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Mrs Whiggins

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Everything posted by Mrs Whiggins

  1. Has anyone put a Texas DPS official in the passenger seat with one of these self-driving cars and, with no assist from the owner, tested the car to see if it could pass? Also, does the self-driving software enable the vehicle's cameras to look right before turning right because I've almost been killed (pedestrian/runner) numerous times had I not noticed the driver wasn't looking my way. That's all I got.
  2. Thanks for the update. I think when I read his bio that he's from that area back East plus closer to the topic that he studies so makes sense.
  3. Oh? Thank you, did not know that as he was still listed on the webpage. What's the story?
  4. Thank you for your perspective because it's addressing the rather blase attitude wherein Haidt as author/speaker should select his words more carefully or explain himself further and not just wave away thoughtful questions about consequences. With respect to Haidt, there are plenty of activities to which we introduced our children that did not require Jack, Simon, Ralph, and Piggy in order to learn about fear and risk.
  5. Over in the Hobbies>Books>Whatcha' Reading thread I mentioned I'm almost finished with Stephen Vladeck's The Shadow Docket: How The Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings To Amass Power And Undermine The Republic (2023). It's a good read by the UT Law prof and I've enjoyed his background into the origins of the shadow docket and how the Court elects to take on cases vs not taken on cases vs issuing unsigned and unwritten opinions vs arguing cases upon merit. More and more it has become difficult for the public to even learn the why or the who (w/o a public disclosure, which the shadow docket does not recquire) of rulings and/or votes by the Court due to the shadow docket rulings being handed down and the Court is increasingly using those methods in lieu of trying cases on merit. Quite the eye-opener it's been although admittedly I had little knowledge of the inner workings of SCOTUS (and am set to begin Jeffery Toobin's The Nine also about SCOTUS and one I'd heard of but never read). Anyway, Vladeck was commenting upon the Court post justice Kennedy's retirement and how the Court "might even be said to see the public less as its audience than as its enemy--a nuisance to be kept away from the justices as much while they're working as while they're not." (A nice little bubble if you can afford it, right justice Alito and justice Thomas? I mention Alito as he was the justice who seemed most upset at the criticisms lobbied at the Court recently after being accused of partisanship) But back to Vladeck--here is a quote within a quote from his book that is very relatable to your above comments Brisket: "...it's easy to see the wisdom in something my friend and former dean Ward Farnsworth wrote two decades ago, that 'those who accuse the majority of having partisan motives underestimate the good faith of the justices; but those who acquit the Court of partisan behavior may overestimate the utility of good faith as a constraint on wishful thinking.' Trust is earned.
  6. Another difference between the two meets (besides the timing of the Texas Relays & District meets) is that the Bluebonnet Invitational was HS only whereas the Texas Relays is a longer meet with both HS and collegiate athletes. Texas sets the HS fields based on marks submitted and depending upon that (each year) as well as separate divisions for small/large schools it isn't always easy to qualify. For example, in some of the longer races (1600m/3200m) only the top 16 and 20 times respectively are admitted. The relay events are slightly more generous with entrants as it is the hallmark of the meet for almost a century. For Bluebonnet, it was top 90 athletes per gender for individual races and more events were held for those (i.e. Texas Relays does not hold 800m individual races). In addition, the Texas Relays offers the steeplechase whereas the Bluebonnet held a mixed relay (4x400). So it's a little of this and a little of that. Both tracks are great venues, I've enjoyed meets at the new A&M facility and it's hard to top the Texas Relay's atmosphere on a beautiful spring day so I'm happy that both are available. As someone who supports XC & TF, it's great to have choices for athletes and teams. For those of you with children participating in upcoming meets, good luck to them; it's a great sport with something for everybody.
  7. Same--wedding related purchases, announcements push weight loss regimens and diet products to women....relative was relating this to me and it's really maddening and also sad.
  8. We absolutely ran into some of this with our children and the worst offender was the ISD and I told them so. Setting aside peer pressure (and that goes for adults pressuring other adults as well), we had made the decision: no phone until 8th grade and had stuck by that but the *schools made it more and more difficult with classroom techniques ('everyone pull out your phones and ____") and so on. I met with teachers, administrators, etc but it was yelling into the fog. We used the phone as a tool, rather like a map, but many adults use it like a pacifier--both for themselves and for their children. *All of our children were post 8th by pandemic occurence.
  9. NBC may believe that they are offering sanity in lieu of the bsc lunacy of the rank and file GOP by hiring McDaniel but they are craven for doing so, IMO. she needs to be a little bit more BY HERSELF i.e. ALONE instead of "be a little bit more myself." Bitch, please.
  10. The text of Florida SB1365 is here for any who wish to read it; it's fairly short: https://m.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/1365/BillText/er/PDF As @Sawbonz pointed out, there is a push/pull aspect to this and for me, it is what is unwritten where things could easily go off the rails. For example, what is to stop a county from having a revolving carousel of migrating homeless people wherein the law (enforcement arm of the govt) drops off 'offenders' in another jurisdiction--I've heard this kind of happens now from rural to urban areas because rural areas lack social services, but I cannot vouchsafe for that rumor--which leads me to a different thought after perusing the bill/law: since counties/munis are on the hook for the land, services, etc and residents, business owners, and the AG can file civil suits (according to the bill lines 117-120) is another intended/unintended consequence to bankrupt these municipalities? I note this because a lot of the redress that a city (under financial difficulties) might have is regulated through the state (office of children and families) and seems like it would be possible to pick and choose whom to offer relief vs punish (cutting to the chase: blue county vs red county). I agree that criminalizing homeless persons is not only troubling but an indictment on our society--all of us. However, I have no solutions to offer but that this one has some aspects that could be positive or abused and per usual the vague and airy waving of hands about the details probably ensures that Abbott will encourage the Texas Lege to adopt this and then go after Houston, Austin, et. al. As I am not one of the Surly legal eagles, if anyone reads the signed document and has any thoughts to the above speculation, please offer them.
  11. Pardon my serious reply, but I don't think she does. I don't think she believes in any of it. She's a nihilist that's found a way to monetize her lack of decency. I concur. Her past would indicate that she is an apt pupil of geometry and an acute observer of all the angles.
  12. ^^^This^^^^ Our children have 529 plans and thus far the oldest ended up with the fortunate situation of scholarships rendering much of it unused but will pass it along to the next generation (that's the plan anyway). Next oldest had a mix of scholarships and then whatever that did not cover then we pulled out the remainder each year via the fund directly paying the school through the portal (first time was a simple phone call until we got electronic set up). Will still have some left over and IIRC will have some time before a decision will be necessary as to naming another bene or transferring $$ to another type of account. We determined that the funds were each theirs and left the decision with them as opposed to passing it down to the next in line.
  13. Almost finished with The Shadow Docket. It's been a solid read thus far although I wish Vladeck had provided a glossary for the legal terms. Although I believe he wrote the book for the general reader, I'm one who will look up the meanings of terms I don't know as well as pronunciations as I go.Took me forever to read certiorari over and over again before my brain finally decided on one of the *six different ways various SCOTUS judges pronounce(d) it. FTR I settled on the pronunciation ser-shee-or-RAHR-ee, (rhyming with Ferrari) because I adopted the accent of Luigi from the movie Cars. Jokes aside, it's a book worth reading. I'm considering reading The Nine: Inside The Secret World Of The Supreme Court by Jeffery Toobin next as I never got around to reading it and although it would be somewhat out of order considering this last tome, might be a good supplement to what I've just finished. Anyone else read that? Thoughts? Or I may switch to fiction for awhile as I've been on a long nonfiction run. *Article here regarding law professor James Duane and the variances: https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/how_is_certiorari_pronounced_even_supreme_court_justices_disagree
  14. World Population Clock: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#google_vignette One of eight billion stars and yet the world is never enough.
  15. You and Mrs. GOTJ are saints. Just know this. It's funny because all I can think about (with our children growing up and moving far away) is how to rid ourselves of a lifetime of possessions and flotsam and jetsam so that we can transition into less care for "things" as our need for care for ourselves increases. Some of these "things" hold a lot of memories and yet when it comes down to it...it's just extra trouble for those we care about. Sorry you've got this on your plate. Maybe it will go better than you think but regardless, vent here because it's a rocky road to navigate with those we love.
  16. Something I've considered as it has its positives but I'm going to have to fight that battle another day.
  17. Calling dibs on 420-BEER* for the band name. *Big Easy Eating Rats
  18. I understand. The peat is for a couple of spot that are very likely TAAR in our St. Augustine. We were gone for the early part of the summer last year and it took hold before we returned. It wasn't cinch bugs as we checked via the usual methods and the spanghum is one of the least invasive ways to enrich the soil/benefit of the doubt with respect to that IMO.
  19. I see your point, and yet it is slightly different. His children, William and Harry, are grown. William and Kate have a young family and for all their position and issues, when this type of situation hits your family if you're a parent of young children, it's tough. Our own family had to figure out ( away from ANY of the extraneous things that being a royal would bring) how to handle this. It's not an easy road to travel regardless. That mistakes were made with respect to communicating with their citizenry that were exacerbated by certain media sectors is of no small consequence but what a maelstrom of emotion to endure. Sure, they've got wealth, power, and prestige, but they face death as surely as the least of these.
  20. Everything Everywhere All At Once Turning To Shit. That's going to be the mantra of the 2020's.
  21. Part of our lawn is trash because we have a new fence install but I'm kinda ambivalent about the effort thus far (i.e. I'm getting some blowback about overdoing with resodding, etc due to the surgery and I get that because it's coming from concern that I'm going to actually overdo which is not inaccurate with me). I'm leaning towards the prudent which is to spread some spanghum peat over the worst spots and perhaps a few strips of new sod and call it a day until, as you point out, the April/May grass flex and reassess. Already dropped some fertilizer last weekend because we had that rain forecast and trying to work around the doctor stuff.
  22. Made beef/hash soup with leftover roast beef, onions, potato and beef broth. It's a family thing I grew up with and dirty Gibson's with cocktail onions seem to work well during the dinner prep so uh yeah, I'm a little wooooozy right now.
  23. I had surgery this week so I haven't done twice weekly mows yet either. Normally I really get it going in April through the summer months and then if we get that awful awful heat then adjust accordingly. Last year was brutal on lawns.
  24. That isn't gender, that's just weird, like @tigol mentioned. I put a trash can, sized appropriately in every room, it's changed out when full or during the regular cleaning each week.
  25. Definitely. Texas Tech is scheduled and coming off their indoor championship win; TCU is also slated to show but I think A&M and Baylor are not (heading to LSU). Heat sheets are not yet released, but should be within the next day or so. It's a weekend with a lot of meets where the weather is amenable (LSU is hosting, Florida as well). Also--spot on with the third leg on the relay, and he had a very nice hand off from leg #2 that helped.
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