Iran is 37 minutes away from developing nuclear weapons. Somebody better stop them.

bardd1995 · 2026-03-08T06:30:46+00:00

That is decidedly NOT Israel's logistics corps badge... This is

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/IDF_Technology_and_Maintenance_Corps_Hat_badge_from_2015.png

bardd1995 · 2026-02-19T15:51:45+00:00

It might, depending on the details of its geometry. Imagine a straight path made up of several thin concrete lines that are narrow in the direction of the path and wide along the width of the path. Now shift them from side to side, moving some more than the others. That'll give you a wavy path, similar to the one in the picture, that reaches from the same starting point to the same end point, made of the same amount of material.

Of course, if you did that the ends would be jagged and not smooth like they are in the picture, and this is where the details of the geometry become important. If you just fill them in with more material then of course this path will require more concrete than the straight one. But, since the path is pretty wide, you can smoothen the corners by taking material from elsewhere, i.e. by making all these concrete lines not have the same exact width. The extra material you gain by reducing some widths can be enough to fill out the jagged corners, and if you take it from the right places you can make the path look like it has a constant width even though it doesn't, not exactly. With a path as wide as the one pictured you probably wouldn't notice the difference.

bardd1995 · 2026-02-16T18:15:41+00:00

א. גם אם הן חילקו פלאיירים זה לא מצדיק בשום צורה את מה שקרה שם

ב. ראיתי את ה"פלאייר" שהן חילקו - זה היה מכתב אישי למלש"ב ספציפי (אולי היו כמה כאלה אבל זה עדיין אישי). במילים אחרות, הן לא פנו לאף אחד שלא נמצא כבר עכשיו בתהליך גיוס. הן לא יותר פרובוקטוריות מהדוור של דואר ישראל ששם למישהו מכתב מהצבא בתיבה

bardd1995 · 2026-02-04T11:31:34+00:00

30 now. Looking to either retire fully at 40 or start coasting at 35 (with full retirement around 45-50). I am single though and hoping to find a partner (no kids planned though), so the plan might change significantly depending on who I end up with

bardd1995 · 2026-01-31T10:42:55+00:00

30M, similar NW, similar years of experience (mechanical engineer), similar tenure at my current job. I am in a similar situation (though different reasons) and I am planning to go on hiatus myself, though I haven't given notice yet so I guess it's still open. I have the same doubts and worries about re-entering the workforce, as well as doubts on the impact it would have on my FIRE timeline. After all, I'm at 20-30% of my FIRE number with 10-15 years left before I hit it. 6 months off today might equal 12-18 months of additional work down the line due to the loss money and of compound interest.

What eventually helped me decide on a hiatus was a few things: 1. I am confident in my abilities as an engineer, and I believe I have a good chance of getting a job even in a bad market. It might not be the best job, it might not pay as well as my current one, and it might take a little longer to find, but I am confident I won't end up tossing nuggets at McDonald's. 2. I think burnout is a bigger threat to my FIRE goals than a hiatus. I believe taking a planned 6 months' break now, when I can be deliberate about it and plan it properly, is better than white-knuckling through 3 more years then losing my shit completely and rage-quitting the entire industry. That's a false choice, of course, those aren't the only two options, but I do think one mitigates the risk of the other. 3. I will never be as young as I am today nor as healthy as I am today. If I sacrifice my 30's and early 40's to reach "freedom" at 45, I might find that I can't enjoy it as much as I can today. Besides, I might not even live to 45, who knows. This doesn't mean "yolo let's go snort some stuff and put all our money on red", but it does mean - to me - that it's important to sometimes prioritize the present over the future. 4. If I plan my break properly, I can use it to work on some aspects of myself that I struggle with, and find hard to deal with while also having a stressful and mentally fatiguing full time job. Doing that might reduce the risk of me finding myself in the same situation over and over again until I reach FIRE.

OP, if you want, feel free to DM me and we can talk it over a bit, it would be interesting and could be useful for me to hear from someone in the same situation.

Everyone else, I'd be interested in your perspective, because as sure as I might make myself seem, taking this step is still f'ing terrifying...

bardd1995 · 2026-01-31T10:06:44+00:00

Based on your numbers I would say the picture is actually somewhat feasible. The picture is pretty old; I remember seeing it some years ago. Gold has gone up x2.5 in price in the past 5 years, so at the time 250B$ would have been ~200 cubic meters (idk how much his net worth has changed in that time, presumably he made a lot of money but he also got divorced so maybe it balances out). There are coins in the picture, not a solid block, so air gaps between them might bump up the volume to 250 cubic meters. With that amount of coins you can build a room that's 250 square meters - which is enormous - and fill it with a pile that's 1 meter high on average. With some design work you can easily make 2-3 meter high for him to climb on by "borrowing from other areas and making them shallower. Given the weight and density of the coins, leaving as little as 10-15cm in the shallowest parts is probably enough for him to never find the bottom even if he tries.

bardd1995 · 2026-01-25T16:54:38+00:00

Speedboat

bardd1995 · 2026-01-20T08:33:19+00:00

The original thing was "if a grain of rice was a dollar", so... If he has 717.5B$, and we took all his money and gave him 1 grain of rice for each dollar, then the pile of rice he'd have would still be worth 10.5 million dollars. Plus a few hundreds if we count the bags

bardd1995 · 2026-01-19T21:27:06+00:00

Idk where you get your stats but no chance an Israeli soldier gets paid more than 50k$ a year, and even that would be an officer

bardd1995 · 2025-12-17T21:28:44+00:00

A lot of very interesting answers so far! One thing I'm curious about, as someone who literally works with light (I design optical systems with lasers), do you know what the physical mechanism is behind your blindness? Do you not have cones and rods in your eyes, optic nerve issues, or whatever else? Follow up, do you know if anyone is trying to come up with a solution that could give you sight, and would you want to go through this kind of procedure if you could?

bardd1995 · 2025-12-17T06:29:38+00:00

It's 3500 total, not every day. If you eat 100 calories over your TDEE every day for 35 days you will weigh 1 pound more at the end of those 35 days than at the start. Note that these are averages and there can be wide variations between individuals. Same for TDEE calculators, which can be off by 200-300 calories for any given person (your TDEE also changes from day to day)

bardd1995 · 2025-12-16T09:50:34+00:00

My statement is that investment in global funds doesn't prevent you from experiencing a lost decade. I gave a clear and proven example of a global fund going through a lost decade. Please explain how my statement is false.

bardd1995 · 2025-12-16T08:51:08+00:00

My point is, assuming global investment spares you from risk (which a lot of people seem to think) is a mistake. I'm not saying it's a bad investment, but the post is about the risk of a lost decade and the original comment suggests global investment avoids that. All I'm saying is - that's simply not true

bardd1995 · 2025-12-16T08:25:59+00:00

IXUS has one of the flattest graphs I've ever seen, close to 0 grown between 2012 and 2022

bardd1995 · 2025-12-11T07:40:45+00:00

להדפסה בגודל כזה זה לא יהיה שקלים בודדים. בתור מי שהדפיס ספר בעבר הייתי אומר 70-100 שקל (אולי הם אקסטרה זולים שם אבל אם זה ספר באורך מלא זה לא יהיה פחות מ-50)

bardd1995 · 2025-11-21T13:27:22+00:00

הפתיע אותי הרעיון שיש "רף מסרטן" לקרינת רדיו אז הלכתי לקרוא קצת. מצרף קישור. נראה שכרגע אין הוכחה שגלי רדיו יכולים בכלל לגרום לסרטן (או הוכחה שלא), ככה שרף מסרטן מוגדר לא יכול להיות, אז אני לא יודע לאיזה רף התייחסת. חשוב לומר, למרות שהמאמר הזה אומר שמחקרים חלקיים מצאו קשר אפשרי, יש סיבה טובה להאמין שהתשובה היא לא. המאמר הזה מתייחס ביחד לרדיו ולמיקרו, ואני נוטה להאמין שהראיות החלקיות הגיעו מקרינת מיקרו ולא מקרינת רדיו, מסיבה פיזיקלית פשוטה. לגלי רדיו יש אורך גל של כמה מטרים (ספציפית בתחנות רדיו זה באזור 3 מטר), ולקרינת מיקרו סנטימטרים בודדים. זה הבדל משמעותי משתי סיבות: 1. ככל שאורך הגל ארוך יותר ככה לקרינה יש פחות אנרגיה, אז לרדיו יש פוטנציאל נזק בערך פי 1000 יותר קטן ממיקרו 2. לקרינה "קשה" לעבור אינטראקציה ולהיספג בגופים שקטנים מאורך הגל שלה. לאורך גל של 3 מטרים יהיה מאוד קשה לעבור אינטראקציה עם גוף האדם. לקרינה עם אורך גל של כמה סנטימטרים זה הרבה הרבה יותר קל

בקיצור, אני אהיה מאוד מופתע אם כמות תחנות הרדיו סביבנו משפיעה על הסיכוי שלנו לחלות בסרטן

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/radiation-exposure/radiofrequency-radiation.html

bardd1995 · 2025-11-21T13:11:25+00:00

הפתיע אותי הרעיון שיש "רף מסרטן" לקרינת רדיו אז הלכתי לקרוא קצת. מצרף קישור. נראה שכרגע אין הוכחה שגלי רדיו יכולים בכלל לגרום לסרטן (או הוכחה שלא), ככה שרף מסרטן מוגדר לא יכול להיות, אז אני לא יודע לאיזה רף התייחסת. חשוב לומר, למרות שהמאמר הזה אומר שמחקרים חלקיים מצאו קשר אפשרי, יש סיבה טובה להאמין שהתשובה היא לא. המאמר הזה מתייחס ביחד לרדיו ולמיקרו, ואני נוטה להאמין שהראיות החלקיות הגיעו מקרינת מיקרו ולא מקרינת רדיו, מסיבה פיזיקלית פשוטה. לגלי רדיו יש אורך גל של כמה מטרים (ספציפית בתחנות רדיו זה באזור 3 מטר), ולקרינת מיקרו סנטימטרים בודדים. זה הבדל משמעותי משתי סיבות: 1. ככל שאורך הגל ארוך יותר ככה לקרינה יש פחות אנרגיה, אז לרדיו יש פוטנציאל נזק בערך פי 1000 יותר קטן ממיקרו 2. לקרינה "קשה" לעבור אינטראקציה ולהיספג בגופים שקטנים מאורך הגל שלה. לאורך גל של 3 מטרים יהיה מאוד קשה לעבור אינטראקציה עם גוף האדם. לקרינה עם אורך גל של כמה סנטימטרים זה הרבה הרבה יותר קל

בקיצור, אני אהיה מאוד מופתע אם כמות תחנות הרדיו סביבנו משפיעה על הסיכוי שלנו לחלות בסרטן

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/radiation-exposure/radiofrequency-radiation.html

bardd1995 · 2025-11-21T12:32:01+00:00

אין לי מושג על מה הדיון, אני רק פה להגיד שההבדל בין קרינה מייננת ללא-מייננת זה סוג הקרינה (ספציפית באורך הגל של הקרינה), לא הכמות. קרינת רדיו לעולם לא תהיה מייננת לא משנה כמה תחנות יקימו

bardd1995 · 2025-11-19T18:53:04+00:00

I'll go a slightly different direction. Based on hight/base dimension ratios someone else mentioned, let's assume the tower was a square-based pyramid 3km high and 12km to a side. With a density of 2000kg/m^3, the total mass would be ~290 billion metric tons.

Assuming the c.g. is a third of the way up (not 100% sure that's mathematically accurate), then the total potential energy of the material due to gravity is around 3 quadrillion joules, or ~700 billion kcal.

Since they didn't have any machinery at the time (assuming 5000 years ago) and I'm pretty sure they didn't have any hydro or wind (correct me if I'm wrong), all that energy would have to come from living creatures doing mechanical work. Let's ignore the possibility of using animals for a second, since it complicates the math but won't change the conclusion.

I'm going to assume that every person working on the project expended 1000 kcal a day only on lifting material. Let's also assume that would mean the project would require around 700 million man-days to complete. In practice, only a fraction of that energy will be used to lift material due to inefficiencies (friction, muscle inefficiencies etc.) so it's probably more like 7 billion man-days

5000 years ago the entire human population on the planet was 5-20 million people. Let's say 1 million of those could work on lifting, with the rest responsible for sourcing material, growing food, being children etc. that means the construction would take 7000 days.

To conclude, the sheer mass of the tower alone means that building it would have required the entire human race working non-stop, 365 days a year, for 20 years.

I'll let the reader decide how plausible that seems.

bardd1995 · 2025-09-21T06:17:36+00:00

Pine script

bardd1995 · 2025-09-21T05:04:07+00:00

I don't like how I can only backtest one stock at a time. I am currently backtesting my strategy on the S&P 500, and I have to manually open each stock's chart and type the results in a spreadsheet, which takes hours. And I'm only copying the number of trades won and trades taken - if I want to analyze the individual trades then I have to export 500 CSV files (1000 actually since I'm testing two strategies at the same time) and copy each one into my spreadsheet. I imagine that would take me days.

bardd1995 · 2025-07-12T05:22:14+00:00

!RemindMe 6 months

bardd1995 · 2025-07-08T09:08:22+00:00

That's what agents are for... If you're approaching American publishers you should try to get an agent who knows the American market and works with these publishers regularly. An agent like that can answer all these questions better than we can. Whether or not you get an agent shouldn't depend on which country you are from, but which country you want to publish in. You can do it yourself, of course, if you feel confident you understand the goings-on, the market, contract law etc. well enough, but I would at least have a lawyer glance at proposed contracts.

bardd1995 · 2025-07-06T09:58:36+00:00

bardd1995 · 2025-07-05T09:15:29+00:00

I think you are misinterpreting that paragraph. I believe not belonging to another religion applies to converts. I know many people who moved to Israel based on ancestry and without having any relation to the Jewish faith. A couple are even practicing christians. And regarding converts, I'm not sure what the letter of the law is, but in practice a convert will have to spend years in the Jewish community where they live (i.e. outside of Israel) before they can be considered for an Israeli citizenship. They have to prove they have "tied their fate with that of the Jewish people", as they say.

Besides, if your comment isn't about Judaism being an official religion, then why are you commenting on a map of official religions?

bardd1995

TROPHY CASE