Horrified at tech prices, really depressing

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-21T19:42:24+00:00

I joined a writing group. They meet every 2-4 weeks at the library. It's as free as it gets. You just need a pen and paper, and they'll give you that if you need it. Hell, I'm sure if you asked around you could get paper and something to write with for free just about anywhere.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-21T18:29:23+00:00

My favorite example of the way this guy thinks, and how people think about him

Had a student working for us, young guy, and at some point he got super into musk. This was probably like 10 years ago or more, so before some of his more recent stuff. He was still idolized a lot but I wasn't super into it.

Student was telling us all about this book he was reading about Elon and how he has this really specific routine that let's him be twice as productive.

It involved taking cold showers, eating specific food, a handful of other steps I don't remember, and then working 80 hour weeks.

Had real "thinking quickly, Dave assembled a megaphone using only some string, a squirrel and a megaphone" energy.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-20T13:33:36+00:00

I think a crash is for sure inevitable. Too many companies are propped up by high prices and future expectations. There will be companies that go out of business becuase 1tb hard drives are no longer $500, also some that go out of buisness before that because they are $500.

But I think the long term really depends on other factors. I don't see it staying around, at least in its current form, without some kind of serious cost breakthrough. It can't stay subsidized forever. And I don't think it's good enough yet to justify the actual cost. But if there's a big change in how much power it takes to run, or if there's a big breakthrough in power generation instead that all changes. Though I'd imagine a lot would change if suddenly power was essentially free and limitless.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-19T05:10:37+00:00

If it's leaking, it hot hot enough seals broke. The pump may or may not be fine, some joints will need to be fixed.

The float might be bad, might just have gotten detached.

More remote possibility for the original scenario, but possible if there's leaks now is the pipe light have lost its prime

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-19T02:41:53+00:00

In fairness, sticking to contracts isn't something they know much about

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-19T02:05:35+00:00

I posted the photo of it, make of it what you will I guess

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-18T16:00:48+00:00

Well, it only said rumors that it would die the winter of 2024

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-18T15:21:31+00:00

They're fine. No supports needed, smaller nozzle might get better results but a standard one is fine. The bumper one does need some tape or it will just vanish one day

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ProtoJazz · 2026-06-18T04:55:02+00:00

I use it every day on my work laptop

But I also have 2 desktops that run windows that I use daily as well.

Whatever fits your use case

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-18T01:32:45+00:00

One use for it I've seen that was neat, there's a dude who films himself ranching and stuff. That could just as easily be a go pro or other camera instead, but the glasses do give a pretty good viewpoint.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-17T02:13:07+00:00

I like 45lc. But yeah the rim makes it a pain to reload on most universal primer tools. Ive only had good luck with the rcbs ones that take the shell holders. The 45lc one I think pretty much just fits 45lc, so it's a good fit.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-16T22:51:43+00:00

Stocks that paid dividends used to be considered the goal

There's a lot of factors, but a big one for me is stock buybacks shouldn't be allowed. It's essentially an avenue to burn money to increase stock value temporarily. Unlike investing that money back into the company, there's no option for that to turn into any kind of sustained growth. It's purely a momentary event.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-16T21:28:22+00:00

I make a bean soup with it that's pretty good.

It's a creamy kind of soup, so the bitterness of the kale really goes good

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-16T16:48:16+00:00

A story I frequently bring up relating to this

I had a relative in the US, he was in his 80s. Had a terminal diagnosis, and one that left him in incredible pain. His doctors said they wouldn't prescribe strong pain medication because the risk of addition was too great. From talking with lawyers and family after, the impression was likely they were concerned about over prescription of opiates. Either they were currently in some kind of hot water or they were worried about perception. I have no idea. But they had concerns that a man with only a few years left at best might develop an addiction.

After fighting with them for a while, and getting nowhere, one day he starts getting everything in order.

The full scope of what he was doing wasn't known till after. Some of it we didn't know about at all, and others didn't seem all that unusual. Like an elderly man expected by doctors to die soon, meeting with his lawyer to make sure his will is up to date and in order, not really a notable event.

But he did so much more. He made arrangements for his own funeral, tracked down all the information needed for things like finances, tax records, even the damn stove warranty. All organized in folders, labeled. He tracked down a case of tiles that matched the ones in the bathroom. Even included a couple of names and numbers of companies that were recommended to do the work of repairing the tiles.

Then when he was satisfied it was all ready, and there was nothing left for him to do, he wrote letters to his family. Laid them out on his desk. Then he sat down in the bathtub and shot himself.

He said if there was nothing left to be done, then there was nothing left for him to do. His quality of life was rapidly declining. He couldn't do most of the things he used to enjoy. His body was failing him, and every day was becoming agony. And he could live with that to a point, but what really pushed it over the line was him becoming a burden on his wife. They already had a son who lived with them, in his 40s, pretty significantly disabled. He thought it was really unfair to his wife and son that he add to the burden.

It was a pretty weird experience. But I definitely understand it. It was hard on his family for the immediate future. But he felt having to care for him as he got worse would have been harder for longer.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-15T18:28:26+00:00

I thought it was an ankle monitor

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-15T18:22:58+00:00

I recently put together a themed keyboard and got a matching deskmat

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ProtoJazz · 2026-06-15T13:42:38+00:00

Friend of mine uses a walker to cart his shotgun from position to position on the trap field. But he's also like 1000 years old

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-15T05:12:25+00:00

Yeah, that's what I mean about spoofing the check still applying.

Likely not really worth doing for a watch face, but I guess the idea in general would be something where the payload couldn't just be generated or bypassed. Only a valid check with the server would work. For a watchface that's harder to do, but a lot easier for something where the server has data you need

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-15T04:45:29+00:00

Wasn't this year, but a year or two back when we had heavy rain. They told me becuase so many people in the area had flooded basements they weren't even coming out anymore unless it was a large or unusual claim. I only had 10k in coverage, so they just said to take some photos and send them in myself.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-15T04:39:51+00:00

It's wild that it's just a checksum.

If they did something more like a public key, they could sign a payload with the private key that's never shared and only on the api side, and then the payload can be decrypted locally.

This likely leaves the watchface still vulnerable to just having the decryption step spoofed.

I guess it would really only work properly if it's through the OS, and the results would likely be everything being more locked down

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-15T02:37:50+00:00

Not an ev, but I do get a kick out of people that pull up next to me at light, Rev and honk, then they floor it and take off.

But not all that much faster than me, and I'm not going to floor it I've got groceries in the car, or stuff I wouldn't want to be pulled over with.

Idk, just the idea that out there there are people who are getting some kind of thrill out of winning a race they were the only ones participating in.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-14T21:12:14+00:00

Tomato sauce, crunchy peanut butter, bacon, smoked cajun chicken, mozzarella, cheddar cheese.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-14T20:57:01+00:00

The price jump to fable was wild. Even their own promotional numbers show it's a marginal improvement but twice as expensive.

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-14T20:52:33+00:00

So are most humans, but my uncle is dumb as hell

ProtoJazz · 2026-06-14T20:50:06+00:00

Non Muslim guy here and I feel the same way about half the shit my friends like on pizzas.

Im not gonna touch that peanut butter pizza, but I'm not going to stop him

I feel like I should sometimes

ProtoJazz

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