Intellectual property as a concept is incompatible with the continued advancement of human knowledge. Before copyright and patenting, we still had trade secrets and sensitive information, and those things cost us insights into metalworking we are still slowly recovering to this day. We still can’t figure out how Roman’s stumbled upon some of their glass blowing breakthroughs, and we just recently figured out Roman concrete.

Capitalism didn’t invent greet, but it’s certainly allowed greed to flourish as a core precept of its design.

Excuse me while I laugh in Californian wildfires.

The difference between us is that I am not shocked when floodzones flood, forest fires burn, and landslides slide. The only “unnatural” change in the environment is fucking people. We turn swamps into cities and then cry tragedy when they turn back into swamps. We build cities in deserts and cry that there is not enough water. We overpopulated the planet and then complain that it is killing us. We are the problem. Nature is just doing what nature has always done. The nature of Nature is change.

I know you said you’re just a hobbyist, but a positive air pressure respirator is just the way to go when you’re a welder. It’s basically an over the head setup that works like those old hazmat suits you’d see in movies. It’s got a fan or something blowing in slightly higher pressure air, so none of the air outside can get in as the air is always moving out due to the difference in pressure. What it means is that ALL particulates, gasses, and whatever else you don’t want to breathe have no way to get to you unless it somehow gets into whatever is supplying your air.

They make fanny pack sized units with batteries that are mobile, which works for me as I’ve had to go down in ships and up on scissor lifts to do welding before. I believe they also make slightly bulkier stationary setups that are significantly cheaper but often require other equipment (eg. Specialized compressor) to function. The all in one setup i got is quite expensive (about $2k new) but I managed to find it for quite a bit cheaper used on ebay. I’m comfortable doing this as I’ve been a welder for 15 years and have experience with quite a few different PAPR systems and am confident in my ability to troubleshoot any problems. If you’re completely relying on something like this for safety without really knowing how it works, I’d recommend definitely getting something that comes with a warranty. The parts can be finicky, delicate, and expensive.

Are you serious? PAPR systems have been around forever. I’ve seen old setups that are fitted to use pressurized air from compressors. Just don’t forget to trap the line or you’re gonna get real oily and moist real fast.

Yall need to study geology better in the south. Just build shit where it doesn’t flood. I love seeing these flooded out Tennessee towns right at the bottom of beautiful hills. Don’t build on the hills, no! Rebuild in the river valley and then cry about flooding again.

“Gee that big floodplain at the foot of those hills sure looks nice. Better rebuild my formerly flooded home on this precise exact spot again instead of moving 500 feet to the left and building on that nice hill. That would just be stupid.”

All you dumb flatlanders had to do was build on the hills. They’re right fuckin there and none of you ever think to do it.

That Mariah Carey Christmas song every single retail worker hates

Usually, you’re right. But having the actual machine is only half the problem.

Last place I was at we had this big beautiful ride along mill that was just magnificent. Between the attachments and tooling we had, it was capable of producing any part of itself down to the last nuts and bolts. With the right know how and materials, it was capable of self replication.

We torched it for scrap. Not me, as a dumb dumb welder, but the business. There was nobody we could find with any combination of a) space to put it, b) ability to pay for it, and c) know how to run it. Best we ever managed was two of the three, and since there was no money in it for the business, they elected to cut it down for scrap value. Got one of the best t-tables I’ve ever had to weld on out of the deal, but it was still a travesty.

So yes, while the machines work fine, it’s hard to find people with the skills to run them effectively, the space to actually house the machine, and the spare cash required buy and maintain it.

Well that’s not true. It’s just a real bitch. As a welder, helium leak check is about the toughest damn QC to pass. Most welding QC has some reasonable margin for error during inspection, but the damn helium doesn’t care. You can have a beautiful weld with a tiny imperfection at the start or end and it’ll piss helium just as badly as an entirely scuffed bead.

I remember learning about this back when I took a smog certification class back in community College. Learned the only computer approved to run the modern smog diagnostic stuff is from 1986 and it’s made by like one company to this day.

Add onto that all the dinosaur lathes and welding machines I’ve seen over my career and I wouldn’t be surprised seeing a commodore running the dmv database for the entire state at this point.

This is fine, and we thank you for your efforts.

What were talking about here is a rogue crotch spawn running around or under tables, occupied or not, and generally acting like they’re in their own living room rather than a shared community space.

Honestly IMO if you can keep them at the table, I can put up with the noise. Sure, it’s annoying, but so are kids. It’s a package deal. And everyone was a kid at one point in time and therefore has no excuse to complain too loudly. That’s reserved for when I have to drag a screeching rug rodent out from under my chair and haul it back to the absentee sperm and egg donors.

As a welder, much of my work straddles the line between art and mass production. I’ve made many, many beautiful welds that will never been seen by another person for at least the next 20 years, if ever. Some of the best that come to mind are stainless steel welds on industrial equipment that get buried under paint or insulation. I spent 3 years welding parts for US battleships and Navy cruisers as well as the occasional weird airforce part. Most of those welds will never been seen by living people after leaving my old shop.

You can’t argue that 40k panders to the LGBT crowd because fuckin obviously if you’ve ever even looked at a 40k title, but you also can’t really argue that 40k isn’t at least a little sexual.

You got ratlings, pretty much everything slaanesh, aeldari waifus, and the entire Ciaphas Cain series. And while yeah, you don’t exactly get steamy love triangles in mainline 40k lore, you also have callidus assassin’s and sisters of silence popping up all the damn time. Sex isn’t the focus (mostly. Looking at you ciaphas) but it’s certainly present in the setting.

It’s not rare but it’s a pain in the ass to purify and transport. Semiconductor place I used to work had a gigantic 1000 gallon tank of the stuff they had to get refilled every month. Had to have some specialty chemical tanker truck it out. Then there’s problems with icing your whole setup once you actually have the stuff and try to use it. It’s less of an immediate fiscal strain and more of an expensive infrastructure problem.

I’m really struggling to understand why you’re going out of your way to defend such a sleazy hypocrite. Do you have some personal stake in supporting dogshit behavior from people in the public eye?

Because it’s cheap and effective. Why splurge on a bottle of compressed nitrogen or argon when all it does is forgo suffering and cost more? Think of the bottom line.

You dare disrespect the mighty Two Fingers?

A relapsing addict doesn’t unilaterally decide to check themselves into rehab. The first step to recovery is admitting the problem, which pretty concretely confirms there were problems. And you don’t grab “some rehab chick” from a fancy $100k a trip celebrity rehab facility. You find a pretty gold digger.

Bro the last 2 “books” are so unbearably horny I barely finished them. I couldn’t finish the newest Cinder Spires book he put out for exactly the same reason. Jim was on such a good run doing awesome shit between Changes and Skin Game, but I guess losing his dog and then his marriage really pushed him into a return to horny.