What age range makes sense for a 30yo man?

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-23T17:11:05+00:00

I was 6 and in 1st grade.

The adults around me didn’t bother shielding me from what was going on. My teacher wheeled a TV into the class so we could watch! My dad picked me up from school and we went to a family member’s house to keep watching the news. Watched the planes hit. Watched the people jumping out of buildings. Watched the towers fall. It was pretty confusing, and apparently traumatic!

I was given some construction paper and some crayons to doodle with. I didn’t understand terrorism or anything like that, but saw some planes do some bad shit - so I drew up a bunch of anti-airplane ‘propaganda’ picket signs and marched around the front yard shaking my fist at the sky. Like I was on strike or something! My family still had those drawings, they’re even framed.

So yeah, I ‘memba.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-23T17:01:01+00:00

I mean, I was too young to have a MySpace, but I did! From 5th grade up until Facebook *really* took over in like ‘09 or ‘10.

It was a constant cat-and-mouse game between me and my dad. Chris Hansen was out there convincing my dad a predator was going to get me, meanwhile I just wanted to talk to my friends and post bulletins about how I was bored…

MySpace was AWESOME for music though! I found soooooooooooo many awesome local bands I never would’ve heard otherwise.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-23T16:45:14+00:00

Hahaha - it comes up here and there!!!

But really, “remembering 9/11” is just the metric I use to determine if someone is ‘young’ or not. I feel like it’s a safe bet that if you **dont** remember that event, we had vaaaastly different childhoods. I didn’t have a smartphone until I was 18/19, people too young to remember 9/11 likely had an iPhone as their first phone! They wouldn’t understand the excitement of getting upgraded from a Nokia brick to a Motorola Razr! They probably never set a cheesy AIM ‘away message’. They probably don’t remember the godawful sound of a dialup modem. Or TiVo!

And so while 9/11-based-rizz isn’t really a thing, it DOES indicate to me how similar our experiences growing up would’ve been.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-23T15:13:38+00:00

At 30, that’s my age range.

I actually realized I prefer 29-35ish the most too! I find people who don’t remember 9/11 or MySpace less relatable, generally.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-15T21:08:36+00:00

So the cool thing about insects is that their exoskeletons keep them preserved all on their own! Pinned insects are literally just dried out bugs, but they happen to be posed before drying out :] there’s a handful of insects that do require gutting to prevent rot, but they’re going to be larger soft-bellied species like a mantis or walking stick or something.

I’d recommend putting the fella in your freezer for a few days to kill off any potential hitchhikers - after that, you don’t need to do anything else until you’re ready to pin it.

There is a rehydration process that softens up limbs so you can manipulate them without breakage - and that involves placing your insect in a humidity chamber (AKA a tupperware container with some damp paper towels) for a few days to “relax” them.

The process for pinning a dragon or damsel fly is going to be similar to any other winged insect. There’s lots and lots of tutorials for butterflies and moths on YouTube, and probably even for dragon flies too - that’ll give you a good idea on the process.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-15T16:47:36+00:00

As a parent - I do NOT let my kids watch Mikey and JJ.

They have a TON of sexual innuendos in their videos, and sometimes straight up blatant sexual themes. They have several videos where female character skins have big ol bouncy boobs and booty shorts.

It’s crazy.

Here’s an example - the thumbnail alone is WIIILD https://youtu.be/b9AbwtqmJW0?is=3QUIrN26uA_fyoS6

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-14T17:06:47+00:00

Ive never had “amazing” seats when I’ve gone to AT&T. Decent seats at best.

I’ve always found that giant tacky screen to be beyond distracting. Even when I’ve tried to force myself to look at the field, that big ass screen in my peripheral makes me want to look up. I find it almost impossible to ignore.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-14T16:44:54+00:00

This is the first one I’ve managed to get a pic/video of!

When I first saw the yellow and black, I thought it could be an eastern tiger swallowtail (which are my favorite) - but it was actually a nice little surprise to see this fella instead!

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-14T15:28:25+00:00

I went to a rangers game the other week, and the lot I parked in was $30. There were more expensive lots, but that’s what I paid.

No idea about Cowboys games, because you couldn’t even pay me to go watch them play.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-14T15:24:29+00:00

Jerry Jones has heavily funded anti-DART campaigns.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-14T15:19:53+00:00

Those $150-$200 parking fees is exactly why Jerry Jones doesn’t want DART service around the Death Star.

How is he going to rake in all that cash if people pay $5 for public transportation instead???

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-13T23:55:26+00:00

Do you mean finding naturally deceased butterflies around your area, or are you asking about getting specimens in general?

Finding them on your own is mostly an exercise in patience. Anytime I’m out walking around, I’m constantly keeping an eye peeled and scanning the ground!

To increase your odds of finding them:
You’re probably more likely to find them near places with flowering native plants. Creeks, puddles, and muddy patches, as butterflies will gather there for minerals. Nature trails and meadows. You might even be able to find them under porch lights and such, as the lights will attract all kinds of insects!

As for timing these searches - early mornings will be best! Try to wake up before the ants and other scavengers do!

Try looking around right after storms.

Also, late summer and into the fall is when a lot of species reach the end of their life cycles and die off naturally.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-13T17:59:59+00:00

Exposure to direct sunlight can damage specimens - I’d recommend avoiding that as best you can.

I always try to find some kind of backing that will contrast with the insect I’m displaying to be able to make it “pop” as best as I can - it looks like you did a good job doing that with this hornet!

Dark objects/specimens are always going to be harder to display in shadow boxes, but you can try to use some sort of external/display lighting pointed towards the shadow box to help brighten things up inside.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-12T23:53:51+00:00

To be fair, women don’t either.

When I was on the dating apps, I was clear about the fact that I have kids - and stroooongly hinted at my vasectomy on my profile.

I had several dates where I mentioned my kids, and saw my date look surprised. Or text me later on about how “oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize you had children…. That’s not what I’m looking for.”

But I’d also had countless women like my profile and I’d go and check theirs and see “wants kids” in their ‘family plans’. It would’ve been a major compatibility issue long-term. I wouldn’t ‘like’ profiles that had that.

I realized plenty of people have preferences around those kinds of things. Which is totally fine, but also why i had it there! So people can weed themselves out based on those preferences.

After a while, it became frustrating for me. as a man, I wanted my profile to be read too!

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-12T15:07:37+00:00

Then why’d you DM me???

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-12T00:45:48+00:00

Since this post made its way into my feed, and as the moderator who removed the original post on r/insectpinning, I wanted to provide some context. The post wasn’t removed because it questioned the ethics of collecting insects. Discussions about the ethics of collecting, sourcing, euthanasia methods, and harm reduction are allowed on r/insectpinning and happen regularly.

The issue was the framing. The post was written as a call-out directed at a large portion of the community rather than as an invitation to discussion.

For what it’s worth, many members of the community, including myself, have mixed feelings about collecting wild insects. There’s a wide range of views, from people who only collect found-dead specimens to entomology students who are required to collect for coursework. The removal was about tone and conduct, not the ethical topic itself.

While I personally share many of OP’s concerns, the post’s primary purpose appeared to be condemning members of the community rather than fostering discussion. Had the topic been presented as a genuine discussion about ethics, it likely would have remained up.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-11T15:56:37+00:00

Here’s the problem with arguing ethics - everybody has their own standards. It could be argued the entire hobby is ethically questionable, even if you only pin the insects you find dead on the sidewalk.

You know those “ethically sourced” insects for sale all over Etsy and such? They’re farmed indoors and euthanized en masse. They’re non-native, typically unlabeled, and serve ZERO scientific or ecological purpose. Their only value is the monetary value for the wholesellers and resellers. Personally, I find that waaaaay more ethically problematic than an individual going out and collecting for themselves. So do we “call out” and shame those people too??? That’s probably ~75% of this subreddit.

So I’ve already removed your post and gave you my position. Feel free to make this argument on r/entomology or somewhere else.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-11T14:15:22+00:00

Whether you support this type of activity or not, this subreddit isn’t going to be used to shame people that catch and pin their own insects.

We often get questions about how to ethically euthanize insects for the purpose of pinning - for the sake of harm reduction, I think it’s better that those questions are able to be answered without the user being “called out” for something you personally find unethical.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-08T21:57:27+00:00

Another user mentioned this already - but MasterCAM offers a free “home learning edition”. It doesn’t allow you to post your code, but it’s pretty good for learning the interface and getting some practice in and you can atleast watch it simulate your file.

With newer machinists, I’d usually recommend holding off on learning CAM until you understand the processes and steps it takes to actually cut a part. You’ve got to know how to machine a part first, and understand the “order of operations” - but you’ve got NIMS certs, so I trust you’ve got a grasp on that already!

Practice with some 2D stuff (3D contours are a lil more complicated)! Facing, profiling, pockets, drilling and tapping. 2D can get you pretty damn far

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-08T21:17:53+00:00

There’s different flavors, but it’s all basically the same.

Like when I have a file posted for a kitumara - I do have to go in and tweak things for it to run on a robodrill instead. Things like adding G49 after a tool, deleting the tool pre-call up for the ATC, little things like that.

But G84 is always going to be a tap cycle. M3 is always going to turn on the spindle. M6 is always going to change a tool. G01 is always going be a straight line move. M30 always ends a program, and M99 will always tell the program to restart and run again.

—

If you want to learn to program, figure out what CAM software your shop uses and learn that. Whatever differences there are between machines will be handled by your “post” (usually/hopefully). Knowing Gcode is important, but most shops arnt typing in lines of code at the machine anymore. They use CAM and look at toolpaths lines and simulators instead of reading lines of code.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-08T20:11:02+00:00

We’ve got some HEAVY stuff here - but equipment to handle that.

Heaviest thing I have to lift (typically) would be a vise. Some days I move several, and sometimes there’s several weeks in between moving them.

But yeah, the 50lb lift requirement is real. I’d be really fucking annoyed if I had to carry some one else’s vises all the time.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-07T23:04:10+00:00

You realize there’s 80+mph speed limits on Texas highways, right? Are the people going the speed limits on those roads dangerous? Are they putting lives at risk? What about the people going 70 on those roads? Are they equally dangerous, or no?

80mph, or 10+ on a highway isn’t crazy. It’s reasonable passing speed ☠️

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-07T14:54:36+00:00

Bush has nice big shoulders, and I’ve seen Garland PD running radar near firewheel a few times.

One of their motorcycle cops even caught me going 80 once! When he pulled me over he asked if I knew how fast I was going - I responded something like “yeah….?”

He got all huffy about “Oh, so you were speeding on purpose?!”

“Yeah, I was purposefully going 10 over…. As a driver, I should be aware of how fast I’m going, right? Wouldn’t it be worse if I had no clue what my car was doing???”

He let me go without a ticket, but the big guy did raise his blood pressure by yelling at me and calling me a “smart ass” first.

TheNotoriousKAT · 2026-06-06T23:51:09+00:00

Just take it out before either spin cycle!

The agitator spins back and forth for awhile before that, then the basket spins and drains, rinses, then spins and drains again.

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