I think you'll find that it's the difference in intent and definition that matters. I don't know you, so this next sentence is not meant to necessarily describe you in any way: There are people I can walk up to and say "Hey shit-for-brains, what's up?"

But there are way more people who are going to react in unfriendly ways.

If I say that phrase to a friend who knows what I mean, that's one thing. But the stranger who looks at me and wonders what is coming after the "shit-for-brains" .. that is a problem.

The solution is simple too. I'll be you know what it is - the Burlington HS BB players do.

A) Take that comment from u/TheShandyMan to heart - view your GPS with great suspicion.

B) Don't drive in the snow. Stay on the cleared roads.

C) If you can't stay on fully cleared roads, then find someone else to drive: your life and that of others could easily be on the line.

D) Don't feel bad about your inexperience. I've found that most Vermonters over the summer totally forget how to drive in winter conditions.

Thanks, never heard the phrase before - I've got some reading to do. NNTR

(quick bitch - nothing personal) I am sick of hearing about a part time legislature with a full time job. Every legislator applied for the job and put a great amount of effort into getting elected VOLUNTARILY. Perhaps ideas for a more lengthy legislative session with better administrative support would get further if the most common proposals didn't involve reducing representation for those of us NOT able to physically access the State House.

There are 150 state representatives and 30 state senators. I've spent time in the State House and I know the flow of business.

All you have to do is track computer data gathering and dissemination since the 1950s. We have Wall Street transactions that a human would never have time to be aware of.

Every bit of evidence we have regarding computers screams that we're nowhere near the end of the line.

The heart of my argument in this specific thread is: I agree that right now we're providing the basis for AI learning. That will most probably not be true in the future simply because the ability of computers to collect, collate and distribute any info dwarfs that of humans.

Yes, today you are correct. My point is that I don't believe that lasts. (And yes - I do think the evidence supports me)

That bit about the reward - that is going to stick with me. If I were a self-aware computer, what would I view as a reward?

Kinda random consideration: if an AI machine becomes a basic part of a corporation, then that AI machine will share in those rights of personhood as currently enjoyed by our corporations.

Not only that, it becoming apparent that individual AI machine would probably be the first time a lawyer representing itself doesn't have a fool for a client.

I'm not pleased or displeased ... life holds uncertainties with and without AI.

I'm curious. This is the future we'll be living in, and we better figure out how to drive the beast before the beast learns how to drive us. My assumption it would be child's play to base an AI's decision making on a commercial marketing manual of some sort.

Bad? I'm not judging. Something to be aware of and alert for? Absolutely.

Nothing HAS to be slow about impeachment. It's a work avoidance thing.

Read responses, and for those who think we need to have specific qualifications for Sheriffs - what would the qualifications be and what is the rationale?

I see absolutely zero need, for instance, for a Sheriff to be a state certified police officer or other law enforcement type - especially when you read the Sheriff's statutory duties. Others probably see that as fundamental to the job of being a Sheriff.

So, what qualifications and why?

If you want me to fill out some details, I will. But for now I'll just say that for the most party, Vermont's education taxes are a statewide tax. You are correct regarding the sending towns to a small degree, but it is only a small part of who is paying the bills.

The easiest way to understand our state's ed taxing system is: it's a statewide tax with some local adjustments.

A public school system, in my opinion, has the following characteristics:

1. Is open to all comers and free of charge at the door (what's needed is covered from elsewhere just as is required of public schools today);
2. Provides an opportunity for a quality education, and
3. Operates in a public and transparent method much as public bodies do today.

And yeah, that "elsewhere" most likely means government collected taxes.

No, somebody was most certainly NOT killed at a basketball game. Somebody MAY have died elsewhere as a result of the Alburgh basketball game riot, but we don't yet know if there was some cause and effect of those two events.

With that correction out of the way: Violence comes in many forms, and the easiest way to normalize the worst of the violence is to poo-poo the starter violence such as words.

And you somehow missed: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=%22rama+schneider%22&ia=web

You forgot this: https://www.timesargus.com/search/?l=25&s=start_time&sd=desc&f=html&t=article%2Cvideo%2Cyoutube%2Ccollection&app=editorial&nsa=eedition&q=%22rama+schneider%22

Just for emphasis - get the off road diesel. I've used it in a pinch.

The kerosene gets added as an antifreeze I believe.

Yes, there are quite a few hidden rock walls like this that more then likely came about during those years. There are some that have come about as dairy farming declined too - but age of trees will tell the difference still.

FWIW: I was looking at various sources to see when the the Ainsworth State (apparently not) Forest was created. Turns out there isn't such an entity, but there IS the Ainsworth State Park ... I think maybe.

At least according to the below Vermont state government website page there is indeed an Ainsworth State Park, but there is no associated link as seen with most of the other state parks listed. For that matter, the Vermont state park's website (vtstateparks.com) doesn't list an "Ainsworth State Park" at all.

But this I know from direct, first person experience: the park or whatever it is has official Vermont government signs both identifying the park and doing the "no dumping", etc. So it is there, it is owned by our Vermont state government, and it gets logged in a responsible manner.

So I'll be sticking with "State Forest" for now until I hear otherwise.

https://fpr.vermont.gov/state_lands/land-records/state-lands-list#FPR%20State%20Forests

And no, this isn't a close p of the "green comet". This is Williamstown's (and Vermont's) Ainsworth State Forest. (Edit) What made me stop and take this photo was how straight that wall was. Despite it being many many decades old, it wasn't falling down like so many other old, uncared for ones.

As you wrote: "climate change is real", and that is what you are experiencing.

Great walking up there regardless whether one is on the Norwich U or Northfield town lands - any time of year too!

Vermont is not unique. We are a state populated by the members of the same human race that populates Montana, Texas or anywhere else.

To stay on your point: Vermont is much smaller then Montana and much closer to major urban areas such as Boston, New York and Montreal. We are much more susceptible to what you described as having happened to Montana's housing market; and we are having a huge issue with too much money buying up places that people need to live in.

I hope it works out for you folks wherever you end up.

Yo this aint Facebook, we don't need to read how your disapproval rates regarding other people's posts you really don't give a crap about.

We've missed a day here and there down here in Williamstown. All due, it appears, to not being able to hire enough staff and then folks getting sick.