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Man, I must say that sleep is a really nice thing when you were previously an insomniac. For some reason, I just sleep better during the day, and night shift is perfect for me.

I know a few people who have trouble sleeping, and it's nice to hear that someone who does has started to again. 

Man, I must say that sleep is a really nice thing when you were previously an insomniac. For some reason, I just sleep better during the day, and night shift is perfect for me.

Perhaps you have something like Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome?

The Mourning for the Parkland shooting hasn't even finished yet, and I've now heard of two school shooting threats. One happened in a university pub, and a close friend was a witness. He's fucking out of it right now because he's so scared.

I don't think this is a gun control issue. If it was, it isn't anymore. This is too big. Too widespread. I don't want to cause more discord with my views on America, but every time I see what's going on this country, the words of Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic comes to mind: "It feels like the gates of Hell had opened up"

I just watched Get Out. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by it. At first, I thought it was going to be the type of mindless knee-jerk reaction you see too often in a post-Trump world, but it actually ended up aiming its scorn at white liberals, daring to say they are part of the reason racism is still alive in America, not just far-right hillbillies. Now we're getting somewhere.

The Mourning for the Parkland shooting hasn't even finished yet, and I've now heard of two school shooting threats. One happened in a university pub, and a close friend was a witness. He's fucking out of it right now because he's so scared.

There's been at least ten in the Southern California area, in fact. School shooting threats usually rise very much in frequency after other school shootings, because the media often (intentionally or not) glorifies the killer, causing others to try to also seek the same attention.

I just watched Get Out. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by it. At first, I thought it was going to be the type of mindless knee-jerk reaction you see too often in a post-Trump world, but it actually ended up aiming its scorn at white liberals, daring to say they are part of the reason racism is still alive in America, not just far-right hillbillies. Now we're getting somewhere.

Hmm, reminds me of something MLK once wrote:

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I just watched Get Out. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by it. At first, I thought it was going to be the type of mindless knee-jerk reaction you see too often in a post-Trump world, but it actually ended up aiming its scorn at white liberals, daring to say they are part of the reason racism is still alive in America, not just far-right hillbillies. Now we're getting somewhere.

Yeah, it's always been a "one side is at fault while the other side is faultless" type of thing, which isn't true by far.  But as long as people continue to believe it's true, then here's where we're going to continue to be at.

I guess the way I look at it is that it takes two to tango.  Sure, the far right is most notoriously known for being incredibly racist, sexist, whatever you want to call it.  But you also have the far left that are so caught up in their own craziness that you essentially have reverse racism, reverse sexism, reverse discrimination, etc...  It's like the two sides are trying to mirror each other in the opposite direction.

IE: Far right has groups that believes women have no place in the workplace, and should stay at home being the typical domestic housewife, believing women should basically be subservient to men.  Likewise, the far left has groups (extreme feminist groups for example) that believe men should be the ones that stay at home and be typical domestic househusbands, believing that men should be subservient to men.

Sure, one side was created because of historical oppression and whatnot from the other side, but that doesn't make that side more correct than the other.  Rather than the old "eye for an eye" type of ideology, we should be working on a much more peaceful alternative.  You know, like making everyone equal regardless of race, gender, orientation, and the like.  Rather than listening to a side that says that "so and so shouldn't be as equal as me," tell them to both shut the fuck up, sit down, and drink their goddamn tea together like human beings.

So I always appreciate when someone steps in and helps me out with something that I have a difficult time keeping up on.  But in the end, there's just some things I like my way compared to another's "vision" of what they think works best for me.

To be precise, the last guy I attempted to date helped me clean up my apartment.  He took it upon himself to buy me some cleaning materials that I was currently out of, such as hand soap, laundry soap, bleach, and other materials.  We cleaned every room of the apartment as much as I protested at first since I didn't feel right having someone else clean up my own messes (I tend to let my place pick up a little clutter).

He also moved some of my furniture around to make it look nicer, such as putting my TV in the opposite corner of the bedroom as opposed to where it originally was.  Overall, the place looked much nicer than before we had started.

Naturally, I was incredibly thankful that he jumped in to help me with a task that I didn't even ask him to do.

Over time, I realized that as much as I didn't mind the furniture rearrangement, I actually also didn't like how it looked.

The way I had my bedroom originally set up was so that I could get to my consoles quicker since I tend to change games on a whim when I get bored by what I'm currently playing.  But another reason was because that I like having my laptop plugged into my TV as well as both my USB keyboard and mouse so that they can rest on my bed (which is perfect as a makeshift mousepad).  The only place that was possible was where I had it originally...so to be able to use my laptop to where I could see the screen after the rearranging, I'd have to either hop out of bed and walk over to it, or deal with using the keyboard and mouse with a much smaller screen away from me.

While those seem like trifle things, to where I could have just placed my laptop near where the TV currently was, that was also an impossibility without adding more movement than was needed.

See, my laptop is also my alarm clock (as is my phone).  I have two alarms set on my phone, and two 4 set on my laptop so that I wake up on time each morning.  I like to have my USB mouse nearby so that I can close each alarm, and that wouldn't be possible if I moved my laptop elsewhere, unless I had a longer cord.

So in the end as of today, I ended up moving everything back to where it originally was, though I switched out the table that the TV was sitting on with the glass TV stand that I had in the living room area, so while it's slightly lower elevation, it's absolutely perfect in terms of sturdiness.  That, and there's 3 rows, so I can fit my consoles perfectly in two of the rows and do a better job of making sure the cords are far away from the baseboard heater since it gets a lot of use in the winter time.

Overall, I'm still very thankful to him for going above and beyond like that when it wasn't even something I was even considering asking...but I feel much more comfortable with where everything is placed now.

Speaking of Martin Luther King, please watch this edit of this dodge commercial aired during the superbowl.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/opinion/jared-kushner-conspiracy-fraud.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Jared Kushner's theme rn

I just read the news about West Virginia. Seems like an incredibly unfortunate situation.

I just read the news about West Virginia. Seems like an incredibly unfortunate situation.

Which one? Everything about West Virginia is one unfortunate situation or another.

This teachers strike. I mean, not having enough money to pay for teachers is terrible. I cant imagine what that must be like.

This teachers strike. I mean, not having enough money to pay for teachers is terrible. I cant imagine what that must be like.

It's tough...West Virginia relied on the coal industry for tax revenue for far too long, plus it's cut other taxes over the years, especially for businesses under the guise of bringing in jobs. Even this year a major goal of the state government was to eliminate the business inventory tax, which I'm sure is one reason why teachers were upset at being told there was no money for a decent wage. As it is, there's a huge shortage of teachers in the state, and teachers near the border can make much more money working in surrounding states. Often, teachers who stay in West Virginia qualify for welfare and other support programs.

Another issue is PEIA, the state employee insurance agency. Earlier this year they announced that they would base premiums on household income instead of just employee income as they had before, meaning that premiums would likely double or go higher for people who were married or living together, when these people are struggling to make ends meet as it is. They backed off after it became clear how pissed people were, but they've been raising premiums and deductables and cutting benefits for years, so this is just the straw that broke the camel's back.

But actually, primary education was spared the worst of the cuts that happened when coal fell apart. I work in higher education in West Virginia, which has been cut nearly 25% in the last few years. The year before many people were laid off where I work and almost everyone else, including me, was furloughed one day a week for three months as a cost-saving measure. Last year, the state government passed a law removing seniority rights, a guaranteed pay scale, and other protections and rights to give college administrations more flexibility to lay off and fire people.

Every area of state government is suffering, but the teachers unions are powerful and can actually fight for things, so I definitely support them, even though I'm not sure they can get much more than they already have out of it.

So my wife is in a Netflix Original documentary series that just came out today called Girls Incarcerated. It's about Madison Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana and the teenage girls incarcerated there. My wife worked there as a counselor up until we moved to Austin, and so she was highlighted in the second episode when she was getting ready to leave working there. We just finished watching all 8 episodes, and it was pretty interesting actually seeing what the prison and girls were really like after hearing her talk about it for the several years she was there. It brought up a lot of old feelings for her since she felt like she abandoned the girls, but she did enjoy seeing many of them graduating and being released after she left. Would recommend.

I designed a nice H-Bridge isolated with optocouplers to control a motor with an Arduino, but I must say I'm not enjoying putting it together.

I need to stop cutting my wires so short and aerate my components a bit. Everything's cluttered and I have to cut loads of tiny wires which always end up just too short, making me rage.

Of everything I've done to date in electrical engineering tech, messing with programmable logic controllers is definitely my favourite activity. I'll have to start applying for summer internships soon, I hope I can get a position in an automation firm. I would take an electromechanic or maintenance job, because any experience is good experience, but I hope I'll get to program PLCs.