Four loko was def pre-dated by sparks. We used to buy them underage and mostly get what I think was the purple color one? Idk but Brownbagging those in rittenhouse was basically my high school experience lol.

This is kind of the sad truth. I remember getting issued my asbestos gloves in the army for changing machine gun barrels. Sometimes you have to pick the lesser of two evils and sometimes you just don’t have a choice.

Fair enough-- not a firefighter myself but other than a very occasional lip, I don't see/hear of much use here.

Tobacco products are not permitted but are pretty commonly used, at least in my part of the commonwealth. The culture is shifting for sure, hopefully that momentum continues.

Tobacco products are not permitted in many departments; you commit to that when you're hired. Anecdotally, I'd say there's one guy on the shift/in one station who occasionally dabbles (out of the group of 8ish who staff that station/shift for my firefighter, and the guy is an old timer). The cancer risk comes from constantly working around burning building materials/the culture around cleaning gear, which is shifting.

She really is a horrible cunt.

Also, our legislature is terrified of bringing up bills that won’t pass.

But, like they said, if you go over 8 total rooms you divide by 2 and round down to the lower whole number to get the bedroom count for Title 5 purposes, or you put a 4 bedroom deed restriction on the property. Now, if the town catches the room count is another story, some would and others wouldn't. I'd guess that your system is sized for 4 bedrooms, my experience with new construction is 4 is pretty standard, you only see 5 or more if you are in a wealthy area where the extra bedroom has a bigger return.

I don't think people understand how widely used PFASs are. They're almost in every waterproof jacket you can buy. Even ones that say "no PTFE" they just use a technically different but very similar chemical which is likely just as bad.

It's also in a lot of dental floss, skincare products, take out food packaging, non-stick pans, etc. it’s impossible to avoid completely.

Yes, it sure does.

One of our state legislators has introduced a bill to allow it.

And Healey’s opposition to that has completely removed any support I had for her.

Thanks. This would only really matter for resale whether our septic covers 4 or 5 bedrooms or not. We would only ever try to call the room in the basement a bedroom we were selling, but obviously if our septic only covers 4 bedrooms, it would just be a "bonus room."

Thanks. This is helpful. Excluding bathrooms, we have 8 rooms, 4 of which are bedrooms. Our septic definitely covers 4 bedrooms, but may possibly be big enough for 5. I need to call our septic company and find out. In the end, it doesn't really matter because this extra room we're putting in in the basement doesn't necessarily have to be a bedroom, but for resale, if our septic covers 5 bedrooms, and bedrooms don't necessarily have to have a closet, we'll probably call it a bedroom.

The 4th bedroom we do "officially" have is small as hell. It meets all the requirements to be considered a bedroom, but unless you're only putting a twin bed in there and a super small dresser, it doesn't really work.

From a researchers perspective, we desperately need more research dollars into nontoxic options for PPE. Similar to PFAS alternatives, the need has always been there to develop these materials but federal dollars have not been.

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Yes you are right. Although it is interesting that despite the cancer presumption law in Massachusetts, many firefighters still choose to consume tobacco products. I feel like the culture still has a long way to go and there’s so many things that can be done to limit exposure but are still ignored.

I'd assume smoke inhalation had something to do with this, but I'm always in support of firefighters.

Just want to note that a closet isn't necessary for a room to be considered a bedroom in Mass (although they may be required by specific municipal codes).

House could have 20 baths and as long as the bedroom count matches the Septic design, that’s what will be the primary concern.

The information about how toxic the PPE is really became well known in the occupation within the last decade, within it becoming more of a polarizing point just in the past few years. This is kind of a recent issue, it's no surprise there are people who want to see changes made while still maintaining safety. Maybe it means more oversight to ensure that the chemicals are less able to be leached into skin, or less likely to off gas, or maybe it means better researching the minimum amount of chemical required, whatever.. but just because it's a necessary evil that must be used that doesn't mean there can't be better ways to oversee it's use.

> In Massachusetts for example, public sector workers are legally forbidden from striking, and any public sector union that is found to be organizing or encouraging this is heavily fined

This really needs to be changed.

You seem like you really think things through before posting stuff.

🤘🏻

Yep.

It’s been good seeing what Michigan’s legislature has spent their time doing in their latest session - the repeal of the aggressively dishonestly named “right to work” legislation had me cheering

No, they are not required. It's one thing when insurers make claims like this (and that's bad enough) but when I hear about salespeople going this route, I lose patience quickly. I wonder if this isn't laziness on the part of the realtor: they're going to take 6% of any transaction, regardless of how it's listed - so why complicate the ad copy and conversations with prospective buyers?

If I'm you, I insist on listing it as a 3BR - and know not only that there are there plenty of buyers who will not look at any listings for 2BRs, but also that there are plenty of housing market parasites eager realtors willing to help with your listing.

This is a frivolous lawsuit . What are you gonna fight fire with? Your cotton coat ?????!!!

Good luck. If you need anything else, im here