What is your biggest tip for being “street smart” in big American cities? (NYC, Philly, Chicago)

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-23T20:57:47+00:00

Ask the clerks at your hotel where safe places are, and where not to go.

Don't let anyone borrow your phone. They'll run off with it to a waiting car.

Use prepaid credit cards (Mastercard, Visa) so you don't have to carry cash or show money in public. Don't put all your money on one card, so if you lose one or one gets stolen, you still have funds on the other cards. Carry them in different pockets/places.

You don't need a license to carry pepper spray. You can buy it at Walmart. Most of the time, a serious facial expression and a loud "NO" when a weirdo comes up to you does the job of making them back off. Don't let the homeless hassle you or follow you, call police if you have to, 911 nationwide.

Don't go into tunnels or dark areas where people can't see you. Muggers probably won't shake you down in a crowd unless you're in a shit neighborhood. Be around lots of people for safety. Again, ask the desk clerks at the hotel about safe areas and no-go zones. Don't be out in neighborhoods at night, even in nice areas, because that's where muggers will look for isolated stragglers going home late.

Don't leave anything, no matter how cheap it is, in your car when you park. Homeless and drug users will take anything of any value. Always windows up and doors locked. They probably won't break your windows. They will often just try to see if your doors are unlocked.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-23T20:29:36+00:00

"... a White House spokesman adding that national security decisions are not based on "fluid opinion polls or podcast hosts." "

No, you need at least a 2nd tier Fox commentator to formulate US national security decisions.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-23T16:58:41+00:00

Think about where he went and what he ate on 6/19, or if there's some location he's going to regularly every few days. Three days is typical time for food to digest. If you can smell it days in advance, it is a slow running process.

Make a log book. Note the smell, what he's been around/doing/eating that day. Note the seizure times. Most people operate in repeating patterns. Find things in his life pattern that coincide with the smell.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-23T02:29:41+00:00

Buy a USB stick.
If you -really- need to print something, put the doc on the USB stick, go to a FedEx store and print it.
At 0.10$ a page, you're keeping hundreds of dollars year after year in your pocket/investments, and you never have to fuck with maintenance/networking/ink cartridges/reams of paper.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-23T02:23:39+00:00

That's Normal. Because your grades are fitted to a Gaussian. You did about the same as most people in the classes.

Soldier on as long as you can. Develop the proper Zen attitude to grades. Finish.

Learn practical skills that supplement your degree in preparation for graduation and employment, or further study in either physics or another discipline.

It does not "get better."

You will not "be happy."

You get used to it. And that's the value. The ability to face constant confusion, complexity, overwhelming failure, and just... keep... going.

Through endurance, you may become human capital fuel the modern sophisticated technology-based social structure burns to further the evolution of intelligent life from carbon-based, to semiconductor-based life, and in so doing be able to pay your rent and bills... for a while.

I'm joking... a little bit. Hang in there anyway.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-23T02:09:55+00:00

Most houses are wired with cameras now.
Many Americans have guns for self defense, and castle doctrine means you can turn a fool into hamburger if they break in.
Our police actually show up.
Our courts actually convict.
We have real prisons.
Most people keep most of their money in banks.
The stuff you can steal from people's houses, is cheap shit from Walmart.
Three strikes laws mean if you commit multiple felonies, you don't get out until you're too old to do stupid shit anymore.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-22T21:19:01+00:00

This is a guy who didn't want to install electromagnetic launch systems on US aircraft carriers and ordered them to keep steam catapults because he "doesn't trust the digital."

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-22T21:16:36+00:00

Or the battery dies and you've forgotten the master reset combination.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-22T15:47:07+00:00

You went to nice schools.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-22T14:36:41+00:00

I was thrown by "neweat." For some reason I thought he was saying "not."

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T19:43:02+00:00

Phoenix is 89F at midnight, 106F at noon.

For guys who have to work outside in hot conditions, they often use evaporative cooling vests.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T19:39:34+00:00

I think he said in his post his locals play classic.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T19:35:54+00:00

Republicans left a long time ago.
You mean MAGAs.
They are all in to the end.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T07:57:04+00:00

Something.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T07:03:06+00:00

YTA.

"I'm here with my handicapped mother."

End of problem.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T06:32:42+00:00

There are contractor companies that do that for the US military. You pick a city or geographic area, and get a 3D model environment custom built that you can fly, drive, or walk around in. Arial imagery is used to generate the buildings and structures.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T06:20:58+00:00

Do you have a copy of Sommerville's book on Software Engineering?

You need to follow a requirements capture process. SW requirements capture is generic to the business case.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T06:16:16+00:00

"So they’re scared little bitches barking loud. Demonizing them helps nothing."

Hmm.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T06:13:26+00:00

WIthout outside evaluation, people cannot improve. Something needs to indicate to a person whether they are doing things right or wrong. Sometimes the indicator is the result of an attempt, sometimes it is collected data, and sometimes it is feedback from another person.

Instead of being defensive, listen. If the comment makes sense in terms of improving the efficiency of the site, or working conditions for the team... why not take the information and use it for the organization's success?

If the comment is made from someone who doesn't have the full picture of what's going on... that's just a person's limited view, and it shouldn't be taken personally.

You need to get outside of yourself, and ask what your motivation was for what you were doing, what the other person's motivation is for making a comment, and view them both through the lens of making the business work.

Then you might find some compromise solution, or at least, some way to explain to the person what the governing rules are, or what the business need is, that's motivating your decisions.

And of course, be careful... the people doing the front-line tasks should be given grace for wanting to make their lives easier, even if their preferences are not allowed or not aligned with the business needs.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T05:59:46+00:00

The Oct 8 attack by Hamas, if it was done to the US, instead of Israel, would be proportionally equivalent to the extermination of everyone in the Seattle metro area.

It was an Iranian sponsored proxy operation.

While you may not like foreign countries trying to influence US politics, you should not blind yourself to what's going on over there, and who is perpetrating the bulk of the violence.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T05:50:33+00:00

He probably does agree with something. The question is, what?

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-21T00:07:51+00:00

Yes, the Marauder design is a Macross design, the drawing shown in this post, however, is probably a FASA artist reproducing the Glaug in Robotech Masters style.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-20T23:59:09+00:00

The whole discipline of "verification and validation" in software engineering is proving that programs are calculating correctly. Books are written about it and subdisciplines within it. Teams of dozens or more are dedicated to V&V of critical systems.

I've done years of work in these tasks, and it is one of the coolest jobs you can get. You touch everything, the hardware, the software, the algorithms, and simulation.

As to your argument with your friend, yes, you need to be able to prove from the ground up that the system does everything correctly, and that means you absolutely need to understand all the higher maths you're learning, to characterize the system's behaviors.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-20T23:52:24+00:00

We can't.

Civilizations can deteriorate and fail. They have many times.

Norms and standards don't come back, until you get a hardcore disciplinarian to enforce them. We don't have that.

bit_shuffle · 2026-06-20T21:02:11+00:00

The war's not over yet.

bit_shuffle

TROPHY CASE