https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/03/climate/north-carolina-homes-helene-building-codes.html Over the past 15 years, North Carolina lawmakers have rejected limits on construction on steep slopes, which might have reduced the number of homes lost to landslides; blocked a rule requiring homes to be elevated above the height of an expected flood; weakened protections for wetlands, increasing the risk of dangerous storm water runoff; and slowed the adoption of updated building codes, making it harder for the state to qualify for federal climate-resilience grants. Those decisions reflect the influence of North Carolina’s home building industry, which has consistently fought rules forcing its members to construct homes to higher, more expensive standards, according to Kim Wooten, an engineer who serves on the North Carolina Building Code Council, the group that sets home building requirements for the state. and in 2009 and 2010, lawmakers from the states mountainous western region wanted statewide rules to restrict construction on slopes with high or moderate risk of landslides. Their legislation failed in the face of pushback from the homebuilding and real estate industries.

He does get slap-happy...

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-direct-file-set-to-expand-availability-in-a-dozen-new-states-and-cover-wider-range-of-tax-situations-for-the-2025-tax-filing-season The Internal Revenue Service announced today that Direct File will be available for the 2025 tax filing season in double the number of states than last year’s pilot, and it will cover a wider range of tax situations, greatly expanding the number of taxpayers eligible to use the free e-filing service. and During the pilot last year, Direct File was available in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State and Wyoming. For the 2025 tax filing season, Direct File will also be available in Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. and During the pilot last year, Direct File covered limited tax situations, including wage income reported on a W-2 form, Social Security income, unemployment compensation and certain credits and deductions. For the 2025 filing season, Direct File will support 1099’s for interest income greater than $1,500, retirement income and the 1099 for Alaska residents reporting the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. During the pilot, Direct File supported taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Credit for Other Dependents. This year, Direct File will also cover taxpayers claiming the Child and Dependent Care Credit, Premium Tax Credit, Credit for the Elderly and Disabled, and Retirement Savings Contribution Credits. In addition to covering taxpayers claiming the standard deduction and deductions for student loan interest and educator expenses, this year, Direct File will support taxpayers claiming deductions for Health Savings Accounts.

@LuFins-Dad said in Give Walz Credit: I wonder what size… Most gun owners usually state the caliber. It's going to be a 9, most likely. Wonder if she has the California citizen 10-round or the higher capacity law enforcement mags?

I'm actually visiting Scotland later this month with work. I wonder if they sell that at a more affordable price over there?

It's an earhole, not a freaking canal or a tube. You wouldn't call his asshole the alimentary canal, would you?

@wtg said in Media impartiality: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4920827-60-minutes-trump-cancel/ Man I am so ready for the Trump tantrums to be over. Which of course means he'll win in November.

His Our Man in Japan series was pretty good, too.

Tariffs will.

@89th said in Bury Mama in the yard...: Good article... The USA could, for relatively very, very cheap (relatively...), improve FEMA ten-fold and make it the envy of the world in terms of speed and breadth of response anytime there is a natural disaster. If the President can make a political stunt and try to pay off student loans, you think he could find some coins in the couch to vastly improve FEMA for unexpected disasters like NC (or expected disasters like Milton...). You never know when there will be another massive disaster (volcano, etc...).... it doesn't cost that much to be overly prepared from a federal response perspective. Not that simple. One very small example: with every disaster, part of the calculation in response is how bad the rest of the year is going to be. So they respond in ways that are both commensurate with what they can do right now, and what they think the budget is going to have to bear in the near future. Which is impossible to know but that's part of the planning, because it's very easy for mother nature to clean out the coffers. (Least, this was true as of about 10 years ago when FEMA fully integrated into DHS.)

Weird. Their model doesn’t account for any tariff retaliation.

How long will it take to solve this one?? https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/04/style/japan-worlds-smallest-rubik-cube-intl-hnk/index.html Japanese toymaker MegaHouse has unveiled a miniature Rubik’s Cube — one so tiny that you might need a pair of tweezers to solve it. Each face of the cube, which is made from aluminum, measures about five millimeters (around 0.2 inches) across. It was made available for pre-order on the manufacturer’s website on Thursday, with deliveries expected next April. Standard size vs mini one [image: f_webp]

Must want that lithium real bad.

Gee, you ought to listen to an ED conversation. The majority of healthcare workers would drag the frequent flyers outside the door and let them die in the parking lot.

Yes? [image: 97834f3f05df903445dd5c4fb78cbcb8.jpg]

@George-K said in Well, that determines my choice.: I looked it up. . Why are pedos supporting Harris? They aren’t pedos anymore, they are MAPS. And MAPS have a higher rate of suicide due to the stigmatization!

Thank you. That video proves that Yoko's music has withstood the test of time.