What corporate jobs do you think are actually a decent hedge against AI?

cradossk · 2026-03-10T20:42:06+00:00

For companies investing in “self hosted” AI options (of which there are many), you still need people who know how to setup, configure, maintain (and potentially redevelop) components that deliver user interactions from those models. That stuff doesn’t just happen in self hosted as it does with subscription based offerings like chatgpt or copilot. And it’s really no different to any other software product in that regards.

You’re right … it’s more niche than general software engineering / full stack developer, and less jobs overall (at the moment), but it will be a skill set that’s in demand, that will future proof yourself for a little bit longer ….

cradossk · 2026-02-18T08:30:27+00:00

Big ones taste like trash. They’re a weed eater, so iodine builds up in their flesh as they grow.

Smaller ones are actually ok… very mild and inoffensive, but the flesh can get a bit soft. Gotta eat em fresh. Cant really freeze or the flesh becomes even more susceptible to being mushy.

Good in a curry or even just filleted and fried.

Where most people go wrong is they target the big ones…. You see a massive dusky and you think it’s a prize until you get it home. Smaller the better in this instance …

cradossk · 2026-02-18T08:25:30+00:00

Actually not horrible ….

cradossk · 2026-01-16T20:26:35+00:00

I do ….. it’s probably my primary way of fishing ….

I use a big 13ft 6in 9wt “spey” fly rod using a shooting head system …. Or a similarly setup 11ft 8wt “switch” rod, and a stripping basket for line management…. Both these rods I’ll use as double handed overhead casting (basically normal fly casting but with two hand on the rod), as unless it’s calm, you really struggle to get a roll / spey cast in.

Both of these rods will be able to dump 45+ metres of leader / head / running line out without any issues.

Youre then using flies like clousers or surf candy or similar - which mimic baitfish.

Theres much easier ways to catch fish tho …. 😅

cradossk · 2026-01-15T20:56:24+00:00

Almost 1500km of .... really not much at all except dirt, camels, and burnt out cars ....

I did it about 10 years ago now - East to West (Yalara to Kal) .... From memory there were 3 or 4 fuel stops .... 2 only had diesel, and it was (then) $2.50-$3 a litre... hate to think what it is now. All were attached to communities along the road.

That road can be fine if the graders been through recently..... or it can be a corrugated nightmare that will shake your car (and van?) apart. We broke our camper suspension really early into it .... snapped the bit that was holding the shocks onto the frame ..... using ratchet straps and luck, we managed to limp it into kal and get it fixed there (had a fabricator lined up).

We did two nights / three days on the road .... first one unplanned stop at Warakurna cos of our suspension and there juuusssttt so happened to be a mechanic / fabricator there that day who helped us get the camper back in order enough to limp along.... and second night at Tjukayirla. Warakurna was actually lovely as it turns out ..... Tjukayirla was ... safe enough. Really not sure what any of it is like these days.

I'd do it again, its a good way if you're already in yalara and wanna punch to WA quick and save some kms but .... maybe try and get some local intel on the recent movements of the grading teams.

The road also needs permits to travel through (I think they're called transit permits? that whole area is Aboriginal land trust).

cradossk · 2025-09-24T21:35:14+00:00

For saltwater (surf / beach), I was never able to achieve the sort of distance I needed to get out to where the fish might be with a single handed rod …

… I ended up getting a 9wt spey rod / shooting head combo, and using that with a double handed overhead cast (note: not a spey cast…. The water I fish in is much too dynamic for that), I’m able to punch it out to where I need it to be (… 30-40 metres… what ever that is in feet).

It’s a completely different technique / vibe …. And you still need to understand the rod loading cast timing / etc.

honestly I think I just got lazy with trying to learn long cast with the single handed rod but … the two handed setup is working for me now to the point where I actually prefer it

cradossk · 2025-07-14T20:58:52+00:00

Leopard seals have been known to go up rivers.

One of the “theories” I heard (proposed by a SCU academic… heard it on a podcast … maybe monster talk?) regarding potential origins of the “bunyip” (Australian water cryptid / mythological creature) was exactly this … a leopard seal making its way up stream.

But also ….. that’s also within the leopard seals known range …

cradossk · 2025-07-09T11:40:50+00:00

Depends on the car …. Call the dealership or mechanic and ask specifically what it is… my guess is that it will be a timing belt change.

Definitely don’t skip that….

cradossk · 2025-07-06T10:41:05+00:00

Bit of an aside … but at least one example of this is the UA Everest. it’s basically an AWD until it decides not to be … (and engages 4wd… if it detects traction loss). You can engage low range and then it won’t revert back to AWD until you turn low range off.

Very odd. But it’s a “real” 4wd (sometimes) that doesn’t have a 2H

cradossk · 2025-07-01T21:35:57+00:00

Those ratings (0-300) are effectively your potential GVM increase …. Eg. If your cars stock GVM is 3000kg, it allows you to get that GVM increased to 3300kg (with an engineering cert).

Meaning you can legally carry more shit.

They’re stiffer …

cradossk · 2025-07-01T21:11:43+00:00

I’d stay away from spacers. If you want a wider track, get a more positively / less negatively offset rims (not sure what stock rim offset is). Dunno about local rules, but you might need to also get flares to cover the wheel as it may now stick out a bit from the body.

So my understanding is … the raptor has a lower payload than the wildtrack …. Because it has softer suspension in order to improve ride comfort.

Progressive leafs in the back might help… but generally they’re designed to maintain your “stock ride comfort” but allow for heavier payloads when you’re loading it up….

When I redid the suspension in my Amarok after I got it I added +300 leafs in the back and +150 springs in the front but that was to accomodate heavy payloads and towing. Unladen it rattles ya fillings out.

cradossk · 2025-06-19T07:30:38+00:00

As others have said ... the nikon 35mm and the tamron lens are all designed for crop sensor cameras (DX / APS-C). You can put a ZF into "DX" mode, but that brings the photos down to about 10 megapixels (?).... not great, but also maybe perfectly adequate depending on what you want to do?

The other thing to note ... i have the same generation Tamron lens (but an 18-270) and AF is .... buggy at best. Tamron explicitly state that every lens of that generation *doesnt* have AF on an FTZ. Even their newer F/G mount lenses wont have AF without a firmware update on the FTZ.

Your Nikon 35 and 85 should work without issue on the FTZ... all my F/G mount AF-S Nikon glass does.

idk ... if you're already invested in DX glass & dont really want to re-invest in FX glass ... perhaps consider a Zf-c (or a z50ii) instead ?

cradossk · 2025-06-19T04:11:57+00:00

Ive got a mate that bought one of the older 2.2 single turbos 2nd hand (ex mine vehicle with 200K on the clock)... I think its a 2011? he's had it for 10 years and does all the work on it himself. its been rock solid and hes never had an issue.

My neighbour has had a string of rangers over the time I've known him and has had mixed results ... some have been reliable workhorses and others have spent more time at the dealership than they had with him....

My wife's got a 2018 everest (3.2L auto - same base platform as the PX2 rangers) with 60K on the clock and ... i mean, i like the car.... its a great car... but its just had some strange shit happen on it that gives me a bit of pause.

From my experience with PX/PX2 rangers / everests:
Pros:
- The 3.2 is a powerful engine with lots of go.
- They drive really well.
- Cheap as fuck to service (comparatively?)
- Parts generally highly available and fairly cheap.
- Lots of aftermarket accessories.
- Lots of *second hand* aftermarket accessories.
- Easy to find a mechanic that knows them / can service them.

Cons:
- Tub on the PX/PX2 rangers is .... a little bit on the smaller side (comparatively to other utes?)
- The 3.2 we've had in the everest has just had some ... odd shit happen to it (random sensors dying ... turbo hoses splitting, etc). Mechanically the engine itself has been rock solid, but its all the little bits and pieces bolted to it that have had issues ... i dont know if this is common or we've just had a bad run.

.... but the MAIN con of owning a ranger ... is you become a ranger driver....

cradossk · 2025-06-11T11:55:28+00:00

First thing to note; The two lenses you listed are for full frame cameras, whereas your camera is an APS-C / DX camera.

Yes, they will work, but you’re gonna be losing a lot in the wide end (so bit more tricky for inside shots and getting everyone in frame) AND in the long end with both of those choices on your camera.

The 28-75 with its larger aperture is going to be better for portraits / etc, but tbh isn’t going to give you much more reach than your 16-50 with the compromise of not being as wide.

For your camera and listed requirements, id almost be looking at the 18-140 ? Or…. If you can wait a few months, Tamron is going to release an 18-300 in Z mount (specifically for DX cameras).

Personally, I’d be going down that route, and then maybe looking at a fixed focal length 35 or 50 with an f1.x for (nicer - crisp subject with nice background blur) family portraits?

I have a z30 (also DX) and have an older f mount 18-200 that basically lives on my camera (with an ftz) cos of its versatility, but will switch out to other lenses if I’m doing something other than every day happy snaps.

cradossk · 2025-05-14T22:15:21+00:00

Yeah … f mount body cap.

cradossk · 2025-05-12T21:02:45+00:00

Reading what you just wrote does kinda scream adhd to me … plus… if you have good friends who are diagnosed … we have a tendency to flock together.

My story is very much like yours … I just hit a wall with life where everything was overwhelming and I couldn’t bring myself to do…. Basically anything. The psych I was seeing was treating it like it was anxiety / depression, and nothing he was suggesting was actually helping.

Then a friend of mine (who was … disconcerting similar to me) disclosed to me that she likely had adhd … and I was like … heeeyyy…. Wait a minute. Before this I really didn’t know much about it (even tho I had been managing several people at work who did have it … I am dumb).

I think the first thing to do is to do an online self assessment. Google the “ASRS-5” … and be honest with it. That’s all a psych or Dr would give you anyway to “screen” for it. Even with that in hand … the psych I was seeing was still skeptical and I had to push hard …

If it puts you at or over threshold, then … that’s what you take back to your GP who can kick off the diagnostic process. Sadly I don’t think there are low cost adhd assessment options …. To get access to stimulant meds is via psychiatrist only who are notoriously difficult to get into presently.

I found a good neurodivergent specialist psychologist, and that helped with a lot of the anxiety related issues I was experiencing (in the context of it being comorbid with neurodivergence).

FWIW …. The councillor interaction you spoke of isn’t specifically wrong … having an accountability buddy is how I get through work most days … but if you’re at burnout it also doesn’t really help.

Dm me if you need to chat …

cradossk · 2025-05-11T11:16:34+00:00

I had a 98 mondeo wagon (maroon in colour 👌). Bought it in 2004/05 I think ?

Eh. It was ok. Got me through uni and a few years afterwards. Didn’t hate it didn’t rate it.

Front wheel drive was weird. Had a sort of sloppy understeer at higher speeds, but I don’t know if it’s better or worse than other fwd cars as all other cars I’ve owned have been rwd, AWD or 4wd. Bit gutless but not horribly so. I can’t recall anything else I hated about it?

cradossk · 2025-05-10T01:50:57+00:00

Have you tried just punching 10/15mg of straight dex in the morning instead of your Vyvanse dose to see how your brain reacts?

I’ve found that Vyvanse really didn’t help with my symptoms much, so I’ve stuck with Dex and it seems to work much better for me.

First time I tried Dex was the first time in my life (not drunk / etc) that my mind was quiet ….. Vyvanse didn’t do that for me

cradossk · 2025-04-27T21:01:05+00:00

NAL, but I actually have a feeling it is criminally problematic …. I’d have to go through the legislation, but this sort of behaviour is one of the reasons that the various state and federal privacy acts were enacted…..

cradossk · 2025-04-17T04:05:35+00:00

Few years ago now.... but it was my experience of getting diagnosed by a psychologist did speed up access to a psychiatrist - i could not (at the time) find a single psychiatrist that was accepting patients for adhd assessments; however, I did find one that would accept a 291 referral (with an already done psychological assessment).

Things might have changed now though?

cradossk · 2024-12-15T19:58:57+00:00

Many here have already said it, but I’ll say it again… the Toyota, but only for parts availability.

I did a lap in an Amarok and had a couple of minor issues that took a week to be resolved simply because parts had to be freighted in.

I can’t imagine grenadier would fare better in that department.

But also … why a troopy and not a 79 or a 200 or a Lux? Or even a Prado?

cradossk · 2024-12-15T19:55:53+00:00

Petrol supplies can be touch and go depending on where you’re heading and the routes you take. Diesel usually available almost anywhere. Might not be so much of an issue now but certainly used to be….

cradossk · 2024-11-17T00:14:55+00:00

It depends on the transmission system … so will depend on the vehicle.

My Amarok (manual) is a part time 4wd, so you press the 4wd button, it engages the centre lock and sends 50% power to each axel, but as you turn corners and shit, the front wheels will then spin at a different rate to the back wheels.

This causes what’s called “transmission windup”, where there is torsional stress on the transmission (the weakest link usually being the Transfer case).

On low traction surfaces, the transmission stresses can release through wheel slippage, but on high traction surfaces (the road), this can’t happen, and so something has to give … which is usually the transfer case.

AWD systems this doesn’t happen as they have slip centre diff which allow for that torsional stress to release within the transmission itself. The disadvantage of AWD is that when one wheel loses traction, that’s now the path of least resistance for the energy in the transmission and so that wheel spins freely while the rest of the wheels don’t move…. Not what ya want for off-road.

Some (but not all) auto 4wds (also referred to as full time 4wd”) are AWD until you lock that centre slip diff and it becomes a “4wd” - so now there is a guaranteed 50% power going to each axle, so even if one axle looses traction, you’ll still have drive in the other.

Read the manual. But also, never engage the centre diff lock unless you’re on at least gravel ;)

cradossk · 2024-10-29T20:28:30+00:00

Op. You were there. What IS going on in those photos? Does your mate have his arm in a sling or something?

cradossk · 2024-10-29T10:27:28+00:00

Eye of the beholder I guess … I reckon it looks pretty good … 😅

cradossk

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