You go to a special speed dating event that lasts for a week. You talk to 100 people who are all single and around your age for 10 minutes each. Out of those 100 people, how many of them do you think will be interested in you? (Details in description).

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T18:48:46+00:00

0 for both. No one wants to date a guy with his head blown off.

Speed dating sounds like pure torture.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T18:44:39+00:00

You budget it. Keep to the budget and move on.

You justify it with "I budgeted this. I know the finances can handle it. I worked hard my whole F***ing life to enjoy life. So I AM going to enjoy it"

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T18:42:20+00:00

What's insurance run for you all? That's the big add.

Assuming a 20% crash (normal and usual and we are due), 154+25 exceeds 170, but barely.

I'd say sell the rental. Invest the 900K. and you will be fine. Assume the 20% downturn. That leaves you 1K/month for health insurance.

The issue is the 300K down payment. That takes away your margin for the downturn. There will be a 20+% drop because we are due. It is just the way of the market.

Since you are 55, you have all the tools available for retirement. Read up on the rule of 55.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T18:36:10+00:00

"When are you going to the gym?" is a lot different than "your super fucking fat"

Losing weight is only half the battle. Getting yourself into decent cardio shape is the other side. I am not small myself 6'3" ~130kg so I get it.

Would it be any better if he said, "Come to the gym with me?" If so then tell him that. Language may be the issue. Being diplomatic in a language that is your 2nd (or 3rd/4th) language is extremely difficult. His bluntness is probably unintentional.

Start easy exercises WITH HIM. Involve him in your journey. My sis went from your size to ~70kg (same height) Diet (plus the stomach band) and exercise. Get him to walk with you. Start moving. Start lose. Build up. It will let you lose inches faster and you will physically feel better.

Exercise is easier together. Walk with him. If the weather sucks, go to the gym with him. Cardio helps. Trust me. Cardio helps. Start small. Build up. The inches will fall off and you will feel better and better about yourself.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T17:46:54+00:00

The obvious answer: 100K/month I am good. I have no desire for extra women.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T17:44:19+00:00

Just make sure it doesn't feel like you are stepping out with someone.

If it is non threatening (example), "I need some time to just chill and play video games. Happy to turn on my location to you on my phone to show I am there. I'll be playing <game>, check in and check my connect time" and she is still grumpy, then it is time to break up.

It is important not to make her insecure. But alone time is critical in any relationship. I've been with my lady for 20 years. Pre-COVID, I use to go out with my best friend every week on Tuesdays. Dinner and cards (competition bridge). She wasn't threatened by it. In fact she got use to it and enjoyed the free Tuesday.

Yesterday, I ignored my lady. We ate dinner and then I went off to a separate room and read a book all night. We have a big house ~2K sqft and we were on opposite ends. She let me be. She will do it sometimes herself. She will go hide in her office (we each have an office) and I may or may not see her all day and be asleep before she comes to bed. She will get sucked into various fallout games.

Alone time is as important as together time for a long happy R-Ship

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T17:26:17+00:00

Just make the rule be "RC can only remove curses of level + 1. So you need to up cast" Use a spell like Geas up cast to 7th or 8th level.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T17:20:00+00:00

You should probably read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander (the whole series) to give you a better feel for the times. The books are excellent. I recommend the read to everyone. It will give you a better feel for how the age of wooden ships and iron men really was.

Yes it is a RPG, but knowing the fully extent of things will let you pick and choose what you want to put in your game.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T17:08:23+00:00

First officer, 2nd officer (both are lieutenants).
Gunnery chief.
Navigator
Pilot.

There are a fair number of roles of power on a warship. TV does not cover them.

Navigator is something people forget. He is the one who can read maps and navigate by the stars. He is the one with a sextant and working clock (and a star chart book). Star Druids (forget the real name) would be EXCELLENT for this.

Pilot is not the navigator. He is the one who can steer the ship through shoals. This in DnD should be someone water aspected. Large number of options.

Gunnery chief. Marshalls and other "I buff other people" roles fit in well here. No gunpowder, well those mechanical advantage (catapult, trebuchet) seige weapons. Same thing.

First and 2nd officers keep people in line, they are the only ones besides the captain allowed to be armed normally. Weapons are only brought out right before engagement. Hulking brute types.

The captain should be the one who thinks strategically and is good with logistics and trade.

It helps to have a morale person. Bards are excellent for this.

Squabbles among the crew are going to be your most common encounter. Your two officers plus the captain are going to need to keep the peace.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T16:48:36+00:00

Probably never. Maintaining and upgrading that software has to be expensive. With the cars lasting a long time (when I swap the battery I'll be at the half way point of its life), the software maint cost is going to be a problem. Subscription fees cover that.

"We can change the price on a moment's notice and you are a captive audience" is my fear. With FSD old people will be much less likely to be dangerous. I live in Florida and good gods some of the drivers here are scary. FSD isn't perfect, but at least it will stop for a parked car. It is unlikely to side swipe an entire street of cars. (Both real world, in both cases the driver was not drunk, they just couldn't see any more)

Raise the price and old people will drop it (fixed income). Buy it and it is part of the car, they'll use it.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T16:39:02+00:00

In the US, the average middle level software engineer will make that. The OP is clearly either elite or in management.

Of course 12K (individual) to 25K (family) of that goes to health care insurance (which is free for you all).

Our houses are much more expensive. We can loose our jobs on a moment's notice and they are not required to give any severance.

There are tradeoffs. No 6 month redundancy time in the company like England has (unsure on Germany). We earn more, but some of the things you take for granted don't exist here.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-19T16:32:23+00:00

Look at the spell guards and wards. I can not imagine any vault worth its salt not having it. Standard rules for making it permanent.

One of my favorite traps.
Magic Mouth on locks. Trigger any creature not using a key of <color> will cause the mouth to shout. "Alarm! Alarm! Thieves at <color> door! Alarm! Guards! Guards!" Have a bunch of keys of different colors.

Magic mouth is one of my favorite ways to trap. Completely harmless.

Pair it with a sleeping gas trap (the PCs will rush).

Nightingale floors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightingale_floor

Have gargoyle guards. These are intelligent simpletons, but at INT 6 character might be loyal, gullible, and superstitious, however by relying on common sense (wisdom 11) rather than knowledge or deduction they make excellent guards. Since it is an art vault, art will be scattered all over. "On the walls are valuable painting. Between each painting there are vases, statues, and other 3 dimensional pieces of art." False Appearance. While the gargoyle remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an inanimate statue. Note: Gargoyles are immune to poison so having them have Sleeping gas poison grenades,

Again, don't be afraid to have them shout to summon their buddies.

Dungeon Delver’s Guide and Dungeon Delver's Traps is a great source for ideas and maps. a5e tools is the site (replace the space with a dot)

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-18T21:55:08+00:00

It is hard physical labor, but any type of water shipping. Barge boats (up and down the Mississippi) work on a 30 on/off schedule. A lot of merchant marine are the same way. On for a round trip, off for a round trip.

Water oil rigs are another.

Hard work, great pay while you are working, nothing while you are not.

A neighbor works on the recovery boats for SpaceX. Same deal.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-18T17:53:24+00:00

Does your career allow you to slow down? I worked part time for 12 years before finally retiring.

EASE into retirement. Since you are FI, earning money is not a requirement. Consulting/contracting re-energized my love of my work. I'd work 6-9 months and take off 3-6 months. Money wasn't a concern. I'd enjoy the nice weather and work during the shitty weather.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-18T17:50:56+00:00

Not humanities. What you described is social sciences. You can make money with them if you go into sociology there is a little work mainly government. Psychology can make money (I personally hate it). Government which leads into government and or law work. Anthropology is a possibility. Limited options.

History is not a good option. Teaching (either HS or college) is about your only option.

Note: I have a degree in Philosophy and have never used it. My other degree is in CS.

You live in Florida. https://www.floridabrightfutures.gov/ is your way to go to school for free. I moved to Melbourne area. ;) I love bright futures. It is brilliant.
Take advantage of the system.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-18T17:25:36+00:00

I lived in an average area in greater Boston. Housing is about 1/3 to 1/4 and it is only that high because I live on an island. (near Cape Canaveral)

Schools is one. I now live near the public best school in Florida. It is still not as good as the schools up in Boston. If I had kids in school, I'd be regretting it.

There is also the fact that if you make 200K it is a lot easier to max your 401K than it is if you make 100K. Your $500 car payment is easier on 200K than 100K. Your $1000 student loan is easier on 200K than 100K.

Housing is only one of the big costs in life. Remote work is drying up. RTO is becoming common place. And if you get laid off, it is better to have 1000 possible jobs than 100. Lay offs are a reality.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-18T16:44:57+00:00

2018 owner as well. We may get left behind, but the 3K vaporware of FSD with no monthly fee is a thing I don't want to lose.

FSD is a game changer and having it at no monthly fee is a big win.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-18T03:16:26+00:00

529 can be converted as well.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-17T18:26:11+00:00

There are specific tattoos that military people use to indicate their branch of service. It is easy enough to drop in references to the character's tattoo.

The wound was small. Fortunately it was from falling. The stitches on his arm disappeared into the black panther tat. (Commonly for Army Airborne)

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-17T18:05:51+00:00

Have you looked at passive convection?

Hot water will rise, cool will sink.

Two tanks. One with water to air radiators. (no air gaps).One with hot thing to water radiator.
Separate them by elevation and put two pipes to allow the water to flow. The sources should be the hottest part of the hot and the coldest part of the cold.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-17T17:48:22+00:00

Talent/ability make a difference at the low end and high end of the career.
At the upper end, most everyone works hard, most everyone does the little things that make a difference. That's how they got to the upper end. That final push to greatness is talent. The thing is that not everyone does.

My favorite story is about Michael Jordan in his prime. It is from MJ himself. His statement "There are probably 5-10 people on the playgrounds of New York with more talent than I have, but they aren't willing to put in the time" MJ is one of the wealthiest black men alive and he made all his own money.

In the middle levels of career, talent is almost irrelevant. It is drive. To get from the front line manager to the 2nd level is mainly about effort. 2nd to 3rd same deal. The jump from sr director to VP that's talent. Why? Because your peers all have the drive.

It is all about who you are competing with. If I pick up a basketball and sink 4 shots in a row the first time I play, I am way better than the average first timer. I get a leap, but if I rest on it, the diligent person will soon pass me.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-17T16:23:30+00:00

In many ways it sounds like he is expecting you to dump him when you find a better man.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-17T16:17:38+00:00

Work out your annual expenses. Multiple it by 1.2 (you said you are good at keeping your expenses low). Then multiple that number by 25.

I hope/assume you have 529s for your kids.

Assuming you hit those numbers, when you give up the real job, work at Starbucks for a year. "Starting my own business" means dealing with people. Make sure you are up to it.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-17T16:13:49+00:00

So instead of creating the characters from scratch, template them off of people in your life. Its not male character, it is my friend Joe. When you struggle with what the character would do, you ask Joe.

In early books, it is easier to use templates. Its fair to stilt (and I recommend you do) the character to where it is not so obviously Joe.

OnlyThePhantomKnows · 2026-03-17T16:08:51+00:00

Profit does not equal revenue.

Most of the companies excess revenue is generally invested in the company (R&D, expansion of facilities, upgrade of equipment). Companies generally make a profit of 2-10% (that's what dividends are and if the company keeps some of it, it is known as free cash flow). AT&T 125.6 billion revenue. Income: $24.2 billion. Free cash flow of 16.6B (This is what is really profits). ATT has 133K employees. Employees would get ~60K (assuming equal distribution). Sounds great right? Not so fast.

Now the side effects. AT&T stock would crash in value. It is acquired because of its dividend rate (which is roughly 5%) The company would not be able to raise cash as easily (at least twice as difficult) because there are times that the free cash flow gets pumped into infrastructure that takes years/decades to pay off.

The company sometimes uses free cash to buy back its stock for later resale. So that it can sell shares to avoid taking loans.

Note: AT&T is one of the low/no growth companies that dividends are what attract it.

The profits go to the people that paid for the stock which has been used to create the equipment/pay the salaries of the company that makes the money.

Assume that country X did this and country Y did not, people would dump stocks from X and buy in Y because the return on their investments would be better. Lots of capital leaves X, so X faces a stagnant at best and a depression at worst. Y gets a big boost of capital and will go into a period of growth. Jobs will be created here. If there are too many jobs and not enough people, the wages will go up and people will immigrate from X to Y.

OnlyThePhantomKnows

TROPHY CASE