cubinator

Been looking into getting a ham radio license in order to do a high altitude balloon flight.

Did a cave tour today, was very cool climbing around and learning that stalacmites each sing with a particular note when struck.

I saw some capybaras yesterday.

The rooster that lives somewhere in the neighborhood.

I am in the southern hemisphere now.

I've been very stressed this week about some stuff that's not actually very consequential, but since I don't have a lot else going on it's kind of ballooned in my head. At least I've kind of realized how to build some solutions in the next couple days, so hopefully I can feel better soon. Also the job search remains completely busted.

Last night I saw Uranus without any visual aid. The dimmest stars I know I saw were in the low 6.x range.

@Ultimate Steve anyway, this is my general reaction to life right now:

Interesting, yeah that's pretty similar to my numbers with slightly over 50% rejecting. One interesting number I pulled recently is the rejection rate for jobs that are specifically "entry level" or "level 1" or such in the title is 62%, much higher than the rest. But I also have a high interview rate from these jobs. I think entry level jobs may be looked at more thoroughly than other applications. That sounds great! As long as you have an answer for "what have you done since graduating" I think you'll be fine. Posting that stuff on Linkedin can be good too. I hate playing the algorithm game, but if I have some cool pictures I may as well show them off.

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm a year deeper in it than you with 5x the applications. I've been interviewed for 16 positions. Your competence is fine, and no one should still be floating around in limbo after 100 apps. I've been able to keep my part time job at the planetarium, so even though I only come in once in a while I've still technically been "working" this whole time. If you have anything like that, that's great. If not, if somebody asks about it and they're not willing to understand that you've been trying this whole time, then we're all ****ed. (More seriously, I'm certain that almost all interviewers are aware of this problem, and most are facing similar challenges to ours from the other side. As long as you don't get a particularly evil HR person (the kind who is perpetuating this problem) you'll be fine.) They just like to see that you've been keeping yourself busy with some project or another, "what have you been up to since graduation" is a common question. The situation is worsening. The problem has expanded beyond ordinary people looking for first-time jobs, to include 4.0 GPA college graduates AND experienced workers too. This means we're approaching that 'singularity' where literally no one is able to get a job fairly quickly. If it keeps up, we should be looking directly at a huge implosion soon. The good news is people are starting to talk about it. Always remember that this worsening is of the environment you occupy, not of yourself. If you are worried about your skills stagnating, do some affordable projects making use of them. Design and build a small robot, or write a fluid or orbit simulation, or print an interesting mechanical device. These are the kinds of things that have kept the weight off my mind, as well. (That was the primary mission objective of the ENTIRE submarine I designed while waiting to hear back from one interview). As for graduate school, ask your school about it. From what I understand, students generally pay for it by doing research or TA work, and financing is not an issue. Maybe I should start asking around about it! ======================================= Out of curiosity, what are your no-response rate and rejection rate? Mine are both around 50% of applications.

I wonder if they'd attempt those last two tubes after all the others have been filled.

Because it's a vastly less deadly place to be.

Working on a 3x5x7 Rubik's cube design.

Nothing on the Moon is going to be limited by light pollution, at least.

If Titan looks bright, on a clear winter night it's worth going for Rhea, Dione, and Tethys too. You probably won't be able to make out any detail, but Neptune's not too hard to find right now and is about as bright as Titan, and Uranus is close to the Pleiades. Also, after the Full moon look for Reinier Gamma, it's a squid-shaped bright spot caused by a magnetic anomaly, not a mountain or crater. It's flat and doesn't cast any shadows. There are also some volcanoes and lava flows that can be seen when the phase is just right...