unkz's recent activity
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
unkz Link ParentLabour unions have specific legal protections. Tenant unions have no similar legislation protecting them.Labour unions have specific legal protections. Tenant unions have no similar legislation protecting them.
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
unkz Link ParentI think you’d almost have to be insane to rent out a property without setting up a corporation. The liability is incredible. I looked at the table you got that number from and it’s sort of...I think you’d almost have to be insane to rent out a property without setting up a corporation. The liability is incredible.
I looked at the table you got that number from and it’s sort of misinterpreted. The bulk of the remaining ownership of large scale housing units is also just other forms of corporate ownership — REITs, partnerships, real estate corporations (slightly different than an LLC), trustees, etc. Actual individual investor ownership is about 6%. I’m actually surprised that it is that high. I was expecting to find it to be actually zero.
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
unkz Link ParentI think it's clear from the article that tenant unions are a very new idea, so we haven't seen much of what they are going to do. See the literal title of the article: However, the article itself...If there were many examples of landlords being driven to bankruptcy and having their properties taken over by housing authorities due to bad faith tenant unions, housing authorities would run out of their limited resources pretty quickly.
I think it's clear from the article that tenant unions are a very new idea, so we haven't seen much of what they are going to do. See the literal title of the article:
Tenant Unions Are Coming. Landlords Aren't Ready.
However, the article itself is trumpeting the destroying of a landlord as a huge victory, so I think we have a sense of where it's going.
The SEIU was ecstatic about that, our tenants were ecstatic about that.
Really, I think your demands are a bit unreasonable. We're talking about a concept that has barely begun and you're requiring studies and citations?
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
unkz (edited )Link ParentThe difference is explained immediately following the quoted part. If you disagree, then please elaborate, but don’t act like they didn’t just spell out their argument. There’s a misaligned...The difference is explained immediately following the quoted part. If you disagree, then please elaborate, but don’t act like they didn’t just spell out their argument.
If tenants unionize and withhold rent, the landlord goes bankrupt but the tenants continue living there because the state is not heartless enough to evict them. This article gives an example, sort of:
We had a two and a half year campaign now where we actually organized the site, 400 units. Got the private landlord to pull out. The Housing Authority took over full ownership of the site
There’s a misaligned incentive here. Tenants are motivated to push to the point where the landlord fails, and if the landlord fails they still win.
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Comment on Luigi Mangione prosecutors have a jury problem: 'So much sympathy' in ~society
unkz Link ParentCan you imagine the logistics of the secret service if they had an elected representative whose hobby is murdering establishment elites that the court has given free reign to?Can you imagine the logistics of the secret service if they had an elected representative whose hobby is murdering establishment elites that the court has given free reign to?
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Comment on Luigi Mangione prosecutors have a jury problem: 'So much sympathy' in ~society
unkz Link ParentWhy would you say he would run as GOP? That seems like the group least likely to support killing CEOs. I'm certain in general though, that he would be treated as radioactive by every establishment...Why would you say he would run as GOP? That seems like the group least likely to support killing CEOs. I'm certain in general though, that he would be treated as radioactive by every establishment party.
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Comment on I think I have a broken AT&T route? in ~tech
unkz LinkWere you definitely able to traceroute in that direction before? Because it's pretty common for routers to just ignore traceroutes, and that might be a red herring.Were you definitely able to traceroute in that direction before? Because it's pretty common for routers to just ignore traceroutes, and that might be a red herring.
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Comment on Alzheimer's mortality lowest for taxi, ambulance drivers in ~health
unkz LinkIt’ll be interesting to see if this effect goes away now that we have GPS mapping deployed pretty much ubiquitously. The people now dying of Alzheimer’s would have experienced a very different...It’ll be interesting to see if this effect goes away now that we have GPS mapping deployed pretty much ubiquitously. The people now dying of Alzheimer’s would have experienced a very different type of navigational cognitive demands than modern drivers.
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Comment on Canada Post strike update: Postal employees back to work in ~life
unkz LinkOr is it? https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/12/17/canada-post-yvr-picket-line-richmond/Or is it?
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/12/17/canada-post-yvr-picket-line-richmond/
Despite a federal order to return to work Tuesday morning, unionized employees remained off the job at a Canada Post processing centre near Vancouver International Airport in Richmond.
A picket line temporarily blocked the entrance, however, it wasn’t the postal union who was there.
Being described as a “community” picket line, about a half dozen other unionized groups in the region were showing solidarity.
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Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life
unkz Link ParentThis isn't financial wizardry, this is managing to have a bank account. We're looking at the bottom 4.2% of the population in terms of "skill with money" if you can call being actively self...This isn't financial wizardry, this is managing to have a bank account. We're looking at the bottom 4.2% of the population in terms of "skill with money" if you can call being actively self destructive a "skill". At that end of the scale, there are what I would basically describe as comorbidities -- these people have a lot of other problems in their life.
I realize this isn't a pretty picture, but I think spending a few days down at a cheque cashing storefront actually dealing with these people would be highly educational.
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Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life
unkz Link ParentBut they're obviously not the same thing. This is a major factor in why young drivers pay higher insurance -- because insurance companies don't yet know what they're getting into with a contract...In my eyes, 1 and 3 show the same: A lack of issues that the insurance company will have to pay for. 2 shows that you incur extra expenses all the time.
But they're obviously not the same thing. This is a major factor in why young drivers pay higher insurance -- because insurance companies don't yet know what they're getting into with a contract with young drivers.
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Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life
unkz Link ParentAt least in my area, extending an offer of rent is in fact a form of credit. Once a person has a rental agreement, they are unevictable for at least 6 months and more likely a year -- there's a...At least in my area, extending an offer of rent is in fact a form of credit. Once a person has a rental agreement, they are unevictable for at least 6 months and more likely a year -- there's a lot of risk in renting to an unknown quantity.
This kind of story is not uncommon: Windsor landlord says tenants who haven't paid 16 months of rent have now paused eviction order
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Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life
unkz Link ParentIt’s almost tautological that poor people are bad with money. There’s no reason to bring claims of veiled racism into this.It’s almost tautological that poor people are bad with money. There’s no reason to bring claims of veiled racism into this.
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Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life
unkz Link ParentI think this kind of misses the mark on how credit scores intersect with creditworthiness. Creditworthiness is intrinsically bound up with financial literacy, long term planning, decision making,...I think this kind of misses the mark on how credit scores intersect with creditworthiness.
Creditworthiness is intrinsically bound up with financial literacy, long term planning, decision making, and the ability to accurately assess risk.
You and I see totally different things when we look at your ex. I think you see someone who is employed but naive who is not an immoral person and thus should be entitled to credit.
I see someone who is financially illiterate with a history of making very bad financial decisions.
If you avoid debt to begin with, you have a shitty score. Despite potentially being much better at financial planning than someone that relies on keeping a debt to "build a credit score".
There’s no “potential” about this — anyone who fails to build a credit score is by definition bad at financial planning. Building a credit score is part and parcel of financial planning, and not knowing that is financial illiteracy.
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Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life
unkz Link ParentI mean yeah. There is this tendency to romanticize poverty, but I’ve spent time in the trenches in cheque cashing and temporary labour. I was born in the poorest postal code in Canada (V6A). I’m...We're going with "dirty and loud" now for unbanked folks? I can understand "unreliable", that is more a function of their current experiences than anything.
I mean yeah. There is this tendency to romanticize poverty, but I’ve spent time in the trenches in cheque cashing and temporary labour. I was born in the poorest postal code in Canada (V6A). I’m not basing this on some abstract idea of who these people are, I am these people and we are a mess.
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Comment on She didn’t get an apartment because of an AI-generated score – and sued to help others avoid the same fate in ~life
unkz Link ParentHow many unbanked people do you deal with on a regular basis? Because clean, quiet, and reliable are not typically appropriate adjectives. I'm not sure "bias" is the right word to use here in...Somebody could be the cleanest, quietest, most reliable renter on the planet, but if they have no bank account
How many unbanked people do you deal with on a regular basis? Because clean, quiet, and reliable are not typically appropriate adjectives. I'm not sure "bias" is the right word to use here in terms of credit risk. It's more like, a highly predictive variable.
Something people do not in general understand about the credit industry is that lenders really do not want to introduce bias into our models. If there is something in our model that is preventing us from offering credit to someone who is going to pay us back, that's a really big problem. We spend a very large amount of time and money trying to find ways to justify giving out more money to people. I've worked with some of the major bureaus to develop alternative credit models specifically to find ways to eliminate bias from models to more effectively lend to the unbanked, unemployed, retired, and disabled borrowing sectors. Anything we can find to help separate a signal into its components so we can identify how much of it is just telling us a non-risk factor like gender or race and how much is actual credit-worthiness is like striking gold.
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Comment on Why Ren'Py? in ~games
unkz Link Parenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%27Py So, ren, like ren and stimpy, and py like “pie”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%27Py
Ren'Py is a portmanteau of ren'ai (恋愛), the Japanese word for 'romantic love', a common element of games made using Ren'Py; and Python, the programming language that Ren'Py runs on.
So, ren, like ren and stimpy, and py like “pie”
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Comment on Why Ren'Py? in ~games
unkz LinkThis is a super fun environment. I worked with my daughter to make a few interactive stories and it was pretty accessible, even to a 12 year old with minimal coding experience.This is a super fun environment. I worked with my daughter to make a few interactive stories and it was pretty accessible, even to a 12 year old with minimal coding experience.
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Comment on Finland will review whether to reintroduce antipersonnel land mines for improved defenses against Russia on the NATO defense bloc's longest land border with its main adversary in ~society
unkz Link ParentAlthough they won’t invade Finland because they are part of NATO.Although they won’t invade Finland because they are part of NATO.
I feel like there is a fairly large contingent on tildes that is so frustrated by the status quo that they will easily accept any action that might change the status quo. Arguments along the lines of "anything is better than what we have now". That's the sense that I'm getting from this thread, but I don't think I necessarily agree. It seems to me that unions have a number of problems, and that more appropriate and better understood interventions in the form of market forces would be better applied here, with less chance of unintended consequences.