Me, a nerd: its just a joke don’t go off on a tangent, dont go off on a tangent, dont go - just let it be… I just… I just…

I NEEEED IT

So achtbually, nature works with transcendental real numbers on the complex plane with uncountably infinite precision.

Lets break this math nerd statement down in a way normal people might understand. First, most numbers are multi-dimensional and live on a plane instead of a line. The straight integer number line like 0, 1, 2 is just a small slice of the plane. In this plane, imaginary numbers occupy their own dimension. Complex numbers which are made of both real and imaginary parts occupy another dimension.

Moreover, most numbers are also infinitely precise thus being uncalculatable. Their decimal places go on forever and ever without repeating or being representable with a ratio of integers. Its why we only have good approximations for pi instead of an exact pinpoint knowledge of it. There are methods to get closer and closer approximations but you need an infinite time frame to complete that unending process.

Theres actually somehow more uncountably real numbers than countable integers and ratios, even though they are both infinite. There are more decimal numbers between 0-1 than there are integers between 0-infinity. One form of infinity is literally bigger than another, and that bigger infinity is the one nature likes working with.

Moreover, most of our universal physical and mathematical constants are transcendental reals because nature gets a hard-on for baking multidimensional fractal holomorphic topology and complex nonlinear equations into its magical abstraction bullshit logic.

Theoretical physicist during the 20th century were VERY salty about finding complex and imaginary real numbers in their physical equations. Since it implies that complex numbers arent just imaginary tools of abstrction but somehow “real” and affects the universes physical machinery. Nonlinear dynamic equations put a bullet through the brains of classical scientific determinism. Thank you very much, chaos theory and entropy.

It’s not that we invented imaginary numbers, its that they were the missing piece to fully complete our understanding of algebra. With them, we finally graduated from cave man linear algebra, to discovering holomorphic dynamics which model the way natural systems actually work. After 2000 years of banging basic logical abstractions together to make a enough decent sparks of discovery for a real smoldering fire.

Computer processing power sure helped to visualize these higher dimensional topologies for our little monkey brains to process with our eyeballs in real time instead of just thinking about this stuff in the minds eye. I sure cant visualize a 4D hypercube let alone a 20ishD hyperstructure that AI image network picture forms brought down to three dimensions.

Really its a miracle that we have even a thin narrow portion of numbers we can compute, all our regular integers and ratios are islands distanced apart by an infinitely deep ocean.

In case you were wondering about the stuff in the image: Multidimensional AI activation map showing how and image AI organizes its knowledge on a neural network. Similar concepts or images are closer together.

3D mandelbrot set with the logistic map highlighted along its real number line axis. https://github.com/jonnyhyman/Chaos

minibrot zoom in

algae colony arranging itself into conjoined 2nd iteration sierpinski triangle, screenshot from a journey to the microcosmos video.

pascals algebraic triangle encoding the sierpinski triangle by if the number is even or odd (base/mod 2)

the dynamic map of where a pendulum will land if pulled upon by three magnets equally spaced given its initial starting spot. https://youtu.be/C5Jkgvw-Z6E

My niece and nephew ended up in the system and I felt morally obligated to put my life on pause and help my parents get them adopted and taking care of them. I couldn’t even move back into the house as each child required their own room so for the past year I’ve been living in a tent in their back yard. The whole ordeal has been emotionally taxing, but also kind of rewarding in weird ways I didn’t expect.

In terms of the kids, its nice to be able to positively influence their lives and show them the kindness, love, and guidance I wish I had. When I make them laugh or they express gratitude It makes me feel like my existence wasn’t a complete waste.

In terms of living in a tent? I came to love it. It taught me to overcome many issues and made me much more resiliant. To better understand the difference between convinence and necessity. Most of the things you think you need, you really don’t.

From the basic survival stuff like adjusting to the climate, to building my own solar system, to learning how to clean myself and use the bathroom without running water. I minimized my entire lifestyle, let go of all the useless trinkets I thought I needed, and found the true basics of what a person really needs to be comfortable.

I also learned how to confront my fears of what other people think of me for daring to live an alternative lifestyle in their view.

I feel so mentally different from the person I was a year ago. More capable and confident. I feel like I can do anything, be anyone, go anywhere. I feel kind of great about myself and my situation in life. I feel like I’m an okay person living a genuine authentic life. Helping out my family while getting myself figured out.

Also given the current housing and renting market, I can’t help but feel like I’ve figured out a cheat code. "Affordable housing? That converted out car looks good enough to me. "

I dont think things would have gone this way had the kids not ended up in the system.

I’m very glad that I’m transitioning out of being a gamer at this point in my life. I still enjoy a good game from time to time but I genuinely have had my fill and have little desire to spend any more of my finite life staring at a computer monitor for hours risking an RSI just to chase those fleeting feelings of “fun”.

bandcamp/soundcloud/youtube downloaded locally with yt-dlp and the files put on a real mp3 player. I enjoy owning my music and listening to it any time any where without internet connection or monthly subscription payments.

All countries need patriotism, a little bit of ‘we’re better than everyone else/ the competition!’ Is good for morale boosting and fostering nationalistic pride especially if your country isn’t doing too hot socioeconomically. You don’t have families of soldiers willing to send themselves and their children to fight wars if they didn’t truly believe on some level america is #1. Id like to think its the same with most countries, nationalism is a powerful tool of propaganda.

manly tear wells in my eye I remember this like it t’were yesterday… the newer generations of memers with their freshly minted terminology like skibado and 5 meme-levels deep hyper-meta self aware references today wouldn’t appreciate the simplicity of the vintage pieces, but me? Bahck in my… dayyyyy. shudders with nostalgia and dementia Me gusta sir, me gusta. Keep the torch alive.

Me and my buddy were hiking up a trail one day kinda high and as we get up the mountain we hear multiple gunshots right near us enough to be legit scared that some crazy asshole is going ‘most dangerous game’ on our sorry stoner asses and FUCKING BOOK IT down the mountain. My fat ass learned how fast a body pumped full of adrenelane can really move that day.

As it turns out there was a gun range nearby. So ultimately a nothingburger but a fun story to remember.

Thank you very much this advice helps a lot.

I have programmed PLCs with ladder logic before specifically allan-bradley SLC 500 and still have my certs for it. In industrial work we would keep a cleanly programmed plc on hand and reflash the program onto a malfunctioning PLC as needed. Sometimes I would pay attention to the input-output lights and look at the ladder logic schematics to troubleshoot a faulty sensor. Is it a big deal to know how to work with PLCs? Should I market that skill a little more in my resume?

I know enough about smart technology to know the best lock is the old school analog ones. A hacker can break into many RF based locks with a toy turned garage door opener master key.

The cloud based always connected to the internet ones are even spookier and I dont trust my network security enough for that shit and honestly neither should you

Look I understand the temptation of smart technology connecting to your phone but were not talking about a fridge with a camera and mic that connects to the internet here. If there’s one thing I dont want hackers potentially getting into its the literal locks and bolts to my home and car. Get something analog.

A little late to this one but Librewolf is a pretty solid privacy based fork of Firefox that comes prepackedwith UBO and hardened security settings on by default

I grew up and found better uses of my time as well as my taste in entrertainment changing. Anime tends to be geared towards teenagers and young adults especially the shounen and school life stuff. When I was 14 I thought dudes with big swords and shooting fantasy magic out your asshole in big impressive sakuga battles was cool and interesting and didn’t give a shit if the characters were one dimensional pieces of cardboard. Now it’s still is cool but less so, and I notice the poorly thought out YA novel tier narrative much more. Turns out being a good manga artist and being a good narrative author are two different skill sets.

Headon blood rites, you would think the big titty orc girl protagonist FPS would be enough to overcome any gameplay issues but no as it turns out I just really HATE hexen inspired games that make you run around in circles constantly searching for hard to find keys and shit to progress the map. I could just barely tolerate that stuff in the OG DOOM games but the hexen likes take the sisyphisus’s maze bullshit and make a whole genre out of it. No thanks, I prefer games that respect my time with proper signposting and much fewer bullshit key hunts.

Overload, some of the old FPS fans talk about a game called ‘Decent’ and how it was actually this underrated gem of a series that offered a novel 6 degrees of movement. So the devs who made that game came back a decade later and put the 6 degrees of freedom in a modern fps game. I gave it about 5 minutes before I was motion sick and ready to go back to my safe and familiar 4 degrees of movement.

Sometimes you gotta pay to figure out what you dont like.

So here’s some things to think about that may help you out.

The biggest thing you can do to help yourself financially is to cut down on expenses and work your way out of any debts you have.

Take a look at your bank account activity and just write down how much percentage of your monthly income is going where. If you have monthly entertainment subscriptions like Netflix or patreons multiply that sub cost by twelve and ask yourself if its worth paying $ each year. Cut down on your spending as much as possible dont buy anything unless you really need it.

What I’m going to say next is going to be controversial especially among the lemmy crowd, but its a way to financial freedom you might not have considered.

Your biggest expense is almost certainly rent to your appartment. Take a look at how much money your paying to your landlord each month, and ask yourself how your financial life would look if you instead poketed that money and paid yourself the “rent”. If you were your own landlord.

The secret is, your car can be a home that you own. Yes you heard me right, I’m suggesting that you move out of your apartment into your car while still working and pay yourself all that rent money, use it towards working off any debts you may have and pay off the car loan. After all your debts are paid and you own your car you build up a emergency fund nest egg of 3-6k and set it aside. After that you are financially free compared to most people living paycheck to paycheck in their appartments and the world is your oyster. You can upgrade your car to something a little more spacious and or travel your country sight seeing, working seasonal jobs , doing a little soul searching.

The sad reality is that many people every day especially the elderly living on meager SS are forced to choose between paying rent or not starving to death that month. Inevitably they choose the latter and are forcibly lead down that path of living in their car with no choice in the matter and little time to physically or psychologically prepare after the eviction.

Yet they manage to find the mental strength to endure, adapt, and thrive. I invite you to check out the YouTube channel cheaprvliving hosted by Bob wells. He does interviews with vandwellers who are more often than not older people fallen on hard times and shares their stories and builds. As well as practical guides to everything you want to know like how to take baths, use the bathroom, keep yourself warm, generate power for basic appliances and AC. Some of his older videos that share his personal story are very inspirational I like his quote videos too.

Of course this option has its own cost. One for sure is comfort, especially starting out. Its such a radical change in lifestyle that requires adaptation and an open mind.

If you have a family or even a partner that makes it a lot tougher than if its just you.

How much would you sacrifice for financial freedom, to not live paycheck to paycheck, to have money no longer be such a huge master of your life? do you think convinence and luxury are a price you could pay for that kind of freedom?

My final suggestion is this: an attitude change. Reading your post I get a serious “cant, won’t, dont know how” self pitying vibe. Its never too late to learn something new, or to go back to school, or develop a trade skill. The barrier to those things is usually a lack of motivation and purpose in life. If you dont know what your living for or why your doing it, that’s the core problem. All that other stuff is symptoms. And there is no silver bullet cure all suggestion to finding your own meaning in life that’s something you have to reflect on and think about. Anyways hope this gave you some food for thought.

USBC-PD and the rise of energy efficient dc appliances. the ability to to toss out ac power bricks and power most of my DC appliances with an electrical grid I wired together with solar panels and batteries. The sun powers most of my convinence and luxuries without burning fossil fuels.

24" TV, desktop vaporizer, video game console, laptop, and led lamp are all run from my offgrid dc electrical system and can use under 50 watts when all are on at once. I can process a load of laundry with a travel sized washer and spin dryer combo. I can brew a cup of coffee, I can get running water with a usb pump/shower head, I can run a small fridge, run a fan, I have a usb electric blanket/ heated jacket poncho that will sip on 10 watts of power and keep me warm on cold nights. If thats not enough I can get a jacket or blanket that runs on dewalt power tool batteries. Even charge a small electric bike.

I can do all of this with a cheap power station and 200w of solar. Just about the only modern convinences that are still hard to do on a 200w dc system is air conditioning(sadly seeming to be more a survival requirement in the coming years during summer) and cooking appliances. In those cases a tank of propane and dual fuel generator are great backup options especially if you can’t afford more solar and batteries to run a 1000+ watt appliance. Fortunately most 5000btu window units only consume 400-600 watts after startup surge or with soft starter so you dont need that much solar and batteries if you have a small space to be conditioned.

All of these things either weren’t possible or gave our ancestors a laborious manual workload 100 years ago. Most of these things required an industrial sized machine and or massive amounts of wattage 50 years ago. Now this is all possible with cheap affordable technological magic that sips power. Solar panels are getting cheaper and more efficent, and so is most consumer technology that power our lives. Its a shame that our generation and future generations will have to pay for the sins of our fossil fuel burning fathers but I am confident that more and more people will be moving towards more sustainable options especially as their homes/enviroments burn down from the ever increasing dry droughts and they are forced into being nomadic vandwellers.