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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • It’s incredibly disheartening to look back at the relation between the U.S. and Vietnam with the frame starting after the end of WW1. Had Ho Chi Minh been given the time of day it’s easy to wonder what could have been. The Vietnamese simply wished to follow the example that the U.S. had achieved with breaking away from Colonial rule.

    Modern day attitudes really go a long way to show the true character of the Vietnamese. You hear of stories of the Christmas Truce, and opposing sides being relatively friendly after a war concludes, but the Vietnam War feels different. Between the racist dehumanization, war crimes and nature of the war putting civilians directly in crosshairs, you wouldn’t be a fool to think that such a conflict would instill a near permanent hatred on both sides. Yet that doesn’t appear to be the case. The overwhelming theme from anecdotes of meetings between former soldiers from both sides is an incredible sense of understanding and shared loss. And the onus of all of this lies chiefly with the Vietnamese. There’s no reason they should forgive or turn the other cheek considering it wasn’t a war they started, but that’s not a distinction that really seems important to them.

    A country fiercely determined to defend its independence that has thrown off not one, not two, but three separate wars against such independence with each opponent being unarguably more powerful. I can hear an eagle screaming now.

    Besides, this is the same Vietnam who kicked China’s ass in the very same decade that they forced the U.S. out of their country. At this point I wouldn’t bet against the Vietnamese in any conflict if my life depended on it.



  • Was in the thread yesterday saying the same thing. What you describe is exactly what TVA does in essence.

    Ideally, they would convince the miners to install their own solar and wind generation (and maybe pumped storage as well)

    Texas has a ‘problem’ that prevents them from being able to incentivize this well. At least from what I overheard during my stint at a mine. Texas’s big draw are all of the abandoned oil wells. You can simply go purchase a plot of land with a capped well, uncap it and install a Natural Gas generator that captures and burns the NG often released when drilling for oil. This gives you a one time fee for the generator costs and then after that you are in the clear with ‘free’ (relatively, minus initial costs) energy. This isn’t exclusive to Texas, but obviously it can be done at a higher rate in the state compared to others.




  • Yes, the parents in my area (not the area this article is about) I am blaming, but my area does not have a mismanagement issue so much as it has a massive shortage of bus drivers.

    The bottom line is that in my state the school has no responsibility to provide transportation for your children get to school (outside of specific circumstances).Think of that how you will but ultimately that’s neither here nor there. Don’t have children if you don’t want the responsibility that comes with them. And further, even if having children wasn’t your choice that doesn’t change that responsibility.

    The other thing that needs mentioning is I’m singling out the vocal minority in particular. The people who get irate about the situation and think there has to be someone to blame in the BoE when more often than not the situation is out of their hands. The people who want to shout the loudest at people who’s hands are tied are the least likely to lift a finger to alleviate the situation. And I get not everyone can just drop what they’re doing, get an S endorsement and subsist on a bus driver’s salary, but there’s more than enough that can and won’t. It’s akin to the hand wringing about “dey tuk ar jerbs”, the people who actually believe that won’t actually go out and work as busboys, roofers, tree trimmers and farm hands. That’s above them and too little of a wage for too much labor.

    Instead of getting pissed at the BoE because there’s a driver shortage due to subpar wages, increasingly hostile work environments and incredible amounts of responsibility and liability, maybe they could, I dunno, vote more responsibly? Write their state and federal representatives? Direct the anger at the people who have incredible control over the situation without having skin in the game?

    Edit: and what the hell are you even talking about with “privatized bus transport companies”? Bus drivers are BoE employees meaning employees of their city/county school system and therefore state/public employees.




  • However, even an underfunded district should have been able to see this plan would have issue and raised a red flag with the community in advance.

    Honestly, I don’t think that would have stopped anything. One thing made abundantly clear to me from my time in that particular BoE is that the vocal minority literally could not care less. There were more people than I would have imagined griping and complaining that the busses weren’t running to their area, despite the fact it is ultimately the parent’s responsibility, and also despite the fact that they themselves weren’t willing to grab an S endorsement and do the job themselves for not only their child but other people’s as well.

    And don’t get me wrong, parents should have been notified and honestly this should have been trialed before opening day. But this would still be an article and people would still be up in arms because, sadly, it’s often the loudest in the room that seem to lack the ability to take personal responsibility.


  • So I can’t speak to every school district across the country, but I can speak for the one I worked in and there’s a (good/bad, you be the judge) reason for that.

    In my state the language is explicitly may provide transportation. So that means it’s something they take upon themselves. They get money for transportation from the feds/state obviously, but let’s all be honest that it’s a drop in the bucket to what it should be. And it’s not an easy job to coordinate. I don’t know the particulars of this system, but the county I worked for had some absolute backwater areas in its district. We’re talking thirty minutes up/down mountain roads to the nearest school.

    Add onto the funding issues that, like you said, there is a noticeable lack of drivers. They don’t get benefits, they get shit pay, AND they have to have a Driver’s License endorsement that entitles them to MUCH better opportunities in private sector.

    Not that I’m saying any of this applies to this scenario or excuses it, but until you actually get a glimpse into the sausage factory it’s really easy to mischaracterize something as complex as insuring a bus for every child who needs it as a simple problem. I’m willing to speak for Transportation Directors across all schoolboards that the overwhelming majority of them are absolutely terrified of this scenario occurring in their district.

    Edit: I will add that even though it was a relatively podunk district with some of the most rural locals in my state, the district I worked for did insist that they do house-to-house, meaning none of that 1/2 mile - 1 mile stops. And they elected to do that themselves.


  • It’s such a shame. Good trolls are slow burns, and most most importantly they’re not personally invested in the topic. Honestly I compare it to comedy. A comic is on stage and points out something about a topic that on its face is comedic but then you stop and think and realize the absurdity of it and that absurdity is why it’s comedic in the first place. A good troll is one that starts an argument between people who share beliefs and it should develop in such a way that people can take a step back and realize the absurdity of what they’re arguing about. It should result in growth for all the parties and observers involved to realize that they’re arguing over stupid meaningless stuff and that there are bigger problems than whatever they’ve spent who knows how long bickering about.

    But it’s just developed into snatching low hanging fruit and simply getting a rise out of people by simply saying slurs or bigoted comments.