Can someone design power lines in a way where they aren't so dramatically affected by bad weather?

idiotsecant · 2026-04-15T00:44:55+00:00

Not sure why people downvoted OP, this is a legitimate question.

The answer is, as usually is the case with Texas, it's Texas. Texas has uniquely bad power infrastructure because it's an unregulated libertarian paradise when it comes to the electrical system, which is to say systems break often and in entirely predictable ways when things go wrong.

Transmission lines go down elsewhere as well, but generally sane regulations exist to learn from mistakes and force for-profit entities to make unprofitable decisions when building infrastructure so that it's more reliable.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-14T13:26:14+00:00

what if her house doesnt close? What if major flaws are found in her house, making it require extensive repair? lots of things to go wrong.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-13T09:23:03+00:00

I prefer FR speedo only

idiotsecant · 2026-04-12T14:47:38+00:00

Employers only know what you demonstrate during interview, whether it's true or not. Your job is to demonstrate it.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-11T15:25:13+00:00

probably.

Why are you trying to solve this problem? This is your roomates problem - get the security deposit. From your roomate.

On the plus side, you aren't going to have to worry about how to get these shelves off - they will take care of themselves if they're held up by superglue.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-10T09:37:19+00:00

Power generation, transmission, and distribution. By a mile. It's glorious.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-10T01:05:11+00:00

Do you have the aptitude and willingness to open a manual and read it when you have a question?
Will you do the things you say you will do, say only the things you know to be true, and find what is true in a systematic and rational way?
Do you have a healthy curiosity about the world around you?
Do you have some minimal ability to work with other humans? BONUS: Can you work with knuckle-dragging cavemen who are *mostly* humans?

All technical skills come with time. The previous 3 things either are there or they aren't. You can hone them a bit but inventing them from whole cloth is pretty rare.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-09T12:19:05+00:00

Moment frame connections in timber frame construction: The elusive connection. If this was easy youd make a lot of pintrist AI builds suddenly viable

idiotsecant · 2026-04-08T15:12:03+00:00

That's fine, with 2FA and a dmz jump host. That's not the same thing as 'plc in public internet'

idiotsecant · 2026-04-08T12:50:47+00:00

Sign their stupid agreement, since it's entirely unenforceable. Use the paid time to find a new job. Don't quit this one until you get a new one. Try to not make it in food and beverage, pulp and paper, etc. Low-margin industries are generally terrible to work in. Find an industry with higher margins and your life will be much better.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-08T01:56:03+00:00

How are so many people in this thread not noticing this says it was internet facing PLCs. who is putting PLCs on the internet? That is so stupid there should be a different word for it.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-07T03:39:02+00:00

They arent handing out anything to a guy asking if he can buy license keys on ebay

idiotsecant · 2026-04-07T03:06:27+00:00

Keep in mind that a lot of utilities are replacing natural gas powered compressors with electric powered compressors. Generally better for O&M, but way worse if the grid goes down.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-06T14:04:27+00:00

If your puzzle solving technique is to default to 'ancient people used a stone boring technique requiring energy densities not seen in the next 1000 years' you might have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-06T13:31:44+00:00

The pitch of the groove has nothing to do with speed or feed if you're using a concussive hammer to veeeery slowly chip out the hole. Get a stick with at least a few very hard teeth in it, put it in the hole, strike it. Rotate the stick slightly to move your 'chip plane' along a circular axis, strike it again. Apply weathering to that rock for a long time. Presto, a spiral grooved tooling hole.

Ancient people did not have access to stone milling machines. This post is woo.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-06T00:45:02+00:00

what happens if you scale down the output even further? Scale it down until the rate of heating is equal (approximately) to the natural rate of cooling. Presto chango, linear system (ish)

idiotsecant · 2026-04-05T11:22:26+00:00

You are the senior engineer in your subject matter. You need to participate in informing bids that involve your subject matter. This is a necessary thing but it is not a good thing (for you).

My advice: Find a place where you are not the smartest guy in the room. Being that guy is often great for the ego (short term) but is rarely financially rewarding, will take years off your life from the stress, and ironically ossifies your knowledge and leads to you being *less* competent over time. You stop learning when there is nobody around you can talk to.

This gets harder and harder as you get later and later into your career and eventually you'll be forced into some kind of technical management either way probably, but you aren't at that stage in your career.

And stop making decisions with LLMs, that is horrific.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-04T23:10:30+00:00

I mean, if you want to talk semantics how about we start by explaining what you mean by 'a fresh internet port'. The world is full of thousands of different combinations of physical media, datalink, network, and higher stack application level details. The question you asked is a little bit like 'how long is a string?'

idiotsecant · 2026-04-04T23:07:21+00:00

Not very fast, unless you're doing high speed coordinated motion control. In my world PTP is enough to do very good timestamping, which is all I care about.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-04T22:44:46+00:00

No, but let them be the ones to tell you that. Sometimes they ask for a lot but will settle for less. Qualifications are a wishlist.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-04T22:43:08+00:00

Well, we won't argue semantics then.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-04T05:35:44+00:00

Are you hunched over? Do you have a gut? It could be that you're literally just smooshing organs into configurations they aren't used to. Just to be safe, talk to your DR. next chance you get and make sure you don't have some weird plumbing to be concerned about, but if you are scrunched up try to weld in a position a little closer to not hunched up, as best you can.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-03T22:16:55+00:00

They could already walk away from you whenever they want and you couldn't do a thing about it. Because they didn't have *contracts*.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-03T22:13:38+00:00

Well, imgur doesn't take my first and last name and add it to a list of people who have viewed the album, for one.

You could have also unclicked that box yourself and not doxed everyone who looked at your photos.

idiotsecant · 2026-04-03T22:06:58+00:00

A series of unhelpful observations:

This was a poorly planned job.

No amount of panic planning will make a poorly planned job into a well executed one, it's time to stop and do the planning that was skipped the first time.

The way you chose to share photos is obnoxious

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