Speaking of hanging out I’ll be in Minneapolis this fall. I’ll keep you posted.

@Jolly said in Why the NBA sucks these days: Give you another one...I don't mind letting guys and gals play, but basketball has devolved to jungle ball. I routinely see hand-checking, traveling, turning the ball over on the dribble, etc. Tighten up the officiating. Basketball is a game with a lot of finesse, let's see more of it. I’d like them to go back to 80’s style D rules.

@Copper said in European Tariff Situation Gets Its Own Thread: The cheap labor in Asia has led to the elimination of manufacturers in the US. Is a domestic manufacturing capability desirable? The correct answer depends on unknown future events, but it is certainly possible that a domestic manufacturing capability could become critical to our safety. That is worth something. You make good points, but mostly speaking, people vote and buy with their wallets. How many people talk about wanting to buy "local" as they order off of Amazon or Walmart. If President Trump makes policies to have more things made local but it increases the inflation rate quite a bit, then the Repulbics will not have the majority in 4 years. Tough situation.

So far, everything seems fine. That said, quite a few of us in the piano rebuilding industry get soundboard and pinblock materials from Bolduc in Canada. This could add a pretty good chunk to the retail cost of a restoration. Or, I suppose more folks would try a handful of other suppliers. They're out there, but tend to be spotty in terms of reliably having product.

Interesting article. Hard to argue with results. In any event at least a partial disentanglement of the government and business would likely be a good thing.

@taiwan_girl said in Helicopter Crash in DC: more than 100 cockpit warnings over the past decade that they were in danger of a midair collision That is a busy weekend at a General Aviation airport.

Hope they don't use all their film on Bridgeport pics!

@jon-nyc said in Off to Phoenix: Sitting at EWR but it’s the American terminal so not as bad as it sounds. Have an hour to kill and we’re drinking a coffee. Middle aged woman at the next table is drinking white wine. 8am on a Tuesday. I get a glass with lunch. But 8am? Maybe she’s nervous. I just grabbed an omelette in MSP at 6am while waiting for my DC flight to board. The two women next to me asked me 3 times where I live. Normally I’d take that as a move, but really they are hammered and forgot they already asked. Twice. It’s 6am. Midwest folks like their booze! (I had a Bloody Mary, when in Rome…)

How hard is it to drop a few cartoonish TNT bundles behind them?

@Doctor-Phibes said in I’ll take the other side of this bet.: @Mik said in I’ll take the other side of this bet.: You were thinking it…admit it….you’ll feel better once you acknowledge your inner slacker…. Au contraire, mon ami, as we say in Canada. I love hard work. I could watch it all day. My long lost brother.

@LuFins-Dad said in Moonlight by Frank Pollaro and Bösendorfer: I’ll bet $50 that this piano is first delivered to a no sales tax state… Montana.

He checks through periodically.

Probably not, but that’s neither here nor there. The couple of his WWII history lectures I have listened to I thought were pretty good. Not as nearly good as many others though.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that passes a referendum handily.

Awesome. He has the voice down pat.

Money talks, bullshit walks.

Another "as good a place as any to post this". LOL https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-02-17/india-s-tcs-misclassified-managers-to-skirt-h-1b-rules-former-staffers-say Kini and two other former TCS employees who filed similar lawsuits say the company repeatedly made improper use of special manager-level visas to hire front-line workers who had no management responsibilities. All three cases, which were filed under the federal False Claims Act, were dismissed before the allegations of visa fraud were examined in court; Kini’s is on appeal. The manager visas, known as L-1As, are easier for employers to obtain and have fewer guardrails; for example, they lack even the minimal pay requirements that Congress has imposed for H-1B holders. and The H-1B program was designed to allow US employers to tap foreign nationals for jobs requiring highly skilled and difficult-to-find candidates. The visas, which impose rules related to educational requirements and pay, have proven popular for decades with employers; demand for them far outstrips the annual limit of about 85,000. In July, a Bloomberg News investigation revealed how outsourcing firms have overwhelmed the annual lottery that decides which applicants can get new H-1Bs.