Englerdy's recent activity

  1. Comment on You make friends *HERE*?! in ~tildes

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    That makes sense, still a wild term. 😂

    That makes sense, still a wild term. 😂

  2. Comment on You make friends *HERE*?! in ~tildes

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    I've seen this and think it's a great suggestion for a lot of people. Personally I don't think it's for me though. I find Discord to be a really challenging place to engage honestly. It feels...

    I've seen this and think it's a great suggestion for a lot of people. Personally I don't think it's for me though. I find Discord to be a really challenging place to engage honestly. It feels cluttered and like people are talking over each other. Works great as a 1-on-1 chat app imo, but I've personally really began to struggle to keep up in social media spaces where it feels like I have to shout louder than others to participate. I have lots of friends that use it and I'm on a few servers related to software or podcasts, but I honestly never open it to go engage unless I have a question. I know some people really like it, but it's just not for me. I just don't know how else to describe it other than it's too "loud" as a text communication platform if that makes sense.

    6 votes

  3. Comment on You make friends *HERE*?! in ~tildes

    Englerdy
    Link
    I was pretty young when Facebook was taking off, and connected with some friends of friends along the way that I basically only ever knew online. I was pretty close to a few, but as adults we've...

    I was pretty young when Facebook was taking off, and connected with some friends of friends along the way that I basically only ever knew online. I was pretty close to a few, but as adults we've all kind of drifted apart. But there were a few folks I connected with in forms that I connected with by email and eventually added on Facebook. It's kind of terrifying to look back on, but I think after talking to someone for months you get a pretty good sense of if they're some kind of pervert or genuinely who they say they are. And honestly a Facebook history provided better verification than anything else.

    So this idea isn't super foreign, but as an adult (though similar to u/smoontjes, I feel pretty young here on Tildes at least) I find I spend a lot less time in online spaces connecting with folks than I do IRL in part because of the time demands and being in an environment with lots of people my age. Still, I think of any current spaces, places like Tildes without all the spam and bloat are probably one of the few places it's still kind of easy to make meaningful connections with strangers online and to be able to eventually become friends. I'm hoping as Tildes grows a bit more, conversations here maybe take on longer life's and it feels more connected.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on You make friends *HERE*?! in ~tildes

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    First time I've seen that term and what a wild way to describe IRL friends. 😂 Feels like a counter to the idea of AI friends, but technically I think that would make online friends Meat Friends...

    meat friends

    First time I've seen that term and what a wild way to describe IRL friends. 😂 Feels like a counter to the idea of AI friends, but technically I think that would make online friends Meat Friends too. Still, wild.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on A planet-wide solar boom has been beating expectations at every turn. And it’s only just the beginning. in ~enviro

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    Which lets be honest, they have good reason to undershoot their predictions. If they're conservative then at worst people are just surprised. If they're wrong then they're getting roasted from...

    but they and all other groups that make projections have been consistently wrong about solar every single year for like a decade.

    Which lets be honest, they have good reason to undershoot their predictions. If they're conservative then at worst people are just surprised. If they're wrong then they're getting roasted from every direction. Personally if they're intentionally low balling their numbers I wish they wouldn't do so as aggressively as people look at conservative estimates and think "well boy, that's going to take too long." And become dismissive. Still, can't say I blame them for playing it safe either.

    10 votes

  6. Comment on Goodbye refrigerants, hello magnets: Scientists develop cleaner, greener heat pump in ~enviro

    Englerdy
    Link
    This is cool. Went looking for info on what the COP of these would be to compare to a regular heat pump and found this other paper that might be interesting to others here (paper should be open...

    This is cool. Went looking for info on what the COP of these would be to compare to a regular heat pump and found this other paper that might be interesting to others here (paper should be open access as far as I can tell): Seasonal COP of a residential magnetocaloric heat pump based on MnFePSiCOP saisonnier d’une pompe á chaleur magnétocalorique á base de matériaux MnFePSi.

    Looks like they find a theoretical seasonal COP of about 5.6 and estimate a real system that's using components that are 80% efficient could get a COP of 4.6. That's pretty remarkable unless I'm misinterpreting something as traditional AC & Heat pumps have COPs around 3 (though in cold climates I think Heat Pumps are operating in the 2.5 range).

    Neat stuff!

    5 votes

  7. Comment on US Joe Biden administration grants California waiver to ban gas car sales in 2035 in ~transport

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    You might be surprised looking into these issues you're speculating on. Many appartment complexes are being built with EV chargers. I'm seeing EV chargers popping up in grocery store parking lots,...

    You might be surprised looking into these issues you're speculating on. Many appartment complexes are being built with EV chargers. I'm seeing EV chargers popping up in grocery store parking lots, business lots, and even at gas stations. The availability to charge while doing other activities is extremely convenient. As an EV owner, I really don't think about charging most weeks despite not being able to charge at home, because I can charge once or twice a week at work. It would absolutely be more convenient to have a garage to charge in at home, but it's not really any more inconvenient than it was needing to remember to get gas. For people who do have an outlet at home they can charge with, they basically start every day with a "full tank of gas" so to speak. And that's just from slow charging off a house outlet.

    As for EV semis, yes there are several companies working on developing these and there are several on market. It's not just a research thing. It's not a big market yet and from what I've seen the current ones are targeted for doing city deliveries rather than long haul (though I know work is being done here as well).

    Current EV tech doesn't address every transportation need and there's still innovation to do. However, current tech covers a LOT of traveling needs and has gotten really good. The idea that EV tech isn't good just straight doesn't hold water.

    Until EV technology achieves all of these things it isn't going to work and there's going to try to force a round peg into a square hole and then they'll cry when the economy crashes cause no one can get to work or get their goods where it needs to go.

    You're setting an outrageously high bar that doesn't make any sense. Something doesn't have to be perfect to be a good solution. This comes across pretty emotionally charged and not rooted in how anything really happens. Technological progress is incremental and made up of lots of small improvements. No problem is ever fully fixed in the first iteration and it's naive to think that's how we should approach fixing things.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on A few questions about replacing our clothes washing machine in ~life

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    To tag onto this kind of proxy comment for u/kfwyre, on the topic of combo machines available in the US, I've been considering switching to one, and from my research this GE model appears to be...

    To tag onto this kind of proxy comment for u/kfwyre, on the topic of combo machines available in the US, I've been considering switching to one, and from my research this GE model appears to be the leader in terms of quality, features, and capacity: GE Profile 4.8 cuft UltraFast combo. I've been interested in the combos from a convinience point of view where I don't have to remember to pull the wash out and get it into the dryer. What's really interesting is people talk about this experience of pulling their clothes out and initially thinking they're damp, and then a minute later they feel completely dry. I'm sure it has something to do with the temperature as you alluded to.

    One big benefit with a ventless heat pump dryer is that they will be substantially more energy efficient. The ventless heat pump design recaptures and recycles waste heat that in a normal dryer is wasted outside. So between that and them using a heat pump instead of an electric coil, you get a device that is well over 100% efficient. By that I mean for every 1kWh of electricity the dryer consumes, it puts over 1kWh of heat into drying your clothes. This is possible because it's moving heat from inside your house into the dryer rather than turning electricity into heat. It's essentially doing the opposite of what your refrigerator does!

    There's a secondary benefit I don't see a lot of people talk about with a ventless design. A regular dryer sucks air from your house, heats it up, blows it over you clothes, and then exhausts the moist air outside. This is negatively pressurizing your housing meaning that outside air is getting sucked in through any tiny holes or gaps in your houses exterior. So if it's hotter or colder outside than inside, you're increasing the amount of heating or cooling your home HVAC system needs to do. So the ventless design itself is more efficient, but it's also not putting a big extra load onto your HVAC system from having to condition infiltrated air.

    One small extra thought on people complaining about the units not making their clothes fully dry or the device taking too long, it's hard not to read them as "the device is different and therefore a don't like it," or like there's buyers remorse because they didn't read up on a device before buying it. I think criticism about a device taking longer to dry is completely valid and something folks should be aware of, but too many of the negative comments I've seen are hard to take very seriously.

    4 votes

  9. Comment on Mystery drones over New Jersey spark concerns as FBI investigates in ~transport

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    I guess it depends on how far you mean by near. I'm within 50 miles of a big airport, so if that's close then yeah. Still, airports have undergone a lot of expansion the last 20 years and this one...

    I guess it depends on how far you mean by near. I'm within 50 miles of a big airport, so if that's close then yeah. Still, airports have undergone a lot of expansion the last 20 years and this one is no exception. So I guess it's a mix of being within relatively close proximity to a big airport and air travel continuing to grow each year.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on Mystery drones over New Jersey spark concerns as FBI investigates in ~transport

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    It's the background noise I notice more than seeing them. It's crazy how much background noise they make if you're in a populated area in the middle of the night. Was out in the early morning for...

    It's the background noise I notice more than seeing them. It's crazy how much background noise they make if you're in a populated area in the middle of the night. Was out in the early morning for several night a couple weeks back with a sick dog needing to go out every hour and a half. Basically no road noise but a constant whiring sound from planes overhead. I think memory has a strong affect on our perceived experience so I think it's interesting you touched on that.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on Mystery drones over New Jersey spark concerns as FBI investigates in ~transport

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    Of course, I think I was on the same page as you and appreciated your explanations of what could be causing the "weird" movements people have observed. Just adding my two cents as someone who's...

    Of course, I think I was on the same page as you and appreciated your explanations of what could be causing the "weird" movements people have observed. Just adding my two cents as someone who's like looking up.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Mystery drones over New Jersey spark concerns as FBI investigates in ~transport

    Englerdy
    Link
    A lot of this reads like something that's not a big deal and a rumor that's just gotten out of hand. Like this part pretty clearly reads to me as "We spotted something in our airspace, made a few...

    A lot of this reads like something that's not a big deal and a rumor that's just gotten out of hand.

    Multiple drones have been sighted over Naval Weapons Station Earle, in Colts Neck, New Jersey, as well as other nearby military installations.
    "While no direct threats to the installation have been identified, we can confirm multiple instances of unidentified drones entering the airspace above Naval Weapons Station Earle," a spokesperson for the military base confirmed in a statement to CBS, the BBC's US news partner.
    "The base remains prepared to respond to any potential risks, leveraging robust security measures and advanced detection capabilities."

    Like this part pretty clearly reads to me as "We spotted something in our airspace, made a few calls, figured out what other military entity was flying them and confirmed we did not need to shoot them down." Maybe I've been out of the loop on drone hobby flying for too long, but my understand is that you do not fly a drone near and airport or secure facility because they WILL see you on radar and they will come find you too tell you to knock it off. And you're probably getting a fine. The FAA does not play games and I can't imagine the military does either.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on Mystery drones over New Jersey spark concerns as FBI investigates in ~transport

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    As someone that has gotten outside a lot more the last few years after getting a dog, I've been struck by how many more airplanes there are day and night then I remember seeing as a kid. Which I...

    As someone that has gotten outside a lot more the last few years after getting a dog, I've been struck by how many more airplanes there are day and night then I remember seeing as a kid. Which I live in the West far from this hysteria. But while on walks I've had a regular thought that "boy the skies are getting busy." I've really noticed it in winter where an already light polluted sky has lots of bright dots moving across no matter where you look.

    That all being said, if people who haven't regularly taken the time to look up and notice how many more planes there are were told "THERE ARE DRONES IN THE SKY," began watching the sky with new awareness. And like a boogyman in the dark are just jumping at shadows so to speak because otherwise just weren't paying attention before.

    12 votes

  14. Comment on Mystery drones over New Jersey spark concerns as FBI investigates in ~transport

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    Username checks out for sure!

    as a pilot

    Username checks out for sure!

    2 votes

  15. Comment on What long book series is worth its page count? in ~books

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    I can definitely see that angle too. I just desperately needed a change in tone. I also liked the shift in limitations but also the introduction of mixing feruchemy and allomancy. Thought that was...

    I can definitely see that angle too. I just desperately needed a change in tone. I also liked the shift in limitations but also the introduction of mixing feruchemy and allomancy. Thought that was a fun new dynamic as well.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on What long book series is worth its page count? in ~books

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    I can second these as I'm about a 3rd of the way through them combined. Been slowly working through them over the last 2 years and enjoying them. I will say I felt burned out at the end of the...

    I can second these as I'm about a 3rd of the way through them combined. Been slowly working through them over the last 2 years and enjoying them. I will say I felt burned out at the end of the first mistborn trilogy, but the second mistborn series is much lighter and very fun. If I'd known that initially I probably would have picked the series up again sooner after finishing the third book. I will say, the first mistborn book is one of the most fun books I've read by far. None of the others have matched it's experience for me, but I've enjoyed them all the same.

    5 votes

  17. Comment on Donald Trump may cancel US Postal Service electric mail truck contract, sources say in ~society

    Englerdy
    Link
    Is this move not just outright hostile to American automakers? Is the conservative spin "EVs bad" really enough to overshadow the bad optics from pulling the rug out on American businesses? I know...

    Is this move not just outright hostile to American automakers? Is the conservative spin "EVs bad" really enough to overshadow the bad optics from pulling the rug out on American businesses? I know the right tends to ignore following policy through to it's roots and sticks on the culture war face of things, but I'm surprised if this would be received popularly unless automakers are in favor of loosing the sales. I guess maybe they'll still get sales for fuel power vehicles instead. I have to imagine whiplash every 4 years to be getting kind of exhausting though.

    43 votes

  18. Comment on The best games of 2024, picked by NPR's staff in ~games

    Englerdy
    Link
    Glad to see Crow Country in the lineup. I picked up over Halloween and while I haven't had enough time to finish it, the few hours it put into it were delightful. It's simple (which was big plus...

    Glad to see Crow Country in the lineup. I picked up over Halloween and while I haven't had enough time to finish it, the few hours it put into it were delightful. It's simple (which was big plus for me) and so far does a good job of slowly unwrapping at a pace that keeps me hooked and curious.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Your partner asks for your phone, you refuse over privacy, they tell you they don't trust you. How do you respond? in ~talk

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    I think it's a convinience thing, it is for me at least. I disable location permission for most apps and for others I almost always have it set to "while using this app." So I suspect like many...

    I think it's a convinience thing, it is for me at least. I disable location permission for most apps and for others I almost always have it set to "while using this app." So I suspect like many people I just don't think about it. Not sure how much battery gain there would be on a modern smartphone. I've assumed that even if the service was on it didn't really do much most of the time unless I had an app open using it, but I haven't looked into it and know that could be totally wrong.

  20. Comment on Introducing ChatGPT Pro in ~tech

    Englerdy
    Link Parent
    Has anyone had a good experience with the o1 preview? The preview just looked like it was stepping through its own iterations using the 4o model (or something similar) and didn't feel like it gave...

    Has anyone had a good experience with the o1 preview? The preview just looked like it was stepping through its own iterations using the 4o model (or something similar) and didn't feel like it gave me answers that were better than just a few manual iterations with 4o. That and it's kind of unnecessarily verbose, but maybe that's the point and I'm just not using it for the right kind of questions.

    But if 1o preview is supposed to be a selling point it doesn't feel like it does a very good job of selling the step up. At least in my experience so far.

    2 votes