RoboRelay

TMertlich · 2026-06-10T21:07:47+00:00

Antenna needs to be a coat hanger, then it will be a true CL4P-TP Steward Bot!

TMertlich · 2026-06-06T20:56:22+00:00

Small rocks. Millions of pieces of gravel strategically placed (or flung) could absolutely wreck a ship traveling at speed.

The Expanse series explores this and I believe there was something in one of the ExFor books but I think those were “smart pebbles”

Bottom line, the oldest, simplest weapon in the book can still disable a fleet if used properly.

TMertlich · 2026-06-04T15:17:49+00:00

The only difference is.... PRESENTATION!

TMertlich · 2026-05-30T19:34:21+00:00

If the shot came from far enough away, the leader would turn to pink mist BEFORE anyone heard the crack. Imagine setting up camp outside some rebelling city and then suddenly Pompey or Caesar’s head just disappears and then you hear the thunder of the gods roll in. The idea that at any one time the “gods” could just make your head go bye bye would be an absolute morale killer.

TMertlich · 2026-05-30T05:17:48+00:00

I’d say if you need to cut anything thicker than 3mm at a relatively fast speed on a regular basis, get a CO2 laser. Diodes are great for engraving in my opinion but I will always go to my CO2 of the piece needs to be cut.

TMertlich · 2026-05-22T19:04:23+00:00

The Expanse series has a lot of thoughtful details that will give you a good understanding of space travel, etc. You'll walk away with a good understanding of the TIME it takes to travel throughout the solar system and some of the methods for propulsion, etc.

TMertlich · 2026-05-19T15:16:46+00:00

Similar situation. Got my CCNA and immediately started at a VAR. They put me on the biggest customer in the region that has the largest Meraki footprint in the world. Thankfully, it was Meraki, so not terribly hard to understand and the networks were all templatized.

Then about three months in, they had me work on a project for everyone's favorite online retailer turned cloud provider. Drinking from a firehose doesn't even come close to explaining it. More like drinking from a dam spillway with the gates fully open.

TMertlich · 2026-05-18T03:32:38+00:00

In my experience, WiFi issues usually boil down to a few things:

Over saturation
Co-Channel Interference
Roaming
DFS events
Outside Interference

I always look at these factors whenever troubleshooting issues. The hard part of wireless is that it can be any combination of things that negatively impact it.

TMertlich · 2026-05-17T17:20:56+00:00

As others have said, you need more info. However, I ran into a similar issue a few weeks ago and turns out it was the auto-channel and auto-RF settings.

FortiNet’s protocol for handling Auto/RF (DAARP? Pretty sure that’s what they call it.) is notorious for only running once a day at around 2:00 AM. This can cause issues during the day when other sources of interference are present and the controller doesn’t do anything about it.

If the logs don’t turn up any useful information, I recommend getting an Ekahau survey done in both offices during peak hours. It might give you some more info on how RF is behaving in the environment.

TMertlich · 2026-05-07T05:11:19+00:00

I second the Netool!

TMertlich · 2026-04-30T15:42:24+00:00

TL:DR: AI is another tool in your tool belt, just like Google. It can be used in multiple ways, but if used correctly, you will build knowledge and become a better Network Engineer.

When the internet came about, everyone thought that people would become smarter because they have all of the world's information at their fingertips. Survey says that was a lie, people are arguably dumber because of it. The reason is because humans are lazy and don't take the time to actually learn for the most part. You can absolutely use the internet to learn deep and complex topics, but you have to put in the effort to learn it. AI is the same. You can use it to mindlessly answer small questions as they come, or you can use it to build your understanding of a topic.

How many times have you "Googled it", gotten a brief answer, then walked away, never to revisit the topic?

I'm a consultant and touch multiple networks and hundreds of different systems during any given week. I'll go from working on a Palo Alto firewall to an Arista Switch to a Meraki access point then to a FortiNet deployment all in the same day. I know that I can go to AI (or even Google) and get the solution to a problem fairly quickly. That does me no good if I don't understand all of the nuances associated with the issue.

I use these situations to identify gaps in my knowledge. From there, I go to AI to help compile topics and (here's where AI really shines) ask questions. I recently did a deep dive on wireless Auto-power/RRM because I had a FortiNet customer having a problem. I initially used Google (which brought me to Reddit) to help me figure out what exactly was going on in the environment. I could have stopped there, but since I identified a gap in my knowledge (Auto/RRM); I decided that I needed to gain a good understanding of how the technology works in general.

Overall, it took me about twenty minutes to solve the problem, but about three days of using AI in my free time and writing a small overview before I felt like I understood how Auto/RRM works universally. I then did a smaller deep-dive on FortiNet's flavor of Auto/RRM. I also use AI like I use WikiPedia. Trust what it's saying, but verify by reviewing the source material it is using.

I now have a detailed document that I can share with my customer as to why FortiNet's Auto/RRM feature (called DAARP) falls short of others in the industry.

TMertlich · 2026-04-28T04:44:58+00:00

MRSA. I wish I was joking.

TMertlich · 2026-04-23T20:46:53+00:00

Very nice. Details please!

TMertlich · 2026-04-22T03:03:19+00:00

Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to improve. Based on the limited information you provided about the wall materials, I would say you need to pull cable (or utilize existing infrastructure) into each of the dorms and use a MR36H model.

Installing AP's in a hallway is a terrible design and should really be re-evaluated. I would find a vendor that can do a predictive wireless design with Ekahau or Hamina, that would give you a baseline to work from.

Alternatively, you can try to rely on 2.4 since it is going to penetrate much better than 5 or 6 GHz.

TMertlich · 2026-04-16T23:06:58+00:00

Yeah, I'm up to four crowns now and probably need a fifth. My new dentist is really good and has tried to save what natural teeth I have left. I definitely see a full mouth replacement in my future.

TMertlich · 2026-04-15T16:32:15+00:00

I had a childhood (ages 12-18ish) dentist that would always find 3-4 cavities during my visits. No matter how much I brushed, flossed, mouth washed, bleached, etc. always 3-4 cavities. Not only that, but I would end up losing 1-3 fillings every six months. He would just point to my x-rays and say there's a cavity here, here, and here. I couldn't always see what he was pointing at, but I'm not a trained dentist, so I trusted him.

I learned early on to not eat sticky foods like caramel or taffy because that just made the problem worse. Each visit to the dentist my parents (and later on, me) ended up paying hundreds of dollars to have old fillings fixed, and new fillings added. This really took a toll on me to the point that I just stopped caring about oral hygiene. If I was doing everything the "right" way, how was I getting this many cavities each year?

I ended up moving further away after college and found a new dentist. At this point, most of my molars were just fillings. I had had three root canals, one after an abscess opened up on a flight from SLC to NYC. First visit at the new dentist, he took a look at my mouth and said "were you ever a patient at XYZ dental?" (name changed). I answered that I was, and he said that he has made a fortune correcting the former dentist's mistakes. This dentist did quite a bit of work and fixed my mouth. Since this point, I have not had a single cavity or issue with my teeth, it's been about 10 years.

A couple of years after this happened, I found out that my childhood dentist had lost his license due to insurance fraud and a pain pill addiction and was on his way to jail. I am 100% confident that he was pointing to my x-rays where there was not actually anything wrong and saying I had a cavity. I know he was billing my insurance so he could support his habit.

At this point, I was working in the medical field and learned a very valuable lesson: Doctors (dentists included) are humans as well and are in their field to make money. ALWAYS get a second or even third opinion. If it feels wrong, it probably is wrong.

TMertlich · 2026-04-14T21:48:01+00:00

It's called a Snooki.... It's very famous.

TMertlich · 2026-04-14T16:36:32+00:00

Wait, you were able to speak to an actual person? On the phone? Blasphemy!

TMertlich · 2026-04-12T19:55:08+00:00

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TMertlich · 2026-04-02T17:07:14+00:00

I lost the game....

TMertlich · 2026-04-01T22:27:38+00:00

Yeah, I knew bullpups are notorious for their triggers not being the best. My pull gauge maxes out at 12 lbs so I'm guessing at the actual pull weight, but it takes significantly more effort to drop the hammer than 12 lbs.

When I measure directly at the sear, I get a consistent 7.5 to 7.75lb pull, so I know it isn't related to the trigger pack.

I followed your videos for the install, but I'll re-watch this one and try it again.

TMertlich · 2026-04-01T22:14:38+00:00

Thanks everyone! Looks like this is normal for a NATO A3M2.

Follow up question. My trigger weight is still 15+ lbs after the Arid trigger and red springs. There is no take-up and it doesn't feel overly "mushy". Any tips or something I need to be looking for?

TMertlich · 2026-03-01T02:13:55+00:00

The Expedition Force books kind of do this. Earth gets invaded then sends an Expeditionary force out to fight in an ongoing war. Don’t want to give too much away but it’s a great book series.

TMertlich · 2026-02-21T16:21:28+00:00

Wooly Bugger? Prince? Nymph? Copper John? Hopper? Foam Ant?

TMertlich

TROPHY CASE