Seen a lot of half baked arguments.

I’ve been in the area and met this cat. First off, this cat started as a stray, and found its way to the corner store that took it in and adopted it for all intents and purposes. Its lived in the same spot for many years, and had always been an exceptionally chill cat. Painting him as a typical outdoor cat is disingenuous and uninformed.

KitKat has been safe and sound for so long without any issues. There’s gotta be literally millions of cars that have driven past in his residency on 16th in the Mission district of SF. And the only time he gets hit is by a waymo? All these human drivers, so many of them absolute shit, and never an occurrence? This cat isn’t sprinting the neighborhood, crossing streets, or hunting for prey; its docile, loves pets, and knows there’s endless food at the liquor store that provides all his needs. He wasn’t your typical outdoor cat that runs from everyone and twitches at unknown sounds; this was an urban dwelling cat that’s been prospering for years.

Waymo promotes and brags to riders how many cameras are inside and out of the car. But it so easily hit something that could fuck the car up if it wasn’t soft squishy flesh. Were animals and small children not in any of its test scenarios? Is it infeasble to install cameras where a typical driver couldn’t usually see?

Not to mention the absolutely rude response waymo has had to this event. Instead of apologizing and pledging improvements and retribution to killing a valued community member; they victim-blamed the dead cat, said they didn’t do anything wrong, and said nothing of mitigating future scenarios.

There’s more I can say about the company and its typical ownership, but I want to keep this to the slaughter at hand and their complete lack of consciousness. Waymo doesn’t care about you or anything that it kills. Once again, its about the bottom line and whatever it can do to turn profit.

Obviously accidents happen, but its the reaction that can truly matter in those cases. They’ve shown that causing great harm in a community means nothing to them. And this is in obvious and outspoken situations. What about the less obvious ways? Whether that be job loss, economic factors, environmental concerns, or blatant safety on our streets. If they’re forced, they’ll make a bullshit apology (aka recognition of events) and then focus on moving forward without addressing people’s grief and anger.

Fuck waymo, fuck their response especially, and fuck anyone saying this cat deserved it by being a lazy sidewalk-laying pillar of joy in the neighborhood.

Rest in Peace KitKat. The community will always love you and remember you for always brightening our days in this endlessly threatening world. The only thing that killed you was the ruthless drive for profit. Your memory will live on in the hearts of many. And as a focal point that citizens must stop allowing corporations from plowing down their neighbors, their voice, and their sunshine in a day’s walk to the store.

3:

Looked it up again just now. Was it always called Welcome Home, Son? I remember it just being Welcome Home. Hmm

I love some knipex. I’ve also had great luck with Icon tools. It’s harbor freight’s knock off versions of snap on, knipex, etc. They’re built good, i abuse them and they keep going. And they have a lifetime warranty. Haven’t tried the icon ratchets but I hear good things there too

I buy mine from the bulk store bc it’s like the same price for 500 pills vs 30 from a normal drug store. I never finish them before the expiration, but whatever

I’m not gonna let the intruder in my home (who keeps hitting me) stay there because I refuse to break my lamp over his head.

Russians in Ukraine is a much larger threat than less shrubbery.

You sleep on your side and stomach and use the same amount of pillow for both?? Stomach definitely needs the least amount of cushion, except for people who use no pillow I guess. And side sleeping has an entire shoulder’s width of support to make up for. Totally different positions, you need an arsenal of pillows to really dial in the ergonomics.

This is an interesting point I haven’t seen before. I think I agree, but only after suicide for medical patients is legal. And also, what about people not in a life sentence (whether a shorter sentence or someone not incarcerated)? Should they have any legal outlet?

Is there a difference between wanting to kill yourself and not wanting to live through a life sentence?

Lots to unpack, let’s hit the big ones. Do any means justify peace? Is mass murder of entire countries okay because it would result in less overall friction afterward? How long does peace need to last after for it to make it worth it?

Displacement. Is it fair to the people who have lived in a country for generations to leave because of other’s actions? Moreso, many of them currently /want/ to leave (really really bad) but can’t, what should they do? And also, how is that fair to neighboring countries, they’re just required to take in refugees because Israel wants more land? (What if there weren’t neighboring countries?)

Finally, (please educate me), are universities very invested in Syrian companies/industries? That’s what the current protests are about, divestment from Israel. Are you required to care about all atrocities in order to care for one? What line marks which bad things in the world protesters should inclusively be knowledgeable about?

The eradication of millions of civilians is definitely anti-peace.

A similar situation would be the US joining WW2 on the Axis side. I mean once Britain, France, Russia, China, and the Jews were finished off, there’d be peace for a while right?

Ponder what unconditional support for Israel would mean for Palestinians in our current landscape.

Few years ago Texas required ‘In God we Trust’ signs to be displayed in classrooms. Schools weren’t allowed to pay for them, so basically donated. They conveniently rejected the signs that had a rainbow on it, or the one written in Arabic.

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/31/1120239381/texas-in-god-we-trust-arabic-signs-chaz-stevens

Apparently, the average citizen pays about a half million in taxes in a lifetime. So this means 15 people spent their entire life being honest taxpayers, so these cops could be a piece of shit.

Glad the family got paid at least. Wild that in 2020 these cops didn’t have cams yet; not exactly a rural area.

Disagree. I won’t say it’s impossible it encourages some antisemitism, but it feels like you’re lumping all these students into that camp. I think the protests provide awareness of where much of the public stands on the issue.

It feels disingenuous to say these protests are a fun party. I can think of plenty of activities I partook in college that were more fun and with less risk. I think these students (a fairly small percentage of all students, realistically), feel an alturistic need to do something. And there’s not a lot of domestic options available to them, especially ones where their voice is actually heard.

These protests must be effective if they’re turning the whole world on Israel. But I think that’s much more of Israel’s doing. Surely killing medical staff, journalists, aid workers, and children may factor in? Of course I’m against antisemitism, but I won’t say the same about antizionism.

There’s also the part where these protests aren’t directly about ending the conflict (of course that’s the ultimate overarching goal). These students are protesting their schools’ investments in Israel. And I think they have every right to have that discussion with the schools they’re attending. This is the impact they’re trying to make, one that /is/ related to them, and one that /is/ possible.

Like it or not, Joe is the best shot at ending the conflict right now, I agree. But it’s been many months of him appearing to do close to nothing. Is Israel backed into a corner? Looks more like Palestinian civilians are in a corner. A corner that keeps getting moved and then bombed.

The US has a lot of sway in the world. There’s a lot of options our government could take. Continued financial, military, and political support doesn’t feel like the best option. I’m not saying we should wipe Israel off the map, but surely there’s some sort of middle ground where civilians of the region aren’t just endless collateral damage?

I agree that the diplomats have a lot of things to consider and need to make careful nuanced discussions that lead to effective decisions. However, I think student protests help sway the public opinion and give more backing to such diplomatic decisions.

And US students obviously can’t make foreign policy decisions with Isreal, so what else are they supposed to do? Clearly, months of smaller actions haven’t seemed to change the situation.

Does anyone know what the wealth of the bottom 99% is?

If you’re at all mechanical or work on cars/bikes or a homeowner, the Knipex Pliers Wrench is an excellent tool. It’s a set of leveraged adjustable parallel jaw pliers. So basically you can grab nuts, bolts, or anything with flats with tremendous leverage, and you can do it quickly on a range of sizes. Almost infinitely better than a crescent (adjustable) wrench, fills the spot of a whole set of open-ended box wrenches, and they’re excellent German engineering. Come in a range of sizes (bc there’s still different uses for big and small). Roughly $50-60 each, but sets are cheaper per. Plus, harbor freight makes a nice dupe of the 10in/250mm for $40 (find a coupon tho).

I was on the fence for a while, but I adore the tool and wish I had it years earlier. For most people, a 7in/180mm and 10in will fill most needs. The hype is real. Lifetime warranty too if you buy from authorized retailer (habor freight is also lifetime eyy)

Relevant quote from article…

“The Israeli military is currently using Rafael’s Spike missiles to target people inside buildings in the Gaza Strip right now. The same weapons that Canada is buying are being advertised as ‘battle tested’ against Palestinians.”

“For Canada to be choosing to purchase these weapons from Rafael is a direct endorsement and a direct financial support to the Israeli military’s devastation and carnage in Gaza,” Small added.

I’m in a HCOL area, and all the TBs near me have them for 1.79. Although they were a dollar a month or two ago. They’re sizable, and 3 will absolutely fill me up, 2 is usually plenty.

TB usually has a pretty good combo box for less than $10, sometimes closer to $5/6. If you’re real picky and want certain things, then sure, get ready to pay $15+. But I personally find that I can’t spend more than $8 to get stuffed.

District 9? Thoughts welcome

What if a kid had an incurable spreadable disease? Throw them in the hot summer car?

I’m a previous boy scout (~2006-12) and camp staff (~2010-2019). It’s hard to see a lot of these stories and accusations come out against bsa. While I was a youth and staff member, there was a lot of guarding from any possibility of sexual abuse. Many hours of meetings and training for both youth and adult members of the bsa. Everything erred on the side of caution. Even between staff members there’s a lot of separation between over/under 18.

Granted these experiences all took place in a fairly liberal area. But I like to think that in the last 20+ years, the bsa has become a much safer organization. Inclusive too, girls are now allowed and welcome. (Do note girls and boys are a part of separate groups (there are co-ed branches of bsa though, Venture Scouts)).

I also think it’s important to know how involved the Morman church used to be with bsa. There’s recently been a pretty large separation between the two organizations, but that wasn’t always the case. And without speculating too hard, churches don’t have a great history with sexual abuse.

All of this is to say that I believe all the past survivors, and they do deserve justice. But it’s hard to see their lawsuits coming after what I believe is a fundamentally different organization (different policies, different leaders, different ties). I think there’s a lot of good that bsa can help instill with today’s youth. I’m not sure what a good solution is.