Simon

THE GARGOYLE Picture this: I was a fresh-faced 21-year-old, a computer science student in Seattle at the University of Washington. Hard to imagine, given my present-day appearance as a grizzled and worldly father figure, but hear me out. Once upon a time, I was a 6’2” 165lb programmer boy. (you can also read this on the Forbidden Website, the link to which is, as they say, in bio) I came across a post on the UW subreddit. It had no upvotes but the title intrigued me. It read “Looking for networking experts for small business.” The poster continued: “Looking for someone to help configure some small business networking equipment in Seattle! DM if interested.” I found this unusual. Why post for networking help on /r/udub? Sure, it’s a well-known CS school, but configuring enterprise networking equipment isn’t really a mainstay on the curriculum. Even then, the best you’re going to get are students? Surely as a small business with expensive equipment, you could do better than a random student from reddit? Nevertheless, I did know a thing or two about networking, and no doubt, as a newly minted homeowner (whole other-ass story right there) I could use a couple extra bucks. I hit him up. We exchange emails. His name is Nick. Nick Bhandari. His email address is from some kind of finance company. Mortgage securities trading? Don’t have a clue what that is but it sounds moneyed. We arrange a phone call. On the phone you can tell this guy’s amped 24/7. I’ve never heard small-business networking gear discussed with such enthusiasm. His business has a bunch of expensive gear that they need set up. Again, how they can afford this gear and not someone better than a student to configure it is something I don’t understand, but whatever, I’m not about to talk myself out of a paycheck. Finally we arrange to meet up so I can do the job. He gives me an address. It’s a condo downtown. Odd place for a business, certainly an odd place for rack-and-stack Ubiquiti gear. But whatever, I’m not about to talk myself out of a paycheck. (continued in 🧵👇...)

All I'm saying is this shinkansen smelled fine until we picked up all those passengers at Kyoto

@_smcf superconductor courtesan, what does that get you 🤔

China in 800 AD, few prospects beyond the peasantry other than emperor, mandarin, or courtesan. Miserable. Thankfully we built The West. Now we can choose between semiconductor magnate, technocrat, and courtesan.

me if you even care

@airkatakana Forget foreskin regrowth man the next hard tech frontiers are artificial wombs and constructing a viable embryo from two XY donors

we have about 20 years to figure out what is wrong with women and fix it, or humanity is going extinct

"But the merchants!" Lowest of the Confucian castes. All money and no status. We have this today too. We call him the software developer.

@yifever Immense brand guidelines violation

the suica penguin got a new job???

Here's a hint

GLPs don't turn gay dudes straight, they turn everyone asexual. It's just that you'd be hard pressed to come up with a group more hard-hit by that synthetic post-nut clarity than the SF tech CEO gay mafia. If I say more they will literally kill me.

@CacheThatCheque Tbh... tbh.... I think she's hotter without the makeup.......

Take off the make up and a lot of Japanese women are mid

It takes a lot of study to be able to enjoy Japanese media. Most people with this goal end up burning out if they're not REALLY into VNs &c. However, it doesn't take that long at all to get to the level where you can have fun sorta interacting in real life. So personally I'd think about whether you prefer spending time in China/Taiwan or Japan and pick that one.

Which should I learn Japanese or Mandarin? No serious goals, merely for my own enjoyment

@threenotes_jp Sneaks up on you big time, this one.

Hey everyone overseas, Has there ever been a Japanese anime that genuinely made you cry? I’m curious.

@SunshineSprkl69 Beast mode

This is nothing compared to the author of Hinako Note, who abandoned her serialization to draw porn of the characters before filming porn of herself.

@yifever Literally the complete opposite of heartbreaking

heartbreaking: finding out that they were only nice to you because they thought you were hot

@oecolamp Allow me to introduce you to Southeast Asia

It's honestly a massive market failure if a person producing their own food at home can achieve a lower marginal cost than a competative market of firms solely dedicated to producing hot meals. Can't understand why you would support free markets if they can't even deliver lunch.

@BIMBOSATTVA_ I take your point but I don't think it's surprising that if you make such a general statement as "gender-imbalanced communities are unhealthy" you're going to get some pushback from members of the quite long tail of such communities.

@_smcf x.com/bimbosattva_/s…

The ONLY GOOD WAY to meet a partner in this day and age is to join a community/subculture that you enjoy being apart of it, the internet is like 50/50 female/male (if you're in places that don't have that ratio, i have bad news), you will NEVER find love on "dating apps"

@BIMBOSATTVA_ To be honest I think the "porting obscure operating systems to obscure hardware platforms" community can be 95% male without necessarily being unhealthy

@_smcf That they are in an unhealthy social environment if there are mostly only men or only women

@arcticinstincts The penis festival is fun

This unironically makes me want to visit Kawasaki. Looks lit