DrStone's recent activity
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Comment on bubbles.town: Tildes but exclusively for blogs in ~tech
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Comment on Not so empty nesters: record-high number of US adults under 35 live at home, new data says in ~life
DrStone (edited )Link ParentI would bet that it's more the definition of "home" being "where a person lives", so to someone who's only learned English as a second language, it it seems tautological to say "record-high number...I would bet that it's more the definition of "home" being "where a person lives", so to someone who's only learned English as a second language, it it seems tautological to say "record-high number [...] live at home". Of course they do. You'd probably need to be more familiar with how "home" is used in different contexts, how common independent nuclear family households are compared to multi-generational ones (leading to different "homes" for one person), and so on to really get what the headline means without additional context.
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Comment on If you are asking for human attention, demonstrate human effort in ~comp
DrStone Link ParentYeah, there's a big difference between a reactive "it's the tool's fault" defense after getting called out on garbage results or blown deadlines, and a proactive "the tool we use at the company...Yeah, there's a big difference between a reactive "it's the tool's fault" defense after getting called out on garbage results or blown deadlines, and a proactive "the tool we use at the company for this process is [unusable/not producing good results] for [already investigated reason]. We can wait for it to be fixed, or we can instead..." or just figuring an alternative solution out yourself without the broken tool to meet the agreed upon deadlines if the tool usage is your personal choice.
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Comment on Epic Games announces Lore open-source version control system in ~tech
DrStone Link ParentHaving used cvs and svn in a professional context, I absolutely love git. The cli took a little while to learn, but now all of my common workflow, troubleshooting, and branch/history hygiene...Having used cvs and svn in a professional context, I absolutely love git. The cli took a little while to learn, but now all of my common workflow, troubleshooting, and branch/history hygiene commands are muscle memory. Throw in a few custom aliases for convenience and I’m good to go. The only time I leave the official git cli is to use IntelliJ’s conflict resolution GUI for complicated conflicts (the “magic” resolve gets me 90% of the way there, and I’m already using IntelliJ as my primary IDE, so it’s right there); I still commit after resolving and do everything else with the cli.
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Comment on Test your medical knowledge with daily clinical scenarios in ~health
DrStone Link ParentI see two cookies for the domain after playing doctordle_cookies_accepted: true doctordle_stats: stats that appear to be cumulative (gamesPlayed, lastPlayedDate, guessDistribution, and some...I see two cookies for the domain after playing
doctordle_cookies_accepted:truedoctordle_stats: stats that appear to be cumulative (gamesPlayed, lastPlayedDate, guessDistribution, and some others)
Seems weird to require it just for stats. I had thought maybe they were using cookies for the current state, but that appears to be in local storage, where I see:
doctordle_ga_consent:granteddoctordle_archive_335_completed:lost(I played one archived game)doctordle_336_Thu Jun 18 2026: game state
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Comment on What are some seemingly silly things in your life that have practical purposes? in ~life
DrStone Link ParentThe NYT has an article on this topic Do You Really Need to Clean Your Fridge Coils? (2025)The NYT has an article on this topic Do You Really Need to Clean Your Fridge Coils? (2025)
The majority of us don’t need to clean them, ever.
[...]
In the past, said Amiel, dust and lint would collect in the fan and the condenser coils that lived under or in the back of your refrigerator, and that dust would block the air flow that a fridge needs to keep things cool. But for the past two decades, fridges have been designed to fully protect those elements so you don’t need to worry about cleaning them, said Amiel. -
Comment on How one plant murdered a continent in ~enviro
DrStone LinkOfftopic/meta: I have no idea where that "SG" is coming from. I selected the title on youtube, copied, and it pasted with an "SG". Copying just part of the title doesn't come with the "SG". If...Offtopic/meta:
I have no idea where that "SG" is coming from. I selected the title on youtube, copied, and it pasted with an "SG". Copying just part of the title doesn't come with the "SG". If someone could remove it here, that'd be great. -
Comment on How one plant murdered a continent in ~enviro
DrStone LinkThis is an interesting history of an invasive species nearly taking over a continent and the efforts to combat it - the prickly pear cactus in Australia. This is the first video I've seen from...This is an interesting history of an invasive species nearly taking over a continent and the efforts to combat it - the prickly pear cactus in Australia. This is the first video I've seen from this guy, but the presentation is fun and interesting beyond being a wild story.
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How one plant murdered a continent
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Comment on Caught the cycling bug. Anyone else? in ~hobbies
DrStone LinkI don't bike much due to the weather (consistently 28-32C, 70%+ humidity, UV 6-7), though I've considered picking up a helmet so I could at least do a bikeshare or something when my spouse has the...I don't bike much due to the weather (consistently 28-32C, 70%+ humidity, UV 6-7), though I've considered picking up a helmet so I could at least do a bikeshare or something when my spouse has the car. There is an excellent resource from Virginia Tech rating bicycle helmet safety. They've got other sport/activity helmet sections too.
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Comment on The "go fix a minor annoyance" togetherness topic in ~life
DrStone Link ParentI've had several co-workers who smoked. While they never completely eliminated the smell, a few of them took care to reduce it as much as possible. It's all about preventing smoke from settling on...I've had several co-workers who smoked. While they never completely eliminated the smell, a few of them took care to reduce it as much as possible. It's all about preventing smoke from settling on you and cleaning off any that does.
- Always smoke outside in a well ventilated area, never in the home or a vehicle. Use a fan if possible to blow smoke away from you and from the home, since wind can be inconsistent. Make sure you're nowhere near open windows/doors.
- Wear some sort of smoking jacket. Doesn't have to be a fancy robe, just something to prevent it from settling on your actual clothes. Wash this jacket regularly.
- Wear a hat for similar reasons.
- Wear gloves (depending on weather) for similar reasons
- Keep your smoking apparel out of the house and isolated between washing. If you've got a garage, that's a great place. Otherwise some sort of air-tight bag/box.
- Wash what you can as soon as your done. Wash your face, scrub your hands, brush your teeth and tongue, use mouthwash. My colleagues would do this in the office bathroom.
- Try not to smoke around other smokers and keep smoke breaks brief. More smoke lingering in the area, or for longer, means more smoke getting on you.
One guy did all of this every smoke break and unless you saw him or were right near the door when he returned, it was hard to notice that he was a smoker at all.
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Comment on The user is visibly frustrated in ~tech
DrStone Link ParentI find Gemini is confidently wrong a lot, at least the free version. I'm constantly calling it out and getting an "oh yes, you're right!" response. I have a Claude subscription for work, and while...I find Gemini is confidently wrong a lot, at least the free version. I'm constantly calling it out and getting an "oh yes, you're right!" response. I have a Claude subscription for work, and while it's not perfect, it's so much better.
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
DrStone LinkI struggle with optimizing the fun out of games. Like @Wafik, I feel compelled to explore side paths. When I come to a fork, I spend time trying to figure out which is the story-progressing path,...I struggle with optimizing the fun out of games. Like @Wafik, I feel compelled to explore side paths. When I come to a fork, I spend time trying to figure out which is the story-progressing path, and go the other way first. If it isn't looking like it'll be a dead-end, I'll go back and try the other for a bit to see if that was the side path instead. In a room, I rub myself against everything possible to make sure I don't miss anything interactive or lootable. If world travel is fairly linear, I'll approximate a "traveling salesman" solution and exhaust everything possible at each location before leaving so I don't have to backtrack or go anywhere twice unnecessarily and so I have all quests started before I potentially reach what would be their next steps. If there's an open map and fog-of-war over a map, or a city with many crossing streets, I will first traverse the edge to establish boundaries and then systematically go back and forth like mowing a lawn, making sure that nothing is overlooked. If there's some sort of resource collection/production/whatever, I need to figure out the most optimal and efficient way to get it done, even it it means grinding for the upgrades "quickly" that they expect you to passively get after a while playing. I must complete all side content possible before the endgame because I almost never replay a game, and once the "end" is complete, knocking out the remaining side quests just feels hollow.
In short, I can't get out of the mindset of "what do I expect the game developers to have done/hidden here" and optimization rather than just playing how my character would reasonably act and enjoying the organic exploration.
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Comment on Code is cheap(er) in ~comp
DrStone Link ParentThis is pretty similar to my process. For small fixes or bug investigations, I leave it pretty loose with just a paragraph of two (what I want, a bit of context or what I’ve done so far). For...This is pretty similar to my process. For small fixes or bug investigations, I leave it pretty loose with just a paragraph of two (what I want, a bit of context or what I’ve done so far).
For bigger features, I start with a detailed hand-written outline that includes the goals/motivations, high level requirements, a general outline of how I think it should be implemented along with references to existing conventions, and any gotchas or important things worth highlighting. From that, I’ll have it generate a detailed plan, during which it’ll usually ask for clarifications and product decisions. Once the plan is done, I’ll go through several rounds of having claude do a clean-context audit looking for various issues, edge cases, validating assumptions and claims, things worth explicitly stating, etc. Nothing gets rubber stamped, and I provide a lot of direct feedback/pushback at every step. By the third or fourth iteration, it’s generally a really solid plan that can be implemented by claude.
After implementation, I’ll go through a few clean-context audits to validate the implementation versus the plan and any bugs, inconsistencies, or ambiguities that fell out of the implementation. By the time I hit direct code review, it’s usually pretty good, and any remaining issues are caught in end to end testing.
Overall, I find it to be faster, and together “we” certainly catch more issues up front with a lot less iteration during implementation.
I think a big factor in my favor is that we have a large, old codebase. There’s almost always a precedent to follow for general architecture, and certainly a lot to go on for style and convention. The existing comments, names, and git history provide pretty good context for why things are the way they are, which inform future decisions. I’ve given it a database schema and heavily limited read-only access so it can verify assumptions, investigate scale, and be be aware of performance.
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Comment on Alternatives to a straw hat in ~life.style
DrStone Link ParentTo add on to this, many sunscreens, including product lines from some big name brands, don't even come close to their SPF ratings under independent third party testing. I vaguely recall one...To add on to this, many sunscreens, including product lines from some big name brands, don't even come close to their SPF ratings under independent third party testing. I vaguely recall one product line had enough variation that one of their SPF50 products had some batches test around SPF5.
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Comment on 'The report's so stupid': The DNC 2024 autopsy is roiling US Democrats in ~society
DrStone Link ParentI’ve yet to hear anything credibly bad about Fred RogersI’ve yet to hear anything credibly bad about Fred Rogers
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Comment on San Francisco Sign Guild in ~arts
DrStone LinkOfftopic: Between hiding things in plain sight and mentioning in a comment that you organized a scavenger hunt, it sounds like you would be a fan of geocaching. Hunting for caches disguised as...Offtopic:
Between hiding things in plain sight and mentioning in a comment that you organized a scavenger hunt, it sounds like you would be a fan of geocaching. Hunting for caches disguised as tiny bolt heads to elaborate physical puzzle mechanisms, and everything in between, all over the world. -
Comment on New job advice in ~life
DrStone Link ParentTotally new position, definitely follow the advice for scoping what you want from @carsonc. At only one day in, you can buy some time before accepting or rejecting offloaded work from people by...Totally new position, definitely follow the advice for scoping what you want from @carsonc. At only one day in, you can buy some time before accepting or rejecting offloaded work from people by telling them you're still getting up to speed on the current operations (which is also true). If your COO is open to it, I think focusing discussions on more high-level organization direction possibilities will be useful to see where you can add value and in a way that suits you.
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Comment on Updates to store tags: additions, removals, and edits in ~games
DrStone Link ParentFair enough on the live count of tagged games. For some reason I thought either Steam would be applying these "official store tags" based on review mentions or something. I fully agree that tags...Fair enough on the live count of tagged games. For some reason I thought either Steam would be applying these "official store tags" based on review mentions or something.
I fully agree that tags should tell us something meaningful about gameplay, core themes and content, major features. I disagree that tags like "Capybaras" do that for the majority of games that are tagged. So far, it seems to be mostly on games where a character(s) are skinned as a capybara, but it is inconsequential to the story or gameplay. One just has a capybara mascot completely separate from the game. Another maybe has a capybara enemy or something somewhere in the game, but it's not hinted at or mentioned anywhere outside the tag. Maybe there's some mountain of heavily themed capybara games that just haven't been tagged yet and justify an official store tag... but I'd be surprised.
Contrast it to something like "Ninja" or "samurai" where you can get an idea of the kind of weapons, gameplay, and potentially setting. A mechanical tag like "bullet heaven" is similarly a great addition, conveying meaningful information about what kind of game it is.
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Comment on Updates to store tags: additions, removals, and edits in ~games
DrStone LinkI don't understand some of these changes at all. They've added ones like "Capybaras", which only have three games - two of which are clearly crap. Similarly "Wolves" only has 4 games, with only...I don't understand some of these changes at all.
New tags are added when there are enough games on Steam that the tag could apply to, and when we think it helps establish a connection between games that couldn't already be attained through other combinations of tags.
They've added ones like "Capybaras", which only have three games - two of which are clearly crap. Similarly "Wolves" only has 4 games, with only two that are clearly wolfy, one of which is amateur crap.
The set that we've removed today are done so because they no longer serve a good purpose for establishing connections between games or describing unique and useful elements of content in the game
Among the removals, I agree with many but still find some confusing. For example, "Documentary" an "Drama" are established genres that have been applied across many mediums for ages. A hell of a lot more useful than "Capaybaras", surely.
I like the idea, but skimming through some of the top posts... the quality really isn't there. Hot takes, glorified tweets, "i had a one-off bad interaction", platitudes stretched out to posts, brief surface-level observations, and so on. I get that these are small personal blogs (I wrote my own many years ago) and quality spans the spectrum, but I don't get the impression that bubbles.town is really helping to surface good ones.