AmpBenzScientist @AmpBenzScientist@qoto.org

@thor I got the contract at 14 and it only paid the rent. Surviving is not living. I come from a very poor background. I quit without warning after they cut my pay without notice because of new management. I was civil during the process and the person in management called me to break the news. A lot of my employment history is similar.

@thor Vendor lockout is common among other problems. If the companies would supply samples of the devices they are considering and what it would be used with, you could save them a lot of money and trouble.

The most likely problem would be the firmware and how it would make them have to continue to use that brand or have to replace all of it. The firmware on IoT devices is abhorrent and from my experience with some IoT devices, I could gain access without much effort.

@thor I was a custodian for 7 years and I was exposed to many chemicals and bodily fluids with minimal protection. The cleaning chemicals I used were supposed to be used with much more protective equipment and it was difficult to breathe at times. I wasn't allowed to use more protective equipment even as a contractor.

I'm listening to Promo - The Betrayal as it just came on. Holy cow.

@thor Do you think that you could review IoT devices for businesses? It would make you a consulting business but it is an area where people are needed. Companies get sold poor quality devices for a lot of money. Reviewing samples for quality, reliability, interoperability and value should be a profitable business and a good service.

@thor Same here.

@thor Uber was exploiting their drivers in the US too. The best thing that could happen was if a drunk passenger puked in the vehicle. The passenger would have to pay a fee and the driver would have to clean up the mess. It would net a few rides of pay if the mess wasn't horrific.

@thor Would you be able to provide services through your own company or would employment just be the better option?

@thor You sound like a good candidate for a few positions.

@thor It sounds like you could handle many positions from the Server Room to on site diagnostics and repair.

@thor Independent contractor? In the US this allows for a more beneficial relationship between workers and the employer.

@thor When you mentioned switches, do mean server switches?
I understand the feeling about programming for a living. It will cause burn out. There's a reason why I hate C++ and it's because I was forced to program with it. I loved C++ before this.

@thor You were a Software Developer previously and you've been involved with Maker Culture for many years right?

@thor I'm fairly certain that they could be convinced to see the mutually beneficial effects of such an arrangement. If not maintenance, perhaps they would consider someone with a background in tech for another position.

@freemo HP Pavilion 17-e119wm is the model and it was made in 2013. I hate most things about the laptop but it has a ZIF CPU socket and I could potentially swap the CPU.

I removed the plastic around the exhaust vent and removed the optical drive so I can get air from the other side as the vents on the bottom aren't sufficient. Thermal paste is Artic Silver 5 because of proven performance and science. I can hold full 3.5GHz clock at 100% utilization for hours without issue. It might reach 70C on the CPU during such workloads.

@freemo If you are trying to not say something bad about the OEM, I had to send it in for repairs in less than 2 weeks of buying it. HP is for Unix, servers, printers and calculators.

@freemo HP Pavilion something, it's a desktop replacement form factor. It has an AMD A10 5750m CPU, more ram than the system is allegedly capable of, chassis mods for better thermals and performance.

I'm proud of it and the 8 years of heavy use.

Why did I have my training models on my Arch Linux machine? I'm really tired of dealing with Arch, Debian isn't up to my standards and RHEL is underwhelming to me. I guess it's time to go back to Gentoo.

@lupyuen As a Mathematician, the first thing I thought of was thermal expansion coefficients and this being a good example. The moments when one realizes that they are a walking stereotype of STEM.