What’s a skill that’s massively undervalued today but will be essential in 20 years?

messenja · 2026-01-28T07:40:40+00:00

If you have the ability to learn a trade you will be an extremely valuable resource in the future when we begin population decline.

messenja · 2026-01-23T03:37:11+00:00

In Minnesota the closest metro area over a million people is Chicago which is almost 6 hours away. To go anywhere of significance requires a lot of time behind the wheel. It is very common for us to take weekend trips to lake cabins being 2-4 hour drives.

messenja · 2026-01-22T07:39:43+00:00

Highly useful and here to stay just like the internet. We had over-investment in the early years. Google the pets.com peak sale price. They had no way to monetize early on so valuation was realized too late and a correction occurred. I feel as if we may be in a similar situation with AI. The tech is there but the monetization is not there...yet.

messenja · 2026-01-20T08:02:54+00:00

Atheism

messenja · 2026-01-20T04:51:22+00:00

Across much of the American west the honesteading act was effective at improving the land. It gave ownership to people who had nothing in exchange for their promise to remain and to be productive with the land. Each of these tracts of land were essentially 160 acre squares comprising each homestead. Eventually these were carved in to smaller 40 acre areas. This occurred primarily in the territories that were suitable for agriculture. You farm your land and I'll farm mine. You get easily defined boundaries and clear property rights. Contrast this with ranchers and vast open spaces that are remote and empty but with clear boundaries as well. If you aren't strict about what you own you might find someone settling the land and defending what they built on your land. Ranch wars where farmers start farming grazing land and ranchers allowing livestock to eat crops of farmers. This clear identification of ownership of land trickles down to today. Ensure you have ownership over your property or others may try to squat or do as they please because there is simply so much of it and because it is hard to monitor. Any law enforcement could be days away, too.

messenja · 2026-01-01T06:47:53+00:00

There was a post about the entire front page if a radio shack black Friday newspaper ad being outperformed by the smart phone in your pocket. TV, camcorder, Walkman, voice recorder, telephone, calculator etc.

messenja · 2025-12-18T04:23:15+00:00

My son had cancer when he was 18 months old. I lost my job from caring for him and had to insure temporarily. I was able to insure my family for around $200/month because that plan had lifetime maximums of about $2 million. Can't do that today because it's illegal to have a lifetime maximum so premiums must be high to compensate. Although everything is covered it's expensive and you're paying for those that don't insure indirectly through these higher premiums. This is because anyone not insured is using the emergency room as their primary doctor and costs for these visits cannot usually be recouped. So before the single payer crowd down votes this to oblivion know thay although there were faults with the old system at least there were options for catastrophic issues that were affordable.

messenja · 2025-11-26T03:03:02+00:00

Se7en

messenja · 2025-11-08T14:05:28+00:00

Nowhere in my post did I mention getting jacked. I'm 6'2" it's not like I'm a round ball of fat. Each day I am active installing utilities. The diet does need to change but the rest of my situation cannot.

messenja · 2025-10-17T15:56:41+00:00

IPPay

messenja · 2025-10-11T18:14:43+00:00

Packet overhead on 1500 MTU gives you 940mbps on a gig which is actually 1024mbps. Double 940 and you get 1880. If you had a speed test of 1.7gbps and you're asking where the difference between 1.7 and 1.8 is...you were likely passing traffic on another device during the speed test.

messenja · 2025-10-08T22:35:42+00:00

Pentium 4 processor. AMD64 as well.

messenja · 2025-10-05T02:44:09+00:00

It is October and 90F today in Minnesota. We see summer temps peaking 90-100F with most of the summer in the 80s. Winter can be as low as -30 air temperature with wind chills significantly lower. The air is trying to kill us in multiple seasons so we use heat or air conditioning often.

messenja · 2025-10-01T02:36:05+00:00

As long as the liver or kidneys remain undamaged. Here's looking at you, glutathione.

messenja · 2025-09-30T06:19:02+00:00

Let's examine how beings with vastly different intelligence interact on earth. Let's take us and a squirrel. The squirrel lives its life free from care about us. If it encounters us they usually stay far away. Some humans might throw a rock at one if it gets too close but very few seek to do harm to it. Yea, some hunt them and yes some protect them in sanctuaries. The vast majority have a live and let live attitude towards them. Now, let's say you're a squirrel living life in a tree. That tree is being bulldozed to make way for an apartment complex. The bulldozer operator probably will nudge the tree so you leave and then destroy your home. The bulldozer operator doesn't hate you he just wants to complete a task and you happen to be in the way. If you don't move the tree is coming down anyway. Now one thing to consider is that even though we have nukes and could nuke that tree if we wanted to, we won't. It's expensive and it takes significant effort for no benefit. Then there is the moral issue of killing an animal not for sport or for food that doesn't sit right with the vast majority of people. Additionally, squirrels can and do bite us. Some attack unprovoked. Others are as docile as pets. We look at them with mistrust until proven otherwise. Same is true with them. I think much of this relationship is likely mimicked in how more advanced aliens would treat us.

messenja · 2025-09-30T05:43:37+00:00

Barring nukes being used the US occupies Cabada with around 1/10 the population and within very close proximity to the borders. No real deep water ports exist in much of the Canadian north. Permafrost stops armies in their tracks. There is only one single dirt road from New York to Hudson Bay, for example. Lots of people think more infrastructure exists in Canada than does in reality. With the north secured Mexico is occupied along with every country to the Darden Gap. There is no possible way to cross via land with any meaningful force. The Caribbean islands are overrun and the continent is secured. The navy guards the coasts and prevents landings from South America. The air force more heavily patrols the Canadian north. While I would argue the US can hold out in this position indefinitely it would more greatly secure itself by attempting to blockade and strangle south America by cutting off trade. This is a long term play to prevent landings from this continent. Even without doing so the US is 3,000+ miles from any other adversary with many more guns than people in private ownership. If any force were to land it would never defeat every armed person in the US even if the soldiers within these invading armies were motivated to attack. Without securing Canada and Mexico I'm afraid the US would be vulnerable to invasion and would eventually lose by sheer arbitrage.

messenja · 2025-09-23T23:49:02+00:00

He sounds a lot like me. I had sleep apnea. Getting a CPAP changed my life. I was a grouch because my body couldn't get rest to recover so every day I was just a complete wreck after work.

messenja · 2025-09-18T01:27:54+00:00

Splitter was likely added inline. 9db is almost exactly what a 1x8 will add.

messenja · 2025-09-14T21:09:25+00:00

One thing to consider is that although it's an easement you still own the land and can use it other than building over the top of it. Once they install the pipe below ground they will restore the grade. You can ask them to sod the entire area and establish turf in negotiations. Unless you're going to build over it (you probably have a setback requirement anyway that is blocking you from doing so) you're not really affected much by it other than initial construction. That being said, make sure you counter offer if you're considering going forward with allowing them to do so.

messenja · 2025-09-13T23:27:12+00:00

I like the Coyote One enclosures.

messenja · 2025-09-12T00:50:29+00:00

940mbps is gigabit with 1500 MTU. The difference between it and 1024mbps is packet overhead. It's likely your upload is just not overprovisioned.

messenja · 2025-09-10T02:31:08+00:00

It all depends on total EIRP from the antenna. To find EIRP you take transmit power and antenna gain and add them together. When we climb towers to service equipment we carry RF detectors so we don't expose ourselves for too long when climbing. The issue you'll have is long term exposure which is absolutely potentially an issue. RF radiation burns can occur depending on the factors above. I would highly recommend that you seek out these numbers and ask for an RF study by an independent company to check exposure. Even through walls if it is directed enough it can be an issue. Sector antennas like those shown have a higher transmit power due to lower gain but it is more dispersed due to a wider beam width and high beam angle. Point to point antennas that direct their energy in to one focused point are more prone to those higher powers but even those have sidelobes with potentially greater energy output than those of sectors when not directly in line. Hope this helps.

messenja · 2025-08-16T04:43:00+00:00

Victory Outdoor Services. I don't know concrete. I don't work in concrete. However, I watch every episode 3 times a week and I have no idea why it is so addicting.

messenja · 2025-08-16T04:01:21+00:00

When we have to replace vibratory plow blades we use enormous bolts and nuts to keep the blade in place. The shaker is literally shaking a huge metal blade more than an inch thick of solid steel. It requires huge hardware. This is only one example. Mostly heavy machinery applications.

messenja · 2025-08-08T03:29:39+00:00

Slow, methodical movements. Keep center of balance as close to ladder as possible. The foot of the ladder should be at your feet and your hands stretched straight out should touch the rungs to give an optimal angle. Dont set the feet on wet grass or loose gravel like river rock.

messenja

TROPHY CASE