I was responding to the part of the comment about "public space," not the driveway thing. Of course these things, just like other people's cars, should not be parked in someone's private driveway without permission.

Maybe because the police and an anonymous friend of a bystander are the only sources for the "she shot first" claim, and police sometimes lie after shootings, so they didn't want to present an unconfirmed statement as fact?

I don't know why we'd be mad about these scooters stealing public space but not mad about people using cars to take up far, far more public space.

You really shouldn't throw lithium ion batteries in a trash can.

That's not really how it works, at least in the office jobs I've had. There's always more work to be done, so we just end up doing more work the more productive we get.

And there's no need to sow division like you're doing. Office workers aren't your enemy.

That seems really wasteful. I'd rather not have to throw out a perfectly good blade.

Well, rest and often starve.

How about take us forward to the future where we take advantage of our ridiculous levels of productivity to work less but maintain the same standard of living?

I guess I'm wondering why waiting a few minutes to find out why the power is out, which isn't really actionable info, is important.

What's the point of these posts? Isn't a brief power outage like this pretty normal? And wouldn't it be quicker to confirm it was an outage by going to DLC's website?

The "weather normalization fee" that Philly's gas company and some others charged generated a lot of negative press and an outcry from the PA Office of Consumer Advocate. It's currently under dispute at the PUC. Here's an article from last fall about it.

The companies at Walmart trying to "scam you into changing electric companies" are actually trying to get you to switch electric suppliers. It's usually not a scam, but sometimes it is. Your electric utility only distributes energy, not generates it. By default, the power you get from them they source from power plants at the lowest cost they can get reliable power. You can opt to get your power from another company if you want it to be all renewable or pick another price. You can certainly get cheaper power by shopping around. I've done it. But go to www.papowerswitch.com to see all your options and their terms rather than talking to some salesman at Walmart.

But the overall reason our utilities are too high is that we have old, inefficient housing stock and powerful utilities. Utilities are supposed to be regulated by the PUC, who balances their interests with ratepayer interests, but it's far easier for utilities to influence the PUC commissioners, the Governor who appoints them, and the legislators who confirm them, than it is for us to do that. In other words, regulatory capture.

Not the gas tax, though.

Yes - with newer residential developments like Summerset at Frick Park, I don't get why they don't include a bodega and a coffee shop in the original design. Especially developments like this that advertise walkability but failed to include anything to walk to.

>And nobody wants to vote for that, as no-one wants to see their taxes go up.

I think people could vote for this if we knew it meant we'd get specific improvements in schools/public services as a result. That's exactly how the parks tax got passed a couple years ago.

It was definitely on the news. I heard it on WESA.

It sounds like something you'd say about someone who just went into collections on their huge credit card debt. Like, she didn't really think all of this debt would come back to bite her and just kept spending until consequences caught up with her. I like it - a little quote that evokes a lot.

I felt the same way the first time I heard about Winchester Thurston, the private school. It's the snootiest sounding name, like it could be the school the evil rich kids go to in an 80's high school comedy.

Flour

If you always expect the opposite of what Phil says, you'd be in pretty good shape.

With such a warm winter, we're gonna be covered in ticks this year.

Phil is wrong most of the time, so it's always safe to assume the opposite of whatever he says is true.

Sometimes meat eaters get offended by the existence of people who abstain from meat.

I worry that Apteka is also on their way out, as they are only open 3 nights a week.

Onion Maiden is always crowded, though. I don't think this has anything to do with lack of business.

Yeah, I agree. Only in extreme cases would I reduce a tip below 20%. I consider 20% simply the cost of that service, not a "bonus" I get to bestow upon lowly service workers based on how satisfied my royal person is. And that's the way wages work in service industry - wages are low because tips are expected. They rely on tips. So we absolutely should tip even if it's not table service.

And since the pandemic, which helped remind me how shitty service workers generally have it, I have tried to tip above 20% as a default.