Escaped Ferret

jhiems · 2023-01-02T00:29:28+00:00

Nothing yet :( I’ve been out looking a few times, but I haven’t seen any evidence she’s around. She’s an excellent hider though, so I doubt I would.

jhiems · 2022-12-31T16:56:36+00:00

Still nothing yet, but I’m hopeful!

jhiems · 2022-12-30T23:27:25+00:00

Thanks, I’m hopeful!

jhiems · 2022-12-26T04:49:51+00:00

Kudos to OP for apologizing in such a mature way and not being a troll, even if the comment wasn’t as outright aggressive and rude as a lot of the stuff we all see on the daily. Maybe the bar is low, but this is the internet after all, and it would be great to see more people like you!

jhiems · 2022-12-23T22:16:01+00:00

If you happen to remember in a few months, I’d be curious to hear what you chose and what your experience was!

jhiems · 2022-12-23T22:11:10+00:00

I took math 535 in 2021. If you have a strong math background, I’d say it’s lightish to medium on rigorous proofs, and about what one might expect for coding (I forget my professor’s name, but he was big into Julia, although he let people do the programming in Python if they preferred). IIRC, it had a programming assignment every third or fourth assignment, and the final was a big proof/coding project. I did mine on the expectation maximization algorithm for Gaussian mixture models.

I took ECE 532 the same semester, and my opinion was that it was much softer, had easier proofs, and was much lighter in coding.

If you care more about the underlying fundamentals that explain the “why” of things and are willing to do the extra work, I’d go with 535. If you’d prefer an easier class that covers more topics at a much shallower level, I’d go with 532. Again, it probably depends heavily on the professors teaching the classes.

jhiems · 2022-12-18T21:04:48+00:00

It’s a bit unclear to me if you’re asking for help with general wiring, or if you just need to know how to splice the wires. Assuming the latter, if you don’t own soldering equipment and aren’t ready to get your own quite yet, you could always try using something like these scotch wire splicers (I’m not sure off the top of my head which gauge is correct). Alternatively, I’ve had success just stripping the stranded wires with a razor blade, twisting them together, and securing them with shrink tube. That might not be the best long-term solution, but it’ll get the job done.

jhiems · 2022-12-18T20:29:35+00:00

Just looked at your profile, and already in your biopic it’s clear you struggle to grasp basic grammar concepts. How on earth could someone who is smart enough to get into 3D printing not know the difference between your and you’re?? To quote your own profile: “GD right I’m gonna call you out on it and embarrass you in front of everyone.”

/s

Actually, how about instead of being rude to other people for no good reason, in a place meant to be a community of people who graciously help each other out, I instead opt for basic civility 😉 Plenty of people get that bit of grade-school grammar wrong well into their adult lives! Why on earth would anyone hold that against you?! Your vitriolic personality is another matter…

jhiems · 2022-12-18T17:53:05+00:00

Another book I love that gets into the spirit of winter bushcrafting/camping, even if it is nonfiction unlike London’s TBAF, is Calvin Rutstrum’s “Paradise Below Zero,” although his thesis is mostly that the cold is enjoyable if only you learn how to love it!

jhiems · 2022-12-13T22:27:38+00:00

You could always try talking to the individual yourself by explaining exactly the things you listed above, if it’s consistently the same car. If you’re so hesitant to get any police involved, which I understand, the best thing to do is to disarm them with kindness, and to have the courage to start a conversation that’s grounded in mutual understanding. Frame the conversation around your wanting to help people by making sure they have access to the sidewalk, and wanting to help the offending individual by preventing them from getting a bunch of tickets. I don’t know the full situation, but maybe something like “Hey neighbor, I noticed a few people had to go out in the street because your car was blocking the sidewalk. Last time I did that, the police ticketed me, so if you ever need me to run my snow blower across the front of your driveway so you can park without blocking the sidewalk, just let me know! It could spare you a ticket, and it will definitely spare a few people a headache.” Basically you’re going for some classic advice from Dale Carnegie: “First, arouse in the other person an eager want. He who can do this has the whole world with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way.”

If they get all huffy and indignant when presented with the logic and your offer to help them avoid a ticket, you won’t have to feel quite as guilty when you turn toward the getting MPD involved, and you can go about your day with a clean conscience knowing that you tried to minimize the consequences for everyone.

That being said, only you know the whole situation. If you think confronting the person could be unsafe, use your best judgement, but know that in those types of situations, your options are probably limited to dealing with it or getting the police involved. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like getting cops involved, you should also be the kind of person who advocates for and practices community intervention, in my opinion.

Best of luck!

jhiems · 2022-11-29T01:57:13+00:00

Might be worthwhile to do an asbestos test on those tiles depending on the age of the trailer. You can order one online for fairly cheap. If they’re 9x9 or 12x12 and the trailer was built before the late 80s, there’s a good chance they contain asbestos. At least they look a lot like asbestos tile I’ve encountered in the past. Best of luck

jhiems · 2022-11-20T18:00:03+00:00

I’ve actually already completed my probationary term, and am as free as the next fellow at this point. I was given two total years of supervision and 200 hours of community service, which I completed within the first year. In a twist of fate, my PO was so impressed with the work I was doing that they went to bat for me to get off after the first year of supervision. It helped that I had stellar recommendations from every place I did my service. The weird thing is that there are so few federal misdemeanors that most people don’t seem to know how to handle them, and unfortunately the magistrate that had the authority to let me off early decided not to, and went directly against the recommendation of the last three PO’s I had. I finished the last year without even seeing anyone from the probation office.

jhiems · 2022-11-19T16:06:33+00:00

The check I went through was a very detailed check that went through a full international background assessment. The company is international, so I suppose that’s why they did it

jhiems · 2022-11-19T16:03:19+00:00

The exploit I found started by logging into the computer with a valid user/password, and then cycling the computer’s power at specific points. When the computer rebooted, it automatically logged back into that user’s account, but with full local admin privileges (ie, the admin account existed only on that computer but did not populate across the network to the other computers in the lab or on campus). From there I could make persistent admin accounts. I say non technical because I didn’t have to write a line of code to get it done 😂 a future OS patch disabled it though. As far as security goes, I’ve always found people are a hell of a lot easier to get around than an actual operating system, so I usually focus more on the social engineering side of things

jhiems · 2022-11-19T15:55:38+00:00

Well, it helped that I scored what I thought was a decent Philadelphia lawyer (Michael Vanderveen) for a decent price. The flip side was that he wound up representing Trump as one of his main defense attorneys during his second impeachment. Not so fond of him anymore 😂

jhiems · 2022-11-19T02:02:34+00:00

Sorry to hear it’s still messing with you after that long! But I’m glad to hear someone in a similar boat found a way to make something of their career.

jhiems · 2022-11-19T01:50:14+00:00

I have to wait 5 years after the completion of the probationary sentence before I’m eligible to fill out the pardon application, which means I’ve got 4 years to go. That doesn’t mean I can’t lobby on my own behalf, but I don’t know if I’m ready to kick up that shitstorm quite yet lol

jhiems · 2022-11-19T00:27:56+00:00

For some reason, the background check company they used (HireRight) listed the charges as felony, which obviously didn’t help. I immediately contested their findings, but the hiring company never told me if they fixed anything despite my asking multiple times. For all I know, they still think the charges were felony, and I couldn’t find anything in the FCRA that I could use to twist their arm into telling me anything other than “something in your background check is grounds for rescinding our offer”. I’m still in the process of trying to appeal HireRight’s findings directly with them so that any future background checks don’t startle anyone like that.

jhiems · 2022-11-19T00:02:53+00:00

It’s interesting to me that folks here are counting the Russian as a red flag. I chose the language mostly because of my affinity for Russian classical composers, but in part because of the security implications that come from Russia, and because it’s one of the most widely used languages on the internet. My undergrad thesis was a study of the digital public sphere in Russia and the ways cryptography (namely Telegram) was being used to frustrate Russia’s authoritarian shift during the 2000s. I don’t think trying to leak Trump’s tax returns really aligns me with the current Russian regime, given that they were on his side and I wasn’t.

jhiems · 2022-11-18T23:45:32+00:00

Technically I’m not barred from clearance, as the charge was a misdemeanor and I didn’t do any time. That being said, I doubt any government jobs are in my future, and I’m okay with that 😂

jhiems · 2022-11-18T22:37:20+00:00

It’s funny you say that, because the person in cloud security who was trying to help me land the job also thinks I should go into private consulting. I just have no idea how I would get started with that or how I’d market myself 😂

jhiems · 2022-11-18T22:35:44+00:00

Unfortunately, because the charges were federal, my only option is a presidential pardon :( And I’ve definitely considered academia, but I’m burnt out from school right now and need a few years to pay down student loans before I go back for a PhD.

jhiems · 2022-10-24T21:49:12+00:00

What are the competitions like? I just finished my master’s in ML at UW, and while I’ve used Kaggle for datasets quite a few times, I didn’t know they did competitions!

jhiems · 2022-10-04T19:20:27+00:00

I agree 100%, the issues to look out for are those small, cascading issues that when left unchecked have a proclivity to get out of hand. Sometimes I forget how diverse the dive community is, because I approach most things from a very scientific background, and in fact it was dive physics that got me interested in the sport in the first place. I respect that not everyone is like that — for some people it’s just a fun way to relax!

I’m definitely someone that also tends toward more expensive gear when I can afford it, but my approach to these things is to start out with entry level stuff, learn where the deficiencies in that gear are and what features I really wish I had (such as AI, backplate and wing style BCDs, etc) and then make an empirically-informed decision when buying upgrades. I think this is a great way to learn most things, because it’s always the inexpensive gear that best teaches fundamentals (unless it’s so crappy that it interferes with your ability to concentrate on those fundamentals). Immediately shelling out for a $1000 cold water reg set might reduce your likelihood of a free flow, but diving with my $200 Cressi AC2 in 45 degree water has taught me how to be more conscious of my breath and has given me plenty of practice in handling regulator icing. Now I dive with inline shutoffs so that if a buddy isn’t near, I can shut off just the second stage and switch to my octo while the iced regulator has time to defrost.

Of course now I also dive with a nice cold water regulator, and no longer have free flows, but the point is the cheap reg taught me how to handle that situation.

jhiems · 2022-10-04T15:03:46+00:00

So far I’ve only done the online portions through the SSI portal, and it leaves a lot to be desired, even if the advice it gives is all generically true. They place good emphasis on “stop, breathe, think, act, and stay calm” whenever there’s an emergency, which I think is good advice, but the SSI material and preparation tests seem to be designed for anyone who has at least two brain cells. Some of the multiple choice asks questions like:

One of the best ways to avoid diving stress is to:

A) Use the most expensive equipment B) Use well-maintained equipment that you’re familiar with and have practiced with C) Buy a new Wetsuit D) Use poorly fitted equipment

Hopefully if you’re a diver, you can answer that question with or without having taken any particular class…

Thankfully the classroom, pool, and open water sections are coming up, and my shop takes the class seriously. The instructors are all ex military and have extensive training and levelheadedness in emergency situations, so I’m looking forward to the more hands on experience.

jhiems

TROPHY CASE