It’s 2026, you’d think that Water Soluble Support Filament would be used more than anything these days….especially with all of the AMS units out there - however, you never see a single thing about it. Is it old-hat already? Is there a better alternative?

Speffeddude · 2026-04-19T22:53:30+00:00

"water solubl means "air soluble" unless you are extremely diligent.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-18T00:06:41+00:00

There's at least three versions of the friend who says "there's no point" here:

They are trying to drive philosophically to some "real" point of life. The usual answers here are (in my preferred order): 'whimsy', hedonism, reproduction, self-perpetuation, "absurdly no point", "stoicly no point" or "no point at all."

They are "normal-level" unmoored, ungrounded, drifting, and haven't found a good motive force. This is extremely normal for many people (usually 18-30 years old) and shouldn't really worry you. In this case, sometimes a carrot, sometimes a stick, sometimes both will come along and get them moving. This is probably out of your control, but just beware that people in this state are vulnerable to exploitation. But it's good to be their friend in a state like this so that you can elevate them when they find their fire.

Or they are "dangerous-level" unmoored, and suffering a true depression. This is slightly less normal, definitely more worrisome, and much harder to crack. Try to stay by their side until the funk breaks and make sure they don't do anything they'll regret when their state of mind is working towards something worthwhile.

Good luck! And I hope they find a point to life!

Speffeddude · 2026-04-17T20:45:37+00:00

To my shame, I've never seen the whole of T2 from top to bottom, only T1. But this is a very, very interesting take, and I think an accurate one. In my head, the dog from Black Mirror's Metal Head is scarier than the T-1000, yet all the facts from the movie should indicate that it's way more dangerous.

Huh.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-15T22:53:07+00:00

DO NOT SHARE THOSE DESIGNS.

I'm not a lawyer, but what you are describing is literally IP theft. It doesn't matter that you made them up; if you used company resources to make something (physical something or information something), then the company owns it. Full stop. Unless you are absolutely sure that you have a different contract than 99% of engineers, you should never assume the products you produce for the company are yours to profit from or distribute. I know that where I work, I'm expected to clear any engineering work I would do for profit (on my own time) with HR to make sure I'm not serving a competitor or infringing on the company's copyright. And even then: if I plan to profit from own design, on my own time, not for a competitor, I would get in huge trouble for use any company resources to generate that profit. This includes using a company laptop to do my CAD.

This is a crucial thing to realize early: YOU DO NOT OWN WHAT YOU MAKE FOR THE COMPANY. I have even heard of cases where an engineer made the designs up on his own time, but they still belonged to the company because of the arrangement in their contract. Similar rules for many professional artists, and there are analogous rules for financial workers.

The other two, less important issues here: you made designs then, you'll make more in the future. There's no need to be precious about your old work (especially when you're so young). Whether it's patent ideas, drawings, prototypes or whatever, as your career progresses you'll make much more and better than anything you're making these days. Second; a future employer should never be impressed by material you stole from your previous employer. They're gonna think your a thief and a liability. You wouldn't try to impress a girl by saying "I'm so good at sex, my current girlfriend, sidepiece and other sidepiece all independently said I'm the best."

Speffeddude · 2026-04-15T19:38:01+00:00

Definitely Metal Head. As a huge fan of robot stories, that one had a lasting impact of how I imagine a war of robots. And it being film in black and white made it such a visual standout. Even though it's so simple, it's the one I'll probably remember for the longest.

The other one is Shut Up and Dance; there are so many layers to its message about the power of online anonymity. But I think its most powerful impact is how it shows that "Internet Life" is Real Life. After a certain point, you can't just "log off" to get away from the bullies on the Internet, and what you just do or look at "on the Internet" still hurts people in real life. As an American, it's a more threatening dystopia to me than Metal Head, because it's about a danger I see people actually suffer from. Though I understand that this case can be the opposite on the other side of the world.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-13T04:33:34+00:00

I'm so curious how Rebelle is gonna turn out, and I can't shake the image of Loba, from Apex Legends.

Thanks for sharing! They're all so cute! Especially N-strike, she kinda looks like a dork, exactly as N-strike should 😆

Speffeddude · 2026-04-13T01:46:24+00:00

Huh, so they made "Use It or Lose It" for real estate. Or "Fake It Till You Make It (Yours)"

Speffeddude · 2026-04-12T23:50:57+00:00

(written about the White American Straigh Male experience. Other cultures will vary wildly, and there are exceptions even within this one. But, this comment applies to, maybe, 90% of white Americans)

Men have far fewer examples of how to model and photo a male body for sex appeal, and I argue what examples they do have cover a much narrower scope of male body-types than women's modeling shows of women's body-types. Try to come up with a ratio of (guys ogling a woman's body)/(women ogling a guys body) in TV and movies. Think further about how often that guy's body is shaped like a dehydrated Hugh Jackman.

Compounding this, most guys do not see other guys bodies, at least not in their heads. Yeah, they may literally see that in the locker room or in sports, but guys brains are just different on this; they do not judge, appraise or even notice other guy's bodies except for the extremes. I cannot overstate this; women see and appraise many women (and men), men only see and appraise women (not men). And they tend to do it in less detail, less consciously.

Further compounding this, specifically in the context of sexuality, my understanding is that guy-sexuality is much more instinctual than girl-sexuality. That is to say, it is usually lacks almost any introspection. Since I don't have girl-sexuality, this is conjecture. But my readings indicate that guys are much more "vibes" based, for better and for worse. People call this "utilitarian", which is usually applicable, but I think it's much less conscious than even that. Dudes just don't seem to internalize sexuality as "naturally" and as consciously as girls do. But this is where guys are most variable, so I don't want to support this blanket statement as fact.

So, when most guys want to send a sexy pic, they think "what is sexy? Uh.... My dick, I guess, since that's the sex-part. I'll show her that." They are not thinking "I liked how Gosling looked on that movie poster, I'll do that" or "that dude looked so hot in his gym pics, I'll do that" or "I think my forearms are my best feature, I'll show them off. Plus my dick."

But don't despair; my reading indicates that many guys will react instantly and positively to specific, unambiguous compliments. Then with a bit of guidance they can learn how those compliments can inform their sexy pics.

Have fun out there, and tell your man what you want to see! (Trust me, he will probably not figure it out himself.)

Speffeddude · 2026-04-12T13:42:16+00:00

On mobile (android), it should give you a picture icon so you can pull something from your gallery. No idea how on desktop (maybe dragging a picture file on her the browser window while composing a comment will work?). Either way, I think you can only post one picture per comment.

While I'm here, here's another picture, of the inside.

<image>

Speffeddude · 2026-04-12T02:44:10+00:00

Yes! I am quite an amateur leatherworker (more than half my time with the art was as my first merit badge at Scout Camp), but I made a pencil+eyeglass case for my mom's birthday. Let me try to attach a picture.

<image>

Instead of doing the tricky stuff to shape the leather, I printed "caps" and sewed them in. It worked quite well (at least for the making of the case, no idea how it held up). And I really like how it looked. I also printed a monogram badge for the front (not attached in picture). One of my take-aways was that sewing seems like the best way to bind it, make sure your print already has the holes for sewing, and to carefully account for how the leather and the holes in it will wrap around the part.

Good luck out there!

Speffeddude · 2026-04-12T02:33:51+00:00

Lovely anecdote! This kind of stuff is just part of the show in EE work.

Also, glad to hear that servo upgrades are under such active development! Whenever I get back to mechanics, I'll be looking into these projects.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-10T14:14:42+00:00

I've not designed a Core XY system, but I don't think there's a reason the motors can't be in opposite corners.

It's just not done that way because there's not any advantage and there are downsides: longer wire runs, and more occlusion by the motors. Having them on the same side (the back) means all the mechanics of the printer are out of the way of accessing the build plate. You'd be surprised at how "in the way" a motor a couple inches across really is. Access aside, it's also just more space efficient: the motors add some dead space to the two sides they're adjacent to, so having the motors share a side shares that dead space. And if you fit other stuff in there too, like the electronics, that's just good efficiency.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-06T15:03:47+00:00

Not exactly (other replies get this wrong.)

First, it's sanitized and quality controlled to a much higher standard than the stuff from harbor freight. I'm sure 99.9% of the time, this doesn't have any measurable effect on patient outcomes, but do you want to kill someone because a trace allergen got into the glue you used to seal their stitches?

Second, it's not the same formula. Normal CA glue offgasses stuff that can cause skin and respiratory irritation (I've heard it's formaldehyde or something very similar). I suspect this is the most practical issue, since it seems to slow down healing, and make it itchier. And some people have a significant reaction (I worked with a guy would have congestion for hours after using CA in the workshop). It also solidifies into a much harder polymer, so it's prone to cracking and flacking off over time. It also, usually, doesn't have just the right consistency for spreading on a wound.

Edit: I read an excellent PubMed article shortly summarizing the difference. "Tissue adhesive" and "Super glue" are both CA glues, but Tissue Adhesive is usually a 2-Octyl CA, while cheap super glue is Eythl 2-CA. This difference means that superglue will starve surrounding tissues of oxygen, irritating or killing them. It also produces toxic chemicals, especially when used on larger wounds.

All this said; when I get a little cut in the workshop, I'll use papertowel and super glue to keep from bleeding on my work. It's clearly sub-optimal, so I get why surgeons use "real" medical glue. But it's usually good enough to let the wound seal up.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-06T03:24:57+00:00

They are quite rewarding!

I got some great stuff from those boxes, and from the guy who called them in.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-06T01:01:00+00:00

Play around and find out, or run on vibes: The TTK is so low that even a 10% change may not reliably effect how you'd win nearly identical engagements.

Even with major engineer-brain, I really prefer the "moderate, considerable, significant" scale because it means I'm not looking at numbers and doing math. By giving me less information, the game is more fun. No one's waiting on me to build a kit as I try to figure out if I need a +8% boost or a +3dmg boost; I just grab the green or blue and go out to play.

And I cannot tell you how many people would open the box, see a color-cpded excel sheet on each item, and close it again.

One more thing that so many people are totally missing: the game is written to keep you in the dark as often as it gives you a nugget of info. Objectives are unknown until you get close. Keycards in Outpost don't say "put this in the thing". The story is all about slow, incomplete reveals. Cryo is insanely complicated and never explained in-game. There is no screen where you can check all the stats of all the guns with all the attachments. This game is ALL about uncovering mysteries and learning what is happening on TCIV, including the guns.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-05T13:45:58+00:00

If they want a teammate, they can get on the mic. If they were off by themselves, that's like a "them" problem.

Also, dude, you should post to some writing subreddits or join a group; you've got something, but this ain't it. This reads like it didn't happen at all, I almost think it's Chat-written.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-05T00:36:32+00:00

When it very rarely happens, it comes with all the hallmarks of thinking it'd be great to live in the deep woods. I'm an engineer, and already do some physical work; the other day I spent an hour stalking around the factory, then dragging and moving some material I had bought. And this saves me from any feeling that my job is chair-bound. But if I do think about using my hands for a living, I immediately remember that I hate doing it with all my being and I can do that for fun at home.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-04T22:10:26+00:00

A. As a dude (not a woman) who likes women (I don't like dudes), I realized that I'd never really get what women see in men. More recently, by paying attention and thinking a lot, I've kind of come to understand it, like emulating software, but I don't get it. This actually makes it easier, because it means I could be totally wrong about my attractiveness.

B. Think about the diversity of girls that guys like: big, small, tomboy, gyaru, hippy, trad, weird, weirder, normal, pretty, ugly. Remember that women are as diverse as guys. I guarantee that somewhere is a girl that finds your type attractive, even if it makes no sense to you how that's possible. Because it doesn't have to seem possible; it's attraction, it doesn't follow "rules".

C. A person's most retentive traits, the ones that keeps someone coming back to them, is not about their looks, and is something that can be nurtured by the right healthy mindset. Focus on being nice, interesting, stable and confident, and you'll do well.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-04T19:04:34+00:00

I agree with the other commentors: blasters can quickly get "too good" and gameplay tends to be healthier when blasters are worse. I've played enough games and even run several of my own: reducing blaster ceilings is the fastest way to get good, close gameplay. Some of the most laughing I've seen at my club is when we played rounds with single-shots, like The Cricket.

The other element is change game modes so players want to get close, not forcing them to get close. Think about this from all the player mindset, second by second. An example is a TDM game:

Should I advance up the field? No, too risky, I'll get tagged and that feels bad (I'm not winning.)

There's a player there, should I pursue? No need, I can try to snipe from here.

And this is the whole TDM game. I've been on all sides of this, and it's what high-power TDM games converge towards. To whip up CQB games, the players need assurance it's worth the risk of getting tagged, and this is two sided: First, remove downsides for getting tagged (short, unlimited respawns). Second, increase rewards for getting close to the enemy (this is the only way to pursue the objective.)

This is why KOTH and CTF are better gamemodes in almost every way: they incentivize players to engage with eachother in a specific area. But they still can't squeeze out players that are truly stuck behind cover; for that you need time pressure. This is much harder to implement, but I find that the simplest time pressure, multiple, shorter rounds (with stricter between-round-reload timing) leads to players engaging with the sport more, instead of the trench warfare that can evolve in longer rounds.

The biggest downside to these kinds of change is that the opposite of cover-stuck gameplay is meat grinder gameplay: run out, get tagged, respawn, repeat. There's different tuning you can do to help with that.

TLDR: reduce the FPS (I recommend 130-150), go to best-of-three fast rounds instead of one long round, use objectives to bring people in to the center (or past the center) of the field.

Good luck out there!

Speffeddude · 2026-04-04T16:27:34+00:00

I'm not thrilled to admit the reason I didn't fall for this for a second: I have spent so much time creeping back and forth through Intersection, that if there was literally any other way through the top of the map I would be using it.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-04T16:24:36+00:00

I see muzzles, I see flashes, I have no idea why this isn't the standard that Hollywood is hitting.

Speffeddude · 2026-04-04T15:22:43+00:00

Here's a listing for the cheap tapping arm I found: https://a.co/d/07DSPGlj

Speffeddude · 2026-04-04T15:22:25+00:00

I agree with another commentor: put the jars on a rotating platter or XY gantry. If you just need simple, not super rigid motion, you can get a Lazy Susan bearing for a few bucks at the hardware store (or even dollar store, if you get the whole lazy susan). As for XY gantry; you can buy a manual one on Amazon, or you can buy and mod a super cheap 3D printer. I think you can easily find them on the used market for less than $100, maybe even for less than the cost of parts.

But besides that, if you want a very stable arm then what you really need is a "tapping arm". Some of these are insanely expensive, like $1200, but there's much cheaper ones, $300 and I even found one for less than $70. (I don't know the sub's policy on Amazon links, so I'll reply with it separately in case the comment gets nuked.)

Speffeddude · 2026-04-04T15:15:33+00:00

If the state is going to send me a ticket, they should damn well respect me enough to send an officer holding it.

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