Englerdy's recent activity

  1. Comment on Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges in ~tech

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    My understanding is that the GE heat pump washer dryer combo is kind of the sweet spot for these machines. I'd looked into them about a year and a half ago and found that the GEs appeared to be...

    My understanding is that the GE heat pump washer dryer combo is kind of the sweet spot for these machines. I'd looked into them about a year and a half ago and found that the GEs appeared to be the most reliable and the one people complained about the least. It also had the fewest "smart" features which I think is a big part of that reliability.

    So if you're interested in getting a combo machine right now, definitely look into the GE version.

  2. Comment on Wikipedia's list of the best video games: how many have you played, and what's missing? in ~games

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    Pentiment got recommend to me by a friend and is sitting in my library. I've really gotta pick it up!

    Pentiment got recommend to me by a friend and is sitting in my library. I've really gotta pick it up!

  3. Comment on Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges in ~tech

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    How else are you supposed to see personalized advertising while looking for a snack, silly?

    How else are you supposed to see personalized advertising while looking for a snack, silly?

    3 votes

  4. Comment on The plunging price of AI in ~tech

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    I'm experimenting with tieing locally hosted models into my workflow more. I'm weary of working on anything privacy sensitive like client data in cloud hosted models. Really optimistic about what...

    I'm experimenting with tieing locally hosted models into my workflow more. I'm weary of working on anything privacy sensitive like client data in cloud hosted models. Really optimistic about what I'm seeing the local models doing. Just feels a bit clunky still to get stuff running and findng a comfortable workflow.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on These cookies are 3D-printed and made of recycled plastic in ~science

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    I've seen a few presentations of biodegradable plastic (truly biodegradable plastics vs it actually just breaks into smaller and smaller plastic pieces and just looks broken down), and the thing...

    I've seen a few presentations of biodegradable plastic (truly biodegradable plastics vs it actually just breaks into smaller and smaller plastic pieces and just looks broken down), and the thing that stuck out to me is that the problem with plastic is that the hydrocarbon molecules are just REALLY stable and nothing in nature that tends to find any part of the molecules biochemically available for bacteria or other organisms to grab onto to break apart the long hydrocarbons into simpler molecules and eventually CO2 and Water. But at the end of the day, plastic is primarily just organized Cabron and Hydrogen (which is why it burns so well). So as far as I can tell the yeast has been engineered to be able to digest/breakdown the plastic polymer chains into other types of hydrocarbons that are more readily digestible by other organisms like people. Hydrogen and Carbon are the basic building blocks of most of what we eat anyway, it just matters how the molecules are organized really.

    I only had a chance to skim this, so if I overlooked something, someone please correct me. But to address u/tanglisha 's original concern, I think the point of the yeast is to concert the plastic to something else that is digestible. In theory there shouldn't actually be any plastic left at the end of the process.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on Colorado's Tildos - How-does it suit you? in ~life

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    The international grocery stores (H-Mart included) are the bomb!

    The international grocery stores (H-Mart included) are the bomb!

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Stanford violated its AI policy by turning a Hispanic student into a fake Black woman in ad in ~tech

    Englerdy
    Link
    Honestly prior image editing techniques (pre AI) focused on making people look "better" in some way always felt kind of uncomfortable anyway. To me at least. Like there was an option when buying...

    Honestly prior image editing techniques (pre AI) focused on making people look "better" in some way always felt kind of uncomfortable anyway. To me at least. Like there was an option when buying school pictures to do touch ups on the photos to cover up blemishes, acne, etc.. Which I understand are really common points of insecurity, but to me I didn't want edited out of my pictures because it felt like it didn't look like me anymore.

    Altering pictures to clean up fly away hairs, adjusting the color and light balances, etc. are one thing. But actually changing the appearance of peoples bodies just feels strange. But to a certain extent I can understand the point of view about people wanting a picture to reflect a certain presentation of their own person, so I don't judge people who want their pictures altered in such a way.

    But boy if this doesn't take that to a whole new level of ew. Especially making the Asian student look thinner. Like why? (I know why, but that makes it feel more gross). I feel like it would be an awful feeling as a student to see your picture everywhere, but it's heavily altered and having to deal with the thought that they didn't like how you looked.

    13 votes

  8. Comment on Colorado's Tildos - How-does it suit you? in ~life

    Englerdy
    Link
    It's home and I still love it. Grew up here, left a few years for college and came back. Something that really stuck out to me coming back was how accessible outdoor recreation is in so much of...

    It's home and I still love it. Grew up here, left a few years for college and came back.

    Something that really stuck out to me coming back was how accessible outdoor recreation is in so much of the Denver metro area. It feels like there are state parks, city parks, and open space for walking/running/biking everywhere. And at least for me, there's always been at least one space in relatively close walking distance which has been really nice.

    I feel like there's a lot of interesting stuff to do for lots of different people. The outdoor recreation scene is big, but there's lots of other stuff too. Like I know there's a few board game cafes around that I always think would be fun to checkout and just don't get around to. It's easy to find really good food, especially if you head into Denver.

    Concerned about living here long term? Not really, the population is definitely growing fast and the traffic can get bad, but I think we're figuring out how to manage the growth well enough.

    The water situation? Uh, maybe? Depends on what you mean. Like, am I concerned we're going to run out of water? I suppose it nags at me a bit. But we're at the very start of the water for the rest of the country, so even in a bad drought we still get first dibs on precipitation. That said, water politics are a whole other beast and I definitely see some pretty nasty fighting emerging if we continue to have dryer seasons.

    Honestly I'm more concerned about a bad wild fire season caused by low precipitation than I am about low precipitation itself. Mostly just because the bad wildfires we've had have been REALLY bad.

    I've basically been here my whole life but as I mentioned have spent a fair amount of time out of state. Honestly I was always really glad to come back and I look forward to staying here. There are other places I'd consider moving, but it would take a big life event to catalyze that change. It wouldn't be something I'd necessarily seek out as a first choice.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on An insight into looksmaxxxing/blackpill "ideology" in ~life

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    Not trying to be unnecessarily pedantic, but there can be naturally occuring variation on how many boys vs girls are born on average due to changing environmental factors. I think this is the most...

    Not trying to be unnecessarily pedantic, but there can be naturally occuring variation on how many boys vs girls are born on average due to changing environmental factors. I think this is the most recent study on the topic: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45316-7

    I just bring it up to note that while the split does tend to be 50/50 on average, you can get skews and swings across generations.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on In fighting for every black child, did I forget my own? in ~life

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    That's a fair point to, and still an issue with the parents ultimately. I suppose I should also note that my experience was at the low end of affluent. We were comfortable, nice neighborhood,...

    That's a fair point to, and still an issue with the parents ultimately.

    I suppose I should also note that my experience was at the low end of affluent. We were comfortable, nice neighborhood, bills were paid, and I went to a nicer school. Definitely not lavish in the vein of what you're describing, but far from poor.

    7 votes

  11. Comment on A college girl was exploited on camera. A network of anonymous men got to work. in ~tech

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    I too was (naively) hoping that was what this article was going to be about. Is it too much to want to see a group of anonymous hackers dish out some vigilanty justice against people who seem to...

    I too was (naively) hoping that was what this article was going to be about. Is it too much to want to see a group of anonymous hackers dish out some vigilanty justice against people who seem to feel invulnerable behind a screen?

    6 votes

  12. Comment on In fighting for every black child, did I forget my own? in ~life

    Englerdy
    Link
    Nikole Hannah-Jones is an excellent journalist and writer. This is a fascinating and heart breaking piece to me. I was fortunate to have a privileged education, and while I knew it was a privilege...

    Nikole Hannah-Jones is an excellent journalist and writer. This is a fascinating and heart breaking piece to me. I was fortunate to have a privileged education, and while I knew it was a privilege even while going, I never experienced anything else so it was hard to contextualize how unfair the whole education system is. I also grew up out in the west/Midwest, so the racial tension touched in the article, while not 100% absent, wasn't something I saw minority students experience. Granted I'm white, so I easily could have missed it, but I generally remember the black and minority students being treated respectfully by their peers (at least as respectful as teenagers tend to be toward each other as a baseline).

    I think Nikole's daughter really toucheson a critical point though:

    Najya said that spending the last two years in classrooms full of privileged kids had taught her that these students weren’t smarter or even necessarily better behaved than the kids she had gone to school with before; they just had more.

    I don't think most kids from an affluent background appreciate the opportunities that they have. And that's more of a parenting issue than something that the kids can be blamed for. But the abundance that the affluent kids have is something they come to expect. And I wonder how much that's self fulfilling. The environment around them expects them to succeed and they're given the opportunities to succeed. While it seems like kids attending the under resourced schools are given the impression that they are not expected to succeed, or even worse CAN'T succeed. And so for them, what's the point in trying when everything is signaling to them that success isn't for them?

    Pretty shitty to see systemic racism like this so deeply embedded. Just shameful.

    18 votes

  13. Comment on Dig Energy completes first project with novel geothermal drilling tech in ~enviro

    Englerdy
    Link
    Expanding opportunities for geothermal heating and cooling is such a big deal, especially in cold climates because it makes electrifying heating significantly more viable. It's really exciting to...

    Expanding opportunities for geothermal heating and cooling is such a big deal, especially in cold climates because it makes electrifying heating significantly more viable. It's really exciting to see innovations like this!

    7 votes

  14. Comment on Some disagreement makes groups more trustworthy, mathematical framework finds in ~science

  15. Comment on I tried weaving on an 1840s hand-powered loom in ~humanities.history

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    That's delightful, thank you so much for sharing! Your mom sounds like a gem.

    That's delightful, thank you so much for sharing! Your mom sounds like a gem.

    1 vote

  16. Comment on Help me choose a small electric car in ~transport

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    Another happy used Bolt purchaser. I bought a used 2020 Bolt about 3 years ago directly from a Chevy dealership. It had been part of a recall and they'd replaced the battery which was nice. The...

    Another happy used Bolt purchaser. I bought a used 2020 Bolt about 3 years ago directly from a Chevy dealership. It had been part of a recall and they'd replaced the battery which was nice. The replacement was still the old battery design (before the switched to a new provider) and did have to get replaced in the first year, but it was under warranty so it was a no cost replacement to us. It was just a hassle to be stuck with a rental car for a few weeks.

    Still, following that it's been basically smooth sailing. I don't mind the slow speed while 'fast' charging, because I've almost never needed fast charging. For most of the time I had charging access at work, so once a week I'd plug it in for a day to charge up. I've changed jobs and can't charge at home (no garage or easy way to plug it in outside), so I am going to a nearby fast charger about once a week. It's not a huge hassle for me personally. I just take a book and hang out for an hour with the car AC on, or sometimes I'll just take a nap.

    That said, as a commuter car the Bolt is great. Relatively low frills and I've had a good experience with the local dealer. I do STRONGLY recommend switching tires with what ever EV you go with if your part of the Midwest gets much snow. Get like Michelin Cross Climate 2s or something. You sacrifice like 10-15% of your range because they have higher rolling resistance, but the low rolling resistance tires do not do well in slushy snow in my experience. Completely worth while trade off imo.

    7 votes

  17. Comment on A three-year-old's metastatic cancer disappeared after two doses of CAR T-Cell therapy, genetically engineered immune cells that target cancerous cells in ~health

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    To be fair, I think most health related things would be best explained in the style of Cells at Work.

    To be fair, I think most health related things would be best explained in the style of Cells at Work.

    3 votes

  18. Comment on putt.day — a daily hole of mini golf in ~games

    Englerdy
    Link
    This is a lot of fun, but feel kind of wonky at times. The camera can make it a bit hard to see the angle that the ball is at. I'm always partial to guides to plot out the direction the ball is...

    This is a lot of fun, but feel kind of wonky at times. The camera can make it a bit hard to see the angle that the ball is at. I'm always partial to guides to plot out the direction the ball is going to go, but I guess it's a fine challenge without them.

  19. Comment on I tried weaving on an 1840s hand-powered loom in ~humanities.history

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    This is a fascinating comment to me. Did your family make their own clothes? Was the loom in your home? Could you share a bit more about this experience just in general? It sounds really interesting!

    This is a fascinating comment to me. Did your family make their own clothes? Was the loom in your home? Could you share a bit more about this experience just in general? It sounds really interesting!

    3 votes

  20. Comment on My friend took me flying today! in ~hobbies

    Englerdy
    Link
    Oh how fun! I have a friend who's a pilot but needs to get his license current again (not sure what the right way to describe it is), but I hope to have the chance to fly with him sometime once...

    Oh how fun! I have a friend who's a pilot but needs to get his license current again (not sure what the right way to describe it is), but I hope to have the chance to fly with him sometime once he's current again. Or learn to fly myself if I ever have the time and money.

    4 votes