Bluebonnets's recent activity

  1. Comment on Concerns about new facial recognition software implemented by TSA at US airports in ~transport

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    Yeah I wonder if it’s similar. When we went to Australia a few years ago we didn’t have to talk to anyone coming in, just had our faces and ID scanned by a computer and it pushed us through....

    Yeah I wonder if it’s similar. When we went to Australia a few years ago we didn’t have to talk to anyone coming in, just had our faces and ID scanned by a computer and it pushed us through.

    Actually, that’s not true - I got pushed through. My husband had to have someone confirm his ID because his passport was almost 10 years old by then and he had more hair than he does now…machine didn’t recognize him haha. To be fair, the customs agent laughed and said he’d barely recognize him too.

    1 vote
  2. Comment on Where do you stand on climate change? in ~talk

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    I know what you mean. The most important thing an individual can do to make an impact on a global issue like this is to vote for politicians who want to make legislative changes. Also, have only...

    I know what you mean. The most important thing an individual can do to make an impact on a global issue like this is to vote for politicians who want to make legislative changes. Also, have only 1-2 kids max to avoid the population growth (or have no kids at all if that’s your thing)…beyond that, all the handwringing on what a single person can do about global warming is a drop in the bucket and not worth the stress to be freaking out about in your every day life.

    In my opinion it leads to a lot of defeatism too - often whenever there are news article of legit good things/changes a company or community is making toward emissions there are tons of comments along the lines of “doesn’t matter” “too late” etc. Why bash groups trying to make an impact just because it isn’t “THE” solution in your mind? Why have so many people resigned to some apocalyptic future that isn’t set in stone? Too much doom scrolling I guess.

    3 votes
  3. Comment on More evidence that gas stoves produce suprisingly large amounts of harmful pollutants in ~enviro

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    Yeah that italicized statement is doing a lot of heavy lifting. If you have a hood that vents externally, gas stove emissions inside are not a big deal. They aren’t as contained as, say, the...

    Yeah that italicized statement is doing a lot of heavy lifting. If you have a hood that vents externally, gas stove emissions inside are not a big deal. They aren’t as contained as, say, the chimney for your furnace, but pretty much everything is getting sucked out.

    With that said I grew up in a house with a gas stove and no vent, but I didn’t really notice the air quality issue until I bought a house as an adult with a proper vent. Cooking smells and vapors clear out so much faster and cooking at my parents’ annoys me more now. I do think anyone who chooses gas cooking should invest in proper ventilation.

    Otherwise, induction is very good. Not worth the effort of retrofitting my house that doesn’t have an electric stove outlet but if I had one I’d consider induction, it heats up and cools down so quickly.

    5 votes
  4. Comment on Iowa joins dozens of other US states in legalizing sales of raw milk in ~health

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    It’s funny because most (responsible) people in the industry do not like the idea of mass produced raw milk. I’m from a dairy, majored in agriculture and spent a lot of time on farms small and...

    It’s funny because most (responsible) people in the industry do not like the idea of mass produced raw milk. I’m from a dairy, majored in agriculture and spent a lot of time on farms small and large before changing careers after grad school. Yes I’ve had plenty of raw milk because we just filled up a container from the bulk tank and kept it. But we would never have just started bottling it raw to sell to the masses without any processing - sure most of the time the milk is fine, but if any contaminants do get in do YOU want to be the person responsible for making other families sick? Most dairy farmers would say no, hence only a fringe movement is pushing the idea around.

    All that said, modern dairy farming in the US is incredibly safe. Antibiotics are illegal in milk and you’ll pay a steep price if you mess that up, steroidal hormones in dairy animals is not legal, there are very standard cleaning procedures in every parlor to keep things going smoothly. But pasteurization is the absolutely necessary final step needed to transport milk safely to millions of people every single day.

    31 votes
  5. Comment on A Tesla owner says he was locked out of his EV after its 12-volt battery died amid the Texas heat in ~transport

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    Yes I’ve heard the range drops a good amount in the cold, we are in Texas hah so not really a problem for us. I definitely wouldn’t want a Bolt with a commute that long. Honestly any EV at that...

    Yes I’ve heard the range drops a good amount in the cold, we are in Texas hah so not really a problem for us. I definitely wouldn’t want a Bolt with a commute that long. Honestly any EV at that point it gets dicey if you don’t have a garage/house to put a charger in.

    2 votes
  6. Comment on A Tesla owner says he was locked out of his EV after its 12-volt battery died amid the Texas heat in ~transport

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    I own a Chevy Bolt and love it, it’s not a fancy car but it’s cheaper than the Teslas and other big EVs. Plus with the tax credit it comes out around the same as other little economy cars. But...

    I own a Chevy Bolt and love it, it’s not a fancy car but it’s cheaper than the Teslas and other big EVs. Plus with the tax credit it comes out around the same as other little economy cars. But it’s got some nice features like automatic cruise control, 360 camera etc.

    We mostly use it to drive around town/run errands and then just plug it in the garage whenever the charge is getting low. Not having to pay for gas in busy city traffic is nice. The range is 200+ miles which we never come anything close to.

    The con to the Bolt is the charging is slow, very slow. Which doesn’t matter to me, but if I had a large commute or needed to do long road trips it gets tricky. Either need to plan long stops or many short ones to top off and charging infrastructure between major cities isn’t great yet.

    3 votes
  7. Comment on Golden age of medicine in ~science

    Bluebonnets
    Link
    I worked in oncology research for a few years, and I do think we are in a golden age of treatment innovation, at least since targeted therapies started popping up. With genetic testing we can...

    I worked in oncology research for a few years, and I do think we are in a golden age of treatment innovation, at least since targeted therapies started popping up. With genetic testing we can offer much more tailored treatments with drugs that target specific biomarkers in tumors. You can have metastatic disease and survive much longer than we ever thought possible with traditional chemo. All of this is aside from the mRNA potential that came out of the COVID vaccine research.

    7 votes
  8. Comment on It's July 1st, my third party app still works to visit Reddit? in ~tech

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    It feels cringe because the more professional option would be to say nothing at all. I’ve worked for very large corporations in the past that occasionally make the rounds on social media - rather...

    It feels cringe because the more professional option would be to say nothing at all. I’ve worked for very large corporations in the past that occasionally make the rounds on social media - rather than say “I know stuff but can’t say, sorry NDA” you simply don’t comment at all and just keep scrolling. It’s not worth the headache anyway.

    14 votes
  9. Comment on Courgette/zucchini recipes in ~food

    Bluebonnets
    Link
    I realize this assumes you have a smoker or BBQ hah, but zucchini is one of my favorite veggies to put in the smoker next to whatever we’re grilling. It soaks up the flavor really well but is...

    I realize this assumes you have a smoker or BBQ hah, but zucchini is one of my favorite veggies to put in the smoker next to whatever we’re grilling. It soaks up the flavor really well but is thick enough to not dry out too much. No recipe, just chop and toss them in some oil/salt/pepper and then put them on the smoker next time you’re doing something else to have as your side dish. If it’s a really long cook, I’d wait until the last 2-3 hours to put them on depending on grill temperature.

    2 votes
  10. Comment on Reddit is Fun, Apollo, BaconReader, and other third-party Reddit apps have officially shut down in ~tech

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    I don’t think you need an app for Tildes, at least not in its current state. The mobile website works fine and is easy to navigate. I could see a fancier UI being needed if it ever exploded and a...

    I don’t think you need an app for Tildes, at least not in its current state. The mobile website works fine and is easy to navigate. I could see a fancier UI being needed if it ever exploded and a bunch of new groups were created but it doesn’t have crazy traffic right now.

    1 vote
  11. Comment on Reddit is Fun, Apollo, BaconReader, and other third-party Reddit apps have officially shut down in ~tech

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    This is how I feel too - I’m not super invested in the drama one way or the other but I only liked Reddit in Apollo, the official app isn’t any good, so now I just don’t see myself using it much...

    This is how I feel too - I’m not super invested in the drama one way or the other but I only liked Reddit in Apollo, the official app isn’t any good, so now I just don’t see myself using it much unless I’m on my desktop.

    And these days I spend all day at work on a computer, after work I try to avoid a keyboard haha. Only get on my personal desktop on the weekends sometimes…

    1 vote
  12. Comment on Aspartame may be declared a possible carcinogen by IARC in ~food

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    It’s been many years since I looked at this but I remember aspartame coming up as a discussion in my toxicology course in grad school. There was a study at some point where they were able to give...

    It’s been many years since I looked at this but I remember aspartame coming up as a discussion in my toxicology course in grad school. There was a study at some point where they were able to give rats bladder cancer by feeding them an absurd amount of it - translating to like, gallons of diet soda a day in humans - but at least then not much in the way of human evidence.

    If it ends up in 2b, well, that’s fine. We can file it away with all the other random stuff in 2b that doesn’t impact the majority of people.

    I don’t have anything against the IARC lists, I just don’t think they were intended for laymen audiences or for reporters to run around telling everyone xyz is the new carcinogen to be afraid of.

    6 votes
  13. Comment on What are the summer activities you are looking forward to? in ~health

    Bluebonnets
    Link
    Not melting. No but I live in Texas and it hasn’t been under 100F in over a week and counting. For us summertime is avoiding the sun as much as possible haha. But in springtime I do a lot of...

    Not melting. No but I live in Texas and it hasn’t been under 100F in over a week and counting. For us summertime is avoiding the sun as much as possible haha. But in springtime I do a lot of gardening and have been trying to clean up our yard since we bought our house a few years ago.

    1 vote
  14. Comment on Bakers of Tildes, what do you like to bake, and for what type of occasion? in ~food

    Bluebonnets
    Link
    I went through a phase where I baked something new every week for like a year - ranging from cookies to pastries to cakes. But then I burned out a bit and haven’t since other than the occasional...

    I went through a phase where I baked something new every week for like a year - ranging from cookies to pastries to cakes. But then I burned out a bit and haven’t since other than the occasional cookie dough. I will make a big batch, then freeze it and bake a few cookies at a time in the toaster oven.

    1 vote
  15. Comment on Pets 2! in ~life.pets

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    His name was Roscoe! And yes it is the worst part of pets that they don’t live forever :(

    His name was Roscoe! And yes it is the worst part of pets that they don’t live forever :(

    1 vote
  16. Comment on Why is everything so ugly? The mid in fake midcentury modern in ~design

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    There aren’t any pictures in this article are there? Or maybe they aren’t loading so apologies if I’m off base - I’m definitely not an interior design person but I’m a bit confused by the headline...

    There aren’t any pictures in this article are there? Or maybe they aren’t loading so apologies if I’m off base - I’m definitely not an interior design person but I’m a bit confused by the headline using mid century modern and then describing so many grays, cold, stale, dull etc items.

    Midcentury modern is more focused on earthy tones mixed with pops of color, natural fibers, etc. I don’t picture gray at all when someone says it and would say it leaned more warm than cold. Maybe that’s just me though.

    9 votes
  17. Comment on Killing community in ~tech

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    Is Reddit really collapsing though? There is certainly some outrage right now and the protests have been front and center but realistically the % of users using third party apps is small, and I’m...

    Is Reddit really collapsing though? There is certainly some outrage right now and the protests have been front and center but realistically the % of users using third party apps is small, and I’m not sure how much the bulk of the user base will care once everything opens back up. There have been cycles of outrage before if I remember (firing Victoria for example).

    Anecdotally I scrolled through my front page this morning and only a few of my subs apparently went private or are having any discussions about it. Maybe it’s just I tend to a follow a lot of smaller subs that aren’t usually political or meta to the site?

    7 votes
  18. Comment on Any finance tips and tricks for those who are financially illiterate? in ~finance

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    Yes, I came here to recommend YNAB. We’ve used it for a long time - I definitely subscribe to the “every dollar should have a job/label” thing when it comes to personal finance.

    Yes, I came here to recommend YNAB. We’ve used it for a long time - I definitely subscribe to the “every dollar should have a job/label” thing when it comes to personal finance.

    2 votes
  19. Comment on Today is my 11th Reddit Cakeday, and it is likely to be my last as an always-on user in ~talk

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    I am curious how long it stays down before admins step in and appoint other mods - r/videos is a huge default sub and I’m not sure they’ll let it go dark indefinitely.

    I am curious how long it stays down before admins step in and appoint other mods - r/videos is a huge default sub and I’m not sure they’ll let it go dark indefinitely.

    1 vote
  20. Comment on Aquariums - Is there a difference in tank configuration between freshwater and saltwater? in ~hobbies

    Bluebonnets
    Link Parent
    I haven’t had aquariums in years but I think this is on the right track. Also, with saltwater the larger the tank the more stable it’s going to be - so if you have maybe a 30 gallon tank with 10...

    I haven’t had aquariums in years but I think this is on the right track. Also, with saltwater the larger the tank the more stable it’s going to be - so if you have maybe a 30 gallon tank with 10 gallon sump under, you are technically working with about 40 gallons, so there’s more wiggle room.

    6 votes