• 3 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: March 13th, 2023

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  • How about “smashed”, “hit with” and “under fire”?

    I remember a recent commenter elsewhere refer to this as “playground speech”. I guess if you have the mental capacity of a gradeschooler then you can’t help but click on playground speech links. Clicks that inevitably seem to lead to a tiny narrow block of content down the middle of your wide screen, surrounded by miles of whitespace, lots of pictures, not much to read.






  • When I wrote the previous comment I was thinking that “electronic lock” was referring to a fob-activated lock that you used in place of a key-activated lock. The things that are constantly blasting their honks and beeps throughout the neighborhood when we used to have just quiet. Bad enough, but it sounds from your comment that it’s much, much worse than that.

    It sounds like you’re describing a lock that the vehicle is in control of! No, my cars have no such things. I didn’t realize they existed. I’ve rented a few cars, incl. one “good” (meaning, one that people might envy me for owning, thus increasing my feelings of prestige) European car within the past 10 yrs and didn’t notice the car deciding to lock the doors w/o my consent. If this was happening it must have been a silent anti-feature, or at least very quiet.

    I can’t imagine needing or wanting the car to decide when to lock/unlock the doors. I only lock them when I’m parked, and sometimes not even then (not really paranoid about break-ins … I’ve left the Miata top-down on my street overnight before, and the horrific end result was … a dead leaf or two on the seats, maybe an insect visitor as well, a little extra dust). Locking and unlocking the doors is a simple as putting a mechanical key into a slot or pushing/pulling a lever on the inside. Nothing could be easier, and it’s not a decision I’m about to cede to the car (and its manufacturer) for no good reason.






  • Got a '97 and yeah, nothing beats it if you’re someone who loves to drive for driving’s sake. Analog instrumentation, no screens, no “click here” buttons, no auto removed making decisions for me, no cameras or microphones or recording devices. It does have a rudimentary “cruise control” - probably a bad omen for things to come - but it only tries to maintain your speed, it doesn’t try to match the speed of the car in front of you or otherwise encourage distracted driving.

    The other vehicle I have is a 2005 Wrangler, nearly as analog as the Miata. I can’t imagine getting rid of either in favor of an oversized, rolling surveillance computer.



  • As the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration presses on, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is reminding its bishops and other lay leaders that they are not to ask members about their immigration status in temple interviews.

    That position was reaffirmed in a letter this week from the faith’s governing First Presidency to all general officers and local male authorities who conduct “worthiness interviews” with members desiring to participate in temple rituals.

    “With enhanced enforcement of immigration laws in various jurisdictions, we have received inquiries from priesthood leaders about temple recommend interview questions,” states the April 24 letter signed by church President Russell M. Nelson and his two counselors. “We remind those conducting temple recommend interviews that under established policy, local leaders are to ask only the temple recommend questions as currently constituted.”

    The prescribed questions cover a range of beliefs and behaviors — including members’ faith in Jesus Christ, their attendance at church meetings, their payment of tithes, and their adherence to the faith’s Word of Wisdom health code.

    There is no question about immigration status.






  • As children’s mental health needs escalate, teens in the area would lose access to lifesaving treatment. And other nearby facilities would struggle to fill the gap, Sacred Heart executives wrote in an application for a state Department of Commerce grant in February 2024, obtained by InvestigateWest in a records request.

    "If this unit downsized or closed, this would cause even less access in an under-resourced area resulting in patients and families having to travel several hours for inpatient care,” hospital leaders wrote.

    Sacred Heart asked the state for $1.8 million to pay for facility upgrades to make the unit safer and “ensure that every child has access to high-quality, affordable and culturally competent mental health care.”

    The pitch worked. The state awarded Sacred Heart the full amount it requested.

    But Sacred Heart turned the grant down in April. In September, it closed the Psychiatric Center for Children and Adolescents anyway.

    In the last decade, Sacred Heart repeatedly reduced services and long-term resources in the unit, according to internal emails, public records and interviews. Yet as Sacred Heart cuts youth services in Spokane, the Providence system is pouring more than $1 billion into a hospital expansion in Seattle that sees fewer Medicaid patients. And its executives are making millions.

    https://www.investigatewest.org/investigatewest-reports/former-staff-at-spokane-youth-psychiatric-unit-blame-providence-for-closure-17784579



  • They pay some (all?) of their C-level execs (and maybe others) tens of millions of $/yr in salaries and bonuses. What, you want that money spent on staff and patient resources? You must be a Communist! Some claimed numbers from 2019:

    Providence is making enough money to give CEO Rod Hochman a 157% raise between 2015 and 2017, bumping his total compensation to more than $10 million. Top executives at Corporate Headquarters aren’t the only ones getting huge raises. Current Chief Executive at Sacred Heart Peg Curry earned more than $1.2 million in 2018 including a one-year bonus of $131,812. As Chief Nursing Officer, Susan Stacey’s total compensation increased by 35% between 2015 and 2018 including bonuses totaling $97,638. Previous Chief Executive Officer Alex Jackson’s total compensation increased by 47% between 2015 and 2017 including bonuses totaling $668, 468. https://www.wsna.org/union/update/spokesman-story-misleading-incomplete

    Naturally they fight against their workers’ unions too