Huh.

Even though I lived in 07030 for a year, it never really occurred to me to wonder why it was not physically connected to the rest of the zero territory.

It also amused me, during the time I was working at CBS Radio in NYC, to specify 10000 when specifying the ship-to address for stuff.

The whole student loan debt thing puzzles me. According to this source, 69% of 2018 graduates had loan debt, and among those, the average debt was $29,800.

Now, for perspective, that's slightly less than the average price of a new car. And, about a year after I graduated from college in '99, I did in fact go out and buy myself an average new car (an Integra), mostly because I was tired of my old and boring but reliableish Grand Am. I could just as easily have not bought that car and instead used the money to pay off an equivalent amount of loan debt.

And yet I see college students everywhere with new iPhones, ordering restaurant meals every day, and buying $6 cups of coffee. It seems that what we have is not a debt crisis, but a fiscal literacy crisis.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bfec9c2c04.png

It blows me away when I talk to people who still have AT&T or Verizon, financed their phone, and have cell phone bills north of $100 with a contract.

I realize not everyone has a techy job like some of us, where you can hook up to WiFi at work and not pay for data. But still financing a $1000 phone is crazy......I guess it's not technically financing since you don't pay interest. I wouldn't mind having a new Pixel 4 XL when they come out in a few weeks, but my Pixel 2 still handles the menial tasks of texting, occasional phone call, Facebook, and using Postmates or Uber Eats to have Thai food delivered when I've been imbibing cocktails at the house.

They still have negative net worth, whether they pay interest or not.

It is, and you do. It's just bundled into the inflated cost of the service.

I don't get the whole "must line up overnight to score the latest phone as soon as it drops" thing, be it iOS or Android. I mean, I still consider my Galaxy S8 to be ultra-high-end, despite it now being two generations old.

Not going to deny that it's nice to have a smartphone. But I consider it a luxury item, much like smoked salmon or top-shelf Whiskey. Fine to have if you can afford it, but hardly a basic necessity.


Anyway, I'm going to avoid lapsing into full "kids today..." mode. The parents are just as guilty.


You remember the "Cash me outside" girl? She has a record contract (a real one: Atlantic) and a reality show now. Estimated net worth of $3 million. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for her to be flat broke.


Image unrelated:

https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=h...jpg&f=1&nofb=1

My brother-in-law, who is in his mid-30s, unemployed, homeless (living/squatting at his mom's place while she is under hospice care), and undiagnosed for whatever mental issues he's had since birth, recently had a conversation with his sister/my wife about going back to school to get his degree some day. He said he could not and when she asked why his answer became a TIL: Because he has maxed out his ability to take out student loans. The number was somewhere around the cost of two (2) 2019 Miata Sport trim levels with every option selected.

And he does not yet have a degree.

Part of this is because while he is clever, he is not intelligent and has a very low emotional intelligence. Have a converstaion with an average nerdy 9 year old and you'll understand what I'm saying. Another part is because he started his higher education at a shitty for-profit "university" and didn't get anywhere.

He tried to go into the military, which would have been phenomenal, but was rejected for health reasons.

When my MIL eventually (which is probably soon -- she's in real bad shape) passes, he will be, essentially, fucked for the rest of his life.

So you can imagine my wife is stressed about the near-term future of her family. She takes care of her mom occasionally from 3000 miles away because it is right, not because her mom was a great (or even half-ass) mom. Her brother is beyond the scope of her ability.

Meanwhile she is running a small non-profit and doing her damndest to host fundraisers with the #3 best restaurant in the DC area at this guy's house and also shmoozing her celeb chef pals at other fundraisers, prepping our kid to be on the local TV with aforementioned celeb chef, and trying to function on 3 hours of sleep (our youngest has recurring night terrors and then gets up at 4:30am) .. all for a third of the salary she made at her last gig.

I got off track there, but shit's hard even when you try. There's not a lot of mental room left for keeping your guard up against the predators.

Also my wife is a super hero. I'm just the Alfred.

Maybe a wizard. I think I'm the house elf.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dfeb86ca51.jpg

Possibly also a Jedi. I might be the wookie.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c58dcdd3d0.jpg

There's a widely disseminated myth over the last 20 years that nearly every person should be going to college. It seems the military-industrial complex we were told to beware of has a counterpart in the banking-higher education fields. Most people would be served better by learning marketable skills if we did not create such a strong degree requirement bias in employment.

There are plenty of semi-literate people with college degrees in the workforce. Basics like grammar, spelling, math, and history are unknown to them. Three generations ago a 9th grader would know more about all of these subjects than many of today's college graduates. I wonder if it has more to do with the fact that we have federal and state controls over our primary schools now instead of local or if it is related to the unionization of the teaching workforce. Seems like when things are controlled by locals for the benefit of locals you get better results than our glorious central governments yield. And for far less money.

https://screenrant.com/wp-content/up...shman-year.jpg

I've long been an admirer of Mike Rowe, who strongly champions this philosophy.

I also wonder where we will be 20-30 years from now. Will the pendulum swing in reverse, with education in trades becoming more respected, or will we continue to de-value higher education, with an emphasis on "everyone needs a Master's Degree," and universities all too willing to oblige by offering Masters' programs in Diversity and Inclusion.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...061f0b0fbf.jpg

I found this interesting:



I'd never heard of such a device before, which is odd, given my line of work.

That was fascinating; and I never thought I could be fascinated by a CRT screen.

Adding to my "watch later".
I recently went down a rabbit hole learning about so-called "mechanical" televisions

Very random:
https://i.redd.it/01hrsw82aaq31.png

^^ that's very similar to color (or field) sequential technology used with LCoS type displays like we have at our office. Except instead of cycling the LCD between color filters, it flashes a three-color LED backlight (well, technically it's a front light and the display is reflective) which is timed to the liquid crystal.

In essence it's a very fast monochrome display that relies on slow human eyeballs.

The hardest part for people to understand is that there are no sub pixels, and thus, a very large fill factor (image to total area ratio).

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9d5f1c02a7.png

Yup. Also how DLPs work (some use a color-wheel and a lamp, some use switched LED or laser sources).

Also how the very first color television system worked in the 1920s / 30s.

I'd just never seen sequential color implemented via LCD filtration, or on a CRT in the modern age.


https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=h...jpg&f=1&nofb=1


I'm trying to remember now where I saw an article about ten years ago, describing a DLP-type system in which three lasers were mechanically scanned across the display element, the trick being that all three were active at the same time, on different areas of the display.

click to play

How much wobble is to much wobble?

It depends. When would you like for it to come off? While the car is up on jack stands or traveling down the road?

Less than that much. It is time for a new crankshaft, oil pump, etc.

Looks like it is rubbing on that hose too, by the way that it is also wobbling to the same frequency.

https://www.ecerimg.com/nimg/2a/8c/2...ting_force.jpg