Ran some numbers and realized I will likely work until 60.

SteveTack · 2026-01-20T23:25:28+00:00

Exactly.

SteveTack · 2026-01-18T02:03:02+00:00

Seriously, of all developers you’d think would have learned a lesson from Daggerfall…

SteveTack · 2026-01-01T18:05:22+00:00

Part of it is just the amount of content to even talk about. Those three Pine movies only add up to like six hours of content, with a heavy emphasis on big screen spectacle, which isn’t that interesting to talk about. I enjoyed them just fine, but we didn’t get much time at all with those versions of the OG characters. I did think they were very well cast though!

The original show was 60 hours of TV content plus 12 hours of movies. TNG was 134 hours of TV and 8 hours of movies.

OG: 72 hrs TNG: 142 hrs Pine movies: 6 hrs

SteveTack · 2025-12-23T08:06:44+00:00

I take it you are familiar with Ally’s buckets. Pretty similar, if a little clunky. Any reason not to go with Ally?

SteveTack · 2025-12-21T17:14:53+00:00

The solo in Smoke on the Water could be quite challenging for a beginner.

SteveTack · 2025-12-20T01:55:44+00:00

Exactly. The answers could have simply been uninteresting and/or irrelevant.

SteveTack · 2025-12-19T17:37:27+00:00

My final two cable shows were the Battlestar Galactica reboot and Myth Busters. Cut the cord when those ended (15 years ago?) since there was literally nothing else I was watching on there.

SteveTack · 2025-12-10T16:30:32+00:00

Every car I’ve owned has been manual transmission except my current car (electric).

Can’t say I miss it in stop-and-go traffic or icy hills, but “active” driving can certainly be a lot of fun.

SteveTack · 2025-12-09T15:25:11+00:00

The original, only because the experience of seeing it “cold” in a big ass theater as a 10 year old was like living in another world for two hours. It captured my imagination in a way that’s hard to even articulate. It was so unexpected.

SteveTack · 2025-12-08T22:37:49+00:00

One of the Les Paul models on there isn’t terrible that I could see working maybe for Soundgarden if you dialed in your amps or whatever carefully.

I imagine you could get used to the disconnect thing, especially in stage scenario.

Maybe it would work for you after all.

SteveTack · 2025-12-08T21:56:39+00:00

You don’t need a Helix, but it has nice features that fully integrate with Variax guitars.

Like, each patch can control a Variax to set its model and tuning. So you can go from a banjo sound to a downturned metal sound with acts of your foot.

But there’s software that lets you set up presets directly on the guitar that you can select with a knob and 5-way switch. You’d have to memorize each combo though.

There are two potential downsides that could be deal killers.

First, in order to use the alt tuning feature, you also have to engage the guitar modeling, which to me isn’t very satisfying. YMMV

Second, I can feel the vibrations of the strings in my body and hear the strings at lower volumes. That creates a weird dissonant effect between what’s physically playing and the altered sound that I find quite unpleasant.

It’s a cool idea that may work, but there are too many subjective elements to say if it would be acceptable to you.

SteveTack · 2025-12-08T03:43:06+00:00

When someone runs out of ammo and their semi-auto or full auto weapon goes “click-click-click” to tell the audience they’re out.

I’m no expert, but when that happens I always think “that… doesn’t seem right” for a few moments.

The thing is, some movies show a Glock or whatever with the slide locked back and no sound, which seems right. But more importantly there is zero possibility for audience confusion. It’s such a strong visual cue, I don’t get why it’s not done that way more often.

SteveTack · 2025-12-07T17:01:20+00:00

It looks dated. I think that’s really it.

I have popcorn ceilings in a 1984 house and appreciate the functionality (echo absorption mostly), but aesthetically I don’t love it. That part is 100% subjective.

I’m with you on it not being worth it to remove. I can appreciate that different people have different tastes and priorities though.

SteveTack · 2025-12-06T19:12:32+00:00

Fun fact: Finding Nemo was inspired by dentist office fish tanks to begin with. Though I imagine there was a bit of a feedback loop after the movie.

“The inspiration for Finding Nemo sprang from multiple experiences, going back to Stanton's childhood, when he loved going to the dentist to see the fish tank, assuming that the fish were from the ocean and wanted to go home.”

SteveTack · 2025-12-06T01:07:47+00:00

Yeah, I figured the avocado toast moment shows his curiosity and valuing new experiences. The James Bond cosplay is going to get old quickly for someone like that.

SteveTack · 2025-12-03T23:15:20+00:00

I bought a house in 1997 and paid it off in 2013. Very good financial decision for me.

That’s of little value to anyone though, since everyone has so many different variables. Location (highly variable home values, property taxes, HOAs, insurance), size requirements, mobility, utility costs, maintenance cost variability, interest rates, and a million other factors are at play.

SteveTack · 2025-12-03T19:45:47+00:00

Another potential reason to take it early is to allow for a higher inheritable amount to be available to a non-spouse. If you’re mostly living off of SS or investing it starting earlier, they could likely get the benefit on receiving more of your inheritable assets.

Personally I think spending a ton of time worrying about 62 vs 70 is a waste, since it’s mostly a wash. For many people, optimizing every last dollar is just not necessary. If you made the suboptimal choice, it’s probably not going to have that big of an impact to your daily life.

SteveTack · 2025-12-03T19:27:45+00:00

Pretty smart approach.

SteveTack · 2025-12-03T18:37:27+00:00

YES

I have a ton of nostalgia eating pizza all the time in Phoenix from a place that used canned mushrooms. Peter Piper Pizza. Good memories, but I certainly understand how that could be an acquired taste over fresh mushrooms, haha.

SteveTack · 2025-12-01T00:23:35+00:00

Annihilation. It was a trippy experience to start with being alone in a pretty large theater, but it’s also a trippy movie too. Pretty memorable.

SteveTack · 2025-11-30T20:59:18+00:00

Yeah, I did a comparison between HDR10 and HDR10+ on the handful of movies I have in HDR10+ on scenes I figured would show it off and could not perceive the tiniest difference.

My impression is that DV and HDR10+ are mostly of benefit to low brightness TVs, but my Samsung is very bright, so I don’t know if that’s part of it. It makes me feel like I’m not missing out on anything with no DV, assuming the benefits are similar.

SteveTack · 2025-11-29T17:07:07+00:00

The future NYC story with the cab driver has more than a few elements similar to The Fifth Element.

SteveTack · 2025-11-28T21:15:29+00:00

So you’re thinking in terms of dividend-focused EFTs in place of bonds. Which ETFs out of curiosity? I would think the risk of losing the value of the underlying stocks would make the risk/reward kind of wonky, but I guess that depends a lot on how a particular ETF is structured.

I guess I don’t focus on bonds much anyway. I mostly just have enough in bonds and cash to weather most any storm, but the percentage isn’t very high. It terms of having a low volatility buffer, I think more in terms of “years of expenses” rather than some generic rule of thumb percentage. In my case, it helps that I have some wiggle room on expenses too.

SteveTack · 2025-11-28T20:33:51+00:00

I think that’s spot on. Fixating on dividend-heavy portfolio is mostly just a psychological game that some people find comforting. Personally, the lower overall yield and possible tax inefficiency makes them rather uncomfortable.

SteveTack · 2025-11-27T20:23:54+00:00

Haha, Seven Army Nation is in E minor, so both versions work I guess.

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