• 6 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 19th, 2023

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  • On a personal level, I have never liked Louis Rossmann. There is something about him that I have never been able to define - his cockiness, or brashness or the way he carries himself, IDK - that has always rubbed me the wrong way. If we meet IRL, I am not sure if we could ever be friends.

    And yet…

    I will always be a staunch supporter of him. I will always watch and promote his videos. I will always be behind him 100%.

    Because he fights the good fight. Because he fights the right fight.

    And because he is careful in his research, points out where he is unsure, qualifies where there is nuance, and doesn’t pull any punches when faces need punching. His content is invariably not just correct and detailed, but also accurate and precise.

    And most of all: despite his career success, he still fights for the little guy. That one of my favourite videos was a detailed rant about how the very career path he had taken was no longer available to other young people because of how restricted individual parts have become, and how in many cases you can now only obtain assemblies that are much more expensive.



  • Cool to cold. Essentially a cold 3-month winter of sub-zero (0℃ to -30℃) temps and lots (1+m) of snow, a short “warm” summer of only 2 months with temps never exceeding 30℃ at the absolute worst, with most highs not exceeding 24℃ and most nights in the 10-15℃ range, bookended by long spring and fall seasons that are cool and moist with daytime highs rarely exceeding 24℃ and nights never dropping below 0℃.

    Thanks to a heat exhaustion event when I was 17, I have become increasingly sensitive to heat over the last 35 years.

    As an example, whatever comfort you feel at 24℃, I feel that same level of comfort - while wearing the same general clothing - at 14-16℃. Whatever comfort you feel at 30℃ is what I feel at 20-22℃.

    So when local temps spike to 35-45℃ during our (much more frequent, hotter, and longer) heatwaves, imagine being forced to exist and do all normal outdoor activities in 60-80℃ temps.

    Yes, it really is that f**king bad for me.

    And I sweat just as badly at the lower temps as you would at the higher temps. For heat waves, think wet sauna temps at their dangerous extremes. It’s why I shave myself bald for six months out of the year… because I would look like a drowned rat during that time otherwise. And yes, I still have to carry a “sweat towel” with me during that time to avoid looking like I just stepped out of a shower. I have to wipe down my head and face several times an hour even when temps are in the high 20s, and especially when I physically exert myself.

    Climate change is going to be a right b**ch to me as it ramps up into overdrive over the next decade.




  • I would say to install the free Adguard DNS configuration profile, but only iOS has the capability of installing DNS configuration profiles. For Android you would need the paid app to do the same thing.

    With that said, on Apple devices the config profile - a cryptographically signed internal proxy for all DNS requests, including any made directly by software where they bypass the system’s DNS - works absolutely spectacularly, missing only those ads that are retrieved from the same source as legitimate content.

    So for example, in-app YouTube ads and Pinterest ads remain, because they are provided by the same API endpoints that serve up their content, meaning any DNS-based filtering cannot discriminate. But when I first installed it back in 2005 - shortly before I deleted the official Reddit app for it being the steaming pile of manure it was (and apparently still is) - I had ads in all sorts of apps suddenly vanishing, including all Reddit ads and promoted content




  • Just like the opposite of addiction is not sobriety but connection, so the opposite of depression is not happiness but vitality.

    Because that is what most depression saps out of people - the vitality to do things, to live life, and to give your own life meaning and the strength to forge ahead.

    Sometimes people can handle depression on their own. Most of the time, however, help of some sort of help or assistance is needed. Never be afraid or let yourself be shamed for reaching out or accepting help, because we all need help once in a while. As the Good Captain once said, “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”

    And while uncultivated ignorance can still be educated away, beware cultivated ignorance – these people are maliciously ignorant, and are intentionally trying to hurt you.


  • Which is why we really need to build cheap, simple, and purposeful aircraft. We need to move away from “everything AND the kitchen sink” aircraft, as multiple conflicting roles frequently reduce an aircraft’s effectiveness in any one role. Have five completely different fighter aircraft, if necessary, in order to ensure we can continue to maintain them via simplicity and ease of parts manufacturing. And to be able to drop an entire model to focus on the remaining ones, if necessary.




  • Nineteen people died on the ground.

    Technically 260 people died on the ground. Because that is where the plane crashed.

    However, nineteen people on the ground died.

    There is a critical difference in that word order. The former includes everyone who had reached the ground by the time they died, the latter only includes those who were on the ground to begin with, and not those who were on the plane.

    Or in other words, the first phrasing highlights destination, the second highlights source. Everyone died on the ground after the plane impacted it, but only 19 were already on the ground when the impact killed them.

    The placement of the word “died” is what makes all the difference.

    Isn’t English fun?