u/DamnDams

All other factors being equal, I'm curious what number you all set as the target threshold for global stability of a retaining wall when using SLIDE or GeoStudio or whatever. I have a number but I don't want to bias the conversation. I know about FERC values for embankment dams which I consider to be gospel for those purposes, but when it comes to the 15ft tall MSE wall at your local multi-family housing project, what number are you designing for, or hoping to see when evaluating the proposed conditions? Thanks. Again this is static analysis for typical conditions, short-term and long-term analysis as appropriate.

Maybe recent energy bills have caught your attention and you’re wondering what (if anything) you can do beyond making your home more energy efficient. One of the biggest frustrations with utilities is the lack of competition. The North Carolina Utilities Commission regulates the return on equity (ROE) that companies like Duke Energy are allowed to earn.

ROE is the profit rate Duke is permitted to earn on the money it has invested in power plants, the grid, and other infrastructure. Higher ROE generally means higher rates for customers. Duke Energy originally requested 10.95% (ridiculous), with the previous rates being 10.1% for Carolinas and 9.8% for Progress. There is currently a settlement in the Carolinas case that would set it at 9.8%, but still needs full Commission approval. The Progress case hearing starts August 11th.

You can still submit a public comment. Final orders are expected around mid-November, with any new rates taking effect in early 2027.

How to comment:
Use this form: https://www.ncuc.gov/contactus.html
or the NCUC e-file system for longer comments.

These are the relevant dockets to reference:
Duke Energy Carolinas: E-7 Sub 1329
Duke Energy Progress: E-2 Sub 1380

Attorney General Jeff Jackson recommended something closer to 7.4% and has been pushing back. Even short comments about affordability are useful — the Commission reviews them as part of the record.

In case you missed it, Raleigh water is going to start charging a 3% “convenience fee” starting September 1st for credit card transactions. So if you have a credit card set up for auto-billing like me, please take notice. No more back door 2% discount I was getting in credit card rewards, I suppose I have to switch over to bank draft. They were one of the only utilities not charging a CC fee but it was nice while it lasted.

Arrest warrants say two people bought about $12,000 in Pokémon cards from Triangle Area Trading Cards with a stolen credit card, then walked back in and tried to sell the cards to the shop they just took them from. Get paid twice, apparently lol.

What is up with this hobby? Every week there's a video of somebody clearing an entire shelf to flip to kids at 3x, or grown adults throwing hands in a Target aisle over a restock. Now organized card theft in Cary, with would have been an ingenious double dip if they had not gone back to the same store they purchased it from.

I assume this is why everything's behind glass now. Can't we just let the kids and collectors and adult enthusiasts enjoy the hobby in a healthy way? Gotta catch em aaaalllll!!!

I see this advice in game a lot: "target anyone but the tank"

While based in some truth, this directive oversimplifies the situation. The best play at any given moment is situational to the gameboard. If a tank overextends and does not have damage or healing support it is absolutely correct to punish them. If a tank is diving your own healer or dps, it may be correct to try and bully them away. Yes of course diving the enemy back line and killing their healing and dps is a great tactic and often could be the correct play. But people getting triggered every time someone attacks a tank isn't it - the best play at any given moment depends on a wide variety of factors. Thank you for attending my Ted talk.

Bounce back is in a pretty good spot with the release of Boomerang. Beast, Falcon, Torres and many of the 1 cost tech cards has good synergy. Just wish I had Toxic, keeping an eye out for it in shop somewhere. Any other recommendations for this type of deck?

I’m not running Caiera but obviously opens it up to some counters, including one who’s name shall not be spoken :p

Hi everyone, I recently titrated myself down from upwards of 1g of 7OH daily at peak use to 500mg and now around 300-400mg daily. I started in October of 2025 so I have not been using it for years but quite a while.

I took a trip out of state in January of this year and didn’t have access and I had a pretty bad couple days. In particular, if I tried to lay down to sleep, my body would be extremely uncomfortable i.e. restless leg/body syndrome. I would get up and pace around, take warm bath, but nothing helped and I couldn’t sleep. So the next day I’m not only withdrawing but exhausted which makes it that much worse. I wish I had not begun again after this experience but alas I guess I was not ready yet.

I know that enduring some discomfort is going to be necessary to end my use completely, but I’m obviously looking to mitigate that as much as possible. I think taking it in the evening to get some sleep but stopping during the day is probably the best course of action, any thoughts on that? I have Magnesium Glycinate to try and help with RLS, anything else to add to the OTC regime? I’ve found exercise can help some, don’t tend to think about it when I’m doing cardio. Appreciate any support you can provide.

I just found out about this at the smoke shop, this is going to cause an enormous amount of suffering and withdrawal across the country with it happening so abruptly and supply shortages already hitting shelves but it is what it is. Thankfully I recently reduced the amount I use but I’m still consuming approximately 300mg daily. I just picked up 4 grams and I’m going to start titrating downwards as aggressively as I can. Any insight things I can do to help? I can get more to stockpile, for someone with my daily usage what would a reasonable amount be? Having it all on hand will just increase the self-control required to titrate but hopefully the fear of losing access will motivate me. How should I use leaf to help? Start alternating leaf between 7oh doses or try to just make the total switch to leaf at some point? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: to clarify I want to stop completely, I just see the transition to leaf a step down from extract on my way to total abstinence

Thankfully I recently reduced the amount I use but I’m still consuming approximately 300mg daily. I just picked up 4 grams and I’m going to start titrating downwards as aggressively as I can. Any insight things I can do to help? I can get more to stockpile, for someone with my daily usage what would a reasonable amount be? Having it all on hand will just increase the self-control required to titrate but hopefully the fear of losing access will motivate me. How should I use leaf to help? Start alternating leaf between 7oh doses or try to just make the total switch to leaf at some point? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I filled out the form here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ expressing how unhappy I was with the entire situation and that I felt that the DOJ needed to get involved with investigating BAM as well as the various corrupt police entities associated with the case and I got this answer today. I tried to frame their potential intervention as something positive they could to to generate public support. Probably just an intern hitting auto-reply on my email, but maybe it at least got logged somewhere.

https://preview.redd.it/dhzlxeixdmdh1.png?width=621&format=png&auto=webp&s=0d5d072b7046edc9dcf1c98c4a64cd3f8b8ec93c