First Class Duck

an opinionated and jaded traveler

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@chait76 @antoniogm Honestly, just work hard, save your money, support your friends and family, be a friendly and compassionate person, and avoid being bitter. Just avoid chasing women for sex, and you’ll live a happy and healthy life. Just keep some platonic friends for brownies. :-)

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@Frankie_Knuckls @taipan168 FWIW, if the ground doesn’t shake in coastal Australia, you’re ahead of Japan. :-)

Tunnels and viaducts aren’t impossible. IIRC, the engineering isn’t the hard part, it’s the costs to build such a long line with very small cities en route to generate ridership.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

In other news, some billionaire becomes a supervillain because he doesn’t get his social security check.

Either the cap is relatively high, or it becomes SSI++ and becomes identified with non-whites and underfunded, and we end up with a bunch of retirees moving back with their kids who don’t want them at home.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

I suspect it’s probably going to be cheaper for some people to pay the higher property tax versus actual NYS income taxes.

OTOH, I wonder if we’ll see a fire sale in properties with the fun bonus that the units decline in value leading to lower property tax valuations, and a decline in construction of new high end units which tend to have union construction…

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

To the urbanists, this still seems a little insane that you have to spend a significant amount of money to basically be viable and middle class, let alone functional in the US.

I'm admittedly a little biased as I come from a family of immigrants where my mom and aunts didn't drive. And ones who definitely reaffirmed why they shouldn't be driving...

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

FWIW, IIRC, a local outpost of my parents' CU closed down for similar reasons. It was basically a customer service branch offering financial products and an ATM machine* for the few NYPD officers and teachers that were members in Eastern Nassau.

The bulk of the members lived closer to the full service branch in Western Nassau.

*FWIW, the credit union wasn't a part of the network of CUs that participated in shared services where you could access some basic teller services at a different CU. Let's just say that I would have made some alternative choices once upon a time...

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

It's become Corbynite Labour because a sizable chunk of the active primary voting part of the party is composed of Bernie sympathizers who want far more resistance and drama than what they're getting from Schumer and Jefferies. And quite a few of them are delusional about hearing from their "independent voter" friends about how weak the Democrats are, so they think these guys will somehow placate the wishes of said independent voters.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@nobodyknows2322 And lastly, blame the DNC for not giving him a blank check.

[Mj✡︎ II @mirijoie]

Conservatives are STILL out of their minds, bat shit fucking insane about the Covid era. The Fauci thing took me by surprise because I thought MAGA had moved on, but NOPE.

Conservatives are now nationalist isolationists who hate half the country more than anything else. It’s fucked, it’s all so fucked. America is slowly dying, and we’re entering the last few decades with America as the undisputed, most powerful nation on earth.

[Mj✡︎ II @mirijoie]

America is too divided to achieve this.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@mirijoie As I’ve said countless times before, Canadians watch American news and some Canadian collectively decide “can we avoid that mess up here please?”

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@Viscountpost @nobodyknows2322 IIRC, it’s admittedly oil change + rotation for that price.

But the payment is forever if you want to avoid the inverse problem where you’re perpetuating paying to fix whatever comes up.

I’ve been averaging about $3K per year on car repairs on my decade old car…

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@keegan_tweets @joelgombiner @BECU So what do they do in the physical branch that justifies their existence?

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@keegan_tweets @joelgombiner @BECU So they’re an online non-profit bank with regional ATMs?

I guess the selling point is “it’s not evil Chase”.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

The US is admittedly the fun place where the LCC market barely worked in the first place, so there just isn’t the cheap airport with demand to fill planes to Europe to make this viable. And it doesn’t help that Europeans think the US is a hilariously expensive place to visit at best. :-/

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@nobodyknows2322 @Viscountpost We don’t pay property taxes on cars. :-)

If you’re taking about my home, it’s roughly $16K now.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@Viscountpost @nobodyknows2322 $350/month + $200 insurance + $100 quarterly for oil changes + $1000 for tires every two years adds up.

That doesn’t include the fun stuff once you’re off warranty and paying to repair stuff on your car…

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@nobodyknows2322 Joke: You can take $8K per week to live in European city and be a minor deity. In Tokyo, you could be a major deity. :-)

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@nobodyknows2322 @Viscountpost Owning a car isn’t free!

The secret goal is to have Phoenix level rents, but New York levels of transit in order to maximize your income for savings or other interests.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@allie__voss To be fair, you can still do that now! :-)

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@soblackandblue She looks chubby to me.