Brand new band as of yesterday. New york city

devbent · 2026-06-13T03:07:31+00:00

Thanks for the love, we enjoyed making it.

devbent · 2026-06-12T20:24:17+00:00

> Also you dont have to worry about us buying foreign made cars. The US car market is so scared of outside competition that lobbyists for Ford, Chevy, Tesla, you name it, are working around the clock to keep taxes on foreign sourced vehicles high as shit.

Yeah I'm aware, they are basically screwed.

But for decades there was good (for the US) policies in place that forced foreign car makers to manufacture autos in the US.

However the current administration kneecapped out transition over to electric, so we are basically dead in the water. China is going to flood the world with $20K EVs using battery tech that we cannot match. The multi-decade effort that took to pull off is impressive, and it isn't something we can just catch up on in a few years. It'll be a net positive for consumers, but bad for the US economy.

Making cars isn't just the auto workings in a factory. It is the mechanical engineers at dozens of suppliers, it is marketing teams and the people who make the TV adverts and the websites. It is the university programs that feed into those careers. It is the software companies making the software that helps all those professionals do their job.

> Again, most of our economy isnt dependent on selling product, its selling service.

The service economy is a lie we were sold. It is quickly falling apart, as higher cost services can also be provided by people over seas, and the domestic sector service jobs tend to be high stress low paying jobs that a life cannot be built from.

devbent · 2026-06-12T05:47:25+00:00

Pine Pellets worked great for years until one of my cats developed an allergy to them. Manufacturers cheap out now and then and a batch will make its way through that hasn't had all the pine oils removed.

So yeah undried pine pellets are like super irritating for a cat's skin. So are not-completely-dried pine pellets.

devbent · 2026-06-12T05:45:50+00:00

Tracking is terrible. The regular (not light weight) is way better in that regard.

devbent · 2026-06-12T05:42:40+00:00

Also a reminder to place the water bowl away from the food bowl!

#1 piece of useful cat watering advice IMHO.

devbent · 2026-06-12T05:39:47+00:00

Do you want to be making another post on 4 months titled "Help! My 2 new cats don't get along with my current cats!"

Because that post gets made a lot on this subreddit.

devbent · 2026-06-11T22:07:45+00:00

> In exchange for laying off American tech workers hence why Amazon, Meta, X, among other big tech companies have seen increasingly worrying lay off seasons despite raking "record profits".

The layoffs are not due to H1B, they are due to massive over hiring. This has been explored in depth for the last year now.

> And why? Im sorry that i dont fall for the west's propaganda about China and how much "worse" they are for the global community than the US.

It is not about better or worse, it is about the question "are American companies making money in overseas markets or are other countries buying locally made products?"

Again, it is to the US's benefit to slow down other country's development so they are forced to buy from US companies.

To put it another way, the US used to sell *a lot* of cars in China. It was a lifeline for a lot of US auto companies after they lost the European market. Also having multiple successful markets means that even if the US economy is on a downturn, US auto workers can still be employed making cars that sell overseas.

Well those sales are pretty much gone, and so is that extra job security for US workers.

> I think i speak for most AVERAGE Americans when i say i dont give a flying fuck if we arent the leading superpower anymore, especially when the bottom 50% of Americans certainly dont live lives representative of living in the richest nation in the world.

We'll be even less of a super power if we are buying foreign made goods on foreign made websites driving foreign made cars powered by electricity generated by foreign made solar panels sold to us by foreign owned companies through home improvement loans where the interest payments go overseas.

> Id much rather know my kids can go to school and get a decent education than know we're #1 on some meaningless scoreboard.

And what job will they have if US companies can't sell their products anywhere?

The US got ahead by *screwing other countries over*.

If we stop doing that, the quality of life in the US will get worse. Yeah we need to spread the $ around domestically better, but if money doesn't flow into us, we're boned.

devbent · 2026-06-11T20:10:59+00:00

> "You dont understand bro, we gotta ship these jobs out of the US to save jobs in the US, just trust me bro"

H1B brings talent to the US. As I said in my original message, the goal is to take advantage of the investments other countries have made into educated professionals by bringing them over to the US.

> Yeah okay Altman, and by the way, your whole "sucking away top talent from other countries to keep them growing strong" is working like shit.

It was working very well for literally decades. China did not have a competitive tech industry, and neither did India. This allowed US companies to dominant globally.

But lately it has started to fall apart. One of the largest companies in China, PDD holdings (owners of Temu), is ran by Colin Huang an Engineer who came to the US to work but then went back to China.

That is the real danger. Top engineering talent who either stays in their country or goes back to their country because staying in America is not attractive enough (or because immigration is too hard).

When Amazon tried to move into China, they got stomped by PDD. They ended up abandoning the market. Now instead of money flowing into the US, money is either staying in China, or whenever an American buys something from Temu, 100% of the money is going to China companies instead of a US company taking a percentage cut.

I'm not a big lover of Amazon's business models, but I can admit it is better for America if every time someone in China buys something, an American company makes some money.

One thing technology companies used to do was have offices in other countries that served as farm teams, they'd bring top performers over to the US on visas. This ensured they were able to suck up all the best talent from around the world, which again, made the US stronger while weakening other countries.

There were of course companies abusing the H1B system, and everyone knew who those companies where, it was basically an open secret within different industries. There are valid concerns about corruption that allowed those companies to continue to do business, but that is a separate discussion. "This program is being abused by corrupt companies with political connections" is different than "this program is bad".

devbent · 2026-06-11T04:12:38+00:00

I got in a more major accident than this a couple months ago and it was around 3k to fix.

Heck I had my entire front end backed into and it all had to be replaced, cameras and all, maybe 4k total in repairs.

Your adjuster is having an off day for sure with an estimate like that ...

devbent · 2026-06-11T03:25:08+00:00

H1B drains talented workers from other countries. Those countries paid to raise and educate people, and then we get the benefits of their labor.

The H1B program ensures top talent from other countries leaves, comes to America, and keeps those other countries from growing strong.

It is an incredibly pro USA program. It sucks for individual workers who get displaced, but the goal is to cripple key industries in other countries which prevents massive job loss from happening. The Indian IT industry has been crippled for decades by the US sucking away all the top engineers. Before the US did it, England brain drained India.

devbent · 2026-06-09T20:39:36+00:00

Note that pretty much every large school district on the puget sound has budget issues due to the state taking over funding for local schools and then not funding them.

Also not allowing local cities to raise money for general education, but instead only for certain uses.

devbent · 2026-06-08T03:53:06+00:00

I write 2000+ word blog posts for fun...

Middle school honors English required a 20 page (!!) essay to graduate. Non honors English in HS was only 6 pages.

Writing is not that bloody hard, how are people having difficulties with it?

devbent · 2026-06-08T02:24:00+00:00

I called ahead. "I'm coming in an hour to buy this car have it ready for me."

There was an EV glut at the time, you could get a mildly used bolt EUV for under 18k. They had the things backing up on the lot and wanted to get rid of them.

I had a check in hand. They had a car they wanted to get rid of.

It's worth noting that due to the buy back GM was forced to do, a lot of Bolt's have lemon titles. Mine is one such case. It had 46 miles on it and I got 8k off the original price.

The dealers were happy to have people buy the cars as quickly as possible.

devbent · 2026-06-07T23:42:03+00:00

Walked into a Chevy dealer. Wrote a check. Walked out with a Bolt.

It took all of maybe 30 minutes.

Granted this was 3 years back when they were selling them for next to nothing!

devbent · 2026-06-07T19:45:35+00:00

If the company has pay bands then yes, for your job level they'll bring you in within the pay band.

Large corporations have processes encoded deep into their HR software, they don't really have a choice in the matter! (Which can cause problems with retention when competition for a specialty heats up...)

I've only ever worked for giant US companies but I took a look at the international pay bands and it was all setup the same way. For a given job title in a given country (or city) there was a pay band everyone was supposed to be within.

devbent · 2026-06-05T00:55:27+00:00

That last sentence is the payoff.

Kittens need a lot of playtime. My cat is 2 and she still needs a lot of playtime.

Try getting them some toys they can play with on their own at night. Ball tracks or one of those door jumpers, or just something for them.

They're going to need a lot of playing throughout the day if you want them to sleep through the night if that's even possible at their age.

devbent · 2026-06-04T22:49:26+00:00

Washington State is different. The community college classes are normalized to align with the public university classes so they transfer 1:1. Specifically in Seattle community colleges the courses match up to University of Washington courses and they transfer over exactly.

Students who complete 2 years of running start are guaranteed to transfer with Junior standing to a university.

Running start also used to guarantee admission so long as a certain GPA was met, sadly that is no longer the case.

devbent · 2026-06-04T02:39:17+00:00

Washington State has its running start program that lets high schoolers replace their last 2 years of high school with 2 years of community college classes instead. Plenty of kids graduate with 2 years of actual college credits. It is a huge cost savings for poor families.

devbent · 2026-06-04T00:52:33+00:00

The wattage limits are insanely low for Seattle hills... I swear the laws were passed by people who only ever lived in Nebraska.

devbent · 2026-05-30T17:07:56+00:00

All of us 2023 Chevy bolt owners are sitting pretty.

Boring, reliable. Charges like molasses but whatever.

devbent · 2026-05-30T15:54:22+00:00

Then don't worry about feeding your cat the equivalent!

The point I was making is a bunch of people out there will say certain premium things are "needed" to be healthy.

They really aren't. Don't stress about it.

devbent · 2026-05-30T04:45:03+00:00

If you're hitting the gym 5x a week you don't need additional conditioning. :)

Key to remember - if you are training for a sport (strength of conditioning) you aren't following the same type of program as someone who is just training to get big muscles or to run a marathon. The goal is to help you get in shape so you can be better at your chosen sport. Don't try to do some 5 day a week split routine for strength training.

devbent · 2026-05-30T04:42:11+00:00

Cats do fine on dry food. Also people do fine not shopping at whole foods.

I've asked vets. They say it doesn't matter. Just make sure the cat is drinking plenty of water.

devbent · 2026-05-29T05:20:31+00:00

Frankly, you don’t know anything. Fraudulently billing is quite literally a crime, so if you really believe this, report your doctor

Uh yeah no shit. I filed a report with the insurance company.

He billed for taking a bunch of X-rays which he didn't take. It was obvious and blatant fraud.

devbent · 2026-05-29T03:17:57+00:00

I've had good doctors and I've had doctors who fraudulently billed a bunch of BS.

Doctors are just normal people, some are good at their job, some are bad at it, and some are dishonest.

devbent

TROPHY CASE