#ror engineer

[slazzerslaz]

LITTLE MAN

This portrait is so perfect

[dragonroilz]

[bisnaguinhacocudinha]

Hi please laugh I spend 2 hours of my life on this

[ventaverv]

Me unlocking Robomando after three attempts:

OG Meme below ↓

[sw4mp-c0rp3s]

giggling..,.,.

more vvv

[badlydrawnriskofrain]

[day 2] its the bungus man himself

[keebyz]

doodle dump ft. some of my mutual's ror characters

[pac1fythehunger]

their dynamic,, to me

[piratedandy]

Here are my Risk of Rain some of my character interpretations, and I will not take suggestions

Commando: Heart of the team-very kind. Due to his good vibes, the rest of the crew often forgets how capable he actually is. The crew is also generally put off by some of the horrifying stories he has to tell from previous missions. He is emotiomally affected by those stories often.

Huntress: she's a freak in the "I'm going to tear your spine out through your neck" kind of way. Making eye contact with her is probably chilling. Most people don't really try to talk to her, but the people who do probably thinks she's witty once they get past her admittingly off putting vibe. She is the definition of "you don't work a day if you love your work"

Engineer: he, on the other hand, is a freak in the iPad kid stare kind of way. He's very awkward but it feels intentional. In a sort of "leave me alone" vibe. If he has a family, they are estranged. That OR he's the sweetest man alive. No in between

Mercenary: he doesn't speak unless spoken to. Not necessarily in a respect kind of way, but in a "what else is there to be said kind of way" this man has WORK LIFE BALANCE. When he's not on the job, he's engaging in artistic pursuits. His ass mediates. It's generally hard to get under his skin, but he probably has a competitive streak if you do.

Huntress has DEFINITELY gotten under Mercenary's skin, and their workplace rivarily probably harshes the vibe of the entire ship. They're competing to find bandit.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How an obscure advisory board lets utilities steal $50b/year from ratepayers

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in NYC on WEDNESDAY (26 Feb) with JOHN HODGMAN and at PENN STATE on THURSDAY (Feb 27). More tour dates here. Mail-order signed copies from LA's Diesel Books.

Two figures to ponder.

First: if your local power company is privately owned, you've seen energy rate hikes at 49% above inflation over the last three years.

Second: if your local power company is publicly owned, you've seen energy rates go up at 44% below inflation over the same period.

Power is that much-theorized economic marvel: a "natural monopoly." Once someone has gone to the trouble of bringing a power wire to your house, it's almost impossible to convince anyone else to invest in bringing a competing wire to your electrical service mast. For this reason, most people in the world get their energy from a publicly owned utility, and the rates reflect social priorities as well as cost-recovery. For example, basic power to run lights and a refrigerator might be steeply discounted, while energy-gobbling McMansions pay a substantial premium for the extra power to heat and cool their ostentatious lawyer-foyers and "great rooms."

But in America, we believe in the miracle of the market, even where no market could possibly exist because of natural monopolies. That's why about 70% of Americans get their power from shareholder-owned companies, whose managers' prime directive is extracting profit, not serving their communities. To check this impulse, these private utilities are overseen by various flavors of public bodies, usually called Public Utility Commissions (PUCs).

For 40 years, PUCs have limited private utilities to a "rate of return" based on a "just and reasonable profit." They always gamed this to make it higher than was fair, but in recent years, the "experts" who advise PUCs on rate-setting have been boiled down to a tiny number of economists, who have discovered that the true "just and reasonable profit" is much higher than it's ever been considered.

Mark Ellis worked for one of those profit-hiking "experts," but he's turned whistleblower. On paper, Ellis looks like the enemy: former chief economist at Sempra Energy, an ex-Exxonmobile analyst, a retired McKinsey Consultant, and a Socal Edison engineer. But Ellis couldn't stomach the corruption, and he went public, publishing a report for the American Economic Liberties Project called "Rate of Return Equals Cost of Capital" that lays out the con in stark detail:

https://www.economicliberties.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20250102-aelp-ror-v5.pdf

I first encountered Ellis last week when he was interviewed on Matt Stoller and David Dayen's excellent Organized Money podcast, where he memorably referred to these utilities as "pocket-picking machines":

https://www.organizedmoney.fm/p/the-pocket-picking-machine

Dayen followed this up with a great summary in The American Prospect (where he is editor-in-chief):

https://prospect.org/environment/2025-02-21-secret-society-raising-your-electricity-bills/

At the center of the scam is a professional association called the Society of Utility and Regulatory Financial Analysts (SURFA). The experts in SURFA are dominated by just four consulting companies, who provide 90% of the testimony for rate-setting exercises. Just two people account for half of that input.

In order to calculate the "just and reasonable profit," these experts make use of economic models. Even in normal economics, these models are the source of infinite mischief and suffering, built on assumptions that legitimize the most abusive conduct:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/03/all-models-are-wrong/#some-are-useful

But even by the low standards of normal economic models, the utility models are really bad. They rely on unique "risk premium" and "expected earnings" calculations that no one else in finance will touch. As Dayen explains, these models are "perfectly circular."

This might be a bit confusing, but only because it's one of those scams that you assume you must have misunderstood because it's so, well, scammy. In the "expected earnings" analysis, the "just and reasonable profit" a utility is allowed to build into its rates is defined as "the amount of money it would like to make." In other words, if a utility projects future revenues of $10 billion over the next ten years, that is its "expected earnings." "Expected earnings" are treated as equivalent to "just and reasonable profits." So under this model, whatever number the utility puts in its financial projections is the number that it's allowed to take out of the pockets of ratepayers.

This is just as bad as it sounds. In 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said that it "defied financial logic." No duh – even SURFA's own training manual says it "does not square well with economic theory."

In the world of regulated utilities, this kind of mathing isn't supposed to be possible. The PUC and its "consumer advocates" are supposed to listen to these outlandish tales and laugh the utility out of the room.

But it's SURFA that trains the consumer advocates who work for the PUCs, the large energy customers, and community groups. These people – who are supposed to act as the adversaries of the companies that pay SURFA members to justify rate-hikes – are indoctrinated by SURFA to treat its absurd models as accepted economic gospel. SURFA has co-opted its opposition, transformed it into a botnet that parrots its own talking-points.

Because of this, the private power companies that serve 70% of US households made an extra $50b last year, about $300 per household. What's more, because the excess profits available to companies that simply bamboozle their regulators are so massive, they swamp all the other tools regulators use to attempt to improve the energy system. No incentive offered for conservation or efficiency can touch the gigantic sums energy companies can make by ripping off ratepayers, so nearly all the incentive programs approved by PUCs have been dead on arrival.

What's more, utilities are allowed to fold the cost of hiring the experts who get them rate hikes onto the ratepayers. In other words, if a utility hires a $10,000,000 expert who successfully argues for a $1,000,000,000 rate-increase, they get to recoup the ten mil they spent securing the right to rip you off for a billion dollars on top of that cool bill.

We often talk about regulatory capture in the abstract, but this is as concrete as it can be. Ellis's report makes a raft of highly specific, technical regulatory changes that states or cities could impose on their PUCs. These are shovel-ready ideas: if you find yourself contemplating a sky-high power bill, maybe you could call your state rep and read them aloud.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/24/surfa/#mark-ellis

[ethanfundraising]

What were your favorite wintertime activities as a child? What upcoming holidays do you celebrate? How do you celebrate? ❄️ Reblog and share in the tags.

“Hi. Please take a moment to read this. I am writing a post on behalf of @suad-khaled whose fundraiser has been stagnating and has only reached 50% despite her fundraising for several months. Suad has been verified by @/nabulsi and also by @northgazaupdates, you can read more about her and her struggles in the tag here.

Suad is an engineer who after graduating with top marks was also working as a university lecturer in her university. Just before the October 7th's accelerated genocide, she also found she was pregnant and was ready to also start this new chapter of her life.

Since the genocide, she and her husband have been displaced multiple times, escaping bombing narrowly in the process. In June she gave birth to baby Khaled and then immediately had to move to a tent with him. Suad and her baby both have been sick this year and her infant has suffered from malnutrition and chest infections in the first year of his life. The doctor recommended nebulising sessions for baby Khaled because of his chest infection and allergies which also ate into the family's limited funds.

Right now, despite facing constant hunger Suad is deeply worried about being able to afford diapers and formula for Khaled. Prices have quadrupled; a pack of 36 diapers now costs $50, and a can of formula is $13. Buying cheaper formula caused baby Khaled's health to worsen. This is also baby Khaled's first winter and he needs winter clothes.

Please, please support Suad and baby Khaled and help their fundraiser reach completion so that they are able to survive and evacuate from Gaza.”

(Thank you for the help with creating this post! I did not have the brain energy to come up with the right words, so this was written by a friend of a friend.)

💙 Reblog, Queue, Share 💙

Tagging for reach under the cut:

@sliceofdyke @littlegermanboy @g00ngala @grillwizard @graciouswings @sillymeter @palestine-donation-links @palestinegenocide @palestine-info-uncensored @gazavetters @gaza-evacuation-funds @zhuiren @weltenwellen @xinakwans @egberts @kropotkindersurprise @niqabisinparis @pukicho @paper-mario-wiki @queenie-says-free-palestine @tamamita @ultimatedirk @astrolavas @atalienart @bob-belcher @beebeedibapbeediboop @botan @buggachat @bi-trans-alliance @cassandrajean @creativepromptsforwriting @crimson-chains @colormush @drawingden @daily-prompts @design-art-architecture @develop-your-oc @discount-supervillain @evermore-fashion @enenkaydoodles @eliotbaum @elasticitymudflap @fyblackwomenart @fannyrosie @fuckyeahgravityfalls @filmgifs @greelin @gawki @ghiblisdaily • Sorry to be a bother!

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[bisnaguinhacocudinha]

Jair bolsonaro

[luxthestrange]

RoR Incorrect quotes#168 Daddy-

The Apple Family having dinner with the Odison family...After the last failed attempt of you introducing Odin...to be your BF...

Y/n*Eating happily with your family and your boyfriend's family too*Daddy can you pass the salt?

Adam & Odin*Smiles reaching for the salt*Ofcourse Appletart-/Sure thing-

Adam & Odin*Both freeze and look at each other*...

Thor & Abel*Both subtly scooting away with their plates*

Cain & Loki*Smirking and wooping out popcorn*Dramaa~

Sequel to:

[sw4mp-c0rp3s]

it's taking over.....-

more)

[raziiyah]

Could Randall be the smartest character in the franchise?

he definitely could be, depending on how you define intelligence. for one, he designed and built the scream extractor, and he made it out of parts he already had with monsters inc's door station equipment. he's been shown to have strong knowledge on science, engineering and planning as well as being resourceful and creative

he can also think on his feet, like after mike accuses randall of cheating, he's able to quickly use it to his advantage to keep his darker intentions hidden so he can take boo away without initially raising suspicion from mike. additionally, he quickly thinks in seconds after he enters the bedroom in the door chase scene to use boo as bait to catch sulley off guard that nearly gets him killed

in maw, he's shown to still have the same intelligence, formulating and nearly fully executing a plan with johnny that had just about everyone fooled until the end

he also has great combative skills, shown in both mi and maw. in mi, he was able to use his invisibility abilities and combat skills to take on a 7'8, 766 lbs sulley. in maw, he was able to take on most of mift and was literally winning 😭 his quick thinking and resourcefulness is also shown again during this fight, like when he finds rocks on the ground nearby him to throw at mift

not to mention in uni, randall hanging out with mike and helping him study probably helped him learn a lot of stuff too, randall finished the biggest program at a top university, and was part of the top frat ror which has high expectations when it comes to grades

i think throughout the series randall has definetely shown that he's very cunning, manipulative and technically skilled, and with all the evidence i would definitely say he could be the most intelligent in the series

however... i think if anyone were to rival him though, i'd definetely be this guy 👇

mike has been extremely smart ever since he was a child, getting A+ after A+, being top of his class, having strong leadership skills, also the ability to think on his feet, adaptability, emotional intelligence, charisma, comedy skills, and an immense knowlege of everything scaring related, claiming to have read every book about scaring ever written and having like over 6000 mint condition scare cards, no doubt having knowlege on each one. i mean mike has got it all

i think mike excells over randall in book smarts, emotional intelligence and social skills, while randall is more tactical, technical and analytical

on the flip side, randall is shown to be caught up with his rivalry with sulley and wanting to be the best that he threw away everything great that he already had. but then mike has this fumble 😭😭😭:

i think both mike and randall are both great contenders for the smartest, i think it just depends on what areas you're considering. who knows, randall may have to come in second again lol

overall ahhh it's so hard to say. like idk like i think my brain says randall but my heart says mike? yeah idk i keep flipping between the two 😭 if anyone said either randall or mike was the most intelligent in the franchise, i think i would be satisfied with either answer