RoyalHenOil's recent activity
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Comment on There’s no autism epidemic. But there is an autism diagnosis epidemic. in ~health.mental
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Comment on Satisfiers vs maximizers in ~talk
RoyalHenOil LinkI feel like I can be both, depending on the situation. In general, I tend to be more a maximizer if I'm in a good or energetic mood, and I am more likely to be a satisficer if I'm tired or...I feel like I can be both, depending on the situation. In general, I tend to be more a maximizer if I'm in a good or energetic mood, and I am more likely to be a satisficer if I'm tired or impatient. I would consider "satisficer" a misnomer, however, because I am almost always happier with purchases that I maximize. This is for a few reasons, I think:
- I hate waste. I rarely remember the research I put into a purchase, but low durability or suitability will bug me until I get rid of the thing — and getting rid of something that I expected to keep a long time causes me a lot of resentment. I still remember bad impulse purchases I made decades ago; it's similar feeling to remembering being taken advantage of.
- Depending on the product category, I enjoy making decisions and window shopping. Sometimes I weigh the pros and cons of hypothetical purchases (which I don't actually intend to make) just as a pastime.
- I generally understand my needs and wants quite well. I usually go into a purchase knowing what I'm after (and, just as importantly, what I'm not after), and then it's a matter of finding out whether any products suffice for the right budget. I try to avoid over-buying and aim for products without a lot of extraneous features, since they come with a cost — in terms of money, durability, and ease of use.
- If I find a product that hits the sweet spot, it gives me a lot of pleasure for a very long time. Whenever I look at it, I remember how it perfectly suits my household. Even if a "better" version exists, I am fine because that doesn't change the nature of the product I have.
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Comment on I need advice, which laptop would you buy now? in ~tech
RoyalHenOil Link ParentFor what it's worth, I have not experienced any kind of flex with my 13" Framework laptop (purchased at the end of 2024), and my partner has not experienced any with his, either. I am very happy...For what it's worth, I have not experienced any kind of flex with my 13" Framework laptop (purchased at the end of 2024), and my partner has not experienced any with his, either. I am very happy with the build quality.
I've read that flexing can be a problem with the larger 16" laptop due to the swappable keyboard components, but the smaller 13" does not have that.
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Comment on The cultural decline of literary fiction in ~books
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI would still describe it as a romance. The novel is primarily about two characters falling in love, even though the author wrote it in a clever, satirical way. As the story progresses, it takes a...I would still describe it as a romance. The novel is primarily about two characters falling in love, even though the author wrote it in a clever, satirical way. As the story progresses, it takes a more serious, focused tone on the characters and their blossoming relationship; now that the reader is invested in the characters, the story no longer needs humor to hold your attention.
I would also consider it more plot-driven than character-driven. Of course, all romance novels are character-driven to a major extent, but (relative to romance novels in general) Pride and Prejudice seems to be on the more plot-driven side: Elizabeth and Darcy are pushed and pulled by plot events outside of their control (the Bennett family's financial situation, Jane's illness, Lydia's impropriety, etc.), which cause them to have encounters and share experiences with each other that they never would have of their own volition.
I'm not really a romance fan, so maybe this is just me being a tad curmudgeonly, but I read this as a story of how two otherwise poorly matched individuals can still find themselves drawn helplessly to each other due to circumstances they find themselves in — and I thought the novel was better for it. (In general, I strongly prefer stories that explore how events affect people. Stories that focus primarily on character, like generic TV dramas, or primarily on events, like generic action movies, just don't affect me deeply like stories that deeply explore the synergy of the two.)
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Comment on The cultural decline of literary fiction in ~books
RoyalHenOil LinkI find this conversation a bit hard to follow because it's not clear to me how "literary fiction" is defined. The article mentions that genres like romance have pushed literary fiction off the...I find this conversation a bit hard to follow because it's not clear to me how "literary fiction" is defined. The article mentions that genres like romance have pushed literary fiction off the bestseller list, but then it cites Pride and Prejudice as an example of literary fiction. How exactly are they categorizing novels? I would have placed Pride and Prejudice solidly in the romance camp.
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Comment on The world’s most-visited museum shuts down, in response to mass tourism in ~travel
RoyalHenOil Link ParentIt's very weird because my instincts run hard the other way: if I've seen a thousand photos of a place, it doesn't seem like a special place to visit or like there's much to get out of seeing it...It's very weird because my instincts run hard the other way: if I've seen a thousand photos of a place, it doesn't seem like a special place to visit or like there's much to get out of seeing it with my own eyes. If I'm going to go through the trouble of being a tourist, I want to be intrigued and surprised.
I live reasonably close to a major tourist destination in Australia: the Twelve Apostles. One time I was in the area with my in-laws after doing a rainforest walk, and as we were driving past the Twelve Apostles outlook, we decided to stop and go see what all the fuss was about.
It was ... not impressive. The crowds were so thick that it took us a very long time to jostle our way through to actually see the Twelve Apostles, and they weren't nearly interesting enough to justify all the wait and stress.
We left, disappointed. But a little further down the road, we came across some equally scenic sites (more limestone stacks that you can get closer to and see better, a bunch of historical shipwrecks, and a big waterfall) that had no crowds at all, and we had a much better time.
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Comment on How to predict a 1 in 1,000 year riot: the insurance expertise gearing up to commodify America's agony in ~society
RoyalHenOil Link ParentThis is the first time I've come across mainstream media reporting on a protest before it happens.This is the first time I've come across mainstream media reporting on a protest before it happens.
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Comment on Inside the ‘Dragon Age’ debacle that gutted EA’s BioWare studio in ~games
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI just can't bring myself to blame a team for not pushing back hard enough or effectively enough against idiotic C-suite decisions. One team may be better at that than another, but the failure......chaotic and poorly managed teams tend to have a lot of trouble pushing back on absurd or contradictory management demands. As a matter of fact, that is actually a core project management skill and an attribute of effective engineering teams to save business stakeholders from themselves.
I just can't bring myself to blame a team for not pushing back hard enough or effectively enough against idiotic C-suite decisions. One team may be better at that than another, but the failure really lies at the feet of the C-suite. Not only is it the C-suite's job to understand the business they're in and make sensible decisions, but it's also their job to put these teams together in the first place.
If they build a team that they trust so little that they won't listen to its feedback, that is a problem of the C-suite's creation, not the team's creation.
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Comment on Necessities are expensive, luxuries are cheap in ~finance
RoyalHenOil Link ParentWhen you're looking for a TV, have a look around at monitors as well. A while back, I got a very TV-like monitor (it even came with a remote!) for about the same price as an equivalent smart TV....When you're looking for a TV, have a look around at monitors as well. A while back, I got a very TV-like monitor (it even came with a remote!) for about the same price as an equivalent smart TV.
You might also want to have a look at commercial displays. I found that these were more expensive for their feature set (aimed at businesses and designed to be very robust), but I still would have picked one over a smart TV.
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Comment on I tried to make something in America (The Smarter Scrubber experiment) in ~engineering
RoyalHenOil Link ParentChild labor is indeed a very complicated issue. To give an example, I used to work for a Dutch agricultural business that has subsidiaries and contract growers all over the world (for purposes for...Child labor is indeed a very complicated issue.
To give an example, I used to work for a Dutch agricultural business that has subsidiaries and contract growers all over the world (for purposes for breeding crops that excel in different climates). While I was working there, they were working on expanding into southern India, and child labor was a major point of friction with prospective contract growers.
The business disallows child labor by any of its contract growers, and in countries where child labor is rife (including India), this is enforced with auditing. This made the Indian growers very angry; when they visited the Netherlands to receive training, they saw that Dutch farmers' children would come help out on the farms after school, but this wasn't considered child labor — it was simply "doing chores" or "learning how to run the family farm". But if Indian farmers let their kids do the exact same things for the exact same reasons, they would be pinged by the auditors and could lose their contracts.
The Indian farmers felt that they were being told to essentially shut their children out of the family business for racist reasons. The Dutch representatives were sympathetic and agreed that it really wasn't fair, but they couldn't budge due to Western certification and regulation pressures, which are indeed much more aggressive in developing nations.
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Comment on I tried to make something in America (The Smarter Scrubber experiment) in ~engineering
RoyalHenOil Link ParentThere are several countries with strong environmental laws and labor laws that still manage to have solid manufacturing industries. I'm not sure that it's possible to manufacture cheap landfill...There are several countries with strong environmental laws and labor laws that still manage to have solid manufacturing industries. I'm not sure that it's possible to manufacture cheap landfill junk this way, but it's certainly possible to manufacture high-quality goods.
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Comment on My expensive, exhausting, happy failed attempt at homesteading in ~food
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI recommend growing sugar snap peas and snow peas instead of shelling peas. They are a lot less work. Also, at least where I live, shelled peas are easily available in any supermarket, very cheap,...I recommend growing sugar snap peas and snow peas instead of shelling peas. They are a lot less work.
Also, at least where I live, shelled peas are easily available in any supermarket, very cheap, and quite tasty (if snap frozen), so I don't get a lot of value out of growing them myself.
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Comment on Starlink is surprisingly good, actually in ~tech
RoyalHenOil LinkI live on a farm in a rural area of Australia. When I moved here, the property was serviced by a phone copper network. If we got a consistent 4mbps down, it was a good day. Around 2020 or so,...- Exemplary
I live on a farm in a rural area of Australia. When I moved here, the property was serviced by a phone copper network. If we got a consistent 4mbps down, it was a good day.
Around 2020 or so, Starlink became available here just as Australia's NBN was preparing to roll out infrastructure to our area. NBN representatives told us that our area would be getting fixed wireless towers rather than fiber — but fixed wireless requires a clear line of sight to the tower, and we had a couple trees blocking the way. (Fixed wireless can penetrate foliage to some extent, but it's iffy.)
At the same time, Starlink had a really great, but temporary, introductory deal for our area (I assume to get a lot of sign ups at the same time to economize on installation), and we had to make a hard decision: either jump on the Starlink deal now, or sign up for fixed wireless and wait to see how it would work out — by which time the Starlink deal would have expired.
My partner and I talked about it, and we ultimately decided that, while going with Starlink probably made more sense on paper, we were hesitant to become enmeshed in any enterprise headed by such an impulsive and untrustworthy figure as Elon Musk.
I'm really glad we made that call. Fixed wireless turned out to work flawlessly for us (the only hiccup was that they initially gave us better upload speeds than download speeds, and it took a few months for them to reverse the ratio), and Elon Musk has only grown more impulsive and untrustworthy over time.
A lot of our neighbors (particularly those in gullies and in heavily wooded areas) didn't have the option, unfortunately. I really hope Elon Musk is severed from Starlink as soon as possible or that a comparable competitor shows up soon; the 3G network was controversially disabled a couple years ago, and 4G cannot penetrate these areas, so satellite access is potentially life-and-death. It's pretty messed up that an unstable sociopath on the other side of the world is the gatekeeper.
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Comment on What are your favorite vegan pre-packaged foods? in ~food
RoyalHenOil LinkConnoisseur (an Australian ice cream company) makes two vegan ice creams that are absolutely delicious: Vanilla Brownie and Hazelnut Chocolate. I'm not a vegan, but these are still my go-to dessert.Connoisseur (an Australian ice cream company) makes two vegan ice creams that are absolutely delicious: Vanilla Brownie and Hazelnut Chocolate. I'm not a vegan, but these are still my go-to dessert.
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Comment on How the little-known ‘dark roof’ lobby may be making US cities hotter in ~enviro
RoyalHenOil Link ParentMy parents changed their roof from dark gray to white a few years ago, and it pretty dramatically changed how comfortable their house feels in summer — while simultaneously having very little...My parents changed their roof from dark gray to white a few years ago, and it pretty dramatically changed how comfortable their house feels in summer — while simultaneously having very little impact on how it feels in winter (I assume because the sun is so low anyway that there is little potential for solar gain through the roof).
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Comment on Baking edgeless brownies from the inside out in ~food
RoyalHenOil Link ParentWhat you need is a Baker's Edge pan.What you need is a Baker's Edge pan.
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Comment on How does collecting differ psychologically from hoarding? in ~life
RoyalHenOil Link ParentIndeed. I've seen the same kind of hoarding in a lot of other Appalachian people her age — all of them poised to hit the ground running in the next economic collapse. As frustrating as the...Indeed. I've seen the same kind of hoarding in a lot of other Appalachian people her age — all of them poised to hit the ground running in the next economic collapse. As frustrating as the hoarding is, I'm just glad it is hoarding because it means that economic collapse never came.
Here on the other side of the world (Australia), my elderly in-laws grew up on a farm during very tough times (Great Depression and harsh WWII rationing) when they were already a poor family to begin with. They are not hoarders like my elderly relatives in Tennessee, but they have a similar mindset — that this is just a temporary moment of economic prosperity, and we must take advantage of it and poverty-proof before for the inevitable reversion to the mean.
My mother-in-law, for example, has invested heavily in making the farm suitable for a large multi-generational farming family because, she says, that's how people have always lived — the way we live now is an anomaly.
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Comment on Groundwater is rapidly declining in the Colorado River Basin, satellite data show in ~enviro
RoyalHenOil Link ParentIt seems wild to me to farm low-value fodder crops in a climate where even alfalfa needs irrigation. I live in a hot Mediterranean climate in Australia where we commonly go months without rain,...It seems wild to me to farm low-value fodder crops in a climate where even alfalfa needs irrigation. I live in a hot Mediterranean climate in Australia where we commonly go months without rain, and our alfalfa (locally known as lucerne) has to make do with whatever nature gives it. I've never seen a farmer here irrigate a hay crop of any type; if hay needs more than the barest minimum of care, it's not worth growing.
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Comment on How does collecting differ psychologically from hoarding? in ~life
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI think if you had seen her house, you might change your mind. It was a large house (she and her husband built it for their seven kids and then continued adding on more and more rooms for storage;...I think if you had seen her house, you might change your mind. It was a large house (she and her husband built it for their seven kids and then continued adding on more and more rooms for storage; plus they had something like five or six outbuildings), but by the time she passed away, only the living room, kitchen, bathrooms, and one bedroom were accessible — single file only. You were basically squeezing through floor-to-ceiling canyons of stuff.
The pathways, at least, were kept very clean and clear — but outside the pathways, it was pretty similar to this image, if you imagine this pile as neatly stacked coats, baby clothes, toys, blankets, sippy cups, hand sewing kits, picture books, etc.
But yeah, in a collapse of society, she could have supplied her whole county — and would have done so joyfully.
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Comment on Sweden's recycling centres overflowing with clothes after EU-wide ban on throwing away textiles – municipalities eager to have fast fashion giants take responsibility in ~enviro
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI usually buy from fabric stores (I'm in Australia, so I buy from Spotlight, Lincraft, and some online shops like The Remnant Warehouse). Sometimes I also find fabric in thrift stores or at garage...I usually buy from fabric stores (I'm in Australia, so I buy from Spotlight, Lincraft, and some online shops like The Remnant Warehouse). Sometimes I also find fabric in thrift stores or at garage sales, because people sometimes buy a bunch of fabric for a project and then never end up using it.
To mock up clothes (useful for getting the fit just right and refining the pattern), I use cheap or free secondhand bedsheets.
Along these lines, here is an article on how the DSM differs from the way that psychiatric symptoms actually tend to cluster.