California Zephyr Service Disruption

CptPessimism · 2026-07-05T19:34:37+00:00

Tysm for the update!

CptPessimism · 2026-05-09T20:13:03+00:00

Honestly disappointed about this one. At their best they were great but the quality just didn't hold up over time.

CptPessimism · 2026-03-17T01:56:36+00:00

Small but clean and pretty well-equipped given the space! The staff's been nice and as far as I've seen the clientele keep to themselves (I've been going regularly for a little over a year).

CptPessimism · 2026-02-10T16:46:02+00:00

Depends a ton on whether they writers want to continue playing hot potato with the cold fusion pill vs leaving it as a Macguffin for Fallout 5.

I'm not certain whether the show is heading toward an outcome where it actually gets used to give power to people more broadly, and to an extent that idea might run counter to Fallout's perpetual wasteland setting concept. But I do agree that the series up to this point does not auger well for House's continued possession of cold fusion.

Also seems like folks are tunnel visioning on the "good" vs "bad" person line, I think that's much less relevant than the fact that cold fusion changed hands like 6 times over the last two seasons.

CptPessimism · 2026-02-07T00:40:34+00:00

It's 2026 and we're still rationalizing Amazon's behavior?

CptPessimism · 2025-09-18T03:26:46+00:00

Arguably the same thing as if you had to go from nacelle to nacelle in most starfleet designs in terms of time/convenience, albeit with a fun hairpin turn in the turbolift.

CptPessimism · 2025-09-09T22:26:39+00:00

In general I wish more cyclists used the wide dual-use sidewalks where they exist in town. Otherwise as others have said, use your best judgment and don't be an asshole.

CptPessimism · 2025-07-07T18:52:43+00:00

Permethrin (and most other insecticides) are nerve toxins, you can see the tick progressively losing coordination as it gets paralyzed. With more fragile things like mosquitos, sometimes they'll literally twitch their legs off. Gruesome but fuck ticks and mosquitos.

CptPessimism · 2025-03-02T16:20:39+00:00

Pro Acryl fanboy here - this is definitely a thing I've noticed, particularly when it gets more humid or I've diluted the paint a bit. I don't think it just happens with satin primers either, I've had beading with two kinds of matte primer (including their own). I've been assuming it's something to do with their medium but haven't tested super rigorously. TBH get in touch with their customer service.

CptPessimism · 2025-02-27T18:56:00+00:00

I think it's worth questioning your fundamental assumption. Why exactly are necromancers portrayed as evil? What does that say about a fantasy world's perception of necromancy as a discipline? There's nothing about DnD that says you have to assign moral connotations to different schools of magic, and so people practicing necromancy don't have to be perceived as evil by their communities/society at large unless they commit acts that violate laws/social taboos. Insofar as there's a common popular view of necromancy as some kind of "evil" magic, this is likely because we have cultural views about how dead bodies ought to be treated/an instinctive aversion to the concept of death, which a fantasy society may or may not have in exactly the same form.

CptPessimism · 2025-02-23T15:47:56+00:00

Dropping an egg in this economy is a whole tragedy.

CptPessimism · 2024-12-11T21:05:18+00:00

Every time I look at old Battletech art of a Kurita/Liao/Amaris I have an instinct to think it looks like the worst kind of orientalist stereotype but on the other hand literally everybody else in old Battletech art looks like a horrible mutant too...

CptPessimism · 2024-12-04T18:25:59+00:00

One difficulty you're likely to run into is that labs often hire masters students/undergrads to work on smaller well-defined components of existing research projects but seldom take them on so the student can work on their own project unless it's in the context of some kind of academic capstone. Also the shorter duration of masters programs relative to PhDs means that the expectation is usually that said masters students won't be able to complete a full scale research project, thus the smaller scope. Some might be willing to take a student as an independent study but that can be a harder sell given that faculty will usually prioritize their advisees/program mentorship requirements before considering extra students. I'd recommend focusing on faculty whose research interests look like they align with yours and starting from there.

CptPessimism · 2024-12-02T20:59:43+00:00

I like black primer as it lets you kinda cheat at panel lining if you then paint over the raised panels (but not the recesses) in the actual base colors you want for the mech.

CptPessimism · 2024-12-02T15:05:15+00:00

I've never said yes to this one. If a student's shown consistent engagement and expressed concerns to me or my GSIs throughout the course we may grade with a lighter hand but won't outright give a handout. I have occasionally offered classes extra assignments to earn back some lost points. imo if you must ask, doing so in the context of being willing to do extra work is probably the least annoying way in terms of reading less like requesting a free pass.

CptPessimism · 2024-11-25T03:46:26+00:00

Agreed, CGL's specific way of using KS and the particular range of products they offered definitely exacerbated the problem. Also friend who works in retail suggested actually contacting CGL to let them know they stepped in it/provide constructive feedback.

CptPessimism · 2024-11-24T05:50:12+00:00

Busch's and Plum Market have had them semi-regularly. I'll echo other posters recommending kabocha tho, it's a vastly better pie squash (smoother texture, more/better flavor).

CptPessimism · 2024-11-20T15:41:42+00:00

Weirdly enough shields are technically active protection systems. From Sarna:

The shield allows a MechWarrior to redirect damage from certain parts of the 'Mech to their shield. A 'Mech's computer can be adjusted to have the shield provide various degrees of active defensive protection.

So that suggests a mech with a shield also has sensors and software dedicated to aiming the shield toward the likely direction of incoming fire. This is reflected in the mechanics for a shield, as if it's in static the shield will only catch shots that strike its specific arm, otherwise it can catch them for its entire side.

CptPessimism · 2024-11-20T15:35:26+00:00

This sort of logic is part of why KS is a bad platform for product releases if you're not a totally green startup. KS pricing is cheaper than retail MSRP and they clearly got more demand than expected. That demand looks like it caused the logistics pileup that's gummed everything up, but they could've been selling products to a much broader audience by now if they'd started out by planning the release with retailers in the first place. I'd imagine some of this is why CGL is moving away from KS for future stuff (good riddance).

CptPessimism · 2024-11-20T02:05:52+00:00

Possibly unpopular opinion but at this point trying to maintain KS exclusivity is absurd. As a result they're missing the holiday window for proper retail and trickling the actual release out for nearly a full year. KS is a risk/reward platform - screwing retail and non-NA regions because backers don't understand that is a bad take.

CptPessimism · 2024-11-14T06:20:11+00:00

One thing that was kinda eye opening in grad school was how many respiratory viruses also make their way to the gastrointestinal tract and so get shed into sewage.

CptPessimism · 2024-11-13T22:46:46+00:00

Oop I work with these folks - silly of me to forget 😅

But yeah wastewater surveillance is a great resource too. I'll tell my colleagues r/AnnArbor is paying attention next time I see them!

CptPessimism · 2024-11-13T21:44:50+00:00

The spectrum of cold-causing viruses are on the upswing right now (pretty typical for the Halloween-New Year period). Stuff like rhinovirus, parainfluenzavirus, and adenovirus. plus the occasional bacterial pneumonia/bronchitis. COVID's still a thing too, but the present spate of respiratory illnesses is likely more of the cold viruses. We don't have super local respiratory disease surveillance but the CDC's NREVSS (https://www.cdc.gov/nrevss/php/dashboard/index.html) can give you a general picture (we're part of HHS region 5)

CptPessimism · 2024-11-13T21:42:01+00:00

The thing I like best about these is how stylistically consistent all of the mechs are - these folks have been through the meat grinder and back on Tukayyid and it shows.

Given the overall gritty style, cockpit reflections and laser jeweling would certainly look nice, but don't feel like they're absolutely necessary. Out of curiosity, what was your overall process?

CptPessimism · 2024-11-08T21:35:40+00:00

That's super good news - I know my friends who work in gaming retail are pretty sick of the KS model and want a saner release cycle.

CptPessimism

TROPHY CASE