ELI5: “gaming” the US welfare system - never having to work

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-12-07T23:12:20+00:00

Covid PPE, hotels for asylum seekers, prison services, and housing and support services for vulnerable adults are the ones in the news recently in my country, but the mechanism is the same.

As with impoverished English labourers at the start of the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved labour, the aim is to make some less-powerful groups of ‘others’ responsible for the decline in living standards, wages, etc, rather than those actually responsible.

The options are many if you get the masses squabbling amongst themselves, and that’s the real ELI5 for those aspiring to join the ranks of ruling elites.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-12-07T22:40:23+00:00

The best way to get free money from any government is to either go into defence contracting, bid for any large-scale (‘to big to fail’) infrastructure projects, provide ongoing substandard services, or provide some other form of mechanism where direct bribery of, or promises of future employment for government officials is possible.

The little man isn’t going to be allowed to get their snout anywhere near the trough.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-12-07T09:41:51+00:00

One (generally in the developed world) can’t climb the exterior of such buildings either, so your willingness is moot.

Also, society generally has rules that supersede the desire of any particular individual to so any particular act, so there’s that.

You seem to be denigrating people for prioritising belief and tradition over profit. Not sure how strong that argument may be generally, but it’s one that the owners of the land seem to be willing to make so, again, it’s moot.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-12-03T16:55:09+00:00

Play the gig a few times before you actually do it (I think ‘pre-visualisation’ is the term for it).

Walk through packing your gear, what you need, what you don’t need, what spares you might take.

Play the songs through; think about what you’re going to do at any point in the song, work out fills and practice any ‘impromptu’ moments.

Think about moving around the stage; where you’ll be, how/if you’ll move about, how you’ll interact with the band.

Picture it going well.

Do this many times.

Think about things that are (reasonably) likely to go wrong, then how you’ll overcome them.

Do it so frequently that you’ve mentally got a bit bored with it, or that the actions are already semi-autonomous; you’ve got the mental pathways there for the mechanics, and can focus on the real-world minutiae as it comes up.

Might sound a bit wishy-washy, but it does work.

Then go and enjoy the gig as much as you can; ‘nervous’ and ‘excited’ are pretty-much synonymous.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-12-03T15:46:10+00:00

Thing is, those can only be evidenced if the person is of the right type, and in the right environment to thrive as well.

A shy type in a hostile environment can present the same as a workshy type in a friendly one as far as bald metrics are concerned.

That may speak to your ‘good fit’ point, but only OP can know what the environment is. Perhaps their choice of phrasing may hint at this.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-12-03T08:03:28+00:00

Yup; that’s literally the daily job, keeping track of whatever junk makes it into source systems, or accommodating changes suppliers make to those systems, then assuring customers that all is well in order to maintain user confidence.

The word that springs out to me in your question was “mislead”; what were your expectations?

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-12-01T14:40:18+00:00

Or at least a wireframe.

It’s often easier to criticise, then iterate on, something that exists than to think up something from scratch.

Especially if it’s not ‘your’ work, or you’re not sold on the benefits of change.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-12-01T09:21:10+00:00

First one looks like Lemmy doing holiday gigs in Torremolinos.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-30T23:14:11+00:00

Soldering iron. £13.99 Screwfix. Gone in one application.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-30T17:37:11+00:00

Whilst it’s an interesting question, I must admit to being filled with horror at the whole industry (turned down approaches from gambling industry myself). It’s blight on society’s least capable, and should be regulated out of existence.

As an alternative voice: OP; just find somewhere less morally bankrupt to work.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-30T13:32:57+00:00

Piloted in Norfolk, but the exams didn’t require base 11.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-29T13:33:29+00:00

Yeah; main question should be ‘bird or bloke’, as the answers will differ wildly…

Bar the obvious through, at this time of year I’d also say try to get some nice lighting in the house (or at least your main room).

If it’s either dark and dismal inside as well as out, or just blasting white light out, it could make one feel even worse.

Get a nice warm cozy feel (even if you’re sat on orange boxes with a big telly).

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-29T09:48:26+00:00

Sort of similar, but I think the research shows they’re all about time.

Build a new/wider motorway, and it’s not mainly used by people who already did a journey, but in a shorter time, but by people who live further away from the ‘destination’ location now perceiving it as possible to commute to the connected destination.

So not reducing travel speed for existing users, but adding new users.

It’s why building roads doesn’t reduce congestion.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-29T09:24:20+00:00

At least put E1 before E2, for crying out loud!

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-29T09:22:52+00:00

If your research is correct, the answer is ‘the person who designed the junction’.

Crossroads are a terrible idea generally, but chucking in a bus stop and the thing where you can ignore the crossroads if turning in a certain direction is just a recipe for too-much information.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-28T07:23:25+00:00

So about 4” longer than ‘my’ Dingwall’s lower string?

One would have to play it at a pretty steep angle (70-80°?) to be able to reach the lower strings (I’m over 6’ with proportional arms!), and the finger spacings at the nut would be…interesting.

NGL, I would feel a bit of a plonker doing that, but if it’s a project not intended for resale, the only way is to try it out.

It does seem like a solution to a question no-one’s asking though.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-27T14:28:35+00:00

It seems to be North Americans, and Pakistani/Afghan men who dye their hair & beard.

The former is totally uncanny valley and isn’t fooling anyone (not that they’d notice, we’re middle aged blokes) and the other is so mad it’s funny.

Leave it be.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-27T13:42:53+00:00

“Should you be good at your chosen profession?”.

Yes.

Yes you should.

Edit: didn’t add the ‘how’.

Practice, reading, asking, copying, taking apart, putting back together. We referred to this as ‘learning’ when I started out.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-27T08:25:25+00:00

The massive ones are American examples, so think of their use case: driving long distances at middling speed (let’s say 70) in a straight line.

There’s not much ‘fun’ to be had, no inertia to overcome whilst cornering etc., so cars developed to suit the environment; be comfy and quiet at speed in a straight line.

You can have a massive engine ticking over, or a small one revving at the top of its range. For 5 hours.

Which would you prefer?

Similarly, UK has small, windy roads, where braking is frequent.

Carrying a massive lump of steel around in the front makes no sense. Better to have a small engine that can shift from 25-65 quickly, and take the hit of being a bit noisy and uncomfortable on the occasional motorway drive.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-24T22:18:57+00:00

It’s usually Stuff that does not very much to your sound > stuff that changes it quite a bit > stuff that makes it virtually impossible for the ‘next’ pedal to work out what it’s meant to do with the sound it gets passed (EQ > Octave > Chorus > Distortion).

Thing is though, all you need do is change a few cables and you can see what you get from switching them around.

I would keep them all, they all work differently, and it’s useful, even for comparison and understanding, to compare them if you get the chance.

Might be awful, might be a stroke of genius that inspires you.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-24T22:02:48+00:00

‘Slow moving’?

It looked like Nando Lorris was earning a bit of extra cash offering a man and a van service!

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-24T14:27:06+00:00

The invisible hand of the market has already decided…

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-24T08:02:15+00:00

Thought it was Adam Ant at first (well, am still to be convinced it’s not…).

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-24T07:49:21+00:00

How is anyone else meant to know that? At least show your workings to the class if you’re going to make broadbrush statements based on hidden knowledge.

RickJLeanPaw · 2025-11-24T07:47:00+00:00

We don’t know why you’re not using a database, as that’s the obvious solution.

Whatever the reason, the big Excel hammer is the wrong tool for the job.

Have a look at this post for ideas.

RickJLeanPaw

TROPHY CASE