Know the difference between civil and criminal offenses. 😎

I'm not a fan of face portraits because they never look right. However, Chad does some truly impressive work and makes them actually look good.

Hyper-realistic!

I love Cindi's work, but she canceled on me at the last minute twice.

You might want to check out https://venomink.com. I haven't used him, but he has realistic black and gray work.

AKs 😆

Sure - but the point of putting them in the middle of the road and saying that's how Maine should do it doesn't seem to be applicable to me.

Putting power related infrastructure in the middle of a rural road seems like a poor location.

I'm all for solar power, in general, but putting a bunch of panels where cars can hit them seems dumb.

China is one of the worst polluters in the world:

https://ge.usembassy.gov/chinas-air-pollution-harms-its-citizens-and-the-world/

https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/chinas-energy-crisis-sees-worlds-top-emitter-investing-more-coal#:~:text=China%20is%20in%20the%20midst,coal%20investments%20to%20meet%20demand.&text=Two%20months%20of%20scorching%20heatwaves,into%20an%20energy%20security%20crisis.

https://chinadialogue.net/en/energy/chinas-power-system-needs-to-modernise/#:~:text=Experts%20say%20the%20crisis%20highlights,can%20quickly%20cause%20electricity%20shortages.

China's power grid is an absolute mess. Also, China is one of the worst worst polluters. This isn't a feeling issue - it's a reality issue.

​

This isn't about solar power - I'm all for solar power. However, holding the Chinese power grid up as what we should be aiming for is... laughable.

I don't think holding up China as an example of how the US should further develop our power grid is very smart or even applicable.

Agreed. But taking a single picture of some solar panels stuck on the middle of a random road with no context doesn’t really prove anything.

China’s power grid is a mess, and still relies a lot of coal. Yeah, they are doing solar, but let’s not hold them up as some kind of leader in it. Their rural infrastructure is incredibly archaic.

https://chinadialogue.net/en/energy/chinas-power-system-needs-to-modernise/

Yeah. Let’s talk about how great the Chinese power grid is in their rural areas. 😂

LOL

Varney Labs in Turner. I’ve had two dogs from them, and they are great family dogs.

Same. Taught my kids at Mt. Abram. They offer reasonably priced lessons.

Yeah, you got me. The Maine State government is awesomely run.

The only experience I would classify as painless is anytime I’ve had to go in on a snow day and it was empty. I’ve had to argue with some employee at MV that yes, I really needed a REAL ID compliant license. She kept telling me they aren’t required and while I assured her that’s true, as a frequent flying it’s less hassle to have one. That was a 5 minute conversation after an hour long wait.

I won’t even get into my IRS story. Government agencies have zero interest in providing any real customer service.

I have spoke to CMP a few times and while it’s never a pleasant experience, they aren’t any better or worse than our government.

Nope. But I can cancel my cable and my HR team can put pressure on my insurance company. Even with CMP, the PUC has oversight.

We have zero recourse with the government.

Serious question - have you ever tried to get them to do something they didn’t want to do? They basically tell you to go screw and you have zero recourse.

Granted, CMP isn’t great, but I have no idea why people love government agencies so much.

CMP isn’t great, but wait until CMP turns into the DMV. That’s not an upgrade.

This still makes me angry. And then it comes out that the people running the Turnpike were skimming off the top.

Why are we not using existing programs and processes? This option will directly drive inflation up, drive oil prices higher, and does nothing to solve the long term problem, while actually making it worse.

It’s half a billion dollars. This should shouldn’t be some slapstick plan.

There’s no reason to pass this on an emergency basis. It’s too big. Take a week or two and get it right.

No. I’m saying that interacting with the word builds your immune system better than isolation. I think that isolation and being fearful leads to unhealthy mental state.