Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[Robert Roaldi]

I came across this TED talk about a journalist who investigates hired killers on the dark web, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htNMTxj_qE8.

It made me wonder about a few things about AI. Is there an AI being developed that uses the content of the dark web to train itself?

Is anyone developing an AI whose purpose is to uncover fake material produced by other AIs?

Is anyone developing an AI that trolls through the block chains, the dark web, etc. to find criminal activity?

[Rob C]

I doubt it, Robert; after all, any group rich enough to employ that degree of sophistication will have reason enough to let sleeping dogs lie. It seems that only petty criminals ever face justice; the heavies are too well covered to be noticed, and even if their cover be blown, their teams of lawyers and political friends will ensure nothing comes to court any time soon.

Cynical as it may sound, that's the only conclusion that can sensibly be drawn.

Today’s local Spanish newspaper states that that central government has fined 4,305 illegal Airbnb ads just on the Balearics, 4,289 are ads without registration certificate numbers (for legal letting) and the other 16 for using fake numbers. Does anyone believe that that company really can’t, locally, check out the true situation of any of the properties it’s so willing to tout?

Overall, the government has sanctioned 65,122 illegal Airbnb ads, and the fine is over 64 million euros. This is the second largest fine imposed after that on Ryanair, which reached 108 million euros.

There’s so much tourist money squelching through that industry that such fines apparently aren‘t enough to make them play fair.

In the meantime, many young local people can no longer afford to marry and settle in their own home, lots of other folks can’t even think of renting and have to live with their parents - if lucky - but even they are being threatened by arbitrary cancelling of long-established rental contracts, where landlords are trying to force them out in favour of massively inflated tourist rentals. Tell me that where there is the will to resolve this, it can’t be done…

[Robert Roaldi]

I doubt it, Robert; after all, any group rich enough to employ that degree of sophistication will have reason enough to let sleeping dogs lie. It seems that only petty criminals ever face justice; the heavies are too well covered to be noticed, and even if their cover be blown, their teams of lawyers and political friends will ensure nothing comes to court any time soon.

Cynical as it may sound, that's the only conclusion that can sensibly be drawn.

Today’s local Spanish newspaper states that that central government has fined 4,305 illegal Airbnb ads just on the Balearics, 4,289 are ads without registration certificate numbers (for legal letting) and the other 16 for using fake numbers. Does anyone believe that that company really can’t, locally, check out the true situation of any of the properties it’s so willing to tout?

Overall, the government has sanctioned 65,122 illegal Airbnb ads, and the fine is over 64 million euros. This is the second largest fine imposed after that on Ryanair, which reached 108 million euros.

There’s so much tourist money squelching through that industry that such fines apparently aren‘t enough to make them play fair.

In the meantime, many young local people can no longer afford to marry and settle in their own home, lots of other folks can’t even think of renting and have to live with their parents - if lucky - but even they are being threatened by arbitrary cancelling of long-established rental contracts, where landlords are trying to force them out in favour of massively inflated tourist rentals. Tell me that where there is the will to resolve this, it can’t be done…

I have never used AirBNB or Uber, their reason for being bothers me. They decrease costs by eliminating regulations. That sounds good until it fails. The idea that some company can ignore local zoning rules should bother more people than it seems to. My brother had a condo in downtown Montreal where the ownership agreement forbade short-term rentals, but he regularly saw people with luggage in the elevators and there were numerous reports of random strangers using reserved parking spots in the underground parking. Not much action was taken to combat this and he suspects that some people were resorting to vandalism to discourage illegal parking. But it could be that travellers were using rental cars anyway so they didn't care much.

I saw an article the other day about a concept I had about a year ago. I cannot claim that anyone stole my idea though, I only mentioned it to a few friends. Someone has figured out how to monetize home EV chargers, an AirEV if you will. The idea is that when you're not at home or at least not charging your own car, someone car reserve time on your charger via some app of course, park in your driveway, and pay you for the electricity. Or I should say, pay the middle man, and some of that money may find its way into your pocket. I'd suggest checking that contract very carefully or you might end up in the same situation as Uber drivers, having to buy and maintain the vehicle, do all the driving work, while Uber pockets the cash.

[Rhossydd]

The idea is that when you're not at home or at least not charging your own car, someone car reserve time on your charger via some app of course, park in your driveway, and pay you for the electricity.

Nothing radical really. We've had apps for people to rent out their drive ways for others to park on here in the UK for years. It's just a small step beyond that to add in being able to charge an EV whilst parked.

Hugely useful and cost saving for me.

[Robert Roaldi]

Nothing radical really. We've had apps for people to rent out their drive ways for others to park on here in the UK for years. It's just a small step beyond that to add in being able to charge an EV whilst parked.

Hugely useful and cost saving for me.

This was the report I saw a few days ago on CBC https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/what-on-earth-ev-chargers-9.7011486

[Rob C]

Nothing radical really. We've had apps for people to rent out their drive ways for others to park on here in the UK for years. It's just a small step beyond that to add in being able to charge an EV whilst parked.

Hugely useful and cost saving for me.

I didn’t know that. By cutting away some of our front garden and building up the ground with some demolition bricks from nearby works, I was able to provide space for five cars. I never had more than two at any one time, but it was useful for those times when we had visitors.

The last thing I’d have done was allow strangers to use the spaces. Where does grubbing for money end - renting out the family itself? No thanks! ;-)

[Rhossydd]

I didn’t know that.

Well some of us live in the UK and pay attention to life here. The biggest company Just Park has been around almost 20 years.

The last thing I’d have done was allow strangers to use the spaces. Where does grubbing for money end

Selling spare parking spaces is hardly 'grubbing money', just common sense, possibly even a public service. Particularly if you have a parking space, but don't own a car.
It's not just private houses, also spare corporate places, even commercial operations use the same system to sell parking places.

You get a guaranteed place at a known, often good, price, frequently in areas where public parking is at a premium.

[Robert Roaldi]

Well some of us live in the UK and pay attention to life here. The biggest company Just Park has been around almost 20 years.Selling spare parking spaces is hardly 'grubbing money', just common sense, possibly even a public service. Particularly if you have a parking space, but don't own a car.
It's not just private houses, also spare corporate places, even commercial operations use the same system to sell parking places.

You get a guaranteed place at a known, often good, price, frequently in areas where public parking is at a premium.

Something similar must happen in the neighbourhoods near sports stadiums on game nights, at least for those stadiums that are not 20 km out of town at the intersection of two freeways.

The idea of renting out (or charging by the amp-hour) home EV stations might go part-way towards alleviating crowded access at public charging stations. Surely one of the benefits of e-drive is that you can fill up at home. The field is wide open for ideas. Neighbourhood charging stations, where the neighbourhood might be your apartment building because it won't be easy retro-fitting all those downtown high rises. No reason we can't get creative about this. No reason all the money has to go to six large conglomerates either.

[Rhossydd]

Something similar must happen in the neighbourhoods near sports stadiums on game nights,

Again, this something that's been happening for decades, but tended to be a 'do you know xx will let you park on their drive for a tenner' word of mouth, rather than the sophistication of apps allowing anyone to find them and pay directly.

The idea of renting out (or charging by the amp-hour) home EV stations might go part-way towards alleviating crowded access at public charging stations.

Queuing for charging doesn't seem to happen that much, except on motorways in exceptionally busy times like public holidays.
Individuals trying to rent out their own domestic charging points are going find calculating costs potentially tricky and slow home chargers are less attractive when fast chargers are increasingly easily available.
UK charging provision has massively increased in the last three years and continues accelerating. Along with fast charging and increased range means EV ownership is now more viable for far, far more people.

[Robert Roaldi]

Again, this something that's been happening for decades, but tended to be a 'do you know xx will let you park on their drive for a tenner' word of mouth, rather than the sophistication of apps allowing anyone to find them and pay directly.Queuing for charging doesn't seem to happen that much, except on motorways in exceptionally busy times like public holidays.
Individuals trying to rent out their own domestic charging points are going find calculating costs potentially tricky and slow home chargers are less attractive when fast chargers are increasingly easily available.
UK charging provision has massively increased in the last three years and continues accelerating. Along with fast charging and increased range means EV ownership is now more viable for far, far more people.

Renting out home chargers to strangers along the lines of AirBnB will undoubtedly require some equipment changes, and it will either make sense to do so or it won't depending on specific circumstances. Each homeowner will have to decide for themselves. I would not consider for one second renting my house out to strangers but there are people who do this all the time. There are implications regarding charging compatibility, equipment maintenance, and insurance but there seems to be insurance coverage for self-driving cars so I'm sure these issues will be sorted in time. I recently found out that there is a car rental service whereby you can rent people's privately owned cars, along the lines of AirBnB only for car rentals. I assume that insurance issues were ironed out for that. We can negotiate contracts for anything we choose to. I'm sure there will be horror stories about people who get it wrong.

I have watched/read several reports about EV range anxiety that state that it's only a concern to people who don't own EVs. Once they buy one, they adapt and the worry more or less goes away in that they find solutions that work for them. No one should be surprised by that. Requirements will be different for each buyer and so each buyer will have to decide for themselves how to proceed, if at all. Millions of people in many countries are using EVs every day so obviously they can work. There are many EVs in my neighbourhood and Ottawa is considered to be one of the world's coldest national capitals.

[Jonathan Cross]

A few years ago there were stories in the UK about renting rooms, being paid by mates/ colleagues who come in your car to work, etc. The stories revolved around whether these activities amounted to running a business and so you would become liable for business taxes and to health and safety regulations.  Renting out rooms would mean fire doors and business rates on your house. Receiving money for taking peopke to work with you would mean you were running a taxi with all sorts of implications. By extension the same could apply to renting out EV charger use.  I do not know whether anything came of these stories.

Jonathan

[Rob C]

A few years ago there were stories in the UK about renting rooms, being paid by mates/ colleagues who come in your car to work, etc. The stories revolved around whether these activities amounted to running a business and so you would become liable for business taxes and to health and safety regulations.  Renting out rooms would mean fire doors and business rates on your house. Receiving money for taking peopke to work with you would mean you were running a taxi with all sorts of implications. By extension the same could apply to renting out EV charger use.  I do not know whether anything came of these stories.

Jonathan

I ran a separate studio several miles away from home for many years, right until I realised that my work had changed, with studio stuff falling rapidly away, and location and travel work growing. I decided to stop working just to pay rent to somebody else, and so decided to work from home. Inevitably, studio work returned and I could no longer do it (at that time, there were no rental studios in Glasgow), and so we built a studio alongside the house.

In a chat with the accountant, I suggested that I might be able to claim part of the domestic running costs against the business. This naïve idea horrified him, and he warned that I should be very careful about doing anything remotely like that, as if it came time to sell, I would find myself liable to all sorts of taxes on said property. Naturally, that was the end of that idea, and when we sold in order to come to Spain, no complications arose.

[Rhossydd]

I do not know whether anything came of these stories.

Papers will start making up stories when there's no other real news.

Car sharing and having house guests that contribute to the costs is never going to be regarded as 'running a business'. Renting out a drive can be a little different if you're selling it via a commercial portal as the income might be significant and is open to anyone and there are records of monies paid.
HMRC understand that and don't chase petty amounts, it's one reason there's a tax allowance for small non PAYE incomes like this.
They appreciate that once they start regarding it as a business, that then opens up the recipient to set off expenditures against income and becomes self-defeating to increase tax income.

[digitaldog]

Great review of last night's shit show I deliberately missed:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/12/17/trump-presidential-speech-angry-rant/87818778007/

[Robert Roaldi]

I came across this story about the US Coast Guard and their ongoing mission to stop drug boats headed to the US, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coast-guard-cocaine-seizure-eastern-pacific-ocean-disabling-fire/. It seems to be standard operating procedure, their daily job. Trump never mentioned this.

[Robert Roaldi]

Papers will start making up stories when there's no other real news.

Car sharing and having house guests that contribute to the costs is never going to be regarded as 'running a business'. ...

My (limited) understanding is that in Canada this is dependent on what percentage of your income is derived from such activity. If you rent out a bedroom 4 times a year, that's one thing, but if you own 10 apartments and offer them for rent basically full-time, that's probably considered a business, or it should anyway. There are probably lots of people renting driveway parking spots and it would be a bad use of time for the tax authorities to chase those down. I have no idea how the line is drawn.

If you work from home in Canada, you can claim some portion of household expenses against employment income but I have never heard of that affecting the residential/business status of the property, at least not from the personal income tax point of view.

[Robert Roaldi]

After that mass shooting in Australia, I saw JD Vance quoted saying that if Australia allowed people to carry guns, this could have been averted, which is a howler. Another golden missed opportunity for an idiotic politician to have kept his mouth shut. Firstly, it's the height of arrogance to even venture an opinion on something that happens in another country, it's almost as if Trumpistan thinks it runs the world when they can barely run their own households. Secondly, if the idea were even remotely true, then the US should be a really safe country compared to Australia. That is laughably stupid, but it's the kind of thing that members of the Trumpistan tribe are expected to say. We'd be a lot better off if politicians in power would stop telling the world how they feel. It must be an occupational hazard to be in power though, it leads people to think that they have something useful to say. OTOH, there may not be that many people listening.

[KLaban]

...If you work from home in Canada, you can claim some portion of household expenses against employment income but I have never heard of that affecting the residential/business status of the property, at least not from the personal income tax point of view.

I did this in the UK for many years and it never affected the status of the property.

[Rob C]

I did this in the UK for many years and it never affected the status of the property.

Which flies directly into the face of my own accountant’s advice.

I know Scotland and England have different legal systems, but afaik, taxation was common. I’m not sure, all these decades later, whether the construction of the added on studio formed part of that conversation.

Also, running costs for the cars was a bit confusing: one could put a certain amount towards actual use for work, but not, I think, for the travelling from home to distant studio. That’s why accountants prosper.

Rob

[KLaban]

Which flies directly into the face of my own accountant’s advice.

I know Scotland and England have different legal systems, but afaik, taxation was common. I’m not sure, all these decades later, whether the construction of the added on studio formed part of that conversation.

Also, running costs for the cars was a bit confusing: one could put a certain amount towards actual use for work, but not, I think, for the travelling from home to distant studio. That’s why accountants prosper.

Rob

I found the best taxation advice came from our local taxation office who, when I was young and just staring out, were invariably helpful and of course knowledgeable. It could be that the addition of a purpose built studio muddied your waters.

I claimed for a certain percentage of car use, again on the advice of the tax office, but the exact figure now escapes me.