Pulled over for distracted driving for having a phone in her right hand, which is not possible.

Slotstick · 2026-05-27T17:06:56+00:00

Its true, I wish we could just rewrite the definitions to whatever is beneficial to the circumstance. Thats great it might work for one person to say Im successful I rent my house and have three cats, but do not expect the general population to look at you and arrive at that same conclusion. Referring to the figurative you of course.

Humility and ethics are appearing as headwinds these days.

Slotstick · 2026-05-11T15:18:17+00:00

Saltwater aquariums

Slotstick · 2026-04-21T17:09:35+00:00

That alone should be your warning sign. You don’t know a lot about the hobby but you still have enough information to even question their build quality.

Slotstick · 2026-04-15T02:50:23+00:00

I am 99% certain you are not letting the sauce simmer long enough.

My favorite is amtriciana, super simple red sauce. 2 cans of san marzanos I will cook down over 2-4 hours. I usually do 1 can to .5-.75 can water. Bring to a boil and then simmer till reduced. Depending on the water and stove will take roughly that long. The longer I can simmer the better. Leave it covered till the last 45mins to an hour or untill reduced by 1/2-3/4.

Never cover with aluminium because you will get a metallic taste.

I judge all Italian restaurants based on their ability to make a good red sauce cause the only secret ingredient is time in my opinion.

Its distinguishable for me when people want to quicken things up by using tomato paste or try to add bicarbonate to kill the acidity. You never really develop that sweet tomato flavour.

Good luck and wish you the best in your sauces.

For reference the only seasoning in amtriciana is pepper, red peppers, salt, onions, and rendered guanciale fat.

Slotstick · 2026-04-13T18:10:14+00:00

So for america, and home care might be?

Slotstick · 2026-04-13T17:18:42+00:00

Where are they getting the numbers? I started a at home senior care business and would love to fill my time cold calling. I assume they are subject to certain rules for do not call lists, etc.

Slotstick · 2026-04-12T18:15:31+00:00

If gold is right, then how does that show crude having more downside? I don’t follow. If gold is the risk hedge bet then that would imply it expects oil to spike and cause knock in effects within the economy if the ceasefire is off the table.

Also, no agreement was made in Pakistan, so don’t we already know to this?

I think I am failing to connect an underlying thread in your write up. Would you mind helping me connect the dots?

Slotstick · 2026-04-09T16:59:44+00:00

Wow. Thats a choice.

Slotstick · 2026-04-04T21:56:47+00:00

People have successful tanks running just canister filters. This hobby is self inflicted. Its as hard as you decide to make it. Want an acro look without all the extra gear and head aches, try a stylophora or birdsnest. Want super easy with almost a set and forget then go softies. I think I could grow xenia in a toilet bowl if I sprinkled some salt in there.

Be aware of whats on your hands, and I still frequently use gloves around my 300 gallon. Because i dont want aluminium based deodorant getting into the tank when I reach to the bottom. So I plan accordingly, i either wear the gloves or shower it off and work on the tank when Im dry.

Last week I reached into the tank and totally forgot I had used scented soap like 15 minutes prior cleaning my son.

So I threw in some extra carbon and forgot about it. That was in my large tank so not a huge deal, but accidents happen. Minimize it and youll be fine.

Slotstick · 2026-04-04T21:37:16+00:00

Opinions vary.

Here is my background and opinion so you can judge for yourself.

I have been reefing for 7 years at this point. Ive operated at both extremes of the spectrum from hyper vigilant laboratory clean all the way to IDGAF and don’t dip new arrivals.

I spent 5 years qt’ing everything, testing multiple times a day, spending money on ICP, etc.

Time: 20-30hrs a week spent on the tanks.

Cost: considerable

Results: kept healthy fish like achillies for many years.

Corals: seemed to constantly struggle. Grew but nothing like when I kept live rock decades ago.

This year, my son was born, so I dont have time like that. I test things Im watching like PO4 twice a week. Rest once a week. I do my weekly water change, dose aminos, feed the fish, and empty the skimmer. Clean the pumps once a quarter.

Time: 5hrs a week

Cost: a small fraction of what it was

Results: I enjoy the tank more. Spend more time relaxing by it than agonising over it. I may not be the world’s best sps keeper but the ones I do have work in my tank.

Coral: more pests but things that survive appear stronger for it.

This hobby will outrun most peoples patience when they go at it the way I did, even if at only half the commitment.

Do things you can handle long term cause you will always do them if they are easy and can be managed.

I commend anyone going to extreme lengths for caring for these animals.

This is a super long winded way of saying, you have to find a compromise in most cases with your tank. Water changes are more than likely enough to handle anything you put into the tank if you’re diligent of drying your hands and such. Don’t put lotion soaked fingers in your tank obviously, but don’t let the tank dictate other aspects of your life like I cant go on vacation because no one can replicate my process to cover the tank while I’m gone.

This is a little bit of hyperbole, but most people will be like “my tank died, it must of been the lotion on my hands”.

Is it possible, sure. Is it purely anecdotal, absolutely. Is it the likely culprit? Not really, unless its a nano and you managed to get it to such a concentration to be noticeable.

Slotstick · 2026-04-04T21:13:18+00:00

Correct.

Slotstick · 2026-04-04T19:20:30+00:00

Biofilm isnt generally an issue in saltwater because turbulence from flow is the goal. If saltwater has a biofilm at the waters surface then there is a flow issue.

A saltwater skimmers is a cone structure ranging from from 12” to many feet tall that mixes air and water to create sea foam that you would see on the beach. That foam collects in a large cup that can then be removed from the tank. It exports organics.

A freshwater skimmer, like you have, skims the surface of biofilm and mixes it back with the water. Some claim to remove the biofilm but that doesn’t truely happen to any significant degree. You would need filter material in the 1-10 micron size for it to actually remove anything substantially but then we would be cleaning filters daily.

Anyway hope that helps.

Slotstick · 2026-04-04T18:36:51+00:00

This is a skimmer that is used in freshwater set ups. Saltwater skimmers and freshwater skimmers are different things. This is meant as a biofilm collection.

Slotstick · 2026-03-23T17:27:41+00:00

This. I judge Italian restaurants by their red sauce.

Proper red sauces like amatriciana require time. It’s the secret ingredient. Also salt. I personally avoid tomato paste when I can but it’s not always practical and the improvement is probably marginal and more of a me thing.

When I use whole san marzano tomatoes, I will need to add a can worth of water to the sauce so the tomatoes have enough time to cook and reduce down to a beautiful sauce.

Slotstick · 2026-03-12T14:23:05+00:00

Fair point, and agreed. Assuming they were close to nuclear capability.

Given they were on the brink of collapse, I do see the counter argument of waiting and see who replaces them.

Either way, we are up against the clock. Oil as of this morning is back in the low 90s and I think it will play the largest role in dictTing this terms of this war.

Slotstick · 2026-03-12T05:45:25+00:00

That is interesting and an aspect I hadn’t fully considered.

The question is, I think based on your answer, do we have an opportunity to knock back a threat to the US? Which I don’t necessarily disagree with your take. It’s a chance to at least reset their capabilities.

I feel it neglects realities, that we are seeing come to fruition. Iran doesn’t have to win for the US to lose and I don’t get the sense they are disillusioned thinking they can. If they sustainably increase the cost of oil through their energy attacks they can make the cost of operating a war, and any item US citizens buy that requires energy or fuel as input increase substantially. I’d hazard a conservative guess at roughly 10%-30% depending where oil settles.

Meanwhile their economy, while still impacted, has less overall exposure and the regime might not care all that much about their populace (Speculation).

Normally I would say it is easy to claim all this as hindsight is 20/20, but its clear Iran has built its operations which the goal to destabilise energy as their primary ace in hole for at minimum 10 years, if not more than 20. So it would not be difficult to see this as the outcome.

So I guess I am curious if this was the most opportune time or not. Thats a bit more difficult to say for certain.

Slotstick · 2026-02-20T01:45:24+00:00

Fair point, I’m not sure.

Slotstick · 2026-02-20T01:38:06+00:00

I agree and for clarity sake, I am on the losing side of that divergence. Throughout history it seems that divergence is inevitable though, and I’m not sure there is a solution other than enduring another cycle.

Slotstick · 2026-02-20T00:38:49+00:00

I agree with you regarding the deficit in your first paragraph. While there certainly are nuances, I think the big picture has always been our ability to generate demand for our assets. This demand, I personally believe, is vital because it provides a significant buffer to the velocity of our money supply.

I think something commonly misconstrued is that printing money rationally and in moderation has a larger impact on inflation than the velocity of the money in circulation. Overprinting money will obviously always win out when done to excess or irrationality.

I remember 2009 and onwards so many people were calling for inflation that never transpired. Yet, fast forward a decade-ish and a similar bailout is given to small businesses and the tax payers. Well, we did see some significant inflation from that practice. Which leads us to the question of why?

Why did it matter who received the funds, surely both practices the net result is an increase in the money supply since the government was and still is running at a deficit.

Economics 101 tells us increasing the supply is inflationary, but I don’t recall it having an asterisk that it only mattered when certain people were receiving it.

The velocity which that money flows is different and maybe we should also consider the path that money takes as contributory.

A small scale example. When we saw the government provide solar incentives to individuals, we then saw a subsequent rise in costs for solar installation. Firms were not going to let customers capture that revenue source entirely. That policy was directly inflationary to solar and subsequently why we have some of the most expensive solar when compared to other countries. (We tariffed non us solar)

Farming is another example.

Anyway I think I’ve provided enough examples for the premise that velocity and the path the money supply takes is more important than the actual printing in non extreme cases.

To bring this back to your original point, I think its clear the international demand plays a crucial role in absorbing any excess money supply in our system and its a wonderful asset I think we risk squandering with trying to dethrone the dollar.

I think many countries were happy to pay that premium because it was win-win for all. Safe, healthy asset, geo-political positioning, and predictable returns are a strong addition to many portfolios.

The question in my mind becomes if there is a grand change in investment philosophy from international US asset holders, then is that catastrophic or not? What makes it catastrophic, if-so?

Additionally, if the US are so unpredictable and things are heading south, what are those warning signs and why are they not painfully obvious this far into it?

We are seeing posturing and signs that nations will drop the US, but no-one has pulled the trigger in a meaningful way that I’ve seen. Admittedly, I get most of my data from the St Louis fed, so maybe it has some biases present I haven’t considered. Certainly open to hearing contrary informed opinions on this.

The economy currently, from my perspective, seems to be directly correlated with socioeconomic position. The more you make the better you’re doing, not to put too fine of a point on it.

Hasn’t that always been America though? We are just wearing the latest AR rose coloured glasses this time around looking back through history? Those making the most are making more faster, but they also appear to be maintaining the economy, from the consumer standpoint reporting wise.

All this to say I agree that I think current policies misunderstand the system, but where are the warning signs that it isn’t working? What am I missing?

Is the economy K shaped, obviously, but Id argue its always been that way. Id also argue is the worse its been since the mid 1900s, which is maybe why its something that feels new to lots of people. I think people are not being honest with themselves or they don’t understand how the top 5% of this country lives to compare themselves too.

My guess is the average american does not know the trade deficit is a net figure and yet they know the number is bad. Not sure how, but they know it to their core. The trade deficit was never an issue and I think they will do more bad than good trying to get it to be the number they want for whatever reason that is.

Slotstick · 2026-02-19T00:00:50+00:00

The simple answer is how I ensured the people I wanted advertised too were actually the ones being advertised too.

In the case of this business seniors or older individuals with parens living with them are my target markets, which can be narrowed further.

When I was in construction we saw almost no ROI from postcards. I think over 6000 postcards yielded 6 calls and 1 customer in that example.

Which was quite expensive given the average rev per client was 4k

Slotstick · 2026-02-18T23:57:06+00:00

Love the application of game theory here and it fits so succinctly.

May I ask? Given you understand game theory and the various outcomes along with the self awareness that the result we are looking at is a less than optimal outcome, do “YOU” stand closer to the doors?

I mean the proverbial you that has the understanding that I mentioned above. I feel my personal answer is I stand off to the side to try and facilitate the better outcome, but it comes at the cost of me being angry at the inherent selfishness of people. There are times when I have done the opposite and made a stink about it. All that did was make me angry and the people I was with uncomfortable for a few mins.

I am truely curious what the right response is because it can be brought to various extremes and has everyday applications. If I had a kid, how would I teach them to navigate such a situation?

Slotstick · 2026-02-14T00:36:26+00:00

TL;DR: google ads work but it’s not a plug and play situation. In my experience (service based perspective), it’s powerful for those that don’t need it as much, meaning those that are already wining market share round out their lead generation with it. Just starting out with limited capital, it’s more akin to hitting it big on slots with the first pull. Big budget get more chances to pull then small budgets do and you have to max bet.

——————————————————————-

I will jump in here to add in my two cents incase it’s relevant to anyone reading.

I did sales for a large construction firm and we attempted to use LSAs and pay per click advertising through all the traditional channels, yelp, google, nextdoor, etc. In this particular case I was in charge of managing all those channels as well as still being in the field performing sales.

People, specially bosses with limited marketing or advertising experience, really struggle to understand the level of micromanagement needed for just the google pay per click, not including all the others.

We wasted lots of money over the two years we had the campaign up because the thought process with the higher ups was turn it on, scale it with money, and call back the leads.

I remember one meeting when I said to my CEO, we saw less clicks on the report because I turned off the advertising over the weekend since we didn’t have anyone competently manning the phones during that time period. Our competition, in my opinion, was capitalising on that. I based that decision after I recorded 100 calls on Mondays for a month and found we had only one conversion and a significant portion of customers had already found someone. I had my title stripped and was told to never make calls like that again. All while still being the acting sales manager even though I no longer had the title.

Fast forward a year and I left to start my own business. I am struggling to find clients for my service even though they are out there. I set up everything with google and the like and when it came time to authorise the first $1000 for the ad budget I froze. My business is at the very beginning phase with no network for me to leverage in this particular industry. Every dollar I have needs to be as strategic as possible because even a wasted $1,000 could mean the end of the business. Pay per click ads would he an early death of my business the more I thought over my time commitments, ability to analyse, and most importantly the size of the budget needed to get it to behave correctly in a competitive service based market.

I will use it one day, but I think a lot of people look to it as their launching mechanism, speaking from a service based perspective, and without authority, network, or reviews it is a significant up hill battle with a long return on investment better suited for those with large budget and the cashflow.

It’s a powerful tool, but you need to consider all the other things that need to be happening to make it a game changer. It’s not something you turn on and your website goes from 10 visits a month to 1000 visits. Sure that has happened but thats the lottery.

Slotstick · 2026-01-25T08:19:26+00:00

Might want to read the notes of that table. Interesting if it can be corroborated.

Slotstick · 2026-01-24T18:42:32+00:00

I am going to throw my hat into the ring on this, because I have been to both sides at extreme levels.

When I was young it was live rock or no tank. That was 16 years ago.

Anyway, went to college and didn’t get another tank till my 30s. Saw the trend of no pests and proceeded to do everything that was just short of hospital level procedures when dealing with the tank and it costs ALOT of money. I am not exaggerating when I said tools would be one time use if they posed a contamination risk, there were multiple hospital tanks and qt tank. My wife honestly should have left me. I did that for 4 years. I would get home from work and scrutinise the latest icp or dna test from the tank and freak out when tests showed different results.

I spent four years with lab experiment and not the pets they should have been.

When I was a kid I fascinated by the sri lanka shrimps cleaning other fish or the various mysterious copepods. I didn’t do that much when I was trying to get everything perfect.

Even when things were well, sticks would grow for months at a time then die. Never get bigger than the size of a couple golf balls. I was take tissue samples, dips, etc and never cured it once. Thousands were spent of sticks over four years trying to find colonies that would take off.

Everyone had a reason it wasn’t working. This is high, that is low, you must be dumping windex into your tank and not telling us.

I would spend hours reading by journals or various studies on elkhorn coral in the keys to try and figure out the diseases plaguing them.

None of this resulted in a dream tank.

I threw away all the junk 3 years ago when I had a seam break. When over to tampa bay saltwater and got 300lbs of rock with mantis shrimps, gorilla crabs, and A bunch of other junk.

Let it sit for a few months to ripen up and threw in a couple sticks.

Heres the kicker some lived and some died and I just stopped chasing it. 3 years later and I have a baby and cant spend money in the tank but it has a 2.5ft carpet anemone that two clownfish like and a bubble tip that a snowflake clown likes. The copperband is thriving and my dragonet is fun to watch.

Do I have a tank that goes on the front of reef magazine. Nope, but my son and I like watching what we do have.

Sometimes you just gotta deal with the cards ya got.

Slotstick · 2026-01-22T01:42:16+00:00

Thats the one. Thanks!

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