I pursued an engineering BSc with the desire to emigrate but got distracted by the success of SpaceX and wooed by the challenge of Mars colonization. Then the US health insurance industry got in the way, I failed out and didn’t make it back until COVID. I graduated in 2022 with the first university degree in my family but was crippled by student loan debt and unable to save to leave. Was finally able to escape the rural Midwest a year ago and made it to a city with plenty of aerospace companies right as everyone stopped hiring. The cherry on top was the CEO of the company whose engineering feats initially inspired me throwing fascist salutes at inauguration.

Odd jobs and parental support have mostly kept me afloat, but they can’t help forever and I am a few months out from having to move back. The military industrial complex slid into my DMs recently with the offer of a fat paycheck and loaded resume in exchange for my ethics and morals. They even dangled a carrot of potential transfer to a NASA climate science project after the contract is up, but I’ll be surprised if it’s still funded by then. Frankly, I broke down when I realized the project I’d be working on.

I’ll hear back about the position early next week and I’m desperately hoping it’s a no and I’m back to the drawing board, but if it’s a yes I’ll be starting in a couple weeks. The BBB will very likely lead to losing the best, most effective and enabling healthcare I’ve received so far, and the salary would cover the insurance plan I’d need to maintain that care. Its a short contract and the salary would also enable me to save enough to emigrate but I already feel compromised. I’ve dreamed of contributing to space exploration and am instead being bullied into contributing to it’s militarization by a country I’ve opposed for the entirety of my adult life.

I’ve looked into joining the Ukrainian Foreign Legionnaires and would much rather contribute to European defense against Russia, but I honestly just want to pursue an MSc or even PhD and turn my brain towards mitigating and adapting to climate change. I’ve worked so fucking hard, dreamed so fucking big and bounced back from defeat time and time again for this? Fuck.

Tl;dr: Masters/PhD in Sweden or Germany but barring that I’ll work for any European defense company that will take an american immigrant.

Also, good luck sourcing salt water in Illinois.

I’d imagine you can do everything on the website, which can likely be made into an ‘app’ on Firefox via the “Add to Home screen” option.

There’s a difference between feeling empathy and providing grace or forgiveness. It is absolutely acceptable and healthy to set boundaries on what you are capable of forgiving, but giving up empathy is a different story. Empathy is what makes us human, makes us care about each other. You absolutely can (and, IMO, should) keep caring about these people who have hurt you. If someone shares a true human connection with you, that matters. Thats what you should empathize with.

That said, people are products of their circumstances, environments, and the systems they grew up within. Depending on those factors, people may develop incredibly maladaptive behaviors, or be subject to untreated mental health issues; this can lead to unhealthy behaviors that harm those around them.

It is not your responsibility to fix them, nor guide them. Even if they recognize themselves as the source of their problems and wish to change and grow, it is still not your job to drag them through that process. Actively caring for someone isn’t the only option. Caring for someone can be remote, can be passive or entirely uninvolved in their life. You are absolutely allowed to set those boundaries, or to set more open boundaries and do what you can to help them if you wish.

To stop caring for them altogether, however, is a mistake. If you genuinely connect with and care about someone, hang onto that. Hang onto your love for fellow humans because that empathy, that love is what keeps humans growing and moving forward. It is okay to separate yourself from those who harm you, okay to leave someone to their journey, but to stop caring for them dehumanizes yourself just as much as it dehumanizes them.

Could you elaborate on “needless levels of empathy”?

Because they wouldn’t get to that position if they were just plain stupid.

Counterpoint: Trump

The influence of money outweighs intelligence every time, which is precisely why your second statement holds true.

Post-war, attach collection hooks to non-fiber drones?

I dunno, absolutely better than mines though.

I tried this a few days ago, but Overdrive only had 2 ‘copies’ of the 30+ year old novel I wanted and the waitlist was 10 weeks so I added another “Fuck capitalism for…” to my list.

Note: no opinion either way, but thought exercise;

Pilots mayday’d ATC ~10 seconds after take-off. Survivor could’ve heard the engines die, oxygen masks may have deployed when ram-air turbine spun up, may’ve seen the ground getting closer instead of further away. Twenty adrenaline-fueled seconds is quite a bit of time. Main variable keeping me skeptical is finding a survivable intersection of fall height and distance from explosion.

Engine failure during take-off would lead to an abrupt decrease in the rate of change of acceleration; by definition the ‘jerk’. Escaping via the emergency exit in that time is feasible. Timing the jump…questionable, but possible.

Forgiven and forgotten. Want a beer or other culturally appropriate cold, refreshing beverage?

Lucifer is literally the angel of free thought. Satanism promotes critical thinking and the right to question authority. Wikipedia is one of the few remaining repositories of free knowledge and polluting it with LLM summaries is exactly the inscrutable, uncritiqueable bullshit that led to the Abrahamic god casting Lucifer out.

I realize your reply is facetious, but there’s a reason we’re dealing with christofascists and not satanic fascists. Don’t do my boy dirty like that.

I cried reading about Opportunity. Not losing one or the lack thereof.

The Mars Rover.

Also the Wikipedia article on the Miracle on the Hudson. No I haven’t seen the Tom Hanks movie nor do I plan to unless I really need an ugly cry.

Boeing or Airbus won’t matter if ATC is dark.

Any and every form of dehumanization.

Any and every form of bigotry.

Any and every form of supremacy.

Any and every form of authoritarianism.

Every single person from the homeless guy at the on-ramp to TACO himself is an ordinary human. Some humans are born into extraordinary circumstances, some humans accomplish extraordinary feats, but we are all human. Humans are not born hating other humans. Hate is taught and encouraged and ingrained so that it may be passed on.

Universal Basic Income is a bandaid on a system couched in one of the ugliest human motivations; greed. I chose my name for that reason; Universal Basic Justice. Justice must be the base motivation; not ‘eye for an eye’ or ‘frontier justice,’ but the belief in treating others as you want to be treated; the belief in the powers of forgiveness, responsibility and growth; and the power of compassionate care dedicated to help those that are willing to learn and grow.

If and only if all those fail should a human be separated from society in a humane way that prevents their flaws from harming others.

Death Row is not justice. Guillotines are not justice. Systemic violence is not justice. No government nor individual should be empowered to decide who is worthy of justice, of forgiveness, of growth. Of life.

Every human is fallible. Every human deserves the opportunity to recognize their mistakes as well as the opportunity to learn, grow, and make reparations for those mistakes.

I don’t see these changes happening in my lifetime. At this point, I’m not sure we humans have enough lifetimes left to achieve these goals.

What I am sure of is the danger and violence incumbent within any ideology willing to look down at another human being.

As someone who was just diagnosed with C5-C6 spondylosis and facet arthritis, with an MRI ordered to see how absolutely fucked my trapezius is; thank you for reinforcing what I’ve already told every doctor since my ex-fiance’s little brother overdosed and died:

Fuck opiates.

Everything else you mentioned was informative or reinforced my doctors advice, I appreciate it.

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Can confirm, buddy with a resin printer is slowly hooking me up with an Adeptus Mechanicus army and he prints shit for his friends too. Recasts are likely in-between price-wise but pretty solid quality.

Money. 6-axis isn’t cheap to run or maintain, especially at this scale with the desired precision. Add in the inherent issues of working with a variety of paint colors (especially aerosolized), subtract the ability to mask features from over spray. Their prices would have to make Warhammer look bargain bin in order to recoup the costs of the machine, maintenance and consumables.

You and I listen to very different metal if simple, groovy, and infectious describes what you’ve heard. I’ll give you “gets you moving” but only towards the direction of the pit. What bands are you referring to?