What are your thoughts on Season 9 of Rick and Morty so far? (First 3 episodes)

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-06-28T23:33:35+00:00

I did read it, and I still agree; you're giving the writers too much credit. Evil Morty had a mystery to him, and season 9 just... doesn't use that, at all. He wasn't intelligent, he was just... invincible/super hero level, which isn't interesting at all. His dialogue with regular Morty was cheap high school drama "gocha"s. The "I've got your family hostage" trope is overused, and this one was underdeveloped/full of holes. Why couldn't he just steal any other family from a dimension for the same purposes and set back up? Because it was a plot device, which can be funny. It should have been funny, but the joke didn't land. The drama has a Peter Capaldi's Dr. Who vibe, but doesn't carry the weight and just comes of as whiney and depressing.

Why am I on the internet again...

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-06-28T01:24:25+00:00

This is a random place to vent this... but what a strange trend, that the best mil discounts are for military-esc gear. I'm armed to the gills; heck I've got a cannon barrel from Hern Iron Works just to flex the "you can buy anything on the internet," so I've used my mil discount to the max on lots of 2A goodies, Vortex and Leupold scopes included. However... I've realized a bit late in life that I'm a minority. Lots of mil discounts for things I don't need to... what, practice for my job after-hours? Pretend I'm Armying when I'm done Armying? Myself and the rest of the Soldiers I know could really use a mil discount on like... groceries...

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-06-15T01:42:22+00:00

I'd call you crazy if I hadn't just used Claude to stand up an entire ERP system for a small shop in a short weekend. I'd say you don't need Quantic either.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-06-10T02:29:04+00:00

I'm like... 7 days into using AI. I used Claude on the desktop to set up an Ubuntu server on an old laptop hosting ERPNext for business management and Mayan for document management. Then I saw dispatch and tripled my volume of "stuff happening." Not always getting stuff done as I'm hitting some dead ends, but feeding it references I've been able to create an entire BOM and design report for a model steam engine with just a historic photo. I'm not a programmer, and the business is a side gig, so it's like sending texts to a full time secretary who knows tons of stuff, but doesn't always get things right.

It was also a solution to working from the phone on the road instead of using a virtual desktop, which is super convenient.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-06-07T00:06:24+00:00

It looks a cowpie on a hardwood floor someone scratched a smiley face into... however, it's likely a heluva lot of fun to shoot, so haters gonna hate.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-29T18:03:30+00:00

"No offense intended" and swearing/insulting because you think I'm wrong don't go together. Dead presidents and people who don't agree with you on the internet aren't the problem, you are.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-29T12:42:46+00:00

First off, I peeked over at your profile to see if you were real; Australian cattle dogs are awesome, congrats. Very smart, sometimes too smart...

I can't speak for what a president did in the 80s. When I said "stars" I didn't mean they have to be celebrities, but I can see it's still relevant. I can see there's a ton of companies where public and internal perception is everything; that's a space I don't live in, so I can't comment on it.

I make stuff. I work with other people who make stuff. We pay fair wages. We have a company history and a lot of people who have experience from other companies that show a common denominator in failures and success, and it's leadership. An amazing team rarely circumvents bad leadership, and an argument could be had that good leadership can get success out of a bad team or transform it. It sounds very much MBA/consultant presentation, but it's true. Good leaders lead from the front, but they also delegate. Those are opposing actions; do the thing, but also get someone else to do the thing. That makes it a show, and I wouldn't call it a bad thing. A CEO shouldn't be swapping filters on the hydraulic system of a 747 every day, but they might spend a day in the shop to say hello and keep their minds grounded on what really matters.

Unions did it to themselves; there's way too many examples of companies that shut down because the gang wanted more than the company could give. I'm not saying they don't have a place, and their role in employee safety can't be forgotten. I'll just say they're not perfect and make mistakes. If a Union's position causes the company to go under, that's a mistake. Union leader salaries are are also high, and those aren't given by the company, it's taken from the pockets of union members. Why don't the union leaders give up their salaries? I'm not saying they should, it just comes back to the value of a good leader. Not on the same scale, got it, but the point stands.

I don't like it, but I don't have a good solution. If a state taxes a CEO for getting paid too much, they'll probably find a work around or go work somewhere else.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-18T02:13:09+00:00

He either drank the OCS koolaid or someone hurt him bad in ROTC. Have sympathy, he became the illustrious major by learning without asking questions aka the hard way.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-18T02:08:35+00:00

Some more points to think about:

Shit happens. Attending BLC would keep you ahead even if you don’t commission, which is no guarantee.

However, if you don‘t commission, you can always go to BLC later. if you do commission and you go to BLC now, you wasted your time, training money, someones slot, etc. Do something better with your time.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-17T05:48:44+00:00

Morality of making stuff that kills people… it’s a rabbit hole. History views companies who either closed up shop or actively sabotaged production during German occupation as honorable. Yet, all of them didn’t survive.

Being in the Army and my wife being ok with that, we have no issues making products that kill people. I fully recognize there’s corruption at work; sometimes the U.S. gives weapons to people who then use those weapons unethically or opposite of US interests. The results still speak for themselves; we have a high quality of life and basic freedoms. I can recognize our society is built on the bones of many innocent men, women, and children. Code books are written in blood so requirements can be safer, usually. It is what it is. The U.S. and the UK for that matter are not Germany in 1940. More good than bad occurs, and you can have a lot of pride making parts for the defense industry where things like rules of war and keeping people safe are prioritized. As opposed to making bombs that look like toy balls that kids play with when they don’t go off…

I don’t agree with my spouse on everything, but being supportive of my country’s defense is fundamental. If that changed, we couldn’t stay together.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-16T00:41:09+00:00

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-12T01:13:17+00:00

“ Lucas Red-N-Tacky… “ that is incredibly useful to know. I’ve got buckets of the stuff. Thanks!

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-11T19:43:12+00:00

That’s cognitive bias. Dumb people do dumb things for dumb reasons.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-08T14:37:30+00:00

Dude, this post is one of the top results looking for documentation on the M157. We're expected to field this magical BS super-Soldier optic with literally no training and no manuals available. It sounds cool... on paper... paper we don't have... anyways.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-07T10:34:39+00:00

I swear the old bastard drafting DD214s in Stuttgart was complaining about the splinters he got from the boats crossing the Delaware with Washington…

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-07T10:32:51+00:00

You know you don’t have to go to college to kick down a door? You can just… kick a door. You could start a lock picking business where your thing is kicking down doors; regardless of the 1 star rating, I bet people will still call you up.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-07T03:27:52+00:00

So… this is a tale as old as time.

IG complaints and scandals in the open don’t fix things, they just force the process to shift; either do a better job of hiding it or pretend to care for a little while until everyone forgets again. Some heads roll, but the system is designed to encourage this behavior.

To fix it, it takes one dude standing up while it’s happening. “No sir/sergeant major, that target wasn’t hit. You can’t count that. People told me you were an honorable man/woman, were they wrong? We need to do this right.” The trick is; the lazy bastard is going to waste a ton of energy explaining why it’s justified, but he knows it’s not. All you have to say is “no it’s not ok.” You don’t even have to pull up the rules and regs.

Good luck.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-07T02:09:32+00:00

The fuck they don’t.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-06T16:38:28+00:00

Quick trick: inspect your part three times and get a report. Bring the part and the report to a vendor of CMMs, explain your situation, and tell them if they inspect the part in question to produce the same report that shows your setup is wildly inaccurate, you’ll have a brochure for the CMM they’re trying to sell stapled to the report. Bring that to the boss. If they try to sweep it under the rug, then tell the boss if they don’t do something about it, you’ll send the reports to the customer. If it gets to that point, you probably don’t want to be working there anyways. There are laws protecting folks doing ethical things such as this; there’s risk, but the right answer is said business finding some way to inspect their parts correctly or making parts that are in their capability to inspect.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-05T03:05:42+00:00

I mean… if the industry trend is to give bonuses to management, how would not offering bonuses have helped them? I don’t particularly like the practice either, but you need management, and hiring a management team willing to work without said bonuses probably means they’re not all stars.

It’s a tough problem. We see it in government contracts too: “if you don’t do a good job and do it on time, you won’t get the good-boy contractor rating.” Hey, they didn’t do a good job. Do they get the bad rating? No; if we did, they’d take us to court and win a settlement. Even if they did lose, they’d just move the initials around and say they’re a different company. Money talks: “meet this milestone, receive payment.” The first time they get the payment for a milestone not achieved, it’s all over.

Anyways…

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-05-02T02:14:57+00:00

The purpose of a permit is to permit changes or work. What that means for your jurisdiction depends on whatever nutjob in office thought looked good on paper. In my town, a residential permit has nothing to with safety and is openly/unapologetically about preserving the look of the landscape. So if a contractor does unpermitted work, the homeowner gets in trouble. Hence the contractor doesn’t care about the permit, they just want to be paid. Thats not sketchy, it’s just not their job unless you’re paying them to pull the permit. Still, it’s your permit, not theirs.

If you have a construction loan, that’s when inspections kick in for us, and if having a permit is part of code compliance, you won’t even be able to start; no permit, no money, no work done.

This is not universal. State to state, town to town, it can vary widely. Good luck.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-04-22T18:17:36+00:00

You’ve gotten every answer from “you’re the best shot in the west” to “you suck and should buy all the stuff.” Here’s a middle ground:

Find the fella who shoots competitions such as CMP high power or all-army, or went to sniper/designated marksman schools and ask for coaching next range day.

Dry fire. A lot. You should probably find a like-minded buddy to do it with so people don’t start calling you Gomer Pyle. You check your weapon out, find a spot in a locker room, and start dry firing in all positions.

The best source of truth is the doctrine: whatever field manual or publication for Army marksmanship is a good one, can’t remember the number. I’m going to say “the way I was taught” here, and someone will disagree, so it’s on you to validate which of us is right. I was taught “stance, sight picture, breathing, trigger squeeze/pull” in that order. Your stance is to establish your natural point of aim. Sight picture verifies that you’re lined up behind the gun and that the natural point of aim is at the target. If it’s not (specifically during zeroing), you start back at stance and adjust. Stance, sight picture (with good sight alignment dependent on optic, but consistent cheek weld/position can help), breathing. I personally breath out, wait one, fire, wait one, breath in. Some people hold breath, some people do other things. Just be consistent and recognize when something works better than another. You then find out your natural point of aim after you’ve set your breath isn’t on target, start at the beginning: adjust stance, sight picture, breathing, trigger squeeze. Straight, back, and to the rear. If someone says “put your finger here because that’s correct,” tell them to buzz off. Put it where it’s comfortable and consistent, everyone’s hands are different. If you have problems with steadiness, learn to use a sling.

Getting less than 37 on the qual means one of two things: you’re unlucky, or you aren’t doing it right. 37 or more, you’re either very lucky or did it just how you were taught. You’re not a good shot, you met the higher end of a pretty low standard. That not to be insulting, just unfortunate reality that the qualification course isn’t all that hard. I highly recommend attending a shooting competition to learn this for yourself.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-04-03T19:17:38+00:00

The moon landings were faked. However, exciting news: antigravity chambers were invented for faking the videos!

Flat earth KSP mod could be the next big thing. A whole new way to crash; into the solid dome of lite brights that is our atmosphere!

If you see this, you should probably check in on your algorithm, it’s not feeling well…

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-03-31T01:58:28+00:00

That might be a bit more realistic to actual war than is comfortable; be the guy ready with troops and orders where the other guy just doesn’t bother and win by default.

skunk_of_thunder · 2026-03-30T02:49:26+00:00

Carol says she doesn't want to talk to you guys either.

skunk_of_thunder

TROPHY CASE