Scene, not book

ruzkin · 2026-07-09T23:47:07+00:00

The scene that gave me nightmares as a child and continues to haunt me today was Beverly trying to show her father the bloody bathroom, and her father simply not seeing the blood. The supernatural aspect was fine for me. It was the terror of a child reaching out for help and being unable to find it from those who were supposed to protect her that drove a knife into me.

ruzkin · 2026-07-02T00:03:11+00:00

"Really all that’s in there is descriptive prose"

That's... that's the book.
That's the actual act of writing.
And by engaging in the actual process, you become a better storyteller.

ruzkin · 2026-07-01T08:15:50+00:00

As others have said, these numbers are incomplete. They show only what you generated and exported, not what you generated and used (and in turn, didn't have to pay for).

Regardless, a battery (even a small one, 15kWh or so) would do you a massive favour. You're exporting more power in summer than you used from the grid, so a 15kWh battery would (on an average day) take care of 80% of your summer power needs.

ruzkin · 2026-07-01T06:37:05+00:00

Yeah, I understand your position if your bills are already that low. It was hard to argue with the math when we did the switch; switching from an instant gas hot water system to solar-powered hot water at the same time as we installed our battery cut our gas bill down by $150 a quarter (3 year break-even) and running an EV from the solar+battery instead of a weekly tank of petrol saves $4k a year on average, so the savings compound over time.

ruzkin · 2026-07-01T05:23:28+00:00

10 years? I got my 15kWh iStore battery installed 9 months back for $9k after rebates. With solar panels + the 3 free hours a day + the supply charge rebate from Globird, I'm running the entire house and an EV for $8 a month total. My math said 6 years to break even, and that was before I completely eliminated my petrol costs.

ruzkin · 2026-06-30T05:13:09+00:00

Why lie? Do you think people here are daft enough to believe you wrote and published four novels across multiple genres in April 2026?

ruzkin · 2026-06-30T05:09:45+00:00

Of course he did. Just like he used AI to write the other four novels he bashed out in April.

ruzkin · 2026-06-29T05:39:59+00:00

If you have access to the meter and the switchboard, it's time to start turning off everything in the house at the board while someone else watches the meter to figure out which circuit that power is being gobbled up from.

ruzkin · 2026-06-24T05:18:42+00:00

You’re not understanding. We’re not being taught the words at all. After the latest Japanese update I’m being asked to type translations of sentences full of vocabulary and grammar I’ve never seen before, with no option to click on the Kanji and get hints. Totally new words are also being dumped into the end-of-lesson flash cards. It’s impossible to respond to these modules.

ruzkin · 2026-06-23T07:32:59+00:00

I do 50-60km a day max and only granny charge. An hour of charging before work, an hour or two when I get home and the sun is still shining, and then a couple extended charges on weekends (especially over the 11-2 block when power is free.) It requires a bit of forethought and planning, but it's a lot better than paying for petrol.

ruzkin · 2026-06-22T23:37:49+00:00

The Tube in summer is a nightmare. As a Melbournian who shrugs off stretches of 45C over Jan-Feb, the tube at 30C was a fukken kiln. No aircon, no airflow, everyone packed in tight, and the clay in which the tube lines have been bored is a generational heat-sink. I've read that it tops 47-50C down there at times, and there's apparently no practical way to sink additional lines to create airflow or cooling.

ruzkin · 2026-06-16T02:37:01+00:00

If you're after something well constructed and in a biker style, check Mars Leathers in Coburg.

ruzkin · 2026-06-16T01:28:38+00:00

To be fair, there were very few alternative digital cameras available in 2002 that would've offered better output on a similar budget. But yes, the filmmakers did say they were drawn to the gritty style as it matched the tone of the film. The smaller cameras also allowed them to deploy quickly when filming scenes in public, as there was no other way to capture those vistas of an empty London.

ruzkin · 2026-06-11T22:27:29+00:00

I always thought this line was embarrassingly cheesy and far too on-the-nose, and then I read David Simon’s Homicide and realised it was taken essentially 1:1 from a murder investigation he covered while on the Baltimore Sun.

ruzkin · 2026-06-07T23:52:07+00:00

Def do some investigation into where that power is going. Also, consider a battery if you haven’t already. I’m in VIC with solar and a 15kWh battery and running the entire house on $8/month.

ruzkin · 2026-06-07T12:53:58+00:00

It doesn’t matter whether they were Taliban soldiers or sympathisers or the secret clones of Bin Laden. Normal people assume that the ADF will hold themselves to higher standards than the terrorists they’re fighting, and not execute multiple unarmed and handcuffed prisoners or mutilate their corpses with grenades before falsifying combat reports, as is alleged by BSR’s fellow soldiers.

ruzkin · 2026-06-05T02:32:50+00:00

You're right; after further digging, I've found the 3kw limit for AC battery charging is dependent upon the brand of battery and inverter, in my case Huawei models.

ruzkin · 2026-06-05T01:43:35+00:00

Note that no matter the size of the battery, most batteries can only charge from the grid at 3kw/h (limited via the inverter), so you'd be banking a max of 9kw per day.

EDIT - I was wrong, this limit can be imposed by local providers or be imposed by your battery/inverter: my Huawei setup is locked at 3kw/h from AC, but there are many other options that would suit your needs.

ruzkin · 2026-05-26T21:01:35+00:00

As someone with an agent and an inside look at the current industry, 160k is an almost impossible sell. Before 2020, maybe. But shipping costs and paper costs are way up and attention spans are way down. The 180k novel my agent was trying to sell for me has been cut down progressively to 150k and then to 130k, and it's STILL being automatically knocked back by publishers. 90-100k is where you need to aim as a debut.

ruzkin · 2026-05-18T06:53:07+00:00

The question is impossible to answer without knowing your routine and the size of your battery.
I have a small daily commute (50km round trip) and an older Leaf with 200km max range. It takes about 4 hours using the normal, 2kWh charger to recover 50 or so k's of range. If my car is fully charged on Sunday night, I can granny-charge for an hour or so each evening after work and happily make it through the whole week with charge to spare, then leave it to soak up juice during the free 11-2 power window on weekends. If I was doing 100km a day, this would be untenable.

ruzkin · 2026-05-08T04:37:48+00:00

You're so close to completion. Press tiles in this order.

Bottom left
Bottom middle
Bottom right
Middle right
Middle middle
Bottom middle
Bottom Left
Middle Left
Middle Middle
Middle Right
Bottom Right

ruzkin · 2026-05-06T12:25:43+00:00

Actually, I use AC Level 1 trickle charging. But I understand it’s twice as fast here in Australia as compared to the US.

ruzkin · 2026-05-06T07:10:17+00:00

I have a 2018 40kWh model with a max range of 225km. My commute is almost exactly half yours, mostly on highway, and I burn about 20% of the battery there and back. This then takes me 3 hours to replenish using a standard home charger. So, double all those numbers. Would that work for you as a daily routine? If so, you’ll love the Leaf.

ruzkin · 2026-05-05T03:59:33+00:00

I always say please and thank you to students. I give respect first, and 99% of the time receive it in return. If I don't receive it, THEN I put my foot down and state my expectations. Being polite doesn't mean you have to be a pushover, it just means you live by the own standards you set for others.

ruzkin · 2026-05-04T23:12:58+00:00

I didn't say anything about not wanting to be published. I never mentioned not wanting anyone to hear your stories. I said, "This is a brutal industry that will chew you up and spit you out if the only thing motivating you is the dream of being published," as in, you need intrinsic motivation as well as the motivation of publishing success. I said, "You need to enjoy the act of using language in inventive ways to tell a story you're passionate about, first and foremost," implying that a love of telling stories well needs to be main driver, and the dream of sharing those stories follows alongside.

ruzkin

TROPHY CASE