poulsbohemian's comments

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

There are long-term stay hotels that generally cater to business clientele, plus most of the chains have a laundry room somewhere on premise for guest use.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: How “The Great Gatsby” took over high school

> Game Of Thrones

I think Game of Thrones is actually a great example of why we shouldn't be teaching Game of Thrones... I made a historical reference to Savonarola the other day, and when the person didn't know what I was talking about, I said "You know when the religious zealots in GoT take over the city..." GoT is really at it's best if you have an understanding of English history (War of the Roses, etc) such that you can pick up on where all of the references come from - I have no idea if Martin intended Savonarola as his muse, but my point is that historical references and books of the past are the foundation blocks of modern literature and cultural references, so I'd much rather see them taught, as the kids can pick up on modern lit on their own.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: How “The Great Gatsby” took over high school

>I don't want to read a Dickens book or Gatsby, I want to read a book that is relatable

Gatsby is a timeless story of class division. The upstart nouveau riche verses the entrenched institutionalists. You could write a version of it set in practically any time or culture.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: Getting Older Isn't What You Think

Shaving can definitely help you stay younger looking, but there's also something to be said for the silver fox look. No question I get more attention from women today than when I was 20. Take good care of your body and skin and you can be good looking at any age.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: The Turkish İ Problem and Why You Should Care (2012)

When I was in Turkey on a project, the i was absolutely a problem in the software I was trying to deploy. Glad to see this as it's one of those classic "Things Programmers Should Know" topics right up there with all the other classics like address formats and name formats not being the same across the globe.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: The future of solar doesn't track the sun

> Your tankless water heater is a good example of something that is completely inadequate for solar setups, they draw insane amount of energy over very quick period

I know nothing about any of this, so please educate me for the good of us all - wouldn't this logically be a use case for a battery? IE: solar (or wind or whatever...) feeds a battery that feeds the tankless water heater. As a layperson, it would seem to me like the issue isn't generation but rather availability at the moment of demand - which would be the case in any kind of micro generation, right?

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: The future of solar doesn't track the sun

This is what I observe as a Realtor and living in a somewhat rural area - there are some people who like the idea of living the self-sufficient lifestyle, there are others who are convinced Armageddon is upon us and they are going to be ready, but mostly its because they found a beautiful location that speaks to their soul and the only way they can make it work is to use off-grid resources.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: Retailers will soon have only about 7 weeks of full inventories left

>Dems are the lesser of two evils.

Example? I hear this constantly and yet there's one party that has spent decades trying to protect the environment, protect workers, fund schools, fund health care, provide day care, prevent gun violence, equalize economic opportunity, increase and protect civil rights -- and then there are Republicans acting to stop all of that. I cannot even begin to fathom how anyone - especially in light of the past 100 days -- can tell me with a straight face that my party is the "lesser of two evils."

And as for RCV - how, please offer me an example - of how you think it makes one bit of difference in freeing us from being the "servants of the billionaire class." You want to actually do that? End citizen united and get money out of politics; and good luck with that.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: Retailers will soon have only about 7 weeks of full inventories left

Where are these "good enough" third parties? In my (mostly but it's complicated) Democratic state, there have been third party candidates in various local positions, especially in urban areas, but it's been more a way to thumb their nose at Democrats rather than any political differences. I struggle to see how any left-leaning third-party would have much relevance in any of our bluish states and they are unlikely to get any traction in red states. If we want to talk about a third-party that looks like Eisenhower Republicans, now that might be interesting but thus far the right-wing of the country has shown little appetite.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: Retailers will soon have only about 7 weeks of full inventories left

Why should the Democratic party support something that would A) weaken the Democratic party and B) Potentially throw more votes to the Republicans as exactly happened this past cycle?

The Democratic party is a god damn big tent. It's the equivalent of 3-5 parties in any other country. It is mind-blowing how much diversity of thought exists in the Democratic party and we spent an ungodly amount of time and effort fighting amongst ourselves to produce meaningful policy and platform ideas. If you don't like our party, the best thing you can do is join us and use the party as a vehicle to go in the direction you want. I can't say enough - people need to understand that you don't need another party, you just need to understand how you can shape the party to be what you want. It's absolutely mind-blowing how much opportunity there is to work inside the party and move the ball forward rather than stand on the sidelines trying to form some other party and all the BS that would go along with trying to be viable.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: Retailers will soon have only about 7 weeks of full inventories left

>If they don't like it, they should be pushing for ranked-choice voting.

The Washington State Democrats are about to have one of our regular meetings this coming weekend, and I guarantee as is the case all all of our meetings, there will be a contingent encouraging all of us to support RCV. As a candidate, I've already been approached again this year as to whether I will support it. It's absolutely a discussion point within our party.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

But the thing is, I don't need a train from LA to NYC - I just need one from SEA<-->PDX. Or one from Boise <--> SLC. You could connect key cities within a region and it would be game changing. Living in WA if I had GEG<-->SEA or PSC <--> SEA and GEG<-->PSC - you could completely shift the housing problem etc.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: What We Lose When We're Priced Out of Our Hobbies

Because historically, HN was fully of interesting people with interesting things to say, where the article was a catalyst to something even better: human connection and dialog. But HN has fallen off pretty hard the past few years.

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: The complex origin story of domestic cats

I'd be interested to see how that is measured... dogs and cats are significantly different, but I'm not sure I'd call cats less intelligent. Case in point with mine - she figured out how to weaponize my electronic stand-up desk as a way to get me to stand up so that she could steal my chair. Another figured out how to open doors so he could go wherever he wanted in the house. No, they don't go around sniffing out mines or earthquake victims - they instead have convinced people to give them a total life of leisure.

There's another part to their intelligence I wish we could study... multiple times I've had cats show up on my front porch as though they somehow know my house is safe. Example: several years ago a cat knocked on my door and by the time we got things detangled we understood that it lived several blocks away and likely had been in a really abusive situation. Somehow that cat understood that if came to my house it would be safe, whereas my neighbors on either side would have at best ignored it. I've now had this happen multiple time such that there is some kind of pattern - pheromones?

poulsbohemian | 10 months ago | on: The complex origin story of domestic cats

I hear this anytime orange cats come up in conversation and I don't quite get it - I had an orange cat when I was in high school and he was a very clever cat. I now have an orange female cat and she's got a big personality - very take-charge in her demands.
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