TheBailey
soapy mop
No bio...
User ID: 3254
TheBailey
soapy mop
1mo ago
While I thought "hey, wait a second, this idea of women raising children without fathers is not new. We're up to 40% of children born out of wedlock, disproportionately among the poor and non-white. Why aren't you talking about that?"
That's a serious enough complaint I think it overcomes the threshold for being “just whataboutism”. My day-to-day quality of life is impacted (for the worse) infinitely more by the class of people who grew up fatherless by some “natural” process of death or human attraction than it is by the class of people who grew up “technically fatherless” by the fact of surrogacy.
I would be interested to see folk like @Corvos from this thread argue against the practice by anything other than sympathetic analogy to other things that trigger a disgust impulse.
I don't see the relevance of your comment (adoption of existing children that would have gone unwanted / uncared-for) to this thread (surrogacy, commissioning a child that would not have come into this world “naturally”).
Are you trying to argue that the “muh trad”-posters in this thread are only secretly jealous of the rich gay jews commissioning the existence of children — that their sentiments here actually stem from class envy and their waxing on “playing Taboo”[colloquialism] around the word naturalism is just a front?
Some people can’t have children. That’s just the way it is. ‘Solving’ it with prostitution and (from the child’s perspective) kidnapping is supremely selfish and from my perspective absolutely unacceptable in a society with any pretensions to morality.
I know at least one woman (white, American) who "had" a child via gestational surrogacy--she is now both divorced and living about 4,800 miles (7,725 km) apart from her daughter. Life's a bitch.
TheBailey
soapy mop
1mo ago
In the United States, are there any general guiding principles for when/whether criminal trials get to be secret vs televised vs open-to-the-public-but-no-recording-allowed, or is it generally just up to the whims of the judge and happenstance of the tradition of the local court?
TheBailey
soapy mop
1mo ago
If you use your DRIP to auto-buy the same shares, you pay no tax initially
Are you sure about that?
https://www.investopedia.com/investing/perks-of-dividend-reinvestment-plans/
Even though investors do not receive a cash dividend from DRIPs, they are nevertheless subject to taxes, due to the fact that there was an actual cash dividend--albeit one that was reinvested. Consequently, it’s considered to be income and is therefore taxable. And as with any stock, capital gains from shares held in a DRIP are not calculated and taxed until the stock is finally sold, usually several years down the road.
TheBailey
soapy mop
1mo ago
“Bull case”? Do you mean the case for why-it-would-be-a-good-thing for the market, or just generally a good thing?
I had an issue with my (now former) HSA provider, National Benefit Services, debiting my account weeks before the payment (never) arrived; they refused to send me any documentation such as an image of the check or the name of the party that actually did cash it, if any; when I eventually filed a case with the CFPB they closed it with this weird, vague-ass message:
We reviewed your complaint and weren't able to forward it to the company for a response either because the company is not on our complaint system, or because we do not currently handle complaints about this product or issue.
like, “either we totally can't help you, or you misfiled your complaint (we had many near matches to that account category, hope you picked the right one!), or that company isn't on a freaking WHITELIST of companies we will consider chastising” is just so damn useless…
TheBailey
soapy mop
1mo ago
No question too simple or too silly.
When I have any security set up with DRIP (dividend reinvestment plan), my cost basis on these new fractional shares is showing up as $0.00.
This seems like a visible, tangible difference from how it'd be if I'd “coincidentally bought shares” just afterwards (with the dividends) manually — which would, at least as far as the new shares are concerned, seem to be a better situation since if/when I sell those new shares I'd be realizing less gain.
So… does DRIP actually affect the basis of the shares that issued the dividend? Do I get some adjustment to its basis when the dividends are DRIP'd to compensate me for this zero-basis on the new shares?
TheBailey
soapy mop
2mo ago
Could I get some copy-editing / a vibe check on this letter to my representative in a ~200kPop city?
[Greeting with correct title]
I'm a resident of [City name] [correct district]; I'm very grateful that the City Council is taking the auto noise problem seriously, but I have some concerns about the bill that's being introduced to address it.
The current version[link] of the proposed noise ordinance would limit “first offense” fines for all classes of auto noise to just $50. At the city council meeting, it was claimed that this would empower [XXPD] by bypassing the current state-wide “fix-it ticket” policy, which currently allows nuisance auto owners to indefinitely dodge accountability for intentional engine noise.
However, my neighborhood is currently plagued by stereo speaker noise, and it looks like the existing county-level noise ordinance[link] provides in [§XXX] and [§YYY] for fining the operators of loud car stereos up to $500 per day, without any kind of “first offense” limitation.
At the direction of [City]'s representatives with [the online portal for reporting all issues, including noise], I have already tried calling the police about the stereo noise issues in my neighborhood, several times; but the noise is still occurring every day.
If [XXPD] is already struggling to enforce the law less than a mile away from a “$500 maximum fine for loud stereo” sign, I'm very concerned about the current bill stripping away 90% of the deterrent potential for stereo speaker noise.
Unlike a loud muffler (which could plausibly be “broken”), there is no excuse for blasting loud stereo music in city limits. Buying, installing, and then cranking up the volume on those systems is a very intentional act, and I would be very surprised to hear that [XXPD] is obligated to issue “fix-it tickets” when no plausible mechanical problem exists — is that really the reason [XXPD] has not been prosecuting stereo noise?
If not, I'd ask that we find some way to empower enforcement efforts that doesn't involve surrendering 90% of our deterrent power for so-called “first-time” stereo noise offenders.
- The proposed bill as-written seems to drastically lower the maximum penalties; could it simply be re-written to make those prescriptions into minimums, instead — at least when it comes to speaker noise?
- If [City] still has a contract with Flock, could we get some audio LPR cameras on key intersections in the nuisance neighborhoods, particularly at the [intersection that affects me the most]?
Thank you for your time,
--
[name]
Residential Address: […]
Mailing Address: […]
TheBailey
soapy mop
4mo ago
Ironically, my only major complaint about this mouse is that it’s too light for my tastes. Next time I have shoe goo or something like it in the house, I’m going to crack mine open and see if it’s got anywhere good to put some heavy iron nuts in.
TheBailey
soapy mop
4mo ago
Agreed. In my city, all housing that's not directly inside a high-crime neighborhood is marketed as “luxury”. I cannot find non-“luxury”-advertised housing, except in high-crime neighborhoods. Preliminary checks on other cities show the same thing.
TheBailey
soapy mop
4mo ago
Current iterations as far as I can tell generally use “Oauth” … In practice, plaid doesn’t have your password generally (although maybe for some banks as your link discusses.)
I've never heard any reports of this. Are you saying you've seen some bank for which Plaid supports OAuth rather than merely doing screen-scraping? If so, what bank is that?
“Oauth” which again is a bit of a black box … what it can do with that token (is it read only?) is even read only bad enough? Etc. is up for debate.
It really shouldn't be “up for debate”.
If your bank supports OAuth as a protocol, but doesn't tell you exactly what authorizations you're granting the relying party when you approve a request, that's a massive failure of your bank, and arguably a violation of at least the spirit of the OAuth spec:
If the request is valid, the authorization server authenticates the resource owner and obtains an authorization decision (by asking the resource owner or by establishing approval via other means) … If the resource owner grants the access request, the authorization server issues an authorization code and delivers it to the client …
TheBailey
soapy mop
4mo ago
🧐 Even stranger, Oliver is *missing* from the PredictIt market, which includes many unlisted and non-candidates such as Biden and Buttigieg.
https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/7456/who-will-win-the-2024-presidential-election
TheBailey
soapy mop
4mo ago
Why is the Chase Oliver / Mike Ter Maat ticket listed as as Independent on Alabama ballots even in counties such as Madison, where Libertarian is explicitly on-ballot for other positions?
https://www.sos.alabama.gov/alabama-votes/2024-general-election-sample-ballots
Did they fail to secure some endorsement, or is there a more boring technical explanation?
TheBailey
soapy mop
4mo ago
Kensington Pro Fit — specifically the full-size version if you have big hands, specifically the wired version if you hate wireless, and specifically not the “ergonomic” version in any case. A no-nonsense, very solid desktop mouse. Had one for 11 years (about 9 of which included ~10h/wk FPS gaming) before the scroll wheel started bugging out, and I just bought the same model as replacement.
Nothing usable to report mousepad-wise, but have you considered nabbing a friction glove for use with drawing tablets, if it's your skin contact (rather than the bottom of the mouse itself) that's yoinking the pad around?
TheBailey
soapy mop
4mo ago
While exchanging (promises of) votes is completely legal, there is of course no possible enforcement for this, right?
Joe Blue could easily create many sockpuppet accounts, claim to be in a safe state, and farm a bunch of swing state votes without providing any corresponding value to any 3rd party?
I get to vote for Chase Oliver, my preferred candidate, while also securing a critical swing state vote to take a shot at defeating Trump in that state.
It is interesting to see how they try to balance the affinity between the Libertarian Party and the Republican Party with the assumption that the Republican Party needs to be defeated.
We are not matching [safe state] voters from red states (like Texas) … unite to advance a non-fascist, forward-thinking agenda for a more just and fair world.
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
I'm following the range posted on both the label and on https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/dont-overuse-acetaminophen
If you would like to recommend a different source advocating lower doses, please do. I've seen a lot of people chiming in with comments to this effect but I can't validate any of them.
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
I've got to ask again where you are getting those numbers from.
I googled fda.gov acetaminophen safety and the first result, explicitly labeled “current as of” February of this year, has the same number as the Harvard article I cited in the toplevel comment:
The current maximum recommended adult dose of acetaminophen is 4,000 milligrams per day
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/dont-overuse-acetaminophen
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
Yes, even when banks offer secure "front door" API access, Plaid still refuses to consider those integrations over "back door" screen-scraping; here's an example:
Fidelity has established a secure, integrated connection that better controls how customers can connect the third-party apps they use to their Fidelity accounts. Fidelity is requiring all these third-party websites, applications, and data aggregators to adopt this integrated connection to access our customers’ data.
It is with our customers’ financial well-being in mind that any third-party applications, websites, or data aggregators that do not utilize our secure, integrated connection will be prevented from accessing Fidelity customer data.
I don't know if Fidelity charges for that access, imposes some genuinely unreasonable security requirements, or if “plaid sucks and is dangerous” is just the whole story.
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
I like https://financier.io/ a lot; there's a free dev-operated instance for on-device budgets (with the option to pay $12/yr for cloud sync of unlimited budgets, so it can be used as a “family plan”). Doesn't support tracking stocks, but if you're fine to just add a “market value change” transaction at the end of the month it works great.
Doesn't have any bank integrations or statement parsing / bulk transaction import ability whatsoever (though I've heard there are 3rd-party Python scripts to do this); however it does have a pretty nice transaction "reconciliation" flow (items go entered → marked as reconciled → confirmed as reconciled.)
It's seemingly inspired by EveryDollar and YNAB, but (compared to EveryDollar) it is much more graceful about overflowing dollars you neglected to budget in the first place (and/or dollars you overspent) to the next month.
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
I kinda sorta technically am, according to maybe 90% of peoples’ definitions; but I don't crossdress either publicly or privately (that is, I don’t dress as a woman; I do dress as a man.)
The question, “why would you undertake a painful process in order to remove facial hair?” contains its own answer; @Southkraut gave me no seed of direction on which to build a high-effort or interesting answer, so I figured giving a true and precise literal answer to his content-free expression of shock as-stated was appropriate.
I do enjoy trying to reconcile massively disparate philosophies of gender identity, trying to make a stance for my own when the counterparty is actually up for it; but that didn't seem to be the case here; I only had something tantamount to “can you believe this guy disagrees with my own opinion on what the consensus on the attractiveness of male facial hair is?”
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
Fw: exchange with the technician (all bold emphasis added):
Technician: You sent in a message asking about the type of laser we use and how painful the treatment is.
First of all, I am sorry you're having that experience. Our laser is the Rohrer Epilaze. You are being treated with the 810 Diode attachment currently.
Use a lidocaine cream about an hour prior to our appointment and ibuprofen or tylenol at that time as well. When you come in I will have you remove it completely so we can have a more effective treatment. As far as the pain goes, those are the only options for pain relief.
I do want to reiterate that this is not supposed to be a pain free experience unfortunately. There is a hot laser going into coarse hair follicles to try to kill the follicle so hair doesn't grow back. The first treatments are usually the worst because you have the most hair. It should eventually get easier, but the face is always going to be a very tender area.
Do you want to continue treatment?Me: Is there a reason the 755nm alexandrite isn't being used in my case? I've read that it's less painful for sensitive areas, and I thought that my facial hair is dark enough & skin light enough to support its use.
I'm currently trying to get my hands on a stronger lidocaine solution; the 4% gel and tylenol I used before our previous session didn't seem to help much. I'll also try adding ibuprofen in.
I'd like to proceed at least through our next appointment[.]Technician: Everyone [fitzpatrick] 1-3 I debulk with 810 diode due to its debulking power. I have found in my experience with 755, I only pull it out once we have gotten to the point in the laser process where the hair is very fine and sparse. That is when 755 is most effective. If you’d like I can use 755 at your next appointment, but your results are going to take longer.
Me: Do you mean that it would take more overall sessions, or that each session would just take a bit longer?
I’m perfectly OK to be in the chair getting zapped for a few more minutes if the pain could be a bit less intense; but I absolutely don’t want to risk making the overall treatment slower or less effective. If using the 810 is the best way to ensure that the debulking gets done well in as few sessions as possible, then let’s stay with that for now.Technician: Using the 755 would take more sessions! We will continue with 810, and if you ever want to swap before necessary let me know!
I wonder how much of that is “genuinely true” vs. just a consequence of clinic-wide policy meant to keep these $67 sessions as short as possible for maximum patient throughput...
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
Unless it is high-temp wok cooking, when Canola is permissible.
If you aren't sold either way on the theory that hexane-extracted oils are inherently unhealthy, but want to suspend judgement and act in an abundance of caution in this epistemic hellscape, there's always cold-pressed peanut or avocado oil, which have higher smokepoints anyway.
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
@Southkraut I edited the toplevel to note that it looks like alexandrite was found to be less painful than diode when used on thin skin; I am pursuing the “switch to a provider that uses alexandrite” option in parallel with the “reduce the pain by whatever means” option, with the latter being my main request for advice.
TheBailey
soapy mop
5mo ago
The steelman I've heard is that it's much less painful in the case of legs (which could make up a large portion of their treatments), where the skin is thick enough that the overpenetration of the 810nm beam doesn't matter.
Aesthetically, I hate the presence of stubble between shaves. That said:
this is still such an unpleasant experience that I'm considering aborting the sequence even if they won't give me a prorated refund for the unused sessions
I also don't like the hassle of shaving, but obviously “hassle” pales in comparison to the goddamn torment nexus that this — I want to emphasize — was advertised not to be:
the clinic's website said “Most patients describe the laser hair removal process as uncomfortable or mildly painful”
Equifax doesn‘t have my current residential address on file, which has caused me to be denied for a credit card application. (They also, weirdly, have my current legal name on file as a “former name”, despite all banks I'm with having my current legal name on file; this has not proven an issue for lenders, however.)
Equifax has completely refused to add my current residential address to my record. In reply to my sending them (after they requested this over the phone) legible, color, double-sided, current copies of both my Driver License and Social Security card, they sent me a letter requesting the same documents again; when I called them to ask what was up, they stated vaguely that they were “unable to validate” the documents I sent, and the representative I spoke with claimed to be unable to see any specific reason for this failure.
I contacted the CFPB, who (despite the shutdown) claimed to have forwarded my dispute to Equifax. I never heard anything back on that channel.
I contacted my state Attorney General's office, who contacted Equifax on my behalf, and eventually forwarded me the letter they got in reply from Equifax, which demanded the same documents (social security card plus driver’s license), asking me to let them have a crack at it:
I'm going to send this attached letter to the AG office; is there anything else I should add?
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