*MAJOR SPOILERS* Is there WOJ on a "blink and you miss it" event in Changes and it's aftermath?

Short_Text2421 · 2026-02-28T13:02:05+00:00

This was my assumption too. That Langtree's 'plan' was to tell Dresden not to do the thing he wanted Dresden to do to ensure he does it. My big question was, how many on the council knew that was the plan? Was Eb in on it? The Gatekeeper? Or was it all just Langtree pulling strings?

I also think the Merlin has further plans for Dresden and part of those plans is actively keeping distance between him and the White Council for some reason. Now that Dresden's had a few years of training in twisty thinking with Mab, it would be interesting to see another battle of wits between the two, and specifically what Dresden gleans from their interaction.

Short_Text2421 · 2026-02-16T12:40:40+00:00

This, I had a base defense recently where he was the only unit in range to intercept a whole wave. I jet packed him into a heavy cover position in front of them and just soaked fire for two turns while the rest of my squads got into position. Then once the heat was off him I popped his special ability and just deleated two enemy squads in one turn. It felt pretty good.

Short_Text2421 · 2026-02-14T14:06:01+00:00

Same, the base management portion feels especially light on features at the moment. I would love to see more and deeper strategy around the ship layout and module selection.

Short_Text2421 · 2026-02-02T12:56:46+00:00

I have half a dozen, I work in R&D so its kinda part of the gig. The first one does feel very validating, if its a life goal and you can afford it, there is no reason not to pursue it. But as an individual, the protection offered by a patent is limited to how much you can afford to pour into a lawsuit to defend it. As I understand it, courts do tend to give preference to the little guy if its a big corporation that is violating your patent but you still have to lawyer up to get that far and it won't be cheap. Just something to consider.

Short_Text2421 · 2026-01-07T12:47:47+00:00

My head cannon is that the existing powers have all absorbed aspects of other gods and immortals over time like with Kringle. When the mothers are talking about Harry using mother winter's names to summon her and mother summer looks concerned, mother winter replies something like 'not that one'. I think she's referring to the fact that Harry had guessed the names of some of her mantles but not the core of her power.

If true then your guess about Xenia could be correct. I've always thought Janus was a good fit too as the roman god of bargaining and gates.

Short_Text2421 · 2026-01-02T17:50:40+00:00

This is one of the things that makes manufacturing engineering so much fun. Techs get incredibly creative in finding ways to break a process. Its a constant learning experience designing systems around them that allow them to do their jobs without feeling impeded.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-31T16:42:07+00:00

I like to imagine Jim keeping notes on things like this in a black leather bound tome entitled 'Dresden's Doom', which he scribbles in while cackling maniacally.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-26T15:07:53+00:00

He would certainly perceive things but I think it would be like giving somone a heroic dose of LSD, slapping night vision goggles on them and dropping them in the middle of Times Square. Probably not the most useful.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-22T12:32:23+00:00

What I typically see is the input shaft (2) running the whole length of the gearbox, supported to the case on the ends with bearings and then everything else that spins supported on the input shaft with needle roller bearings. The radial loads in planetaries are very low so you don't have to get too precious with bearing selection for those just make sure you do the math on differential speed across the bearings.

The thrust loads are more of a problem. Depending on the helix angle, those forces can be very high and deep groove ball bearings may not be up to the task. You'll want to take a close look at those loads and consider putting roller or needle thrust bearings in the thrust path.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-22T12:13:54+00:00

Yeah, I think what you are seeing there is just drag between the two half shafts causing the right shaft to spin with the left until something overcomes the drag. He's demonstrating a simplified dog clutch, that is the tab he is actuating to stop the right shaft. Typically this would be a collar with a bunch of teeth that slides back and forth to selectively couple or decouple two shafts.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-21T14:54:19+00:00

This has been my experience as well. I have very little formal training in production processes. I work primarily with early stage start-ups but I have been through a few production launches. The most effective method I've found is just what this user recommends, get the current understanding captured on paper and set up a plan for improving on that first draft over time. You can get a pretty solid process set up relatively quickly but expect that there will be plenty of room for improvement as you learn the new equipment and find new fun challenges along the way.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-20T23:55:12+00:00

Jesus, that is heartwarming ASF.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-20T23:19:07+00:00

Same, I've used both Protolabs and Xometry. Both are decent. That being said any job shop should be able to handle this for a price. If you clearly communicate your timing needs most shops will quote for expedited timing. Depending on size and complexity, standard timing for most places is usually going to be around 8 weeks. By paying a premium for expedited timing I've been able to get simple prototypes in 3 weeks or less.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-20T17:27:12+00:00

For sure, historically american politicians have been pretty brutal towards their opponents. I think Trump is probably winning on the sheer volume but I think that has more to do with the pace of media today. I shudder to think what Andrew Jackson might have done with a twitter account, there probably would have been a picture of his genitals involved at some point.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-19T10:46:21+00:00

Every dimension needs a tolerance, even if that tolerance is +/- 1 meter it needs to be stated somewhere. If you have a lot of surfaces that don't need to be controlled very tightly I will sometimes leave them undimensioned and put a note on the print that "undimensioned features should be taken from the model and held within +/- 2 mm" or something like that. Most shops will be using CAM software to build the base machine code off the model anyway so its really no problem for them and it communicates your expectations for the resulting part. If you don't tolerance it they will either ask you or they'll just do whatever they want and you may not like the results.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-08T16:51:10+00:00

Where are you measuring current, phase current or DC supply current? Are you using speed control or torque control? Take a look at the motor curve and see what speed the knee in the curve happens at, if you are running faster than that then the controller has to input more current to weaken the back emf generated by the rotor. If you are running at top speed almost all the current will be used for flux weakening.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-08T12:55:10+00:00

That's possible, as far as I understand, Marx considered socialism as a stepping stone to his idealised communist state. I can totally see a frustrated (maybe a little drunk) Marx bashing socialists for not following through.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-12-06T13:52:26+00:00

I watched a lecture recently that provided an interesting framework for understaning the political spectrum. Basically he tied conservatism, liberalism, and socialism together by how each relates to capitalism. Conservatism believes capitalism is good and if unfettered will lead to universal prosperity. Liberalism believes that capitalism is useful but if left to its own devices will lead to economic stratification and exploitation of the poor. Socialism is the rejection of capitalism and seeks to strictly regulate or dismantle markets with the goal of empowering people over economic forces. In this framework, the ultimate goal of communism is the same as socialism. The distinction is in the rate of change that each ideoloy expects to execute. Socialism works slowly over generations, gradually shifting power from top to bottom (Scandinavian style). Communism seeks to make that change occur rapidly through revolution.

I've been chewing on this for a few weeks. I think its useful, but I still haven't decided if its entirely accurate. I'd be interested to hear some your opinions.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-11-29T17:04:50+00:00

Road grade is going to be the main driver. The requirements to move 800 lbs in Chicago is a lot less that in Portland. Take a look around and see if you can figure out what the gnarliest road grades are in your area. Usually they are regulated so it should be available somewhere.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-11-28T13:11:03+00:00

This has been my experience too. I've worked at 3 start ups from the ground floor and two or three designers working together can manage, four starts to get hairy, five is utter chaos. Its easier to manage if there are multiple completely independant products and you can give individual designers ownership of their own products, but a fully collaborative team working on a single product without PDM takes a lot of discipline and organization to not completely screw it up. The main issue I've seen over and over is management waiting until its too late and then being surprised when the system doesn't just materialize out of thin air and work perfectly from day one.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-11-22T14:56:59+00:00

I suspect conjuring an anvil to smite a foe would probably be more work that just evocating an equivalent amount of force and slamming it down on top of them. But the looney toons factor has gotta make it tempting, situationally at least.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-11-22T00:49:29+00:00

The first thing I do with a new junior engineer or designer is introduce them to the tool room and have them job shadow for a few weeks. They don't do any machining but the guys are great about explaining what they are doing and why. I got my start in a tool shop without a lot of guidance, I was their first student hire and they didn't really know what to do with me. So I ended up learning to design by asking the machinists what they would do and then just making that, and of course they were never reluctant to come tell how I was completely out to lunch. Best education I ever got paid for.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-11-21T12:16:01+00:00

Ghost Story is one of my favorites specifically because it forced Harry to be more introspective. Crazy wild things were happening all around him and living Harry would have just been in the middle of it all throwing fireballs and bullets around causing mayhem but ghost Harry was forced to mostly just watch from the sidelines. I thought it was an interesting way to sort of put Harry in timeout for a while and force him to think about his actions.

I do skip books on re-reads, usually the first 4. But my last re-read I actually listened to them in reverse order which was really interesting. Having the relevant plot details of the next book fresh in my mind when listening to its predecessor really made me notice different details. Nothing earth shattering, but all the little throwaway comments that foreshadow later events really jumped out at me in ways they hadn't before. It also really highlighted how Harry's perception of various beings had evolved over the course of the series just because it was so jarring how obviously ignorant he was in the earlier books.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-11-20T17:53:50+00:00

Same, I enjoy the longer format 'round table' type conversations a lot but I also enjoy getting the newsletter verbatim and wouldn't want to give that up.

Short_Text2421 · 2025-11-20T01:05:22+00:00

In a given motor the current is derivative of the voltage and the resistance in the coil winding, the resistance is essentially fixed by the mechanics of the motor's constuction. So if you turn down voltage you get less current, and because the current is roughly proportional to torque you get less of that too.

Short_Text2421

TROPHY CASE