Kerry56's recent activity

  1. Comment on Modern Christmas carol renditions that aren't mediocre CCM? in ~music

    Kerry56
    Link
    This reply will not address your request very well. I'm just putting it out for anyone looking for something different in Christmas songs. People are still writing and producing new songs for the...

    This reply will not address your request very well. I'm just putting it out for anyone looking for something different in Christmas songs.
    People are still writing and producing new songs for the Christmas season, and my favorite group, Mamamoo, has one they made back in 2016.

    It is called Memory.

    One of the members, Hwasa, also has a song called Grey Christmas.

    Both of these are mostly in Korean, so I just lean back and enjoy their voices.

    2 votes

  2. Comment on Advice/Suggestions on headphones or earbuds while listening to voices in the same room in ~tech

    Kerry56
    Link
    I'm not sure what your budget is, but I'd recommend the Philips Fidelio X2 open back headphones. (NOT the X3 version) Amazon has them on sale right now for $124.19. They are over-the-ear...

    I'm not sure what your budget is, but I'd recommend the Philips Fidelio X2 open back headphones. (NOT the X3 version) Amazon has them on sale right now for $124.19. They are over-the-ear headphones, but with their suspension headband and soft velour pads, I always found them comfortable while wearing glasses. A suspension headband puts less pressure on the sides of your head and sits more over the top of the skull. This set will have excellent sound for the money, and a good deal of bass for an open back, which is a little unusual.

    If you don't want to chance an over-the-ear headphone, or that is too expensive, then I'll second the Koss Porta Pros that have already been mentioned. They also have decent bass, but will be a little muddier than the Philips set. The cord is 4ft, so be sure that is enough room for you. Easy to get an extension cord if not.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Is trying to become an author insane in times of LLMs? in ~tech

    Kerry56
    (edited )
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    I'm already an author, though not one of the lucky few who actually make money from their books. What are your objectives? If you want to make a living through writing, that is a rough road to...

    I'm already an author, though not one of the lucky few who actually make money from their books. What are your objectives? If you want to make a living through writing, that is a rough road to travel, and I wish you luck. You'll need luck, as well as skill, and most of all, never giving up, no matter how long it takes. The existence of LLM's doesn't change that, nor do I believe they will be a major source of literature in the future.

    My objective was a little different. If I make money, great. That's all to the good. But I mostly wanted my stories to actually exist in the world. I wanted to let others see and experience what I saw in my mind. And having a physical object that came only from me... that was most satisfying. One of the best memories I have from my writing process was showing the rough draft of my first novel to my mother before she died. She was ill, but courageously read the whole thing, even though it wasn't a genre she read on a regular basis.

    11 votes

  4. Comment on Shrinking number of free news outlets in ~talk

    Kerry56
    Link Parent
    I was a member at Ars for over twenty years. Their reporting has gone downhill ever since they were bought out. I find two of their regular writers to be complete pricks, and had a public spat...

    I was a member at Ars for over twenty years. Their reporting has gone downhill ever since they were bought out. I find two of their regular writers to be complete pricks, and had a public spat with one of them. He is arrogant and quite abusive in his replies, and the editorial staff does nothing about this. I had enough and left. I won't go back and every time a story from Ars comes up on Tildes, I block it. So, not for me.

    6 votes

  5. Comment on Shrinking number of free news outlets in ~talk

    Kerry56
    Link Parent
    Thanks for mentioning them. I'll take a look.

    Thanks for mentioning them. I'll take a look.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on Shrinking number of free news outlets in ~talk

    Kerry56
    Link Parent
    It is entirely possible that I could hit a limit on articles at Reuters, since I've just started with them today. There is no indication that there is any limit for me at this point. Two buttons...

    It is entirely possible that I could hit a limit on articles at Reuters, since I've just started with them today. There is no indication that there is any limit for me at this point. Two buttons at the top right of the site, for Signing in and Registering, support your statement however, and I'll soon know if they put a limit on my access. If so, I'll drop them like a hot rock too.

    I'll take a look at CBC.ca and ABC.net.au. Thanks for those suggestions.

    3 votes

  7. Shrinking number of free news outlets

    ~talk Ask (recommendations)
    We've had discussions around here before about where we get our news, and one of mine has been The BBC. I've used them as an occasional source for several years now. It seems that today (Nov 15th)...

    We've had discussions around here before about where we get our news, and one of mine has been The BBC. I've used them as an occasional source for several years now. It seems that today (Nov 15th) marks a shift in their policy regarding access to their online site. BBC.com is no longer readable for free. I can look at their headlines, but as soon as I try to read an article, a subscribe pop-up appears, and there is no way around it. Archive sites will still have the articles, yes, but that is a different subject entirely.

    As far as I'm concerned, that drops them from my list of news sources. I have tentatively replaced them with Reuters, which is visually clunky, but still free. The AP site, PBS and National Public Radio are other sites I frequent. For a British viewpoint, I'm also trying out The Guardian, which bombards me with SUBSCRIBE notices, but those can still be zapped out of sight.

    Are there any other obvious sites I haven't mentioned? Not interested in right-wing propaganda by the way and I find most of the major American networks intolerable.

    36 votes

  8. Comment on How has AI positively impacted your life? in ~tech

    Kerry56
    Link Parent
    Does it remind you to use the new cover sheets for your TPS reports?

    Does it remind you to use the new cover sheets for your TPS reports?

  9. Comment on Automotive repair costs on modern vehicles. Any horror stories? in ~transport

    Kerry56
    (edited )
    Link
    By coincidence, my brother just called and told me about the amount the repair shop wanted, just to change the thermostat and two radiator hoses on his Ram truck. $400 to replace the thermostat...

    By coincidence, my brother just called and told me about the amount the repair shop wanted, just to change the thermostat and two radiator hoses on his Ram truck. $400 to replace the thermostat and $900 to replace the hoses, plus tax. Needless to say, he took his truck back home without having this done.

    Looks like I'll be making a trip his way to do these simple chores.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Automotive repair costs on modern vehicles. Any horror stories? in ~transport

    Kerry56
    Link Parent
    That doesn't surprise me. Plugs can be a huge pain in the butt, even with older generations. I had a friend with an old Ford F150, and the particular engine he had was prone to blowing out one of...

    That doesn't surprise me. Plugs can be a huge pain in the butt, even with older generations. I had a friend with an old Ford F150, and the particular engine he had was prone to blowing out one of the back spark plugs. It happened to him on a trip and he was lucky enough to find a mechanic who had made his own tools that allowed him to reach that plug hole, drill it out and put in a threaded insert without the usual step of pulling the engine.

    I will say, I have sympathy for mechanics trying to work in the confined spaces of the modern vehicles. I don't know how they manage to reach anything.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on Automotive repair costs on modern vehicles. Any horror stories? in ~transport

    Kerry56
    Link Parent
    I've thought about finding an original Toyota truck... made between '85 and '95, but I don't think I could live with the lack of power in the engine choices of that era. My 2004 Tacoma has lived...

    I've thought about finding an original Toyota truck... made between '85 and '95, but I don't think I could live with the lack of power in the engine choices of that era.

    My 2004 Tacoma has lived its entire existence in Texas, so no rust whatsoever. The frame looks pristine. And it is a 2WD, so less complicated than yours and fewer potential issues. In the eleven years I've owned it, the only major problem was changing the clutch, and I did that myself for about $300 in parts.

    Hope you find something you like as well as your old truck.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Automotive repair costs on modern vehicles. Any horror stories? in ~transport

    Kerry56
    Link Parent
    Wow. Hard to believe a professional shop would miss a broken strut. At least you found it. And $2000 to replace a headlight. Ouch. That's just bad engineering. Finding parts for my 2004 Tacoma...

    Wow. Hard to believe a professional shop would miss a broken strut. At least you found it.

    And $2000 to replace a headlight. Ouch. That's just bad engineering.

    Finding parts for my 2004 Tacoma hasn't been an issue so far. RockAuto has been a good source, the few times I've had to do repairs. That little truck is darn near indestructible. The door handles, of all things, are weak points, and lots of Taco owners complain about them. I finally found some metal ones to replace the flimsy plastic ones, and that seems to have fixed that problem.

    8 votes

  13. Automotive repair costs on modern vehicles. Any horror stories?

    ~transport Ask
    A friend of mine in Britain recently had to replace a headlight on her Honda. It was hit by a rock and there was no choice but to replace it. Her description of the headlight was "an LED Matrix"...

    A friend of mine in Britain recently had to replace a headlight on her Honda. It was hit by a rock and there was no choice but to replace it. Her description of the headlight was "an LED Matrix" unit, and since I don't keep up with terminology in modern cars, this was something new to me. The cost of the light was £729.99 and to make matters worse, it had to be aligned and linked to the computer in the car, which could only be done at the Honda dealership. Their labor charge was £350. That comes to over $1400 US dollars to replace a damn headlight.

    I want nothing to do with modern vehicles. I own an old Toyota Tacoma, and I can replace any part on it by myself. Shoot, if you've got 10 and 12mm wrenches, you can virtually disassemble the truck.

    For those who like to tinker with their cars, I suspect there is a cut-off point in time, where it is no longer easily done, and it may be ten years past by now.

    Anyone have any stories about absurd costs with their vehicles these days?

    34 votes

  14. Comment on Tips for becoming a tea person in ~food

    Kerry56
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    As a bone fide tea heathen, I grew up with iced tea as the preferred drink with meals. (It's a Southern US and Texas tradition). Originally, we'd have tea so sweet that the sugar would...

    As a bone fide tea heathen, I grew up with iced tea as the preferred drink with meals. (It's a Southern US and Texas tradition). Originally, we'd have tea so sweet that the sugar would recrystallize on the sides of the glass, but I've grown out of that phase. Well, my body can't take high doses of sugar anymore, so it was a necessity.

    Many of us in these regions still brew tea so strong that it can float horseshoe nails, but don't judge all of us for that. And no one I know is a connoisseur. Most still use plain Lipton's black tea. I find it both weak and bitter, which is a weird combination of flaws. I prefer Tetley British Blend, which is also a black tea.

    Can't say as I care for hot tea very much. I'll drink one or two cups of it a year, in contrast to the five or six glasses of iced tea a day that I consume. Hot green tea with Chinese food is fine, though again, a rare drink for me.

    4 votes

  15. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    Kerry56
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    I've been listening to Hwasa's latest single, Good Goodbye. It's just a single, not a part of an album or mini-album, but Hwasa's vocals are always worth a listen. I do prefer her song Star, which...

    I've been listening to Hwasa's latest single, Good Goodbye. It's just a single, not a part of an album or mini-album, but Hwasa's vocals are always worth a listen.

    I do prefer her song Star, which was released almost a year ago now.

    The ladies of Mamamoo keep putting out good music. Moonbyul released an album recently and one song on it is outstanding, in my opinion. It is called Drip.

  16. Comment on Forgot Chrome's unusable, any recommendations? in ~tech

    Kerry56
    Link
    Waterfox is based on Firefox and can use the same extensions. Not sure it fits the new, cool, or strange vibes, but it is a useful browser to use alongside Firefox.

    Waterfox is based on Firefox and can use the same extensions. Not sure it fits the new, cool, or strange vibes, but it is a useful browser to use alongside Firefox.

    12 votes

  17. Comment on The liquid air alternative to fossil fuels in ~enviro

    Kerry56
    Link
    I was a little surprised at their claim that this form of energy storage is so much cheaper than lithium-ion batteries.

    An overlooked technology for nearly 50 years, the first liquid air energy storage facility is finally set to power up in 2026. It's hoping to compete with grid-scale lithium batteries and hydro to store clean power, and reduce the need to fall back on fossil fuels.

    The process works in three stages. First, air is taken in from the surroundings and cleaned. Second, the air is repeatedly compressed until it is at very high pressure. Third, the air is cooled until it becomes liquid, using a multi-stream heat exchanger: a device that includes multiple channels and tubes carrying substances at different temperatures, allowing heat to be transferred between them in a controlled way.

    I was a little surprised at their claim that this form of energy storage is so much cheaper than lithium-ion batteries.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on Catfishing - the Wikipedia guessing game in ~games

    Kerry56
    Link
    I got three in a row, then crashed and burned.

    I got three in a row, then crashed and burned.

    3 votes

  20. Comment on America's dumbest crop: grass in ~enviro

    Kerry56
    Link
    I live in a semi-desert section of Texas and this year I replaced my front lawn with a desert landscape... crushed red granite for the most part. Don't know what I'll do with the back yard. I...

    I live in a semi-desert section of Texas and this year I replaced my front lawn with a desert landscape... crushed red granite for the most part. Don't know what I'll do with the back yard. I don't water it, and yet I have lots of weeds every year. In the spring, I plan on planting a lot of palo verde trees in the front and back, but the back yard itself is still a problem. Right now I'm looking into some of the native grasses found in my area, and desert wildflowers might be part of the solution as well.

    In any case, I'm not part of the lawn watering crowd and never intend to start.

    13 votes