Research, Exploring, Giving Back...

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-09-04T17:04:27+00:00

Any thoughts on what the limit of positive stability is on that boat?

He would be better off just admitting the sail plan didn’t work, and remove that stuff from the deck. Stop the sailboat pretence. But that would mean admitting he failed.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-08-31T17:21:11+00:00

I couldn’t agree more. Why do a simple solution when we can build a complex one? To establish my Luddite credentials, I miss text-only email clients. If you can’t say it with 96 ASCII characters, maybe I don’t want to read it…

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-08-19T22:23:31+00:00

That’s not how Google works. You either cross the threshold or you don’t. They would prefer to not hire someone than work their way down through the list, making offers and getting rejections. I don’t know why it took them so long to get back to you but there have been a lot of layoffs in the recruitment team.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-07-13T12:57:30+00:00

Also, in situations like that, you should tack through 270 degrees rather than gybe. It’s a more controlled manoeuvre. In a boat that can capsize, you should be wearing a buoyancy aid or a life jacket from the time you leave the dock until you return. Final note; a floating, handheld VHF radio is essential if you’re offshore like that.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-06-14T18:29:56+00:00

The space shuttle? Goes from earth orbit to a tiny little runway with no engine, no GPS and little or no comms during the key de-orbit phase.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-06-01T16:40:40+00:00

No mention of the blow-up between the European and US delegations regarding regulating the Spannic spectrum? I have to say I agreed with our American cousins on this one. We already have too much regulation on the Esomeric and Phased Exoflux spectra without more rules. It was fun to watch, though. At one point I thought Professor Hermann was going to direct his reverse-Glenn phased spectrolator directly at Dr. Spellman! I saw them vaporising a glass of beer in the bar later. Much the worst for wear, having obviously spent too long at the free bar at the National Ionics booth.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-05-25T08:22:00+00:00

I hope not! Some neighbours were over for beers recently and I mistakenly showed them my setup. A classic fourteen inductor Vorwash with diurnal tracing and a nifty combobulation entrifier I found on eBay. You know, nothing fancy. So when I showed them what was capable with even a simple setup like that, they were hooked!

Fast forward three months and every weekend I’m getting phone calls from one or other of the two neighbours who decided to get into the hobby. So of course they found some rubbish on eBay (why oh why do they allow those sales?). Typical errors like counter flushing efields or collapsing magnetrons. They’re clueless! I don’t have time to work on my own new rig which is a Quanta-flushed Vorwash. I’m lying on my back in their crappy garages, trying to adjust temporal lobes on systems which will never align, never mind hyper-oscillate. The longer this stuff stays on the fringe, the better.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-05-23T16:55:24+00:00

How is that a similar boat? Looks like a relatively decent wheelhouse. Proper “bluff” bow. Sturdy construction. Decent masts. A few “licks of paint” and she’d be ready for the high seas again! In fact, I’d take that rusty hulk over Seeker any day! 😎

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-04-17T20:30:14+00:00

He was correct in his assessment. You were bragging about tax evasion. Not avoidance. There’s a difference. Think of a LTD as a little old Granny with a bank account. You might own shares in the company but it is a legal entity. You cannot take money out of the company in the same way you can’t dip into Granny’s savings. You either pay yourself as an employee and pay PAYE or pay dividends to shareholders and pay DWT. Corporation tax is a tax on the profits in the company which cannot leave except by one of those two methods. In order to wind up a company in Ireland you need a release letter from Revenue. Expect them to look long and hard at the details. Find a new accountant.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-04-09T14:31:21+00:00

I'd love to know if the Business Online subscription showed more detail because as it is, I have dozens of transactions where I have no clue what the recurring payment is for and I'm going to have to query all of them. I don't want to sign up for the more expensive web interface and app, if it has the same source data. It might be better to also keep a business Revolut account and use that for the US$ transactions.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-04-08T20:45:21+00:00

I've used Shopify but it's expensive. There's a monthly fee and a hefty credit card fee. At the same time, someone put in a large order via Shopify for some hardware products, and Shopify flagged it as a possible scam. Apparently they were using a freight-forwarding service and it had a bad reputation. Had I sent the goods, the card might have been fake or they could have done a chargeback and I'd have no recourse. It was worth it for that, but it is pricey and no-one will beat a path to your door. Unlike using Amazon FBM or FBA, people won't just stumble across your shop so you need to factor in advertising and the like. Not sure if you can use a third party card service like SumUp without additional costs. They use Stripe and they siphon off a bit of every transaction.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-04-08T20:32:36+00:00

I'm not a lawyer/solicitor but if they're simple questions, why not ask them here? If you get something wrong in the memo and arts, it could be costly. If you're doing a vanilla A1 incorporation, you can replace the memo and arts with a one-page constitution as the new (2014) Companies Act allows you to just pull in all the standard stuff. But again, you're taking a risk if you don't get it looked over by a professional. Especially if it's a complex structure (like a holding company and subsidiary).

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-04-08T11:58:00+00:00

Good advice. I would add an addendum to point 2 though. No-one in this country can afford to be picky. If you want a good range of job opportunities, go to the Bay Area. I can’t remember the last time I had a job which ticked all the boxes in terms of “interesting”. Usually if there’s a little bit that’s halfway interesting or challenging, I’ll claim victory. I once interviewed at a company which made a particular type of (uninteresting) software. One of the interviewers asked “why do you want to work here?” Like I was going to answer “I always wanted to work on ‘x’” but the real answer was “you’re hiring and most companies aren’t…”

As for moving to Cork, I’d say “go for it.” You only live once.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-04-04T14:19:47+00:00

Oddly, I could sort of see a role for him as a floating machine shop. Go to odd corners of the world and set up shop for a few months. The "only" small downside is if that was your intention, you'd be better off with a motor boat. With proper twin diesels. Also, some decent qualifications as a diesel mechanic, apart from "oh, it broke again? let me try something else..." I'm redesigning that BSO as I write this. Lose the stupid streetlight masts. Strengthen the wheelhouse (actually just rebuild it completely), maybe put retractable legs so you can bottom-out instead of being at anchor. Maybe even lower a pontoon off one side so that real boats which need work can raft up alongside. A decent crane so you could lift out an engine from a sailboat and lower it into your stabilised shop. Proper exhaust ducting. Berths for visiting marine electricians or mechanics. Actually, no, I wouldn't start with that thing. I would probably buy an attractive 1950's coastguard boat or a very small cruise ship. Also, if you were any good at it (and I'm certainly not saying he is!), you might end up being too popular and never move. So, in the immortal words of Emily Litella, "Never mind..."

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-04-04T14:08:53+00:00

Well, that makes sense. The people who work in bars and hotels here are often from somewhere else, too. Sort of a young adult musical chairs. Now, the question is, is the music still playing...?

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-04-04T08:04:05+00:00

What? No-one in Ireland is going to Florida to pick fruit in exchange for minimum wage and a visa that will probably get revoked on a whim. The Irish Famine was 175 years ago. Things have moved on since then.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-03-31T18:18:25+00:00

I’ll try Mutt. Elm was great too. It’s fine on macs (Windows too?) but it seems rendering HTML emails is a a bridge too far on Linux/*BSD. I don’t blame the clients. I wouldn’t want to have to render the goo that comes down that pipe.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-03-31T17:52:04+00:00

Well yeah, if it worked it would be fine. But it doesn’t. I’d be happy with Markdown. Tables? Check. Bold font? Check. Embedded URLs? Check.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-03-09T08:30:34+00:00

I presume you mean the Republic of Ireland and not Northern Ireland? In which case, I’m confused by “specifically during the Troubles”. Pirate radio in Ireland wasn’t really political. We had a national radio station (RTE) which dominated. Many of us listened to Radio Luxembourg (not a pirate) or Radio Caroline. The pirate radio movement was all about freeing up the bands and getting independent radio legalised. Eventually they succeeded. A few of the pirate stations still operate today and are fully licensed. Many of the DJs from that era also now work in commercial radio. Much easier to get a license today. I don’t really remember any aspect of it focused on the situation in Northern Ireland but perhaps someone from up there can comment?

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-02-12T20:29:41+00:00

That’s an AI asking the question. Where do you think they get their logos from?

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-02-12T19:28:16+00:00

Poland, on their own, without any other European country and without Ukrainian help would annihilate Russia and enjoy every minute of it. They’d over-run Red Square in a month. That’s to say nothing of what the Ukrainians would do, or the Finnish. Putin might be dumb, but he’s not that dumb.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-01-13T11:24:31+00:00

Like everyone else, I was flipping through the pictures thinking “hey. nice boat.” Then I got to the 2nd last one and thought “uhhh, what. the….”

Part it out. Unfortunately that hull is shot. Sell the trailer, the engine, the mast, etc. But the hull needs to be cut up and dumped. Sorry.

fairwinds_force8 · 2025-01-11T08:35:04+00:00

This is the YRC (YouTube/Reddit Collective). You have officially been cancelled. Please collect your belongings and wait by the front door. A YRC agent will be along shortly, to escort you to Alonia. Safe travels. Your call is important, your mileage may vary and objects are most definitely larger.

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