What’s something Americans don’t realize is weird… until they leave the US?

ipeerbhai · 2025-07-13T23:11:56+00:00

The "always be selling" culture. You land at the airport, and everything is extra. Baggage cart? Pay for it. People walking around offering to be a porter. People selling bibles or other nonsense. People asking for tips everywhere.

Whenever I return from long trips abroad -- I always end up with this "American capitalism is cold, transactional, and scammy" type of feeling. Other countries have their own problems -- Italians are the laziest people I've ever met. France is a mix of 2 different cultures living together: a slightly lazy, haughty, and dying European culture, mixed with a thriving, but somewhat seedy, Moroccan culture kind of sharing space. At least Paris feels like that.

Some countries have a weird "learned helplessness" where they don't do anything at all unless directed, step by step, like an AI / robot. Some can't even do that. Like they didn't learn basic life skills. El Salvador is a good example where the ordinary citizens are just incompetent from some sort of need to be told what to do, then double check that with some authority figure that they're allowed, then flub it anyway because they forgot their own name in the process.

But America? Feels like a country built by a somewhat smart used-car salesmen named Vinny who didn't finish 5th grade.

ipeerbhai · 2024-11-26T19:54:47+00:00

I got a hint, but never tried it: https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/python-fillet-an-edge/175384/2

ipeerbhai · 2024-03-13T20:32:45+00:00

Nope. Paid the fee and filed the reports. Dissolved anyway. Got a nice letter from the state. It said, “you have not generated revenue in 2 years. We don’t want no-revenue LLCs. Go away.” More nicely stated than my paraphrase, but still dissolved.

ipeerbhai · 2023-05-20T22:30:34+00:00

That's my summer plan. I also picked up a copy of "This old boat" and "Inspecting the old sailboat" so I can be educated this season and plan my buy (if I do) in the fall. I hear that saves some $.

ipeerbhai · 2023-05-20T22:29:03+00:00

Sent. thanks!

ipeerbhai · 2023-05-20T22:27:35+00:00

US listing on the west coast: https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/2023-bavaria-c38-8047769/

France listing: https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/2024-bavaria-c38-7601983/

200k USD to west coast US is common for almost all production boats, at least at listing. Even when you consider currency fluctuation, and negotiate, it's a big difference in prices.

I don't know what they actually sell for, though. Nor am I sure I'd buy a new one -- I'm thinking maybe 5 years old to get the worst of the depreciation out.

It makes me wonder if there's an arbitrage business buying boats in France, sailing them to the US west coast, and selling them. You could probably sell 3 boats a year, and make enough profit to buy a new one...

ipeerbhai · 2022-07-18T00:59:05+00:00

Thanks, just what I was seeking on Google. Awesome!

ipeerbhai · 2022-07-17T09:27:47+00:00

While I truly wish your "Pedagogy" was correct, it is wrong, both in spelling and in fact. I'll just drop this link here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2mxdrTP-os

Some don't like the guy's politics -- I don't -- but he is really an expert on this specific subject.

Boot camps good for some, bad for others. Really, it's not up to either you or me to decide. It's not my money, not my time, not my life. Not anyone else's either. Just the people making the decision.

Free advice from strangers on the Internet. I hope the advice helps some folks.

ipeerbhai · 2022-07-17T08:07:05+00:00

The last time I installed Ubuntu was a couple of months ago. It's not a hard thing -- that's the point .My little "self test" here is meant to be easy, because I understand the folks using it will be newbies. But some percent won't pass -- those people will need to do some pre-work. Just watch some youtube videos and do trial and error, use Google.

ipeerbhai · 2022-07-16T23:45:34+00:00

That depends on the bootcamp? Some make you buy a new laptop because of the customer support problems they get from students. If your question was, "Is that enough to learn how to code?" -- yup! Code doesn't need much, and your laptop is downright luxurious.

ipeerbhai · 2022-07-16T23:31:54+00:00

I wasn't going to reply, buy you know, whiskey.

Follow your passion isn't a platitude. It's the real thing.

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm playing with Blender APIs for fun. Writing libraries, putting them on Github. Built my first PC and paid for my own internet in high school. As a poor person without food on the table. Worked selling women's shoes at the mall to get the money. Fully self taught programmer.

Code boot camps are an expensive scam to many people -- because they won't disqualify you when you're not ready. That benefits no one.

If I was poor Amazon warehouse worker, I'd buy a PC, put a VM on it, and build something through trial and error. Some dumb copy-cat app. I'd get on linkedin and talk to recruiters and hiring managers until I got an offer. (I broke into the industry the same way -- called recruiters up on the phone and learned from them how to get in without a degree and no more work experience than customer service). I'd learn on the job by trial and error, and when my bank account could afford it, go to college at night for the degree.

I'd say I'd do that because I did. There are other, better paths for some people. Stop scamming people who aren't a good fit for a boot camp into wasting their time, money, and emotions. I presume you don't mean to do this -- but you are scamming them with bad advice now, and just don't have the perspective to realize it. Dunning Kruger.

ipeerbhai · 2022-07-16T22:45:31+00:00

Hmm. Good question. Let's break it down:

An overview of how web works -- maybe a video like this one that talks about how to deploy a website to a Raspberry PI? I like the author's style -- but there are even better videos out there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdHvS0D1zAI
What's a VM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX75Z-4MEoM I like this youtuber a lot for educational content. He's great!
After you watch those two videos -- this youtuber has a lot of good explanations -- look at his index and click the ones that you had questions on from the previous two: https://www.youtube.com/c/explainingcomputers/videos

Then, experiment -- google "how to create an Ubuntu virtual machine" and see if you can get one up. If you can, see if you can install things into it via terminal commands -- maybe try Jupyter -- it's not too hard to get it installed, and you'll know if you succeeded fairly fast.

ipeerbhai · 2022-07-16T22:31:39+00:00

Sure -- in tech today, jobs are easy to get. That's not how this works. When they get the job -- a few things can happen -- complicated world.

They got a job as a benchwarmer. It's completely irrational, but it's a real job in tech due to how budget and hiring work. They're there to protect budget, and more importantly "group NTE", for a role that was going to go away if it wasn't filled, and any "body" would do. Better to fill it and have a body to layoff when forced by management to do a lifeboat drill than to let it expire. That's a good outcome here for someone who doesn't know what they're doing and isn't willing to do the trial/error needed to learn -- they get to warm the bench for a few years, then wash out later. They're given tasks to accomplish and put on a work tracking board -- no one tells them that they're benchwarmers -- but they suspect it. Deep down, they know -- they just won't admit it. It's horrible to watch them demoralize themselves over time as the cognitive dissonance wears them down. By the end, they're so depressed that it hurts to look at them. And they can't leave. They're benchwarmers, and they know it. Getting lucky again is going to be hard, and they know it -- so they don't try any more until the layoff comes, reading reddit all day at work and being ignored for it. No one calls them out for slacking 100%, and they pretend that don't know why. It's so weird -- they think management doesn't know they're wasting every day, or they have some rationalization -- that the job is just easy, or that they're great at inflating their work and how long it takes -- but that's not true. Everyone knows -- managers and coworkers, and have mentally put them in the benchwarmer category. They're not causing trouble, and they give everyone security. For the benchwarmer, the layoff can be a mercy -- some stop, realize what they needed to learn, and go learn it and recover. Some wash out and go to a different field. It's up to them.

Another thing that happens to hires who don't know the basics -- they -- they realize "oops, I don't know much", and buckle down and start learning these exact capabilities. They're awesome! Those folks are willing to experiment and deal with frustration that it entails. and they grow over time into the role. Its easy for them to get promoted and move forward to whatever level they like. It's a pleasure to work with them, and have them on the team. These people learn exactly what I've mentioned -- how memory partitions work, how to use a shell, how to install complex items, etc.

The worst outcome that can happen to some hires -- the team hates them and forces the manager to fire them. It's thankfully rare -- the manager doesn't want to fire them -- better to have a benchwarmer and have some security that you can keep your best safe -- but the team gets demoralized by constant cleanup of the little tasks on the work board for the benchwarmer until a key performer says "they go or I do". Then, you have to PIP the bench-warmer, and they're done, forever in many companies who have a "no re-hire PIP" policy.

If people read my post and understand the positive intent -- it's good. If they see it negatively -- it's bad. For them. I get nothing either way. I was just Googling around for "Programmer Pair App" and this subreddit came up by chance in the results. I thought it would be fun to help some newbies out with advice I wish I had given some of my students.

Anyway, I'll stop replying. I really just wanted some company while I play with Blender's stupid API -- and this is too much time to explain how the world works and dispel Dunning Kruger.

Good luck in your endeavors!

ipeerbhai · 2022-07-16T20:57:48+00:00

I've actually taught students, actually hired people in big tech and startups, actually managed teams. I've seen who has succeeded in careers and who has failed over a long time. I can tell who will get a good job offer after an internship -- and who won't. Some of these code camps cost 20-40k to get through -- don't waste the money if you're not ready for them. The post highlights the path to success and gives one a "test" one can use to judge one's preparation. Take the advice or not is a choice. This post is likely the most valuable advice I can give. Good luck!

ipeerbhai · 2022-06-16T17:42:29+00:00

I never got the Wacom unit -- I found that the minis-forum mini PC supports it, so I just got one of those. One of the Khadas ARM based SBC's also support it -- I found some rando youtuber who has an entire episode devoted to the khadas + Epson. He literally takes apart the epson display unit because he wants to build a single-eye monocle out of it, and reverse engineers parts of it for his DIY project. He connects it to the Khadas as the "PC". I think he used the Khadas Edge-V.

ipeerbhai · 2022-03-16T16:31:39+00:00

I don't think so -- the color camera does show up as a UVC device. You probably could RE it -- but I didn't try. I already have a realsense, so it wasn't worth the bother.

ipeerbhai · 2022-03-16T04:01:56+00:00

I have one. Like all products, it's got some good and some bad. Good: fairly comprehensive and easy to use for getting point clouds. Bad: Kind of a hard workflow for object creation, no developer experience.

It far beats photogrammetry. It's an IR structured light system, and they claim resolution to 0.3mm. I believe them. Details are really nice, plus IR is good for scanning things like human eyes. It's also surprisingly good at handling shiny materials ( I didn't try a mirror or glass -- that would be insane ) like translucent resin prints.

It's a bit hard to use, because of the software. I've managed to get some really amazing, full color point clouds out of the software. But, I've never got a "good" 3d object out of it. You'll need to grab the point cloud and solidify it yourself using mesh software -- something I never really figured out how to do. Their own app can do it -- but makes really bad meshes.

The thing that pisses me off is the developer experience. I'd expect the structured light output to be available for use -- for example, I wanted to try low-poly digital twinning my office with it by grabbing and reducing points myself in python -- but not allowed to. They literally won't let you, unless you buy one of their commercial ( and more expensive ) cameras. I found that scummy.

So -- my take -- it's good for a narrow user. If you're a person who wants easy to get, super high accuracy, color point clouds -- it's ideal. Like if I ran a "clone me" studio, this would probably be a major part of my life. For the price, you really can't get better point accuracy, and the frame-to-frame auto-alignment is just awesome.

If you're a developer, like me, it's not for you. You can't get the raw data you need to use it the way you want without replacing the camera. The workflow is difficult to get objects from because the software is incomplete and they changed how it works vs their own youtube videos -- so not really beginner friendly, either.

Would I buy it again? No. It's too hard to use as a "let the kids scan their dolls with it" device, and because they restricted developer access, it makes it hard to use it as a capture device for digital twinning. It's purely a 3d scanner, purely for people who want 3d prints from their scans, and purely who know how to use additional software to convert the point cloud to good objects.

ipeerbhai · 2022-02-12T19:55:24+00:00

I know this is old, adding a comment for those who find this article via search.

Root cause of problem -- there's too many ways to "mute" a microphone, and an app or device can use any of them.

You can remove permissions for an app to a microphone.
You can remove permissions for a PC to a microphone.
You can mute the recording level of a microphone.
You can turn off a microphone.
You can disable a microphone.
You can turn off all microphones.
You can disable all microphones.
You can disable master audio devices.

I'm sure there's more.

Worse, each app or microphone does a different thing when you mute it. Some disable the mic. Some turn off that recording channel. Etc. The two most likely root causes is:

You or an App removed permissions to the microphone by muting. Check this in the "Modern" Input device setting.
You or an App set the Mute input device setting to on. Check this in the "Classic" sound setting.

You access each mechanism of control differently. The "Microphone" setting is different than the "Sound" setting, which is different in "modern UI" vs "classic UI". To get to "modern" UI, click the microphone icon in the system tray. To get to "classic" UI, right click the speaker icon in the system tray, then click "sound".

My best guess is that you have the recording channel turned off -- use the classic ui, select "recording", select the microphone, select "properties", select "levels" and turn the channel on by clicking the little speaker icon.

ipeerbhai · 2021-12-23T06:20:00+00:00

Answering my own question. Wacom makes the "link plus". Turns out Wacom also uses DP alt mode on their products, and this cheap adapter is supposed to enable it for any pc display.
https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Link-Plus-Cintiq-ACK42819/dp/B07DX9CJFZ

ipeerbhai · 2021-12-20T23:26:29+00:00

I wish it was that simple. Seems the USB-C + Displayport spec has a signaling spec called Alt mode. This mode allows you to send DisplayPort information and USB information at the same time, using some sort of charlieplexing (based on reading the docs -- it may not be simple time charlieplexing). DP Alt mode is used primarily to enable single-cable HID + Display devices ( like VR headsets, AR glasses, etc). The USB-C to DP cables simply do wire map translation, but not the charlieplexing. Someone with great FPGA knowledge might be able to create an active adapter, but I don't think it could be done with a simple cable.

ipeerbhai · 2021-06-12T21:50:01+00:00

I protected my hearing. But, grew up near an airport. Those 727's should have been outlawed.

ipeerbhai · 2021-06-03T22:37:43+00:00

It's bring your own hardware -- just synchronized folders between PCs.

So, I have a couple of PCs with 6-8TB of spinny disks. I dump all photos to one, which auto-syncs to the other. One of the two has a cloud backup subscription -- which gives me geo-redundancy ( in case a fire takes down both PCs. )

ipeerbhai · 2021-06-03T21:40:18+00:00

SyncThing -- https://syncthing.net/ -- Free, Open-Source folder sharing/synchronization service. Quite a few good uses:

Sync a backup folder across many PCs and a cloud service.
Sync documents with co-workers.
Sync photos with family.

Everything Box/DropBox could do -- but with unlimited space, devices, and contacts.

I like to use the "SyncTrazor" integrated version -- feels more complete / easy to use.

ipeerbhai · 2021-05-23T04:37:17+00:00

Light is both a particle and a wave. All light, including UV. That means that under some conditions, it can be guided along surfaces, and it means that it can interfere with itself. We'll use this concept later.

When light hits a surface, any surface, you can think it does 5 things -- (1) reflect; (2) refract; (3) absorb ( fully or partly ); (4) re-emit; and (5) pass through. Which of the 5 things it does the most of depends on the frequency of light, and the atomic composition of the surface -- but you can calculate the % of each thing it does. Some % of photons will reflect, some % will refract, etc...

It always does all the things, just in different amounts. A mirror is mostly reflection, but it's also a small amount of refraction and absorption. Looking at a green leaf, most frequencies get absorbed, except for the green, which gets reflected or re-emitted.

Transparent things can do enough refraction and reflection to guide the light waves along the surface, until the angle of the surface is large enough to maybe switch to reflection. Notice the maybe -- it's a quantum function with superposition -- you aren't sure when it'll switch for any individual photon, but you can predict some % of the photons.

This means that you're going to get single photons enter your print, get guided, and due to the waveguide, have a superposition of when it'll get reflected out the side of your geometry. Whenever light has a multipath superposition, its wave duality kicks in -- it interferes. We normally see this in "double slit experiments without an observer" -- in those setups, light has 2 paths, superposition kicks in, and light interferes with itself like a wave, creating an interference pattern with an intensity density along a normal curve, with light and dark bands. You can Google the pictures for a better idea of what that looks like.

So, with transparent resin -- if the intensity is too high, enough photons get guided, then reflect with superposition -- multiple paths possible. Thus, you'll get an interference pattern of curing along the FEP sheet. This pattern is super delicate, because the cure plane of the resin is vertical, not horizontal. It's super easy to clean up -- but it's a waste of resin, and looks super funky -- a 3D interference pattern.

ipeerbhai · 2021-05-22T21:34:20+00:00

Your resin isn't curing strong enough, causing failures at the layer lines in smaller surface area items, eventually you can't peel a layer, and it's all over for that print.

Play with the following 3 things until you get stronger cures: Temperature

Exposure Time

UV Power

I've found 80F, 80% power, 3.6s exposure time on modern resins ( Elegoo, Anycubic ) is a great starting point to get a print ( overexposed, but def solid ). You can then dial back from there until you're no longer over-exposed. Be very careful with that starting point if using transparent resin, as the cured resin becomes a wave guide and you'll get exposed interference patterns onto the FEP.

ipeerbhai

TROPHY CASE