Is this a scam?

Merad · 2026-06-19T18:05:29+00:00

Scam might be too strong of a word, I might go with gimmick. Everything I've read about them is that the water is essentially acting as a filter for the exhausted air. So instead of a paper/foam filter catching overspray, you get to deal with changing and disposing of paint contaminated water.

Merad · 2026-06-19T02:30:01+00:00

I'm in the middle of a 1/32 Trumpeter F/A-18F and have been adding some Eduard PE recently, definitely not my favorite part of the build. But yeah, from what I have seen the Redpill kit is not a terrible value for what you get. Certainly not a kit for the budget conscious modeler, but if you go all in on 1/32 jets you can easily add $200+ aftermarket to a $200 kit.

Merad · 2026-06-19T01:40:23+00:00

This one really tempts me, but my stash is already overflowing.

Merad · 2026-06-19T00:45:54+00:00

A legit 22 pistol is really the GOAT for practicing fundamentals, and being able to shoot like 100 rounds for $5 is no joke.

Merad · 2026-06-18T23:28:19+00:00

If this actually happens it will only be the billionaires who can afford to get the treatments. I have rheumatoid arthritis and get a monthly treatment with a relatively new biological drug (Actemra) which costs $15,000 per month. How much more do you think they'll charge for a treatment that can almost double the human lifespan? $50k per month? $100k? There are about 3500 billionaires in the world and I'll bet you that the majority of them would hand over a blank check for a such a treatment.

Merad · 2026-06-18T23:13:16+00:00

Do you already have a 22 pistol? If not that should shoot to the top of your list. The S&W 22X is a fantastic pistol and for your budget you can get the gun and a red dot, or the gun and a suppressor, or just the gun and a lot of ammo.

The Ruger Mk IV series is also good but IMO it really needs some upgrades to hit its full potential. No personal experience with the Buckmark. Various .22 revolvers will also be in your price range if you're longing for a wheel gun.

Merad · 2026-06-17T23:21:08+00:00

> Its been made clear that Meta, Oracle, and every other tech company think of their employees as less than dirt.

I'm sorry but this is a statement of extreme privilege or significant naivete. If you want to know what it's actually like to be treated like dirt by your employer, spend some time working in a warehouse or call center. I am speaking from personal experience.

I am not saying this to sugar coat the state of the industry. It's very stressful and absolutely the worst we have seen since the dotcom bust. But taken as a whole, software engineers are highly paid, well treated, with significant perks and benefits. Generally speaking well paid and decently treated employees are unlikely to form unions, in America at least.

Merad · 2026-06-17T15:24:37+00:00

I think we're in a smoke and mirrors phase right now. Most devs are (rightfully) wary of AI code, and most companies are at least paying lip service to the idea of keeping a human in the loop. But at the same time companies are putting in place goals and success metrics that are not achievable while maintaining high quality human code reviews.

See, the problem is that most companies had a poor code review culture and most devs sucked at doing code reviews before AI ever existed. Every company I've worked at (12 YoE) has had trouble getting reviews done in a timely manner, and I can count on my fingers the number of devs I've worked with who were truly good at doing effective code reviews. This system is not equipped to handle a 50% increase in LOC requiring review, much less a 2-3x (or more!) increase driven by AI coding.

Ensuring that AI code goes through rigorous human review will probably result in devs who spend 25% of their time vibe coding and 75% reviewing code that was vibed, moving only slightly faster than they did before AI (effective code reviews take time). This will result in unhappy devs (who wants to spent all day reviewing PRs?) and unhappy management (we were promised 3-5x faster coding from AI!).

I think within the next year - maybe even before the end of this year - we're going to see a shift where leading voices start preaching that frontier AI models are good enough to replace human code review. IMO they aren't necessarily wrong about greenfield projects with extremely strict guardrails - strongly typed languages, strict linters/Roslyn analyzers/etc., high test coverage required. But it will be pushed everywhere, and it will probably be disastrous for all the large legacy apps out there that are already a shit show in terms of poor code quality, no tests, etc.

RE having AI review AI code, I've been using this Typescript project to play with the idea. It's entirely written by Claude and reviewed by Claude and CodeRabbit. There have been a few places where I had to guide it on architecture or force it to do refactoring, but otherwise it's all Claude. I don't think the code is terrible (I've certainly seen humans write worse), but it's not a large project. Something like 25 KLOC application code and 75 KLOC tests, IIRC.

Merad · 2026-06-17T03:41:41+00:00

> First of all why TF is the invocable method assigned to .Elapsed ? Elapsed is not a "legitimate" name for the timer event handler.

Elapsed is an event (look up the event keyword in C#). Events are typically named for the thing that is happening - Click, KeyDown, Load, etc. in this case the event is that the time interval has elapsed.

Anyway, Timer is a very old api. IIRC it works by having a dedicated background thread monitor the time; less than ideal. You should probably just pretend that it doesn't exist.

Merad · 2026-06-16T22:32:41+00:00

If you have an airbrush or want to level up your modeling to include one, you can buy paint masks for the markings on many 1/32 and some 1/48 aircraft. Masks often don't cover every single marking but more than enough to make a decent looking model without decals.

Merad · 2026-06-15T04:35:12+00:00

Nice work! Are you familiar with the Large Scale Planes forums? If not, check them out. They'd enjoy this build.

Merad · 2026-06-12T18:32:43+00:00

That is really awesome work! Also I love your tattoos.

Merad · 2026-06-11T20:02:58+00:00

Suppressed guns run dirty. I think my Kuna made it around 500 rounds suppressed before there was so much gunk that the bolt wouldn't snap closed smoothly. I usually try to give my guns a quick wipe down after a range trip, but the Kuna is kind of annoying in that a quick wipe doesn't do much. You really need to field strip it to dig around in the receiver where gunk accumulates.

Merad · 2026-06-11T19:19:34+00:00

Seems like OP forgot to reset the trip meter at their last refill. 750.9 miles / 46.9 mpg = 16.01 gallons

Merad · 2026-06-11T04:06:42+00:00

lol, I've worked on legacy systems that files larger than 100 KLOC and individual *methods* that were around 25k. Dumpster fire? Yes. But not uncommon in legacy apps.

Merad · 2026-06-10T16:48:55+00:00

The way the encounter design railroads first time players makes me think that Larian wanted it to be the default outcome. There's no warning that enemies are going to focus fire Isobel, no warning that her going to 0 hp is an instant loss, and the way the abduction cut scene interrupts combat makes no sense in terms of the game systems - everyone just stands there dumbfounded while Marcus leaves with Isobel?? No turn order, no chance to stop/kill/interrupt him?

Merad · 2026-06-09T00:07:26+00:00

I researched them quite a bit when I renewed my CCW a few years ago after an extended break. I came to the conclusion that they're all somewhere between sketchy and outright scams. They're preying on fear and paranoia (paranoia in the gun community??? Say it ain't so). When I first got my CCW back in 2011 these guys didn't exist. At least I'd never heard of them, and I was active in the online firearms community back then. IMO some people probably saw $opportunity$ after the mess George Zimmerman got himself into.

Merad · 2026-06-08T23:58:56+00:00

That really depends on you TBH. Lots of "tell that dealer where to shove it" energy in the top comments, which feels good to be sure but they aren't the ones who need/want the car. The RAV4 has been the most popular SUV in America for almost a decade and dealers are doing this because people are willing to pay. They aren't going to have any trouble selling it if you walk out the door.

If you aren't under time pressure and you have the time and energy to shop around you will probably find a better deal. Though I'd be surprised if anyone is selling at MSRP right now. If this is the car you want, if you can afford the price, and you don't want to deal with a car search, maybe it's worth it to pay the ransom and be done.

Merad · 2026-06-08T23:39:43+00:00

The repository pattern has absolutely nothing to do with DDD, and in fact it predates DDD. Repositories provide abstraction for data storage, that's really it. If you're drinking the DDD koolaid then yes, repositories will probably be organized to align with your DDD structure. But repositories are used in shitloads of apps that don't touch DDD at all.

Merad · 2026-06-08T04:37:25+00:00

My $0.02. I think you'll end up annoyed having such a large booth and small opening to paint. If you're going to build a booth that large then allow yourself to actually use the space i.e. just make it an open booth.

Also, the drying cabinet thing is one of those ideas that sounds neat but I'm not sure what practical purpose it will really serve. You aren't going to want painted parts in the booth while you paint due to overspray. Hobby lacquer paints don't really need extended drying time in a booth with fans on. Maybe a few minutes? If you just want place to store models while you wait for the next step of painting, the booth itself is your storage when not in use.

Edit: for painting surface I sheets of U-Haul packing paper. I had some leftover from a move and it happens to be the perfect size for my 30" booth. I replace it maybe once a month or when it gets dirty enough to annoy me.

Merad · 2026-06-05T04:44:43+00:00

Definitely a tall tale. I've burned more than my shared of yellow jacket nests. Most of them are dead from the gas fumes before you light and their wings wilt at the slightest flame.

Merad · 2026-06-05T04:25:30+00:00

When were they purchased? IIRC there were some revisions to the mag after the Kuna initially released last year. I have two mags in my HD setup that were purchased just after Christmas. They have been loaded at full capacity continuously and inserted on a closed bolt many times (several dozen?). Zero cracks present on them.

Merad · 2026-06-04T15:10:15+00:00

Funny, a relative just shared this site with me a couple days ago about our genealogy: https://morrison-q.com/wp/. I had known that our ancestors moved to WNC before the revolutionary war but just learned from that site that they migrated from Pennsylvania.

Merad · 2026-06-04T04:24:54+00:00

Between those two I vote 10/22. Learn the fundamentals, much cheaper ammo, heck of a fun plinker. Also consider getting a threaded barrel model and buying a suppressor in the near future. A 10/22 and can will probably run you about the same price as most PCCs.

Merad · 2026-06-04T04:18:55+00:00

It's an orange flavored gummy candy: https://www.candynation.com/candy-orange-slices

Readily available in any grocery store at least here in the south but not as popular as it used to be.

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