Pet Peeve number N+1
 

I went with my son to a Pap Murphy's that had a sign in the window "No cash on premises for the safety of our employees".

Really? If they truly cared about their emplyees, it would go down like this:
Snatch (2000) - All Bets Are Off
Which raises [not begs] the question: If a dollar bill says 'Legal tender for all debts public and private', then how can it be legal to refuse it if tendered.

With a dollar bill in a pizza parlor, and a good pro bono lawyer, I might be set for life.

They may carry no change, but perhaps they accept cash payments, making the amount of cash they have trivial?

My business sign will say that our employees are armed to the teeth and trained to neutralize all threats, with minimum necessary force, of course.

That was the point of the video clip. Have you seen the whole movie?

Yes, I've seen the movie, but it's been quite a while.

I have a minimum necessary force policy, but simultaneously a "don't negotiate with terrorists" policy. First, best, and final offer is you live. Folks can attempt a negotiation from there.

Cash is legal tender for all DEBTS. You do not owe the Papa Murphy's a debt - you wish to enter into a business transaction with them. As with any business transaction both parties are free to set their terms and reach an agreement. One of Papa Murphy's terms is you have to pay electronically.

The simple fact is that today so few people use cash that it cost companies to accept it. Yes electronic payments come with swipe fees but cash is not cast free way of doing business. A company has to pay employees while the count out their tills, they have to pay for a safe to store their money, and they either have to pay an employee to take the money back and forth to a bank or pay a security company to pick up and drop off cash. You also have to worry about employee theft. IHL put out a paper recently that found accepting cash costs between 4.7% and 15.3% of sales. That makes the average swipe fee of 2.4% look pretty attractive.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...hfD31cAxcB60aE

I keep pointing out that Walmart has Visa debit cards you can load with cash. It remains an anonymous way to pay for things, but you'll pay something like $5 to initially purchase the card.

Papa Murphy's also accepts food stamps, because people who don't work deserve pizza parties, meanwhile people that do work, don't buy pizza because it's expensive.

Fair enough. The local bottle return location dispenses coins and bills robotically.

OTOH, I just renewed my bus pass, and where before I just showed it to the driver, now I have to generate a time-stamped electronic record in their contactless carding system. At least they don't record where I exit their system. ....they just watch.

redpoint5 -- but no Bitcoin for you, we have to wait for a CBDC.

Last I bought one they were >$30 to buy and most aren't easily reloadable. Otoh, my bank has one and it's free.

freebeards pass probably has a rfi chip embedded and they can check immediately if it's valid.

If it's free, your the product. But it's a pretty good deal, from Cougar Hot Springs to Cottage Grove to Junction City. And I can take my bike.

Oh, and Veneta for the Oregon Country Fair. That ride is as fun as the Fair itself.

I have Ethereum that I mined.

The mechanism that secures Bitcoin is the extreme cost to validate the transactions, which implies a fatal flaw.

Distributed ledger sounds like a good idea to me, but the future has to reduce transaction costs, not increase them. I don't have the solution to that problem, but I'm very good at recognizing a dumb idea.

Wh

Whats the verbage on the ** ?

Liked your transit system. Here in Reno, you can't get to there from here except for the 4 corridors and all paths lie through the transit station in the middle of the homeless district.

I have to walk 1/2mile to the nearest stop for a bus that only runs once an hour. You CAN make an appointment on your cellphone after installing a really awful app

They want you to check in every five years to say you're still kicking. There're lot's of bike lanes and paved alleys downtown. I used to do 1/3rd car, 1/3rd bike and 1/3rd bus, but the axle broke on my bike and the Metro needs exhaust repair. So I walk a lot, too.

Went to a Christmas party last night. The hosting friends are not much older than me, have lived in the same modest house in Aloha for 20+ years (first friend wedding), and are close to retiring. They bought a plot in Springfield as part of their retirement plan. One of their requirements is to be within range of Salem.

A neighbor having a 4hr standoff with the SWAT team was a motivating factor to relocate.

Keeping Salem at arm's length?

I'm situated between an electric substation and a Grocery Outlet. Antifa marched down the street once, but they were dismantled in Thurston.

Redpoint is 50 ish?

Tried the develop my own house process, didn't work out.

ish.

What were the major problems building the house?

I don't necessarily want to dive into architecting something from scratch, but want to run 20amp circuits everywhere, pick quiet and efficient things like exhaust fans, include conduit so I can pull data cables later on, and have efficient appliances.

I'd build outside of city limits, which usually means no natural gas, which is fine.

Same. My younger brother inherited all the real estate, and I never found employment in one place that would warrant a 30-year mortgage.

It's architected, though; just not in meat space. A segmented dome hung on a mast like Fuller's Dymaxion houses, with a yurt in the top for a cupola and a spiral staicase.

From a financial point of view, owning is typically warranted if living in the same place for 5 or more years. Of course, owning also carries with it all the responsibility of upkeep.

Rent the land, own the dwelling; worst of both worlds. When I landed here*, I expected it to be for more than six months. Decades later, almost zero maintenance but the rent has doubled.

*Employed by Symantec, thinking about land up the McKenzie.

Yes, the structure is the depreciating asset, and the land appreciating.

... I thought my friends had said they were building in Lebanon, but it turns out they're building in Springfield. Maybe the town will get a monorail.

They are DINKs. Retiring soon... in their late 40's. They live very humbly.

Did the dink thing "retired" @ 40 also. Wife is incredibly cheap but going from one privileged lifestyle to that retired requirement was a huge mindset change.

House story reads like one of Xists posts, couldn't get anything accomplished timely both times I attempted. Upside was owned the property on both long enough to double price exceeding inflation and stock market increases.

If you have the time and manpower building yourself isn't that bad. My family built a lake house for my grandmother from scratch and my father build a 32 x 32 garage with heat, plumbing, and electrical. We started with an architect approved plan and went from there. No problem upgrading details. It just took a lot of manhours - initially with a crew of friends and family to do the framing and get the building under roof and then LOTS of Saturdays spent working to finish out the interior.

On the other hand I don't know anyone that has had a good experience trying to be the general contractor on their house - unless they were a general contractor. The problem is getting subcontractors to show up on time when you have no leverage. As someone that is building 1 house you will always be prioritized behind the subcontractors regular general contractors or housing developers that give them steady work house after house or even whole subdivisions of homes. Getting the foundation and framing done generally isn't a problem but then it becomes a series of weeks or months delays for each sub. And that goes both ways. Maybe you drywall contractor is ready on time but he can't do his work because the electrician or plumber didn't show up. No the drywall guy is pissed off because he scheduled time for you and you aren't ready so you go to the back of his line.

On the other hand if you just want things like 20 amp outlets and conduit - that is easy. Just hire a general contractor to build you a custom house. Tell him what you want and he will build it - AND - likely build it close to on time because he has a relationship with his subs.

We kinda did that with our first house. We missed out on buying 2 houses in a particular neighborhood by a few hours. On the second case the realtor agreed to sell the house to us in the same hour the contractor agreed to sell it to someone else. So what the contractor did was agree to build his next house for us. That included the lot, base plan, location of the house on the lot, etc. We also picked colors, flooring, add outlets, etc. We ended up adding about 10% to the cost of the house by substituting better quality materials than the contractor grade junk that goes into most spec houses and then gets replaced. AND - I went out to check on construction almost every night to check on things and wasn't shy about pointing out things I didn't like

I finally had to tell him not to mention code to me again - code is just the bare minimum required by law - it is OK to do better. For example I had them 6 nail my shingles to up the wind rating - something REALLY cheap and simple that a contractor won't do unless you make them because it costs $100 more in nails.


Depends on if you maintain the home or not. Yes, the IRS will let a property owner depreciate the structure for a rental but when that depreciating schedule is done the owner still has a property with value if proper maintenance was done. It is also like much cheaper to upgrade a home than to demo it and start fresh unless you want to do huge changes like build a McMansion on a lot that currently has a 1000 sq ft ranch.

I would be most interested to do this except I have neither time, nor expertise in anything. I could probably get my friend to pour a foundation, but I know nothing about framing or anything else.

Makes total sense, and I had never considered any of the things you pointed out.

Probably the way I should go should I ever have a house built. I'm probably at the age where it needs to happen in the next few years, or just forget about it. No point having a house built to only live in it for a decade. I'd want to get 30 years in it. Plus, would be good for kids to have a place they identify with from their childhood as home.

Couple comments: I was qualified to build everything myself. County kinda required contractor, but they later got sued and had to capitulate. Roofs always get 6 nails per shingle, I tell them that upfront and I'm on the roof while they are there, or they do it over. If they whine about the extra $100, I give them 5 ea $20's and want the reciept and the left over box.

Cant predict 20 years in the future, or at least I haven't been able to. I do what makes me happy now and if I am around then, so be it. My brother says cry once is cheaper than anything else

My parents remodeled everything they lived in, built a new retirement home; and lost it after eight years to a defaulted balloon payment on two other properties. Three properties were listed and the one on the coast sold first.

Their subcontractors were sub-par, but they had a nephew hand split cedar shakes and the roofers used stainless steel staples.

Remodel everything I ever lived in is kinda a requirement for buying it in the first place. However, last house was an exception, but only because we figured we were downsizing after 5 years and high school age kids would move out by then. Kids left, we did not. Did minor stuff like countertops and got rid of the gawdawful green paint and the lousy fake rock fireplace. Didn't make usual profit % either.

My thread I can go off topic if I want to. :)

TheQuartering: Steven Crowder DELETES All Social Media & Calls On Everyone To Make BIG Change!

I can't participate in #cleanslate, because I never submitted myself to TwiXter, Facebook or Instagram to begin with.

Still don't know why everyone couldn't see this day coming.

I've got a Facebook account that I update the main photo about twice a decade, and that's it.

I don't think most people are on these things (with the exception of Facebook).

I LOL'd when Rupert Murdock bought Myspace, and everyone bolted. So of course I feel somewhat vindicated.

I might consider X/Twitter if I had anything worthwhile to say.

Myspace was always the superior platform, it's just that there weren't enough people that recognized that. The shift from Myspace to stupid Facepalm for idiots was my first realization that social media was always going to be corrupt organizations capturing uninitiated individuals.

I've watched a handful of Tucker on X. He's a bit out there, but I always respect an honest person. Never watched Tucker when he was on some legacy "news" platform.

Where did you get the idea that tucker is honest?

Clue: rants

Second clue: historic comments debunked ad nauseam

Third clue. Not on original network, one not noted for "fair and balanced" anymore, if they ever were.

Saying things that will alienate some of your base is a clue. Saying crazy things like the government is hiding aliens from us. Seems like a genuine person to me.

What an odd position to assume.

He worked for every network; but has transcended them. Compare his opinion as it evolved over time. Most of us are glad to see him come around, based on his success.

Do you have an example of this 'deboonking'?

Is the Tucker were are talking about Tucker Carlson?

The guy that was fired from FOX after a liable case cost FOX almost a billion dollars largely because Tucker was continually feeding his viewers election fraud claims that he knew to be false and he didn't believe?

I might buy believed to be false. But Big Steal/Big Lie is a point of contention.

I should clarify, I watch Tucker interview other interesting people, not just him talking into the ether.

In private messages he called what he was saying on air about Dominion changing votes to Biden lies and made fun of people that believed the stories.

Yet a good number of those people he privately mocks still listen to him. Strange world.

g-u-l-l-i-b-l-e

Yes, people that still listen to Tucker are gullible.

The private messages I speak of are email, texts, IMs that became public record in the Dominion v Fox News case.

Some people don't seem to understand the concept of discovery in court cases and the fact that everything you thought you said privately can suddenly become public.

I had to recently break this news to a younger college last week as we prepare for litigation against a supplier that broke a contract. He turned a bit green when I told him that all his emails, TEAMS messages, phone records, and texts on his corporate phone can be requested by the opposing legal team. (One of the reasons I still pay to have a personal phone even though I have a corporate iPhone that works anywhere in the world.)