stripes.com/theaters/asia_paciβ¦
βRosie the Riveterβ Lucille MacDonald dies at age 98 in Hawaii
Lucille βCilleβ MacDonald, who this spring was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her βRosie the Riveterβ work as a ship welder during World War II, died last week in Hawaii at the age of 98.Stars and Stripes
Driving gig work options
So, been chatting with @Range Bear π MFF about gig work, and figured it was a good time to put up a few details about what the options are out there, and there are a fair number.
When you say gig work, most people think DoorDash, which isn't surprising considering the amount of marketing they do, however there's a lot more, basically you can deliver people, packages or food.
People
Uber and Lyft are the best known, though if'n you look around you might find something local or regional in your area. I believer there's also companies dipping their toe into child transport and/or non-emergency medical transport as well.
Food
Like I noted, we all know DoorDash, UberEats is about as well known, and then there's GrubHub, but once again, look around for regionals which is often easier with food as companies put up signs, stickers and other marketing at restaurants they serve. There's also GoPuff which is sort of a virtual convenience store
Packages
Now here's my niche, and the biggest problem here is that nationwide companies are rare, I primarily work for Better Trucks, but they're based in Chicago and have about two dozen warehouses, so less than half the country covered. Like them, Jitsu and Veho do package routes, and nationwide there's of course Amazon Flex. And that's assuming you want route work, if'n you want packages on demand, there's more, DropOff, Roadie, Dispatch, GoShare, Senpex, Frayt and Courial off the top of my head. They all work much DoorDash, offering the order to the nearest driver, but they also list the unclaimed orders on the app.
How does package route stuff work? Well, it varies from company to company, but except for Flex, typically you pick your work days ahead of time, go to the warehouse, and pick up your load. In the case of BT and my warehouse, as I'm not sure all warehouses do things the same, I show up, tell them where I'd like to work, how long, and what I'm driving, and they try to accommodate as many of those as they can. I'm only familiar with BT and Flex, and with Flex, you show up, check in, and it gives you a route. No offer, take it or leave it, and the only things you know ahead of time is how long it should take, and what it'll pay, where is random and can be far if you're working out of a Flex aka Same Day warehouse as opposed to a standard delivery warehouse, which is where you'll usually be working. And that's about it, the software will guide you stop by stop, and you go home when done. Pay is usually lower than the on demand work, but you're trading pay for guaranteed income, so you have to decide which is better for you.
Findings upon my travels
I forgot to share this on the right day but still important anniversary.taur10 (Tumblr)
Whatβs in Nashville Mayor Freddie OβConnellβs capital spending plan? Largely infrastructure and education
This yearβs $527 million plan marks an increase of $13 million from last year and is subject to Metro Council approval.Cynthia Abrams (WPLN News)
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the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) captioned this video:
Fonts - Apple Developer
Get the details, frameworks, and tools you need to use system fonts for Apple platforms in your apps.Apple Developer
They Walk Among Us
This cartoon is by me and Becky Hawkins. TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON This cartoon has four panels, all of the same scene: Two women are waiting at a bus stop, talking. One woman, who Iβll call, oh,β¦Lefty Cartoons
βββQuestion for #transgender community and allies:
My 91 year old mother thinks trans people would feel they did not need surgery if society simply accepted the variations of humankind.
She sees the surgery as a "conforming to" action. Her point is that if the world was not so binary, there would be no need for surgeries, hormones, etc.
But I thought it was deeper than that. Can the fediverse please educate me and my mom? Thank you!
Anyone have
#biotech contacts in #Saltlakecity #slc? My kid is looking for a job there.... interested in #manufacturing or instrument
#quality control or #bioinstrumentation mostly. #fedihire
They're getting very frustrated with the lack of response from most places. I don't even know what's wrong with companies anymore but the entire hiring process just seems to be shit lately.
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The replacement car chaos
Ok, that's prolly a wee bit dramatic, but I reserve the right to be dramatic.
For six or so months I've been planning on changing vehicles, the main catalyst being how much of a pain a Subaru Crosstrek is to maintain and repair, far too many parts are expensive dealer only, and those what aren't, can be hard to get, my last repair, a brake hose, required the part to be shipped out of a warehouse on the other side of the state. With it developing a problem that kept me from working for nearly two weeks, I finally had enough and decided to go buy something.
Problem was figuring out which way I wanted to run, full sized van or box truck, good money in that, but I'm too old to be dealing with high volume or pallet sized loads. A Transit Connect was worth considering, and I highly recommend it as a delivery vehicle, big enough for a couple pallets, and yet mid to high twenties fuel economy when unloaded, so it's an alright choice for any kind of gig work. A hybrid or an electric was a choice, but nothing affordable is particularly large, heck, there isn't much large at any price.
These days though, with what's happened at work, a large vehicle really isn't needed any more, we're moving a lot of small packages, so we decided to go with an affordable electric, specifically a Chevy Bolt. Next problem, finding one, something that's both easy and hard, there are many out there, but most are above $15K. Worse still is that many dealers only have one or two when they have cheaper ones. Plus Missouri is a pain to title and register a car in, it's hard enough if'n you buy the car in state, but out of state? Yeah, how about no.
Good news, found a dealer with 9 in stock, most under $15K. Bad, they're in St Joseph, 291 miles away.
So that was Saturday, a long drive to buy a car at Victory GMC, of whom I can give a guarded thumbs up to. The cheapest Bolt, the one I was planning on buying had a noticeable shake at 40, which became intolerable at 70. That was followed by another one which didn't shake, but did sound a bit noisy in the back, either lacking sound deadening, or needing something back there, prolly tires or bearings. Third time the charm? I decided to give the one white one a shot, the others were all black or dark grey, and I chose that one because we already owned...
Wouldn't it be funny if'n we bought a white Bolt...
Yep, that one was fine. Not perfect, in fact they surprised me with the fact that it was a repaired lemon when we got to the paperwork, another strike against them, but it was certainly good enough. I will say that I was a little careless by that point, and failed to notice that it was a no extra options 1LT model, so no heated seats or steering wheeling, nor smart cruise control, but none of those things are a deal breaker. Sure, heated seats are more efficient than cabin heating, but I've got more than enough range for a day's work even allowing for up to 40% drop in the winter.
How am I able to give a soft thumbs up to Victory? Despite the first two cars having issues that should've kept them from being put out, for locals it wouldn't be a big deal, just bring it back for repairs, just make sure you negotiate that into the contract. For me, I have a long highway drive home, so no go. Of course they had plenty of cars so finding one I could afford was all but guaranteed which is why I chose them. And the shopping experience was very good. $500 GPS add on, the modern equivalent of window etching? No argument when I said I didn't want it. I'm paying cash, no argument, no attempt to talk me into financing, they just sold me a car. Me wanting to test car after car like Goldilocks? Sure, no problem. The dealership experience wasn't perfect, it never is, but frankly, Ryan was great to work with, and the dealership didn't fight to take every dollar I had. Heck, through the website, I got a tentative trade in offer of $7925. What'd they offer when I got there? $8060, yes, it went up!
In the end, I moved up a bit in price, but with trade in, and the $4K used EV credit, I walked away with a 2020 Chevy Bolt 1LT for $2520. No, that's not a typo, I suppose it was a good thing that I waited so long, since that was readily available out of pocket. I do have a few things to sort out, for some reason the back up grid often don't show up, and I can't figure out how to name the car in the My Chevy app, it's offered when you originally set it up, and it gives instructions on how to change it later, but I forgot those, and can't find them. Real small problems, right?
Not much to say beyond that, long drive home, charging problem at the first charger, but apparently @Vik-Thor / Lirleni Hankeshe has had problems with that company before. We did finally get home around 2AM. Since then, it's been tweaking things a bit, getting signed up for SiriusXM, or rather added to his account, getting insurance sorted out, something complicated by me shutting down my company, and getting things updated with all my gig apps (6 of 8 done).
I guess the only thing we have spoken about is why an EV, and that's easy, because it's cheap. Even ignoring the unusually high maintenance costs of the Subaru, savings are on maintenance, there's not much to maintain on an electric, bulbs, fluids, wipers, brakes and tires. Yes, fluids, the battery like all modern EV's has temperature management to keep the battery healthy, and then there's brake fluid and wiper fluid. Brake services are farther apart than gas powered vehicles if'n you use regenerative braking, which only leaves a few minor cheap repairs. And then there's fuel, or the lack of, I was averaging something like $60/wk with the Subaru, and with this I expect $100/mo at worst in electricity. So something like $1500/yr in savings.
So, Vik has White Lightning II, and now I have Doppel, and only our roommate, Chakat Silvertail, still burns dinosaurs.
#car #ev #electriccar #mo #missouri #KC #kansascity #travel
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A Federal Court Just Upended Decades of Environmental Regulation | The New Republic
newrepublic.com/article/188399β¦
Disappointed, though I will say it's definitely an interesting ruling
A Federal Court Just Upended Decades of Environmental Regulation
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals just threw a major wrench into the effort to protect the planetβand teed up another chance for the Supreme Court to take a bite out of the administrative state.The New Republic
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REPUBLICANS AFTER LOSING AN ELECTION: You communist groomers stole the election and I'm going to murder some cops and politicians in a violent coup about it
DEMOCRATS AFTER LOSING AN ELECTION: You dipshits elected a fascist serial-rapist and I'm going to meekly hand over the reins of power about it
CENTRISTS: These are the same thing.
U.S. calls Venezuela opposition leader βpresident-electβ after disputed vote - National | Globalnews.ca
U.S. calls Venezuela opposition leader βpresident-electβ after disputed vote
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized GonzΓ‘lez in a post on X in which he also demanded βrespect for the willβ of Venezuelan voters.The Associated Press (Global News)
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132 escaped hamsters run amok, ground Portuguese plane for 4 days - National | Globalnews.ca
132 escaped hamsters run amok, ground Portuguese plane for 4 days
Officials were worried the hamsters would target the plane's electrical wiring system.Michelle Butterfield (Global News)
How I Turned My Raspberry Pi Into a Private Internet Archive - Make Tech Easier
After the Internet Archive breach, I built my own private Internet archive using a Raspberry Pi and ArchiveBox. Here's how I did it.David Morelo (Make Tech Easier)
Republicans Are Mad That Democrats Are Confirming Lots Of Biden's Judges | HuffPost Latest News
huffpost.com/entry/republicansβ¦
Republicans Are Mad That Democrats Are Confirming Lots Of Biden's Judges
βNo more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!β Trump said on social media. But Democrats are making judges a priority in the lame duck β just like the GOP did, too.Jennifer Bendery (HuffPost)
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Comcast Spins Off MSNBC, Other Cable TV Networks | HuffPost Latest News
huffpost.com/entry/comcast-cabβ¦
Well, the choice of name for the spinoff is rather ominous if'n you ask me
Comcast Spins Off MSNBC, Other Cable TV Networks
Comcast President Mike Cavanagh had previewed the move in late October during an earnings call.Marita Vlachou (HuffPost)
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Saw some (cishet white male) posting homophobic hate speech bullshit on #Threads and before I could get to typing this absolute queen entered the chat with:
βNow log off before I fuck your dad and finally give him a child he can be proud ofβ andβ¦ 11/10. No notes. π
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Back in the dirt ages, computers were enormous things. Some of them were the size of your hand. Really enormous ones could be the size of your torso. They hooked up to household power, hundreds of volts (and people TOUCHED these things!). They were so inefficient they needed cooling fans, like they were some sort of information furnace.
These days we kind of forget computers exist, they're just there, woven into the nanomaterials of our homes and furniture and appliances. Only those of us who write software for them really notice them. This can be a problem, if you've had one rice-grain-sized compute unit go berserk and start sending out spurious notifications. I'm wandering around the building with a scanner, but I did too good a job implementing stealth mode, I can't find the little blighter. I really hope I don't have to EMP-burst the house (again) to make this one JUST. SHUT. UP.
Federal Court Says Qualified Immunity Canβt Shield Cop Who Tased Suicidal Man Soaked In Gasoline
If this sounds familiar, sadly, it is. Three years ago, the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court somehow arrived at the conclusion that tasing someone soaked in gasoline β an act of escalation that noβ¦Techdirt
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