cousins can be closed.
[Maternal grandfather] Frank died on May 28, 1964, according to the death certificate included in the Genealogist binder. Despite the absence of a death certificate, I am satisfied that [maternal grandmother] Anna predeceased decedent.
Based upon the totality of the evidence before me and based upon the thorough research conducted by Genealogist Deck, I find that decedent was survived by one maternal aunt, Agnes. All of the other maternal aunts and uncles predeceased decedent, and the class of maternal aunts and uncles can be closed.
Et cetera for 29 letter-size pages in total. In the end, more than three years after the decedent's death: each of five paternal first cousins gets one-tenth of the estate (1/2 ÷ 5); a maternal aunt (who died while these proceedings were ongoing) gets one-fourteenth (1/2 ÷ 7); and each of 16 maternal first cousins (of whom one died while these proceedings were ongoing) gets 3/112 (1/2 × 6/7 ÷ 16). (The divisor of seven comes from the one inheriting maternal aunt plus the six dead maternal uncles and aunts who were the parents of the 16 inheriting maternal first cousins.) Note that attorney fees (in an amount still to be determined) will also have to be paid to the lawyer who was appointed by the judge to serve the interests of the non-Diane/Tina heirs as "guardian ad litem".
If you want to prevent all this rigmarole from happening when you die alone and unloved, write a will! (Don't forget to check your jurisdiction's laws, too. Some jurisdictions require witnesses for a will to be valid, but others do not.)
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
4mo ago
A different commenter has suggested getting a fraudulent marriage. But I do kind of wonder how blurry the line is between a fraudulent marriage and a real marriage.
Q: I see that you, a natural-born US citizen, have married this random Indian immigrant in the UK after just one visit to the UK. Naturally, you must understand that this makes us feds suspicious.
A: Sure, we met in person only once before marrying. But we actually have known each other for many years on a niche Internet forum. He impressed me with his fluency in English (though he does tend to use italics a little too often for my taste). And his actual substantive opinions are not far off from mine. I decided to meet him in person, and very quickly realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.
Q: Our investigation indicates that you have never before exhibited homosexual (or, as the kids say nowadays, homoromantic) tendencies. We have the court file showing that your ill-fated high-school crush was on a girl, not on a boy. Why the sudden shift?
A: Actually, I have always had some homosexual tendencies, particularly for cute twinks, though I have never acted on them. My new husband does not necessarily fit that profile too well, but I have made allowances for his physical shortcomings, given his great mental prowess. We take turns fucking each other in the ass on alternating nights. Also, if you have my court file, then you should know that that old crush was Indian as well, just like my husband.
Does anyone have the text of the [restraining order]?
It's document 6 on this page.
Pending the hearing of the States’ application for a preliminary injunction, the defendants are:
(1) restrained from granting access to any Treasury Department payment record, payment systems, or any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees, other than to civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties within the Bureau of Fiscal Services who have passed all background checks and security clearances and taken all information security training called for in federal statutes and Treasury Department regulations;
(2) restrained from granting access to all political appointees, special government employees, and government employees detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department, to any Treasury Department payment record, payment systems, or any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees; and
(3) ordered to direct any person prohibited above from having access to such information, records and systems but who has had access to such information, records, and systems since January 20, 2025, to immediately destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from the Treasury Department’s records and systems, if any.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
5mo ago
This website seems to be frequented by a lot of mentally ill people. Let's discuss the torture that is life!
In late 2022, I started to feel a confusing lack of happiness and willpower. There was no apparent reason for me to feel bad. I was making zillions of dollars at work, was acclaimed as the most diligent and most innovative employee in my office, and was on track to retire at age 33. But the enjoyment that I was able to extract from my hobbies (primarily, playing video games and converting PDF and print books to HTML) and my tolerance of work gradually dwindled. I tried going to bed an hour earlier than usual, drinking more water (even though it tasted disgusting) rather than my usual drink of grape juice mixed with seltzer water, and taking relaxing walks of three to seven miles (five to eleven kilometers) on weekends. But those efforts had no effect. By late 2023, I was experiencing intermittent testicle aches and literally 24/7 headaches (both of varying intensity, from mild to severe), and semi-frequently couldn't even force myself to work after sitting down in my cubicle. After searching for possible headache causes online and getting a testicle ultrasound that revealed nothing suspicious, I was forced to conclude that I must be suffering from depression.
My doctor prescribed 5 mg/d of escitalopram to me. After a month, no effect was apparent, so the dosage was increased to 10 mg/d. And the clouds parted! My headaches and testicle aches receded to the background, and sometimes even disappeared entirely. I regained the ability to feel happy and to tolerate the taste of plain water. The only side effect was perhaps a month of intermittent severe stomachaches before those too receded. I genuinely felt like the Zoloft blob.
My willpower still is trash. I would say it has recovered from one-third of normal to two-thirds of normal. (I just upgraded today to the maximum escitalopram dosage of 20 mg/d, since the headaches have been returning a bit. I didn't do so previously because I was leery of having the severe stomachaches return.) But I just have to hold out for two more years so that I can retire, embark on fifty years of undiluted relaxation in my custom-built house, and finally recover enough willpower to convert the entirety of For Want of a Nail (including all the footnotes and bibliography entries) to HTML!
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
9mo ago
an ms13 gang member
The alien claims that the govt. has presented no evidence that he's a member of any gang at all, let alone MS-13 in particular.
why was an [illegal alien] being legally shielded from deportation
The alien claims: in his hometown he was targeted by a gang; the persecution persisted even after his family moved three times (though only a 15-minute drive away each time); and sending the alien out of the country was the family's last resort. The immigration pseudo-judge believed that claim and granted withholding of removal. The govt. did not appeal that determination.
In the biggest Hilbert-curve subdivision, the distance from the center to the nearest edge is 8000 feet (2400 meters) in a car versus 2000 feet (600 meters) as the crow flies (or on one of the pedestrian paths proposed by another commenter). Is that such a huge price to pay for an ultra-quiet neighborhood?
@Felagund
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