I think privatising social security is a terrible idea and medicare for all is a good idea. So I’m basically a communist.

/s

I live in the Bible Belt so as you can imagine I interact with these types of people on a very regular basis.

I once went on a business trip with one of my [at that time] employees. We got along well although I knew he was very conservative politically and a staunch Trump supporter. I am neither of those things which he knew about me as well. We had a long car ride through the middle of nowhere and we talked for a good chunk of it to pass the time.

Eventually I asked him, “What do you like so much about Donald Trump?” I genuinely wanted to know. He told me. I thought his reasons were bullshit but I did ask and so I had an obligation to at least hear him out. He asked me why I didn’t like Trump. I gave him my reasons. We kind of politely acknowledged one another’s opinion and agreed to disagree. We chatted a little bit more and then he said something that I did not expect. “You know those people who go walking around with guns strapped on them all the time? Those guys are idiots. What kind of moron thinks he’s got to prove something so badly that he goes to the store carrying an AR strapped to his back?”

I was honestly shocked. I didn’t expect him to say that and I agreed with him. We talked a lot longer after that about politics and found that we had plenty of other things we agreed on, and plenty that we didn’t. When we finally got to our destination, I thanked him for answering my questions honestly because I genuinely wanted to understand his perspective. I could tell he appreciated that.

That’s a long way of saying that the only way to deal with extreme conservatives is to go talk to them. Its not always easy but you’ll find that you have more in common with them than you might think. Now, that’s easy for me to say. I’m a straight, white, boot wearing, bearded guy with a southern accent. I pretty much fit right in around here. If you’re a minorty, trans for instance, and you don’t want to go talk to people who think you’re some sort of abomination, I don’t blame you for a second. that’s why those of us who are not as “threatening” need to do a better job of being allies.

There’s a passage in the Bible that says “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” It’s true. A “divide and conquer” strategy is incredibly effective. It’s working very effectively in American politics today. And the only way to bridge the gap is to go find some common ground.

PSA

If you have been sexually assaulted or abused by someone, please tell somebody. Preferably the police, but if not them then tell someone else that you trust. I know this is a huge ask. I know you want to completely erase it from your memory. I know that doing this means unleashing a shit storm that you can never undo. I know it’s going to dredge up all kinds of pain. I know it might permanently reshape your life. I know it’s going to be incredibly hard. It’s probably going to take courage that you’re not even sure you have.

The reason I’m asking you to do this is because there’s a really good chance that the person who did this to you has done it before or will do it again. YOU may be the only thing standing between the perpetrator and their next victim. The fact that it happened to you is terrible and I’m so sorry for that. But you have the power to help make sure what happened to you doesn’t happen to anyone else. So please tell someone because you might very well be the hero, that you needed, for someone else. There are few things in life more honorable than that.

The benefit of splitting services between VM’s is the same as it always has been: I can break one service without breaking ALL of them. Containers are an improvement over native installs but they do not solve this problem completely.

Not so much what I did as what I didn’t do. I was picking up a birthday cake for one of my kids and I was standing in line behind a lady who was obviously doing the same thing. Based on her appearance and the fact that she was fumbling through her wallet while on the phone with the bank, I got the sense that she was a little short on cash.

Something told me I should go ahead and pay for her cake. I could easily afford it so why not? For whatever reason I chickened out. I don’t know why.

I left there with my kids birthday cake, feeling very ashamed of myself. It was a small thing and yet to me it was a serious moral failure.

Neither AI nor OpenAI’s management are capable of understanding irony.

I think there were some legitimate concerns about the potential nuclear threat as well as uncertainty regarding Russia’s actual capabilities.

Now we’ve seen that Russia’s claims don’t hold any more water than a strainer, the west should be more aggressive with its assistance. The Ukrainians have already demonstrated that they are not just going to take it laying down and they’re the only reason Russia hasn’t moved on to invading other former Soviet states. I think we owe them all assistance we can give.

Headlines a short time later…

“GOP Proposes Banning Sacrificial Death Miracles”

AP News - Decrying the seemingly miraculous events of last week as “blatant socialism” and, rather ironically, “part of the woke agenda”, house Republicans have introduced a bill that would make sacrificing ones life altruistically a felony. When asked how they planned to prosecute the rotting corpse of the accused were the bill to pass, House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged the steep uphill battle, stating, “we will leave no gravestone unturned when it comes preventing ordinary Americans from having God-like benevolence and generosity forced upon them against their will.”

Forgot “Pasting it into a Word document”.

The best thing about MongoDB is that you can stop using it completely and switch to PostgreSQL, which will happily accept all the horrible JSON data you can cram into it.

“…If there’s a problem writing your data, you’re fucked. Does that sound like a good design to you?”

“If that’s what they need to do to get those kick-ass benchmarks, then it’s a great design.”

Oh God. I am laughing so hard watching this.

The torque CONVERTER is coming for your kids!

I had a boss once who liked brag about never taking PTO, as if it were a positive thing. To me that just means your priorities are ass backwards.

Might be an air admittance valve. Those are usually used when venting to the roof isn’t possible or practical.

Plumbing is one of those things that’s sort of an art. You can do a whole bunch of shit wrong and have it still technically function properly. Nobody will know except you and the next person who actually knows what they’re looking at.

One problem with a “central” P-trap is that if it were done that way, you’re going to get nasty smells somewhere. Sewage frequently doesn’t make it out of your house as fast as you think it will and running water down the drain changes the air pressure in the drain line to varying degrees.

The main reason it’s positioned so close to the drain opening is to accommodate venting. Every drain opening has to be vented, typically with a pipe going through the wall to a vent stack in the attic, to prevent the P-trap from being sucked dry when you do something like flush the toilet or run the clothes washer.

Ever run the washing machine and hear a sink on the other side of the house gurgling during the drain cycle? That’s because the washer draining changes the air pressure in the sewer line and the sink isn’t properly vented causing air to bubble through the the P-trap.

Drains should always have a P-trap within so many inches of the drain opening. That prevents sewer gas from escaping from the drain. This is what should be there if it’s a sink drain.

The issue with a vent 90/elbow in a sewer line is that they slow the water flow and can easily become obstructed. Normal elbows are curved to help prevent the water flow from slowing down.

Like a geriatric Chihuahua.

I feel like I’m the only person here concerned about the fact that that vent 90 almost certainly doesn’t go to a vent. Looks like it was probably installed by someone who would try to use a bong made out of PVC.

Ash trays in all the passenger doors. AKA mini trash cans.