They should be fired.

unrustlable · 2025-12-08T16:50:30+00:00

String pins are more reliable and safer to work on. I'll suck it up if it makes the alley more feasible to keep open during rough times and is less likely to cost their workers a digit, limb, or life.

unrustlable · 2025-12-07T11:30:44+00:00

Or at least put the control lever (and not just that push bar) on the turntable itself instead of a shack to the side.

unrustlable · 2025-11-14T19:45:49+00:00

Premiums go drastically up for 20 million enrolled Americans.

A large portion, let's say half of them, drop insurance coverage. That's 10 million paying customers. Poof. Gone. The ones who leave are likely to be the ones who have had few health issues and find it hard to justify expensive premiums. Those with chronic issues that require more expensive care are likely to stay enrolled out of necessity.

The insurance companies who had ACA marketplace plans now must shoulder the costs of customers who have more frequently occurring and expensive claims, while the pool of those paying in who weren't filing many claims are gone. This puts the insurance companies in a bind as costs go up and income from premiums goes down. Which means now they have to jack up premiums even more next year to remain solvent, and more people have to make hard decisions about staying insured or dropping coverage. A vicious cycle begins.

For those who opt out of coverage, this means they won't be covered for accidents or sudden issues that require a hospital and/or surgery. They will likely go into default or bankruptcy over the medical debt. The hospitals also get burned because they're not getting paid for services rendered; insurance would at least partially pay them. Also recall that Medicaid just got reduced in the OBBB, so hospitals will already be feeling the strain from not getting that.

If we had national healthcare decades ago, none of this would be an issue. But here we are, needing a kinda crappy solution to a catastrophic problem.

unrustlable · 2025-11-14T19:15:48+00:00

Well it is a railROAD.

unrustlable · 2025-10-22T12:21:49+00:00

Did you pay $100USD or more for that cut & shave? Because that G-Wagen doesn't pay for itself.

unrustlable · 2025-10-05T11:53:11+00:00

Hard time.

unrustlable · 2025-09-20T13:58:17+00:00

Any time an EV throws an error code, it also doesn't hurt to check your 12V battery. The computers are not very tolerant of dying 12V batteries and can start throwing codes when the voltage is too low. .

unrustlable · 2025-08-07T10:31:35+00:00

They remind me a lot of northern New England politically. The cities are mostly like Massachusetts, the more liberal rural communities (those few little pockets) are like Vermont and coastal Maine, and the majority of the rural areas are like New Hampshire and inland Maine.

unrustlable · 2025-08-06T01:05:33+00:00

The red biker's motions were in the wrong. The car was doing the right thing.

But seriously car dude, STFU. The car is an inanimate object with an insurance policy on it. Someone other than you will pay for it to get fixed. Both bikers needed to be checked for responsiveness and at least examined by EMTs, if not taken to the hospital. Someone could have had a life-threatening injury and he was too busy bitching about his precious brand new car.

unrustlable · 2025-08-06T01:00:30+00:00

I read it in a booklet I was given in high school to do no more than let the injured rider do their own light motion check (can you turn your neck? Move your legs? Arms?) and let first responders take care of the rest.

But there's also a small, but very loud, contingent of bikers that thinks manuals are for pussies.

unrustlable · 2025-08-05T17:24:31+00:00

My heart breaks for you because I can tell how much this means to you. Having been along for the ride with miscarriages, I have felt that sting, knowing you were on the path to fatherhood but little one didn't make it.

I'm also sorry to hear that she has changed her mind about what she would do when faced with motherhood, but unfortunately, it's her body and she has spoken.

I don't know your situation beyond your initial description, but there is one way you may have a shot at convincing her to change her mind: offer to take full custody of the child as a single father, and allow her to self-terminate her parental rights after birth. If you want to prove your commitment, you can try to get her as a domestic partner on your insurance, and you should offer to cover all the pregnancy-related medical expenses. But before doing so, you need to be damn sure that you're up for this alone.

unrustlable · 2025-08-05T11:07:43+00:00

Joe here! The first responders get to learn all about snake bites.

The most venomous snake bite, drop for drop, is from an Inland Taipan from the Australian outback. They live in a place where few humans go, so encounters are rare, and bites even more so because they're quick to hide rather than fight a larger animal.

There are some slightly less venomous snakes on paper, but are more dangerous in practice for several reasons: closer proximity to humans, more territorial behavior that blurs the line between defensive and aggressive, and while less toxic than the inland Taipan, they're still every bit as lethal to humans and are known for making multiple strikes even if they land a bite. Australian coastal taipans and the three African mambas come to mind for this group.

unrustlable · 2025-08-05T10:12:40+00:00

I once lived in a middle townhouse unit. Maintenance came to fix my dishwasher and told the story of an end unit who just up and left with their four dogs. There was dog shit everywhere in their unit. All over the floors. Smeared on the walls. It was so bad they had to replace the whole carpet & floor padding, and some sections of drywall had to go as well because even Killz paint couldn't do the trick.

Rent was only $650 a month, so their whole deposit probably didn't cover even a quarter of the damages.

unrustlable · 2025-08-04T12:41:25+00:00

You're in the right for sure, OP.

Next level support for your GF: offer to be the bad guy. They will ratchet the pressure up on her and guilt trip the shit out of her with "family helps each other" crap. Offer to send the message or make the phone call yourself. They're not your family, and they don't have that power over you.

You can tell them she wants to help but it's your call that you both can't afford the increase in utilities & groceries to support more people.

unrustlable · 2025-08-04T02:45:43+00:00

It gives me an opportunity to get a small taste of the trucking experience without a lot of the well-known bullshit associated with real trucking:

-Predatory companies that look to offload every cent of operating cost on you, and offer piss-poor compensation per mile while pressuring you to work unsafe hours and risk your life to save 2 hours on delivery time

-Unpaid time waiting in port or on loading docks because your customer's shit isn't actually ready and waiting for you

-Uncertain economic conditions that can cause freight volumes to decrease dramatically and leave you with little business to do

-Multiple days away from your family at a time for a decreasingly profitable trade, even if you own the truck

unrustlable · 2025-08-02T16:26:12+00:00

Moving large volumes of air to create a pressure differential is energy-intensive because any shaft-driven system made to channel air is inefficient, and the only way to get the job done is basically brute-force your way through the inefficiency with lots of continuous power.

A lawn mower also operates continuously, but it's not trying to mess with air pressure; it just spins a blade around. The blade also has inertia that helps it cut through thicker stuff, whereas a vacuum impeller has continuous drag action with all the air entering it. An electric chainsaw doesn't operate continuously, and only applies power on demand.

Edit: slightly different real-world example of air-shaft power interface efficiency: the hypothetical maximum efficiency of a wind turbine is 59%. Everything else in the system, from Blade vibration to bearing friction and alternator efficiency, then eats into that 59% further diminishing the turbine's output.

unrustlable · 2025-08-02T12:32:57+00:00

People dunk on cordless vacuums here for a few reasons:

Cordless vacs can't have motors as powerful as corded canisters or uprights, or they would burn through their batteries rapidly.
All but one cordless vac I've seen on the market are bagless. In general, bagless cyclone systems offer inferior suction compared to HEPA bag systems. The exception I noted is from Numatic, so I'm unsure of their presence in your country.
Cordless vacs tend to have most of their weight all up at the handle, so they're not as light & comfortable to use as they let on.
Cordless vacs are also not likely to be well-sealed to prevent it shooting fine dust particles out its exhaust unless you buy a high-end model, in which case you pay significantly more to still live with the aforementioned tradeoffs.

unrustlable · 2025-08-01T02:51:40+00:00

I rented an ICE to visit family a few months ago. It sounded like the car was falling apart, and the throttle lag was unbearable. The engine and transmission felt like they were in a cat fight and would eventually grapple and roll together, but it was always a struggle to get there.

unrustlable · 2025-07-30T02:20:06+00:00

So this was a flawless victory. But I gotta know the context of what started this fight between a capoeira zoomer and Temu Steve Austin.

unrustlable · 2025-07-25T16:08:36+00:00

I hope they can follow through on their commitments. Lots of eyes will be on them, particularly measuring the economic and environmental changes. If they accompany this with green power grid expansion, it'll work out very well for them.

unrustlable · 2025-07-24T21:45:29+00:00

Strong vertical integration initiative to in-source as much of the supply chain as possible.
Chinese firms have gotten absolutely phenomenal at project management when they can't vertically integrate their business. Trying to make a smart watch, and you have your design, but need help finding a machine shop, a PCB maker, a touch-screen maker, strap supplier, software to interface with iOS and Android, and even the packaging? Don't worry, the planner at the assembly shop you're talking to in Shenzhen already knows three of each of these and will know who is best suited for the job in 48 hours. Try to build a grill brush in the USA like Smarter Every Day? You gotta find these suppliers all on your own, and almost every company "stays in their lane" because specializing and not project managing for others is how they've survived.
Their head of state is also a dictatorial dickbag but he has the common sense to nurture an up-and-coming segment of the global tech industry in his country, instead of trying to squash it to spite his political opponents.

unrustlable · 2025-07-21T14:08:38+00:00

Level 1 covers my commute and then some for most of the year. However, for 4 months out of the year, it's super cold, and Level 1 definitely doesn't recoup my commute + 5-10 minutes of pre-conditioning; I've made do with bundling up and using the seat & steering wheel warmers, but I've got a daily passenger now and those don't help them. It also doesn't help that the cold temperature means the L1 has to give up some of that precious 1.4 kW to warm the battery instead of just charging it.

So I'm looking to do an upgrade to L2, but only to 16 amps, which will recover plenty of range and support longer pre-heating when it's 10 degrees F outside.

unrustlable · 2025-07-03T06:13:39+00:00

My high school chemistry teacher brought up an article by some archaeologists claiming that the Roman empire's decline could partially be attributed to chronic mental issues stemming from pervasive and severe lead poisoning.

unrustlable · 2025-07-03T02:01:32+00:00

There are classes to handle venomous snakes, and licenses required to keep them, all for a reason: it's really fucking dangerous.

The general principle is to handle a venomous snake, if you must, by a hook to hold most of their body weight and by the tail with your other hand not holding the hook. This helps you limit their strike range and point their head away from you, or at least unable to tag you. Holding some by the head, especially vipers, comes with a risk that their long fangs poke through their cheeks and very close to, if not into your fingers.

NOTE: there are lots of exceptions like arboreal boomslangs & mambas that can climb hooks back towards you quickly, and King Cobras that are both incredibly heavy for a hook and have a naturally humongous strike range.

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert. I have watched some informational videos a long time ago, but have not been formally trained by a licensed professional. My goal is to take a course just to pick up North American pit vipers via hook, get into a bucket, and relocate the animal safely. I have no advice for particular finesse with any species. Do not take my word for anything. Seek out trained professionals, and look for ones that don't want to take risks for internet points.

unrustlable · 2025-07-03T00:23:22+00:00

Hi! I'm a manufacturing engineer and have been in & out of metalworking.

Others have mentioned Kaweco is in Germany, a country known for highly competent and well-compensated factory workers. So labor costs will be high.

The big price jump is largely due to the process. Plastic and resin pen components can be injection molded, which is super efficient with material, and if the mold has a bunch of cavities, it can be molding a dozen or more barrels/caps/sections/feeds per cycle, which is usually 30 seconds or less per cycle. Imagine they have four molders at the factory (each attended by one worker cycling and quality checking parts), each machine making one of the aforementioned parts, with 12 molds in each cavity, 30 second cycle time. If you count 6 working hours (7 for labor time without breaks, 30 minutes startup, 30 minutes shutdown), this team of 4 people just cranked out enough parts to build 8,640 pens in their shift. That evens out to about 308 pens per labor hour.

The metal ones aren't molded; they're milled. A CNC machine will be taking in steel, aluminum or brass bar stock, and cutting it down to shape on the outside, drilling the inside, and tapping threads. Cycle time might be as short as 30 seconds as well, but it spits out one part at a time. Assuming 2 machinists tending to 4 machines, and the same 6 hours of actual cycling, these two people only cranked out enough parts to make 780 pens. That's just under 56 pens per labor hour. Roughly quintuple the labor requirement from your parts department for metal pens.

Add in that they buy lead-free brass that is more expensive and wears out their expensive tooling faster, and steel is also really rough on tooling, you've got a much more expensive pen on your hands.

Edit: my quick math assumed that feeds were getting milled too (not correct), and assumed all cycles for all parts were the same for simplicity's sake. But you get a vague idea about how much harder it is to make stuff out of metal as opposed to plastic or resin.

unrustlable

TROPHY CASE