“Probably have COVID. I’m gonna go take some Ivermectin.”
Words spoken by people who prefer to get their “healthcare” from the same place you can buy pet food, garden tools, and candy by the pound instead of an actual doctor.
“Probably have COVID. I’m gonna go take some Ivermectin.”
Words spoken by people who prefer to get their “healthcare” from the same place you can buy pet food, garden tools, and candy by the pound instead of an actual doctor.
Tarantula Hawk
Wasp equivalent of an A-10 Warthog
Captures tarantulas in a way that resembles Tony Soprano disposing of a body
Doesn’t know what the fuck you’re staring at and doesn’t really care enough to stop what it’s doing
Not so much what I did as what I didn’t do. I was picking up a birthday cake for one of my kids and I was standing in line behind a lady who was obviously doing the same thing. Based on her appearance and the fact that she was fumbling through her wallet while on the phone with the bank, I got the sense that she was a little short on cash.
Something told me I should go ahead and pay for her cake. I could easily afford it so why not? For whatever reason I chickened out. I don’t know why.
I left there with my kids birthday cake, feeling very ashamed of myself. It was a small thing and yet to me it was a serious moral failure.
Many moons ago, before I was in technology, I worked as a sheet metal workers apprentice. I remember on more than one occasion, watching the shop foreman talk to the company owner or a customer with a look on his face that anyone who has ever spent two seconds chatting with the least competent corporate VP can identify with.
It’s a look that says, “I understand the words that you’re saying but you clearly don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” There are people in virtually every industry that somehow manage to fail upwards. Maybe if you call yourself the “idea guy” enough, other people start to believe you.
Neither AI nor OpenAI’s management are capable of understanding irony.
I think there were some legitimate concerns about the potential nuclear threat as well as uncertainty regarding Russia’s actual capabilities.
Now we’ve seen that Russia’s claims don’t hold any more water than a strainer, the west should be more aggressive with its assistance. The Ukrainians have already demonstrated that they are not just going to take it laying down and they’re the only reason Russia hasn’t moved on to invading other former Soviet states. I think we owe them all assistance we can give.
Now bury a whole sit of wrenches standing straight up in a row, out in the middle of a random field and call it “art”.
It’s not the first time. There are more of them than we realized.
Edit: More evidence.
Edit 2: WTF kind of bird is almost 8 feet tall? That ain’t no ostrich. This new evidence is most alarming.
You’re absolutely right. You, the client, don’t get to see what goes on the backend so it’s often impossible to know up front who is going to represent your interests and who is going to be more interested in padding their own commission. Zillow reviews are basically useless because all it means is that the reviewer liked their realtor. That’s great and all but “likeability” and quality of work are not the same thing.
There was a lot of media speculation that the recent court case and settlement with the National Association of Realtors would bring commissions down and make terms more favorable, especially for sellers.
I don’t believe that has happened at all. In fact, it’s just helped make an industry known for its opaqueness and underhanded tactics even more opaque and underhanded. As usual, it’s the client who gets the shaft.
If you want to find a good realtor, or avoid a bad one, there are a few things you can do.
Beware of realtors that aggressively push you toward certain vendors (banks, title companies, etc). If you’re looking at your third house and they’re now asking you for the fifth time if you’ve applied for a mortgage at a specific bank, that’s a red flag. Kickbacks are illegal in both banking and real estate. But some people like to treat those pesky laws like suggestions.
Beware of dual agency in general, but especially Realtors that are very persistent about it. With dual agency, the same realtor represents the buyer and the seller. It’s not a guarantee that your realtor is going to do something unethical, but let’s be real. Collecting commission from both sides in a real estate transaction is a very clear conflict of interest. But it’s a conflict of interest that is considered acceptable as long as The buyer and seller both approve. You do not have to approve. But you may have to find another realtor depending on who your initial realtor was representing first.
If a realtor has been in the business for a long time AND is willing to show you rentals, that’s actually a positive sign. Rentals pay shit. Around here if you get $300 - $400, that’s a good rental commission. As the agent you get to keep maybe half of that. Depends on what the split is with your broker. Agents who sell more can negotiate a better commission split. So the rental commission is dog shit and on top of that, landlords and property Management companies are notorious for trying to either weasel out paying the commission or they will drag their feet on it as long as possible.
As the agent, you could easily spend many many hours showing rentals and lose money doing it because rentals are not profitable for agents. Agents that are relatively new to the business will do rentals just to help build up their client portfolio. But if you get an agent who’s been in the business for a while, doesn’t try to pawn you off on another agent, and will take the time to actually show you rentals, they’re not doing it strictly for the money even if they do hope that you’ll remember them if If you ever need to buy a house.
A good realtor is worth every penny you pay them and in addition buying or selling your home will:
The problem is that a lot of realtors are good at “shaking hands and taking names” and terrible at everything else or they’re just plain unethical. Unfortunately, that’s the vast majority of realtors in my experience.
Source: wife is a realtor who tells me all kinds of “you’ll never believe the shit [other realtor] tried to pull today” stories.
I don’t think I’ve seen this meme template before. I like it
H Y P O C R _ S Y
“I’d like to buy a vowel.”
My opinions are mixed. I like living here in general. I don’t like the extremely rapid transformation of Benton & Washington counties into a vast sea of urban/suburban sprawl.
We also have tons of serious social problems that get very neatly painted over by the relentless construction and “newness”.
I’m sure when Tom and Steuart have spent hundreds of millions of Jim’s money to transform this area into the “biking capital of the world”, all our problems will be solved. …ha ha.
USS Enterprise NCC-1701D
Code name: “The Love Shack”
As an Arkansan, I appreciate the thumbnail photo of Jim, Alice, and Rob Walton who earned their wealth the good old fashioned way. By inheriting it from their dad. They spent a decent chunk of it gentrifying the Northwest corner of the state to the point that if you were born here, you can no longer afford to live here.
Got-dangit!
“Softly” by Gordon Lightfoot is one of my favorite songs. On the surface it appears to be about a woman but I don’t think it is. I was listening to it one time when it just popped into my head, “Holy shit. He’s talking about the moon.”
I thought about writing him to ask if I was right and I kind of regret that I didn’t while he was still alive. The man was a poet of highest caliber. If you like or can at least listen to folk music, the album “Gord’s Gold” lives up to it’s name.
Presbyterians don’t have canonized saints but if they did, Fred Rogers would be the first on the list.
Knees are overrated.
“All I said was, ‘this pizza pocket is good enough for Allah!’.”
“There! You see?! He said it again. Blasphemer!”