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Texas Jeff

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Everything posted by Texas Jeff

  1. He and the lege control it. The state sets a value of wealth per child for each district. It can be anything they want it to be. School property tax on wealth above that value is "recaptured", i.e. sent to the state. School districts have some other options other than doing this, things like merging with another poorer district, but most choose to write a check. Lower the wealth per child or lower property tax rates and "recapture" goes down, meaning the amount sent to the state from the local property tax payer. The state sets the amount of money a school receives per child. It can be anything they want it to be. If the school district does not raise enough money to cover that amount, the state covers the rest. In theory this comes from the "recapture" fund, but in reality the state just cuts them a check. Raise the amount of money a school receives per child and school funding goes up. Lower it and it goes down. Keep it it same during times of high inflation (and that is what we are doing now) and school funding goes down ... inflation eats it away. Right now, these amounts are set such that the state is collecting more money than they are distributing, so the excess recapture money goes to the general fund. This general fund can be used for whatever the state wants. The lege can pass legislation to change this but they need the governor also pass it, and he's not doing that. He wants private vouchers to funnel public tax money into private schools. In 2016, some school districts sued the state saying that this was bullshit. They won. It was appealed to the Texas State Supreme Court. The court said no. The court said that things were screwed up, but everyone was at the wrong venue. The said everyone needed to work through this in the lege, don't take this to the courts. And eight years later the lege and the governor are draining public education through inflation and inaction while building up the general fund for whatever.
  2. More than 10% of Trump's awards went to professional golfers.
  3. Sometimes they give the Medal of Freedom to a humble guy who's not expecting it:
  4. Hey man, taxes are going to go up until we make this place affordable ... it's simple math. When I was younger I thought that the city government really thought about this stuff and did the best they could to keep the place going. Now that I am older I am more cynical. It seems like there are thousands of groups that want to "do something" that in their worldview will improve the city, so they lobby the council, donate money to a politician, or get someone elected. They use this influence to fund their pet projects. This times a thousand causes budget bloat, and here we are. Each taxing authority says "we are just raising our rate a tiny bit, it's only a small increase when you look at your overall tax burden" or presents the tax rate increase as the increase, ignoring the idea that property tax valuations are also increasing faster than inflation, and your tax bill is your tax rate times your valuation.
  5. Bob Beamon will be 81 in 2028. Still holds the Olympic record in the long jump set in 1968 and his jump is still the 2nd all time unassisted by wind. He jumped almost two feet past the world record. Imagine taking off at the 10 yd line and landing close enough to the goal line to grab the pylon as you come in for a landing.
  6. Some context for those unfamiliar with the area: From the photos, the crash appeared to be at the intersection of Greenlee and Hillview. The truck may have been eastbound on Greenlee and turned right on Hillview, but it was hard to tell just from photos. It looked like the truck was southbound on HIllview just south of the intersection. There is a sidewalk on Hillview all the way from Exposition (near Casis) to Windsor, but only on one side of the road. There is a four-way stop at Greenlee and Hillview. Hillview descends as you drop from Casis down towards Greenlee, then bottoms out around that four-way stop, then goes back up the hill to Windsor. I think the city recently redid the sidewalk around that intersection and improved the crosswalk and sidewalk where Hillview crosses Greenlee, but there is only one crosswalk at that intersection. My thoughts: This area is on my 5k neighborhood walk and I've walked on Hillview sidewalk and turned west onto Greenlee hundreds of times. The walk down Greenlee between Hillview and Pecos is beautiful. It's an amazingly quiet and peaceful place. I walk with traffic on the sidewalk on Hillview and against traffic once I get on Greenlee. I have always felt safe. However, zero people stop at the four-way signs at Hillview/Greenlee or Greenlee/Pecos. All cars slow down a bit and then go, but no one comes to a complete stop. I have to cross Pecos on my walk and if there is a car I always make sure the driver is looking at me before I cross. I've lived in the neighborhood 18 years and I've never seen any traffic enforcement. Not even school zone enforcement. We have an awesome pre-WWII neighborhood layout that distributes neighborhood traffic through multiple entrances and exits, but we do have pinch points like Winsted near Littlefield's Tacos that are accidents waiting to happen. Recently, it seems like every middle school boy has scored an electric bike and they are roaming full throttle around the neighborhood in mini-gangs, helmet free. I'm surprised we haven't had a serious accident. I am sorry to hear that this couple didn't make it home from their walk ... I promise to slow down and look more and be more careful, but for them it's too late.
  7. BTW, I previously worked for Intel. They have a horrible internal culture. I'm not surprised that they are where they are.
  8. The United States needs a domestic chip manufacturing base. We rely too much on TSMC which is way too close to China. It’s ok to separate chip design from chip manufacturing, but for our own defense we need someone … or a few someones … to make chips here with the latest technology. Even if chip manufacturing is not profitable, we still need someone to do it here.
  9. American Airlines' market cap is 6.85 billion. Trump Media's market cap is 5.73 billion. American flys folks around the world. Trump's company publishes little messages. Something's off there...
  10. Perhaps there is something we don’t know about putting on Nazi killin’ undies that makes it a two man job…
  11. The famous “bowl and stroll”, named after the concept of bowling a ball and not waiting around to see it hit the pins. Usually observed right before someone goes on vacation, but can also come in to play before weekends or major holidays.
  12. Evander Holyfield had the same wound in the same spot. And he kept fighting. And the person he kept fighting was an enraged Mike Tyson. Who then bit him again. Evander 2028. Who's with me?
  13. How much space is really needed? Seems like Comal could be turned into a pedestrian road like Speedway and that road north of the stadium could be moved or wrapped around the tennis courts and you're done. Here's Disch-Falk vs Wrigley, same scale. We don't need anything close to that capacity. For Wrigley, I love the left and right field bleachers and the little odd nooks and crannies they create, and love the seats down the line that angle in to face the field.
  14. After watching some coverage, I would encourage everyone to think of most of this through an Occam's razor lens. The simplest possible explanation for most of this is probably the correct one. A lot of what happened was probably "fog of war" and people are trying to find patterns and motivations that aren't there. The snipers probably saw the guy but didn't take him out because they thought that a guy on a roof near the president surely must be one of them ... they were also guys on a roof with guns. Surely, right? Nobody wants to be the trigger happy security guy that takes out another law enforcement officer that is just doing his job on another roof with another rifle. They were probably trying to figure out if that was a friend or foe right up until they got their answer. That's how they were able to take him out so fast. They were undecided about what to do until suddenly they were returning fire. The secret service guys looked they had had training on what to do and had practiced, but had probably never with a heavy elderly guy who was not getting up and was looking for his shoes. You can hear the guys trying to communicate with each other that the shooter is down and to move, and right after that moment their training appears to go out the window. They don't move. They were indecisive. They had probably trained with a guy who just gets up and runs or gets carried to a car. They weren't trying to stand up Trump or put him in to a photo op, they were just not well rehearsed for this. The kid was probably less of a Republican or a Democrat and more of a kid that was in need of mental help. I would bet that he donated to one cause because others in his class were donating, maybe he liked the person raising money and chipped in $15. A simple reason. I would bet that he's a "registered" Republican because his parents probably also registered as Republicans and when he registered to vote he just picked the same party as his parents. Something simple. He was probably a lousy shot, if indeed it was an "easy" shot, because he was a 20 year old kid who overestimated his abilities. What works in movies and video games is less likely to work in the real world. The roof was probably unguarded because ... well this is a tough one but prep is never perfect. JFK's protective car bubble was sitting at Love Field at the moment he was killed, and no one bothered to check the school book depository before his parade, particularly the one open window on the highest floor that had a line of fire to both the approach and the departure. I *think* that was the last time a president or candidate was attacked by a sniper, and that was 62 years ago. It is a tragedy all around, but I would encourage everyone to seek simple explanations.
  15. IMHO, no. We elected him for a term and he seems OK to finish the term, but faltering. Biden is a decent guy and his job was to drive the bus back to Normalsville, which he has done. Give him a chance to finish. We also elected Kamala to be there in case Joe falters. Which he is now doing. Had Joe decided 18 months ago not to run, then we could have had a real primary. But we didn't. We trusted Kamala for three years to be able to step in for Joe -- we need to trust her now. And, just as a helper to the next generation of Black women and women in general ... they need to see someone like them rise to a position in power and then be given a chance to lead. Perhaps it is time to show women that they can be president too and show Black women that they will not be cast aside when we need a "real" leader. Joe and Kamala have a reasonable cabinet of capable people that seem to be running the country well. We are still seeing COVID effects, but things are pretty stable. Let Joe finish the term, let Kamala run in his place, and see what happens. If America picks a terrible man who will mentally degrade in his second term over a younger decent person with all of her marbles, then so be it. Try again in 2028.
  16. This is off topic, but I am an old in tech... I started in the early 90's and 50 year olds were getting early retired by the truckload, but to a nice pension with retiree medical. Olds in tech have a new advantage that young techies lack ... they are willing to work face to face and speak to others using their voice rather than text messages. They pre-date the smartphone era. Young people could counter this by getting together and talking, but I'm not sure they are willing to go that far. Many young techies are giving up their "energetic" advantage by trying to work alone rather than learning to lead groups. I see a lot of folks working on their own problems but lacking the skills to put the pieces together or lead others. If you are old in tech, build a team of people that are willing to work as a team and you'll have something substantial. They will eventually rebel and push you out because you are old, but at least you can enjoy the ride.
  17. I actually did call AT&T when we dropped our land line. It took a while, but an AT&T guy did show up and did remove the line running between the power pole and the house. I asked him to leave the terminating box on our house because we had wires running out of our house to it. I just wanted the overhead wire gone.
  18. Reagan left office at 77, almost 78. Trump was 74 when he left office. Eisenhower, Jackson, Buchanan ... all right at age 70 when they left office. Biden is already over 80 and Trump, if you factor in the fat, is probably the same biological age. I'm around a lot of old people thanks to my parents. A tip to the young: Get everything done that you want to get done in life by age 80. Your 70s can be really nice, but kinda slow, but you're still there and you can still do stuff. And some people can keep going into their 80s. But things start breaking and a lot of people in their 80's are just hanging on. It's not a good time to take on a four year assignment, even if you are trying to keep yourself out of jail or keep someone else out of the White House.
  19. They said "We need someone that does not matter to go out there and test the waters" and someone in the room said "Wake up Lloyd!"
  20. I’ve been there. Fun place full of random stuff. Kinda hard to find. Not air conditioned so don’t plan a long stay. The times I have gone they have had some athletic stuff, practice jerseys, extra shoes, just a bunch of misc.
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