WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
No bio...
User ID: 269
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
1d ago
So I figured out how to finally avoid paying taxes on my insane NVDA gains. Lose my job! Long term capital gains are taxed at 0% up to almost $100,000 of income when you are married filing jointly.
I don't know exactly what happened, but my boss told me the government shut down pushed the small company I work for over the edge. The last 2 months are typically the time of the year we are negotiating another contract with whomever in the DoD to fund next years activities, and I guess that just didn't happen.
It sucks. I worked there 20 years. I've had a reliable income my entire adult life. I haven't kept my resume up to date at all, and I probably interview for shit, not really having kept up with the jargon. But I wasn't particularly attached to my work there, and I don't feel any particular moral outrage about it happening. I get paid out my 188 hours of accrued vacation time and 40 extra hours of severance.
My wife is pregnant. All that church we've been going to finally unblocked whatever apprehension she had about bringing another life into this world. So that adds some stress. Need to get more health insurance ASAP.
I have friends and previous coworkers willing to forward my resume along, and my wife is a former recruiter who's going to help me whip it into shape. I'm on the cusp of having escape velocity "Fuck You" money, but it's a bit premature to YOLO on working just yet. Maybe if it'd been another year and the markets had done great. Maybe 3 or 4 if they'd been just average. But right now feels like the wrong time.
Wish me luck.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
2d ago
Everyone I ever met who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton acted like "wake up and maximize value" true believers. Curiously enough, I recall they also had some sort of gamified employee leveling system not unlike the Federal Goverment's GS. People would gape and gossip about meeting or having lunch with a Level 5 or whatever it was BAH had going on. It drove me nuts.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
2d ago
20 years later, that wasn't really true. People seem to buy into the BS, or at least keep plausible deniability about it, such that you never really know. You can't openly call this out to your acquaintances, because you need rely on them for job referrals.
It wasn't true then either. The entire premise of the movie was that the main character had to be hypnotized into not giving a fuck. Everyone else was trapped in the rat race, disingenuously sucking up to the powers that be for fear of their jobs. It's a large part of why the movie was so cathartic for so many people.
But you also aren't wrong, things have gotten worse by a significant degree. There is less and less space to compartmentalize who you are at work from the rest of you, and so it just becomes you entirely.
And having less to do with the OP, I think COVID killed the cultural relevancy of Office Space. Zoom meetings, email jobs and remote work fundamentally changed office dynamics in a way that finally made the workplace of Office Space feel alien after 20 years in stasis. In some ways I think nature is healing. Remote work is getting less common, more people are being called back into the office. We'll see if the transformative effects of COVID ever wash away. But I'm doubtful.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
2d ago
"I hate my enemies and want them dead" is not an argument.
If you think that's what I'm saying, you are wrong, and if you think that wasn't an argument in revolutionary times, you are wrong twice.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
2d ago
If you want to be more indirect about it ("I really think some of our state leadership should water the tree of liberty"), we are not stupid and we're still going to tell you to knock off the fedposting.
Oh how far we've fallen. From rhetoric you'd see heroic sung in a Disney movie that was required viewing in Elementary School to intolerable hate speech that will get you and everyone around you visited by the feds in a single generation.
But sure, I'm the problem here.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
2d ago
Why does there need to be "prevailing wisdom" here on this topic at all?
I'm not saying what the prevailing wisdom should be, I'm saying what it should not be.
You treat it as a given that we can't just ignore the topic, as something that can't be discussed while maintaining the spirit and purpose of the forum, and perhaps even mean to suggest that enforcing non-discussion is tantamount to complicity with your enemies. The exact same approach has been tried on the other side, with popular glosses like "the personal is political", "silence is violence" and what-not; and look where the discussion norms built around those memes got them.
This is wrong and bad faith and borders on intellectual malpractice. "Silence is violence" as deployed by the left is about compelled speech. I'm asking for free speech, non censorship. Nobody has to have an opinion about their own genocide. But I'm asking for the freedom to discuss it, as well as extra-Democratic ways to survive.
And this is exactly what people mean when they say this place, and it's rules, are too "feminized". The only possibility that can be imagined is consensus. If you disagree, you are trying to change the consensus to a different consensus. Because a consensus must exist. There must be a norm that everyone conforms to. There cannot simply be endless discussion.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
2d ago
There is no winning for anyone if it comes to that. Just violence until both sides are exhausted, or one is annihilated. I can't even speak with confidence which side it would be. But funnily enough, I always remember a line out of a trashy fantasy novel I read once.
"We don't fight to win. We fight so that we don't lose."
The prevailing wisdom here cannot be "Listen, it's just 'rude' not to walk into the ovens. It would get us into trouble with the feds if we talked too openly about non-compliance with their pogroms". Are we really so committed to ensuring everyone cannot even imagine a world where they aren't forfeiting their lives for nothing?
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
3d ago
I have to ask, will it ever be considered "rational" to talk about living up to the ideals of the American Founding and watering the tree of liberty? I currently live in a state with my Attorney General elect thinks I and my children should die because we're breeding "little fascist". His top priority is emptying the prisons into my community to see this done. At what point does it become permissible to openly discuss your natural rights to self defense against the state?
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
4d ago
I'm curious if this trend will continue moving forward, and we can perhaps have a more honest conversation about immigration and assimilation? We'll see...
No.
I mean, once again, look at the rape gangs in the UK. Despite there being "more open conversation", all that's really happened is the UK is arresting people for having that "more open conversation". Turns out after decades of the UK pleading that they simply lack the state capacity to stop immigration, or the rape of their children on an industrial scale, they somehow found the state capacity to start locking people up for twitter posts. And they'll even let the rapist out of prison to make room for it!
I expect much the same will happen in the US. Congress will do nothing, Judges will stop all executive enforcement, the state and local government is already captured racially/ideologically. In 10 years people will behave like this was always the case. Like if you live in Minnesota, you just should have known better. You know, back when your parents birthed and raised you back in the 1990's and the notion that Minnesota would get conquered by Somalia was nothing but a Buchananite fever dream.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
6d ago
I agree, it isn't a crime.
But in a just world they would hang all the same.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
6d ago
There’s no route where this stupid video causes the “intelligence community” to plot a coup.
You are correct! it launders legitimacy for the intelligence community and the coup they've been working hard on the last 10 years.
The crimes of the intelligence community against the Trump administration are becoming undeniable. But most liberals are completely ignorant of them. Since they experience time not according to when things actually happened, but when they hear about them. So having these senators bless the deep state with executing a coup against Trump will make everything fine and dandy in the mind of the average liberal when the crimes of the deep state finally penetrate their information bubble. The actual order of events doesn't matter, only the perceived order.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
8d ago
Anyone who's ever experienced a 3rd world crime wave understood this was a lie. The lie is targeted at people who don't remember the before times, which stretch further and further out of memory the longer this crisis continues, or at GDP maximizers who view the world purely through statistics, oblivious to the reality on the ground.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
9d ago
I'm curious - what drives you to build something elaborate like that from scratch?
A lot of my shop furniture isn't that different from your OSB shelving. Lots of stands thrown together with 2x4's and half-lap joints, glue and brad nails. A chest of drawers that are just 1/2" cheapo plywood, not even cabinet grade, with pocket screws, rabbet joints, glue and brad nails. All naked and unfinished. Quick and easy can be remarkably satisfying.
For the more labor intensive projects, I donno what to say. It's like when a Dwarf craftsman in Dwarf Fortress goes insane and simply has no choice but to build the masterpiece that's been plaguing his dreams. Often I get an idea that simply won't get out of my head, no matter what. The only way to get it out is to make the damned thing, no matter how extravagant and useless. That's what happened with my wooden 486. Although I think it went better than that with my walnut gaming table and dining chair set.
My daughter is a huge encouragement too. She's always so amazed every time I make something beautiful. And we've been making lots of memories sitting around the table I made, in the chairs I made, playing The Hobbit: There and Back Again which I got her for her birthday. And how do you put a price on making beautiful things to make memories around with your family?
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
9d ago
I will keep that in mind. I'd written off dominoes as forever out of my price range.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
9d ago
You know, I've been eyeballing a Makita biscuit joiner, but mostly for large panel glue ups, like table tops and such. I'm just not sure I like the idea of biscuit joining a butt joint. Although... combine it with pocket screws and it would keep things from walking I presume. But then again, I already have a doweling jig which probably also would have worked, which I didn't use because I was making an attempt at speed over obsessive accuracy on this project.
Ah well, next time maybe.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
9d ago
When last I left you I had the cases made for my bookshelves out of birch plywood.
It's been a hectic two weeks, but I managed to mill the soft maple for the faces. A two, a three, four. Also drilled all the holes for the adjustable shelf pins. Using a jig and getting those done was the most economical method over trying to install six foot rails. I couldn't find a local supplier for them, and having them shipped incured freight charges on account of their size. Plus this saves me having to route out channels for them.
I am noticing more that almost none of the pieces I cut are perfectly square. Not massively so, and you really can't tell. There is maybe a 16th an inch of wobble that some shims will take out. The floor of my basement isn't exactly perfectly flat either. But in the future, if I ever redo the cabinets in my kitchen, I think I need to invest in a tracksaw to break down the sheet goods. Also the pocket screws, despite copious clamping and jigs, still walked on me when I drilled them in, pulling the whole box slightly out of square. Once again, maybe a 32nd of an inch, but it's every joint, and those errors compound. I think in the future I'm just going to suck it up and route rabbet joints. Should invest in some route bits that are perfectly sized for plywood thicknesses.
I did a test stain of the black, and I think I hate it. Tried out a black walnut stain I have, and I like the warmness of the brown tones a lot more. Think I'm going to go with that instead. Probably also worth doing a prestain treatment because the plywood was a pretty blotchy. Probably from the manufacturing process. I swear you can see where the rollers didn't apply preasure evenly across the sheet how the stain absorbs. I also got my last sheet of plywood mostly broken down into the widths I'll need for the shelves. The side cases get 4 shelves each, the top middle gets 2 and the bottom center gets 1.
The next week I aim to get sanding done, headers and footers, and if I'm lucky all the shelves and trim pieces. I doubt I will be lucky.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
9d ago
Did cloudflare take down the weekly tinker threads too?
Maybe I'll move this if it ever shows up.
When last I left you I had the cases made for my bookshelves out of birch plywood.
It's been a hectic two weeks, but I managed to mill the soft maple for the faces. A two, a three, four. Also drilled all the holes for the adjustable shelf pins. Using a jig and getting those done was the most economical method over trying to install six foot rails. I couldn't find a local supplier for them, and having them shipped incured freight charges on account of their size. Plus this saves me having to route out channels for them.
I am noticing more that almost none of the pieces I cut are perfectly square. Not massively so, and you really can't tell. There is maybe a 16th an inch of wobble that some shims will take out. The floor of my basement isn't exactly perfectly flat either. But in the future, if I ever redo the cabinets in my kitchen, I think I need to invest in a tracksaw to break down the sheet goods. Also the pocket screws, despite copious clamping and jigs, still walked on me when I drilled them in, pulling the whole box slightly out of square. Once again, maybe a 32nd of an inch, but it's every joint, and those errors compound. I think in the future I'm just going to suck it up and route rabbet joints. Should invest in some route bits that are perfectly sized for plywood thicknesses.
I did a test stain of the black, and I think I hate it. Tried out a black walnut stain I have, and I like the warmness of the brown tones a lot more. Think I'm going to go with that instead. Probably also worth doing a prestain treatment because the plywood was a pretty blotchy. Probably from the manufacturing process. I swear you can see where the rollers didn't apply preasure evenly across the sheet how the stain absorbs. I also got my last sheet of plywood mostly broken down into the widths I'll need for the shelves. The side cases get 4 shelves each, the top middle gets 2 and the bottom center gets 1.
The next week I aim to get sanding done, headers and footers, and if I'm lucky all the shelves and trim pieces. I doubt I will be lucky.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
9d ago
I honestly forget precisely how quickly I'd seen it, and if I watched a RLM review first or not. But I did see it in theaters.
Admittedly my decision to see it was somewhat nonsensical. Because TLJ had already killed Star Wars for me, but perhaps I wasn't quite done with my stages of grief yet. Maybe I'd heard it was good? Maybe Ron Howard seemed a steady enough hand to deliver a competent homage to the boomer childhood pastiche that Star Wars lives in, a dirge for a world that is dead and passing out of living memory faster and faster.
At the end of the day, I look forward to one day watching my de-special editioned fan edit of the original trilogy with my children one day. But that will probably be it.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
10d ago
I wish I had seen it in theaters. I bet the disappointment would have been palpable.
In theaters, opening night, at that point the levels of Rian Johnson's "I know that you know that I know that you know" subverting expectations for the sake of subverting expectations had worn me down so much that by that point in the film I felt nothing. I remember being excited that Luke was going to be the badass we desperately wanted to see, being annoyed it was all an illusion, being relieved he was still safe, then just being annoyed/numb that he got killed anyways because fuck it, why not?
I left the theater wondering what the fuck I had just watched. I watched Solo and actually really enjoyed it. It left me thinking only a boomer can make a proper Star Wars movie. I never watched anything Star Wars after that. Not even The Mandalorian. Whatever love I had for Star Wars, which my dog eared West End Games RPG books can attest to, just evaporated after Last Jedi.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
10d ago
I remember deeply enjoying the Thrawn trilogy when I read it a decade ago. It's basically my headcanon Star Wars 7, 8 and 9. Perfectly captures the essence of the original trilogy, gives them a fantastic new villain who challenges them in devilish new ways.
And that's about as far as I got on my "Expanded Universe" exploration. I think I got through another book or two that failed to leave any impression what so ever.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
11d ago
That's a bad excuse, and you should feel bad for making it.
Almost everything worth doing is a "nontrivial amount of work". If your excuse to not to do something is "it's a nontrivial amount of work", I'd question how you make it out of bed in the morning, and how often you shower.
Second, it's self evident it's not a high priority, because they haven't done that "nontrivial amount of work" in ten fucking years. The point I, and everyone else is making, is that it should be a high fucking priority.
I'm pretty sure if someone like Steve Jobs was anywhere near that team, he'd have had the least productive member of that team ritually castrated and blood eagled in front of the rest of the team after the first year where it hadn't been done. After the second year he'd have taken all their fraudulent timesheets, used a hydraulic press to form them into the shape of a cyclopean dildo that would make a bad dragon enthusiast swoon, and spitted the next person on that monstrosity.
This is work than any sane person understands needed to have been done, and done over 10 years ago before Windows 8 came out.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
11d ago
On the one hand, I feel for your example. I've had my own fair share that aren't to different from yours, where you wonder what fucking genius decided to put that there?!
On the other hand, comprehensible by default is quite the bold standard. I've seen people fail to intuit a single purpose machine with two buttons, one for on/off and another for mode or speed. I'm not sure a turing complete computer will ever be "comprehensible by default" to more than 10% of the population.
But back to the first hand, it can probably, at least, not be nakedly retarded and designed by the most passive aggressive engineer you can imagine, just checking off Jira issues in the laziest manner possible.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
12d ago
Oh virtually every language would have caught that. Even when I compile C++ in GCC it at least generates warnings about things like that. My day job in C# lets you nowhere near the memory like that.
But aside from my excursions in assembly, C is as close to bitfucking the CPU as you are allowed to get. Half the string.h library is just nakedly wrapping x86 string instructions.
I keep trying to learn Rust, but sadly the people who teach Rust are too obnoxious for me to learn from.
"Rustacians". Go fuck yourself.
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
12d ago
A while ago I was noodling around in some C/SDL2 code for a game I'll never finish, as is my wont. I accidentally calloc'd space for a struct* instead of the actual struct. This resulted in me stomping all over pseudo random objects in memory, causing crashes very shortly after. I figured it out after a little bit, but that's the kind of shit that's super easy to do in C.
And I fucking love it. Segfault me harder daddy.
Depends if the government is conspiring to murder you or not.
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