spongebue

joined 2 years ago
[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I mean, someone once said the world would only see an American pope if America's position in the world severely changed. It makes sense; I can see where having America as powerful as it is plus that connection to the Vatican could be an issue.

Guess who severely changed America's position in the world

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Remember when toilet paper disappeared from store shelves because a respiratory virus was making its way to everyone? Eventually people realized they had toilet paper, the factories kept producing it, and the shelves recovered and we all agreed that was stupid.

Now imagine nobody has a reason/reasonable way to make their own toilet paper, and whatever toilet paper is available is up for grabs.

Now imagine that with pretty much everything else.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Grand juries are usually formalities with a very low bar. There's a phrase that you can indict a ham sandwich. Not getting a "true bill" is honestly an embarrassment that many prosecutors never see in their entire career.

I could have seen this get blocked here, but there are still many steps ahead, each will get harder to move forward with.

Fun fact: I just wrapped up a case as a juror (not a grand juror) this morning. We rendered a verdict of not guilty because there was plenty of reasonable doubt to be had.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

My egg salad sandwich at a Colorado courthouse cafeteria yesterday did not have olives in it. I'm not sure I've seen that before. But I could totally see it, especially since I've seen an olive since garnish on a deviled egg which is basically egg salad with the white as a boat for the rest. That was probably in the Midwest

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago

Not sure if it's relevant here, but there are 9 airports in 8 Canadian cities (Toronto has two) with US customs preclearance. That is, you clear US customs in Canada and arrive like a domestic flight. The reverse does not exist (I believe Canada has the option to but US airports don't generally have the volume of Canadian flights to justify it). If those ICE offices are related to those US facilities, (if...) it would make some sense.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

That's wholesome AF

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Yeah, I'm not a huge sportsball fan but if someone did that at my funeral, I sure as hell wouldn't haunt them from the grave over it

 

She was trying to say elevator

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Not sure I agree with that. I'll take an unexpected five bucks because of Red Bull's false advertising that some ingredient doesn't have literal energy (calories) to it. I wouldn't start my own lawsuit over it, which may or may not be as successful. More importantly, every class action notice I've ever gotten had instructions to opt out and initiate my own legal action if I so choose. Also, if we're talking about a class that includes thousands/millions of people, there are only so many lawyers involved in whatever specialty.

Tl;dr class actions penalize companies on behalf of those who wouldn't realistically file their own lawsuit while still allowing those who would.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You sure about that? 👀

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I wasn't commenting on what should morally or legally be. I'm just saying that if there's, say, 1 million plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit it's not realistic to expect 3 million dollars (minus attorneys fees) in each person's bank account. That would be 3 trillion dollars, not including whatever punitive damages end up being. There's a practical issue to be considered.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I find a lot more "soul" in older electronics. So many devices today are a minimalist thing with a touchscreen (or worse, thing controlled by your phone), probably designed to force you into a subscription. At least consumerism from a few decades ago operated by innovating to make you want to buy a new product, rather than designing it to be a trap.

Going back to the "soul" bit: I recently bought a Bang and Olufsen Beosystem 2500 (look it up) for my office. It's a stereo from the very early 90s that cost thousands of dollars in its day. It sounds amazing, and has little touches that just make it cool. Like motorized glass doors that are motion activated, with warm accent lighting when the unit is on. The tape player didn't work when I bought it, but I was able to replace the belt and now my childhood Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego soundtrack tape is playable again! And with an Aux input, I can also use it for modern stuff too to take advantage of what we've gained in media playback since ~1991.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 39 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

I thought the same thing for a moment, until I realized that's for one person. Now imagine a similar class action lawsuit. Of course it's not realistic to expect that dollar amount multiplied by that many people, but it could be a pretty significant dent.

 
 

As a parent of a toddler in this program (one who is getting 4 provider visits per week, was going to be cut to 4 per month) I'm glad to have gotten an email late Friday saying that there will be no changes to services at this time. Still, this week has been a clusterfuck for us and especially our providers!

 

Looking at a couple receivers. I'm not a huge audiophile or anything, but have some functional things I'm looking for (Zone 2, phono, network control, Bluetooth transmission would be nice). I tend to hang on to this stuff for a while, so 8K would be nice so I don't need to buy a receiver if/when the day comes that I get a new TV (Sharp 1080p sorta-smart TV still going strong 12 years in!)

Anyway, I'm down to two receivers:

  • Denon AVR-X1700H (new at Costco)
  • Marantz NR1711 (used on Facebook, includes some nice speakers I could probably resell if needed)

On paper, the Denon has a little more power and a few more 8k HDMI ports but otherwise similar. Since they're both run by the same company behind the scenes, I suspect most components inside are identical.

In practice, I know the Marantz is supposed to be the better brand... but it seems conceivable that a lower-end slimline, slightly older Marantz could probably be beaten by a midrange Denon, yeah?

For what it's worth, this is replacing an Onkyo TX-NR709 I've had for about 14 years. It's been a workhorse but I really want proper Zone 2 functionality and it's been giving me troubles there (no HDMI sources work, even with the "source" mode)

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