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[quote=scaredyclassic]i cant think of literally anything i dont buy with a credit card.

even my 2.00 double espresso.

it would COST me a lot of money to transact in cash. i spend maybe 35k a year on the 2% back card, so id be losing 700.00 by carrying cash.

still, i carry $100 for old times sake.

the only thing people will need cash for is legal weed, yard sales, and panhandlers.[/quote]
The way it actually happens with credit cards is an interesting study. Credit card charge transaction fees from 1% to 3% to all vendors accepting credit cards. Some credit cards also have yearly/monthly ‘management’ or ‘membership’ fees. Credit card companies have also fought any attempt for vendors to have different prices for credit buys vs cash (ie discount for cash transactions).

Therefore the 2% cash back might not be that great a deal with all things figured.. though it is a question as to who gets the shaft. Either way, the credit card companies come out on top.

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[quote=spdrun]Maybe we should thank G-d (haha) for the rural, armed Bible-thumping “mark of the beast” crowd in the US, who’d literally start a holy war if the government tried to force a cashless society.[/quote]

or for a national id card/chip/implant/mark of the beast…

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Every transaction has a fee attached.. like credit and debit cards. In the U.S. that fee varies between 1% and 3% – note that I am not talking about interest charges. It looks like Google/Android is forgoing such fees though.

NOTE: These ‘advances’ are not for the benefit of the people. China also banned crypto-currencies.

Note on WeChat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjkWpvOQnWQ
and on privacy: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/01/06/tencent_s_wechat_worldwide_internet_users_are_voluntarily_submitting_to.html

Technology, while nice, can be a double edge sword

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There can be a significant difference between a software engineer with 15+ years and 10+ years.

NOTE: Salary.com lists Software Engineer III at $116k [$104 – $128]

That said, salaries in Irvine, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana areas can be higher than normal. It is getting expensive to live there.

San Diego is 5 – 10K less on salary reports.

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[quote=harvey]
That’s some really pathetic deflection.
[/quote]
Not deflection. I pointed to references – avoided insinuations. As to this – first you say you didn’t…
[quote=harvey]
I never did attribute it directly to Trump. He’s the one that claimed he would end corruption with his hollow “drain the swamp,” along with with so many other ridiculous promises.
[/quote]
and then you did..
[quote=harvey]
If you really believe that it’s coincidental that this absurd “deal” in Puerto Rico just happens to involve some buddies from a small town in Montana then I have to say I’m rather impressed.[/quote]
I don’t accept that comments made in insinuation actually distance the author from what is said. You either said it or you didn’t — and insinuating is saying it.

Personally I would rather say anything directly instead of from behind the back of my hand..

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[quote=spdrun]Merits of the deal aside, I always chuckle at the phrase “draining the swamp.” A swamp is, in fact, a thriving, robust ecosystem. Draining one reduces it to a much less resilient monoculture.

Sort of what Trump is trying to do in DC, but I don’t think he realizes that the phrase is more apt than he intended.[/quote]
I don’t know if you would want to align DC to biological cultures – if so, it might be more like what may be found in a cesspool or sewer, which may have its uses – but one probably doesn’t want to drink nor eat from it. It would also not be healthy for anyone to walk through unprotected.

I think that sterilizing DC is better than to even allow a monoculture – or any other type of biological culture that only seeks to preserve its own needs.

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[quote=harvey]Lol, is there a point in there somewhere?

Two dudes who are pals with one of Trump’s cabinet members were handed a $300M contract for a business in which they have no track record, qualifications, or resources. No bidding, no diligence, no scrutiny.

The owners will easily take home at least $30 million, whether they perform or not.

This is third-world level crony capitalism, plain and simple.[/quote]
The point is simple, looks like you really didn’t thoroughly read the article nor what I wrote. No prob. Simple sound-byte is that this ‘crony’ capitalism was actually done by the “New Progressive Party” president and current Governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló and the current executive director of PREPA(Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority). Trump’s administration and Congress is currently putting the deal on review – calling Puerto Rico’s Governor and the current chairman of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in to Washington for a “talk” after the deal was signed between the Whitefish representative and PREPA’s executive director – Ricardo Ramos.

This crony incident does not smell of Trump. The details are all in the article – from which my supportive quotes also came. Don’t worry, at some point in time, one of his cabinet may invoke ‘pay for play’ or demand some crony’ing up. I would rather keep things straight than attribute every problem to Trump – there are enough problems to go around – so maybe its time to ‘share the love’- to twist a common phrase.

As for Whitefish’s experience, they have most of their experience with very high voltage (approx 250,000 and up) line work using helicopters in mountainous areas. They don’t have much experience with large contracts though, particularly the size of this one – nor lower voltage city and small regional lines.

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Reading comprehension, reading comprehension. A quote:

With the entire Puerto Rican commonwealth in bankruptcy, and the utility itself in default on $9 billion in debt, spending for the recovery is drawing scrutiny from the Trump administration and Congress. Gov. Ricardo Rosselló and José Carrión, chairman of the federal oversight board created to resolve the island’s long-running financial crisis, were summoned to Washington last week for a meeting with the Office of Management and Budget.

FYI, Ricardo Rosselló is the current governor of Puerto Rico – and president of the New Progressive Party. José Carrión is the current chairman of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico – recommended by House Speaker Paul Ryan. PREPA (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) is the one who made the decision to hire Whitefish:

The power authority, also known as PREPA, opted to hire Whitefish rather than activate the “mutual aid” arrangements it has with other utilities. For many years, such agreements have helped U.S. utilities — including those in Florida and Texas recently — to recover quickly after natural disasters.

Another interesting quote:

PREPA’s executive director, Ricardo Ramos, and a spokesman did not respond to emails asking why the utility didn’t activate the mutual-aid network. On a tour of the idled Palo Seco power plant, Ramos told reporters that Whitefish was the first company “available to arrive and they were the ones that first accepted terms and conditions for PREPA.”

Ramos said that the utility is “completely content” with the work Whitefish is doing. “The doubts that have been raised about Whitefish, from my point of view, are completely unfounded,” he added, saying that concerns about Whitefish were probably spread by jealous competitors.

Two comments here: ones that first accepted terms and conditions for PREPA? and jealous competitors??

The first one ‘terms and conditions’ sounds almost like some sort of kick back to Puerto Rican authorities and politicians – instead of just ‘git ‘er done’.

Jealous competitors sounds more like trying to divert attention.

Now some numbers – further down:
$330/hour site supervisor ($653,400/yr) – there will be more than one ‘site’
$227.88/hour journeyman lineman ($451,202/yr)
$462/hour subcontractor site supervisor ($914,760/yr)
$319.04/hour subcontractor lineman ($631699/yr)
Accommodation(per diem): $332/night, almost $80/day for food.

It also looks like most of the people doing the work may be native Puerto Ricans:

Whitefish said Monday that it has 280 workers in the territory, using linemen from across the country, most of them as subcontractors, and that the number grows on average from 10 to 20 people a day.

Looks like a lot of ‘padding’ there and I don’t think that the people doing the work are actually getting paid that. If we look at an earlier Whitefish contract – it was a DOE contract for replacing a ‘metal pole’ structure and splicing in 3 miles of new conductor and overhead ground wire (rewiring towers – for 3 miles) for a total of $172,000. This is a very low price for that type of work. Another previous contract was to Upgrade and replace part of a 4.8 mile transmission line in Arizona – for $1.3mil. I suspect that PREPA and other Puerto Rican authorities were looking for suckers for a little ‘pay to play’ – to be future billed to the US Fed and ‘hidden’ in all of the costs for Puerto Rico’s recovery. Whitefish is a fairly new and young company and likely a novice to dealing with entities that demand types of kickbacks (don’t do it, don’t tolerate it, report it)

NOTE: As also shown in the article, another engineering firm ‘Fluor’ has a $240mil US Army Corps contract repairing the power grid. I would have more questions of Puerto Rican authorities than of the Trump administration because the Puerto Rican authorities signed up Whitefish inspite of a current federal contract. I do wonder how much work ‘Fluor’ has currently accomplished.

The current Trump administration has many problems, there is no need to attribute something to them that really doesn’t belong to them or their fault. It almost looks like Puerto Rican authorities tried to continue their ‘slush fund’ at the expense of Puerto Rico.

BTW: Allowing someone to work as a ‘flagger’ on a construction site is not much of a perk, nor high paying job. – full quote to your section:

Whitefish Energy is based in Whitefish, Mont., the home town of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Its chief executive, Andy Techmanski, and Zinke acknowledge knowing one another — but only, Zinke’s office said in an email, because Whitefish is a small town where “everybody knows everybody.” One of Zinke’s sons “joined a friend who worked a summer job” at one of Techmanski’s construction sites, the email said. Whitefish said he worked as a “flagger.”

Another quote with respect to PREPA:

PREPA did not reach its agreement with Whitefish until Sept. 26, six days after the storm swept through. By comparison, the Florida utility FPL requested mutual aid before Hurricane Irma hit. The result was an army of nearly 20,000 restoration workers, including FPL employees, from 30 states and Canada at work on the first day.

On Oct. 1, FPL had teams assembled to assess damage in Puerto Rico. It posted notices in Spanish and English on its Facebook page: “FPL is ready to help Puerto Rico.” Florida Gov. Rick Scott mentioned the offer in a news release.

The Florida utility says it never received a reply. The Puerto Rican utility has not replied to offers of assistance from mutual-aid partners, according to the American Public Power Association, which coordinates such operations.

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[quote=FlyerInHi]I’m pretty health conscious. The other day I was stripping layers of paint off of a circuit breaker cover. Thick layers of paint that I think is toxic. Imagine an old house with layers upon layers of paint outgassing toxins.[/quote]

Old paint, and for most cases, paint past 1 year, does not outgass. In fact, the out-gassing of most paints ends when it is dry (except urethanes – which take weeks to cure ). However, if the paint is pre 1978, you may have a lead issue. That means any skin contact as well as dust inhalation..

An interesting side effect of California Low VOC requirements, is that I found that the Low VOC Urethanes California mandates take longer to cure than higher VOC Urethanes, and they don’t seem to be as stable.

NOTE: Interesting link on a Toxic Waste® gum: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/anneli-rufus/fda-toxic-waste-gum-is-to_1_b_841262.html

NOTE: One problem of too many warnings that are largely irrelevant, is that it increases the noise ‘floor’ to the warnings such that when it is an important and critical warning, it gets lost in all of the noise – and ignored.

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[quote=FlyerInHi]
The only issue you might have with Insurance or the city is you do work that requires a permit without getting one. You don’t need permit to change out a stove. But you do need a permit to replace a water heater.[/quote]

Looks like I did an ‘un-permitted’ water heater replacement over 1 year ago 8-P. Ironically, it was replaced about 5 years before that by a licensed contractor – who FORGOT THE SACRIFICIAL ANODE! He also didn’t know how to correctly attach the overtemp/pressure release valve (he connected it to where the sacrificial anode goes, instead of the correct location on the side at the top.).

Another interesting side effect is the replacement (un-permitted) water heater replacement is producing hotter water with less energy and is a much larger water heater than its predecessor – and this newest replacement cost us much less to boot – both heaters were same basic ‘style’ of heater. What is strange is the yellow sticker on the newer one shows that it actually burns a bit more energy to heat the water than its predecessor. I wonder if some of the manufacturers are gaming the gas consumption (therms) by designing their water heater to be unable to heat to a standard reference temperature for doing accurate fuel consumption calculations.

NOTE: Useful tools for doing the replacement if the water heater is located on the required elevated pedestal in a garage – a long arm engine hoist and straps/ropes to make a sling. It makes it a piece of cake!

And yes, some of the regulations get kind of excessive, almost nany-state’sh.

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[quote=FlyerInHi]
I see that iOS 11 no longer allow apps to access mac adresseses because developers were misusing to track.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/commit-a-crime-your-fitbit-key-fob-or-pacemaker-could-snitch-on-you/2017/10/09/f35a4f30-8f50-11e7-8df5-c2e5cf46c1e2_story.html?utm_term=.2b98d6042480
Andrew Ferguson, a University of the District of Columbia law professor, says we are entering an era of “sensorveillance” when we can expect one device or another to be monitoring us much of the time. The title of a law paper on the topic put the prospect this way: “Technology is Killing Our Opportunity to Lie.”[/quote]

Link to paper: http://scholarship.law.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=jlt

Interesting ref: http://inns.innsofcourt.org/media/148720/wearable_technology_february_team_handout.pdf

Looks like some reading time…

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[quote=svelte][img_assist|nid=26430|title=gun deaths per state|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=466|height=350][/quote]
From what I remember of that graph, you were able to zoom into an area within a state. Did you try Los Angeles?

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[quote=harvey]I’ve always wondered how an active shooter situation at a gun show would play out.

If it did happen and it spiraled into a mass group suicide, It would be difficult for me not to laugh about it.[/quote]
Darwin?

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[quote=njtosd]I love the first one of these, beer AND guns: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/guns-ads-1950s

Why, if guns were so widely available in the 1950s (and at other times) didn’t we have the problems we do now?[/quote]
I think we, as a country, have lost a few things; like tolerance, patience and civility. We have also gotten numb to what death means – in part from too many first person shooters, in part due to being ‘civilized’.

Prior to 1950,.. and even earlier, there was a greater percentage of people living on a farm, farms were smaller. You had to butcher your own meat, pluck and dress your own turkey – etc. Now everything is so neat and packaged without any thought of what went into it.

Death itself was closer – more personal. Our old lived with us, often in the house of one of the siblings. You would see the process and result of death. It wasn’t so sterilized and sanitized.

The other thing that happened is that kids used to have low powered BB guns – before they grew up and got real ones. The stupid would learn by non-fatal injury that the thing was not to be pointed/waved around mindlessly. (Some BB guns now have almost as much power as a short cartridge .22 cal)

[quote=outtamojo]You can say gun control don’t work but the flip side of Vegas was that gun proliferation as a defense didn’t work either. Open carry, legal automatic weapons – none of that resulted in a single bullet going the other way. Internet tough guy Bilzerian could not even squeeze off a shot http://www.denverpost.com/2017/10/03/las-vegas-shooting-dan-bilzerian-instagram/

Poor cops are going to get killed standing around trying to figure out who the bad guys are.[/quote]

They couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from – and therefore what/who to hide behind. Loud sounds echo between the buildings like crazy. The shot against the sniper would have required a good rifle w/ scope ie M24 Marine sniper rifle – because you would not want to hit anyone in adjoining rooms. It is good that no one tried to return fire with a handgun. Not many people carry around rifles. Vegas Police were pretty quick, but SWAT was slow. Distance between shooter and target was approx 1300 feet – about 1/4 mile.

I heard that the shooter wanted to buy tracer rounds. That would have actually worked against the guy because tracers leave a ‘trace’ from shooter to impact that is visible at almost any angle.

Most people I know who are proficient with firearms, don’t go around making a lot of noise. I like the quote about Bilzerian:

“Um, they got one of the guys,” he says, no gun in sight, all fury gone from his voice. “I’m headed back. I don’t think there’s much I can do.”

So he went home, leaving fans to wonder if one of Instagram’s most formidable stars was something different in real life.

I also have doubts about his claim to; ““Trying to go grab a gun,” he says in the clip. “I’m f– headed back. … Saw a girl get shot in the face right next to me, her f– brains hanging out.”” A 5.56 which it looks like he was using, usually does not ‘blow out’ or ‘blow off’ parts of bodies. The shell is just a little longer than a .22 cal, which is just a little larger than a BB (0.177 cal).

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[quote=harvey]Can we at least agree that underfunded pensions are caused by human activity?[/quote]
I thought it was lack of human activity that caused underfunded pensions, or ‘active avoidance’.

[Author]

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