DrStone's recent activity
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Comment on What's a setting that you'd recommend? in ~tech
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Comment on Probiotics: hype or helpful? An interview with Professor Jens Walter. in ~health
DrStone Link ParentThat topic gave me pause as well, and I also suspect that we're not getting enough detail and nuance in this limited interview. An "emulsifier" is such a broad category, including "natural"...That topic gave me pause as well, and I also suspect that we're not getting enough detail and nuance in this limited interview. An "emulsifier" is such a broad category, including "natural" sources like mustard and egg yolks, that it almost feels as meaningless to talk about as "[ultra] processed food" without establishing a more narrow definition for discussion.
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Comment on Probiotics: hype or helpful? An interview with Professor Jens Walter. in ~health
DrStone Link ParentYou sound very familiar with this area of study. Do you work in the field? Really interesting about gut bacteria naturally producing antibiotics. It makes sense; evolve ways to knock out...You sound very familiar with this area of study. Do you work in the field?
Really interesting about gut bacteria naturally producing antibiotics. It makes sense; evolve ways to knock out competition so you can better thrive on the limited resources. If this is all happening on its own in our gut, I'm assuming that the antibiotics produced are different enough than the ones we intentionally administer that any resistances built up in the gut naturally don't impact the effectiveness of the medicine?
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Comment on Probiotics: hype or helpful? An interview with Professor Jens Walter. in ~health
DrStone Link ParentMany store-bought fermented foods, like a jar of sauerkraut, have been pasteurized and don't have any live bacteria. Thankfully, most fermented foods are cheap and easy to make at home! Standard...Many store-bought fermented foods, like a jar of sauerkraut, have been pasteurized and don't have any live bacteria. Thankfully, most fermented foods are cheap and easy to make at home! Standard cabbage, salt, a kitchen scale, and a container are all you need to make fantastic sauerkraut. Kombucha just needs a few cheap teabags, some sugar, and a bit of starter liquid from a previous batch (or a scoby) - so much cheaper than the store.
Plus, fermented foods are just plain delicious, regardless of potential health benefits.
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Comment on Probiotics: hype or helpful? An interview with Professor Jens Walter. in ~health
DrStone LinkAnn Reardon of Youtube channel "How To Cook That" interviews Professor Jens Walter, a gut microbiome expert. They talk about the current state of research on the microbiome, its relation to health...Ann Reardon of Youtube channel "How To Cook That" interviews Professor Jens Walter, a gut microbiome expert. They talk about the current state of research on the microbiome, its relation to health outcomes, supplements currently on the market, and influences of diet and lifestyle.
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Probiotics: hype or helpful? An interview with Professor Jens Walter.
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Comment on What is a business/org that is great and ethical in so many aspects that everyone should consider using? in ~life
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Comment on Disabling Auto-Zoom in the YouTube app (iOS) in ~tech
DrStone Link ParentHuh. Mine looks like this I have the zoom setting, but no picture-in-picture. iPhone 11 Pro iOS 18.6.2 YouTube 20.5.32Huh. Mine looks like this
I have the zoom setting, but no picture-in-picture.
iPhone 11 Pro
iOS 18.6.2
YouTube 20.5.32 -
Comment on Disabling Auto-Zoom in the YouTube app (iOS) in ~tech
DrStone LinkClick the “You” in the bottom right. Click the gear icon in the top right. Scroll down to “Video and audio preferences” section, click “Playback”. Turn off “Zoom to fill screen”.Click the “You” in the bottom right.
Click the gear icon in the top right.
Scroll down to “Video and audio preferences” section, click “Playback”.
Turn off “Zoom to fill screen”. -
Comment on What is a business/org that's so terrible no one should use if possible? in ~life
DrStone Link ParentSide note: Any talk on any topic by Bryan Cantrill is worth watching. The energy, the word choice, the presentation, and of course the content is all just top notch. Some of his lightning talks...Side note: Any talk on any topic by Bryan Cantrill is worth watching. The energy, the word choice, the presentation, and of course the content is all just top notch. Some of his lightning talks (and full presentations) from the old Surge conference are particularly great.
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Comment on What are your favorite ways to measure your own health? in ~health
DrStone Link ParentThat reminds me about what I read on home scales years ago, though I can't find it now. First is that many home scales are garbage, with both incorrect and inconsistent internal readings. Step on...That reminds me about what I read on home scales years ago, though I can't find it now.
First is that many home scales are garbage, with both incorrect and inconsistent internal readings. Step on repeatedly in one session and you might get a wide range of results. In an effort to paper over the inconsistency, many of these scales have an internal memory of the last displayed result which it will show again as long as the new reading is closeish to the old value. This can lead to some huge jumps in a few days if the initial reading was maybe lower than reality, you gain just enough to trigger a new new measurement, and the new reading may be higher than reality. Sometimes you can force it to give you a new measurement by putting only partial weight on, wait for a reading, and then do your full weight. This doesn't always work though, as some cheap scales remember a couple readings to account for family usage instead of just one.
There are scales that don't do the memory trickery and have better calibration, but you've got to hunt for them.
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Comment on Does anyone have a digg invite code I can get ? in ~tech
DrStone (edited )Link ParentYou’re right that there’s a lot of largely inactive accounts, many from 2023, that are coming out of the woodwork here. Remember that 2023 was the last big Reddit exodus, motivated by API changes....You’re right that there’s a lot of largely inactive accounts, many from 2023, that are coming out of the woodwork here. Remember that 2023 was the last big Reddit exodus, motivated by API changes. I am sure many who didn’t care still took the opportunity to join other sites, including Tildes, out of FOMO when invites were flying around for everywhere. The simplest explanation with that in mind is that they never cared about Tildes and are now just using the opportunity to get invites to yet another thing.
Is it crappy to ask the community for something without having ever contributed? Yeah. Do I think there’s some deeper shilling or astroturfing campaign going on? Unlikely.
For the rest who are actually part of the community here, I’d guess it’s mostly curiosity and nostalgia and the (small) thrill of being one of the first to check out a new (old) thing on the internet.
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Comment on What are your favorite ways to measure your own health? in ~health
DrStone (edited )LinkFor context, my motivations for getting stronger are to keep up with my quickly growing kids, be able to comfortably handle all tasks around the home, and to look better than a pot-bellied...For context, my motivations for getting stronger are to keep up with my quickly growing kids, be able to comfortably handle all tasks around the home, and to look better than a pot-bellied skeleton for my wife.
I agree with Akir with using "how do I feel today?" as a core question. I find this useful in two ways. First is that you can start to correlate different lifestyle and diet choices with their effects (keeping in mind that feeling certain discomforts - like reasonable DOMS - can be a positive sign). Second is that it can be used to put the day's performance into context, such as being unable to add weight in the gym after a night of poor sleep or unusual stress.
Beyond that, for me, there's no benchmarks or goals or categories to strive for, simply "make numbers go up". Weight on the bar, reps in a set, total volume, distance, speed, lean weight, etc. I track all of my workouts in the Hevy app and my weight in Apple Health. I'd like to track measurements, but I always found it very fiddly to do it myself and so usually don't bother. If I'm going to be bored and uncomfortable for 45-60min x 5 days a week indefinitely, there needs to be objectively measurable progress for my efforts. I don't derive any satisfaction or pride from simply knowing I'm maintaining a consistent habit or putting in meaningful effort, only when it's producing results. External categories/benchmarks/comparisons don't really interest me.
edit:
I forgot to add, for broader health but still fitness related, I occasionally get a routine physical. I probably should get better about doing that annually now that I'm getting older. Once I did one of those screening packages where they test your blood for "everything", but I don't think it was really worth it. -
Comment on Should C be mandatory learning for career developers? in ~comp
DrStone Link ParentThis is a great point. In high school, we started with Lisp, then C++, and finished with Java (and PHP for little side projects). When I eventually joined a small, general web software consulting...This is a great point. In high school, we started with Lisp, then C++, and finished with Java (and PHP for little side projects). When I eventually joined a small, general web software consulting company, every client was using a different language. The first project in Node.js with it's event loop and async execution was a mind bender, along with a glimpse into Erlang while working with Riak. Then there was Perl's powerful regex and "There's more than one way to do it" motto, for better or for worse. Go after that was a breath of fresh air. Scala brought in functional programming and powerful types in an accessible way. No matter how much I do with Typescript, I still feel like I'm just scratching the surface of the type system. I'm hoping to add Rust in my personal time, just to see what the hype is about.
At the very least, it cement the notion of "the right tool for the right job" having seen so many strengths and weaknesses and tradeoffs. More broadly, the exposure and familiarity to so many different approaches really helps in seeing what's possible, as well as quickly understanding other people's solutions.
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Comment on Data centers don't raise people's water bills in ~tech
DrStone Link ParentSomething about the dismissive one-liners at the time I read them really rustled my jimmies, giving me flashbacks to the snark and arrogance of Reddit and HackerNews even if it wasn't intended...Something about the dismissive one-liners at the time I read them really rustled my jimmies, giving me flashbacks to the snark and arrogance of Reddit and HackerNews even if it wasn't intended that way. I should have stepped away for a moment, remembered to apply charitable readings on Tildes, and asked more questions instead. I'm sorry and I'll try to do better, and I genuinely appreciate your elaboration here.
This is the bit that confused me on what kind of systems you've had experience with (emphasis mine):
Cooling water systems at the refineries where I've worked operate in the thousands, if not millions of gallons per minute flow rates. It's not closed loop, but I'd imagine data centers probably require comparable flow rates.
I read it as "I've worked with large systems. They [those systems] are not closed loop, but I'd imagine data centers operate similarly", which was the wrong interpretation.
Anyway
Evaporation within the system certainly makes sense. Wouldn't that eventually reach equilibrium and be factored into the construction, or does it still count as closed loop even if it's allowing evaporation to the atmosphere as part of the designed cooling process?
For salts and such I had only considered the obvious sources such like inflow/replacement, increasing concentrations from lossy evaporation, or harsh environments (e.g. near/in the sea). I would have never thought about sweaty maintenance workers as a significant source over time, slowly deteriorating pumps, and additives (like disinfectants) reacting with the metal parts to create salts.
Do you see the alternatives and proposals for the datacenter cooling that Microsoft and the others mentioned as being substantial improvements, getting as close as is possible to "zero-water" after construction?
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Comment on Data centers don't raise people's water bills in ~tech
DrStone Link ParentThank you for taking the time to try and sort things out. I did understand the claim he was making, and the uncharitable interpretation of the new proposals’ claims. Rereading the initial comment,...Thank you for taking the time to try and sort things out. I did understand the claim he was making, and the uncharitable interpretation of the new proposals’ claims.
Rereading the initial comment, I’m not even sure they’re talking about closed loop, so I don’t know if the 0.01% loss estimate is reasonable. Their direct experience sounds like its not with closed loop. They brought up evaporation loss, which I don’t understand how it would be an issue in a sealed closed loop system. Not sure where contamination with salts or increasing mineral content come from without evaporation and exposure. Maybe microbes could cause a biofilm buildup somewhere after a while if it was not sterilized or otherwise accounted for before sealing the system. I’m not sure why water would have to be removed/replaced for re-chilling instead of letting the systems chillers handle. Leaks I can see as a potential problem, though one would hope not significant on a new build (after initial break in) for at least a while.
At any rate, after the rest of the interaction, I have no interest in continuing conversation with them.
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Comment on Data centers don't raise people's water bills in ~tech
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Comment on Data centers don't raise people's water bills in ~tech
DrStone Link ParentThanks for running the calculations and sharing your experience with similar systems. Based on your assumptions, it would indeed use a lot more water than many offices. Thankfully, It sounds like...Thanks for running the calculations and sharing your experience with similar systems. Based on your assumptions, it would indeed use a lot more water than many offices.
Thankfully, It sounds like progress is being made on this front for data centers from what I can find. This article mentions Microsoft, Evolution Data Centres, and others are moving to "zero water" cooling.
Once the system is filled during construction, it will continually circulate water between the servers and chillers to dissipate heat without requiring a fresh water supply.
Evolution Data Centres info in Singapore where water scarcity and high humidity can be issues
Air cooled chillers require no water during normal operation [...] These chillers use integrated compressors and condensers to cool a closed water loop. But unlike more traditional water-cooled technology, this loop is only filled once, there is no evaporative [sic] cooling and therefore no new water usage.
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Comment on Data centers don't raise people's water bills in ~tech
DrStone Link ParentIf the datacenter has a closed-looped system, what would it be using more water for - let alone substantially more - than human activity in a standard office?If the datacenter has a closed-looped system, what would it be using more water for - let alone substantially more - than human activity in a standard office?
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Comment on Does anyone have a digg invite code I can get ? in ~tech
DrStone LinkI'd like an invite code if anyone has one. I spent a lot of time on Digg back in the day before it went to hell and we everyone moved to Reddit (and listening to Diggnation, which is apparently...I'd like an invite code if anyone has one. I spent a lot of time on Digg back in the day before it went to hell and we everyone moved to Reddit (and listening to Diggnation, which is apparently back too). Interested to see we're they're taking it now.
Auto-brightness is one of the first things I turn off on a new tv/monitor. I find it very distracting having the brightness noticeably jump around as the displayed content's brightness changes, even at the lowest/mildest setting. I do spend time "calibrating" baseline brightness and other settings (just by eye and RTings guide, no calibration equipment)
Phone auto-brightness seems to just be based on ambient lighting (or it's much better / more subtle than TVs if it's signal based), so I usually leave that one on. It occasionally settles on an absolutely stupid brightness for no clear reason and I have to adjust manually, but overall its worth it there.