Voting methods: IRV

Posted on November 10, 2025 by ASD Author

Instant runoff voting method

I honestly think that we do IRV wrong. It’s frequently used as part of a first-past-the-post system (FPTP), and that in itself is known for causing pendulum swings with growing levels of extreme policies, which end up jerking the population between ever deeper extremes.

This is something I have been saying for years. I first thought of it when looking for solutions to the issues people had raised with the Bucklin voting system.

Now, forget that term/voting method. This issue applies to most, if not all, IRV uses today.

I think of this again today as I look at how divisive the United States is today. I come to you today asserting that if you want to “Make America Great Again,” We need a unified, not a divided, front.

In theory, the IRV systems allow the most wanted, and hopefully most qualified candidate to win.

Saying no, “people are dumb,” would also invalidate any vote you would have.

Ignoring people that are “dumb” is no different than ignoring people that are “not dumb.” Voting is the way people are heard. People not heard lead to revolutions.

The pro of IRV

Anyway, here’s the deal. With the use of IRV, we can feel more comfortable having 3rd candidates. This eliminates the pendulum swings of FPTP voting systems. (See FPTP issues)

Gaining a third candidate introduces new ideas and movements into the system, allowing us to have the option for a candidate who can fix things. Perhaps they’re more centrist, but that unifying factor is what can help provide a unified front versus a divided one.

Don’t worry, the views on either end of the spectrum still get heard. Remember, they still have to engage you and your opinions. Additionally, there are more players in the game, including people from other districts and levels of government.

After all, we have three branches of the federal government. All pick the POTUS; Congress members come from local districts, and Senators generally represent your state; and those groups pick the Judges for federal courts. NOTE: There may also be issues to address with the Senate & House (See: Congress: House & Senate Improvements).

Additionally, at the state level, we have the same branches locally: Legislative, Executive, Judicial branches.

Finally, locally, you have City/Town and County governments that can address needs. All three levels of government work together, often challenging each other, while working together to do the best they can for the people they govern.

The con of FPTP/First-Past-The-Post voting

Basically, when a third candidate enters the FPTP system, people are afraid to vote for them fearing they are throwing their vote away.

The concept is:
Part 1: Let’s assume each candidate will receive 33% of the vote. Now, if my candidate (Candidate C) were to potentially receive only 33% of the vote, because they are not part of one of the major parties, they wouldn’t have the support to overcome the other two, so that 33% ends up being 20%. Now, the other two candidates get 39/42% of the vote. (Candidates A/B)

Part 2: Now we have voters strategically voting. lets call it shooting the line or strait line voting. Of that 20%, ten percent opt to vote for the candidate they think “CAN” Win. Perhaps it’s splitting 4% & 6% making the other two candidates have 43% & 48% (Candidates A/B) while…

Part 3: The final 10% stick to the “BEST Candidate” even though they won’t win. Maybe it’s to make a statement, maybe to be loyal.

What statements are they making?
A: Is it that they like their views and want to make sure the winners consider them?
B: Is it that neither of the other candidates is decent enough to deserve a vote?

Is that right? Here’s the outcome with IRV

Finally, here’s the deal! Of that last 10%, nine percent would prefer Candidate A. Thus, in theory, that 43/47% is actually 52% vs 48%. Analyzing these results, Candidate A is the preferred winner, yet Candidate B is the chosen winner, winning with ONLY 47% of the vote.

Analyzing the issue with IRV

With IRV, one would say the solution is to let people vote for a second choice, and allow their votes to roll over.

Looking at it, because they’re not throwing their vote away, the voters are not afraid of throwing away their vote, so the vote sticks to 39/41/20%. Then IRV kicks in, eliminating Candidate C and redistributing the second-choice votes from their voters to Candidate A or B, respectively. Thus, Candidate A wins with 52% of the vote.

YAY, The best candidate wins!!!

However, did they really? If you analyze the votes again, we see that 50% of those who voted for Candidates A & B also liked Candidate C; however, because Candidate C was not a part of a major party, they discounted their viability. Hence, the drop from 33% to 20%

Let’s further analyze this:

Method 1: Round 1>> Final Outcome >> AV totals
Candidate A: 33% >> 16% >> 52% (Loser in FPTP)
Candidate B: 34% >> 17% >> 48% (Eliminated via AV) (FPTP Winner)
Candidate C: 33% >> 65% >> 65% (Winner via AV-IRV) (Eliminated via IRV)

Method 2: Round 1>> Final Outcome >> AV totals
Candidate A: 39% >> 19% >> 52% (Loser in FPTP)
Candidate B: 41% >> 20% >> 47% (Eliminated via AV) (FPTP Winner)
Candidate C: 20% >> 59% >> 59% (Winner via AV-IRV) (Eliminated via IRV)
^^^ These are wrong…. See “Why AC” below, where I return Candidate A & C’s votes when B is eliminated

Either way, Candidate C was approved or even liked by at worst 59% of the voters and possibly even 65% of the voters. Yet, we eliminated that choice up front!!!

Candidate C was eliminated with both IRV & FPTP, despite being the most liked Candidate by a margin of 7-13% in this example.

The Solution IRV via Approval Voting (AV)

NOTE: I’m not a fan of the strict AV voting method. Its too easy to result in a tie as eventually, everyone approves of several people.

Instead, use AV to eliminate the least approved candidate, and then redistribute the votes just as you would in a traditional IRV scenario.

Remember how I mentioned straight-line voting. The concept is that you vote only for the ONE candidate you like, so that you don’t dilute your vote, potentially allowing another person to win, while you really only want Candidate X to win.

Nice in concept, but that’s the same issue as throwing away your vote that happens when you vote for a third-party candidate in the original FPTP system.

People have attempted to solve the issue of throwing away your vote with IRV by “REQUIRING” People to make a second choice. This was ruled unconstitutional, hence the issue with Bucklin voting. People found it worked best if they always cast a second-choice vote, and rather than reworking it, they just tossed it away.

Yet, the issue still stands. IRV often eliminates the preferred candidate because people shoot the line to eliminate the possibility of their candidate being the 3rd candidate in the first round. i.e. to prevent throwing away their vote.

Why AV?

I came up with this because of the issues with forcing people to make a second choice. By using AV and changing the elimination methods, I believe this encourages people to make that second choice. After all, if their second choice means that Candidate B instead of C is eliminated, maybe their choice of A will still win.

Check this out. Let’s look at methods A & B again, but split the choices.
In these Examples, it doesn’t mean the 3rd party candidate wins. it just means the least popular is eliminated vs just the lowest vote getter in round 1

  • Candidate A’s & C’s 2nd votes are returned when Candidate B is eliminated
  • Thus, a new race just between Candidate A & C
  • Tie Breaker, if needed, is AV? The constitutionality of AV for the outcome or even the elimination round is in question due to the one-person-one-vote concept.

Playing with numbers to show that Candidate C might not win even if surviving round 1

Remember: 2nd votes from voters of candidates not eliminated don’t count for other candidates in the final count since their candidate isn’t eliminated.

Example 1
Winner: Candidate 		(Equal due to IRV, but also Dead heat all the way)
— Rounding in favor of Candidate C
— 51% of B’s voters like A (21/20)
— C voters split on Candidate A & B
Example 1:Round 1AV TotalsFinal Outcome
Candidate A:33%16c+17b+33a=66%
16c+16b+33a=65%		0c+0b+ 0a=0%
IRV:
16c+0b+33a=49%		(Loser in FPTP)
(Eliminated via AV)
(Loser in IRV)
Candidate B:35%16c+35b+16a=67%
16c+35b+15a=66%		0c+35b+16a=51%
0c+35b+15a=50%		(FPTP Winner)
(IRV Winner)
Candidate C:32%32c+18b+17a=67%
32c+19b+18a=69%		32c+0b+17a=49%
32c+0b+18a=50%		(Eliminated via IRV)
In a close race, is this fair?
Candidate B got 3% more in Round 1
Candidate C got 3% more approval
Where’s the tie breaker?
— Just as NOW, Tally their votes, then just as with IRV, tally the 2nd votes of the eliminated candidate. There’s bound to be a difference, just like today has close races.
Just like now, a true tiebreaker is done via the sitting VP? Thus, a trend towards the incumbent/sitting party.
Example 2
Winner: Candidate A		(Voting for preferred candidate up front)
— All of A voters like C
— 51% of B’s voters like A (21/20)
— C voters split on Candidate A & B
Example 2:Round 1AV TotalsFinal Outcome
Candidate A:39%10c+21b+39a=70%21b+ 39a=60%(Loser in FPTP)
(Winner in IRV)
(Winner via AV-IRV)
Candidate B:41%10c+41b+0a=51%0+0+0=0%(FPTP Winner)
(Eliminated via AV)
Candidate C:20%20c+20b+39a= 79%20c+20b=40%(Eliminated via IRV)
While Candidate C has the highest AV percentage, Candidate A is higher in round 1, and more of Candidate B voters prefer Candidate A. The Winner goes to Candidate A: 60/40
Candidate C still loses, but Candidate B only had 51% of the vote at any time. It’s much preferred to take their 21% vote to A and 20% to C, both of which are more popular in general
Example 3

Winner:
Candidate C 		(Voting for preferred candidate up front)
— All of A likes C
— 75% of B’s voters like C
— C voters split on A & B
Example 3: Round 1AV TotalsFinal Outcome
Candidate A:39%10c+10b+39a
= 59%		10b+39a =49(Loser in FPTP)
(Winner in IRV)
Candidate B:41%10c+41b+0a
= 51%		0+0+0=0%(FPTP Winner)
(Eliminated via AV)
Candidate C:20%20c+31b+39a
= 90%		31b+20c=51%(Eliminated via IRV)
(Winner via AV-IRV)
Candidate C is very popular with 90% approval, and would have been eliminated in both FPTP & IRV methods of voting. Granted, they still barely won, but Candidate 2 was still liked by many of Candidate B’s voters; thus, their votes were not wasted. If the vote counts had been slightly different, so that Candidate A had won, it would have been justified, even with Candidate C having a 90% approval rating. Especially given that Candidate C was at least given a fighting chance that would not have been available with FPTP & Traditional IRV.
This was an exhilarating and competitive race. However, with the Lowest Approval rating, Candidate B’s winning in FPTP & IRV would have been an injustice to the majority of voters.
Example 4

Winner:
Candidate B		(Voting for preferred candidate up front)
— A Voters split between B & C
— 75% of B’s voters like C
— C voters split on A & B
Example 4:Round 1AV TotalsFinal Outcome
Candidate A:39%10c+10b+39a
= 59%		0+0+0=0%(Eliminated via AV)
Candidate B:41%10c+41b+19a
= 70%		0c+41b+19a
= 60%		(FPTP Winner)
(Winner via AV-IRV)
Candidate C:20%20c+31b+19a
= 70%		20c+19a=39%(Eliminated via IRV)
Candidates B & C are both very popular with 70% Approval. C would have been eliminated with 20% of the vote in either FPTP or IRV, but their votes counted instead, and Candidate A’s votes were not wasted as they still counted towards Candidate B & C
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Navigating AdBlockers: Pros and Cons

Posted on November 8, 2025 by ASD Author

Jump to:
• Why Block Ads
• Ad Block Options

Louis Rossmann does NOT authorize this page. It is my own page that I created to quickly link to him and the things he uses or suggests. It does not fully adhere to his suggestions or philosophy and incorporates some of my personal opinions and language, particularly in the sections below his links. This is not a recommendation from me, but rather a list allowing you to make your own decisions.

I am a fan of Louis Rossmann. He does well at staying apolitical, particularly when it comes to parties and traditional issues. He sticks to the right to repair, owning your own stuff, and right to privacy issues. These are issues that both sides hopefully can get behind.

He’s a self-hosting advocate of the anti-evil do the right thing policy scope of life. He’s pointed out that piracy is back because big corporations have not been doing the anti-evil do-the-right-thing thing.

i.e., you can do all these things with existing hardware and software; however, because these big brother companies want their hand permanently in your pocket and home, they have tried to limit both your rights and ability to use things you have purchased.

Things like 4k video. Serve me my media, don’t make me use a spyware-laden smart TV. I have to both pay more AND give up my rights?!

Part of what’s right is the right to cancel “Click-To-Cancel”, and the ability to opt out and have simple TOS agreements—especially regarding forced changes after you’ve made a purchase, whether it’s a service, software, or a physical/hardware product.

Basically, be clear and transparent; let us cancel; and let us own the things we’ve purchased. If we bought online, let us cancel online. If we signed up in your store, let us cancel in your store. None of this, mail a certified letter to X. A confirmation number/screen at the time of cancellation should be sufficient.

Significant issues include companies such as Adobe, Roku, Apple, Google, and John Deere, as well as products you own or use, including cameras, cars, home automation, memberships, media, etc. Additionally, there are traditional right-to-repair concerns, including gaming systems, printers, and your right to use any ink, among others.

Another significant issue is the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act – Wikipedia, which essentially already covers most issues. However, as times have changed, it does not spell out some things clearly enough for today’s corporations and government officials. He has worked to propose this additional law for submission and inclusion in the state law books. 2025: 41 Bills in 20 states via PIRG (Not just 2025, recently, bills have been submitted to multiple states each year.)

A FOSS advocate (Free and Open Source Software) vs simply OSS, which is often better on its own vs strictly proprietary.

His sites:

Adblockers: Good, Bad, Ugly (My Words)

WARNING: Google has been slow loading for people it detects are using a YouTube AdBlocker.

  • Still trying to figure out what’s good vs not. Google has crippled ones that use Chromium. Good ones are generally not available on Chromium-based browsers. Otherwise, there are a lot of options. (NOTE: I can’t find Louis’s recommendations from 2 years ago.)
  • Google used to advocate for their use; now, they only partly do. They are now biased towards those they approve on their browser (s) (Plural, because it covers all Chromium-based browsers). These browsers include… Brave, DuckDuckGo, Samsung, MS Edge, Opera, and more (Over 20 in total)
  • The FBI advocates their use.
  • AdBlockers may be against a TOS, but they are NOT illegal.
  • Linus advocates their use, but also says they’re a form of piracy
  • Louis Rossmann advocates their use.
  • Web Browser Engines: Wikipedia list ; Geeks For Geeks 2025 discussion.
  • Ads [are]:
    • Annoying
    • Slow Browsers
    • Help sites make money (To the extreme?)
    • Spread Virus
    • Click-Bait Based
    • Leak Personal Information
    • Are irrelevant (Even when sharing Information/PI)
  • AdBlockers [are]:
    • Agents of Freedom
    • Speed Up Browsers
    • Allow users to see the actual information on a website
    • Protect Privacy
    • Prevent Viruses
    • Give Users their time back

Ad Block Options?

I have finally found the suggestion by Louis Rossmann and several other Privacy advocates.

They are suggesting uBlock Origin by Raymond Hill (oBO). As discussed, while Google has been pro-ad blocker, with it being both an ad company and a browser developer, it has recently been heavy-handed about how ad blockers are to behave. As such, to provide complete and essential benefits to users, uBlock Origin is no longer available in Chrome as of Chrome 139 (August 2025) and will most likely not work with other Chromium-based browsers at some point. As such, uBO is primarily available on the Firefox browser. {FYI: Browser Engines (Basic / Full List & Specifically Chromium Based Browsers}

That said, it does work with blocking lists compiled by the broader AdBlock community, i.e., those still on Chrome. It uses several of these lists by default, as well as its own lists.

Rossmann and other privacy professionals also recommend network & DNS-based services to better block ALL browsers, prevent data leaks, and run behind the scenes so the devices on the network need not be involved. This is especially important with IOT devices that like to “Call Home” and report data. Many of these devices are closed, and thus, you are unable to add blocking to the devices themselves.

IOT refers to Internet of Things Devices such as TVs, cameras, fridges, light switches & outlets, thermostats, etc.

My two main issues with DNS & Router-based solutions are:
A: That they are hard to override when you want/need to. i.e., when a site breaks due to blocking
B: They can slow rather than speed up browsing because when sites are requesting a connection, that gets blocked. This is because the connection needs to time out before the browser continues. Sure, some things happen simultaneously, but all too often, you sit there for over a minute while scripts wait before releasing the page, displaying content, or letting you click on things.

Below is from before I found Louis Rossman’s suggestions.

NOTE: I can’t find Louis’s recommendations. They are 2 years old by now anyway. Hence, I’m looking.

  • Privacy Badger (By EFF) Doesn’t specifically block ad’s, but if they track you, they’re probably blocked.
  • AdGuard (Independent from Chromium!) Offers other protection products too.
  • AdBlockLite (FireFox Centered/Anti-Chromium?)
    With several products targeted to protect against Google Products
  • Chromium/Android friendly: Potentially poor, but usable on Chromium-based browsers
    • AdBlocker Ultimate by Advoid: System app as well as browser app. Is available via the Android app store and Chromium-Based Apps, so ???
      4.8 stars (26,836 reviews) 1,343,478 Users (FireFox); 4.8 Stars 61.3K ratings / 2m users
    • AdBlock: The original, but it can not fully protect on any platform if they want Google’s permission to work with Chromium-based browsers. (FAST)
      4.2 3,501 reviews / 1,354,605 Users; 4.5 Stars 290.5K ratings / 62M users (Chrome)
    • AdAware (Plug-in and part of a suite; browser link scanning) Claims to block YouTube ads while whitelisting creators you want to support. The paid/pro version performs deep scans for identity breaches. Chromium Compatible (FAST)
      3.9 Stars 9,585 Users / 67 reviews (FireFox); 4.0 200,000 users / 403 ratings (Chrome)
    • AdBlock Plus (AdBlock Fork 2017): Claims to block YT Videos, but is available on Android and Chromium-based browsers. How True to ethics can they be given Alphabet’s new restrictions? (FAST)
      4.4 Stars 3,206,464 Users/11,333 reviews (FireFox) / 4.4 Stars 41M users / 187.5K ratings (Chrome)

Facebook Container : Not Ads, but removes and warns of Facebook trackers/Pixels on sites. Generally, they are relatively common and broadly present on sites across the internet (A Firefox plug-in

Other groups to watch (Not mentioned by Louis)

I’m not vetting. Some of these may be liberal, and others conservative, vs non-biased
In theory, both sides should be seeking freedom of speech, else they get the same restrictions in return when the tables are turned.

More things to consider

NetNeutrality

Posted in blogging, Random responses: news and blog posts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lyft and Uber

Posted on October 15, 2025 by ASD Author

technically a parallel post. for now this is stream of throat it was mostly written via voice to text so there’s lots of errors but it’s up here for comment I. and RFC. parallel because I will be pulling sections out I will create a post that is a bullet point checklist chart and then these long sections will be a post of their own linked to from that chart

Lyft is way too flatp maybe that’s cuz I have night mode turned on but that doesn’t mean much there’s plenty ways you could make night mode still high contrast enough

Lyft, I love that you integrate with Waze so well, but there are some random times you’re pulling it back to your app and erasing the ways directions and I start all over which is a pain because your navigation buttons freak out at least half the time and not because I’m driving you really need to improve that so it’s a one tap return after all I’m trying to drive not touch my f****** phone.

your navigation buttons don’t work half the time, and I sometimes think it might be because you don’t want us touching our device but the tablet still lets me touch it the thing still isn’t work if I’m stopped for 20 or 30 seconds playing around the phone trying to get it to work and then I’m like f*** it I’ll pick up my phone while I’m stopped and you’re not give me a warning not to touch my phone so I’m touching my phone and having to manually enter the address we’re trying to get to That’s not good customer service to me or the writer r i d e r

like I said I don’t know if it’s a Don’t touch your phone kind of thing because that’s what I’m not moving. and yet when I am moving and I touch the navigation button you automatically take me back to my navigation app versus the three different buttons I’m trying to push otherwise navigation talk open top take me there then bottom button which is low contrast and small so it takes me longer to find and click then I can navigate so yeah that’s a 50/50 when that happens it’s to whether you take me straight to navigation or whether I have to stop because you’re making me go through four clicks

it’s like come on you don’t want me to touch my phone

which brings me to touching my phone You’re like don’t touch your phone stop moving put down your phone yeah I’m not touching my phone it’s sitting in its holster not even touching it

lift something I totally totally totally hate is that your arrive button doesn’t automatically get clicked

Lyft needs a better dark mode/night theme

from bigger one-way arrows higher contrast which can be done in dark mode you don’t need 80% and 100% black you can do 60% and 80% and 100% black weight

One of my favorite things with Lyft is did it highlights the actual building the person’s coming from not just putting a pin somewhere, now that’s 100% accurate there’s a few times that it has lit the building next door and supposedly that was when the rider actually typed in the address for the building they were in which brings me to the map issue

Lyft allows me to Mark things on the map most of which are hazards one’s a closure, but none of them are to fix an error on the map and that’s a big issue supposedly Uber does too at least for the errors but a significant number of times that error is something you have to go into from their website and a severe pain and hard to link it to a ride which also makes ratings in that ride hard to justify because yeah

Lyft does a better job with displaying Ride info when you’re going to accept it the total for the ride is a lot clearer, but what I don’t like is I don’t know how much wait time they’re expecting and are they including that 19 to $30 per hour as wait time too, cuz that would be a very nice thing is to say typical weight for this writer is x minutes then I know they’re probably including wait time in that calculation because they’re displaying that time in the menu

one big thing that both Uber and Lyft need is A slow start option. you see if it’s slow out or if I need a break I don’t need to be offline I just need them to know hey it’s going to be an extra 2 minutes for me to get to this writer then if you just gave you a flat out ping. if I’m pissing or if I’m buying something I’m able to start taking calls but I might not be running out immediately I’m checking out I’m paying that doesn’t take 5 minutes that takes one maybe two minutes but if the next nearest rider is 4 minutes away I’m still the best driver to do the pickup not much different than if I’m meandering around to drop off the previous passenger you do the same thing you say hey this guy is going to be in your neighborhood we’ll send you to them but they’re going to be another 8 minutes cuz they’re dropping another person off no for that scenario you’re typically showing where that driver’s driving to and telling them they’re driving dropping off another passenger kind of interesting that you’re actually doing that versus just saying hey they’re dropping someone off because this is showing them exactly where this person is but hey

does Uber and Lyft are horrible about horizontal viewing they try and force you vertical but my maps are all horizontal and less than 20% of the time is it better to be vertical same thing in reverse if it’s vertical less than 20% of the time is it better to be horizontal so that means 60% time it doesn’t matter. so Uber and Lyft give me a horizontal option that works for you guys I can force it on my tablet by using a split screen so you can do it but your format tends to suck. Lyft it shows me the top menu it shows me the bottom menu but when you ping something I can’t see the new ride request I have to go look at my phone and even pick it up because it’s so tiny you can’t read it

let’s talk destination mode

list destination mode appears to work well Ubers does not let’s dissect that to see if it’s by design or what they say it’s they made improvements but they never fixed what was broken just added features which don’t matter since it’s still appears broken

okay let’s begin Uber continuously pings you with loud radar alerts saying here’s a ride here’s a ride here’s a ride none of those into my destination and you’re harassing me creating a hostile work environment with that harassment as you suggest I go on these rides I’m ready to just turn off due to the obnoxious noise that you’re creating

now once again Uber The never actually start to send you to your destination. it’s like okay that ride is taking me way out of the way is that with them knowing they’re going to send me that direction or not because that no point have they ever said okay we’ve done your thing you need to be headed that way because it’s silently switches hostile work environment silent switch to giving you random calls anywhere in town if I’m 15 minutes from my destination it’s not always obvious until I’m on a call and I’m like this drop off is after the time when I’m already supposed to be at my destination. it is obvious also when I’m going home and I’m four blocks from home and you start giving me six things lowering my acceptance rating hostile environment because you’re taking away perks because of a low acceptance rating and since you’re giving me so many pings I cannot turn off unless I accept one turn off and then cancel it once again hasta out work environment

now Lyft is nice they give me a an oval or a fan shape for getting towards my destination I guess that was one of the improvements of Uber made but doesn’t work. and lift will still give you the ” uber’s radar thing but they just list stuff on the map no annoying pings nothing just hey that side of your range are you sure you want to take it. now I don’t know how they do at the end because I manually turned off after a ride that took me close to my home

now Uber versus Lyft surges Uber at least gives me the same surge no matter what vehicle I’m driving cuz honestly it shouldn’t matter I’m a driver on the road whereas Lyft if I go to XL only they take away any option for surges if x irregular lift is surging. at that point I might as well turn off

which brings me to my next point of on a call lockdown Lyft takes away all options and I don’t think it’s because we’re trying to focus you on driving because I might as well cancel on a ride if me sitting at a dead stop trying to leave a parking lot to go to see your client I cannot change from regular lift to super large lift to destination mode I’m sorry you just took me an hour to the opposite side of town I want to turn on destination mode

Uber Uber still lets you have all those features because you’re only on a call on your phone. but a lot of those features are still available on the phone technically it’s just means you’d have to go behind the drive but it’s great cuz on your tablet these things take up two by two or three by three inch buttons so it’s like an automatic car mode

yeah Uber sucks at some of these car mode features pretty much everything on Uber is bigger and easier to read so if I’m stopped pulled over before I go anything I can quickly navigate bigger higher contrast all these things lift just like actually sit there and read through things you got to search for things maybe it’s cuz I’m not as familiar with it but size is definitely there anyway with Uber I can turn on and off ride types without even looking at the tablet they’re so big so list solution is let’s lock it down and either not show them or say hey you’re supposed to be driving I’m in a dead stop and I’m at a dead stop longer because I can manually type this into things like a bat. Yes set a clicking a map button You’ve locked it down well actually haven’t locked it down cuz the map button still works on the tablet and has something that works on the phone when I’m actually driving driving. but you’re forced me to stay stop longer as I manually type out an address because your navigate button is broken. Uber has similar issues but there I close the app reopen the app and now they navigation button works again

more or destination mode issues with Uber if you say you want to get closer to that destination they are hostile in their attempt to get you there closer means one block closer even if it takes you an hour to do that one block you might not make it to your destination within 12 hours. and that hostility carries over to their no long pickup fees on destinations. that makes sense if you’re actually getting someone there because hey we’re going to give you a 20 minute pick up but instead of giving you that 5 minute pick up you’re forcing us to give you something towards that destination so yes we could have offered you a 5-minute ride and pay you quicker. if they’re going to call it a legitimate destination service especially if they’re not going to pay you for long pickups your pickup time should be at least the distance closer you are so if it takes you 10 minutes to get somewhere to pick someone up you should be at least 10 minutes closer to your destination. not one block. you shouldn’t make it halfway to your destination then come back to where you were initially at and on that same token you shouldn’t be going 10 minutes away from your destination only to come 10 minutes 11 minutes back so you’re you’re one minute closer yeah no

now continuing on to the destination like feature, we have zone regions or whatever you want to call it on Uber they have like six zones in my city and that is over a 90 mi range I’m thinking. yep give or take from the southern edge to the far northern edge of our zones I measured about 85 mi That’s not exact it is probably about 90 but yeah anyway whereas on Lyft you can put a pinprick and say a mile radius which is better I don’t know. having a square blocks kind of makes sense when the city is made up on square counties and blocks and roads but a spherical circle that you can actually set your own center point of is also nice.

however, the issue with both is you have to be in the center not the center you have to be within that zone to limit calls within that zone. I understand maybe they don’t want it to be a pseudo destination mode but on lift I think it uses a destination on Uber it doesn’t but would you rather me turn off and/or cancel a ride just so I can enable my zone. Ubers is really really weird because half the time it seems to automatically turn on when you’re touching the zones to see think about which one you want and then you can’t turn it off unless you go offline and don’t get any calls once you’re out of all the calls then you can adjust it lift doesn’t let you adjust it as far as I know I’m guess you could totally cancel it if you go offline but I think lifts count against your two or three destinations they both have a time limit Uber lets you to use it for 2 hours a day and lift let’s use it for 3 hours a day

no I just used lifts arrived by destination feature and once you get close to your destination it says low match possibilities adjust your filters or room filter so it appears to be working My arrival time is an hour and 40 minutes from now and it is still giving me pings that are not towards my destination which is fine because I set a time. we’ll see how firm it works on that time and see if it cancels this destination or puts me offline or just stops giving me calls

another thing Uber is fairly horrible about is points towards your next tier of driving. Gold platinum silver all that stuff Uber bases it off of ride being a point they sometimes will do two points as a part of like a promotion hey between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. tonight earn double points, whereas Lyft bases it on I think the price not the distance but price and that’s a little bit better. The issue with Uber’s is what incentive do I have to go spend an hour on a ride if I’m only getting one point that means people that are out in the suburbs are not an incentive to pick up or drop off. Yes I know some people prefer long rides and some short rides but your harming people that do prefer the long rides and you discouraging people who already prefer short rides from doing long rides so a negative negative for riders looking to have happy drivers come get them

safety and security first and foremost lift at least suggest people add their photos to their account so drivers can see who they’re picking up. it’s not a requirement same thing with real names I get ZZ top I get God I get cool guy etc.

now it is nice that they’ve been a bit more prominent about how to select a guest and/or the writers are getting more used to looking for that feature versus just voiding ordering a ride for their friend Joe gassed of Mike of course if they could link Joe’s phone number from there contacts to Joe’s account that would also be nice if Joe even has an account or if he had one band v a n n e d.. not only does it mean you know who’s getting a ride you also know who’s account it is, but like I said I don’t think they’re double-checking to see if that person was banned from Uber. or Lyft and I’m less familiar with lifts guest things but I know that on Uber it’s also nice because they get a link so they can view the ride coming to get them and it links their phone number so that if I call someone I’m calling the actual rider and not relaying through some random third party okay not random but the guy that ordered it

but The verified feature is nice but if you just ask for their ID then you can still run a verified check to make sure it wasn’t a fake ID or something but safety is a low priority because not only are they not required to verify their identity there can use a fake name it just won’t show verified so yes require a picture and require an ID That’s the two big features that we’re requesting as drivers of passengers or at least the account holders and at least a picture of the rider even if they aren’t the account holder like I said you can link their phone number to something. and yes a photo should be of the person not a duck or a cartoon

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Hostile Businesses

Posted on October 10, 2025 by ASD Author

DRAFT PUBLISHED FOR FEEDBACK
MORE TO ADD?
Either topics or info for a topic

I genuinely believe businesses are essentially abusive with their business practices.

I think this is currently a part of the late-stage capitalism quandary. Yes, we had issues in the past with large barons owning super large & powerful businesses.

Ok, maybe a magnate or dare I say tycoon vs baron

A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or services are widely consumed.

But then, barons were frequently the magnates of the old life until the people started standing up to “royalty”. They might not have been “Official Royalty,” But they were the noblemen of the era and essentially held ultimate power over “the people”… Their People.

Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, but lower than a viscount or count. Often, barons hold their fief – their lands and income – directly from the monarch. Barons are less often the vassals of other nobles. Wikipedia

Like those Tycoon’s and Barons of the past, current “Big Businesses” Have become their own tycoon status.

Tycoon’s have frequently become so abusive that the impression one gets of them does not match the Official Definition:

tycoon noun
ty·​coon tī-ˈkün
• 1 a : a businessperson of exceptional wealth, power, and influence : magnate
b : a top leader (as in politics)

• a person who has achieved great success in business and is very wealthy and powerful
• a person who has succeeded in business or industry and has become very rich and powerful
— a business/media/property/oil/shipping tycoon

I believe that many businesses have essentially done a

Now, what do I mean?

I’m talking about basic business practices to squeeze the last dollar/the last bit of life out of their consumers/customers/clients at the peril of their well-being.

Lets look at a few examples

Back of store & cash register impulse

The first that comes to mind is potentially the least hostile till you look at the long-term effects or the “big business” specifics… i.e., hostility of power of a mega corporation.

Placing the most needed things in the back so you have to pass through the whole store to grab what you need. More time in the store = more potential for the store to make money.
This ends with impulse product placement at the register.

If this were a small business or done with goodness of heart in mind, rather than a nefarious “pay us more” mentality, it probably wouldn’t be so bad.

Let’s examine this. You need to quickly grab something, spend 5 minutes in the store, and be on your way. In a small store that’s 50 feet deep, going to the back might not be a big deal, but with a mega store, they’re now holding you in the store for 20-30 minutes. Sure, you can spend five extra minutes walking to the back, another five walking back up front with tunnel vision, but the store knows the psychological tricks to break you out of your direct mission.

The mega store is not doing this to remind you to grab a few things you might need, but to get you to make impulse purchases of things you don’t need. Sure, spending money helps the business, but spending money you don’t want to, were not planning to, and often money you might not be able to afford, is harmful to the business’s customers.

This harm is not just to the pocketbook, but also to the customer’s mental state, as they fight the urges imposed by the store’s use of psychological trickery. Financial stress is enough for a person living paycheck to paycheck, but someone already weakened from that stress is more likely to make these unnecessary purchases, and thus, this is predatory behavior, given that the primary customer shopping is frequently a lower-income, paycheck-to-paycheck individual.

I was told that it’s not the store’s fault. Um, they are taking advantage of a captive group that often doesn’t have the freedom to choose any old store.

Another Example

Rideshare: UBER, Lyft, Others

This is a whole topic of its own, and will eventually be moved to its own post…

Uber/Lyft. These powerful businesses have employed a ton of tricks… trickery to take advantage of their customers who are, in turn, the products. Yes, both the rider and the driver are customers and products, and they are both being taken advantage of.

Lets take a look at a quick bullet point list pending it being broken out into its own post:

  • Surges:
    • Leopard Surge Tease: Drivers are frequently teased with surges; these surges often have a leopard-print pattern that is typically near but never directly over the actual driver. (Hostile Teases) (see good faith solution below)
    • Chase a surge/Surge Disappearance: Drivers often say, “Never Chase a Surge.” That’s because it’s just a tease. If you try to go to the surge, 98% of the time it disappears the second you’re .001 miles from it. (Hostile Tease)
      • My first good faith solution is to return to the broad area surges, and then turn them into a leopard print if the driver is discriminating against riders by picking and choosing not to serve areas that are in areas with marginalized people, i.e., people of color.
      • My second good-faith solution is to let people lock in the surge by agreeing to drive to xyz area within x minutes/without delay. This tactic, without the first “area wide” one, introduces its own hostile environment, and can be alleviated to a point with at least two good faith offers.
    • Surge Lock in hostility: If you happen to lock in a surge and the surge offer/offers disappear, drivers are frequently given fewer ride options, and those you are given are less desirable. i.e., drivers around you without locked-in surges are being given rides while you get nothing for up to an hour or more. When you are finally given a ride, it’s often very far away and offered at an obnoxiously low hourly rate. Remember the communism of rideshare mentioned below. This $5 locked-in surge brings a $19/hour ride up to $24/hour. Statistically, if you hadn’t had a surge locked in, that very same ride would have been offered at $21 or $22 an hour. Adding a surge bonus should have brought that ride up to $26 or $27 an hour instead of $24. Thus, instead of making $21 an hour ($23.50 with the $5 surge) for 2 hours, you’re paid $24 over 2 hours. i.e. $12/hour. ANOTHER HOSTILE BUSINESS PRACTICE
    • The Domino’s Pizza 30-minute effect: I’m super surprised there haven’t been more deaths with rideshare surges. Like the rush to deliver a pizza to a customer within 30 minutes, a rideshare driver pushed to beat the end of a surge, there is a significant risk of drivers getting into wrecks. ANOTHER HOSTILE BUSINESS PRACTICE (Ok, a rewording of the chase a surge listed above)
  • Rideshare communism: Another hostile business practice

Rideshare communism: Another hostile business practice

This is where the rideshare companies take from good rides to pay more for bad rides. It’s a part of their concept to pay you as little as their algorithm thinks they can. It’s another hostile business practice. Instead of following the agreed price, they undercut themselves by saying, ‘We’re going to pay you below-market rate because we can get away with it.’

In other words, rather than giving you a bonus to do the less desirable, they remove the bad pay to make the other seem like a good bonus. “We averaged paying you 80% of the customer’s fare”

Um, that means you paid me significantly less on many rides. That in itself wouldn’t be so bad. After all, in the end, we averaged the “agreed price/payout.” However, they aren’t paying the agreed price. Since they use a fluctuating booking fee, they artificially lower the fare while charging extra and pocketing the difference. This can be harmful since the rider thinks the driver is getting a reasonable portion of the “fare” they are paying. Unfortunately, that driver often gets $30 or less on that $80 fare. ANOTHER HOSTILE BUSINESS PRACTICE

NOTE:

This is just a note for me. In the old days. Super Powerful production houses. Sony, XXX, XXX, XXX used to run the music industry. They still do.

But someone once told me. You gotta tell the attendees what you’re giving to the bar/venue vs to the performers/acts. This has really bothered me. This is a negotiation between the two of them. X agreed to perform for a, and Y agreed to host the event for b. This is their own agreement —sometimes a complex one.

Splits & Percentages; Doors, Drinks, Food, Merch, etc. Then there are tips, booking fees, venue fees, and more; sometimes they’re included, and other times they’re broken out and paid in addition to the ticket price. Whether their’s a guarantee, split, or a flat fee to either the venue or performers, that’s all a part of this agreement.

Obviously, these agreements can be predatory. Hence, there is often a push for smaller artists and venues, but these smaller places can also be predatory, and the ticketing groups are often still mega corporations.

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Tipping in Massage Therapy services:

Posted on October 3, 2025 by ASD Author

Title was: Inflation over the years: Pricing a business’s offerings
(But tipping suddenly became the topic. Inflation and prices are coming soon.)

I think it’s my Aspie/ASD side, but I’ve always liked to play with numbers. So, let’s have fun.

Before I start, I’ll note that, prior to the COVID-19 tipping fatigue, I’ve observed that typical cash tips for massage therapy have historically been 25-35% for the 90th percentile.

I’ve helped with some businesses, and I’ve noticed a few things over the years.

For this article, let’s come from the sector I’m most familiar with: The spa world, or massage specifically.

Tipping owners vs employees

First, tipping, a spa service or medical service, and now tip fatigue.

Business owners and tipping?

I find the concept of not tipping a business owner interesting and invalid. Yes, they are earning the profits, but they are also incurring the expenses. If it’s a sole proprietor small business, they probably don’t have the employees to bring in the income while spreading out the costs.

Expenses incurred by me alone as well as if I have employees:
I’m looking at a situation where a room/space is only used about 1/3rd of a seven day week.

  • A phone line, I have that expense with 1 or 12 people doing the work.
  • Additional expenses not shared: Internet, website, advertising, etc.
  • Rent: each room can handle multiple people, plus common areas shared by everyone
  • Utilities: Lets look at mid-small office: 144/240/480 sq feet
    • 144 Shared common space in a pricey boutique facility
      (Pricey May included WIFI & a front desk greeter)
    • 240 Private lobby in an office building shared restrooms and hallways
    • 480 Shared Private lobby, likely shared restrooms and hallways, best price per square foot.
      • it could be shared with roommates or employees, but most likely it’s not. In fact, one of the two rooms may be used just as the “Business office” side so pricey
      • Thus, I’m paying for 480 by myself, and with a roommate where each of us has our own room, that still leaves each of the two areas only used 30% of the available time.
    • Any of these three options means I am paying three times per person versus hiring two other people.

Yes, owners “could” charge whatever they want, but the prices are actually in line with the competitive market that is based on tipping.

Conclusion: Tip the person doing the work, not the owner. If the person doing the work is the owner, tip them like you would anyone else that’s doing “The work”

Tipping over the years

This was initially going to be about inflation, but to accurately describe the context of my price changes, one must first consider the tipping portion.

I will concede that there are those that either do not tip, or only tip $5 on price totals of $50-150. For this section, I’m focusing on those who do more than a token tip; those who are full-on tippers.

When I first started, a good rule of thumb was up to the nearest or second nearest $20.

i.e.
When our hourly price was $65, we were regularly getting $80 {$15/23%}, with our ninety-minute at $95, they typically gave $120 {$25/26%+}
The next raise, a $75 hour, we got $100/33%, and the ninety-minute, at $105, we were getting either $120 or $140. I can’t say $15 is a token tip, so the range was $15/14% to $35/34%. I’d say 75% of the tippers were doing the $140 over the $120.

When I added those to the Credit card machine, I used 3 bases for the suggested tip. 25, 30, 35% Once you count the 3% cc fees, that essentially equated the typical cash tips people paid.

$65/95 2005-2008; $75/105 2009-2019; $85/115 2019 (Generally 26-34%)
I take that back; I checked the Wayback Machine, and I was $85- $ 110 for an hour/ninety-minute session in 2013. I just dropped back down in 2015 when I moved to Kansas City.

Caviet, in 2015, I moved to a new market and tried out flat-rate prices of $85, but no one understood that, so within 90 days I switched back to $75/105. Everyone kept shopping around saying $85 for an hour is a lot, and that was only about a 13%

That caviet says a lot. I moved from New Orleans to Kansas City. New Orleans has a big tipping culture, and it seems to have higher base prices for massage therapy. That is probably why I ended up at $75 for a full 10 years. Noting, the 65 was also in KC in 2005/2006

Fatigue

I hate the idea of raising rates to minimize the reliance on tips, but as with 2015, how can it be done? I know many do it, and I know for medical massages, its pretty much all flat rate if they want insurance to cover it.

How high would one raise it to offset that fatigue? The typical 25-34%? halfway between the token $5 of 2005, 15% low end, 25% mid range, and 34% upper range? 22/31% to not automatically add a 3% cc assumption? — 8+15+22+31=76/4=19%. what about that 75% pay the upper half? 8+15+22+25+31+34=135/6 22.5%

Fall 2025, assuming a rate of 72/107/155 half hour, hour, ninety, so at 22.5%:

  • 107+24.075=131.07; I had friends* charging more than this in 2021 (4+ years ago)
  • 155+34.88=189.88; I had friends* charging this (4+ years ago)
  • 72+16.2=88.2
  • My 2-hour session is 264 and hasn’t changed much. It was created as a premium service when people were abusing it while not tipping.

*Friends charging this, I don’t think as a flat rate service.

Caviet: as of January 2025, the price was $31 + $38 for each 25-minute segment up to 3; we just offered an $8 discount to keep the hour to $99

But again, that makes it pretty high when people are shopping around. My current flat rate medical massage is: $36.39 for each 15 minute segment.
That makes each service:

that’s wrong. My flat rate is 36.67 calculations need to be adjusted

  • 145.56/hr; 9% discount to equal $131
  • 218.34/ninety; 13% discount to equal 189.96 ()
  • 72.78/half hour; Less than 1% difference; (5% to bring it down to
  • $291.12; 9% discount brings it to $264.92; Being a premium service, I’d like to keep it closer to 277 or a 5% discount (Or none)

Two hour sessions

These are quite a booger to address. These are premium services. They are long, with no breaks, and the people buying them either can either afford them, and the associated fees, or shouldn’t be buying them because they cant afford them.

For the 2-hour session, these are closely aligned with each other. 131*2=262 & 190 + 72 = 261. That’s an -ISH per se. The 2-hour session is full with no breaks. The abuse that was occurring was that the person kept asking for two one-hour sessions, which at the time was 75, and expecting it to be 150, then not tipping.

The initial 2-hour price came to be because an hour at 50 minutes of hands-on time is 110 vs 100 minutes of hands-on time you’d get with two single hours. Yet, they are asking for two full hours, or 120 minutes, of hands-on time. That’s a premium service. Yes, with an hour, I am typically closer to 55 minutes of hands-on time, but there’s no guarantee.

So, 50 minutes is $1.50/ minute. Convert that to 120 minutes, and it $180. Add the typical premium tip of 34%, and you get $241.20.

Correction, I was $85/hour in 2014 when the abusive client came in. Thus, 50 minutes is $1.70/minute, and scaled up, that’s $204 for 120 minutes.

A low-end 20% tip, as is typically added on restaurant bills with parties of 6 or more, is $244.80. NOTING: Most massage tippers with me tipped more than the typical restaurant tip. i.e., the 25-34% range

That $245 2 hour premium price has stayed steady since 2014. Granted, I did lower my prices by $10 & $5 $85 >> 75/hr & $110 >> 105 for the ninety.

Diverging into the inflation post a little, using today’s prices, the 2 hour session should be $308.00; the $107 fifty minute hour being $2.14/minute scaled up to 120 minutes, makes the 2 hour price be $256.80 and adding the 20% tip for being a flat rate premium service, we’re at $308.16.

Point to consider, using my flat rate service card, eight units at $36.39, we’re at 291.12 for 113+ minutes. Thus, scaling up, I guarantee 120 minutes, which scaled up is $309.15. That 309.15 is right in range with the $308.00 the 2-hour should be. Granted, that $291.12 is also valid up to 127 minutes. Unfortunately, most medical plans consider more than 4 units–one hour–to be a luxury, and thus, don’t cover it.

More 2-hour points to ponder: Considering the $38 25-minute segments + $31 base

120 minutes is 4.8 25-minute segments. or $182.4 add $31, and we’re at $213.40.
Add:

  • 20% > $256.08
  • 24% > $264.62
  • 34% > $285.96 (Premium)

All still short of the $308 potentially suggested price until you consider that it’s a premium service, and the $31 base is good for up to 3 segments. Thus, 213.40 is really $244.4.
Add:

  • 20% > $293.28
  • 25% > $305.50
  • 34% > $327.50
  • 26% > $307.94

Actual Inflation from its inception:

  • $264 in 2014 (September)
  • $359.32 in 2025 (August: Today is October 4)
    Yes, that’s considering September 2014 vs January where it would be $364.64

2 hour vs 1 hour conclusion

  • $308/2 = $154….
    • 10% off for non-premium = $138.6 (about $107 + 29% tip; a typical cash is $140 or 31% tip )
    • 308/4 = $77 i.e. half hour segments.
  • $359.32/2 = $179.66
    • 359.32/4 = $89.83

The $36.39 rate:

  • $36.39; 15 minutes
  • $72.78; 30 minutes
  • $109.17; 45 minutes (Typical hour is 50-55 minutes hands-on)
  • $145.56; 60 minutes (Typical hour is 50-55 minutes hands-on);
    10% cash discount = 130.5 or 21.5% tip based on $107 hour
  • $181.95; 75 minutes (Typical ninety minute is 75-80 minutes hands-on)
  • Split difference: 200.19; 10% cash discount = $180 or 24% tip based on $145 ninety
  • $218.43; 90 minutes (Typical ninety minute is 75-80 minutes hands-on);
    20% cash discount = $174.4
    17% cash discount =$181.3 or 25% tip
    15% cash discount = $185.3 or 28% tip
    10% cash discount = $195.2
  • $254.73; 105 minutes
  • $291.12; 120 minutes (This is a premium service; Insurance doesn’t even offer it)
    9% cash discount = $264.92 (Actual price)
    5.8% premium service fee = $308

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NOTE: Evergy electricity pricing 2025

Posted on October 1, 2025 by ASD Author

Tariff update requested April and June 2025

Average rate for a constant load, i.e., a 100W light bulb on 24×7

Winter168 Hours per weekSummer
$0.27642 (5.5284)(20 hrs) 11.9048%$0.33803 (6.7606)
$0.1084 (9.3224)(86) hrs 51.16%$0.11628 (10.00008)
$0.04675 (2.8985)(62) hrs 36.9%$0.05633 (3.49246)
$0.10565 (17.7493)avg rate per hour$0.12055

Residential 3 period tariff PDF

As found at:

Requiring a login makes it a challenge to compare. It looks like the weekend vs non-weekend option is the same??? Either way, it appears to be prejudiced against the poor whom often work on the weekends, and do their weekly chores on a weekday. Perhaps let people pick their 2 weekend days?

Yes, I understand that businesses, especially industrial and 9-to-5 offices, often operate only Monday through Friday, so peak usage may occur on actual weekdays; however, that’s not always accurate. Weekends can be heavier on usage for those people’s laundry and shopping. (Okay, stores are open on weekdays, and registers are not used much more on weekends.) Same with opening doors, not a ton of Heat/AC getting out with the heavier traffic, but more bodies are hot. Other than the stay-at-home moms who DO shop weekdays? Plus some other businesses that are higher in power usage and work weekends. i.e., restaurants, gyms/entertainment, etc. Granted, their usage is spread out all day vs just 4-8.

Either way, I still contend, it’s weighted against the poor whose weekends are on weekdays. If they only make up a small percentage of users, then why not let them choose their weekend days?

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Coffee: The Cortado across KC

Posted on September 26, 2025 by ASD Author

I’ve noticed a wide variety of interpretations across the area for what a cortado is.

Updating soon. I’m just registering my NOTE.
I will specifically add an experience to my charts, and clarify any other wording after I’ve slept on it.

My drink & My order

Let me first preface that I will often order an “8oz Quad Shot Breve” …

… “Like a Double Cortado”

Some people are confused. They’re like “A late?”

“Yes, 50:50 espresso:milk/breve er I’ll take the heaviest cream have if thats cool”

Also:
• No, not an americano, like a cortado
• No, not 4 oz of espresso with a splash of half n half; That would be like a macchiato. Just because its in a cortado glass doesn’t make it a cortado

Just give me a quad shot and fill the rest up with the milk to the 8 oz line. Preferably heavy cream, but Breve {Half n Half} will do since many places won’t heat actual cream.

Just because I say “like a cortado” doesn’t undo the very specific “8oz”.

Why word it like that?

Because many places around town don’t have anything smaller than a 12 oz drink. Plus, many either don’t know what a cortado is, or are just recently learning about a cortado. Caveat, some use the term Gibraltar; “Its the same.”

Oh, yes, more places are adding an 8oz cup, but that’s for something else and often, they still don’t have an 8oz late button. Which means I’m paying for 10 oz of milk, and the upcharge for breve assumes that 10+ oz quantity despite only getting 4oz.

No, technically, its not necessarily the same, but then, that’s kind of the reason I’ve decided to write.
{NOTE: Henceforth, I’ll be using the term Cortado unless I’m comparing a Gibraltar}

Part of the reason I ask that way is because everyone’s definition is different, but also because different coffee house price options vary, and the barista’s often change it up figuring out a decent price. After all, an 8 oz drink with only 4oz of milk/cream should not be costing more than a flavored 12 oz drink. With 8-10oz of milk/cream.

That brings me to my first point.
Why is a breve upcharge the same for 4oz of milk as it is for lets say 12oz of milk? That’s a double shot of espresso and either another double shot, or a couple pumps of flavor.

Some places don’t charge extra for Breve on a Cortado, or will automatically make it a breve “Silky Smooth”.

NOTE: If they make quad cortado with the 2 oz of milk and 4 of espresso, I’d mostly be ok with that. I just would clarify next time. However, 4 oz of espresso with a dab of milk is no longer a cortado… Especially if I say 8oz!

Jump to definitions

Cortado/Gibraltar Chart

Coffee ShopMilkRatioCostCream Option
GoalCream
Breve		50:50Free 🙂
Headrush2%?Skim+ of milk
Almost a Macchiato		$2.69
Crow’s Coffee
“Gibraltar”		Breve50:50
Hi-Tides Coffee??50:50
{Out of cups so its a macchiato today: Several months}		$4
Scooters
“What’s that”		2%
1-3 oz of Cream is often free 		Ask saying: With Cream: a couple shot glasses of cream
“Equal amt of cream”
(Default espresso is 3 single oz shots)		Yes will heat heavy cream
Homer’s Coffee House4oz2.95Don’t remember it was 2023, price may now be higher

8oz Quad Shot Breve Chart

ShopOrdered asCostCream Ok?Perfect?
Goals4oz cream/
4oz espresso		Cream over breve
Crow’s Espresso and steamed milk 8oz hot
Extra Shot
(4 total) ($1.50)
Breve ($1.25)		$4.30+ 2.75
$7.05

Up a nickel
in 2024/2025		Yes, Perfect
(Analysis ordering this way saves $1.05 vs 2 cortado’s in one glass)
This works, they have an 8oz option
Crow’sGibraltar
Extra Shot (4 total) ($1.50)		$4.05+1.50
$5.55		NO: It was “Like a Macchiato”
Put 4 shots into a Gibraltar glass with a splash of milk
(Only happened ~3 times in 5 years)
Crow’s Gibraltar
Extra Shot (4 total) ($1.50		$4.00+1.5o
$5.50		Perfect
(2023)
HeadrushSmallCafe Latte
Breve ($0.75)
Xshot ($1.18)		$3.35+$1.93
$5.28		Perfect
p.s. Their cortado is $2.69 but frequently more like a macchiato
Overflow





Double Shot
$1.95
2 1/2 oz.
Lone Shot
Alternative Milk
$0.75
$1.95 + $1.93
$3.88		Perfect. Yes, the owner only charged a double shot; It tasted like a quad (I didn’t watch to verify).
But they up charged the breve to $0.75 — He reentered it in the register 3 times.
Homer’s4 oz espresso – quad$3.50$3.50Yes: Didn’t say like a Cortado, but “lets make it breve… Not sure if you up-charge on 4oz”Perfect: They’ve done this simple 4ox quad several times
Homers Breve 12 $4.03
Add shot $0.72		$4.75
($4.95 Pre Discount)		2023 prices (Gave a BYO Mug discount)
They must not have had an 8oz
See above. They still must not, but they have/had the 8oz cups.

Definitions

Cortado:

Definition 1: A double shot of espresso with an equal amount of Milk & Espresso. Heated cooler than typical lattes (should be shootable).

Definition 2: 1oz foamed milk 2oz espresso
(Per Orbit Visual‘s Poster found in multiple local coffee shops; “updated” is still wrong.)

Gibraltar:

Definition 1: Same as Cortado: Equal amount of milk and espresso with half and half to make it silky. (By Crow’s Coffee Kansas City)

Definition 2: A large macchiato with 2oz espresso & 2oz milk. Heated to 130F vs 140F
(By Kaldi’s Coffee Saint Louis)

Macchiato Definition: Espresso with a Dot of Milk

Learning: what gets, er got me

Caramel macchiato et al is a Caramel Late its not just a dab of milk type of macchiato. However, I suppose, its “marked with” as in Caramel drizzle marked vs in the drink, but a lot more than a “macchiato” shot marked/dab.

I know it’s espresso. The system knows its espresso. I don’t see how an expresso slipped in more than once.

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Linux: Some getting used to…

Posted on September 9, 2025 by ASD Author

One of the biggest things to get used to is trackpad scrolling. i.e. on a laptop

Pushing fingers from middle to top of the the pad takes me to the top vs pushes the page to the top. I suppose, with touch phones, we’ve gotten so conditioned to push the paper around vs use a scroll bar. This trackpad behavior is so foreign, I believe that M$ Windows has followed suit with the phone/tablet behavior.

NOTE: This is KDE Plasma 5.23 on Slackware15.0

Now that I finally changed it, I am habitually confused. Often subconsiously pulling down to go down. But “Consiously trying to go down

Slackware services & daemons: initd/rc.d vs services

Remember Slackware is traditional. it uses init.d / RD.d << {Slackware Config how-to}; Its a little extra typing, but just call the command via /etc/rc.d/rc.xyz instead of service xyz or systemctl xyz

There was a discussion of switching to runit??? “Not Yet interested”

Discussions: init/rc.cs/systemv/services daemons & controlls:

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Come on guys: small self-hosted apache/ WordPress server

Posted on September 8, 2025 by ASD Author

The issue should be common enough and at least enough demand.

Isn’t ~user or /user a decently common of a setup for a small personal website? I mean sure, if i go through a big service I can have a virtual host, but,

  • a: they have it pretty much have it setup. Thats http, wordpress, php, nameservice, etc
    (AND the scripts to manage them all)
  • b: they have the experts to walk you though everthing
  • c: they have the experts to program the servers

Me and everyone with my own site selfhosted/home-site/Tiny-Business/Hobby is small time. 10’s vs 100’s a month. 10 of US a month are the people needing help that we can’t get elsewhere. Sure, ten is small, but its also huge because there is no where else for help.

I was about to totally be insecure

Without having a published solution, let alone placing it front n center on the how-to sites for newbies, I was about to totally be insecure. I was like I could just chmod it to 775 or 664, (But that still meant changing the group of the files in my public_html folder).

I kept wondering how sites could do this and still be secure!!!

It would work/be fine with only one user, but then, I might as well just use /var/www.

The issue comes when I want to add a friend, sibling, etc. Now, they would have access to some of my things. Ok, not really, but there’s still a ton of security things file/group ownership. How to run the things in their folder also separately vs the same group or user as my web files.

Why isn’t there at least a mention of it? (The setup how-to’s & errors)

Why isn’t one of the upfront setups a setup for /user or ~user‽
I’ve looked in Apache, WordPress, php, they’re all so confusing. Why? Because no one has published a script/config file for a setup where ~user or /user’s can run scripts as themselves not the default httpd.

FInally found an obscure mention of it. Apache ownership and permissions for wordpress Badically says its insecure, don’t do it. EXCEPT, WHY WHY WHY is it allowed in virtural host setups? ok. let me try setting up <host>/WPsite/ ??? — THIS SHOULD BE AN UP FRONT ANSWER ON How to install WordPress (Via wordpress.org) & Before You Install (Via wordpress.org) the latter links to Changing File Permissions (Via wordpress.org) Unfortuatelly, it casually mentions the insecure/EOL suexec. Ok, it lists all methods:

Popular methods used by sysadmins for this setup are:

  • suPHP, runs through php-cgi, currently unmaintained since 2013.
  • mod_ruid2, apache module, currently unmaintained since 2013.
  • mpm-itk, apache module.
  • mod_fcgid, an Apache module and FastCGI server with more extensive configuration.
  • PHP-FPM, an alternative FastCGI server with shared OPCode, for use with Apache and Nginx.

Again, I’d love to use these options, but I don’t have a DNS name to cause a virtual-host to launch.

Why, it seems like common sense: small multi-user setups do exist

I’m sorry this seems like it should be a common question or set up. I want a small server but I don’t want to host my website in the main server area web server. I want it under my user IE till they user/ or just/ user/.

that way I can have couple of them set up and play around and all that sort of thing, Plus I actually log in to work on some of my sites so it’s not strictly web-based.

the issue I run into is Apache and the PHP files are being run as httpd or Apache or nobody not me as a user but me as a user owns the files

this is a small service or a testing service or whatever so I don’t have a URL for a Patcher to say hey this is a virtual host let’s run it as Xyz in this sandbox

there’s a quote common issue that is often solved by setting permissions better. That setting them correctly is 755 or 644, no it’s not the web server isn’t being run by me the user.

there’s three methods this can be done SU something and something are you ID or something the first one was more secure but depreciated because of its security there’s a second one which hasn’t been appreciated interestingly since the first was supposedly more secure then there is phpf rp

why do I need to go through all that I don’t even know where we’re at

Ways to call a web process as a different user:

  • suPHP run PHP as a user ***DO NOT USE***
    (Depreciated: was EOL by 2014, but still used in 2022. . . 2025 Very rare/only historical)
    • last version suPHP 0.7.2 released 5/20/2013; there is a 0.8.0-pre fork in 2018.
    • Slightly more secure than RUID2:
      in that is builds in some protections i.e. 777/666 protections, and
      starts as the user vs switches to the owner after starting as https’ owner 2
  • mod_ruid2
  • PHP-FPM
    • set php-fpm user and group to website’s owner (NOT SIMPLE/WORKING)
      HOW DO WE TELL apache when to call a particular pool? is “www” the key i.e. the directory parent
      • I misread, I have 2 mpm’s activated (ONLY ONE is allowed); to use PHP-FPM, use mpm_event not mpm_prefork
    • Slackware: THERE IS NO POOL/POOL.D area instead its /etc/php-fpm.d/*.conf
    • TESTING: I setup a <?php echo $username; ?> to see if its working.
      {{Set to a filename.php you know}}
      IT IS PROPERLY SAYING THE USERNAME “apache” 🙂
      Also trying print '<P>' . shell_exec( 'whoami' ) . 'is playing well </p>'; just in case
      Finally a decent test. I DO NOT need a full status of a module {I think}. I just need to see the user its running as. -For now- ; I might eventually need to know if the module is working, but I want to know that its not yet running as x user. Trying to setup the tests were their own issues with dozens of settings when I might not need them.
  • suExec – run CGI as a user (if you run PHP as CGI)
  • mpm_ITK (NOT INSTALLED!!!)

Maybe default setups aren’t using different users???

I took a look at the apache setup samples for vhosts , and none mentioned changing the user.
(Top vhosts page “Apache Virtual Host documentation” on apache.org with 10 links)
“Virtual Host examples for common setups“

Ok, it is applying by default via virtual host: https://serverfault.com/questions/1118977/configuring-php-fpm-in-apache

ER wait, it is virtual host, but using /var/ as the directory for the VH. This is hardcoding the pool within a VH call. But, its calling the pool via <IfModule mod_fcgid.c> can that be called another way? Normally IfModule’s can be. Hmmm, it seems insecure for a user to name the pool to apply to their directories. ((HENCE, you can’t “load” a module, but if the module is loaded, then… you can call it ???)

Ok, we’re not calling the mod, we’re seeing if its on. the call is for ProxyPassMatch, and no, it can not be called in htaccess

Run as file owner?

CAN’T with php-fpm. YOU MUST USE POOLS:
Apache fast-cgi and php-fpm – Run PHP File as the owner ()
Gotta run as suPHP. or mod_ruip2?

Ok I lost it (OR DID I???), I thought it was VH only, but this is chowning the /www/

Run File as owner: mpm_ITK (Not installed)

Via http://mpm-itk.sesse.net: Some things require Virtual host/ ALl the examples for running as user say in virtual host, but but but then it says this:

MaxClientsVHost can only be set inside a VirtualHost directive; all others can be set wherever you’d like in the Apache configuration, except in .htaccess.

Will AssignUserID: work?
This will cause e.g. /~sesse/foo to be run as the user “sesse” (and /~root/foo to be run as user “root”, so beware!). I guess, don’t have a public_html setup? Also, can /~sesse be sandbox’ed into /public_html. I don’t want access outside of ./public_html?

Can this be used to call a pool as well? It seems like usimg mpm_itk like this will be slow (Non-Threaded) Not that the site is busy enough to need that, but thats the whole point. Be ready to grow as we need without a total rewrite of the settings. SLOW??? but secure at least before we change the user. Each thread, or non-thread/process is isolated.
**Question, is this secure? Can anyone bodge a request /host/docs/~root/**

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule /~([a-z]+)/ – [E=ITKUID:$1]
AssignUserIDExpr %{reqenv:ITKUID}

NOTE for 2025: as presented by pontikis : How to Run Apache as different User with mpm-itk This was written in 2025, so they’re suggesting “prefork Multi-Processing Module” be used in 2025. Granted with virtual hosts.

Do I need to un-comment this? to do this? 

<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
        #LoadModule cgi_module lib64/httpd/modules/mod_cgi.so
</IfModule>

NOTE userdir within virtual host

You CAN run <userdir> from within a virtual host, but then all users are running via that pool’s user. No different than just setting the /var/http/ to some user. (Insecure) but still requires a virtual host IP/DNS

Some searches:

Why I can’t use a virtual host!

  • I don’t have a domain name (Or not one to point here)
  • I don’t have a fixed IP address (Hence not easy to point DNS here)
  • Localhost doesn’t allow me to view from a second computer on the subnet

NOTE TO SELF: Multi-Site wordpress instalation??? WIll it save disk space?

Stumbled onto this interesting kludge (Two sites for one? “Userdir with Virtual Host (Apache2)”

Maybe he’s trying to get around some virtual host call requirement?)

The poster didn’t describe well, and never up-voted an answer.
Userdir with Virtual Host (Apache2) :
Maybe he’s trying to be sneaky in finding a way to change over to virtual hosts so he can add a pool ??? HMMMMM

Is he trying to say:

  • daytime.myhost.com/~user/ >>> /home/user/public_html/
  • nighttime.myhost.com/~user/ >> home/user/public_html2/

Seems easier to say:

  • myhost.com/~user/daytime >>> /home/user/public_html/daytime
  • myhost.com/~user/nighttime >> home/user/public_html/nighttime

MORE UPDATES for wordpress to run smoothly:

  • I guess I’ll have to do some major re-editing once I get a public page. Maybe I’ll VPN with port forwarding till I can get it to do something else? (Yes, a target I suppose?)
  • In the end, instead of playing with running php as, I just:
    • chgrp -R <the wordpress directory> to the apache group,
    • then chmod -R g+w <the wordpress directory>
    • I will probably have to chown as root various files that wordpress might create as apache
      (OR DANGEROUSLY just edit as root. DAMN YOU, you’re trying to make it secure, but you won’t let me AssignUserId to the actual user id be editing as. Now, I’ll be tempted to su into root. I suppose I need to learn to SUDO – it seems to have some restrictions to protect the system. I did just go ahead and give the <user> sudo privlidges, so we’ll see what habit it use.)
  • Increase size of php uploads from 2m to 8m
  • add to the wp-config.php: define('FS_METHOD', 'direct'); /* allow wordpress to update via php */

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Defrag in 2025

Posted on September 5, 2025 by ASD Author

Yes, I still have some physical drives.

Yes, NTFS generally doesn’t need defragging, but I’m adjusting some drives – on a slow drive nonetheless, so I want to “Optimize” per Microsoft Windows 10.

I really miss seeing the blocks, or generally, the blocks and continuous areas. It’s a wee bit easier to tell “about” how much progress is needed, and gives the feeling of progress.

I’m currently looking at pass 14; each pass has shown 98% relocated. Are we getting close?

This morning, it was analyzed, saying 0% fragmented, but a manual run 3 hours later showed Needs optimization (12% Fragmented)

A slow drive: 5300 RPM 1TB. I was looking at a 3200+ ms response time. The thing was basically dead. R/W 41 kB/s : 1.4 MB/s at 3255ms & 4.4MBs : 8.5MBs @ 1056 ms

Adjusting, I haven’t used this since November, so I’m adding a Linux/Apache/Logging/backup/etc server, et al.

We’ll see how well it runs Linux. The thing worked great with the SSD. I picked up the SSD because the physical drive was super slow (5300 RPM), but when the SSD failed, I could not justify replacing it since the hinges on the HP (Hewlett-Packard) would no longer stay in place. I’ve replaced the screen’s supports 2x. Half the screws no longer have a place to screw into. It’s also got a decent Graphics Co-processor – Two actually (Intel and Radeon). They are one of the reasons I liked it, especially with the dedicated graphics memory. (I HATE SHARED MEMORY). It helped that I was able to upgrade the memory and add an M2 SSD (Not sure I’m ready for that potential failure again, but I can perhaps see myself upgrading to a faster physical Media HD.

Being a Radeon 5300 series, the GPU wasn’t super fancy, but my new laptop has twice the memory, and the processor performs twice as well. However, the memory, being shared with the graphics system, makes it super subpar. (I HATE SHARED MEMORY) Keeps causing hiccups and pauses. Plus, it’s just Intel’s built into the processor one. I sure miss the way the old system utilized both. Photo & Video editors both used them along with Steam, and ???. It was super Zippy

p.s. Windows Defragmenter, “Optimize Drives”, is now up to pass 19.

NOTE: I opted for a ThinkPad; hopefully, this is more durable than the HP one. It does have a spill-protected keyboard, but alas, do I care given the lack of a dedicated memory GPU.

QUESTION: Is there an M2 GPU that can be added to this laptop‽!!! Especially with dedicated memory!

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