An ad for what?? Red Bull?

Curious what your preferred streaming box is, considering changing my Android TV so that it launches to HDMI, disconnect from internet, use a streaming box that isn’t as slow and has a hardwired connection instead.

The Jurassic Park one was pretty good

What kind of system do you have? I have a small one I used to use for hydroponics and currently just filling a gallon here or there to use in things like humidifiers that are problematic for hard water.

The way mine works wastes a TON of water and takes FOREVER. Around 30 mins to fill a gallon, all while shooting the rest of the water right down the drain into the septic/leach field. At least with a leach field that water will eventually make its way back into the ground… but every time I use it I think about the 3-1 waste of water and the fact that my area is technically still in a drought.

I don’t think the congressional districts are actually relevant to the electoral college, but the # of electoral votes is based partly on how many congressional representatives the state has, which is based on the state’s population.

Most states award electoral votes solely based on the popular vote of that state. So if 5,000,001 people vote Democrat in California and 5,000,000 vote Republican, all of California’s electoral votes go to the Democrat.

Many people would like to see gerrymandering ended, but I don’t think many people want to see congressional districts eliminated entirely. Congressional districts ensure that different parts of the state are represented in congress. For example, in a state like Massachusetts if the congressional districts were eliminated, then probably all of the representatives would hail from the Boston area which is the most densely populated.

In fact, one way that the negative impacts of the electoral college could be partially eliminated is by using the congressional districts as electoral districts, as described here: Congressional Districts as Electoral Districts

This would result in more states awarding partial electoral votes, but would have downsides such as allowing gerrymandering to influence the presidential election instead of just the congressional elections, and it would still technically be possible for someone to win in the electoral college but not in the popular vote.

The best way to eliminate the electoral college in my opinion is for more states to award electoral votes proportionally. So in the California example above, half the electoral votes would go to the Democrat and half to the Republican.

Hades feels like this to me. In fact the game dialogue seems to enforce this. I guess that’s why it’s considered a rouge-lite?

I agree, but this is related to the drawing of congressional districts and not related to the electoral college for presidential elections. So this is relevant for determining which party controls the House of Representatives, doesn’t affect how many electoral votes for president California has or how those votes are awarded.

I wonder if this is related to localization. In some languages, Fuck You and Thank You would not have the You in common.

Warm white 2700-3000k is fine for bedrooms Soft white 3500k is better for awake spaces that aren’t task spaces White/Daylight 5000k+ is for getting things done, I use them in the garage, the basement, and for some of the kitchen lights

I used to hate integrated LED fixtures, but I put in under-cabinet lighting that can switch color temp so that is nice because I can set it to daylight during meal prep and warm during eating.

That sounds pretty nice, I have some devices compatible with Matter, but mostly I have Amazon plugs right now. I guess it’s not too late to start switching to Zigbee plugs.

I’ll probably start by just disabling the microphone on the Alexa devices and just control devices through my phone’s assistant or the app, so at least it’s not listening to me all the time.

She seems like the kind of person who isn’t capable of reading a paragraph so would just tune out when she sees one. (Yes, many of these people have somehow graduated highschool AND college and have made it into the workplace!)

I have gotten so used to this it’s going to be tough when I inevitably excise Alexa from my life due to surveillance capitalism.

QA prodigy

Do Democrats want universal public health insurance? Or does the left want universal public health insurance?

I’ve learned to recognize these fly-by-night “brands” that sell generic chinesium and then disappear before people figure out they are selling junk. For many things I’m buying on Amazon, I’m looking for some sort of established brand name that has a website and some videos on YouTube.

I’m also very aggressive about utilizing the returns system. If it’s crap, it’s getting returned. Thankfully the returns process has been more or less painless, don’t even have to box them up anymore, just bring them to Staples.

For desk chairs specifically, I recommend this brand. I know, the brand and website looks like it’s designed to cash in on AI hype, but I’ve had their ErgoChair Pro since before ChatGPT was a thing: https://www.autonomous.ai/office-chairs

I’ve also learned to buy more from local stores, even if they are national chain big box stores, simply because they will NOT continue to stock garbage if people keep returning it. I’ve found that ACE hardware tends to have better quality stuff than Lowes/Home Depot.

For cheap online purchases, I think some of these sellers understand that people are less likely to return online purchases, so they don’t have as much of a disincentive for selling junk.

If you end up with a small amount of chips and dip left, just dump the small pieces into the dip and eat it with a spoon like cereal.

One of the Democrats opposed to shutting down the government to hold ICE accountable said something like “the reality is that we need to be in power to fully address this”. Ok… but people won’t vote for you in the midterms if you don’t use the tools at your disposal to address this NOW.

A one day general strike across the US would be an amazing achievement. If we can pull that off it’s a great place to start. Would a more sustained effort have to be planned? Probably, but being able to achieve this shows that the people are serious about this and the threat of a more sustained strike can be taken seriously.

It always seemed obvious to me that the real criminals here are the owner class who are exploiting undocumented immigrants. They didn’t want to give amnesty because that would mean they would have to follow rules such as minimum wage, etc. They have a business incentive to keep these people “illegal”. Of course these people overwhelmingly vote Republican.

Also, if conservatives don’t want refugees here, perhaps they could stop supporting US interventions in Latin America? Oh, and why not do something about climate change too because that will create even more refugees?

I’ve had people complain to me about how many Puerto Ricans there are in the area… my friend, you realize that Puerto Rican are Americans and that is because of imperialism right? The people of that island likely didn’t ask to be colonized by Spain and then ceded to the US.

It hits a little different when Trump, Vance, and Noem are telling these agents that they have ABSOLUTE immunity from prosecution.