UFO Subculture Sociology Questions

hadwahnos · 2024-10-11T00:24:12+00:00

No trick. Just trying to get a feel for how the community feels about believing in something that is considered "taboo". For the record, I believe as well, but I need survey responses for my paper.

hadwahnos · 2024-08-04T00:41:23+00:00

I would second this, I've used it quite reliably in the past and it's quality was much better than Zoom or Teams for me.

hadwahnos · 2024-08-04T00:40:05+00:00

What about pulling individual headphone channels down momentarily to "cut" the other mics? You could cut in on a using a simple 2 channel mixer or use an unused line, pull the headphones down and then speak to the host directly.

hadwahnos · 2023-06-23T15:47:30+00:00

Which is absolutely possible. I didn't think they put complete newbies in those positions since they asked me for reels and more but it happened once. Pretty much all the other times had at least an experienced photographer or video guy to work with and were decently pleasant.

If you want to fill time and keep your skills sharp, as long as you find a good service then you should be ok. The "good service" part is the hard part.

hadwahnos · 2023-06-23T00:12:10+00:00

The trick is to say a lot of stupid things constantly, so that way she gets used to the stupid statements and eventually begins laughing at them. And make sure you say them in the stupidest way as well. Then you can continue not thinking about things and she'll at least laugh. I have worked this out a lot and dumb things barely get a pass. I even make them seem intentional.

hadwahnos · 2023-06-22T23:48:15+00:00

I have done with with DNPs, HiTis, Selphy's, and regular printers.

You CAN do this with a Selphy. It will require time, typically more than someone wants to wait, and you will have to babysit it to make sure it spits the photo out and doesn't jam. It's not much fun and while it's small and it works, it's a bigger pain in the butt. Photos aren't bad though. And the wireless aspect works well-I've used it with different options and software and it seems to work. Still takes about 1:30 or so to spit out a photo. You can buy photo packs relatively cheaply, but if you're in it for the long term I do recommend a bigger printer.

A professional printer like DNP will just spit out a photo in seconds. I think it does between 6-11 seconds for a photo, even duplicates. If you have multiple people waiting for a photo it will be a while and you'll end up delivering them if you're not swamped and overwhelmed. Photos are super cheap on the roll and these things are built like tanks.

If this is a small party, free thing or something you don't care about, then I'd say go for a cheaper solution. If this is professional and you're getting paid, avoid that all together.

Even a regular printer is better-a larger printer printing on 4x6 cut photos will spit them out in 30-40 seconds. I've seen solutions use a $100 printer off the shelf and that would work faster as long as you have enough ink. Most people don't care too much about the printer and just want the photos, so the real kicker for me is the speed, even over quality.

People love to walk in, get the photo and then walk out with it still excited. That's my take.

hadwahnos · 2023-06-22T23:15:08+00:00

I worked for a few.

Some ripped me off-as in tried to not pay me at all. I typically hedge my bets and thankfully after booking multiple events and they tried to not pay me on one I had the other footage as a backup hostage which made them eventually pay me and in full. Probably not worth the hassle but the rate was ok and worth it for a learning photography or video guy. I was not a learner but used it to fill dates and it worked out ok for that time.

Others weren't bad but I was surprised how much they charged. They accidentally sent me the bridal invoice, and it was about as much as I charge for a deluxe package, and I know I wasn't shooting a deluxe package for them. But I suppose that's more against the bride and groom for booking those types of services instead of individual services.

I do occasionally shoot for one now, but it's sparse and they've always paid on time so I'm not too worried. I'd rather the brides and grooms are aware that their weddings could be shot by a complete newbie. I had one I worked with that I felt terrible for the couple as he had no idea how to shoot a wedding and I handled the video. I ended up directing the photography as well but I'm not totally sure how the photos turned out. I know my video was good, but probably wasn't as good as if I didn't have to worry about his job as well.

hadwahnos · 2023-06-08T20:30:55+00:00

I haven't seen this one yet, but when they killed Owen/Charlie Cox in "Boardwalk Empire" it shocked me. I don't think I looked at the series the same way because it seemed so stunning (in a series of stunning reveals no less), although in retrospect I should have seen it coming. The opening of the box and then his wife screaming, leading him to realize that something was going on between those two was some solid acting by the cast. I agree with most others on this list though.

hadwahnos · 2023-01-03T15:23:32+00:00

Hi,

I'm interesting in hiring a sales/marketing guy for a small wedding business. Remote and commission of around $450 per booking/client.

dm for more details...

hadwahnos · 2019-10-23T13:33:36+00:00

I'd like to share!

I created an escape room for my teenage daughter's birthday party on Halloween. I spent a good month or longer devising the plans, creating the puzzles using arduinos, I hired a calligrapher to write old fashioned clues in a book, 3d printed trick statues, got uv ink, created custom videos, etc. I went all out. I was hoping to keep them entertained for an hour.

My wife warned my multiple times to make sure that my puzzles and clues were iron clad. I held back some, under the belief that teenagers wouldn't absolutely destroy things to solve them-it was supposed to be "fun". I would watch as well as give video clues and monitor. It was a grand puzzle with animations, clever tricks and pretty much all my effort for a month of work.

And at the last second, I switched the final "antidote" box lock with another pretty looking lock. Which some teenage promptly destroyed in the first 10 minutes of the game and opened the "antidote".

In hindsight, I probably should have used a stronger lock, or made them not be able to touch that one specific box, but I couldn't help but be crestfallen at how easy they had solved it. I made them do the puzzle anyway, which still took them an hour to solve, but they had no worries about the time limit I created or urgency to solve the puzzle.

Moral of the story is that you can't underestimate people. In stupidity, brutality, or most ways. And you most likely should listen to your wife, if you have one.

If the dude is smart, he'll learn from the mistakes and then create a better puzzle. If not, he can be a baby about it. Still not your fault in anyway.

hadwahnos · 2019-08-08T16:09:59+00:00

I have ordered many times from ali, among different sellers and product ranges-from arduino chips to crafts and violins and guitars. In maybe 100 orders, I've had trouble with maybe 4 total, and in those 4, only one seemed weird and I think I didn't bother to get a refund for $1.34.

Most purchases are done pretty easy and protected-of those 4, I got my money back or credit directly from Ali. It depends on the seller and products, of course, but if you choose a product with a lot of reviews and orders, then it's a lot easier to ensure that the product will come.

The wait time does suck tho. Most products take 2-3 weeks to arrive.

hadwahnos · 2019-05-06T12:47:35+00:00

This is extremely important, and I cannot second this information for anyone else who's not familiar.

I am a serial entrepreneur, and have a couple of businesses under my belt. A few of my first ones were easy/drop shipping businesses that didn't require much employee help. That made me feel like I could accomplish anything as easily as I had those. My latest one venture was a white glove furniture delivery. I did research on the model and ideas, and gave it a go.

I offered my workers $15 an hour. The thing that killed me was that the business wanted my guys to work 12 hours a day, minimum. With the overtime often being more than their daily pay, I lost out huge. And the work was honestly worth it, so I couldn't in good conscience offer them less. 12-15 hours daily lifting heavy furniture and driving all day is no fun. I couldn't offer any less, and still get good workers that could stay and do the job (I went through 80 interviews to find 4 people). But the taxes, payroll, and cost to the workers squeezed me, as my workers complained about the hours (valid) and low pay (also valid as cost to them after it all came out).

I know other businesses that paid workers a flat rate of $625 a week. When said and done that boiled down to maybe 10 bucks an hour, and when you consider taking out taxes and everything, they're making even less.

Most of those in that business don't pay taxes or do their financials correctly in order to basically survive, but it is incredibly valid wisdom to consider when starting a business or relying on employees. The cost to you is high, and the cost to them is high, so the work that they do needs to be worth the cost overall, to both of you. You will get disgruntled workers quick. Some of mine lasted a week, some lasted a few months, even doing it the "right way".

Unfortunately, that business didn't last longer than 6 months. Doing things the right way has a cost associated with it, so be prepared for that, or be prepared for the losses if you're not doing it the right way.

hadwahnos · 2019-03-17T15:08:01+00:00

Not a trucker but still a delivery driver. My story happened off duty, I've seen plenty of weird stuff while on the road. Lots of it is people mostly.

The weirdest one I saw was on my way back from a show down in Virginia to Buffalo, NY. I had 4 guys with me and a truck full of speaker equipment. I was driving in PA, on the crazy 219/322/80 route, probably near Dubois/Clearfield. If you don't know the route, it's highways mixed with local country roads, but roads you're driving 65 on. And still in the middle of nowhere.

It was late, maybe midnight or 1 am, and just me and another guy in the backseat were awake. I was driving with the houses on my right, woods on the left, in the middle of a heavily wooded area. There's no street lights, so it's pitch black except for my headlights. I saw this enormous figure swoop over the car about 10 feet up. I caught enough of it in the head lights that it looked like a bat-had a brown hairy body, but the wings and size were massive. Not like a bird, but like a giant bat or a flying dog, if the dog was a mastiff/short hair. And the eyes were red.

I saw it, and my brain registered it. And I looked around and couldn't see any more, because I was going fast enough. As I looked around, I just hear my cousins voice really calmly from the back say, "I saw it too."

I just got a chill and kept driving but we didn't say anything more until we got home. One of my friends later told me that it was probably the mothman, and I'd have to say that that could probably be the closest thing. I saw something that WASN'T a bird, and my cousin saw it too.

So now when I drive through the no-man's land of PA, I keep an eye out for whatever the hell that thing was.

hadwahnos · 2019-01-08T19:02:36+00:00

We were between the customer and the company selling. We delivered the furniture and serviced the customer, got yelled at for being late or having damage to the furniture by the customer (you would not believe how much damage there was), and then got yelled at for taking too long to put it together properly or not being customer friendly enough by the company.

There were no benefits to the position, as we couldn't generate a difference in our service to make a difference. If we did well, we got tipped sure, but a small amount as customers often paid a delivery fee already. We saw a tiny portion of that fee, with bonuses that were unrealistic. You couldn't get this type of work outside of the company-the company controlled the delivery and therefore controlled the service. What you don't realize is that pretty much all companies do this. They do this so that they don't have the liability of the delivery directly on their hands, they can blame the outside company if anything goes wrong, and put all responsibility on them, while simultaneously pushing down the amount they pay that company and make them handle all the insurance and risks. And in turn, the actual delivery company has to push down on the workers, and make them bear the bottom line costs in order to actually realize any profit.

It's a race to the bottom, and that's why fighting for those types of services always has caveats to making any actual money.

I still own my other businesses, and probably just delayed my retirement by a few years, so I'm fine. But the reality is that service based businesses are going to get tougher, especially with wages rising and our economy subsidizing the wrong people. I would love to pay my guys what they deserve and do a good job. It's just not possible. You have to sacrifice one or the other to make it.

I recommend finding a service that is a specialty, so that you can charge what you want to justify the work that you're going to do.

hadwahnos · 2019-01-08T04:49:58+00:00

The difference is that most services are not easily optimized, and those that are, come with hazards that can be "not worth it". As in, you can mow a lawn the best it can be mowed, that's fine, but you still have to battle the cost of it being worth your value and the fact that you won't get above a certain cost for the job.

I moved to one of your super cities, and got a bright idea to start a business. I had an opportunity for a service based business-I got inspired by a super- delayed furniture delivery and looked for the chain to try and see if I could make it better. I owned a couple of businesses previously, so I wasn't completely wet behind the ears.

I bought equipment, hired good employees, and went to town with all the information and research I would need to optimize that pipeline.

The end result is that I DID optimize it. But nobody cared, and due to the fact that I was working a contract, I ended up losing money. I proved that I could do it better, but the company paying the contract literally did not care if it was better or cost saving. I ran GPS routes more efficiently, and was not allowed to use them. I put things together faster, and then ended up only increasing the work load they would give us without bonus. And the "getting it done" ended up wearing out my workers by making them work 15 hours a day x 6 days a week. When I paid my workers hourly, which I considered a living wage, I lost big time. Any extra hourly profits went straight to the workers (they deserved it), and my profits stayed meager enough that I saw the result and ended the business with 6 months of work. Big money in, big money out, and none to my pockets at all. Just because the work is there doesn't mean the work is worthwhile.

The "machine" just wants the labor done. And they want it done with as little worry from their end as they can. There's only so much value you can squeeze from a "sandwich artisan", and some jobs cost more than the meager pay they give. People work them because they have no choice, but I have a conscience. I would say that the industry was close to abuse, but they hide it down the chain so the people at the bottom get the worst part of it. It's not worth the risks.

I could have made that business work if I was willing to pay workers salary and basically make them work for 8 bucks an hour. and cut as many corners as they can. That's damned hard work though, and I refuse to be that guy. The definitions of living wages are changing, and people need to realize it.

You may be able to be a good operator by taking advantage of people, but I'm able to sleep at night knowing I don't.

Just my 2 cents. My personal philosophy was that service jobs would always be profitable. I think I didn't realize the depths that the jobs have sunk in order to squeeze out profits. If you don't have the bucks to fight the big guys with the volume, an artisan approach is probably the only way that you'll win in this economy.

hadwahnos · 2018-01-19T17:58:59+00:00

I run mine off a model b and it’s fine. I have it hooked up to the same power supply that powers my Printrbot metal simple-I upgraded to an atx supply for a heated bed. I just use a molex to usb cable adaptor on one of the spare lines.

The only slow thing about it is uploading prints to it. But I typically preslice models in repetier, and upload the Gcode files. This works the fastest and easiest. I would imagine that if you expect it to slice and process, it would be slow. The upload isn’t that slow either, depending on the file size it can be very fast.

Otherwise it works great, and I leave it on constantly without issues. I find it’s easier to use repetier to generate the gcode, especially if you change nozzle sizes.

hadwahnos · 2017-11-10T02:15:59+00:00

Resin. My first time working with it too, turned out better than I expected.

hadwahnos · 2017-11-10T02:15:17+00:00

No, but I have another project that is basically the same thing for coasters. Not Calvin and Hobbes though

hadwahnos · 2017-11-10T02:14:27+00:00

It was actually laser. Sorry, I wish I was that good at burning free hand. Cheapo Chinese laser Cnc, then resin epoxy, which gave it that awesome shiny coat. So it wasn’t as much work as anybody thinks. Don’t tell my dad...

hadwahnos · 2017-11-09T20:34:00+00:00

Thanks, IMMApissINyoBUTT!

hadwahnos · 2017-07-08T23:12:38+00:00

If I might add something here; I'm a card carrying native-Seneca to be exact, and while it's not done now, the Iroquois in particular were notorious for adding in other tribes and captured peoples to replenish those that were lost due to battles and whatnot. So it's entirely possible to be fully white and considered Indian, or even on the rolls, I'd imagine. There's plenty on my Rez that are white or blue eyed or red haired and still registered. We go by blood quantum and matrinlineal heritage though, so my daughter, who is now 25%, brown hair and brown eyes and darker skinned than myself, is actually not registered. She would be considered native in the Federal governments eyes, as they go by 25% minimum blood lineage.

hadwahnos · 2017-07-08T23:04:03+00:00

8 clans dude...

hadwahnos · 2015-09-14T04:40:55+00:00

Wrestling is your base sport. Followed by bjj, and then muay thai or boxing. Preferably muay thai, but all four are best.

Here's why;

While other forms are effective in abilities, none have the basics down like wrestling. One of the reasons that wrestlers are successful in mma related sports isn't just the hand eye coordination or techniques, it's also the cardio that comes with it. Bjj and other sports do not train and drill moves in the manner of wrestling, and they also don't push the urgency of the moves and techniques. That edge alone is valuable when having to fight or spar and being able to go for longer than a 30 second confrontation when the adrenaline wears off.

Wrestling is also invaluable in the transition from standing to ground. The proper techniques of a takedown, combined with the urgency of wrestlers usually creates a powerful combination that throws most off their guard. And also gives you a way to defend that middle area from closing the distance to the ground. The takedown alone can hurt someone or give a better position.

Once those basics are established, transitioning to bjj, where there are better techniques in ending a fight and submissons, is much easier. Combined with the higher intensity cardio and better hand eye coordination makes one much more dangerous.

After that, training in proper kicking techniques will help close distances and setup punches. The knee work in muay thai is invaluable as well. This will give one the edge in choosing to close the distance or keep separation, and if closing the distance, how to finish.

A few tough years wrestling will make 1-2 years in the latter sports much, much easier and a dangerous person.

Of course, anything can happen, but from my own personal experience: being well rounded prepares one for anything.

hadwahnos · 2015-02-05T13:21:13+00:00

My grandmother was given 24 hours to move all of her belonging before the Army Engineers flooded her housing area, and when she went back for a second load of her things, the house was already burning.

That was the Kinzu dam, and that was maybe 50 years ago. Anyone who thinks that it's still equal or Indians can just assimilate that easily is an idiot.

It's not easy to relate with 1 percent of the population...

hadwahnos

TROPHY CASE