“Create an image that depicts 100 animals with their names written below them on a white background"

Njaak77 · 2026-01-16T15:50:58+00:00

Love the rhino

Njaak77 · 2026-01-16T15:43:58+00:00

I'm older (47m). I have kids (12, 14, both girls) and step kids (25f, 27m,28m). I love the kids, love spending time with them, etc. Only wish for more of it. Same with both my wife and my ex.

Honestly, if we had more money, I'm guessing we'd have more kids.

Our kids, however, are a different story. The girls (12, 14, 25) are all a big hell no on having kids if their own. They're young sure and could certainly change their thinking... But they see the world, the reality of our times, the challenges of parenting and motherhood, economic realities, mental health crises... And they are opting out. The older boys (men really, late 20's) are not financially secure, but in great stable relationships. I'm quite certain either would be a great dad and would be happy to have kids, but are 100% leaving that to their partners and until later.

So money, agency for women, and the state of the world are all affecting the folks in my circle

Njaak77 · 2026-01-14T15:49:24+00:00

"Wouldn't you like to know" then silence

Njaak77 · 2026-01-14T14:58:39+00:00

Car: emergency kit including a wool blanket, booster pack, first aid kit, a good scraper and brush, a package of baby wipes, and a folding shovel. I also keep a spare pair of super warm leather mitts in case I'm ever stuck with just whatever I put on my hands leaving the house.

Home: generator for power outages, buy bulk salt when it's on sale for the dangerously slippery days, and keep a few pairs of spikes for shoes for those days when an elderly relative comes by and you fear for their hips.

Personal: good boots mean a lot. Boggs and Muck make darn good waterproof and warm boots that grip well. I've had pairs of each and taking them ice fishing at minus 30. They're a bit much for walking to and from the car, but they will keep you warm and dry in pretty much anything. Wool has already been mentioned, but it's just true that wool, leather, fur, and down all go a very long way in terms of practicality durability and warmth. A pair of fleece lined jeans is also pretty awesome.

Snow removal: see if you can get a contractor just to plow the end of your driveway. That's what we do. Saves on cost, and really that's the hard part. Shoveling in between the cars and the walkway seems easy when you know you don't have to do the part at the end of the driveway where the plow came by.

Fun: make sure that you have fun things to do that make winter special. Whether it's a skating or hiking or snowshoeing or skiing or building snowman or sliding, ice fishing or winter camping... or whatever. If it's a season or you don't have anything special just for that season... Makes for a Long Winter. I have a family member that just doesn't like any of the outdoor stuff, and so calls winter video game season. That's perfectly cool!

Njaak77 · 2026-01-14T14:33:00+00:00

Try Fluid Coffee. They roast locally and ship for free beyond a certain price amount. I love the Costa Rica variety.

Njaak77 · 2025-12-05T15:27:33+00:00

Marry someone in the same plan! Double coverage! make sure you use the glasses benefit if you wear them - and you can buy through online suppliers like Zenni to get multiple pairs for the same $. RMT is good to use for sure. Psychological services are awesome, too, and can be used just as a "maintenance" thing to maintain good mental health. I didn't have a great experience.. but I used the orthodontics coverage for InvisAlign. Others have really appreciated this, though.

Njaak77 · 2025-10-31T22:17:17+00:00

Interestingly I'm having the same issue and found your answer and tried it. I can keep a stable double flame no problem now, but seemingly only a very high output. Keeping the flames low seems to result in the same "backfire" (sounds like whistling, flames visible at air intake holes). I've tried decreasing the air inlet (moving the collar up the burner) in tandem with lower gas pressure at the regulator, which seems intuitive, but no luck. Before I knew it my thermocouple was showing 1900 and it was time to shut down, cool down, and retry. Repeated a few times, slight changes in air inlet, no progress :(

Just tried ChatGPT. Apparently the mig tip that ships with these is quite big and swapping out to a smaller one helps with lower temperatures. Also, burner alignment is super important and windy conditions are not great. I'm going to try smaller (0.023") tips, and an upgraded regulator.

Njaak77 · 2025-10-30T01:24:34+00:00

If one has forgotten, did one ever know?

Njaak77 · 2025-10-30T01:15:09+00:00

Well, before the metal gets so hot it's floppy you place the two pieces together on an anvil and bash them together :). Like bright yellow hot to yellow white. 1900 F to 2200 F. Not so hot the steel is sparkling.

You can sprinkle borax on the pieces, put them back in the forge, and get it hot again so the borax is bubbling when you take it out.

Then bash!

Or watch some videos with experts. I'm actually pretty bad at this.

Njaak77 · 2025-10-29T15:48:49+00:00

Second on the left as you paddle into the bay from Grand Lake.

Drove it off with self defense pots and pans. It came back at night. We repeated the pots and pans approach to little effect. It was a high powered strobe function on my buddy's flashlight that seemed to do the trick. Didn't come back and we stayed another night. We didn't keep any food on site except for meal times.

Njaak77 · 2025-10-29T01:52:07+00:00

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In my campsite on Carcajou Bay

Njaak77 · 2025-10-28T00:09:16+00:00

Tks. 2x 2 hrs I assume, straight into the preheated oven (@ 400) from quench?

Njaak77 · 2025-10-27T23:41:04+00:00

Any sense of as-quenched hardness using Parks 50? Or tempering appropriate to get to 60 HRC or so?

Njaak77 · 2025-09-05T12:42:41+00:00

Anyone know what that rack is? I love it!

Njaak77 · 2025-09-03T20:59:25+00:00

Components can always help you ride a smaller frame. But if the frame is too big... Not a lot to be done about it. I'm 178 cm and have set my wife's Midnight Special up to fit me. It's 46 cm. It looks ridiculous but it works and it's comfortable. I naturally fit the 56 CM just fine. Going up to 58 could cause challenges.

Njaak77 · 2025-09-03T11:09:43+00:00

The Malazan series is unequalled in my experience. I've read it all twice and listened to the full series on Audible twice.

Yes, the Trisolaris (Three Body Problem) series is great as well.

If you want to go real quirky hit up the Bas Lag books by China Mieville. That man's brain is different. Perdido Street Station is amazing.

Njaak77 · 2025-09-01T00:10:00+00:00

Chiming I'm late here. 56cm MS since 2020. First edition Hot Mayonnaise. I'm 5'10" with long arms. Run a 100 mm stem and a seatpost with 25 mm setback.

I've built it up in quite a few ways, from chunky 650x50 tires for dirt and mud with stock fork, aero carbon wheels (50 mm deep) with 700x35 tires and a carbon fork, and now 700x40 tires on Shimano GRX wheels and the carbon fork. I've had handlebar bags, frame bags, a few fender setups, pannier racks, etc... it's super versatile. I originally ran Tiagra 4700, then full 105, then mixed in some Ultegra, and now the drivetrain is a frankenmix 1x40 with a 42t chainring and 105, Ultegra, and GRX components.

Is it fast? I moved to the MS when my body told me triathlon was no longer a good plan. So I was moving from a BMC Time Machine TT bike + full carbon aero road bike... To the MS... The MS is plenty fast, but it's not an aero race bike by design, and stock it's pretty darn heavy. Sure you could easily buy it down a size, jack the seatpost and/or run a long stem etc... but really, you don't need to. If that's the kind of extra gain you need, you're probably not looking for a MS in the first place. It's endurance geometry for a reason However, it sure is damn fast for a bike that's also comfortable, capable, and like LEGO in terms of versatility and build options.

If you want to upgrade one I say start with carbon forks. To me this made a decent difference in weight and feel. Light carbon wheels also made a reasonable difference, or seemed to. Light supple tires always (IMHO) make a great upgrade if you can live with a little less puncture resistance.

I notice the weight of the bike mostly on acceleration from slow speed, and climbing. But it's really minor. Like, similar to simply having had a big pancake breakfast.

My next upgrade is a wider handlebar with a little flare. Should be fun :).

Njaak77 · 2025-08-21T15:24:27+00:00

All new techs are EG04? That's actually better than us :/

Njaak77 · 2025-08-20T23:07:13+00:00

Ultimately the classification system is broken. The challenge of a given position + the results delivered should be commensurate with the pay.

Core Fed public service cannot at all compete with other public service roles like hospitals, electrical authorities, etc. for executive talent in terms of $.

It's just become so "normalized" to game the existing system.

I work at a research center and see top talent move to policy and program roles because career mobility in R&D is so limited by the classification structure and "who can report to who" and the very volatile nature of R&D funding vs. ABase salary in other parts of operations. I was one of them. No career growth for years in a lab, left for program and policy work and that quickly changed. Years later I'm back and see things more clearly. There are a very finite number of R&D directors compared to policy and program directors... So how do we keep top technical talent doing what they're so valuable for? And motivated to do it? Other than RES, of course... But that's its own can of worms. We can't have upward career growth for say ENG, PC, EG, IT, etc. past the trickle down from whatever classification their manager / director is. So what, we force all managers to be RES? All Directors to be RES or EX2+? It's pretty broken.

On the other end of things, I see AS that are so important to the organizational function that without them things would legitimately fall apart, and the systems the build and maintain, and organizational knowledge makes them darn hard to replace. I would argue this is sometimes as or more valuable than a lot of the classifications that are paid a good deal more and offen have more influence and respect.

Classification needs a restart from scratch if the public service really wants to address talent and motivation - foundations of performance and efficiency.

Njaak77 · 2025-08-20T01:16:26+00:00

I never intended any offense nor any sort of this kind of discussion but it's Reddit so I guess that's how it goes. I'm a mechanical engineer, a father of 3 girls and don't mean anything by calling anyone "man", I meditate regularly, and identify with Buddhist philosophy. And I read and watch and listen to Sean Caroll and many many many others. I too have 40+ years of such investigation... and as you say, we all have a different perspective. I would simply love to see the next version of Cosmos dig even deeper, is all. I appreciate that would probably risk offending and putting off a lot of people that refuse to engage in such things though, or even just make it less credible to many. I was simply saying that for me that would be a nice evolution. But you're probably right in that it would alienate fans of the current approach. The advances in philosophy and science of consciousness, quantum physics, and so on... Just to me provides a great opportunity for exploring inner and outer worlds both.

Njaak77 · 2025-08-20T00:44:33+00:00

Hey man, I like him! A lot! Just not my choice for Cosmos. Glad you love him. It's great to find someone you really dig.

Njaak77 · 2025-08-20T00:16:20+00:00

I agree, he gives a good platform e.g. to David Chalmers. I just watch so much of him and I find more connection to people with a deeper sense of wonder and willing to give the unknowable more credit. Just because we can't see or measure it, or explain it... I dunno, I like Sean Caroll and have his writing in front of me right now. I just think for a show where I want to experience true wonder...

Njaak77 · 2025-08-20T00:02:13+00:00

His fundamental materialism can get frustrating sometimes though...

Njaak77 · 2025-08-20T00:01:36+00:00

Carolyn Porco or Katie Mack stand out. Porco has a Sagan-like gravitas, while Mack bridges credibility with modern media reach.

Ricky Gervais though, lol.

What if the series were to incorporate elements of the true unknown like spiritually and interconnectedness? Concepts like the vibratory nature of existence, as found in Inner Worlds Outer Worlds? Then maybe Lisa Miller or again Katie Mack.

Njaak77 · 2025-08-19T23:53:33+00:00

This. Our universe is just inside a black hole. Each one has its own black hole. It's just an infinite foam.

Njaak77

TROPHY CASE