ToaKraka
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User ID: 108
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
5d ago
Astral Codex Ten's Non-Book Review Contest has one particularly interesting entry: Arbitraging Several Dozen Online Casinos. tl;dr:
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In most of the US, online casino gambling (labeled "iGaming" on this interactive map) is illegal. In order to circumvent this restriction, zillions of companies have seized on the same workaround that Japanese pachinko parlors exploit: users pay real money to buy "valueless" tokens that cannot be exchanged for real money (sweeps coins), and then use those tokens to gamble for tokens that can be exchanged for real money. These online casinos are known as "sweepstakes" or "sweeps" casinos.
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Recall that many traditional casino games have very low house edges. For example, "French roulette" (European single-zero roulette where you have only a 50-% chance of losing your money when you get the zero) has a house edge of only 1/74 (1.35 %).
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Apparently: (1) Just like gacha games, these sweeps casinos have daily log-in bonuses, averaging 0.5 $/d. So, if you sign up for 36 different casinos, and then use those free daily sweeps coins to play games with low house edges, you will make nearly 18 $/d for next to zero effort. (2) These sweeps casinos often have temporary sales for purchasing sweeps coins with real money. At 5 to 15 %, the discount rates for these sales usually vastly exceed the house edge. (3) If you exploit these sales, the casinos will see that you are spending a lot of money, assume that you are a gambling-addicted "whale", and give you even more bonuses. (4) At a normal casino, a credit-card purchase of chips counts as a cash advance, since those chips can be exchanged right back to real money. But, at a sweeps casino, a purchase of sweeps coins counts as a normal purchase of goods, since the sweeps coins cannot be cashed out before you gamble with them. So, at a sweeps casino, you can get your normal credit-card rewards of 2 % or more.
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According to the review, all these effects can be stacked to make 95 $/d by "working" for a single hour per day, which multiplies out to a very livable income of 35 k$/a—and that's assuming you don't use bots. (Some cursory searching indicates that the proper term for such strategies is "bonus hunting", not "arbitrage", and not to be confused with ban-worthy "bonus abuse" as defined in various online casinos' terms of service.)
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
8d ago
It appears that this murder occurred in an industrial part of the town of Pottstown, PA (23,000 people), not in the "hood" of Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.
Mildly interesting autopsy report related in a court opinion:
The trial court set forth the relevant facts and procedural history of this case as follows:
Ian Hood, M.D., an expert in the field of forensic pathology, performed an autopsy on [the victim, Joshua Smith, Appellant’s good friend.] The victim presented as a 25-year-old male, 5′11″, and 230 pounds. The doctor determined that the victim died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and neck. The most obvious injury was a gunshot wound to the neck, and the doctor opined that there would have been a lot of blood loss from this injury. Dr. Hood also testified that there was an unusual gunshot wound to the back of the victim’s head. There was soot and gunpowder on the hoodie that the victim had been wearing, indicating that the gun was only a few inches away when it was fired. Dr. Hood opined that this execution shot to the back of someone’s head would normally cause a victim to drop and die, but in this case the victim had an unusually thick skull, so that the bullet actually bounced off his skull and came back out. Putting this physical evidence together, Dr. Hood believed that the bullet to the victim’s head was probably the first wound, and then the victim was shot in the neck and ran 200 feet, pumping blood out of his severed arteries, until he went down where he was found.
The murder weapon was a Ruger revolver of a caliber not specified in the opinion. So feel free to assume it was .22 caliber and make jokes accordingly.
ToaKraka
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8d ago
Why does the rDrama engine insert paragraph
<del>breaks</del><ins>margins</ins>of different sizes?
I think it's some kind of weird interaction between margin-top:0;, margin-bottom:1rem;, the collapsing margins behavior, and the fact that the paragraphs (<p>) are inside list items (<li>).
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
11d ago
One failure mode of a good employee is where all your effort and good will for management is captured by your immediate supervisor, but then he doesn't advance you further up the ladder because you're so productive in your current role.
Some would call this a successful avoidance of the Peter Principle rather than a failure.
People in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
ToaKraka
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11d ago
I'm pretty sure there's a 4chan greentext about urban youths' conducting a cannon-broadside drive-by shooting.
(reposting to alert of major correction)
with the only indication being an extra "approve" item on the row of small, greyed-out text at the bottom of each comment
The moderators can use custom CSS to make the approve button more visible. For example, [data-bs-target="#reportCommentModal"]{font-size:2em!important;} makes the report button twice as big as the other buttons. (Not being a moderator, I don't know what selector will make the approve button bigger. I'm just using the report button as an example. From looking at the code, I think it might be something like [id^=approve].)
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
11d ago
(1) Slightly negative (weird, but not off-putting) (Insert Tim Pool joke here.)
(2) Neutral
(3) Negative (off-putting)
(4) Neutral
(5) Negative (Can't women wear "pasties" so that their nipples don't show through their shirts? If so, failing to wear pasties, so that people can tell you aren't wearing a brassiere, can be interpreted as intentionally being obnoxious. But I'm far from an expert on this topic.)
(6) Negative (is this person insane?)
(7) Negative (very weird)
(8) Neutral
(9) Negative (off-putting)
(10) I'm not qualified to opine on this topic.
ToaKraka
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12d ago
Blackman at the Volokh Conspiracy: Justice Kavanaugh to Second Amendment: We're Really Busy Now, Come Back In A Year Or Two
ToaKraka
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14d ago
And then the sheer fucking balls for the government to turn around and go "Okay, well, now we know that... but it doesn't help you."
To be more specific than my summary at the top of this thread:
- In general:
- The federal Supreme Court did not mention retroactivity at all in its opinion.
- The state supreme court has not yet determined one way or the other whether the federal Supreme Court's prohibition of home-equity theft is retroactive—whether fully or only in lawsuits that were still "in the pipeline" when the federal Supreme Court's decision was issued.
- In this particular case:
- Roman admitted that full retroactivity would be unworkable, but argued that pipeline retroactivity still should apply.
- The trial judge pointed out that pipeline retroactivity is not even available in this case, because the foreclosure process had already ended by the time the federal Supreme Court issued the opinion. The appeals panel agreed with this analysis.
So the question of retroactivity technically still is open, at least in this state (New J*rsey).
ToaKraka
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14d ago
The only thing I can think of here is to serve the house with info on the delinquent taxes before foreclosing. If that were done, I would have no sympathy whatsoever for the sons (Dennis certainly).
That's what happened in this case. A "pre-foreclosure notice" was sent by both regular mail and certified mail in July 2021, and then the actual foreclosure complaint was served in person in November 2021.
ToaKraka
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15d ago
Everyone (but Dennis) did everything by the book
I think Roman can also be blamed for failing to probate the will earlier. If the house's tenancy in common between him and Dennis had been properly reflected on the deed, then presumably the foreclosure complaint would have been served on him as well as on Dennis.
ToaKraka
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15d 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
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19d ago
Les Trois Mousquetaires
Don't forget to check out the sequels as well. Twenty Years After is reasonably fun, but Ten Years Later may put you to sleep.
ToaKraka
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19d ago
ToaKraka
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20d ago
Some would say that comparing people of different races in terms of attractiveness is like comparing apples and oranges in terms of taste.
ToaKraka
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20d ago
Quote from the opinion:
Cannabis, like alcohol, prescription medications, and certain over-the-counter drugs, can affect a lawyer’s ability to provide competent representation of clients. Lawyers may not use regulated cannabis in a manner that would impair the lawyer in the provision of legal services. It is also possible, depending on the specific nature of the representation, that personal cannabis use might create a personal interest that materially limits the lawyer’s representation of a client under Rule of Professional Conduct 1.7(a)(2), or the ability to provide independent professional judgment and render candid advice under Rule of Professional Conduct 2.1, but these would be fact-specific determinations and not per se ethical proscriptions.
ToaKraka
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22d ago
Somewhat esoteric court opinion:
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In conducting Internet searches, you probably have encountered a situation where (for example) you search for "Amazon", but Ebay appears at the top of the results page (prominently marked as "sponsored"), above Amazon itself. This technique is known as "competitive keyword advertising".
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If lawyer John Doe sets up competitive keyword advertising against fellow lawyer Jane Smith—so that, when someone searches for "jane smith lawyer", John Doe's website appears at the top of the results page (prominently marked as "sponsored"), above the website of Jane Smith herself—has John Doe violated the lawyers' code of ethics by "making false or misleading communications" or "engaging in dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation"? In June 2019, the state ethics committee (not the state disciplinary board, but a committee set up by the state supreme court) says the answer is "no".
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In May 2020, the state supreme court agrees to consider the state bar association's appeal of the ethics committee's determination. In November 2020, the state supreme court remands the matter for thorough investigation under a special
<del>master</del><ins>adjudicator</ins>. In June 2024, the special master finally submits a report agreeing with the ethics board that competitive keyword advertising is not a violation of the lawyers' code of ethics. -
In May 2025, the state supreme court issues an opinion mostly agreeing with the special master's conclusion (by a vote of four to one), but adding one extra requirement: in order to prevent confusion, whenever a user clicks on an ad that uses competitive keyword advertising, the ad's landing page must explicitly state that the user has entered the website of John Doe.
Taken to its logical conclusion, the dissent's reasoning would bar commonplace advertising practices. For example, under its view, an attorney who purchases a keyword like "Newark divorce lawyer" despite maintaining an office in a nearby suburb would be engaging in deception simply because the ad appears in response to a search regarding Newark. That approach would improperly conflate strategic visibility with dishonesty, effectively discouraging attorneys from using lawful digital tools to expand access to their consumers. This form of advertising is not misleading. It is standard competitive marketing aimed at reaching a broader audience. We therefore do not reach the dissent's First Amendment analysis.
(Bonus: Using marijuana is legal under state law but illegal under federal law. The lawyers' code of ethics forbids lawyers from "criminal acts that reflect adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects". Is using marijuana a violation of the code of ethics? The state ethics committee's answer is "no".)
ToaKraka
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23d ago
Is there an ongoing genocide against white South Africans? Reuters says there isn't.
Among the claims contradicted by the evidence:
(1) There is a genocide of white farmers in South Africa.
Supporters of the theory point to murders of white farmers in remote rural parts of the country as proof of a politically orchestrated campaign of ethnic cleansing, rather than ordinary violent crime.
They accuse the Black-majority led government of being complicit in the farm murders, either by encouraging them or at least turning a blind eye. The government strongly denies this.
South Africa has one of the world's highest murder rates, with an average of 72 a day, in a country of 60 million people. Most victims are Black.
The high court in Western Cape province ruled that claims of white genocide were "clearly imagined and not real" in a case earlier this year, forbidding a donation to a white supremacist group on those grounds.
(2) The government is expropriating land from white farmers without compensation, including through violent land seizures, in order to distribute it to Black South Africans.
The government has a policy of attempting to redress inequalities in land ownership that are a legacy of apartheid and colonialism. But no land has been expropriated, and the government has instead tried to encourage white farmers to sell their land willingly.
(3) The "Kill the Boer (farmer)" song sung by some Black South Africans is an explicit call to murder Afrikaners, the ethnic group of European descent who make up the majority of whites and who own most of the farmland.
Three South African courts have ruled against attempts to have it designated as hate speech, on the basis that it is a historical liberation chant, not a literal incitement to violence.
In a statement following the meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa, the EFF said it was "a song that expresses the desire to destroy the system of white minority control over the resources of South Africa" and that it is "a part of African Heritage".
(4) Trump played a video clip that showed a long line of white crosses on the side of a highway, which Trump said were "burial sites" for white farmers.
The video was made in September 2020 during a protest against farm murders after two people were killed on their farm a week earlier. The crosses did not mark actual graves. An organizer told South Africa's public broadcaster, SABC, at the time that the wooden crosses represented farmers who had been killed over the years.
(5) The opening scene of the White House video shows Malema in South Africa's parliament announcing: "People are going to occupy land. We require no permission from ... the president." It also shows another clip of him pledging to expropriate land.
Some land has been illegally occupied over the years, mostly by millions of desperate squatters with nowhere else to go, although some land seizures are politically motivated. The land is usually unused and there is no evidence the EFF orchestrated any land invasions.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
23d ago
The actual fix for US 130 was the construction of I-295. What remains is only residual problems.
By no means has US 130 been fixed. The buildings are so close to the traveled way, and the lanes are so narrow (because, many decades ago, it was converted from two lanes with a shoulder in each direction to three lanes with no shoulder in each direction), that those buildings regularly get hit by errant cars. And there are so many driveways, and the state govt.'s right of way is so narrow (especially after space has been reserved for sidewalk), that even putting up guide rail to prevent these crashes is impossible.
To be fair, IMO it isn't a totally useless word. There is value in differentiating between a generic "urban arterial" road and an "urban arterial" that specifically favors long-distance travel while giving nothing but lip service to local access and pedestrians, where a limited-access road that doesn't even try to accommodate local access and pedestrians would be safer. Compare US 130 in Pennsauken, NJ (awful unfixable grandfathered design), with NJ 70 in Cherry Hill, NJ (much better).
t. civil engineer (roadway, not traffic, so not really an expert on this topic)
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.
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