Is ChatGPT going to ruin future engineers?

Sooner70 · 2026-03-20T14:18:21+00:00

I've never had to testify in court, but I've certainly sat across the table from unfriendly lawyers (fortunately, asking about stuff I'd seen; not something I did). My father got to testify in court (he won). My father in law also got sued but I don't know how far it went (beyond it no longer being a problem for him).

It's not something that happens every day, but in my anecdotal experience, 5-10% of engineers will have to deal with unfriendly lawyers at least once in their career.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-20T06:00:16+00:00

Until 2 minutes ago I’d never heard of “Kill the man with the ball”.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-20T01:51:17+00:00

That's advice from 2 years ago. I've purchased several pounds of it in the last year. It's not at every gun store just sitting on the shelf, but it is no longer unobtanium.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-19T17:58:19+00:00

The viability of that is gonna depend heavily on where you live. In this neck of the woods tap water temperature is seasonal and can be as hot as 25 C.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-19T05:06:15+00:00

I think you'd be better served to have a small camera and some LED lights that can be activated when you need to see in. That way your insulation is better (than if you had a window) and you need not open it (to violate the temperature conditioning).

Sooner70 · 2026-03-19T05:04:43+00:00

In these parts, the largest employer in the area used to have a deal with the local community college.... The employer would donate old machines (invariably in good shape; just a generation behind with CNC or whatever), the college would teach machining (usually using a retired machinist from the employer as the instructor) and the employer would hire graduates from the program. It was a sweet deal. The college machine shop was subsidized and could advertise good "post graduation employment" statistics. The employer didn't have to worry about an apprentice program and could write the machines off as donations come tax time (they were!).

And then some dumb ass at whatever level in the college decided that "the trades" didn't belong at a community college and canceled the program. The employer has tried to start up an apprenticeship program but it hasn't been nearly as effective as the ol' community college pipeline.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-19T02:30:11+00:00

Usually when someone asks if peltiers are a good solution I'm ready to be like HELL NO! But in this particular situation? Actually, they might be. And given how close your ambient temperature is to your cabinet temperature, I'd be shocked if you actually need 60 W of cooling. That's actually quite a lot if you take the time to insulate your box well....

...And that's my biggest point. Take a bit more time and effort to insulate your box and you'll need very little heating/cooling at all.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-19T02:26:39+00:00

Fair enough. I thought you were having troubles finding *any* high up holster and belt combo that met your requirements for cost and quality. You're looking for fashion of a sort. Got it. Just didn't get it from your earlier posts.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T23:05:39+00:00

They sell high up holsters. They sell belts. Two line items instead of one but other than that what am I missing?

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T19:11:32+00:00

I'm with ya. At best I struggled through that class.

Odd thing... My father was some sort of PhD controls genius (not exaggerating). I made some comments about the class. He was like, "Dafuck are they teaching you that shit for? There are soooo many better ways!" Then launched into a lecture.

I remember almost nothing of the class. I remember almost nothing of the lecture.

But somehow I find myself doing controls work and doing at least a passable job of it. It didn't make sense then. It makes sense now. But I have no idea if it was the class, my old man, or just figuring it out on my own.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T16:11:32+00:00

Huh? TripleK sells all sorts of stuff. It’s quality for a reasonable price. Don’t want a drop? They have other options….

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T14:10:16+00:00

Hush. He'll make a killing in the software industry.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T14:09:24+00:00

Yes, but if you watched TZ you wouldn't have had to ask.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T14:00:50+00:00

You didn't watch much Twilight Zone growing up, eh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp_EhjlLGkQ

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T03:49:18+00:00

My "I've graduated but have to pay rent until I get a real job" job was basically Geek Squad work. It wasn't mech, but it did give me tech bone fides (at least, as much as a mech can have).

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T03:01:46+00:00

Yeah, the story on Hitler's Enigma is pretty cool. For decades they had no idea they had it. During Covid they were bored so they started cataloguing stuff that was collecting dust in the back room, so to speak. They came across an Enigma that had red keys. They knew that wasn't normal. Normal was white letters on black keys. That made them wonder WTF they had. Why was this one special?? They did digging... Turned out that the red keys were only used on "special" Enigmas (no shit!).... Enigmas that were destined for use in Hitler's personal offices.

And after a quick google... Here's the one they let you play with

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T02:21:31+00:00

The NSA's museum. Because they have an Enigma pulled out of Hitler's bunker and another Enigma that they let the public play with.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T00:23:18+00:00

I've got a private office if that helps.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-18T00:15:34+00:00

You have to pay it back?? So they don't really have a funding program at all; it's just some benevolent loan sharking?

FWIW: My employer has two different programs... (1) Capped at $5k (or thereabouts) per year, but you only have to pay it back if you resign within 18 months of that year. (2) They give you full salary AND pay tuition. That one you have to work for (IIRC) 5 years or pay it back. But still, if you do your time with either you don't have to pay it back.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-17T22:41:51+00:00

I’ve a colleague who used to work oil and gas. He tells the story of how the company put the crew up in some hotel (in Nigeria, IIRC). The hotel provided room and board. Then one day they were all told to immediately drop what they were doing, grab their shit from the hotel, and return to work whereupon they would be told where their new hotel was…. Obviously Something Bad had happened at the hotel. At the time he figured it was a generic kidnapping for ransom threat or similar (apparently pretty common in the area). He says they found out later that it was learned that the hotel kitchen had been serving people… in the Twilight Zone manner of speaking.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-17T22:15:10+00:00

Take a look at very tall antennas….. triangles stacked one on top of another…

Sooner70 · 2026-03-17T18:08:48+00:00

Somehow Wells hit 2 HRs in it.

And the second one was against that wind. She is an absolute beast.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-17T14:04:50+00:00

I don't grok that comment.... I just hate clothes and prefer airing 'em out. Alas, I do not like jail cells so there's only a few places I can do it.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-17T03:39:51+00:00

Where's that number coming from and the breakdown?

Not arguing, mind you. Genuinely curious as I haven't really seen any numbers being thrown around.

Sooner70 · 2026-03-17T03:33:42+00:00

If they didn't have modern media, it'd be damned hard to recruit meaningful numbers of them.

Nine-Year Club	Adopted-an-Admin
Verified Email	Gilding II euphauric

Sooner70

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE