Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale

Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don’t Create The Torment Nexus

–Alex Blechman

Except in this case it’s a political party instead of a tech company.

Yep. A lot of these tech companies that have run in the red for years are now being called on to produce a profit and pay the big backers.

I thought all View Askew was high fantasy.

That’s no fucking joke. Please just send me an email about this meeting because it’s not really worthwhile and I just want to crank out code.

Capital One lets you do unlimited virtual cards for each service. X1 gives you the ones like I described. There are others.

That’s just garbage.

You may want to see if your bank will let you create disposable cards. I have two credit cards where I can create temporary or reloadable cards at no charge for transactions.

So if I wanted to trial something, I would create a card with $1 on it. The trial starts and does the test transaction. I forget to cancel before the trial is over, but the card has no money so it automatically cancels.

If I wanted a subscription to HBO, I could create an HBO card and load the amount for it every month. When I cancel, I don’t have to worry that they’ll try to keep charging me because I just don’t add anything else to the card. It also makes me think about whether I’m using a service every month.

It saved me a few hundred bucks not terribly long ago. I tried a clothing subscription box that was absolutely terrible. So I contacted their customer service to cancel because they don’t have a real way to do it on their site. They didn’t get back to me in time and attempted to charge my card for another box. Luckily it was on the temp card and there was no cash on it so I just got a rejected charge on my card.

Yep. A few of the big boys are pushing for hybrid but I think the great majority will never be full time in the office again.

They watch TV/movies/news.

I’m also a person with a million hobbies. I’ve got TV or audiobooks on in the background as I do woodworking, smoke meat, play instruments, record music (ok, there’s nothing on in the background while I’m recording), go sing karaoke, rock climb, work on motorcycles, garden, or one of the other million things I might be doing. My family passively sits and watches television.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine. If it makes them happy then I’m happy for them. I couldn’t be content that way but it takes different strokes to move the world.

I’m having a ribeye, gratin potatoes, brussel sprouts, and a slice of pie. I’m having a glass of Maker’s 46 to cap it off.

I chose to eat alone tonight so I didn’t do all the fixings, but it’s enough for me. Last week was a tough one and for three days I’ve chosen not to deal with people. I may go out for a nightcap later but I’m not going to be dealing with anyone while I do.

Apparently, SpaceX has special tactics to stoke his grandiose ego and trick him into giving them the freedom they need.

It’s a tale as old as bosses. Many of them have big egos and think that because they’re in charge that magically gives them expertise. So if you want to do something you either get them looking at something shiny or you make them think it’s their idea.

I had a boss like that ages ago. If I wanted to work on something out of the ordinary I would plant the idea, then a few weeks later I would remind him that he brought it up a while ago. I used the fact that he had a million things going on so he never really remembered who brought it up. I didn’t care that he got the credit because I got to work on cool things and expand my repertoire.

Theoretically, someone could have baked the sugar from lemonade onto their pipes by riding with a cup of it in a cup holder attached to an engine guard. Then hypothetically that person could have had great success removing it using Bike Brite, then taking 000 steel wool to it after the bulk was gone.

I’m not saying it happened, I’m saying you can’t prove it happened to me.

I’ll do to you what I do to other unwanted pests! I’ll yell “Go-on, getonouttahurr!” ineffectually while shooing you away with whatever I’ve got at hand.

I have junk scissors that I buy for a couple of bucks and replace as necessary for all the things that I need to cut. I also have kitchen junk scissors for cutting open plastic that food gets packaged in. If I found someone using my poultry shears or kitchen knives for anything besides their intended use I would ask them to leave and never come back.

Don’t touch my tools. That includes the things in my garage, my kitchen tools (cookware, knives, shears, barbecue stuff, whatever), and my electronics tools. I can’t imagine someone using one of my instruments incorrectly, but don’t touch those either. If you want to touch anything, ask. Don’t be surprised if I try to make sure you know the right way to use it before I hand it over.

Aahhhh, well I wish you luck. May you get your 10,000 hours in practice and become a master of creating children!

It depends. If I’m doing something fitness related I put on a fitness band with smart watch features (I don’t let it alert me). If I’m dressing well I put on a watch and a tasteful men’s bracelet. If I’m dressed like a sack of crap and having lazy time (like right now) I’m not wearing either.

I can give them to my kids one day (when I’ll learn how to make them).

Are you trying to learn to make kids or watches?

I was hoping to click on that and just see a picture of someone’s grandma.

If I could go back to 27 I’d take the interesting job. I’ve done both but waited until my late 30s to really spread my wings. I did a whole bunch of cool things that I wish I had done 10 years earlier so that I wouldn’t mind settling into a more boring thing later.

But money matters.

I have the K10 Pro. The K series are great keyboards. Right now mine is mostly stock (red switches, and I changed out WASD even though I don’t really do computer gaming because it reminds me of my misspent youth) because every week I decide on a different switch and keycap combination. Last week I wanted black and purple with super loud clickity clacks. The week before I wanted something silent in light grey, dark grey, and red. Today I was thinking about getting vintage looking typewriter caps.

I think those keycaps look fantastic. Enjoy the new job and keyboard! Congrats on both!