Ideas can only be patented, not copyrighted. If a company designs something novel enough to qualify for a patent, and so good that people willingly pay for the feature, that’s impressive, and arguably still a good thing. If instead they design a better user experience, or an improvement in performance, the ideas can be used in open source, even when the code cannot be.
Which industry do you work in?
I love the idea (and it’s definitely true) that there are irrational numbers which, when written in a suitable base, contain the sequence of characters, “This number is provably normal” and are simultaneously not normal.
I ran out of crtcs, but I wanted another monitor. I widened a virtual display, and drew the left portion of it on one monitor, like regular. Then I had a crown job that would copy chunks of it into the frame buffer of a USB to DVI-d adapter. It could do 5 fps redrawing the whole screen, but I chose things to put there where it wouldn’t matter too much. The only painful thing was arranging the windows on that monitor, with the mouse updating very infrequently, and routinely being drawn 2 or more places in the frame buffer.
You can just issue new certificates one per year, and otherwise keep your personal root CA encrypted. If someone is into your system to the point they can get the key as you use it, there are bigger things to worry about than them impersonating your own services to you.
Modern operating systems have made it take very little knowledge to connect to WiFi and browse the internet. If you want to use your computer for more than that, it can still take a longer learning process. I download 3D models for printing, and wanted an image for each model so I could find things more easily. In Linux, I can make such images with only about a hundred characters in the terminal. In Windows, I would either need to learn powershell, or make an image from each file by hand.
The way I understand “learning Linux” these days is reimagining what a computer can do for you to include the rich powers of open source software, so that when you have a problem that computers are very good at, you recognize that there’s an obvious solution on Linux that Windows doesn’t have.
In 2003 (or thereabouts) I was a paying user of an Apple music product. They deliberately broke the way that I used their product, then once someone found a workaround, they broke that, too.
I tried to be their customer, and they kicked me out for not using Windows or MacOS. Now I’m emotionally invested in not giving them any money, ever.
I’d describe it as sort of 3 layers. The first is practical/everyday things, which are mostly much nicer than being alone, but require attentiveness and communication (learn what your SO doesn’t like doing, and do it. Learn what things are work together projects, and what things are stay out of my way type things for each of you, probably other aspects too) - but once you know how to take care of each other, almost everything is less work, takes less time, and costs less money. Cooking, laundry, cleaning, gardening, repairing things, painting the house are all improved. Decorating and having guests over are harder, at least for me. You have to not fall into the trap of taking the things they do for granted, even when those things are routine.
The second layer I’d describe is lust/romance, which is sort of easier, except that you must avoid letting things coast too long. You have to dedicate time and effort to discovering new things about each other, and new things you enjoy together. You should still be dating, no matter how long it’s been, and ideally you should both be planning things most of the time. In my relationship, this is usually 1-2 things per month, each.
The final layer is the emotional/support layer. Almost any time, my wife can seek comfort and support from me in a variety of ways for all kinds of things, and I get the same from her. All the big problems in life are easier when you can share them, so here the benefits are huge. This is the only thing I got basically none of from having roommates or a best friend, or dating. For my situation, there’s basically no downside to this.
Inflation is wild. Just a few decades ago, you could get this kind of thing for just an arm and a leg.
“You wouldn’t put on a tricorn hat, would you?”
I actually would, if I could find a nice one…
“…and leave your job to sail the seas?”
… That’s an option? I didn’t even consider-
“And you certainly wouldn’t drink rum, and fire cannons, and carry a saber and tell silly parrot related puns.”
buys a tricorn hat
Cost is obviously a big factor. Almost every printer can change to any nozzle size and layer height for just the cost of the nozzle. Print volume is a major limitation, depending on your use case. The filaments it can print will probably be the same across any relatively low cost printers, with the only significant change being direct drive vs. Bowden.
Bed leveling is huge, and makes probably the most difference in print quality on low cost printers these days. If there’s an easy way to tension the belts, that’s a plus. If there isn’t a power switch on the front (or even if there is), a emergency stop switch can be a help, like if the nozzle is running into the bed.
Maintenance varies from printer to printer, generally you’re aiming for tight but not too tight on any belts or rollers. If the pulleys on the motors aren’t preinstalled, use something like loctite blue to fix them in place better.
Also make sure if you plan to buy a printer that it’s got a decent amount of community around it. Running into the same problems with a bunch of other people is a big plus as a beginner, so popular printers are better.
Teaching Tech made a calibration guide website that I’ve had a lot of good experiences with.
Don’t be evil.
Just do it.
Make, your dreams, come true.
[This one can’t be translated usefully into any modern language.]
For everything else, there’s Mastercard.
It’s worth noting that some but not all combinations of heat break, nozzle, and heater block require re-tightening at the temperature used for printing. Basically, different metals expand different amounts when they’re heated, so if the block expands more than the other two, a gap will open up between them, and melted filament can find its way through.
The roll to hit is a single die, so if the attacker could hit or miss on a regular (1-19) roll, the best outcome is to block the lowest number, AC+6. The extra number gives no benefit against an attacker that couldn’t roll that number on a (modified) ordinary roll, and gives a 5% miss chance against an attacker that could.
If the attacker has such a high chance to hit that they can roll AC+15 on a regular die, but cannot roll AC+6, you’re in trouble - they’ll basically never miss.
I once had a dream where I played a game like warcraft 2, but with mythical animals. Basically age of mythology, with better controls, and a darker aesthetic. I still wish that existed, so I could play it.
Firewood drying in the sun appeals to me, but it’s generally a quite mild smell. If there’s a breeze, it probably is undetectable.