Samson's Wig

When it comes to teachers I don't blame them, really. Pay them properly in the first place and it wouldn't happen. As for the rest of the government schlubs, let 'em eat cake.

Not sure if you're AISD, but that story certainly sounds like AISD. We've been on a slow death march toward shitty Texas inner city school system for a while. The pandemic sped up the timeline, but it was already happening. It still beats sending them to the suburbs to hang out with a bunch of Baker Mayfield clones.

I may well be obtuse, probably even stupid, but I apparently understand our city code better than you do. Congrats on being an ass for no reason though, it's what we do around here and I respect that. The city can come mow your yard if they want to, and they can tell you that you can't cut down a tree to build a shed or pool. They sure as hell can come cut down a tree if it is deemed to be diseased or a public nuisance (you know, like threatening power lines). They actually do this all the time for lots of reasons. Do I want that power abused? No. Do I think they should be more proactive than doing absolutely nothing unless a homeowner bugs them to death about it? Hell yes. Power lines can also be moved. The cost to bury all lines is prohibitive, of course, but it can be done on a case by case basis when other factors, such as a giant old live oak, deem it the more prudent option. Instead, we simply do nothing at all and wring our hands when everything goes to shit. I swear some of you refuse to take a step back and acknowledge the reality that this city repeatedly takes it in the shorts when other communities in the state handle the exact same disasters with much less trouble. This is a failure of leadership, and it will never change because we don't want it to. You are the problem.

Don't know. Austin Energy (let's call it the city as it's not an energy "company") seems to hardly ever trim anything, even when called and asked to. I'm glad you got your street trimmed, though. You're in the minority on that one. And yes, trimming trees back from power lines will prevent trees from falling on power lines. That's the entire point of trimming them.

The city can legally trim and remove trees on private property. They choose not to because they would rather spend their significant budget elsewhere. As for it being bad for the trees, well, that's at least part of the argument that has led us to where we're at today.

The failure is in not maintaining the trees to begin with. I think everyone is willing to give them some grace regarding the current situation. It's the lack of ongoing maintenance that falls squarely on the shoulders of city leadership, and this is is a constant problem in numerous areas.

County District 10 is already on a boil water notice. How we don't have backup power to our water treatment facilities after the last few years is a disgrace.

Tell me you don't live in Austin without telling me you don't live in Austin. Texans deal with an overall tax burden on par with most states, e.g. most people are surprised to learn Coloradans pay less. Our sales and property taxes more than make up for the income tax component, which was never actually a burden due to the ability to deduct it from your federal return until a couple of years ago. It's how we spend our money that's the problem. There's plenty in the budget for trimming trees in Austin, but our fearless leaders choose to spend that money elsewhere.

Blaming weather guys, especially the dweebs on the local news, is ridiculous. They don't know shit and never will. We can't predict weather, but we can plan for it. I do blame the city of Austin for failing to trim trees for years while spending money on bullshit initiatives that don't improve the city in the slightest (looking at you, bike lanes that no one uses because we live in an inhospitable climate). Jacquie Seargeant should follow Greg Meszaros out to the pasture where completely useless pieces of shit go when people have finally had enough. Spencer Cronk should follow along behind her. But it won't matter, because the bozos in this town will continue electing idiots who will put similar people in charge. It really sucks to be put into a position where you have to choose between living in a city run by folks who can actually manage infrastructure and budgets, but pass bullshit Jesus laws, or a city run by folks who are on the right side of social issues but couldn't manage to get a heavy rock out of a wet paper bag. I definitely lean heavily towards the latter, but in times like these I begin to question. Fucking Lubbock is run more efficiently and intelligently than Austin. Fuck this city for making me have to even consider that reality.

Our neighborhood looks like a tornado came through. Huge, beautiful live oaks completely uprooted, roadways blocked by trees, houses with holes in the roof, busted out windows, etc. This is nuts. Trees still snapping like bombs going off as you walk around. We're right next to a large preserve as well, which is going to have so much dried brush from this incident that I'm really looking forward to the nasty forest fire we've been worried about for so long. Looks like this summer may finally be the year if all these branches dry out that quickly.

Wow. Did not know this, but will be scratching that school off any potential lists for the kids. ROI indeed.

Curious as to what cultural reasons on that campus could possibly come out on the positive side of the ledger. Have they not demonstrated repeatedly that they can't manage their own house?

We already know. You mentioned Smith was on her list.

A guy who feels it necessary to let people know he likes to ride his bicycle in his bio. He's going to love the welcome he receives from the fine folks in Bastrop.

I see the glaring typo, and it's too late to fix it. I won't sleep tonight.

A wife asks her husband, an engineer, for a favor. "Darling, can you please go to the store to buy one gallon of milk? And if they have eggs, get a dozen!" Off he goes to the store, and half an hour later he returns with 12 gallons of milk. His wife stares at him and asks, "Why on earth did you get 12 gallons of milk?" "Well . . . they had eggs," he replied.

I'm always amazed at how distorted most folks' notions are regarding the practice of law. The bar exam is a joke, and serves little more than a barrier to entry for those unwilling to spend a bit of time studying. It has nothing to do with practicing law and certainly doesn't indicate who will or won't be a good attorney . Wrote memorization of the law just has nothing to do with much of anything, but the layperson has been taught to believe this by television (or perhaps outdated stories of former political leaders). A legal education, in my opinion, holds as much or more value as any other form of education you can get. In the U.S., of course, it is a terminal degree and rightfully so. At a good law school, you will experience boot camp for the brain - being taken down to the studs and rebuilding the very way you approach problems and the world in general. That someone would assume this is a waste of time so long as you can pass a bar exam is laughable, and completely backwards. As you know, many with law degrees never practice law at all, but take that education and apply it elsewhere to great effect. The handful of states that will let you sit for the bar exam without a degree still require an apprenticeship, and unless your goal is to be a low stakes litigator it's difficult to see why anyone would take this route. You could become a passable GP without a medical degree about as easily as you could become a low rent litigator, but why would anyone willingly do either? Those are places you end up, typically, not roles many aspire to.

This is ultimately what it comes down to. Can someone without a degree perform just as well at some jobs as those with degrees? Of course. But that's not the point, and it's not easy to determine who these people might be. You have to have a baseline that involves a proving ground. It used to be an apprentice/master arrangement (and still is in some cases). This model should probably return in some form, but in the meantime we ask for a college degree to prove that you actually want to do the work you're applying for, and can handle basic level structure and discipline. The people who tend to complain about this system the most tend to be those too lazy to go get a degree, which is exactly why they're being weeded out in the first place.

I believe they rebranded as "Athletic Greens".

The anti-beef movement is deluded, and that ridiculous chart is a good example of it in action. There are few better sources of dense quality nutrients than beef, but the movement to rid the planet of it based on faulty (or no) science has picked up a lot of steam. The same morons actually believe that mass produced and highly processed meat alternatives are somehow better for you and the environment (they're not). Agribusiness has done a number on these poor saps that we haven't seen since the tobacco industry's shenanigans. Like many agendas that come from a well intentioned place of misapplied ideology, the end result is poor people suffer the most. I'm sure everyone will get super healthy eating mass produced sludge, as that's the future we're staring down the barrel at. If you think you have to be well off to eat healthy now, just give it another decade.

Exactly what you'd expect someone from the Colorado Division of Water Resources to say.

Good people, the Snead family.

Weight issues can be tough. For most folks it comes down to portion control, for sure, but as we age other factors come into play. E.g., Men need to watch out when that testosterone starts to plummet, as it will lead to weight gain even when your diet remain the same.