Christopher Schmidt

(Technically, my understanding is that TIFs don't actually take away our tax revenue entirely, but instead mean that the tax revenue is dedicated to a specific fund designed to pay for the infrastructure in the relevant area, rather than the general fund? but either way, it's counter-productive.)

Politically, TIFs are popular because they maintain the chokepoints on development, while creating opportunity for a slim trickle of new development (which then brings no/less tax revenue!)

Instead, we should legalize skyscrapers and get out of the way while people build them, and get that bag!

We should not incentivize development with tax incentives. The reason that we feel the need to do this is because we make housing too expensive to build in other ways that we can fix *at no cost to the city*.

Zoning changes and bureaucracy/process busting cost way less than TIFs!

ugh, good luck

Thanks! So Pump Load is "Purple Minus Orange" (Actual including Pump Load minus Actual).

One of these days I'm going to set something up to actually present this data more in a way that I want. (In particular, "more than one day at a time" would be really nice :p)

pump load is (mostly) northfield, right? Which graph can I see that under in isoexpress?

this is definitely parody.

is there basically just no medium rare in this picture?

My immediate thought was "that's not a friend, that's an enemy", but I see that it doesn't have the battery on it, which I guess means that it isn't an enemy at the moment ;)

(It seemed like ~every RW4 had one of the safety-noticed/recalled batteries.)

During my travel day on Saturday, I listened to all of @jasonkpargin.bsky.social ‘s “I’m Starting To Worry About This Black Box Of Doom”, which was both funny and interesting as a story. I particularly felt he did a good job representing the chaos nature of Reddit threads in ways that made me laugh.

they may all be good dogs, but they're not all good oil prices, brant

sadly, I can't take any meaningful credit, it's just a cheap wig :)

But anyway, I told them (@canvaslak23.bsky.social) that Bluesky thought the boots were "legit" and "amazing" as a follow-up, so that they knew that regardless of my old man opinion, their boots had a minor fanclub :)

Like, I think the shoes are legitimately pretty awesome, and if I saw someone wearing an outfit on the street that they worked with, I would be like "Those boots rock!"

But when I'm trying advise my child who is a preschool teacher, I want to make sure to communicate a bit more caution :)

Yeah, I think that in this case there's a little bit of the "dad vibe" of "I would like you to realize that these are probably not Everyday Shoes" that I am intentionally communicating, which is just coming across as too harsh.

But it's also perfectly okay to wear things that your dad doesn't like!

I like the suggestion of "extra", which I think is probably better aligned with what I was trying to say (especially from their perspective). bsky.app/profile/abra...

not-so-blue sky

In Costa Rica, I learned that not only am I no longer the 20-something who passes people on the hiking path, I am also not the 30-something who keeps up with people on the hiking path, and am instead the 40-something who walks with hiking poles and steps aside for the 20-somethings to pass.

I also think that the boots are *cool*. But I just think the cases in my life where I could get away with wearing them without them being a Conversation Starter would be low.

But like, I also own a rainbow sequined corset, because sometimes that's just what life calls for!

Something can be excessively showy *and* legit! That's fine! Gaudy doesn't have to mean "bad", at least not to me; if that's the look you're going for, that's fine!

Like, maybe gaudy isn't exactly the right word here, but you bought lialac purple cowboy-style boots with satin laces and floral embroidery. "Excessively showy" is how I, an old man, would describe those boots! You're talking to someone who wears only khakis and solid color hoodies 95% of the time!

My child keeps asking me "What do you think about this clothing item I bought?" and then when I say "That seems pretty gaudy" they pout at me.

Child! You are 25! You can wear whatever you want! I'm a 41 year old white man with no meaningful fashion opinions!

(These boots are the latest arrival.)

(inflation adjusted, this would actually be $32/gallon. If that were to happen, you would see a whole lot more people switching away from driving gas-powered cars.)

correct

Ziplining at Selvatura Adventure Park in Monteverde, Costa Rica. This 800m line took about 70 seconds to cross, meaning a top speed of around 30mph. (Which feels very fast when you're flying through the air!)

my 1987 cadillac used to display "Good morning"/afternoon/evening on the display, and "Goodbye" when you turned it off. I would respond in kind most of the time, because that's just how I am.

There are so many stupid things people like, though! Wrestling seems like it gets this hate more than, like, top chef. Or even league of legends, which I think has actually been on ESPN.

Wrestling has weird energy around it that seems very irrational.

A photo of a sign that reads “NYCHA / welcome to Highbridge Gardens Houses”. In the background, a man takes down sidewalk sheds around a brick building.

Mayor Mamdani speaks at a podium in front of a construction site.

We’re putting forward new rules to make sure unnecessary sidewalk sheds are taken down and more don’t go up.

We’re focused on NYCHA tenants specifically — making $650M in facade repairs & taking down sheds at 40 developments, including Highbridge Gardens in the Bronx.

If you look at big tech, they’ve clearly decided they have no ideas that can grow revenue faster than the rate at which they feel comfortable firing people.

My employer has clearly given up on the idea that it has the ability to innovate.