• 2 Posts
  • 137 Comments
Joined 5 years ago
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Cake day: May 15th, 2019

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  • Left pocket: Phone, earbuds, hand sanitizer

    Right pocket: Minimalist wallet, keys, flashlight, pocket knife, mask

    The flashlight is a ACEBEAM Rider RX with an AA-sized rechargeable lithium battery that can be swapped for AA in an emergency. The keys include a Yubikey and thumb drive with Ventoy. Because Portland is at risk for a megathrust earthquake, I carry a whistle in case I am trapped under debris.

    I also have a pouch with office supplies, eyeglass cleaner, and so on.





  • There’s a history here. Back with Jimmy Carter, he had a primary challenge from Ted Kennedy. Carter won, but only by 51% to 37%. He was already having trouble of course, but it was just one more thing that hurt him and got Reagan in power. We all know how that went. So now the general practice is to clear the field for the incumbent if they choose to run for reelection. Biden hasn’t been given any special out.

    Trump is of course an odd case since he’s not an incumbent, but his grip on the Republican Party gives him a position near to that of an incumbent. He was always by far and away the frontrunner, and every other Republican candidate was for the chattering class.




  • Sometimes those judgement calls have allowed moderation that is at the very least poorly defined in the rules. I posted one comment complaining about a local protest about the current Palestine-Israel conflict that trashed my university’s library and shuttered it for the next few months. I got a delete-ban over that for a “CHUD Opinion”, which is very much not in the rules. And that is far from the first time that I’ve run into unwritten rules that feel like they’re putting a thumb on the scales.