Mullin's recent activity
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Comment on Looking for slim wallet recommendations in ~life.style
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Comment on I think I'm moving to Austin, TX in ~life
Mullin Link ParentComparing a suburb to Manhattan isn't and apples to apples comparison though. And no, the types of food and people are not that dissimilar across the major cities, I feel like you aren't talking...Comparing a suburb to Manhattan isn't and apples to apples comparison though. And no, the types of food and people are not that dissimilar across the major cities, I feel like you aren't talking to people that live there if you think that. I have a very large friend group strewn all over the country, LA, NYC, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, Dallas, St. Louis......they are not that different. There are certainly going to be some differences, but the experience is honest to god pretty similar. America is a large melting pot and the cities are even more so. You can find Vietnamese food in Houston or Chicago or LA and if the place is good, the quality is going to be similar, as an example. It's ridiculous to think the way you are talking. "Southerner" is not a thing that someone living in San Antonio or Houston would identify as in the stereotypical way.
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Comment on I think I'm moving to Austin, TX in ~life
Mullin Link ParentI think this is generally untrue. Having been to most major cities in the US and living in Houston....they're all pretty similar? LA does not feel markedly different (excluding weather) than...I think this is generally untrue. Having been to most major cities in the US and living in Houston....they're all pretty similar? LA does not feel markedly different (excluding weather) than Houston does, or Boston does, large cities have almost all of the same trappings. Some will be better or worse on things like public transit, but you'll find at least politically and culturally, the people who like to live in urban environments are going to be similar, the people who live in the suburbs are going to be similar, and the people in the rural areas are going to be similar, across the entirety of the country. I'm not sure which states you meant, but crossing state lines to any of Texas' neighbors isn't going to feel very different.
To the OP....more power to you, but Austin isn't a city I would want to live in, it's perfectly fine to visit, but the cedar fever and the traffic keeps me from considering it as a serious place I'd want to settle down. But it has a nice food and bar scene, and UT is cool. Plenty of stuff to do. Not sure what part of Texas you were moving from. I think it'll be a marked improvement compared to say DFW, but likely not San Antonio, Houston is it's own kinda vibe compared to Austin, but they're fairly close I suppose. If you're still there the next time I visit we can grab a beer!
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Comment on What toothpaste do you use? in ~life.style
Mullin Link ParentIt may have those, but the flavor is a pretty subtle mint, if I'd even say it has flavor at all. Yeah I'm curious what others think, I love it but obviously the cost puts a lot of my friends off lolIt may have those, but the flavor is a pretty subtle mint, if I'd even say it has flavor at all. Yeah I'm curious what others think, I love it but obviously the cost puts a lot of my friends off lol
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Comment on What toothpaste do you use? in ~life.style
Mullin LinkI use the Dr. Jen superpaste, it was one of the few I found that had both nano-hap and fluoride. It's pricey, but I like it a lot, it's an inoffensive flavor, the tube lasts me a while, and it has...I use the Dr. Jen superpaste, it was one of the few I found that had both nano-hap and fluoride. It's pricey, but I like it a lot, it's an inoffensive flavor, the tube lasts me a while, and it has kept my teeth feeling better and cleaner than every other toothpaste I'd use, including novomin ones. My dentist has noticed and commented on how much better my gingivitis was, and to me my teeth look white than they ever did when in was using whitening toothpastes (which are generally bad for your teeth). I recommend to everyone I know, the downside is it is actually, actually paste, it's super thick and hard to squeeze out of the tube, it wouldn't be ideal if you have arthritis.
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Comment on Activision and Call of Duty have published a paper detailing skill based matchmaking and how its presence or absence affects enjoyment of games in ~games
Mullin Link ParentYeah I couldn't recall if it did but I assumed it had some implementation of it, but it was baaaaad, I've never dropped as many hundred kill games in any other CoD, including ones where tac nuke...Yeah I couldn't recall if it did but I assumed it had some implementation of it, but it was baaaaad, I've never dropped as many hundred kill games in any other CoD, including ones where tac nuke ends the game lol. It could have just been having such a massive player base.
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Comment on Activision and Call of Duty have published a paper detailing skill based matchmaking and how its presence or absence affects enjoyment of games in ~games
Mullin Link ParentWell it's kinda like, I wasn't really thinking of StarCraft specifically, but as an example Brood War Zerg vs Zerg can be pretty coinflip-y and very insta-loss, that doesn't mean the better player...Well it's kinda like, I wasn't really thinking of StarCraft specifically, but as an example Brood War Zerg vs Zerg can be pretty coinflip-y and very insta-loss, that doesn't mean the better player can't win, but if you compare it to TvP the "better" player wins less of the time in ZvZ, and none of the pros have a great win rate, which isn't true in the other matchups. Or in Halo where lower than Onyx people are just bad mechanically, and win or lose their fights whether they happened to miss that time or not, and the same for their opponents. In Splatoon as well as an example I'd talk to players that were hard stuck before X rank despite having a thousand hours of ladder, and I'd definitely say that splatoon's matchmaking is almost anti-skill development, and essentially 100% of competitive players play customs/scrims or are in discords for +1 in order to actually improve, and then it becomes a problem of a walled garden and you must be this good to even get an invite. At a certain point I think I prefer just a single matchmaking queue that everyone is thrown into, like Cod4, which was insanely popular even without SBMM (or certainly not as aggressive because that game was pub stomp central for me). I think if you make a fun game people of all skill levels can enjoy it win or lose. Hell I feel that way about like bowling or golf or laser tag.
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Comment on Activision and Call of Duty have published a paper detailing skill based matchmaking and how its presence or absence affects enjoyment of games in ~games
Mullin Link ParentCounterpoint though: most everyone who played competitive StarCraft (BW or 2) got considerably better from private matches or KOTHs against much better skilled players than any ladder. Ladder was...Counterpoint though: most everyone who played competitive StarCraft (BW or 2) got considerably better from private matches or KOTHs against much better skilled players than any ladder. Ladder was mostly for bragging rights and gaining experience. At a certain point it's better to see or experience the highest level of the game vs playing only ever with people near your skill level. That is no guarantee of skill progression, as people can fall into local maxima or the random variance could end up deciding matches vs concrete improvements.
SBMM is not new nor is Activision's implementation of it, or Microsoft's trueskill2. I think it's fine but what particularly gets me is when the casual and competitive playlists both use SBMM I feel like I cannot escape the meta game, and I cease to understand the differences or purposes in the playlists. That said I'm a high skill player, so they are aware of my complaints, I guess. I don't super care about stomping people or not, I like higher quality games, but it's disconcerting to not have any opportunity to play relaxed or casually unless I smurf, which I'd like to avoid.
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Comment on Non-parents give crappy parenting advice in ~life
Mullin Link ParentI find this experience pretty rare nowadays. All the parents I know (including my self) are pretty well researched and had good perspectives on the aspects of our childhood that was successful...I find this experience pretty rare nowadays. All the parents I know (including my self) are pretty well researched and had good perspectives on the aspects of our childhood that was successful parenting or not, I'd say the average kid is getting a safer, more enriching infancy since people are having fewer kids, later, with more money and time for them (typically, amongst my peers). Not that I have many childless friends offering me advice or asking me questions, but I always answer and have solid logic/rationale. It was already crazy to some of my older family to not use a pacifier, and to my MIL that the baby isn't cold in her crib without blankets, or not grasping how much agency and intelligence she has even as a 4,6,10 mo old.
The one thing I think is hard to grasp is that as parents you start to understand your child's temperament, it's usually like your own to some degree for obvious reasons, so of the slew of advice the best options are the ones you Intuit work for their personality and that's going to be wildly different baby to baby. The real kicker is just you cannot explain to people the parental instincts and hormonal changes of having a child, and I'm speaking of that as a father, when she was born and first cried it was like getting straight up liver punched (in a good way) and I can see eyes of recognition only in other parents I talk to.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk
Mullin LinkI don't know if it's unique, but I have exceptional proprioception, probably attributable to playing sports my whole adolescence and most of my adulthood. Even compared to friends of mine that...I don't know if it's unique, but I have exceptional proprioception, probably attributable to playing sports my whole adolescence and most of my adulthood. Even compared to friends of mine that played sports they often struggle with being repeatable or cross-applying their physical abilities to something they aren't familiar with. I'm not good at golf in particular, since I rarely know exactly where the ball will go (and can't hit woods at all) but if I hit a shot with an iron, I can hit the exact same shot and land the ball within 10yds if you asked me to. In darts I can hit the same spot if I get a feel for it. I was always a natural athlete and it took a lot of time to get that normally people are good at the one thing they do, and can struggle on other things. My friends who lift cannot hit a single shot at all decent in golf, my friends who play ultimate Frisbee can't kick a soccer ball well, and my friends who played music can't play ping pong. I can do all of those things to an above average competence. It's totally not really good for anything, I'm not and was never close to professional level at any one sport, but it's a bit of a neat trick to be better than most at a lot of different games, anytime I'm at a social event I can beat someone at darts and they'll say "play me at pong pong, or billiards, or air hockey" and still win :D
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Comment on Does anyone have any advice for new dads? in ~life.men
Mullin LinkWhew. It's a lot is all I can say. I've got a 10mo old daughter and I suppose some of the things I would say to prepare for is well, the first few months before they sleep through the night is...Whew. It's a lot is all I can say. I've got a 10mo old daughter and I suppose some of the things I would say to prepare for is well, the first few months before they sleep through the night is basically a warzone. For us we alternated schedules with me taking the night shift, and sleeping during the day, in about 3-4hr shifts.
The main issue I had to learn through is like, the baby is surprisingly self sufficient and robust once they are mobile, if she's got her toys and stuff, I don't have to actively engage with her, she'll be fine. This has been helpful now when she's approaching toddlerhood and once I was done with parental leave and back to work. We both work remote and that has been absolutely HUGE, cannot overstate it. If you don't work from home, and given your family isn't nearby you'll need a nanny. It's a full-time job for two people, my work output has gone way down since I'm often dealing with her, but I have enough time to still get things done for the most part. What sucks is if we both have meetings.
Other than that, it's very reactive. Just respond accordingly, your child will instinctively figure things out, give them an enriching environment. It's like, ultimately time goes so fast you're not even going to be able to dwell on what you forgot or not lol. Any other issues the pediatrician will tell you.
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Comment on Paul Meehl’s philosophical psychology in ~science
Mullin LinkI'm a huge fan of Meehl and these videos are absolutely stellar. It's both fascinating in it's content and just generally seeing 1990 college lectures is very quaintI'm a huge fan of Meehl and these videos are absolutely stellar. It's both fascinating in it's content and just generally seeing 1990 college lectures is very quaint
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Comment on Job search blues in ~talk
Mullin LinkYeah it's pretty rough right now. I'm not in software, but healthcare, and I like my company, so I only look at internal positions for promotions in line withy track. In 2023, I had several...Yeah it's pretty rough right now. I'm not in software, but healthcare, and I like my company, so I only look at internal positions for promotions in line withy track. In 2023, I had several interviews and it went from "we'll have you an offer next week" to "requisition has been cancelled." I had another several interviews were the requisition was closed when I was the final (or in one case only) candidate. The recruiters are transparent with me and I can see the internal team so I know they are telling the truth. It just seems like people say yes to additional staffing until they don't, and market forces can 86 many positions or departments while you're mid interviewing (not to mention all the layoffs, which makes the internal pool more competitive). Talent acquisition got hit with layoffs and they are overworked, and hiring managers are way too picky, I've seen over my career the number of interviews increase, the sophistication of the interviews increase (content interview, case interview, presentation interview, behavioral, kill me) because everyone is looking for their "we saw you across the bar and liked your vibe" unicorn. It's patently ridiculous.
All I can say is keep your head up and play the numbers game. One of the incidental benefits of this hell situation is the stigma around unemployment has dramatically decreased, seems everybody gets it now, that jobs don't just get handed out these days.
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Comment on $2.70 supermarket wine wins gold medal at international wine contest in ~food
Mullin Link ParentExactly, they can wrong their hands about it but friggin Gatorade tastes more different flavor to flavor than wine or coffee does haha. And I'm an enjoyer of both!Exactly, they can wrong their hands about it but friggin Gatorade tastes more different flavor to flavor than wine or coffee does haha. And I'm an enjoyer of both!
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Comment on $2.70 supermarket wine wins gold medal at international wine contest in ~food
Mullin Link ParentI'm no sommelier, but I was a bartender at a wine bar for a few years so I've had exposure to quite a few high end wines, and as an adult I drink wine fairly often with friends. And in my...I'm no sommelier, but I was a bartender at a wine bar for a few years so I've had exposure to quite a few high end wines, and as an adult I drink wine fairly often with friends. And in my experience....you can find good and bad wines at every price point, depending on what you are looking for. The trivento malbec is very cheap and is an amazing wine, but I've also had other malbecs at that price point I'd never buy again. I've had Opus One and it was good.....but nothing to write home about and definitely not worth the price tag, while Sassicaia was phenomenal, not that I'd want to drink it every day but it was nearly without faults. It maybe helps that in none of these cases was I the one shelling out for the expensive bottles so had no skin in the game, so-to-speak. What most gets me is wine....tastes like wine, the difference between varietals is certainly pronounced, but they all taste like wine. So you really have to get in the weeds before you're able to blind recognize any differences, and to me shit wine is shit wine, no amount of terroir or cassis or whatever other flavor words people use can fix that.
I'd love if there were more.....concrete ways to tell which wines were good or not at the store but like beers, it's all pretty labels and fancy words. Certainly staying in the budget-normal price point is the lowest risk and the highest gain, like you said.
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Comment on Potentially world's hardest trad route - Bon Voyage E12 (9a) in ~sports
Mullin Link ParentI've always wanted to see Adam or someone else strong like Stephano(actually does he ever climb trad?) try Jacopo Larcher's ungraded climb Tribe, wow, as I'm writing this comment and googled it,...I've always wanted to see Adam or someone else strong like Stephano(actually does he ever climb trad?) try Jacopo Larcher's ungraded climb Tribe, wow, as I'm writing this comment and googled it, Pearson was the first person to repeat it, and left it ungraded as well. He's also repeated Rhapsody E11, I think that's enough a hell of a CV if people were questioning his capabilities.
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Comment on The US Park Service wants to ban all rock climbing in designated wilderness in ~enviro
Mullin Link ParentIf there are good placements, sure, but is it really so bad to have lines bolted? I'm certainly someone who thinks you know, cutting down hundred year old trees is pretty awful, or desecrating...If there are good placements, sure, but is it really so bad to have lines bolted? I'm certainly someone who thinks you know, cutting down hundred year old trees is pretty awful, or desecrating ruins....but something in me thinks that rock is just....so vast and so benign that putting bolts in, especially if it improves safety......Is it truly defacing something? Climbing a route is certainly the most intimate way to experience a rock face, if you're looking from the ground as long as people clean the routes properly are you even going to see the bolts? Has anything of value really been lost? I guess I'm unconvinced of a the slippery slope aspect of it. I don't want chipping, I don't want autobelays. But I'm also a climber that enjoys the physical part of climbing more than the environment, but the crags I have access to are not exactly scenic lol.
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Comment on Generation Z is unprecedentedly rich in ~finance
Mullin Link ParentKind of a bad article, in my opinion. If you take what it says at face value, and their chart, you'd expect that zoomers are more wealthy at their age than millennials were, who were more wealthy...Kind of a bad article, in my opinion. If you take what it says at face value, and their chart, you'd expect that zoomers are more wealthy at their age than millennials were, who were more wealthy than boomers were...so on each generation in their chart....but that's not the case. Ignoring costs and purchasing power doesn't paint the realistic picture, ignoring debt doesn't help either. I don't know the real figure, but I'd be shocked if zoomers are actually better off than millennials at the same age (ignoring the ages during the global financial crisis) and almost certainly both are worse off than boomers were, who had extremely cheap education and housing costs, while being exposed to some of the best bull runs and ZIRP. I don't see any point in this article narrowing in on wages, except to undercut zoomers who bemoan their economic conditions
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Comment on "I watched fifteen hours of COVID origins arguments so you don't have to" in ~health
Mullin LinkActually good post, I had a friend ask me about this recently, and I kind of dismissed the lab leak theory since to me it felt like too many coincidences needed to happen, and from what we know of...Actually good post, I had a friend ask me about this recently, and I kind of dismissed the lab leak theory since to me it felt like too many coincidences needed to happen, and from what we know of how Covid spread it seemed unlikely it would have become endemic just from a single or extremely small number of lab workers, vs an alternative zoonotic origin, and I didn't think much of him asking me about it. I was floored that according to this 66% of people thought it was a lab leak? 4:1 ratio over zoonotic? that just seems outlandish, when I was talking to him I figured the Wuhan lab might make it I dunno, 5x more likely, 10x more likely to be lab leak? but my prior was probably 99:1 in absence of the lab, so 90:10 I'd still have said zoonotic, either way, what a cool debate and I guess idea, I learned more about the origin of covid than I did prior. Hope I can watch some highlights from the vids but I'm not gonna go through 15 hours worth.
edit: I meant actually good post (from ACXD) btw, I mean also from OP, but I wasn't trying to disparage OP, I just generally don't put a lot of stock in ACXD, but this article is well put together.
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Comment on All the ways car dependency is wrecking us – car harm: a global review of automobility's harm to people and the environment in ~transport
Mullin Link ParentIt just seems like, and I agree that emissions aren't the only problem, but emissions are killing us far more than any amount of automobile crashes, tire particles, or poor walkability ever could....It just seems like, and I agree that emissions aren't the only problem, but emissions are killing us far more than any amount of automobile crashes, tire particles, or poor walkability ever could. It's the single biggest issue about car use, and there should be MASSIVE subsidization of EVs to replace ICE if we hope to limit the harms of cars. But I get that you're on board with that.
I've gone back and read the full article linked, and frankly.....it just doesn't move me much. It isn't that I don't believe them, or that I think the interventions suggested are bad, it's just......I feel like despite extensive references, there isn't enough explanations of the causality of things, especially when, whether I'm correct or not about it, it feels like they are omitting a possible answer. The article says that black people in Brazil are disproportionally suffering fatalities.....I check the study and it shows that 52.8% of road related deaths were black skin color.....Brazil is half black! The reference for women being more likely to be injured in a car accident I couldn't find the relevant page of that book available free online, and while I am inclined to believe it: it feels disingenuous to so heavily load "When they are involved in a crash" given the Brazil study shows us that 82% of auto related deaths were men! Why does the article not discuss the disproportionate harm that cars are doing to men vs women? It's like, I HATE having to go through something and nitpick every source because I can't trust that the information they are presenting to me is the entire story, EVEN WHEN I agree with the thrust of their argument! That's incredibly frustrating. It's the exact same to their points about how crash death rates are highest in Africa and Southeast Asia despite fewer cars per person: anyone could tell you that the adherence to road safety and infrastructure in those places is worse than in Europe, Japan/Korea, the US etc etc. It's easily explained, we don't need to talk about it as if the car is somehow intrinsically racist and this is a point to that, it feels WAY too much having a social justice axe to grind when all the other points are much more concrete and don't require any sort of harkening back to colonialism. It's........I don't know, it bothers me. It's also the same cherrypicking the ages where the leading cause of death is, 5-29, when when I checked broader statistics recently, even outside infant mortality and looking at just adults, accidental poisoning recently usurped automobile accidents (in the US).
All that is to say: I want denser, more walkable cities, I do not think we need to overemphasize or coerce data to that end: denser areas are often desirable, and people on tildes in prior arguments with me have pointed to the increased cost in highly walkable areas as a premium people are willing to pay, so if cities want some of that premium they will densify and add the things people want, most of the interventions the article suggested. All in all, it just makes me roll my eyes, which is bad, but I suppose overall it's fine? I don't really know what I'm getting at at this point, it just struck a nerve I suppose.
I use the slim wallet from Galen Leather for about 5 years and really love it. It's the only wallet that got me away from using a small binder clip, which I used for probably 15+ years. I kinda hate all the aluminum/plastic/nylon type card holders honestly, I don't want to have to do whatever to slide my cards out as a brick of cards to fiddle with. With this I pull it out of my pocket, easily slide out my credit card with the thumb I grab it with, and I'm done. Cannot recommend it enough. The company is known for their notebook holders, which my wife has had for a solid 7-10 years and they hold up. It won't ship fast, and sometimes certain colors are out of stock, but it's absolutely worth it over whatever the latest nfc blocking techbro startup metal thingy that you're going to inevitably step on one day like a Lego brick lol.