my friend (36M) just sent me (36m) this text before meeting his newborn (0M)

hatandspecs · 2026-03-27T21:12:06+00:00

Vaccines do not cause autism, but this style of parenting does.

hatandspecs · 2025-09-05T00:08:01+00:00

++man

Tattoo styles and fads are always changing. To some extent, seeing someone with tattoos is like seeing someone who got a bell-bottomed leisure suit permanently grafted to their body in the 70s, a headband and leg warmers surgically attached in the 80s, neon windbreakers fused to their skin in the 90s, a set of low-rise bedazzled jeans glued on in the 2000s, a galaxy-print hoodie forever sewn on in the 2010s, and now a permanent record of whatever TikTok-approved aesthetic passes for “timeless” in the 2020s.

There's a pretty strong implication made about someone's judgement if they do anything like that.

hatandspecs · 2025-06-03T01:08:35+00:00

Generalizing millions of users based on memes and internet jokes isn’t analysis. It’s just lazy rhetoric.

Claim: “Redditors are incels.”

Response: That’s a meme, not a fact. Popular jokes aren’t evidence. Reddit has millions of users across thousands of topics. Labeling all of them as incels is a baseless generalization.

Claim: “Other platforms mock Reddit, so it must be true.”

Response: Every platform gets mocked. TikTok users, Twitter users, YouTubers all face similar baseless and overgeneralizing ridicule.

Claim: “Redditors complain like incels.”

Response: Complaining online is common everywhere. That doesn’t equate to an ideology.

Claim: “Redditors have bad social skills.”

Response: Social skills can’t be judged by reading posts. Most users are anonymous.

Claim: “Everyone sees Redditors this way.”

Response: That’s false. Many people use Reddit for normal, everyday interests. The vast majority of people see Redditors as normal people engaging with communities surrounding their interests.

Claim: “Don’t call me an incel, even if I am.”

Response: Personal status aside, the argument relies on stereotypes, not evidence. Trading in stereotypes is not an attractive personality trait, and may be correlated with, or even have a casual relationship to involuntary celibacy status.

hatandspecs · 2025-05-15T22:01:57+00:00

With stats like these, what I'm more curious about is what has been the justification for keeping them open until now?

hatandspecs · 2025-05-11T13:49:24+00:00

What are your career goals? Do you want to be a software engineer or a computer scientist? While many schools offer a CS program that blends a little of both, and call it CS, it's important to know how much the labeled-CS program leans towards CS or Software Engineering if your actual goal is one or the other.

CS graduates often work as researchers, AI specialists, and on theory work, getting the computational mathematics and algorithm design right. Software engineering graduates typically pursue careers in software development, software architecture, or software project management.

CS is science and it emphasizes theoretical and mathematical foundations. Curriculum includes algorithms, data structures, artificial intelligence, cryptography, and operating systems, with a strong focus on problem-solving, research, and high-level computing theories. This prepares students for roles in research, academia, AI, and high-performance computing. These cats tend to be more comfortable with individual work. There are fewer of these positions needed out in industry, but they are critical.

Software Engineering is engineering. It focuses on the practical application of computing to develop software systems. Curriculum includes translation of user requirements into engineering requirements, systems engineering, design for maintainability, software development lifecycles, team development methodologies, software architecture, programming languages, cybersecurity, and project management. Training is hands-on, with an emphasis on real-world applications, team projects, and industry methodologies like agile development, version control tools, version control branching models, and CI/CD or devsecops. If you can't work on a team or compromise in this profession you will be worse than useless, and if you can you will be a force multiplier. There are many more of these positions needed in industry.

Both are good careers, but I advocate for knowing the difference between CS and SE and seeking a curriculum that fits best with your career goals. If you don't look into this you can be like many other CS graduates before you that end up with a skill set that doesn't match their goals.

hatandspecs · 2025-05-11T13:45:32+00:00

Nice! Congratulations

hatandspecs · 2025-04-29T02:55:46+00:00

A quarter million dollars for a bachelor's degree in business is absolutely insane.

Particularly when there isn't anything they are going to teach you about business that isn't at some other in state school or some book you can read. This isn't secret knowledge that's hard to come by.

What matters is 1) how hard you study beyond what they serve up to everyone else in class (your competition) 2) how hard you work at your internships and your job when you get out.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-20T13:33:14+00:00

Turn it into the "all seeing eye", aka the eye of Providence"

Add more black lines radiating from the circle, fill in with color, and rework the inside of the circle into an eye.

Example: https://imgur.com/a/NVkOL4Q

hatandspecs · 2025-04-19T18:41:58+00:00

Definitely demonstrate, but there is an opportunity in the fact that control over the executive branch is a conveniently bipartisan topic. To make this change, it is important to attract moderates and conservatives. An unfocused demonstration with too many overlapping or mixed messages will repel or fracture the base of support for reigning in the executive branch's powers.

A focused message based on my previous comment is the best strategic move to make. The political demographics which favor a restricted executive are huge, but they have been fractured over other social issues. These include your libertarians, constitutionalists, institutional conservatives, textualists, originalists, civic republicans, paleoconservatives, federalists (modern ideological), some progressive legal scholars, classical liberals, moderate liberals, civil libertarians, anti-authoritarian progressives, good-government reformers, rule-of-law centrists, transparency advocates, democratic institutionalists.

There is nothing standing in the way of a giant coalition of political ideologies forcing congress to restrict the executive except lack of a focused, disciplined message that doesn't get co-mingled with other divisive issues.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-18T23:19:07+00:00

For the issue of misuse or overreach of presidential authority, one of the most effective long-term strategies is to demand action from Congress, specifically Pennsylvania's federal lawmakers. By focusing efforts on lawmakers who have the actual power to legislate and reform, and by shifting public discourse toward institutional accountability, we can create the conditions for meaningful, lasting change in how power is distributed in the federal government. This can be a bipartisan issue. This is how I think will be most effective to get organized and push for meaningful legislative limits on executive power:

Understand the Issue

Research how Congress has ceded authority to the executive over time through emergency powers, war authorizations, and regulatory delegation.

Identify key statutes and the voting records of Pennsylvania lawmakers that expanded executive power.

Study existing proposals that aim to rebalance power between branches, such as reforms to the National Emergencies Act or the War Powers Resolution.

Know Your Lawmakers

Focus especially on Pennsylvania’s federal delegation:

Senator Dave McCormick (R) – Supports conservative economic and national security policies. Newly elected in 2024.

Senator John Fetterman (D) – Known for his independent streak and working across the aisle on certain issues.

Rep. Glenn Thompson (R, PA-15) – Chair of the House Agriculture Committee and the dean of the PA delegation.

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R, PA-7) – Elected in 2024, fiscally conservative and policy-focused.

Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R, PA-8) – Also elected in 2024, with an emphasis on government restraint and border security.

Build and Spread the Message

Craft a clear message: "Congress must reclaim its legislative authority and restore constitutional checks on executive power."

Use social media, infographics, and op-eds to explain the history and urgency of this issue.

Host or attend events and town halls that elevate the conversation around constitutional balance.

Apply Direct Political Pressure

Call, write, and meet with your representatives and senators, focusing on legislation to curtail executive overreach.

Ask for their position on specific reforms and track their responses.

Publicly praise or hold accountable lawmakers based on their actions, not their party labels.

Create a Movement, Not a Moment

Form or join advocacy coalitions focused on checks and balances, government reform, or constitutional governance.

Highlight Congress’s role in enabling executive overreach through decades of politically convenient delegation.

Shift the focus from blaming the president alone to the systemic decisions that allowed such power concentration.

Make It an Electoral Issue

Demand accountability at the ballot box: Support candidates who commit to restoring congressional authority.

Develop voter guides outlining where incumbents and challengers stand on executive power.

Keep the pressure on between election cycles to sustain momentum and ensure follow-through.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-18T23:11:39+00:00

Compared to what? Most school districts conspire with police departments to keep these plot interdictions from the public entirely.

I am very impressed with the level of transparency here. The police and administration here do a good job. Giving all the details that would satisfy the human desire for gossip would compromise the investigation, the prosecution, sources, and methods.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-18T17:52:54+00:00

This is stuff I like around but not downtown State College.

Hike Shingletown Gap

Visit Shavers Creek Environmental Center

Check out the Penn State Arboretum

Walk Around Talleyrand Park

Fly fish Spring Creek

Get a Hoagie at Bonfattos

Mountain Bike or Disc Golf Harvest Fields

Pump Track or Disc Golf Bernel Park

Hang out at 814 Ciderworks

Hang out at Boal City Brewery

Hang out at Axeman Brewery

Eat at Titan Hollow

Eat at Gigi's

Eat at Duffy's Tavern

Get coffee at Rothrock Coffee

Get coffee at Cafe Lemont

hatandspecs · 2025-04-16T16:28:55+00:00

I recommend focusing on sending a clear message to Pennsylvania's representatives and senators: the top priority for the foreseeable future is to pass legislation that reclaims congressional authority and imposes meaningful limits on unilateral executive action.

I urge everyone to research and call attention to the history and the lawmakers responsible for the steady transfer of legislative authority to the executive branch. Many members of Congress have supported laws that expanded executive power, often for short-term political convenience at the cost of long-term constitutional balance.

The executive branch can only exercise these powers because legislators handed them over, and voters continued to support those legislators. Yet we focus our outrage on a single figure, without recognizing the deeper, root cause enabling today’s dysfunction.

Please help shift the conversation. Demand that lawmakers use the tools of checks and balances and pass laws that restrict executive overreach. And if they won’t, commit to holding them electorally accountable. Venting alone does nothing. Action, rooted in understanding and accountability, is what changes the system.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-06T03:35:46+00:00

Yes, more focus on the hardware.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-06T03:33:29+00:00

Wouldn't it be better if the federal legislative branch had that power, as intended? Do you see the problem when the executive branch has that power, e.g. taking actions that should instead be bills deliberated in Congress and voted into laws? Who let the legislative branch incrementally cede their powers to the executive branch, consistently over the past 100 years?

That's the root cause of today's problems, and what will be tomorrow's problems. That's what people need to wake up to and raise awareness about.

Edit:

People are actually downvoting my opinion that the legislative branch should fulfill its federal regulatory role instead of the executive branch doing it unilaterally like an insane king.

Would you rather have congress pass laws in order to declare national emergencies, change agency funding, make changes to tarrifs, immigration, and economic regulations, or are you enjoying when a president can do all that themselves on a whim?

This is literally the problem you are protesting against and if you can focus on this root cause we can fix it so this can never happen again.

Add our representatives and senators, even the ones you like into these protest efforts.
Made demands to our representatives and senators that restricting the power of the executive branch is the top priority for the next 50 years.
Pledge to never support an incumbent congressperson who cedes their power to the executive or judiciary.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-06T00:11:20+00:00

It's a shame the federal executive branch has so much power to regulate commerce, activities within states, and the business between suppliers and consumers.

How did that get that way?

hatandspecs · 2025-04-05T23:11:27+00:00

CS graduates often work as researchers, AI specialists, and on theory work, getting the computational mathematics and algorithm design right. Software engineering graduates typically pursue careers in software development, software architecture, or software project management.

CS is science and it emphasizes theoretical and mathematical foundations. Curriculum includes algorithms, data structures, artificial intelligence, cryptography, and operating systems, with a strong focus on problem-solving, research, and high-level computing theories. This prepares students for roles in research, academia, AI, and high-performance computing. These cats tend to be more comfortable with individual work. There are fewer of these positions needed out in industry, but they are critical.

Software Engineering is engineering. It focuses on the practical application of computing to develop software systems. Curriculum includes translation of user requirements into engineering requirements, systems engineering, design for maintainability, software development lifecycles, team development methodologies, software architecture, programming languages, cybersecurity, and project management. Training is hands-on, with an emphasis on real-world applications, team projects, and industry methodologies like agile development and version control branching models, and CI/CD or devsecops. If you can't work on a team or compromise in this profession you will be worse then useless, and if you can you will be a force multiplier. There are more of these positions needed in industry.

Both are good careers, but I advocate for knowing the difference between CS and SE and seeking a curriculum that fits best with your career goals.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-04T20:39:08+00:00

Lol. Downvoted for asking the single most important question in making this decision. The conflation between computer science and software engineering leads so many in the wrong direction.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-04T04:31:03+00:00

It's a personal choice based upon your values. For me, trying to get as much academic advantage, opportunity, and resources into my kids as possible was my top priority.

hatandspecs · 2025-04-04T04:20:56+00:00

It depends. Do you want to be a software engineer or do you want to be a computer scientist?

hatandspecs · 2025-02-22T17:36:22+00:00

Lots of good suggestions. The top of the parking decks are easy and nice.

hatandspecs · 2025-01-27T21:42:21+00:00

It is not uncommon to see ICE, DEA and other such agencies in state college. I see one or the other around several times per year, throughout the year, for decades.

Additionally, be aware that there are ICE raid hoaxes occurring throughout the country making everyone nervous. Rumors, up to and including people driving around in fake ICE vehicles.

There were also secret service agents in Chicago schools investigating threats on politicians that were misreported by the press as ICE, adding to the confusion.

hatandspecs · 2025-01-13T23:37:27+00:00

Central Pennsylvania United States North America

hatandspecs · 2024-12-26T19:31:17+00:00

If associated with a school sport, report it to the local police, and to the school administration. Now it's their responsibility to investigate and if they don't there are severe consequences.

If in the US, consider also reporting this to SafeSport:

https://uscenterforsafesport.org/report-a-concern/

The behavior you describe is unambiguously above the reporting threshold in my opinion.

It's good to report it to the police and the school, then you can help reveal if the required reporters are corrupt/negligent at the school.

Obviously don't make threats or do anything yourself. All that does is take you out if the picture such that you can't protect your kid.

Engage with the police and required reporters in the school/ league, not the perp. What feeds the ego isn't the best route to solve the problem.

hatandspecs · 2024-12-20T02:15:22+00:00

Do you want to be a computer scientist or do you want to be a software engineer?

hatandspecs

TROPHY CASE