I've been using Jimmy Joy (used to be called Joylent) for a few years. I think it's a great meal replacement for when you don't have time or just don't feel like cooking. On the other hand, it's just a mix of oats, rapeseed, and vitamins. And it doesn't taste that great. So I wouldn't go 100%.

I would love to hear your thoughts? Also, which brands do you prefer? I'm in Europe, so unfortunately original Soylent is not available for me.

So, I am far from the most experienced, or the most knowledgeable, or the most active amateur radio operator out there, but it is something that has piqued my interest none the less. Before I got into the hobby, I always assumed that the FCC just game amateurs a small bucket of useless spectrum and that was it. Maybe you could fly an RC plane, but surely that is about as cool as it gets.

It turns out I was dead wrong. Amateurs are allocated bands all across the RF spectrum - more or less. Bands from way below the AM broadcast frequency to way above the microwave frequencies used by our cell phones and wireless routers. Also, you are allowed to legally transmit at up to 1.5 kilowatts of power! That's 3,000 times as much power as your average walkie talkie! :) Also, importantly, the license exam only costs $15.

At many of the lower frequencies, the signals bounce off the ionosphere and you can make contact with people all over the world (propagation gods permitting). At the higher frequencies, you lose that "skip propagation," but more bandwidth is available. There are analog voice repeater networks, digital packet networks, mesh networks running on modified commercial WiFi gear, and even a handful of old school packet BBSes. There are some LEO satellites which run voice repeaters which allow you make international contacts, and sometimes even the International Space Station will participate in events. Lots of cool stuff going on. This hobby is kind of a bottomless rabbit hole of possibilities.

I got my technician license about a year ago, and I have been most interested in the data networking end of the hobby. Despite being a pile of hacks, APRS is still very cool, and sometime soon I hope to set up an AREDN node of my own. Every once in a while I'll call into the local repeaters and shoot the breeze.

So there's my story. Are there any other hams out there?

Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

Don't misread the headline like I did when I saw it! This isn't about extinctions: we haven't killed off 60% of species. We have reduced the population of all animals by an average of 60%.

Last week I didn't realize I hadn't made the weekly post until it was a couple days too late, so I decided to just rollover to this week. Sorry, folks. Might have to get someone else to post sometimes.

Anyway, what have you been watching/reading this week?

Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its Anilist, MAL, or any other anime/manga database you use!

Champions League - Matchweek 3

Europa League - Matchweek 3

English Premier League - Matchweek 10

LaLiga - Matchweek 10

Serie A - Matchweek 10

Bundesliga - Matchweek 9

Ligue 1 - Matchweek 11

I'm fairly happy with mine, it's simple and tastes good, but I'm hardly a chef so I'm sure it can be improved. Bonus points if its simple enough to do when you're tired as hell and just want a nice drink.

Mine:

Start heating milk on low heat, then slowly add sugar and cocoa powder while mixing, 1 tbs each per 4oz of milk. I find this pushes the saturation limit of the milk a bit too close, so I add some more in to make sure everything dissolves. Add in some cinnamon, along with a pinch of nutmeg and salt. Once hot splash in a bit of cool cream and serve.

What horror or dark-themed games would you recommend, and why? No spoilers please.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/halloween2018/

GOG: https://www.gog.com/games?page=1&sort=popularity&tab=on_sale

Humble store: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/halloween-sale/

I'm currently looking for a new monitor and I have the ASUS MG279Q, the ASUS PG248Q and the ASUS MG278Q. Now, my setup is not the highest end, but decent with an i7 and a 1060 3GB, and there are three concerns I have currently not found an answer for:

1. The (potential) difference in quality between the MG279Q's IPS panel and the MG278's TN panel
2. And the delay difference, the TN panel having a 1ms response time and the IPS' 4ms
3. If my setup can even handle 1440p/144Hz (I don't need to play on the highest settings, nor do I need to reach those 144 FPS), in which case I would tend more towards the PG248Q

I'd love to upgrade towards 1440p as the screen real estate would be good for working (which I do a lot on the PC) and I would, I could later upgrade my GPU if the performance in games isn't satisfactory. I think my setup wouldn't have any issue handling day to day tasks and if need be I can play on lower resolutions or lower graphic settings. Also I wonder how large the difference between the IPS and TN panel is and if it's noticeable, particularly with colours.

Does anyone of you have experience with the subject or with the monitors named in particular?

Hello everyone! It has been a while since last programming challenge, it's time for another one!

This week's goal would be to build your own interpreter.

Interpreter is program that receives input and executes it. For example Python is interpreted language, meaning you are actually writing instructions for the interpreter, which does the magic.

Probably the easiest interpereter to write is Brainfuck interpreter. If someone here doesn't know, Brainfuck is programming language, which contains following instructions: ,.<>[]-+. Other characters are ignored. It has memory in form of array of integers. At the start, pointer that points to one specific memory cell points to cell 0. We can use < to move pointer to left (decrement) and > to move pointer to right (increment). . can be used to print value of cell the pointer is currently pointing to (ascii). , can be used to read one character from stdin and write it to memory. [ is beggining of loop and ] is end of loop. Loops can be nested. Loop is terminated when we reach ] character and current value in memory is equal to 0. - can be used to decrement value in memory by 1 and + can be used to increment value in memory by 1. Here's Hello World:

++++++++++[>+++++++>++++++++++>+++>+<<<<
-]>++.>+.+++++++..+++.>++.<<++++++++++++
+++.>.+++.------.--------.>+.>.

People with nothing to do today can attemp to make an interpreter for the Taxi programming language.

You can even make your own language! There are no limits for this challenge.

I’ll go first:

I had this thought a few years ago, and for me it was my desire to write and perform music. Yes, I wanted to be a “rock star” in a way. I had a bit of skill, and some song ideas, while at the same time the idea of putting my soul out in front of everyone scared the crap out of me. I have major stage fright.

So.. being the nerdy control freak that I am, I started my own Open Mic night at a friend’s bar. For many weeks I drove all of my audio gear there, I hosted lots of amazing people.. and eventually I performed. I played and sang my three songs. People loved it, but all the while my lips turned blue due to lack of normal breathing, and I certainly never made eye contact with the crowd more than once. That night I felt like I accomplished my goal, and learned my limits. Mission accomplished, I am now ready for the theoretical end.

Would you have any regrets in a similar thought experiment?