Qgel's recent activity

  1. Comment on Steam Winter Sale 2023: Hidden gems in ~games

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    Thanks, that's great to hear.

    Thanks, that's great to hear.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Steam Winter Sale 2023: Hidden gems in ~games

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    How much do I have to remember of the main game to play the DLC? I played the main game more than a year ago, so I forgot most of the details. Will I need to re-learn them to complete the DLC?

    How much do I have to remember of the main game to play the DLC? I played the main game more than a year ago, so I forgot most of the details. Will I need to re-learn them to complete the DLC?

    2 votes

  3. Comment on The Murderbot Diaries Book 7 - System Collapse just got released in ~books

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    I think the books are paced masterfully. I'd rather they are short like this instead of being stuffed with filler to justify a price point. It's also not necessarily less effort to write short. "I...

    I think the books are paced masterfully. I'd rather they are short like this instead of being stuffed with filler to justify a price point.

    It's also not necessarily less effort to write short.
    "I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn't have the time" - Attributed to about everyone at this point

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Seeing very smooth movement on classic shows on a big screen TV in ~tech

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    I fail to see how Motion Interpolation is something that could have been done during mastering and is therefore a 'degradation' of the original. Unless you know the framerate of the display your...

    I fail to see how Motion Interpolation is something that could have been done during mastering and is therefore a 'degradation' of the original. Unless you know the framerate of the display your video will be displayed on (and then wasting massive amounts of bandwidth when streaming because you are sending 120fps) there is no way to get the same effect baked into your video.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Fritz Haber, the man who killed millions and saved billions in ~humanities.history

    Qgel
    Link
    If you are interested in this topic, I can also recommend the book 'The Alchemy of Air' by Thomas Hager. It does a great job of describing the development / challenges of the Haber-Bosch process...

    If you are interested in this topic, I can also recommend the book 'The Alchemy of Air' by Thomas Hager. It does a great job of describing the development / challenges of the Haber-Bosch process as well as putting it into historical context.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on What's a word from another language that you wish was a thing in English? in ~humanities.languages

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    So schwer zu lernen ist das doch auch nicht.

    So schwer zu lernen ist das doch auch nicht.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on I wanted to make friends in a new city — so I hosted five strangers for dinner in ~life

    Qgel
    Link
    In the city I lived previously, there was this regular event you could register for, and they would match 3 pairs of people together. You would then meet up at the first pairs place, eat a starter...

    In the city I lived previously, there was this regular event you could register for, and they would match 3 pairs of people together. You would then meet up at the first pairs place, eat a starter they prepared, move to the second pair for the main and the third for a dessert. That worked pretty well to meet new people. The matches were based on dietary restrictions/preferences and walk-able distance between households.

    I once helped out for a special one of these just before a local election where one 'pair' would be a politician. I think that was a great concept for people to get a chance at a more 1-to-1 conversation in a somewhat casual setting than you might otherwise get during an election campaign.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on What is one of your favourite plant-based dishes? in ~food

    Qgel
    Link
    We love this Herb and Chickpea Stew with Rice. It's easy to make, keeps well in the fridge or freezer, and is a super fresh-tasting stew especially for the warmer months.

    We love this Herb and Chickpea Stew with Rice. It's easy to make, keeps well in the fridge or freezer, and is a super fresh-tasting stew especially for the warmer months.

    5 votes

  9. Comment on When you show the engineer and it works in ~engineering

    Qgel
    Link
    In German we call this the Vorführeffekt (demonstration effect).

    In German we call this the Vorführeffekt (demonstration effect).

    28 votes

  10. Comment on Why does market fundamentalism have so much clout in economics? in ~finance

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    I'm honestly baffled by this response. We are comparing to the 1900s here, none of these things are anything but massively better for the average American. Housing might be more expensive (23% VS...

    I'm honestly baffled by this response. We are comparing to the 1900s here, none of these things are anything but massively better for the average American.

    Housing might be more expensive (23% VS 33% of income, see my sibling comment here somewhere), but you also get vastly better and bigger houses, you don't board with other people or share a room with 8 siblings etc. Homeownership rates were also significantly lower back then.

    Food: We are today so secure in our food supply, and have such a vast selection of all types of food and restaurants available, that a minor disruption like covid seems like a big deal. This situation is the norm if you live in 1900, when many more people might go hungry after a bad harvest, meat is a huge luxury, and food costs you about 30% of your income.

    Health Care: The US Healthcare system is far from perfect, but in 1900 health insurance essential didn't even exist (in the US its emergence can be somewhat attributed to ww2). So your situation is even worse, not to speak of the actual care in general being much worse.

    Recreation: I'm not sure which specific types of recreation you mean, but TVs/Computers didn't even exist then. You can get rid of yours today if you don't want them though?

    Education / Economic Opportunity: 9% of Americans got a high school degree back then. Literacy rates were around 20%. Again, it's baffling to me how anyone could think these things used to be better in 1900.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on Why does market fundamentalism have so much clout in economics? in ~finance

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    Looks like wrt. Income equality, we are actually now 'back' to pre-ww2 levels, with ww2 being a large equalizer previously. See Figure 1 here. I severely doubt we have less free time today, given...

    Looks like wrt. Income equality, we are actually now 'back' to pre-ww2 levels, with ww2 being a large equalizer previously. See Figure 1 here.

    I severely doubt we have less free time today, given all the advances we've made in reducing household tasks (laundry, dishes, eating out VS cooking, replacing instead of repairing/mending). Much more people also work a 40 hour office job today instead of working on a farm or factory floor with even fewer labor protections than today.

  12. Comment on Suggest nonfiction that can be understood/enjoyed by nonspecialists in ~books

    Qgel
    Link
    The Alchemy of Air, is about the development and importance of the Haber-Bosch process (fixing nitrogen from air), biography about both Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, and it's ramifications for WW2....

    The Alchemy of Air, is about the development and importance of the Haber-Bosch process (fixing nitrogen from air), biography about both Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, and it's ramifications for WW2.

    The New Jim Crow, about how the justice/prison system has replaced the Jim Crow laws as a self-perpetuating system of oppression for minorities in the US.

    Command and Control, about the Damascus incident, many other near accidents and the history of nuclear weapon safety in general.

    Skunk Works, about the development of the U-2 Stealth Fighter, what makes a 'skunk work' from a management perspective, and the memoirs of Ben Rich.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Why does market fundamentalism have so much clout in economics? in ~finance

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    Im having a hard time finding statistics pre civil war, but this article at least compares 1900 to semi-recently (2003). While housing cost actually increased, I'd argue you also get vastly...

    Im having a hard time finding statistics pre civil war, but this article at least compares 1900 to semi-recently (2003). While housing cost actually increased, I'd argue you also get vastly improved amenities in return: electricity, plumbing, fire codes, home size etc. You could probably pay a similar proportion of your income on housing today if you were willing to live in 1900's condition (e.g. a boarding house if you were an unmarried man).

    Unfortunately I'm boarding a plane right now so I won't be able to continue this discussion in a bit.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on Why does market fundamentalism have so much clout in economics? in ~finance

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    I disagree, and I already gave a reason for why people might complain in my previous reply: They are comparing current conditions to a rose-tinted view of the past, not the actual past. Also note...

    I disagree, and I already gave a reason for why people might complain in my previous reply: They are comparing current conditions to a rose-tinted view of the past, not the actual past.

    Also note that I'm arguing conditions improved in the aggregate. Obviously this does not mean that an individual's situation can't be worse than someone else's 100 years ago.

    Which aspect of the human life do you think has noticeably degraded since before the civil war / ww2? I'm honestly curious, since I'm struggling to think of something right now.

    15 votes

  15. Comment on Why does market fundamentalism have so much clout in economics? in ~finance

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    I feel like this position is mostly nostalgia for the "good old times". In actual terms, vastly more people live under better conditions today than back then wrt. basically all factors such as...

    I feel like this position is mostly nostalgia for the "good old times". In actual terms, vastly more people live under better conditions today than back then wrt. basically all factors such as housing, food, health care, recreation, economic opportunity, education etc.

    10 votes

  16. Comment on Any Tasker users around? in ~tech

    Qgel
    Link
    I have a tablet for recipes etc. in the kitchen which uses Tasker and a camera motion detector to turn on (and keep on) the screen while someone is in the kitchen. Works really well, especially...

    I have a tablet for recipes etc. in the kitchen which uses Tasker and a camera motion detector to turn on (and keep on) the screen while someone is in the kitchen. Works really well, especially since you sometimes have dirty hands when working in the kitchen and you can't really touch the tablet to look at the recipe.

    3 votes

  17. Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    Getting the steam right at home is always a pain. I'm now using a pie-pan filled with about 5 pounds of steel slingshot ammo, pre-heated along with the pizza stone. Then I add water with a syringe...

    Getting the steam right at home is always a pain.
    I'm now using a pie-pan filled with about 5 pounds of steel slingshot ammo, pre-heated along with the pizza stone. Then I add water with a syringe which instantly evaporates (careful!). This allows for a pretty large amount of steam right away.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Man unable to interact with any of his smart devices for a week after delivery driver accuses him of being racist in ~tech

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    For drones, you could look into the FPV community. There are a lot of DIY / RTF / intercompatible options in this space that aren't DJI et al. What setup exactly depends on what you want to use...

    For drones, you could look into the FPV community. There are a lot of DIY / RTF / intercompatible options in this space that aren't DJI et al. What setup exactly depends on what you want to use the drone for. Some common ones are: For the fun of flying itself ("Freestyle", "Racing"), Indoor ("Whoops"), for Filming ("Cinematic") or Exploration ("Long-Range")

    Good resources are the /r/fpv subreddit, https://oscarliang.com/ or Joshua Bardwell on YouTube if you want to get into this hobby.

    12 votes

  19. Comment on What are some of your favourite, lesser-known mobile apps? in ~tech

  20. Comment on Best products to bring back to Europe from the US in ~hobbies

    Qgel
    Link Parent
    Oh, I wasn't aware there was a difference for the sugar, that makes sense then. From a quick look around, it looks like you could also make your own with Goldsaft if you ever run out.

    Oh, I wasn't aware there was a difference for the sugar, that makes sense then. From a quick look around, it looks like you could also make your own with Goldsaft if you ever run out.

    2 votes