csteubs (u/csteubs) - Readit News

csteubs commented on Rome is studded with cannon balls (2022) essenceofrome.com/rome-is... · Posted by u/thomassmith65

Fort Pulaski in Savannah, Georgia also has cannonballs embedded in the brick walls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Pulaski_National_Monument

csteubs · a month ago

VMI has a number of cannonballs embedded in the turrets on the backside of Old Barracks as well. They're more placeholders now than anything, but were left in situ after General Hunter shelled and burned the then-arsenal during the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. One of my favorite points of intrigue as a cadet tour guide long ago.

csteubs commented on Dumb Pipe dumbpipe.dev/... · Posted by u/udev4096

csteubs · 8 months ago

Just a head's up, I'm getting a 404 on the link to the relay docs (https://www.iroh.computer/docs/layers/connections) when attempting to click through.

csteubs commented on Alfredo Moser: Bottle light inventor (2013) bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-2... · Posted by u/UglyToad

csteubs · 2 years ago

Very cool. I was surprised to see the 40W-60W equivalent value; that's much better than I would have guessed, but makes sense based on the Philippine's equatorial location. Kind of like a modern-day deck prism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deck_prism

csteubs commented on Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs spaceweatherlive.com/en/n... · Posted by u/gnabgib

voisin · 2 years ago

What will you do once the propane runs out? Solar (and battery) is the way to go.

csteubs · 2 years ago

Not OP, but I use solar and H8-size AGM batteries as primary with a backup diesel generator that I've converted to run on wood gas (and occasionally coal gas). Added a triple stage water filter to the gasifier last year to keep the tar and creosote down. The generator is an old clunker but it's easy to disassemble, which made it an ideal candidate for tinkering and the eventual retrofit.

csteubs commented on NHS to investigate Palantir influencer campaign as possible contract breach goodlawproject.org/nhs-to... · Posted by u/rokkitmensch

tptacek · 2 years ago

Which like, seems entirely rational? You're a sales team pursuing a deal with an 8-9 figure outcome, of course you would buy a billboard on on the decision maker's commute, it's a rounding error expense.

csteubs · 2 years ago

Completely rational. It makes sense that an area with a highest concentration of defense/government contractors would see a ton of ads geared towards the procurement folks. I grew up in the beltway and interned with some bigger defense contractors in college, just pointing out that it's a phenomenon unique to the DMV area (with some more memorable examples).

csteubs commented on NHS to investigate Palantir influencer campaign as possible contract breach goodlawproject.org/nhs-to... · Posted by u/rokkitmensch

tptacek · 2 years ago

Have you ever been on public transit in DC? There are billboards all over the place (or were a decade ago when I was there last) that are clearly sales efforts targeting like 4 people. It's not that weird.

csteubs · 2 years ago

Extremely accurate. L3Harris pumped so much ad money into the walkways at Dulles I'm surprised they don't have naming rights to a terminal. There was a time not too long ago where you couldn't listen to WTOP without hearing Mitre and ManTech ads with the term "Digital Twin".

csteubs commented on There's a Concorde Engine Complete with Afterburner for Sale on eBay simpleflying.com/concorde... · Posted by u/iLoveOncall

csteubs · 2 years ago

I grew up in northern Virginia and very fondly remember going to Dulles with my dad as a kid to watch the Concorde take off for the last time. That this is the engine off the same plane I saw 20 years ago is really cool. Our old house was directly under the approach path; the windows would shake at 2:30PM almost every day.

csteubs commented on Mechanic shortage means longer waits, $100k salaries for some technicians newsday.com/business/mech... · Posted by u/pg_1234

sokka_h2otribe · 2 years ago

Catalytic converter replacements? Are you talking about when they get removed or when they get genuinely replaced?

csteubs · 2 years ago

I install replacements for friends and their referrals who've had them stolen; it's a serious and unfortunately common problem in LA. Roughly 80% are off of Priuses (Prii?) and most local Toyota dealerships are backordered for months. The OEM replacement part itself is one of the most expensive at around $2300 due to the higher level of precious metals in the catalyst matrix. The replacements I install aren't CARB compliant (which is why they're $125 or so on eBay), but it resolves the exhaust leak/fuel smell and noise at the expense of passing emissions.

csteubs commented on Mechanic shortage means longer waits, $100k salaries for some technicians newsday.com/business/mech... · Posted by u/pg_1234

robcohen · 2 years ago

Average pay for a mechanic in NY is $52K. Average nationwide is about $49K. Average nationwide salary by some estimates is $59,428. Plus, it's a job that isn't considered "cool" or "attractive" to anyone but teenage boys.

Yet somehow we still get articles like this that are basically saying "wow, the top 1% of a mediocre-paying field gets 6 figs, why oh why are people not clamoring to work?

So tired of this low-intelligence conversation.

csteubs · 2 years ago

I'm not sure what aspect of this conversation is "low intelligence", but automotive technician salary data doesn't often match reality where techs can (and often do) make close to double their "official" salary in side jobs. I'm a full-time engineering manager at a startup in LA, and I do repair gigs in my garage during the evenings and on weekends--all word-of-mouth referrals from former and returning customers. I've made a shade over $30k after expenses this year doing 2-3 jobs a week. Most are catalytic converter replacements that I charge a flat $500 for on $145 in parts; takes me an hour per. I've done everything from rear main seals to fuel pump replacements to in-and-out oil/filter changes.

What your comment and sentiment misses, I think, is that a significant percentage of mechanics do shade-tree jobs that won't ever be accounted for in official reports. Dealers and shops have become extremely hit-and-miss, part quality fell dramatically during the pandemic (ask me how I know), and thrifty consumers are more inclined to spend money on independent mechanics that work out of a small shop; there's a ton of money not being accounted for in the process. Maybe not "cool" or "attractive" to you, but I'd love to never have to touch a keyboard again and spend my time working on cars, boats, and fabrication.

csteubs commented on X Engineering Year Retrospective twitter.com/XEng/status/1... · Posted by u/sirobg

csteubs · 2 years ago

I hope their Trust & Security team has a roadmap that prioritizes topic and thread-jacking. The advent of GPT and their recent changes to creator compensation has created a massive drive for engagement by any means; the results are fairly predictable. Clicking on any trending topic usually surfaces completely unrelated videos with that topic's hashtags (and all of the other trending topic hashtags) appended to the tweet.

Then you have the "content creators" who use GPT to summarize or add details to a post from a larger content aggregator in hopes of bandwagoning engagement. I see a lot of this type of behavior from popular History-focused accounts and the mega-accounts that post engagement bait content (think canned, "desert island"-type questions and polls). It's less malicious but certainly reinforces cynicism towards the state of Twitter/X and the broader social web.