totm aug 2023 What funny/interesting thing happened in your life today?

[cubinator]

7 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Wife & I broke in her new forge today. 

Garage: not burned down. 

Much ado just to make one end of a metal bit flat in order to completely re-engineer the chicken coop latch… as a bunch of highly evolved dinosaurs have apparently figured out how to open it. 

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Well, now that it's there...you may as well make a sword

[DDE]

Been a while since I could say the line "I can see my house from here"...

(it was a bit of a surprise when I recognized Zhukovskyi's lone airstrip and started matching terrain to memory; there was a time, though, when we did a close flyover of the Don-2 radar)

[SunlitZelkova]

11 hours ago, DDE said:

Don-2 radar

Got confused because IIRC there’s a simple 3D search radar used on early Cold War Soviet naval vessels with that name. I visited the Wikipedia article and found out the 1998 SIOP had 69 nuclear weapons aimed at it.

Weird number, unless a lot of the Ohio class’ Trident IIs have only 3 RVs to increase range. In which case that’s a full sub’s worth of missiles plus another three from another.

I kinda have to wonder why so many though. Patriot in Ukraine reportedly has a 4.5% interception rate (which I’m taking as meaning against missiles fired at targets defended by Patriot because there’s no reason they’d include missiles not targeted, which would deflate their numbers and be bad for PR), and that’s with the PAC-3… arguably the most advanced point defence currently employed by NATO and friends. And of course the most recent data on ABM combat available to planners in 1998 probably would have been Gulf War experience, which wasn’t great either.

My guess is multi-pronged. Nuclear planners were probably restricted by a) “need to use” mentality or orders but not enough targets worth anything else in the country b) overestimating the efficacy of Soviet/Russian equipment (although the Pioner’s 98% launch success rate among a sample of ~72 missiles is nothing to knock at) or c) nuclear planners did not actually know about the efficacy of their weapons and assume the 1960s SAC mentality of “drop like 20 bombs on it because we don’t know how many will work” was still necessary (or worse, because of bureaucratic tomfoolery it simply stuck regardless of knowledge)

Considering some NATO official recently talked about a primary potential use of tactical nuclear weapons being repulsing an amphibious invasion of Denmark… in 2024… against the Baltic Fleet with a whopping 4 big landing ships… I wouldn’t be surprised if C was the main reason.

[Kimera Industries]

Today there was a praying mantis on my back at lunch. She lives in a tree now.

Edited September 10 by Kimera Industries

[CatastrophicFailure]

On 9/9/2024 at 6:35 AM, cubinator said:

Well, now that it's there...you may as well make a sword

‘Tis on the list… as soon as we get past the point where everything just looks like a metal booger. 

[Kimera Industries]

While walking near the park, I found a small blue plastic F-22 on the ground. I asked my friend who is very into that specific plane, and he said no, it wasn't his.

So I have a toy F-22 now. I should be too old for this, but it makes me very happy to swoosh it around.

[DDE]

13 hours ago, Kimera Industries said:

While walking near the park, I found a small blue plastic F-22 on the ground. I asked my friend who is very into that specific plane, and he said no, it wasn't his.

So I have a toy F-22 now. I should be too old for this, but it makes me very happy to swoosh it around.

A few days ago I briefly ran into someone who was wearing a NASA T-shirt with something vaguely F-22-like on it.

Except that it had a Russian-style optical locator system by the cockpit.

Whoever made the shirt either took a render of an aspirational F-22 variant that was never bought... or they made a NASA shirt with a Su-57...

[Kimera Industries]

4 hours ago, DDE said:

or they made a NASA shirt with a Su-57...

Once, someone random person was wearing a NASA hoodie, and I just walked up to them and said "Why does it have the Soyuz on it? That's a Russian spacecraft." They were so confused.

Although, a foreign spacecraft that has carried NASA astronauts makes more sense than a foreign aircraft that might have or will end up shooting down American pilots.

[SunlitZelkova]

On 9/14/2024 at 7:28 PM, DDE said:

A few days ago I briefly ran into someone who was wearing a NASA T-shirt with something vaguely F-22-like on it.

Except that it had a Russian-style optical locator system by the cockpit.

Whoever made the shirt either took a render of an aspirational F-22 variant that was never bought... or they made a NASA shirt with a Su-57...

Finally, a shirt maker who appreciates the complexities of aerodynamics research conducted by NASA and the relationship between the Western and Russian tech sectors+MICs.

Can’t wait for my Toshiba hoodie to come with a Pr.671RTM nuclear attack submarine on it.

(Half joking because I’m extrapolating from one news report about electronics in the Kh-101 and attaching it to the Su-57 and am also assuming there’s a line that can be drawn between 60s NASA aerodynamic research, fourth gen fighters, and finally fifth gen fighter design)

But on the other hand, I’d actually love a Toshiba hoodie with a Pr.671RTM class SSN on it, now that I think about it!

[CatastrophicFailure]

Not at all funny but bizarrely interesting... 

So yesterday, coming home from Costco (where some schmuck hit my car and destroyed my fender trim somehow WITHOUT triggering Sentry Mode ), the wife & I see a power pole down, cut in half & blocking a driveway. We realize it's a property we actually went looking at once, a long time ago, while house hunting. We came to call it the "Manson House." Because it's exactly the sort of ramshackle, weirdly additioned, oddly proportioned, creeptastic-doll-in-an-A-frame-shine-having place you'd expect to find Charlie Manson. Or maybe Jigsaw. Or maybe It. Or maybe all three playing canasta and making incantations to an eldritch abomination on a December midnight dreary. Anyways, that was... interesting.

Then about 5:30 this morning, the power blinks off. Which is also interesting on a nice September morn, but only mildly so. Came to find out some time later that some doof had... cut down a power pole with a chainsaw. So, if I had a nickel for every time in the last few days some doof had cut down a power pole with a chainsaw, I'd have two nickels. You see where this is going. So then the information continues to trickle in on that Facebook thing (which we all know is such a trustworthy source of information)... and then the DOT app... and then Spitter... and then the ICSO scanner app... and then we hear the sirens... and more sirens... and MOAR sirens...

And now the the whole highway is closed and there's an armed-freakin-standoff less then five miles away with a very mad man who's done some very bad things at...

THE MANSON HOUSE.

Apparently he's blockaded himself inside with said power pole before also trying to cut power to a certain individual for the sake of certain misdeeds, which he is reportedly blaming on incantations to another deity entirely, according to "sources."

We are definitely living in a simulation.

 

Edited September 16 by CatastrophicFailure

[SunlitZelkova]

I read Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick for the first time. There’s a monetary unit in it called a crumble, and I thought PKD was just being silly because he uses random words like that sometimes. The AI supercomputer in The Divine Invasion is called Big Noodle, for example.

But I found out at the end that this has a little more meaning than some of his other choices. A character lists two currencies, one being a crumble and the other a… ruble.

So PKD basically just took the last three letters of the Romanization of рубль and found an English word with the same ending. In fact “ruble” is inside “crumble.”

The mind of a published SF author is truly something else.

[Kimera Industries]

Things are looking up. Not only is my friend considering selling his PC for cheap, one of my cousins is giving his laptop to me for free. Both of which are quite beefy computers.

[B0lt]

Convinced my friend into playing ksp and am working on it for a few more

[Kimera Industries]

Another update for today: I bought a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's translation of Beowulf, after many hours spent perusing Barnes & Noble.

[Nuke]

current project is making a slow dumb linear actuator fast and smart. originally it had 2 limit switches at either end, but no way to tell how its positioned. i removed its motor and gear box, and printed a new motor mount. also increasing the actuation speed, original gearing used a worm drive, i switched it to a belt drive. i went ahead and put an encoder wheel on the pulley attached to the lead screw. should get 48 ticks (make that 96, using a quatrature and forgot it was 4x instead of 2x) per rotation. i need to measure the tpi of the screw to figure out how that translates to ticks per distance traveled (my calipers always seem to be on the wrong floor). got an h bridge driver somewhere. i also built the circuit board for reading the photointerruptors so i just need to find an arduino now.  only thing i haven't figured out is what i need a smart linear actuator for.

Edited September 17 by Nuke

[AlamoVampire]

I just had a rather unnerving experience. Its the middle of the night and I went outside. I live in an area where seeing deer, opossums, skunks, raccoons, coyotes or even the odd fox or armadillo isnt unheard of or unusual. So i heard this rustling sound and tried to locate it. Eventually in the moonlight i spotted movement. I thought it was a stray cat that lives in the area so I initially didnt move. I finally saw what it was and it wasnt a cat. It was a raccoon. It was coming directly at me. I began to move back slowly and it kept following me. If you know nothing else about raccoons know this: if they approach you its not good. They likely are rabid and fear has gone away from them. I dont want to think about how dangerous this was. I managed to not only put distance between it and me but also managed to spook it away from me. Not a wise move (spooking it) as it could have rushed me, but, it fled so i got away. Stupid and lucky. Im safe, my pets are safe. But still. Fine to watch from a distance or from behind glass, but not from 4-5 feet or less. Scary.

020109172024

<runs back to hide>

[Nuke]

i once tried to pet a porcupine thinking it was a house cat.

[magnemoe]

2 hours ago, Nuke said:

i once tried to pet a porcupine thinking it was a house cat.

European hedgehog pigs are not very sharp, think duller toothpicks, its like petting an broom, just weird . porcupines looks way more dangerous. 

[Nuke]

1 hour ago, magnemoe said:

European hedgehog pigs are not very sharp, think duller toothpicks, its like petting an broom, just weird . porcupines looks way more dangerous. 

the alarming thing was it walked right up to me, i was waiting for a date to pick me up and it was dark out. so it was late, and all i saw were the eyes. i thought it was the neighbor's tabby, who was also friendly. my hand was maybe a foot away before i noticed the quills. abort launch!

Edited September 17 by Nuke

[magnemoe]

19 hours ago, Nuke said:

the alarming thing was it walked right up to me, i was waiting for a date to pick me up and it was dark out. so it was late, and all i saw were the eyes. i thought it was the neighbor's tabby, who was also friendly. my hand was maybe a foot away before i noticed the quills. abort launch!

Remember walking home from the buss after an evening on the town. Night, no moon and overcast with forest so visibility was very visible. I was able to differentiate the road from ditch and saw the guard rails on other side. 
Kicked something soft, before cell phones but had an lighter, it was an badger roadkill.

Tangent: My sister got an badger burrow in her garden, son showed the entrance. Meeting her I say: Seen you gotten an badger, congratulation. 
She was not that impressed and said she now had an shotgun, inherited from our father, but don't think she shot with it  

[SunlitZelkova]

Kind of half negative thought half interesting thing. I’m in Tokyo right now and I’m overcome by immense nuclear anxiety. All I see is a sea of fire and the faces of dead people.

I’ve decided to watch The Sacrifice tonight. I don’t know what for. It’ll be interesting to see how it impacts my fears. All I’m going into it with is the blurb at the top of the Wikipedia article.

[Ultimate Steve]

I wrote a python script to hopefully help with my job search today.

I've generally been mostly looking at spacecrew.com, which is very good at filtering for only space related jobs and not defense or civil aviation related jobs (although occasionally some slip through). If that's going through a dry spell I'll check linkedin (good at getting some of the smaller contractors) or spacetalent.com (gets a lot of automotive stuff weirdly enough but does get a few things that spacecrew doesn't).

The only problem with spacecrew is that its built in filter system isn't very good. This results in me scrolling through endless "senior" "executive" "level 3" "mechanic" "corporate" "president" "intern" "technician" positions (and more) to find one position where the job title doesn't immediately disqualify me.

...Only to click on it and figure out that it is a level 3 position requiring 5+ years of experience haha.

Basically of the ~200 postings posted per weekday, 1 in 8 will have a title that's like "Oh I should consider clicking on this" and then maybe 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 (haven't measured, that's vibes based) of those will be something I'm actually halfway qualified for (and that's no guaruntee that I'll actually want to do that job). And then, I don't want to spam any particular company too much, so I may decide to pass on some of the remaining positions.

So this morning I wrote a python script to try to skip that first step. I'll copy and paste in a list of the day's job postings and the program will have a list of blacklisted words or phrases that it removes. Here's all 666 postings (creepy) from the past 3 days with each filter (after the company blacklist step):

Quote

528 remaining valid jobs
120 senior jobs
31 sr. jobs
7 sr  jobs
3  sr jobs
27 principal jobs
26 technician jobs
42 manager jobs
6 supervisor jobs
12 iii jobs
2  4 jobs
8  3 jobs
13 lead jobs
12 staff jobs
8 experienced jobs
2 president jobs
8 specialist jobs
11 analyst jobs
0 data scientist jobs
0 clerk jobs
47 intern jobs
2 welder jobs
7 administrator jobs
11 director jobs
1 accountant jobs
1 business jobs
1 handler jobs
1 finance jobs
0 assembler jobs
0 people & culture jobs
2 buyer jobs
1 cybersecurity jobs
0 cyber security jobs
1 machinist jobs
6 associate jobs
2 architect jobs
4 mid career jobs
3 executive jobs
3 material planner jobs
1 mechanic  jobs
1 mechanic
 jobs
1 corporate jobs
0 plumber jobs
1 officer jobs
3 procurement jobs
1 painter jobs
1 temporary jobs
0 recruiter jobs
1 representative jobs
87 remaining valid jobs

This isn't perfect - the final list still has some really obscure jobs that I'm not a good fit for (Boeing is hiring someone to squeeze inside of airplane fuel tanks and spray sealant right now) and I've doubtless unintentionally excluded some jobs I would be qualified for. But waking up and seeing tons of cool stuff I'm not qualified for, searching through dozens of jobs just to get one I can at least apply to, that's *incredibly* demotivating for me, and I think I can skip about half of the demotivation by using this program.

I can also use it to blacklist companies. Currently I have it set to blacklist 3 companies:

• NASA - not because I don't like NASA. I love NASA. But their qualification system is very different than what everyone else uses and is not displayed on spacecrew.com. I much prefer to go directly to the NASA jobs site every few days and deal with them directly.
• The Aerospace Corporation - They post a lot of jobs, and I have yet to see a single entry level position from them and I think I'm just wasting my time by looking.
• Astranis - I've gotten a lot of yellow flags from them.

I don't expect this to increase my number of applications per day, but I do expect this to minimize periods of demotivation, where I might not do any applications for a whole week or so.

[Nuke]

linear actuator project has hit a snag, literally. my method of shortening the timing belt has introduced a lot of friction in the system. so much im drawing 4 amps just to turn the screw, completely unloaded. best h bridge module i have can only handle 3.5 amps.  and idk how to get rid of it other than to go the ak-47 route and make it bigger so the parts can move freely. so i have to re-print the biggest part with the longest print time.

at least the good news is im getting really good signal out of my quadrature encoder. i havent even put on the filtering caps yet. i might be able to up the resolution. of course that means further re-design of the biggest part, as that will change the angular displacement of the photointerruptors.

e:

decided to go up to 128 ticks per rotation. it occured to me that whatever microcontroller i use to run my pid loop on is probibly not going to have float or hardware divide. so having a rotational position fit into 7 bits which should help make the conversions easy with fixed point math. eg if i take my threads/inch and multiply it by my tick counter and right shift the result by 7 i should get integer distance traveled or skip the shift and mask out the lower 7 bits to get 128ths. whether i use freedom units or not really depends on the thread pitch. if you thought thou was a cursed unit, wait till you meet fractional centemeters.

Edited September 20 by Nuke

[AstroWolfie]

I did my first real conversion on a Warhammer model!

[cubinator]

On 9/20/2024 at 8:17 AM, Ultimate Steve said:

I wrote a python script to hopefully help with my job search today.

I've generally been mostly looking at spacecrew.com, which is very good at filtering for only space related jobs and not defense or civil aviation related jobs (although occasionally some slip through). If that's going through a dry spell I'll check linkedin (good at getting some of the smaller contractors) or spacetalent.com (gets a lot of automotive stuff weirdly enough but does get a few things that spacecrew doesn't).

The only problem with spacecrew is that its built in filter system isn't very good. This results in me scrolling through endless "senior" "executive" "level 3" "mechanic" "corporate" "president" "intern" "technician" positions (and more) to find one position where the job title doesn't immediately disqualify me.

...Only to click on it and figure out that it is a level 3 position requiring 5+ years of experience haha.

Basically of the ~200 postings posted per weekday, 1 in 8 will have a title that's like "Oh I should consider clicking on this" and then maybe 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 (haven't measured, that's vibes based) of those will be something I'm actually halfway qualified for (and that's no guaruntee that I'll actually want to do that job). And then, I don't want to spam any particular company too much, so I may decide to pass on some of the remaining positions.

So this morning I wrote a python script to try to skip that first step. I'll copy and paste in a list of the day's job postings and the program will have a list of blacklisted words or phrases that it removes. Here's all 666 postings (creepy) from the past 3 days with each filter (after the company blacklist step):

This isn't perfect - the final list still has some really obscure jobs that I'm not a good fit for (Boeing is hiring someone to squeeze inside of airplane fuel tanks and spray sealant right now) and I've doubtless unintentionally excluded some jobs I would be qualified for. But waking up and seeing tons of cool stuff I'm not qualified for, searching through dozens of jobs just to get one I can at least apply to, that's *incredibly* demotivating for me, and I think I can skip about half of the demotivation by using this program.

I can also use it to blacklist companies. Currently I have it set to blacklist 3 companies:

• NASA - not because I don't like NASA. I love NASA. But their qualification system is very different than what everyone else uses and is not displayed on spacecrew.com. I much prefer to go directly to the NASA jobs site every few days and deal with them directly.
• The Aerospace Corporation - They post a lot of jobs, and I have yet to see a single entry level position from them and I think I'm just wasting my time by looking.
• Astranis - I've gotten a lot of yellow flags from them.

I don't expect this to increase my number of applications per day, but I do expect this to minimize periods of demotivation, where I might not do any applications for a whole week or so.

A lot of the time something does say "entry-level" whatever, and in the qualifications they ask for a Masters degree and two years in industry. Sometimes I apply to jobs like these anyway, when they're interesting, despite requested qualifications being completely unreasonable. What are they gonna do, reject me? Probably not, actually.

This time of year is good for looking for new-grad positions (they LOVE to post them right during midterm season...), I saw some at Sierra Space and Blue Origin lately. Although I've never gotten through to an interview on any company that uses that application-handling website. Mainly dry and vague automated rejection emails between midnight and 3 AM.

I have found those job-posting sites unhelpful on their own, they are all full of automated junk. But they do help me become aware of companies that look interesting, where I can then periodically look up that company and see if they have anything open that's actually relevant and looks real.