u/Sorry-Rain-1311

She turns 18 in a month, was diagnosed as a preschooler, and it's not mild at all. She's still learned some pretty decent communication skills, though, which has actually caused allot of problems. Her ability to cope with a regular school environment plateaued in middle school, but expectations of her didn't because she's actually able to speak for herself. So teachers-- even her special education teachers-- all think she's just getting an attitude when she's having a meltdown, and don't follow her IEP like they should. I can't blame them, because even I struggle telling the difference sometimes. She does all the normal teenager stuff, just in the most autistic way possible. So, now she's completely burnt out, and unable to function at school at all.

That's the pertinent background. I'm inclined to let her, but I'm afraid it'll set a bad precedent for her little brother and sister. She's certainly not ready for a regular job, and isn't going to college. She's likely going to be staying with me for at least the next few years. There are ways she can go back and finish her diploma later,and we're looking into all the alternative programs we can find, but Lord knows. We tried the GED practice tests with her, and she didn't make the English or math at all.

Like I said, I don't want it giving her siblings any crazy ideas. My youngest daughter is 10, and struggling at school too. She really looks up to her big sister, so I don't want her getting the idea she can give up.

Anyway, I'd really appreciate some outside perspective. Thanks.

TLDR version is me and the kids are trying to design a BattleBot, and we need to get a more intuitive understanding of flat spiral springs and such to see if our crackpot idea might work. And we're talking a BIG one, which it's very hard to find any examples of. Any and all resources regarding massive mainsprings is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Now the detailed version.

So, my son is a little obsessed with BattleBots, and has begun cannibalizing all his motorized toys for parts to build a bot for the show.

I kinda can't just tell him no at this point.

In brainstorming weapon ideas, the idea of a spear came about as something that can give us a range advantage. Unfortunately, no such weapon has ever been very effective in the history of BattleBots.

I realized while thinking about it that even though we're not trying to launch it as a projectile, the basic concepts are the same. Throw a spear, shoot an arrow, or fire the bullet, and it never reaches max velocity until some ways downrange. Everyone else who tried used pneumatic or hydraulic pistons, and was going more for a melee style bunch than an actual spear thrust. They're transferring too little energy to the weapon too slowly in too small a space.

My thought was a giant spring that released all its energy as quickly as possible into a lever that gives us upwards of a meter of travel in which to reach velocity. I found a calculator online that seems to show it's very possible to get the forces we want, but, well, it seems too easy. I know this is not how they're generally used, but a mainspring type setup seems to be exactly what we need given the force and space requirements, and it really feels like it should work, but it also feels like there's something we're missing.

So I'm looking for as many resources as possible to learn more, and hopefully get a better understanding than just an equation or two. I need to see it in action if at all possible, but anything better than the hobby clockmakers on YouTube having accidents would be helpful.

Thanks for anything!

I woke up this morning, rolled over to look out the window, and it was still pitch black outside. Now, I HATE waking up in the dark, so of course I immediately grabbed my phone and looked up when daylight saving time ends in the US this year in hopes of seeing morning sunlight again soon, but was in stead met with a series of articles detailing the latest maneuvers in war against waking up naturally.

These are the two I read.

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2026/09/14/did-daylight-saving-time-bill-pass-latest-senate-vote-update/91711254007/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2026/09/16/daylight-saving-time-ending/91771932007/

I personally found the Delaware Online article less helpful and enjoyable to read than the USA Today article. They're both well written, both cover the same basic information, and both fairly well balanced. However, I can't quite put my finger on what differences had one land with me vs the other. Now, my personal biases should be clear, but even considering that the feel between them is very different to me. Maybe it's just because it's still early where I am, and I'm not in full swing yet.

So which lands better for you? What are the stylistic differences you noticed that might be the reason? Any other examples you care to share?

Thanks to my son's Titanic phase, I am baffled about Violet Jessop's relative lack of fame. She sailed as a stewardess on all three of the White Star Line's Olympic class vessels, being present for the major disasters that befell all three.

She joined White Star at 19, and sailed on the RMS Olympic for several years, the first of Titanic's sister ships. There, she met her future husband. In 1911 Olympic suffered a collision with the destroyer HMS Hawkeye.

She was selected shortly after to crew the RMS Titanic for its infamous 1912 maiden voyage, and survived in one of lifeboats.

The RMS Britannic, already under construction when Titanic sank, was commandeered as a hospital ship during WWI. Jessop volunteered to stay on as a nurse's aid, and narrowly escaped with her life when the ship was sank by either a German torpedo or mine (no one is sure which) in the Mediterranean. After trying to get as many injured as possible to the lifeboats, she was left on the quickly flooding aft deck. Moments before the ship disappeared below the sea, she leapt from the stern, but struck her head, and was knocked unconscious. Luckily she was quickly spotted, and dragged aboard a lifeboat.

This is just the basic stuff, but when you dig deeper, this woman could be an adventure soap opera all on her own.

So, who do you know about that should have their own TV show?

Yeah, I know it's relatively simple, but it's been way too long since college, and none of my kids have gotten anywhere near that level of math yet for me to learn it with them again.

Working on personal engineering project with the kids. We're trying make a roughly 15kg projectile reach a minimum of 30m/s inside of roughly half a meter using only mechanical mean if possible. I keep looking for calculators online, but it keeps giving me stuff for distance traveled by the projectile, not the acceleration I need to achieve to reach that velocity.

I know it's going to be simpler than I'll ever want to admit, but I'd really appreciate a refresher. Thanks!

Edit: 30/s not 100!🤦

So do we!

At r/WritingGeneralists we're of the understanding that a writer- regardless of what form or genre- is only as good as their writing.

That means shut up, or back it up! Learn something, grow, and share: THAT'S what it means to write.

Come on over, and make some friends who prefer to enjoy what they're doing.

Ever heard of BattleBots? They like to call them robots, but they're glorified RC cars that fight to the death, and my 8yo is obsessed. He wants in so badly he's been disassembling his toys for parts to build one. I kinda can't tell him no. I've got him sold on a smaller weight class for now, but we're working on designing a heavyweight.

Generally they use all electric propulsion, but I'm thinking we might be able to get better reliability, durability, and power out of a 2 stroke engine relative to the weight/size. Aside from home power tools like chainsaws, weed trimmers, and the like, I have little experience with them, so I don't know how to shop for them.

Been looking at racing/ATV engines, but I'm just not familiar enough to know if I'm looking at under or over powered for our needs. I know some old snowblowers and tillers used 2 stroke allot, which would be better I think, but having problems finding anything like that now days.

I'm looking for a 2 stroke automatic power train that's commonly available in the US, torque over speed to power a tracked vehicle that turns on a dime, with just a little oomph left to power compressors, or generators if needed. Doesn't need a huge rpm range because we can manage speed via the transmission if needed, but does need electric start even if it's after market. Yes, it absolutely MUST be 2 stroke because getting flipped over in a fight is a regular occurrence. Anyone have any ideas where I should be looking?

Thanks!

So, took the kids to a local festival today. There was one booth where a guy was handing out free sample of mushroom health products. My apparently older looking autistic 17yo daughter accepted a piece of chocolate.

Dude did not mention what sort of mushrooms. 😳

YEAH! It was THAT kind of mushrooms! 🤦

So about half an hour after getting home my daughter starts complaining about not feeling good, and then shifts into a whole 10th level freakout. When I finally got her to tell me what was going on, and about eating the chocolate, I was able to put this together. Thank God she doesn't like littering, because she kept the package for me to verify: .5 grams of psilocybin. Not enough to hallucinate, but plenty enough that I've been trip-sitting a neurodivergent teen all evening. I checked with the folks in the relevant subreddit, and it should wear off just in time for bed.

She keeps yelling at me for laughing (It's objectively hilarious! I thought this only happened in movies!) but now that she knows what's going on she's calmed down, and has mostly been narrating the experience. It was a bit nerve racking when she called her mom, but she was surprisingly understanding (at least on the phone). Kiddo is on the downhill slide, and is putting herself to bed now.

Anyways, another day of adventures in fatherhood. 🤪 I can't be the only one with some surprises that turned into interesting stories.

Thoughts on the way to bed:

My 8yo son is obsessed, so he and I are trying to design our own BattleBot. We're settled on tracks with fully modular weapons packs for a half-track type layout.

I'm trying to brainstorm various weapons platforms, and my pet project right now is an idea for a long tungsten spear that can precisely penetrate armor or weak points to destroy innards. 18 to 24 inches of tungsten that extends up to a foot. I'm stuck on the best way to power it.

My first thought was pneumatics, like an extended piston of sorts; likely a I know a little bit about pneumatics (pretty rusty, but I can relearn it fast) so I'm confident I can work it out. I'm just not positive I can get the power out of it we need, and have a fast reliable "reload" time when retracting the spear for the next shot.

The other idea is go old-school with multiple arm crossbow type mechanism. It definitely would take longer to "reload" because it'd require a secondary motor to pull back again, but it might be more reliable, and generate the forces needed with less complex engineering.

In both cases I'm confident I can enclose them for protection. I already gave up on railgun style electromagnetic propulsion as too complicated and heavy, and my wheel lock concept just feels to fragile.

So are either of these viable, and which one is best in your opinion? What other holes do you see in this concept?

Outside with Boyd. He's not even 10 months old yet, but starting into his teenage phase, and doesn't like to listen, especially if there's something to chase.

So we're outside together for my bedtime cigarette, and he takes off down the block after something. It's about time to go in for the night, so I call him back, but he's bouncing in circles barking at something. I walk down to take a look, and finally spot what's got him riled up- Something black, very fluffy, and tale stuck straight up in the air. 😳

It took a stern voice, and few tries, but he finally broke off, and came close enough I could get his collar, and walk him back to the house.

No skunks for Boyd tonight! He got lots of praise, and a whole handful of treats as soon as we were inside.

I know- it's stupid simple- but given Anatolians' reputation for terrible listening skills, and the awful day I had, I am absolutely stoked that my punk ass dog chose to listen to me tonight.

That is all. Thank you for your time. Good night.

This is a constant part of discussions all over the place now days. Accusations of AI slop thrown all over; how to tell; how to avoid looking like AI, etc. You name it, and it's up for debate. With summer break ending, and my kids going back to school, I've actually felt the need to prepare for teachers accusing my kids of using AI (it's happened before), so I've been reading up. I thought I would share some of the resources I've found with you all in hopes of putting some of the debate to rest.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477388025000131

https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2024/12/06/can-humans-detect-ai-generated-text-on-their-own/

https://originality.ai/blog/can-humans-detect-ai-content

I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on these. If anyone has their own links, please share.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thirdpartyroundtable/s/ylpEp5FLrW

Was reading this article, and thinking about all the little ways The Two Parties here in the States try to interrupt the progress of other parties. There are several fairly obvious methods, but often little things like suing over names, or obscure technicalities, or whatnot are used to limit ballot access all together. This might not be the greatest example out there, but it's still an example.

I thought it was pertinent to discussions here because it doesn't really matter what other election reforms we might succeed in if we don't also ensure diverse ballot access. So what practical concerns do you have regarding ballot access, and are there any potential solutions you've come upon?

I have an Anatolian Shepherd who at about 9 months old is already about 100lbs/45kg! He's a great dog so far, working constantly and consistently on behavior, and socialization since any mistakes automatically become REALLY BIG ones.

My kids are all old enough to start some real backpacking trips, so we're working up to that, but dang does this dog requires allot of food. He needs his own pack, but finding something that I can be certain will fit his monstrous ass right now is tricky, not to mention a year from now.

Are there any suggestions for brands that might work for him? I'd like to start training him on it now so he doesn't fight with it in the future, but he already out-sizes the majority of models I've seen. I'd like 3 or 4-point adjustments, and a durable build is a must.

Thanks!

I got sick of every writing sub either being highly specialized, or overrun by hack wannabe novelists who take themselves way to seriously.

So I made a new sub where specializing is a joke, and we can take our writing more seriously than ourselves!

r/WritingGeneralists knows that sometimes the best way to learn what you're doing is to do something entirely different. Dissatisfied with your novel's dialogue? Try scriptwriting to reframe it. Your history lacks that dramatic punch? Write that one event as a piece of flash fiction. Are your business emails rambling in circles? Turn it into a news article.

Every form of writing has something the others can learn from, so let's trade notes!

Also, I have no idea what I'm doing; I just know it needs done. COME SAVE ME!

A while back I finally filed a MH claim for PTSD. I got rated at 30%, but I feel it should be at least 50%. Went back to my county VSO to talk about an appeal, and the gung-ho coasty I talked to railroaded me into filing for an increase in stead before I realized what was going on. Got 30% again.

My question concerns what the two different examiners said each time after my C&Ps. The 1st one recognized that my ability to maintain employment was impaired because I could only do part time gig work on my good days, and symptoms had cost me jobs in the past, but didn't really note some of my other symptoms. The 2nd one seemed to think that the same part time gig work was my chosen profession despite me specifically explaining the same things I said to the 1st one, but noted other symptoms.

Now, the county has someone new in the VSO office, and I have updated screeners from my therapist, so was going to try again. If we decide that an appeal of some sort is the best course of action, can I point to the discrepancy between the two examiners, and that fact that no significant change in symptoms were noted between the two times, and say there's a mistake here?