Alt account of @Badabinski

Just a sweaty nerd interested in software, home automation, emotional issues, and polite discourse about all of the above.

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Joined 21 days ago
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Cake day: June 9th, 2024

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  • I always just derive the interface name from first principles. Like, if I want to know which interface will be used to get out to the internet in a script, I’ll just find the one that’s L2 adjacent with the default gateway. If I’m given an egress or cidr, I’ll just find the interface that has that IP. Modern iproute2 has a JSON output option which makes getting this information pretty trivial. Doing that means that it doesn’t matter what scheme your OS is using.

    I personally prefer the persistent names for Ethernet, although I don’t like them for WiFi. Luckily, it seems like my wireless adapter always just ends up as wlan0. I’m not sure why that’s the case, but it works out well in the end for me.



  • Isn’t this just a research grant? Plus, it’s like, 11 million dollars. That’s a shitton of money, but also an inconsequential amount of money when compared to the dogfuck tire fire that is the US healthcare system.

    Like, I am regularly filled with rage at the stupid ways the US and various states waste money that could have paid for meals, houses, or hospital beds. I hate how we don’t take care of people who need help. I hate that we all have to live in a place where rage like this is normal and accepted and reinforced, because it means we’re all suffering under so much shit and all we can do is get angry. This video just makes me feel sad because it looks like a trauma response. I can empathize with and try to understand trauma, but I can’t encourage it.

    I just don’t think a concept study for a train on the moon is the cause for our problems. I don’t think it even represents the cause for our problems, because at least it’s trying to look forward and consider/solve issues that humans will eventually face.







  • It’s definitely been life-changing for me. I never had the “touch”. When I’d do stuff around the house, I’d put in screws at crazy angles and drill holes in the wrong places on walls. I never felt like I could fix or build anything. Machine tools let you build crazy shit without relying on your visual reasoning or coordination. You want a hole at a spot? Move the handwheels to that spot and you’re there. There’s no fucking around. That built up my confidence, and the stuff that does require spatial reasoning (like using a file to turn a round hole into a square one) happens slowly enough that you can make mistakes and still be okay.

    If you decide to get into it, I’d recommend getting a lathe first. if you can’t afford a mill, a drill press is still very useful. You can do almost anything on a lathe if you try hard enough, and a drill press makes some things a lot easier. Blondihacks will have a lot more to say about it, but I believe that’s her recommendation.


  • I have a small machine shop where I make little doodads out of metal. All of my equipment is manual. If I want to cut metal on my lathe or mill, I’m spinning handwheels and engaging power feed levers. I then have to sit there, watch the beautiful blue steel chips fly, listen to the sound of the cut, and wait for the cut to be finished so I can turn off the power feed. Then I turn off the machine, get out my micrometers, carefully measure my cut, and do it again until I’m done. Then, I take the work out of the vise or chuck, grab my file, debur all of the sharp edges (I love the sound of a good file knocking off metal burrs), and get to work on the next part.

    It’s intensely peaceful. Machining tools are relatively quiet and stately (power woodworking tools scream like evil demons). Small hobby tools are slow, so you always have plenty of time to enjoy yourself. It requires a lot of planning and thinking, and it helps you develop a much more attuned mechanical touch. You get to make really cool shit out of the best material (i.e. metal), and it’s a genuinely useful skill. I do software development, and I spend way too much time sitting at my desk. Machining is my escape.

    One downside is that it can be expensive. Good tools cost money and good metal costs money. I’d guess that I have $20K invested in my shop, but I’ve also been doing this for 7 years now. The initial investment isn’t that high. You can save a lot of money by making your own tools, which I didn’t always do. Used tools are also a really great option (except for measuring tools, sometimes you have to buy those new). To get metal for cheaper, go to nearby machine shops and ask nicely if you can buy scraps from their offcut sections. If you tell them that you’re learning machining, they’ll be very likely to oblige!

    The other downside is that it requires you to be careful. Human flesh is soft compared to metal. Machining is only dangerous if you’re incautious, but I feel like it’s important that I bring up safety when I recommend machining as a potential hobby.

    If you’re interested, check out Blondihacks on YouTube. She has some great videos on how to get started with your own hobby machine shop. I also really like Clickspring and This Old Tony. Clickspring has some good project videos on his channel, and TOT is hilarious and educational.

    Here’s the thing I’m most proud of making. I adapted the design of a 3D printed yarn winder to manual machining and built it from scratch. All of the metal parts started out as raw stock (everything is 4340 steel, except for the base plate which is ductile iron). The base is black walnut. The little feet are brass, with sorbothane feet on the bottom. A picture of a very shiny solid steel yarn winder on a wooden surface. A ball of yarn and some vernier calipers are in the foreground.