Taking a different approach of starting simple and working up,

100.0 works

{{100.0}} does not work

“{{100.0}}” also does not work

Combining this with similar comments, plus adding in the math to convert to a percent, I tried this:

brightness_pct: "{{state_attr('light.kitchen_sink_ceiling', 'brightness') | float(0) /255*100}}"

Still getting the same message

Message malformed: expected float for dictionary value @ data['brightness_pct']

For what it’s worth, if I try to set brightness instead of brightness_pct, I get a different message

Message malformed: extra keys not allowed @ data['brightness']

(I’m assuming that device just doesn’t accept a brightness attribute - not a big deal to math it out though)

At will*

Right to work is about not having to join a union. At will employment means you can quit/get fired for any reason* or no reason at all

* there are a few exceptions to this, like you can’t be fired over membership of a protected class (being a certain race, sex, etc) and there are limited whistleblower protections in certain areas. Not sure if not showing up to work applies when there’s an evacuation order, especially considering one may live inside an evacuation area and work outside (or vice versa)

I’ll be honest, I’m from Minnesota but haven’t seen TMD. But I love when shows emphasize and feature its location. Even if it wasn’t filmed there, The Mary Tyler Moore Show kept things reasonably Minneapolis-centric. Cheers/Frasier in Boston/Seattle, The Drew Carey Show is proudly in Ohio, Seinfeld in New York, Full House in San Francisco, more recently Breaking Bad in New Mexico… We’ve got a huge country, let’s use its different settings!

Unfortunately so many places are lucky to offhandedly mention where it all takes place, trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator IMO.

I live near Aurora. One of those city councilperson’s background is in owning a restaurant of all things. Totes an expert in international gang activity.

I love how new Teams doesn’t even have a contacts list for chat anymore, it’s just your most recent chats. And if you search for someone, any recent group chats with that person show up first so you may still have to scroll to find that person’s chat. Oh, and we store documents on Teams so if I want to switch between looking through the document repository and chat I still have to do a whole bunch of clicks between the two.

I don’t fault them for when my project manager tags @everyone on the group chat with an important message saying “good morning and happy Monday” though. I wish I were kidding.

If I make a low-ball offer on a product, and the seller just wants it gone so he accepts, is that theft?

I was pleasantly surprised at the quote I got to have my basement drywall finished and gladly hired the guy and paid him. Was that theft?

Theft has a certain meaning to it. Don’t make the English language more stupid than it already is.

Marx criticized capitalism, but the capitalist theory is generally attributed to Adam Smith from his works about 45 years prior to Marx’s birth.

You and your employer agreed on what that value of your work is prior to you completing it. So long as they do their part, it’s not wage theft any more than making a low-ball offer on something you see on Craigslist is theft of product. In either case, one party is free to refuse. Both can renegotiate from there, or either one can walk away from it all.

It’s not a basis of capitalism by definition, but it sure seems inevitable with the equally-inevitable greedy mindset that seems to go along with it. How’s that?

I usually consider myself frugal, but try to get decent quality (a major part of the difference between frugal and cheap) and occasionally I splurge. Yesterday I bought 4 shirts. They came from a medium-high end store (Dillard’s, for those who have one nearby and know what I’m talking about). This is the time of year when lighter summer shirts are getting marked down. I’ve needed some more of them for a bit but waited for this moment.

Also, I’m a sucker for fancy cheeses and desserts from our Kroger variant. But it’s rare that I buy something that isn’t on manager’s special.

I browse Facebook Marketplace all the time for stuff.

Sometimes I want something and dream about it, and it takes an excellent sale to get me to actually buy it. Like the shades I got for my house last year (50% off at Home Depot)

I also brought a brand new car in 2022 when the market was bonkers. Not the fanciest car in the world (Chevy Bolt EUV) but it was a hell of a value, gas prices were going nuts with Russia having invaded Ukraine, and my 2005 Ford Focus wasn’t going to last forever (still serving my wife’s cousin’s stepdaughter well though)

I’ve also gotten furniture and stuff over the years. Maybe I’ll smile at the idea of a sale, but realistically so many things are “on sale” more often than not (even if that sale rotates between 25% off and BOGO half off)

I once saw a meme saying that being a Midwesterner means that if someone compliments something you bought, you need to explain that it was a good deal. That resonates with me.

Anyway, I’m procrastinating my nightly chores before bed. Thanks, but I need to work on that 🙂

The average person has approximately one boob and one testicle

Tobias, you blowhard!

Ahhh ok. I speak American. Good reason to find another country I guess.

This is a rule about English I absolutely despise and generally refuse to follow (makes me twitch as a programmer), but shouldn’t the punctuation (the comma you added) go inside the quotes?

I believe you typically get the money withheld, and if when you file are determined not to have any tax liability, you get a refund between what you paid and what you owe. That’s just like anyone else, but that second number happens to be zero. I swear there’s an option in a W4 that you had/expect to have your tax liability be zero as well, but of course if you turn out to be wrong you’re in for a world of hurt

RGB

Ruth Gader Binsburg I assume?

I also got Z-wave shades from Bali when Home Depot had a 50% off custom window treatments sale. They’ve been wonderful, and integrate with Home Assistant very nicely overall. Battery lasts a long time (about 6 months of use, with a daily “round trip” and they’re still at about 60%) and status gets reported back. One piece on one shade got machined weirdly so I couldn’t use the Z-wave, and they were happy to send a replacement.

Bali is manufactured by a company called Springs Window Fashions. Might be worth looking into them and their other brands too!

Oh, and Home Depot has sample material books you can take home for a night to see what would work best for you.

I have a ton of east-facing windows on the back of my house. It’s a blessing or a curse depending on weather and time of day. I always dreamed about them running automatically, and eventually ordered a bunch of Z-wave controlled motorized shades. Then a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant to control it all.

While I was waiting for those shades to arrive, I got a bunch of Kasa light switches so I didn’t have to sweep across the entire house to turn off all the lights every night. Turning the hallway light off after 9:45PM triggers the automation.

The rabbit hole only got bigger from there.

Fl. Oz are actually nothing to do with weight. They are volume.

Well yes, but also no. It is a unit of volume, but it comes from the volume that an ounce of fluid (specifically water) uses. Not at all unlike a gram being based on a cubic centimeter of water, which we also call a milliliter. Imperial just makes that a little more transparent, which also makes things a little more confusing.