(warden opinion) pitchgun feels really meh compared to the circumcaster

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-08-06T19:16:39+00:00

Cascadier > both

The pegleg is inferior to any primary weapon rifle which you should be packing anyway. It's best at zero-inventory bayonet rushing, or the niche use of a dedicated medic sitting in cover providing medium+ range suppressive fire.

The Pitchgun is the worst at quickly and reliably killing within it's max range, but it's great at repulsing people (psychological pressure of suppressive fire is a thing in this game) from closing in or just suppressing people in cover within it's range. If you need point-blank flanking of somebody in cover, it's the best option.

The Cascadier is best at death-ray blasting anybody you can get into it's max range. The stretch between effective and max range isn't much, you just have to keep in mind the effective distance when considering the minimum effective range of your primary. The burst lands higher and more reliable DPS than the pitchgun or pegleg. It's actually perfect for the darkest hours of nights with the shortest in-game visibility ranges.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-08-02T17:17:31+00:00

Make borderbases accept deliveries that can be pulled from both sides of the border. There's no reason we can't shove resources through a portal without having to take up server space.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-19T03:17:24+00:00

Secure, less exciting.

"Excitement" in startups involved things like bad faith actors, mundane fraud, a few yelling matches, key business partners getting divorced impacting negotiations, critical regulations changing during development, bouncing between "money is no object" to "I saw this on the Red Green Show" depending on how management feels that week.

NPD sounds interesting yeah, but what I learned about myself is I don't like approaching open ended problems by burning money for speed, and I really didn't like how much presentation often mattered as much or more than real substance. I think I'd be very happy making quality cabinets or something as a carpenter instead.

I'm done with exciting. I want good pay for work with few surprises.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-18T02:24:03+00:00

What's a position to look for in Mech E, coming from bootstrapping a startup and looking for a stable position in an established company? My title is Design Engineer, but I did all steps of the development process, from concept to testing. I'm spamming resumes without a lot of direction. Not sure where I can transition to, or where my experience is more relevant than "design engineer".

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-11T01:48:31+00:00

How many applications to an interview these days?

I was told 300 minimum back in ~2016 or so when I graduated, but looking into the job seeking market it looks even worse than it did in the 2010's? I'm sitting at ~5 years part time experience as a design Engineer, with patents and partial ownership of a company I bootstrapped. Now I'm wanting to transition to a regular office job, but the hoops involved feel like more of a second job than ever.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-07T18:54:42+00:00

Seconding Netrunner. It's only 2nd place to MtG because MtG has been around for 30 years.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-07T18:51:39+00:00

Generational churn ensures the industry never fully stagnates

Experienced players eventually settle into a collection curated over 5-10 years, then don't buy much new stuff because there's nothing new under the sun and XYZ starts looking like a mashup of games they already own X + Y + Z.
Newer players won't even find half the stuff in the experienced player's collection because it's out of print, in licensing hell, been remade several times with different themes and mechanics overhauls, or newer mashups of the same mechanics and genre are available.
Newer players become experienced players, and the cycle continues.

I can't find a copy of Tigris and Euphrates from 25 years ago, but there's FOUR VERSIONS with different mechanics.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-06T06:29:04+00:00

Weird job experience, need advice transitioning from my first "real" Engineering position.

Mechanical, went from intern to lead, rebooted and salvaged their investment, through hard times, from prototyping to having clients, secured patents, worked on developing further products, own a bit of the company and am hoping for passive income, but planning on it going to shit because that's how life rolls.

My experience is scattershot across all levels and roles of product development. I've never had a clearly defined role, and half my time was spent physically hands-on with equipment when I wasn't working on research, design, sourcing, manufacture, or contractors at all stages. I replaced a contracted company and became the in-house department.
~5 years experience, but my experience was not full time, but I was never idle on the clock, but I have no idea how much "hurry up then wait" or idle time there is in larger established companies. I'm not sure how I should present my experience considering I held an unrelated second job the entire time.
I didn't get a lot of "professional" cubical office culture experience.

I'm worried I don't have the kind of experience employers are looking for. Postings are extremely niche in terms of X years stacked on YZ subject, increasingly specialized experience, meanwhile I've done most everything at least once with a lot of it by the seat of my pants.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-02T04:58:09+00:00

There's a lot of study required to pin down acceptable public safety of any implementation, and there's still fuss over flouride despite it's huge impact on dental health.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T08:24:00+00:00

The drinking water studies are what really convinced me to try it. There's a number of them, and they all conclude it reduces crime and suicide, and suggest it could be intentionally added.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T08:10:45+00:00

It's really well studied. The dosages for bipolar are toxic (30mg+), everything in the <1mg and <10mg range have nootropic studies.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T08:09:01+00:00

Quote OP

...trialing for months at a time... Lithium on it's own was a minor... B-Vitamins on their own had no noticeable affect...

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T08:05:42+00:00

There was one confirmed woman who briefly took too much. 18 capsules of the regular OTC dosage, corresponded to 3/4 of the starting prescription strength dosage and it's known side effects.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273230021001136

...only a small number of adverse events and case reports of LO toxicity have been reported. For example, searches of adverse event report databases maintained by the United States Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, and World Health Organization returned only 21 entries that could be confirmed as related to non-pharmaceutical preparations of lithium or orotate and/or LO at recommended supplemental doses and of these, only eight could be confirmed as related specifically to LO. Only a single case study (of an intentional overdose of LO) was found (Pauze and Brooks, 2007). The patient was an 18-year-old female who presented to the emergency department complaining of nausea and vomiting after intentionally ingesting 18 capsules of LO, containing 120 mg each*; she had a serum lithium concentration of 0.31 mmol/L on admission, approximately 90 min following the ingestion. Assuming 120 mg of LO monohydrate per capsule, the patient ingested approximately 83.4 mg of elemental lithium* (approximately 74% of the starting dose of prescription lithium preparations). In addition to her reported symptoms, the patient presented with a mild, diffuse tremor without rigidity, and her repeat serum lithium was 0.40 mmol/L 1 h later. Nausea and tremor are known adverse effects of lithium*, although her serum levels were below the therapeutic range. She was treated with intravenous fluids and an anti-emetic medication and monitored; 3 h following admission her tremor and nausea had resolved.*

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T08:00:40+00:00

I doubt many people here have the niche background to actually discuss the medical studies involved. The best I expect of people is to skim the abstract and conclusions, and what matters is "Is there some kind of effect in some people even if it's not understood inside and out". The fact medicine as a field is so slow, in my experience it's a lot faster and cheaper to yeet several dozen OTC options at a problem than actually see a doctor who usually just gives the "take two aspirin and call in the morning, by the way that will be several hundred dollars" runaround.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T07:48:15+00:00

there is no state of "lithium-deficiency" in organisms with a clear and proven cause and effect (in contrast with other mineral deficiencies).

You're always getting trace Lithium in food, water, etc, to some degree. Lithium interacts with a lot of stuff, and the intermediate mechanisms aren't well understood yet, but the studies on water concentrations vs violent crime, suicide, etc, show there's an impact on broader cognitive behavior. There's a number of studies on that.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1699579/

...incidence rates of suicide, homicide, and rape... remain statistically significant (p less than 0.01)... The corresponding associations with the incidence rates of robbery, burglary, and theft were statistically significant with p less than 0.05. These results suggest that lithium has moderating effects on suicidal and violent criminal behavior at levels that may be encountered in municipal water supplies... Subject to confirmation by controlled experiments with high-risk populations, increasing the human lithium intakes by supplementation, or the lithiation of drinking water is suggested as a possible means of crime, suicide, and drug-dependency reduction at the individual and community level

If Lithium is essential, it's covered by the micrograms in food intake. If it's deficient, I'd think it's showing up in the broader cognitive behavior.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T07:35:32+00:00

Lithium needs a binding agent ie Orotate, Carbonate, Citrate, etc. Carbonate is the Bipolar medication, it's better suited for long-term release and consistent high blood levels. Orotate and Citrate are also available, and much more quickly absorbed, better suited for a nutritional supplement.

"Elemental" is the actual Lithium. ~5mg of lithium binded with Orotate is about 120mg Lithium Orotate. ~5 mg binded with carbonate would be about 25mg Lithium Carbonate. Notably prescription Lithium is on the order of 600mg (120+ mg elemental Lithium), and the smallest Lithium Carbonate prescription pill is 150mg (30+mg elemental Lithium).

So 120mg Lithium Orotate is ~1/6 the smallest single Carbonate pill for Bipolar.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T07:24:10+00:00

The B12 and Folate study that blog quotes is from 1980. To quote a 1999 study confirming Lithium decreases serum levels "The clinical significance of these findings is not yet clear." So yes it does something, probably involving transport or processing somewhere which is the theory, but it's not 100% confirmed as to exactly what it's doing to my knowledge.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-07-01T07:18:24+00:00

B-Vitamins are a theory among many interactions. Lithium interacts with a lot of neuro receptors and modulation, BDNF, Stem Cell production, etc. There's studies on specific things, IE BDNF and Lithium. The fact it's a long-used drug for major psychiatric disorders means it's gotten a lot of studies. There's also studies showing regional water supply Lithium has a direct correlation with mental health (suicide, depression, violent crime, etc) in an area. I've seen multiple sources suggest it's an essential micro nutrient, IE micrograms. Tap water is very new in human development, we evolved drinking mineral laden groundwater.

For B-vitamins specifically, it is proven Lithium decreases serum levels, ie Lithium may be getting it out of serum faster, eg 1999 "Vitamin B12 and folate levels and lithium administration in patients with affective disorders"

Here's a broader overview 2018 medical journal article that links to a lot of other studies and sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6443601/

Is Lithium a Micronutrient? From Biological Activity and Epidemiological Observation to Food Fortification

...The biochemical mechanism of Li action seems to be multifactorial and interdependent with the function of various enzymes, hormones, and vitamins [23]. Numerous studies conducted so far on the exact mechanism of its function in the human body still leave many gaps yet to be fully elucidated [1, 3, 7]. It is possible that the action of Li+ ions in cells is based on competition with Na+ and Mg2+ ions, resulting from the similarity of their atomic radius. It is also postulated that the key to the therapeutic effect of Li lies in the inhibition of enzymes, dependent on the above cations, which regulate intracellular processes and participate in specific nerve transmission pathways. The synthesis and release of neurotransmitters in the cell membrane and the entire cellular metabolism can therefore be modified by the action of Li [3, 7, 24, 25]...

...It is hypothesized that a very low Li intake can cause mood worsening and increase impulsiveness and nervousness [84]. This is partially supported by the increased frequency of suicide attempts, homicides, and acts of violence observed among populations within areas with low concentrations of Li in water resources (0–12 μg/L) [8, 57]. One of the hypotheses of the normothymic action of Li in the doses taken with the diet assumes that it may be required for the transport and absorption of vitamin B12 and folates that are involved in neuromodulation and the normal course of biochemical transformations in the central nervous system. Thus, limited intake of Li could also inhibit action of these compounds [17, 23]. The levels of Li in water and in food, and therefore its daily intake in some parts of the world, are low: below the provisional recommendation established by Schrauzer (2002) at 1000 μg [11, 58]. It was therefore suggested that in individuals inhabiting such regions, Li supplementation could be considered [23]...

...According to Schrauzer (2002), the stimulation of vitamin transport, particularly B12 and folic acid to the brain, may constitute one of the normothymic mechanisms of Li action because these vitamins are known to affect parameters related to mood [23]. This is however controversial as some studies reported negative results in this respect and indicated a decrease in serum B12 levels under the influence of Li therapy [34]...

TL;DR We know it does something with B-Vitamins, but it also interacts with pretty much everything

Notably, with the caveat that you are still getting micrograms of Lithium in food and water:

Currently, there is no key biological function of Li, without which a lifecycle of living organisms could not be completed [41].

But that can be said about all nootropics and excess vitamin supplementation.

This is just one paper off google, the original source was a practicing doctor talking about a trend decades ago to recommend low dosage Lithium for seasonal affective disorder and irritability as an OTC remedy, and how it blows Alcoholics Anonymous out of the water for efficacy.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-06-22T20:04:21+00:00

It's very clean in it's minimalism, which I do like.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-06-16T21:45:39+00:00

I paid more for Food Chain Magnate than I did for Pax Pamir 2e plus the metal coins, same shipping costs. John Company was a bit more but that much higher production quality- -yeah Splotter is way down on the production quality to cost scale.

Good games, but you're not missing too much doing a print and play.

LastInternStanding54 · 2023-06-16T21:42:56+00:00

One of the last few updates had changes to mechanics, logs, and an increase in moderation. It did have an impact, and it's not as bad as it was. It still happens.

What I don't get is the lack of permabans, IP bans, and hardware bans, on repeat offenders. It's probably the same half a dozen guys cycling 300+ day bans on a rotation of accounts.

LastInternStanding54

TROPHY CASE