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Sinestro posted:I know it's a Republican cliché, but there is a lot of bullshit regulation. For example, "CARB certification" requires that an aftermarket part manufacturer give CARB a car of each model and model year that they would like to certify the part for, as well as $10,000 for each model and model year. It has no benefit over simply measuring emissions at the tailpipe other than making money. This is actually not correct. SMOG tests are designed to test the efficiency at known points to make sure known equipment is working properly. For example, at 3000 RPMs and idle. It does not actually test the efficacy of the part, only that the part is working. If you test it at 3000RPM, you know it works at 3000RPM. Or idle. But you have full throttle to no throttle and then load issues. You could never get this done in 30 minutes and smog tests would cost a poo poo ton more. $10,000 may be a bit much for certification, but I bet the actual cost with someone who knows what they are doing would run well into the thousands. (This isn't to say that exempting limited use vehicles -- say <5000mi per year -- wouldn't be a good.) --------------- As for prison overcrowding, they could change four laws in this state and solve the problem for good. Dewobble and make the following misdemeanors and make it retroactive. Make them 1 year misdemeanors. Petty theft w/prior, 2nd degree commercial burglary (basically shoplifting, but you admit you came into the store with intent -- you can go to prison on a first of these), and the simple possession statues. Despite AB109, prosecutors are still finding ways to send these people to state for a long, long time (saw an 8 year SP offer for shoplifting food). Yes, these people have priors, but 4 years in prison costs $200,000. The valley and the IE love this poo poo, and it is costing the rest of you big money. San Bernardino county has the second largest prison population (after LA) despite being only the 5th largest county. I suspect Kern, Riverside, and Fresno are way up that list too. nm fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Jun 30, 2013 |
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Jun 30, 2013 04:44
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:I don't know, I'd rather be in prison than live in Fresno. The prison is likely in Kings County.
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Jun 30, 2013 05:31
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FRINGE posted:Its a long uphill battle too. The only good thing about the prison union in CA is that they have mostly keep out private prisons here.
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Jul 1, 2013 03:57
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Leperflesh posted:That article says it's a "census designated place", which is a concentration of population which is only in unincorporated land. Or in other words, Paradise NV is not a city at all. The Clark County FD covers the strip. (This isn't the Nevada thread though)
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Jul 14, 2013 20:22
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GreenCard78 posted:At the start of reading this thread I was thinking how sad it was that I am missing my yearly trip to El Centro. Now I'm feeling like I'm at the part where I'm on my 7th day in the Valley (no not that valley, the Imperial Valley) wondering why I still go and swearing I won't go next year. If you visit only once a year, why visit in the summer?
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Jul 15, 2013 06:28
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giznot posted:San Francisco Chronicle I'd actually argue the Sacramento Bee is better than the Chronicle, which is a real rag. I'd put the LA Times slightly above the bee. They all kind of suck though.
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Jul 16, 2013 01:48
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Rah! posted:Don't get me wrong, there are tons of wealthy people in SF, probably more than your average US city, but they are not in the majority. San Francisco is a fascinating city because the gap between rich and poor is so visible and so close together. $73,000 is not "a lot of money" if you live in San Francisco proper, but it is quite a bit for the bay. More and more poor and middle class people are being pushed from SF proper to the east bay and beyond (why do you think Stockton has so many people?).
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Jul 16, 2013 03:40
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FCKGW posted:For how much A/C we burn in the Inland Empire I haven't gotten a blackout yet. Probably because it's a bunch of new construction so new lines. One of our other offices had the ac go out in july last year. Power was still on, but people got sent home because it was over 110 in the office. How people got anything done in the IE before AC astounds me.
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Jul 19, 2013 20:16
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Jerry Manderbilt posted:Yeah, that's kinda how we know you're not from around here Other words you shouldn't say are "frisco" or "the oc." "The IE" is acceptable.
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Jul 19, 2013 20:25
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Leperflesh posted:And if you're in LA, you say "The 101" but if you're in the Bay Area, you just say "101" without the "the." As in, "To get to San Francisco from the Airport, just drive up 101." I am from norcal, but was cruelly forced to move to socal. I have noticed down here I use "the 101" and when I go to visit civilization I say "101." Transitions somewhere around harris ranch on (the) 5. Kind of trippy. I don't, however, say "hella" much anymore regardless of geography.
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Jul 19, 2013 20:39
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Illuminado posted:It feels weird to read this and be in neither SF or SoCal. Yes, Sacramento has no smog at all. Sacramento has one weird freeway thing: "biz80" (all one word). Call it anything else and you're not from around here (really old people are allowed to still call it 80).
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Jul 20, 2013 15:56
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Obdicut posted:There's also no reason to believe Trayvon knew Zimmerman had gotten out of his car. He might have made it to his house but decided not to go in and instead try to see where the creepy-rear end car-driver was. This poo poo is spreading everywhere.
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Jul 20, 2013 17:21
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Geared Hub posted:Yeah I was looking at Richmond area at first, I also found a corporate housing /monthly hotel that would give me a room/private bathroom for about $1700-1800 a month including maid service which is great if I have to work freelance in SF in the future. San Francisco is going to LOVE your Hummer. That said, I would do basically anything to avoid rush hour on the golden gate Bridge.
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Jul 21, 2013 08:58
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Grand Prize Winner posted:All Californian politics are hopelessly corrupt: fun with the LAPD. I don't have much experience with the LAPD, but the worst assumption people make when they hear about the LAPD they assume it is isolated somehow. From what I've heard, compared to many of the smaller departments in CA, it is probably better. Which should terrify all of you who live here.
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Jul 22, 2013 03:34
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Grand Prize Winner posted:I doubt small-town departments have their own freaky semi-secret intelligence wing.
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Jul 22, 2013 05:38
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Ardennes posted:So Angelenos, Zankou Chicken, does it deserve its reputation or not? Depends on where. The kind of sketchy one on Sunset at Normandie is awesome. This is the only one I've been to except the one in Montebello and it was fine, but not as great. nm fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Aug 6, 2013 |
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Aug 6, 2013 06:22
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Ho Chi Mint posted:Can someone give me a good summary of California's financial status? Are the taxes high compared to the rest of the country, has the state balanced its budget? Depends. We have a somewhat higher than average income tax, but property taxes are probably the lowest in the nation unless some state doesn't have property tax. Prop 13 especially insures that anyone (or their family) who bought property in the 80s or earlier, pays almost no property tax. This applies to companies too. Property values can only be re-assessed up if the property is sold to a non family member. The best part is that if you sell a business that owns property, that property stays assessed at old values. Companies create corporations for the sole purpose of holding a single large property, then instead of selling the property they sell the holding company. California tax is hosed up, and most of it can be linked to prop 13 and the huge holes it creates. That said, we allegedly have a budget surplus this year. Many of the inland counties are still hosed though.
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Aug 7, 2013 06:31
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StandardVC10 posted:It's still pretty rare. The DC-10 is either a one-off or nearly a one-off, likewise with the Evergreen 747. I believe there's an effort underway to convert a bunch of BAe-146 regional jets (four engines, good takeoff performance, but way way smaller) into fire tankers but as far as I know only one or two are operational so far. There are two, and they're based out of Victorville.
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Aug 11, 2013 05:18
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Forceholy posted:San Bernardino County is basically Texas with more gay people. Our BBQ sucks.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:23
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StandardVC10 posted:Yeah, the impression I got of the area was a series of housing tracts and large chain stores on loop for many miles, but since I was mostly just passing through, I felt like I had a one-sided perspective. I guess it's cheaper to live in than lots of other places, but I figure you lose at least a portion of that advantage once you factor in commute time and costs. The parts of the city of Riverside proper is actually not that bad and has a lot of older housing and things like trees. So does Redlands (which is smaller). Basically the whole rest of the IE that isn't in the mountains is kind of like that though.
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Aug 17, 2013 04:29
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Forceholy posted:If the I.E. is Mordor, then the city of San Bernardino itself is Mount loving Doom! It might be orange county without anything fun, more poor people, no jobs (besides the prison!), and 3x the meth per capita.
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Aug 17, 2013 06:45
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Leperflesh posted:My best guess is that a lot of that Inland Empire development is going to be really sad in 50 years. Bankrupt cities, poor-quality construction falling apart, water shortages and restrictions leaving everyone with dead lawns and empty pools and peeling paint and with absolutely no local centers of employment, everyone who can afford to will flee for greener pastures leaving behind the crap. We're seeing this already. San Bernardino had a lot of low end suburban style development in the 60s and 70s and is really reaping the results.
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Aug 18, 2013 06:01
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Dusseldorf posted:Yeah, if you live in Southern California there's pretty much no reason not to grow citrus. Citrus can be a pain in the rear end if it freezes where you are (which is actually most of inlandish CA). It doesn't cause death every time or even most cases, but to prevent it you have to be fairly proactive. Big growers in the IE use smudge pots, which basically burn raw oil, in the winter to save the orchards every year. Great for the air. You as an individual can do simpler things like wrapping the tree in christmas lights and covering it with a blanket if small enough, but eventually it won't be enough. Thanks to climate change the freeze snaps are getting more frequent and colder -- my parents lost a 50 odd year old (if not older) orange tree a couple of winters ago to freeze.
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Aug 20, 2013 07:24
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appropriatemetaphor posted:So wait with those toll lane things on the 110, can I just drive in it if I'm carpooling? Or do I have to buy some gizmo? You need a fasttrak. The la ones let you select the number of passengers and adjust the toll based on that.
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Aug 21, 2013 20:22
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Trabisnikof posted:Wrong! If you aren't carpooling you need a fasttrak. If you are carpooling, you need to remove any fasttrack that may on the windshield. They recommend a mylar bag, I've just hid mine beneath the seat. That isn't the case for the 110 and 10 express lanes in Socal. https://www.metroexpresslanes.net/en/faq/fastrak.shtml They look like this  You put 1 if you're alone, 2 if two (you get a discount or free depending on time of day) or 3 if three or more (always free).
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Aug 22, 2013 02:50
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Super Space Jam 64 posted:Anyone else commute via Caltrain? I've done it for a couple years and I'm growing increasingly frustrated with the poor quality of the cars. It's not uncommon to board the "newer" model and be instantly assaulted with what appears to be the scent of the train's waste storage, or in some cases having to step over suspicious puddles that have leaked out of the onboard bathrooms
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Aug 22, 2013 03:46
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^^^^^^^^^^^^ The prison guard union's power, which also represents parole agents, is also linked to our lazy rear end press. Have a prison question? Contact your source in the prisons system who is a member. They will always speak ill of something that reduces populations and for something that increases. There seems to be no questioning of their motivations. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of the California media has spoken to no one outside of the union and CDCR regarding AB109, which is the best thing to happen to CA criminal justice since prop 36. Bizarro Watt posted:Brown's idea with expanding private prisons in the state sounds pretty abhorrent. To think I was actually considering voting for him again, too. Browns passage of AB109, which has basically made the vast majority of felonies county prison offenses and basically abolished our terrible parole system, counters this pretty well. (Also don't believe poo poo you read about AB109. The prison union hates AB109 as it has led to massive CDCR layoff and they have been perpetuating massive lies about what it is and how it works. For example, there has not been a single early release from state prison due to AB109, yet it is almost always called an early release program by our press. If anything it doesn't far enough.). Want to end prison over crowding? Making shoplifting (666 and 459) misdemeanors and make it retroactive. Do the same for simple possession. nm fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Aug 24, 2013 |
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Aug 24, 2013 06:39
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Grand Prize Winner posted:Seriously, the state would do so well with a mix of nuke plants and solar (and wind) if we weren't so heavily in the grips of the oil magnates. I love that they've managed to suborn knee-jerk liberals to keep pumping those sweet petrochemical profits. Solar poses an issue in ag areas. Ag kicks yup a lot of dust and when that gets on solar, it can reduce efficiency. There are some cases working their way through the courts where they are trying to determine whether it may place some burden on the farms. Which is an issue as farmers are pretty powerful in the valley where many solar plants would be placed.
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Aug 27, 2013 07:05
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Grand Prize Winner posted:Well, what about like Death Valley and other assorted deserts? Not like they're good for much in the way of human use. And you can stick wind turbines on just about any hill not occupied by a NIMBY. Wind works well, though it is subject to weather problems. Death Valley is a national park. There are some major solar projects in the Mojave though -- they're not cheap or quick to build. There's also a surprising amount of fairly sensitive environmental areas in the desert -- it is fairly common to think of them as dead, but they're actually teeming with life, life that is generally more sensitive than in say a forest. Protecting that takes time and adds complication. nm fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 07:20
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Ardennes posted:I am not a nuclear nut, but if you want to be carbon free you will have to have at hydro-nuclear as a base load. That said, wind power has its uses and its price as gone way gone per kwh. I don't think you'll see Nuclear in large amounts in CA in the forseeable future. Seismic activity plus the perceived specter of Fukushima. Not saying it is wholly rational, but I believe it to be true. Then of course, we can have a debate over whether hydro, a huge source of power up north, is really "green."
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Aug 27, 2013 07:44
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StandardVC10 posted:Is there anywhere in the world where you can use geothermal besides Iceland? New Zealand. Yellowstone if it wasn't a national park. fake edit: California makes 2,732.2MW in geothermal according to wikipedia, which is about 3 times what iceland makes.
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Aug 28, 2013 04:12
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Geared Hub posted:I'm going to Marin next week to look for a place to rent.. trying to get a feel for the place.. using Air BNB to stay in various neighbourhoods until I start work. There is a lot of cheap new development in solano county, but you'd have to want to live in Fairfield or Vallejo (you don't).
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Aug 28, 2013 22:44
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Miss-Bomarc posted:That is one of the very few arguments against city-to-city mass transit that I think are valid; that is, the idea that if it's easy to go from one city to another, then everyone will live in the less-expensive place and commute to the more-expensive place. And so the less-expensive place gets fat off of all those property taxes and home-provisions spending, and the more-expensive place has to raise business taxes because that's their only source of revenue, and then all the businesses go somewhere else and everything sucks. There is actually very good commuter rail service from San Bernardino, CA to Los Angeles. You can buy a house in San Bernardino for $100k (or less), while you struggle to get one for $400-500k in LA, yet no one is clamoring to move out here. The suburbs are not equal in many ways and people are beginning to see that. Less cultural opportunities, plus 1 hour each way is worth quite a bit of money.
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Sep 2, 2013 00:54
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You're far more optimistic regarding the IE than me. The people moving here aren't the tax base from OC or LA, they're people priced out of other places. They don't want to move here, they have to. I don't think the days of the 2000s will be back where people who could afford to live closer moved out here due to being able to save money or getting more sq/footage. Maybe in Rancho, but no further. San Bernardino proper has abandonment that looks more like Detroit than SoCal. Even Redlands, which sort of a wealthy island, has way too many abandoned properties. Even abandoned properties in the hills which used to be unheard of (Newer construction only, older construction is still $500k+). We're talking about outer rings stealing the residential tax base from a more expensive inner city. That isn't happening here. nm fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Sep 2, 2013 |
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Sep 2, 2013 07:52
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FCKGW posted:It was 111 on Tuesday in the good ol' Inland Empire With loving humidity. My apartment's AC blower motor died on Labor Day, and it didn't get fixed until 6PM on Wednesday. Worst 3 days ever.
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Sep 10, 2013 02:00
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You mean prop 13. I can tell you, as a county employee, the only thing keeping our best, most experienced employees for leaving for the private sector and a basically doubling (or more) of pay is that they get a pension in 10 years or so. That and legitimate vacations. It all fits into the plan though, they more that governments are gutted of proper staffing by underpayment, under funding, and now reductions of benefits makes the whole "government workers are terrible ergo, gently caress government" thing a reality. Also, since when did working for a government mean I'm supposed to take a vow of poverty? nm fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Sep 25, 2013 |
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Sep 25, 2013 06:15
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^^^^^^^^^^ I basically agree with this, and I'm kind of a taco snob normally. Sometimes you just want something "normal" and quick. Trabisnikof posted:There are large swaths of northern california where the local "taqueria" is in fact worse than Chipotle. I challenge this. Certainly nowhere large enough to have a Chipotle.
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Sep 26, 2013 02:43
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Trabisnikof posted:If you're including "within driving radius" sure, but there are vast sections of suburban terribleness that peaks at chipotle especially in the blandest parts of the bay. I can get you great Mexican in Fairfield (Costa Azul -- make their own tortillas too) of all places, so I don't know.
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Sep 26, 2013 04:27
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I would be like $250/mo (single, 29) to get Kaiser here without subsidy. That pretty darn good given that I pay well over twice that from my employer (not including their share). My coverage is better (70% v. basically nada), but $250/mo for some fairy legitimate coverage is a steal.
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Oct 2, 2013 06:58
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They have people who you can talk to at the exchange who can probably help you.
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Oct 2, 2013 17:24
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