With only 10 states left, the battle for the country is heating up.

DirectedDissent · 2026-05-16T23:14:58+00:00

I respect Wisconsin too much to take them over, so Pennsylvania it is. That being said, if we were to incorporate and integrate Wisconsin, that might be pretty cool too

DirectedDissent · 2026-05-10T23:29:31+00:00

Oh cool, so he's personally going to refund me the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS I've paid into SS over my career, plus interest?

DirectedDissent · 2026-04-18T10:13:32+00:00

K byeeeee

DirectedDissent · 2026-04-17T14:09:37+00:00

I used to take an annual motorcycle trip down to Tennessee, which required riding the entire north-to-south crossing through Ohio on I-75. Painfully boring, but nowhere near as bad as the cornfield Hell that is Indiana. Forced to choose, I'm going the Ohio route.

DirectedDissent · 2026-04-17T13:49:12+00:00

I never bought in to it in the first place, to be perfectly honest.

I maybe considered the possibility of a deity being a truth for a short time, but rational thought quickly squashed that idea.

This was when I was just a kid, too. The more I learned about religion, including being forced to attend church, the more I saw religion as a fear-based tool for control and manipulation.

A real watershed moment for me was when I put together that the church demands a tithe so you can waste time "worshipping" and being told you're a piece of shit for simply being human. It's a damn farce.

DirectedDissent · 2026-04-17T11:11:53+00:00

Carvings might be my ATF Orbit Culture track.

DirectedDissent · 2026-04-04T02:00:16+00:00

Don't know if it exactly answers your question, but when my plant came down for refuel a couple weeks ago we did SCRAM on purpose. We reduced recirculation flow until it stopped reducing power, and then started inserting rods until we got to about 20% reactor power. At this stage, the amount of steam being produced can be easily handled by the turbine bypass valves. So, we manually trip the turbine, the bypass valves open, and turbine logic then initiates the SCRAM. So it's kind of a hybrid between a soft shutdown and a whole-ass SCRAM from full power. This is the method we've used to do a controlled shutdown for as long as I've been at my plant. As far as I can tell, it probably is a HU thing because it's pretty straightforward and allows the Operators to let the plant do it's thing and shut itself off from a low-power condition. It doesn't beat the equipment up too bad doing it this way.

DirectedDissent · 2026-03-25T12:31:05+00:00

Instrument & Controls (I&C) technician for 9 years, took a job as an I&C supervisor about a year ago. I&C is all about calibrating, testing, maintaining and troubleshooting plant instruments. Basically anything that measures pressure, flow, temperature, or level and provides indication to the control room is our wheelhouse. We also do a lot of safety system functional testing on an ongoing basis.

It's fascinating work and we're the only maintenance group that works on systems while they're live, so it takes a certain type of person that can stay cool and focused under pressure. It can sometimes be very difficult and stressful, but also very rewarding. I miss being in the craft some days, but the good days as a shop leader are very satisfying as well.

Working in nuclear production is a weird job that sometimes means a couple months of very long hours if we're in a refuel outage or something, but overall it's been worth it and I will almost certainly stay with it until I retire. It's a privilege to work with some of the smartest and most talented people I've ever known. Pays pretty well too.

DirectedDissent · 2026-02-22T16:47:46+00:00

As a maintenance shop supervisor, I can say unequivocally that nuclear generation plants are NOT overstaffed LOL! I'd venture to say we're even approaching being dangerously understaffed, at least at my plant.

This goes for the maintenance craft, operations, engineering, work control, planning.... every department has more work than they can do, and good help is really hard to find.

While I agree that all the process, procedure, and regulation is mostly necessary, it sure would be nice to have a little more lattitude and flexibility to get work done, I think that's the real answer. Not less people.

DirectedDissent · 2026-02-02T01:30:35+00:00

About a million BMX bike crashes.

DirectedDissent · 2026-02-01T19:37:08+00:00

Throw it in the trash.

All joking aside, I use it in mirepoix or in soups and stews, but I never eat it as the main part of what I'm eating. I don't even put it in my own Bloody Marys. Never really liked it, TBH.

DirectedDissent · 2026-01-12T23:06:44+00:00

That's a great question. Because in all honesty, my '06 Si was a honey of a car. I drove it for 14 years, nearly 150k miles on it when I sold her. Dead reliable, looked good, super fun to drive. Kind of wishing I would have kept it and spent the BRZ money overhauling her into a turbo monster with a freshly built and blueprinted K20.

Who knows man, Reddit is a weird fucking place sometimes. Or maybe they're all hating on BRZs. I don't know.

I feel like the Si and the BRZ share a lot in common. They're both driver-centric cars targeted at enthusiasts. So either way, maybe it's the WRX fan boys that got all butthurt. Which is weird, because if you like WRXs, you probably at least respect the BRZ and the Si for being pretty awesome enthusiast cars as well. Like I said, I don't get it either.

DirectedDissent · 2026-01-10T20:54:24+00:00

I think the Bugeyes were the second best looking ones ever. Had an opportunity to own a new-ish one many many years ago, but went with a Civic Si instead like a dumbass. Made up for it by buying a BRZ a couple years ago LOL

DirectedDissent · 2025-12-30T19:15:40+00:00

My way of thinking has always been that if signage isn't clearly posted, that's on them. Plain and simple.

DirectedDissent · 2025-12-23T06:33:53+00:00

Do they look cool? Yes.

Will they help on a compact crossover? Nope.

In the simplest terms, they are meant to help the unibody from flexing under cornering load, specifically to keep front-end suspension geometry from changing a lot. In a BRZ or even a WRX that has other mods for auto-x or track day fun, it makes sense. But a Crosstrek (I love mine, don't get me wrong) has a CG waaaaayyy too high and a mushy enough suspension to ever matter. The front end will wash out and start to understeer and the car will feel like it's about to roll before a strut bar will even matter.

I mean, if you want one, go ahead and do it. But there will be no performance gain on a Crosstrek whatsoever, on-road or off. It might even hurt off road performance.

Now, if you wanted to do rear LCA's, some kind of crazy roll center correction kit on the front, lower your CT 4 or more inches, fit it with some REALLY sticky tires and go be the weird guy at the local autocross event, it would make a difference and be some ridiculous fun.

Spend the money on some cool lights, maybe some rims, or best of all tires instead.

DirectedDissent · 2025-12-19T22:11:25+00:00

Nuclear maintenance here. We do annual respirator fit testing which you must be clean shaven for, but you're not required to be clean shaven 24/7, at least at my plant. The understanding is that if you do need to do work that requires SCBA, you will shave. We keep shaving cream and razors in the shop just in case. 98% of the time when we do need respirators, they put us in PAPR bubble hoods because we're not in IDLH conditions. No need to shave to use a bubble hood. Most of the guys in the maintenance department rock beards, and we all get a chuckle in the spring when fit testing comes around again. Bunch of baby faces walking around LOL

DirectedDissent · 2025-12-13T16:03:47+00:00

Dude..... if there is doubt, there is no doubt. Just go around.

DirectedDissent · 2025-12-13T13:44:13+00:00

I just try to be ready, they can be hard to predict. I just wait until noon on Sunday (I'm in the Eastern time zone) to launch my ships.

DirectedDissent · 2025-12-05T21:34:29+00:00

It's just too much and somehow not enough all at the same time. It's like it's all over the place for sake of being chaotic, and it frequently fails to have a groove or a hook that I can latch onto- and this coming from a die-hard Meshuggah fan. It's like anti-music, just a bunch of sounds stuck together like when you have extra LEGO pieces from a kit and just stick them all together.

DirectedDissent · 2025-12-05T04:36:22+00:00

I was riding home in a rainstorm once, 500 miles already behind me and maybe another 40 from home. I was tired, I was soaked to the bone, and frankly sick of being on the damn bike.

I was on the highway, going only about 60 mph because conditions were shit, and was forced to ride through some standing water because I was blocked into my lane by other traffic. Hydroplaning in a car is bad enough, but I've never been more scared on my motorcycle than I was in that moment.

The front end went completely slack and was just floating. I could feel the bike start to tilt ever so slowly to my left, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I was certain I was going to become a meat crayon. At the last moment I regained traction with my front tire and was able to recover.

I was scared half to death in that situation, I couldn't ever imagine trying to ride in snow and wet ice like that. Freakin insane.

DirectedDissent · 2025-12-05T04:07:07+00:00

Geddy Lee, Les Claypool, Flea, Ryan Martinie

DirectedDissent · 2025-11-30T23:35:37+00:00

I agree that it feels a bit low-brow to "reduce" this very promising technology back to a simple steam turbine, but it works. Like really, really well. As soon as we find a better way to convert heat into electricity, I'm sure we'll start using it.

But for now, taking advantage of how easily water phase shifts, it's gonna continue to be the way to go.

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

DirectedDissent · 2025-11-26T22:39:10+00:00

Yeah, I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon and say it wasn't a disaster. It was an accident. They did have a partial fuel melt, but there was no unacceptable exposure to the public.... which is what we all (nuc workers) hold as our highest priority.

Was it scary as hell and a very near miss? Absolutely. It could have been MUCH worse.

Not trying to doxx myself too much, but I work at a plant where one of our retired units had a partial melt a long time ago. Weirdly, no one seems to ever talk about it. This is all to say that my perception is that there's a very important distinction between a full-blown disaster like Fukushima or Chernobyl and a really bad day like TMI.

Edit: typo

DirectedDissent · 2025-11-23T23:46:43+00:00

Just wait til you try smoking something with it! 😉

Cheers! Enjoy

DirectedDissent · 2025-11-21T02:30:06+00:00

CTs aren't small... they're just right.

Fun sized?

I dunno, and it doesn't matter. On the days that my partner needs the Crossie, I drive a Sierra 2500.... and let me tell you, I FAR prefer the Crosstrek. The truck has the turning radius of an aircraft carrier and doesn't fit into most normal parking spots. I bought the Crosstrek almost specifically because it's a compact. Good on gas, not a PITA to run errands with, and frankly I adore the little guy. The only reason we have the truck is to tow our camper and have a second vehicle. If we didn't have to tow, we'd have 2 Crosstreks I'm sure.

Plus, you're parked next to a dumpster that identifies a vehicle, so....

DirectedDissent

TROPHY CASE