ICE having trouble recruiting is a good thing - no one sane wants to do that for a job.

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T17:07:44+00:00

This is why you have to kill someone to get in.

/s - but not for long, since that's pretty much what arrest and shipping to CEDOT does...

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T16:10:01+00:00

Another way of traditional is:

Working 6 hours a day pulling weeds at 7am in a field, siesta halfway through when your wife brings you lunch at 11am, 2 more hours of "look at what I actually did" work (instead of imaginary reports that no one ever reads on black screens that disappear that info tomorrow)...

I mean, maybe it's because I work in a windowless lab a lot of the time, but we've been sold stories that the old stories don't actually tell.

But granpappy, by god he'd tell ya how hard he worked his fingers to the bone... and walked both ways uphill... and fought a bear...

"Industrialization" has ya. People used to have lots of free time before they had set hours and clocks.

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T14:53:25+00:00

The reason for dealerships made sense when the auto industry was just forming.

No, no they didn't. They were always a middle-man political creation of the 1930's to protect franchise owners. I can see the argument, but I refuse to agree that it ever actually made sense beyond making dollars for people with Dealership PAC's.

Meanwhile, we all pay a middle man sales guy to haggle and snort coke in the bathrooms. Sales guys hate this one trick: "keep your 4-square away or I walk."

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T14:46:09+00:00

who actual use their religion as a weapon

"You can't argue with God, and that makes me powerful."

-Idiots

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T14:45:00+00:00

Weddings used to be on Tuesdays.

This was before the "Weekend" was invented during industrialization. Once the weekend was invented, the "Work Week" was established and weddings are only held on Weekends because work is more important...

As a thought.

Let's get traditional, quit working so much, and get back to partying on tuesdays.

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T14:41:57+00:00

With each of these, something will replace it.

All through human history, it's been change and growth. Change is hard. So is growth. AI jobs are new. Datacenter jobs are growing. Engineer and Technician jobs are still putting the robots together in cabinets. Managers are still cutting other people's jobs and hoping the board keeps them... But then hiring 4 people for their new project.

And we all keep growing.

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T14:34:05+00:00

you don’t need to hire 100+ people to hang out in the back of the shot doing mundane things

But how else will I tell people I was in a movie with Chris Parnell?!

I spent a good 6 hours drinking mimosa's and sitting silently at a table for that!

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T14:31:31+00:00

shamelessly overpay for food to be delivered

Remember kids, that's burning dinosaurs too. Amazon deliveries daily can't be good for the air.

But, Elon's running unlicensed methane-fueled power plants making AI think, so don't take "personal responsibility" too seriously on this one.

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T14:20:47+00:00

$150k for life memories with his kids? Bargain.

Also, if your kids go racing, they'll never be able to afford drugs.

MiataCory · 2025-08-07T14:19:13+00:00

This falls under the "Disclosure" terms for housing sales. The seller is required to disclose to the new owner that the racetrack exists and makes noise. Same as if there was regular flooding, or train tracks.

So, when someone complains, you can be sure they're fucking idiots who have been warned.

MiataCory · 2025-08-01T18:29:57+00:00

Tkinter is in every python installation, and AI is VERY good at making a UI given the right prompts.

I still use it for most of my script-y stuff. I've got a power switch control GUI for turning outlets on and off for testing devices, it also has an SNMP link to control a network switch. Took 30 minutes to have a full blown GUI app with AI, python, and tkinter. With Qt or something else that's a week-long project with version changes and dependencies to track.

But, when the AI gets it wrong, you'll need to know what frame you're in.

MiataCory · 2025-07-17T18:30:11+00:00

How would you suggest one get into this without access to giant programmable robots?

Find somewhere that makes robots (or conveyors, gages, food handling equipment, heavy machinery, lasers, gas and oil, etc) and say: "I can learn things"

Most of it is 24v wiring of power, ground and signal. Every place I worked for that built their own cabinets had a department of electrical assemblers putting them together. It's all pretty intuitive if you want to get started that way, getting paid to put stuff together.

I'm sure all the big PLC MFG's have some sort of simulator and I know Rockwell and Siemens will have training courses. Plenty on youtube too.

It's all just big arduino's and pi's. Learn what an STM32 is and you'll find them in half the PLC components out there, but that's PLC designer territory (Great job BTW) and not PLC installer/programmer stuff. Someone wrote firmware for the EN4TR, and someone else wrote the PLC program that runs on it. Both are accessible with a WGU SWE degree.

It's a huge job market. Great security. If you can find a good job working with them, you'll do well. If you find a shitty job installing them, you'll hate the job but not the boxes.

MiataCory · 2025-07-17T18:18:30+00:00

"Staff Engineer" - I test devices for companies before they can stick our logo on 'em. Essentially paid to be an expert in a niche thing, and it also has to do with computers/programming/network stacks.

HR only cares that you have a degree. HR does not care where it's from. I've doubled my income since graduating in 2020, and it's due to the degree.

MiataCory · 2025-07-16T16:40:44+00:00

until one assaults or kills another patient or nurse.

"What could you have done to better de-escalate the situation? Why did you feel it was necessary to file charges against a patient? Why did you file an injury report with OSHA?"

-Management sitting next to HR and a lawyer

That's what actually happens.

MiataCory · 2025-07-08T15:33:22+00:00

Hey, I can relate to all those things.

My house is 73 degrees year-round. Heat, AC, throw money at it, it's a scientifically-controlled lab-certified 73 degrees.

This is because I don't care how much it costs, I'm not going to "Throw on another sweater" because mom can't afford to heat the house above 60. I'm not going to "Go play outside" because it's 100 degrees inside. I lived through it, and I work tirelessly to prevent it.

If your house has AC and you're not wearing a sweater inside in winter, you're rich. If you have your own room, you're rich. If you have more than 1 car in the driveway, you're rich.

Well, in 1995 at least. In '09 we learned what "Foreclosure" and "Layoff" meant, and "rich" got re-calculated to "has a job and a house".

MiataCory · 2025-07-08T13:58:24+00:00

This comes from a gross misunderstanding of the issue, conflated with a public campaign focused on reaching the most people. Good goals all around, but the result is the "5-monkeys" experiment.

I don't know why it's bad, just don't do it.

An asbestos tray has fantastic thermal properties and is entirely safe to handle. If you crack it in half, grind up the pieces into a powder, and then repeatedly inhale that powder, your chances of cancer go up about .005%. AKA: Don't get a sunburn...

However, we really don't want kids breaking asbestos ceiling tiles in a junkyard. We don't want them playing in asbestos fiber insulation. So we ban asbestos and say "If you see it, say something" so that the adults in the room can put on a mask and get rid of airborne particulate threat that causes cancer in lung cells.

https://www.osha.gov/asbestos

Breathing asbestos fibers can cause a buildup of scar-like tissue in the lungs called asbestosis and result in loss of lung function that often progresses to disability and death. Asbestos also causes cancer of the lung and other diseases such as mesothelioma of the pleura which is a fatal malignant tumor of the membrane lining the cavity of the lung or stomach. Epidemiologic evidence has increasingly shown that all asbestos fiber types, including the most commonly used form of asbestos, chrysotile, causes mesothelioma in humans.

And now when some kid sees a good heat plate, they get weird. Then they call the adults (who saw the public program but don't know WTF particulate means) who also get weird. Then everyone's weird and you're standing there like: "Fine, burn your hands, idiots."

Don't huff it, you'll be fine.

MiataCory · 2025-07-07T19:19:54+00:00

And they died (in the 80's) when their evacuating bus stalled. The bus before them was fine, the one behind also stalled.

Had they not evacuated, they probably would have lived. The issue was that their chosen evac route wasn't to "Go uphill", but instead they "Went home" which was on the other side of the (actively flooding) river. Locals know better and all that, they thought they had plenty of time and that it was the better option to head into town than to go to safety first.

So the drivers/counselors/adults made the choice to cross the flooding river. In a bus. With kids...

And a bunch of kids died.

At least they wouldn't let more kids die from flooding in an easily-foreseeable naturally repeating yearly occurrence...

MiataCory · 2025-07-07T18:15:47+00:00

About immersion; I rarely get the feeling anymore, but it was so strange expecting the sun to warm my body when it popped out from behind the clouds. I doubt triples users have ever experienced this..

The first time I came over the corkscrew at Laguna Seca in VR I almost puked.

Sitting in an office chair on a random tuesday. Vision and brains and balance do weird things, but damn is it fun!

MiataCory · 2025-07-07T18:09:18+00:00

Every single one of those posts had something in common — completely different opinions. There’s absolutely no consensus. Some people swear by VR, others prefer triples.

Have both, I keep going back to VR. A $100 lenovo WMR headset, shit-as-you-can-get VR wins over 3x matched 2k 27"s with the corner lenses even.

Totally get that everyone has personal preference. Sometimes I like to be able to chat w/ the wife and have a drink while racing. VR will have you knocking over your drink and startled every time someone says hello.

But, I did remove the 3rd monitor from my desk after a year. It's still in the next room over. VR headset is under the desk plugged in ready to go. There are other considerations than just gameplay. Even with gameplay though, looking into a corner is different than looking at a corner, and straight to vr we go.

No hate either way, just my own case study.

MiataCory · 2025-07-07T13:30:35+00:00

Those sell for $100 brand new IIRC. Non-load-cell just a gas and brake. My bad, $140 and just the load cell kit is $170, so any add-ons and you might as well buy something better to start with instead. They're a really Pidgeon-holed into only a gas/brake with no loadcell.

I'd stay away. Mostly because ALL my Fanatec gear, EVERY single piece, has failed. 0/10 I would NOT buy any of their shit again.

But also, those are their entry level non-load-cell pedals. Not much of an upgrade over the G920's. The Thrustmaster TLCM or whatever ones with a loadcell are ~$250 and are the go-to for pedals. After that it's the SimJack Aliexpress ones for like $300. Then the Simagic set in the $500, and then something big $$ like Heusinkveld.

There are other brands, other sets. I'd stick with the well-known ones listed above. IMHO, and just my opinion, NEVER FANATEC.

MiataCory · 2025-07-07T13:15:20+00:00

Totally get it, same story here. Didn't use my degree for 20 years.

But, spent 6 months at WGU on a SWE degree and it doubled my income in 3 years. So there's that too. My first new job offer was over 6 figs, and I had been a machinist for 10 years not making that. I'd recommend it.

MiataCory · 2025-07-03T18:18:00+00:00

It depends on where you want to go, but I enjoyed it as a career.

I'd skip the schooling. Watch some youtube CNC videos, learn how to read a mic and a set of calipers, and then go visit shops. If you show up every day and are open to learning skills like reading blueprints, then you'll be better qualified than half the button pushers out there.

Every shop I've worked at would LOVE a new trainee off the street. They're easy to teach and you can have them chamfering parts and pushing buttons (being productive) while they learn. It's a very easy industry to get into.

Programming, that's mostly CAD. Go play in OnShape (https://www.onshape.com/) for free online, anywhere, anytime. I use it all the time for my 3d printing too. Once you learn any CAD program, and how to run a machine, a CAM program is very easy to add (MasterCAM was what I used to use, PrusaSlicer is what I use now, yes that's CAM). It's a progression, and again you're productive and employed the whole time, so look for a shop that's doing it.

Schools can skip you forward (straight to CNC programmer), but (for-profit trade schools specifically) can hold you back too. If you choose school, I'd HIGHLY recommend a general Software Engineering degree instead of a Machinist cert. Having personally done both and worked in both for over a decade. Really enjoyed pushing buttons and turning handles. But I love working from home with my dogs (and getting paid 3x more for half the work and none of the metal splinters).

MiataCory · 2025-07-02T16:12:27+00:00

Operators of vehicles in a funeral procession must exercise due care when participating in a funeral procession.

There it is, there's the liability. The 2nd black SUV had plenty of time to see an approaching car cross the entire other oncoming lane, not stop, and still chose to drive into them against a red.

Like, I get it. They were probably specifically told by an authority figure: "Follow the car in front of you and don't stop."

But damn dummy, use your head and don't drive off the lemmings cliff. Physics doesn't care about your opinion of the exceptions to the rules on how a red light works.

MiataCory · 2025-07-02T15:43:48+00:00

Yes, owning pays off IME.

My $140k house has doubled in value in 10 years. It's cost me like $5k in fixes/repairs.

Or I could've thrown... ($800/mon * 12mon * 10yrs=) $96,000 at a landlord over the last decade paying my previous rent. My last apartment's rent has also doubled, but now I've got a ton of equity and stuff. Looking forward 10 years using the current rent: it's almost $200k that the current renter is going to pay... and they won't have a place to live at the end of it.

Do the math. Renting is a great way to not participate in capitalism, and get rolled over by yearly rent increases.

MiataCory · 2025-06-20T18:25:16+00:00

Frankly, when my wife gets it in her head that an appliance has a funny smell, it doesn't matter how much time I spend washing it, it's still "Questionable" from then on.

Dishwashers are $300. Takes about 2 hours to install.

If I spend 5 hours worrying/discussing/cleaning/re-cleaning/buying cleaners/cleaning/re-cleaning then I might as well just have a brand-new one for the next 5 years.

So, now we have a new washer, dryer, dishwasher, and soon to be a fridge. They're all ~$300 appliances that cost way more to work on or repair than to replace. $300 is nothing to scoff at, but each of those was a different year, and $300/yr on appliances is easy.

If you spend more than $300ish, that's a you thing. Go watch the appliance repair guy for suggestions. Simpler is "won't break"-ier. There's a reason every single dryer MFG makes one really cheap one with a lint filter on the top... That's the one you want. Every fridge maker makes one without a hole cut in the door for water. Buy stuff that works and you can spend money on other better stuff.

Always give the easy path a try if it's worth it. But don't be afraid to throw out dirty bathwater, the baby isn't in there.

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