Thanks Ergo. Hoping for a permanent solution that will last years.

First China supplier quote is in. $1k (shipping not calculated yet). Now we're getting somewhere.

Gem estimates:

"Your single honeycomb panel will take roughly 22 to 25 minutes of active machine time to complete on a modern fiber laser.

If a commercial job shop is billing their 6kW or 10kW laser out at $240 an hour ($4 per minute), the sheer machine time alone costs around $100, plus the $70 to $90 cost of the raw aluminum blank, plus setup time and overhead. This is why you should expect realistic, competitive commercial quotes for a single panel to land in the $200 to $250 range."

Send Cut Send is quoting $600.

there are 9 bars going left to right across the top of the truck. Gemeni says solid sheet of anything will create a sail effect with a lot of drag. It's odd to me that the quotes are so expensive. The manufacturer of the rack offers roof deck panels for different models.. similar laser cut panels they make in house, then powder coat, and sell the whole floor for $600. Not sure why my current quote for bare aluminum is $2400 for the same area. Gem seems to think my quote should be $800 for the 4 units. I'm going to try local laser shops.

1 inch tall grid like that on the roof is going to create a ton of drag. I asked Gem about any kind of plastic/polymer sheet material it could think of. It said for the application, aluminum is the absolute best.

Update: Moving in the right direction, but sheesh. I need to find the Chinese equivalent of SendCutSend to make this viable.

I want to cut some aluminum sheet to add a walkable roof deck to my SUV's aftermarket roof rack.

The panel is 39 inches by 23.5 inches, material is .25 inch 6061 aluminum. Need four copies of this panel.

I fed Gemeni the use case, roof rack support specs. I asked it for a slotted holes design, then a round holes design, then a hexagon holes design to minimize weight while maximizing strength.

It said hexagons are the most efficient. I asked it to optimize the hexagon size and spacing for the use case.

Unfortunately, the first optimized design was a small, dense hexagon pattern with 2,800 holes. The fabricators said the laser will warp the panel with the tight spacing. Also the initial burn through for a new hole takes extra time, raising cost. I did get one quote back for $36,000, heh.

The below photo is an updated version with larger hexagons. Trying again today with the simplified design.

Thanks. I created a model today with Gem and ported to openSCAD. Sent it out to a bunch of laser cutters for quotes. The instant quotes were mind-blowingly high. 39" by 23.5" aluminum sheet to be laser cut with a .375" hexagon pattern... $1,500 is the best so far. Yikes.

Did you have to install openSCAD and paste the Gemeni code into it?

>Alligator

Alligators live *almost* as far north as VA. Probably have to be on the lookout in Tidewater VA in the 2030s.

>AI optimize the hell out of all of your content.

Anything specific you've seen work, Drastic? I have added FAQs to many articles.

>There is a LOT of blowback to this on social and my feeds.

I've seen the same on Reddit. But I suspect most of those voices are publishers or older users. Younger users just want the AI answer.

Expending on the recent Google SERP --> AIRP change thread.

>There's little time left for publishers to adapt.

What are you doing to adapt?

I'm considering advertising ($$$$) heavily to generate newsletter signups and own an audience. Yes, I'm late.

I understand many publishers are considering paywall/subscription models.

This could significantly change the wide availability of information we've all taken for granted for 25 years. It also gives AI companies incredible power to give us the answers it wants us to hear.

We need to convince AI that we'll make great pets.

That is impressive.

Is it odd knowing you might not be the apex predator every time you step outside?

It is interesting that insider betting doesn't seem to be materially affecting prediction markets.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/soldier-charged-over-maduro-raid-bet-rcna341710

U.S. soldier involved in Maduro raid charged with betting on the operation

The special forces soldier allegedly made more than $400,000 on Polymarket as a result of the bets, prosecutors say.