ChuckS's recent activity
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Comment on I'm gonna be a dad! in ~life.men
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
ChuckS LinkWhat happened to the old internet? Money. I have a friend that says, "If you want an answer to a question, post the question online then add an answer that you know is wrong. People that might not...What happened to the old internet? Money.
I have a friend that says, "If you want an answer to a question, post the question online then add an answer that you know is wrong. People that might not engage with the question will come out of the woodwork to list all the reasons why the answer is wrong."
I think outrage sells. Look at Fox News. They manufacture outrage, then feed it to the viewers. The viewers don't get upset and turn the TV off, they sit there and get more outraged. Here's a post talking about how Facebook priorizes outrage in your feed.
You're being baited. Companies are trying to get you upset because you'll stick around and argue more, and the longer you're there the more ads they can put in front of you.
Why is Tildes better? What's missing here? Ads. Does Tildes care about how much time you spend on the site? Probably not.
Money, as it does with all things, ruined the internet.
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Comment on Whats a drug that you would never try? in ~talk
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Comment on Whats a drug that you would never try? in ~talk
ChuckS Link ParentYup! I was on Truman (CVN-75) from April '03 to August '07.Yup! I was on Truman (CVN-75) from April '03 to August '07.
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Comment on Whats a drug that you would never try? in ~talk
ChuckS Link ParentI know a lot of other people have replied, but I'll throw my two cents in as well. I'm almost 40 now, family history of ADHD, medicated 2nd grade through the end of high school. I had to stop when...I know a lot of other people have replied, but I'll throw my two cents in as well. I'm almost 40 now, family history of ADHD, medicated 2nd grade through the end of high school. I had to stop when I enlisted because my job (nuclear power) wouldn't allow any psychological drugs, and when I separated I was broke and couldn't afford any medication.
Now I'm a senior professional, moving into the "purely administrative" phase of software engineering (kill me lol), and I found I've been doing everything under the sun except the paperwork that's required of me.
The best way I can try to explain ADHD is fatigue. Imagine if you had COPD or some other heart/lung issue. Your brain functions just fine, you've got the best plan: I'm going to clean house. You walk around and pick up a few things, but before you can put them away you're exhausted and need to stop. You set it all on the couch. You go to mop, put a mop bucket in the bathtub and fill it with water, and it's too much to lift. You need to go to the store to get some windex, but you sit in the car in the parking lot because it's just too damn far to walk.
Every project is started with the sincere intent to finish it, but there's no mental stamina. It takes so much effort to stay on task that it's exhausting. People act like we're not aware that we half-ass everything, but I at least am acutely aware of that fact, and it can drive a deep sense of frustration and apathy that can verge on depression because I still want to finish all those tasks as well.
The jobs I've been truly successful at are the ones where there are varied items for me to work on in parallel. It gives me permission to put something on hold and come back to it later, and that relieves a lot of the stress about not getting it done.
Ironically, kind of like procrastination, not finishing a task is (again, to me) exquisitely obvious, and knowing that it's due only drives up the stress that further saps that mental stamina.
The amphetamines I'm on now give me the mental stamina. I just restarted a few weeks ago, but already I can plan the work start to finish. I can sit through a 9 hour workshop without pulling up other tasks in the background. I can get work done, and so now I'm getting that dopamine hit that I've accomplished something. The anxiety is less because I don't have all this stuff looming over me. I'm sleeping the best I have in years because I can lay in bed without ruminating on the work I know I haven't finished. Sleeping better helps me feel better in the morning, helps build more of that mental stamina.
I understand that "feeling of exquisite capability," in that I understand what it feels like to hold a thought through to completion. I have the power to do the tasks I set out for myself in the same way that someone who trains to run feels like their body is exquisitely capable because they know they can run a marathon. Every day doesn't need to be a marathon, but knowing you've got the ability to go long-distance really helps to confidently start something new.
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Comment on Stellaris: Astral Planes | Announcement trailer in ~games
ChuckS Link ParentThe sad thing is that I'd at least like to give the game a shot, but life is just too busy right now, and hasbeen since the original Stellaris was released :(The sad thing is that I'd at least like to give the game a shot, but life is just too busy right now, and hasbeen since the original Stellaris was released :(
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Comment on Stellaris: Astral Planes | Announcement trailer in ~games
ChuckS Link ParentI found the soundtrack on Spotify on accident, but it's been my most-listened music for literal years now. I bought the game just to show my support, but I've got young kids and life has been...I found the soundtrack on Spotify on accident, but it's been my most-listened music for literal years now. I bought the game just to show my support, but I've got young kids and life has been crazy, so I've never had a chance to play.
I'm excited for another soundtrack, though! The original is the perfect balance of busy and repetitive and helps me turn part of my brain off so I can focus on whatever I'm trying to get done.
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Comment on The one-state solution by Edward Saïd (1999) in ~misc
ChuckS Link ParentWhat kind of an argument is this? There is a link to the NYT article in the main post. You can access the article from their site. What is the point of posting a link to an archived copy of the...What kind of an argument is this? There is a link to the NYT article in the main post. You can access the article from their site.
What is the point of posting a link to an archived copy of the article? Is it because the NYT version is behind a paywall?
And then you say, "It's okay to pirate the article because if they cared it would be behind a paywall."
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Comment on The one-state solution by Edward Saïd (1999) in ~misc
ChuckS Link ParentI understand people want to read the article, but I really hate to see the web archive abused like this. It's a useful tool for a ton of other stuff and using it to pirate content will probably...I understand people want to read the article, but I really hate to see the web archive abused like this. It's a useful tool for a ton of other stuff and using it to pirate content will probably lead to it getting cut off from large portions of the internet.
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Comment on How to download and install Linux in ~comp
ChuckS Link ParentOoo hobby software like what? Genuinely curious about some niche hobbies :)Ooo hobby software like what? Genuinely curious about some niche hobbies :)
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Comment on Unity fallout continues: Dev group shuts down while developers refuse to come back in ~games
ChuckS LinkMan, I loved Unity. I did serious engineering work in it, full 3D realtime industrial simulator running actual lidar packet protocols and spoofing remote PLC I/O. Our project hardware had NO IDEA...Man, I loved Unity. I did serious engineering work in it, full 3D realtime industrial simulator running actual lidar packet protocols and spoofing remote PLC I/O. Our project hardware had NO IDEA it wasn't actually in the system, so we could test the code before the site even started production. Classically the integration test fell to the field engineering team.
This was back in 2018. I used it all the way up to spring of last year, when we were in serious discussions with their new industrial automation team. The problem I had is that I changed careers and was (am) now doing automotive automation, and they didn't have a good core radar model. Also the batched raycast command was a CPU operation with no way to leverage GPU.
There was something something DOTS, which I kept wanting to try, but man they really half-assed that release. The feature announcement at the conference looked so awesome, but then there was never any solid documentation, no good examples, and then after a few YEARS of it lingering they decided to can the feature officially to "polish" and I thought, "well there's no sense trying to learn it now if they're going to change everything."
C# is an amazing language (the best, I'll happily die on that hill) and I've been dreaming of some way to get back to Unity to do... anything. But now? If they're going to unilaterally yank the terms out from under everyone for games that get installed, what about industrial ToS? The simulators I've made only get deployed on a few machines, but they're absolute beasts and provide a ton of value.
The thing is, there's this value decision of "should I build this myself or pay someone to do it for me," and part of that is cost. I couldn't imagine sinking a few years into a project just to then have Unity decide that they're going to make it prohibitively expensive.
I don't see how anyone goes back to Unity. Ever. I wouldn't.
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Comment on Copenhagen left looking sheepish after feta cheese judgment – Denmark loses Greek cheese fight at top EU court in ~food
ChuckS Link ParentYou can buy it, under a different name. Champagne vs sparkling wine. It's akin to a patent - that region created the thing, they spent time building a reputation, marketing, etc. It's not fair to...You can buy it, under a different name. Champagne vs sparkling wine.
It's akin to a patent - that region created the thing, they spent time building a reputation, marketing, etc. It's not fair to those people that invested all that effort for Nestlé to open a factory to mass produce some knockoff that capitalizes on the name. It dilutes the "brand" the region established and there's no accountability.
If Nestlé wants to call it, say, Parmesan cheese, then they're allowed to do it if they open the factory in Parma, but then they're subject to the laws in the locality and that locality can then enforce whatever food purity laws or whatever else they want.
Go look at Greek yogurt for example. It's supposed to be yogurt that strains out the whey/liquid. It's thick because it's concentrated. Or, it's supposed to be. Fage, Oikos, etc. are made with milk and yogurt cultures. They get it thick by traditional processing.
Yoplait Greek yogurt is using gelatin to artificially thicken the yogurt, Greek Gods is using pectin, Zoi is using maltodextrin, etc.
If there were protections here then you could buy "Greek yogurt" that's manufactured how you expect when you hear the name, or "Greek-style yogurt" for those that aren't.
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Comment on California’s solar market is now a battery market in ~enviro
ChuckS Link ParentYeah correct. The horizontal distance in the stairs analogy is the time taken for the transient in the solar field. The too-steep stairs are the unmodified solar output, and the second set of...Yeah correct. The horizontal distance in the stairs analogy is the time taken for the transient in the solar field.
The too-steep stairs are the unmodified solar output, and the second set of bolt-on stairs that pads the stair tread to a safe length is the surge generation capacity (battery).
If it's a line, y=mx + b, the battery supplements the slope to make it less steep. I'd like to put y=(m+battery)x + b, where the slope m is negative because power is falling and battery is positive. And again, the point isn't to get the combined slope to zero (steady power), it's to get the combined slope to an acceptable negative slope, where the magnitude is within some regulatory threshold.
Another example might be airbags. The point of the airbag isn't to prevent you from stopping, but instead to extend the time you have to slow down such that your body receives some acceptable (non-fatal) deceleration.
The battery slows the rate of power decline, because the solar field and the conventional utility are electrically coupled, and that electrical coupling becomes a mechanical coupling in the conventional generator. It takes time for the steam governor to open and admit more inlet power to the generator, and the solar field power drop is felt at the conventional utility as a sudden increase in demand. The sudden transient could stress the mechanical equipment, but also if the increase in demand outstrips the ability of the inlet governor to adjust then the mechanical power simply doesn't exist and the generated power fails to meet demand, resulting in a brownout.
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Comment on California’s solar market is now a battery market in ~enviro
ChuckS Link ParentYou're basically "unit laundering" from power being a derivative (energy per time) to power being the base term and energy being the integral (accumulated power). I tend to think in Watt-hours for...You're basically "unit laundering" from power being a derivative (energy per time) to power being the base term and energy being the integral (accumulated power).
I tend to think in Watt-hours for energy because I do like the "accumulated power" concept, but that also might be the fact that the pervasiveness of Watts as a unit leads me to think more in terms of power.
1 kilowatt hour could be 1 Watt for 1000 hours or 1 kilowatt for 1 hour, or 10 kW for (0.1 hr =) 6 minutes. And I understand that mathematically it converts okay to Joules, but again I think of spent energy as "how long have I been generating X power," or battery capacity as "how long could this provide X power?"
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Comment on California’s solar market is now a battery market in ~enviro
ChuckS Link ParentYou're considering if they followed the allowable ramp rate for the same duration. In the example, for whatever reason (rain, solar eclipse, etc.) the solar field will only generate 30 MW. The...You're considering if they followed the allowable ramp rate for the same duration. In the example, for whatever reason (rain, solar eclipse, etc.) the solar field will only generate 30 MW.
The solar field is allowed to output whatever it wants, down to zero. See also: night. It's not a matter of what the ultimate output power is, but how quickly you get to that output power, to give other utilities an opportunity to safely ramp up their production to make up for your deficit.
So if the solar field IS going from 300 to 30 MW in 20 seconds, on a hypothetical perfectly linear transition, then it's going to drop power at a rate of 270/20 = 27/2 = 13.5 MW per second.
The solar field, not wanting to get fined for exceeding the (hypothetical) 10 MW/s allowable ramp rate, needs to make up the difference there somehow. It could be batteries, it could be standby diesel generators, etc.
They don't need to maintain any particular ultimate output, they just need to get to whatever it is slowly, so as long as they're capable of SLOWING the rate of decline, they don't get fined.
So again, if they're allowed to drop at 10 MW/s, and they are dropping, without supplementation, at a rate of 13.5 MW/s, then they need to supplement that excess 3.5 MW, and they need to be able to sustain that supplement for however long the transient occurs.
Maybe think of it like stairs. If they're too steep, they could pose a trip/fall hazard, so the regulation is on stair pitch. As long as you have the appropriate steepness, you're allowed to build any number of steps. The step steepness regulation doesn't care or have anything to do with the elevation (power) difference between the two end points.
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Comment on California’s solar market is now a battery market in ~enviro
ChuckS Link ParentI was tangentially involved in engineering for batteries on grid scale solar projects. The use of batteries isn't for something like "saving" sunlight to distribute at night, but for the more...I was tangentially involved in engineering for batteries on grid scale solar projects.
The use of batteries isn't for something like "saving" sunlight to distribute at night, but for the more mundane task of controlling output power fluctuation. If you had a storm roll in quickly, the power production might drop very quickly.
The load on the grid doesn't drop quickly, though, which means the non-solar power facilities need to pick up that load in a hurry, and it's not easy to (near-) instantaneously add 200+ MW of power.
It puts a tremendous stress on conventional plants, to the point that those power utilities or regulatory agencies will FINE your solar site for failing to comply with established power ramp rates. The faster your power changes - in either direction! - the steeper the fine.
If your power production goes from, say, 300 MW to 30 MW in 20 seconds, then you're dropping at a rate of about 13.5 MW per second. If the regulatory agency says you're only allowed to change 10 MW per second, then you're in violation and will be fined.
So the battery capacity isn't about long-term storage, to time shift solar to night production, but instead to pad out that power fluctuation so you're not in violation. In the example I made up, you'd need a battery system that can output 3.5 MW for 20 seconds to keep your company from getting fined.
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Comment on Norwegians head to the polls on Sept. 13 in a parliamentary election that has centered on the issue of whether saving the planet is worth stopping the fossil fuel gravy train in ~enviro
ChuckS Link ParentWhy are renewables so unpopular?What's the "new oil" going to be when renewables are so unpopular
Why are renewables so unpopular?
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Comment on Rick and Morty - Season 5 discussion in ~tv
ChuckS Link ParentReally? The most disappointing streaming service? You've got access to all of the HBO content!Really? The most disappointing streaming service? You've got access to all of the HBO content!
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Comment on What's a hidden health issue you live with? in ~health
ChuckS Link ParentI'm writing this as I'm doing my cooldown walk back to my house. Give exercise a shot. I always thought I would hate running, but part of me always wanted to give it a shot. After I watched this...I'm writing this as I'm doing my cooldown walk back to my house. Give exercise a shot. I always thought I would hate running, but part of me always wanted to give it a shot. After I watched this video on running form I decided to give the couch to 5k program a shot. I've been running for six years now. I was 31 and 255 pounds when I started.
All that is to say that if I can do it I think anyone can. If it's not fun then you're going too fast - running doesn't mean speed, it's the form.
What I've found, being also ADHD, is that running gives me some quiet time, gives my body an outlet for me anxious energy, and I think the endorphine kick helps my brain to focus. The two best places for thinking for me are on runs and in the shower.
I'd highly recommend the paid couch to 5k app. It's three dollars. Get any pair of running shoes, some shorts and a t-shirt, and go start the couch to 5k program. Go get that runner's high.
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Comment on What's a hidden health issue you live with? in ~health
ChuckS Link ParentI don't know if you've considered psilocybin (magic mushrooms) but I read for years about studies using it to treat depression and PTSD and, importantly to me, existential dread for end-stage...I don't know if you've considered psilocybin (magic mushrooms) but I read for years about studies using it to treat depression and PTSD and, importantly to me, existential dread for end-stage cancer patients.
I watched my grandfather die in a hospital. I was 29, he was the most meaningful person in my life, he was the first immediate family member of mine to die, and it was the first person I had ever watched die.
I suffered from PTSD for years after and suffered quite a lot of existential dread. I know how quickly time feels like it's passing and I could very clearly empathize with him and realized one day, if I'm lucky, I'll be dying in a hospital bed with my family while my grandson watches me die. It's only a matter of time, and time seems to be speeding up as I get older. I'm almost 38 now.
Sometimes I'll lay in bed at night and these intrusive thoughts will come to me where I try to imagine what death would be like, to know that I will simply cease to exist and my blood runs cold.
It got bad enough for me that I stopped sleeping well, and I thought that if psilocybin could help people cope that are actually facing death then maybe it could help me. I've tried several times now and, while the flashbacks to his death still happen occasionally, they don't carry the same emotional impact. I've thought about death since, but not with the same adrenaline/fear response. Sometimes I notice the knot in my stomach is gone.
I got started with a microscopy kit from /r/SporeTraders and some reading on /r/UncleBens. The process of getting to mushrooms took quite a long time, and the restorative qualities didn't happen for me on the first trip, but I also haven't taken a huge dose, just 4-5 moderate ones.
Follow on here: It's possibly that the baby is crying for different reasons now than when it started. Generally it's something like:
If you check the diaper and it's dry, then you offer a bottle. If the baby drinks but starts crying partway through, they could be wet. If you change the diaper and they're crying again, they might want to finish the bottle. Work through the list, and if you get to the end and the baby is still upset, do it again.
And if you get upset, it's okay to walk away. Call a friend, family member, tell someone you need them to watch the kid for a couple hours so you can take a nap. It's okay.