bitwyze's recent activity

  1. Comment on How Tesla, BMW, Ford, GM and Mercedes driver assist systems compare in ~transport

    bitwyze
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    I didn't realize so many of these companies are enabling these features with a monthly subscription model. I'm eyeing the market to buy a car in the next three years or so and that's definitely...

    I didn't realize so many of these companies are enabling these features with a monthly subscription model. I'm eyeing the market to buy a car in the next three years or so and that's definitely something to keep in mind - I want these features in my next car, but not enough to pay $75/mo for!

    4 votes

  2. Comment on Recommendation request: Computer monitor with built-in speakers/soundbar in ~tech

    bitwyze
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    My primary monitor is a 27" 1440p monitor at 144Hz refresh rate. IMO, that's the sweet spot for everything: 1080p at 27" is too low of pixel density and you can (at least I know I can) start...

    My primary monitor is a 27" 1440p monitor at 144Hz refresh rate. IMO, that's the sweet spot for everything:

    • 1080p at 27" is too low of pixel density and you can (at least I know I can) start making out individual pixels at a normal viewing distance. 24" is the largest you should go for a 1080p monitor
    • 1440p is a great resolution for everyday work, as you can see more stuff on the screen (and I don't even feel the need to scale anything up - I drop the scale from the default 150-125% setting in Windows settings down to 100%). It's also great for gaming, of course. It isn't as hard to drive as a 4K monitor - in fact, my medium-powered work laptop can drive two 1440p monitors with integrated graphics.
    • 144Hz refresh rate is a game changer. If nothing else, I HIGHLY recommend looking for a 144Hz 1080p monitor. Your laptop can definitely handle it, and it's pretty common to find in low-mid tier monitors these days. The difference between 60Hz and 144Hz is noticable even when just dragging a window around on the desktop. Just make sure you enable the higher refresh rate in your graphics settings.

    Specifically regarding audio - any monitor with a sound bar is probably going to sound just as bad as the regular built-in speakers on any other monitor. Would you consider Bluetooth speakers?

    1 vote

  3. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~food

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    That's interesting, because the non-alcoholic trend has been picking up and the "beers" can be quite delicious. For example, Athletic brewing is fully NA and are pretty widely distributed. Their...

    That's interesting, because the non-alcoholic trend has been picking up and the "beers" can be quite delicious. For example, Athletic brewing is fully NA and are pretty widely distributed. Their Octoberfest was one of my favorite things to drink for the last couple months.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~food

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    Ciders technically aren't beer, it's fermented apples. Sours are beer (water, yeast, malt, and hops), but the wort has either been naturally innoculated or artificially introduced with souring...

    Ciders technically aren't beer, it's fermented apples. Sours are beer (water, yeast, malt, and hops), but the wort has either been naturally innoculated or artificially introduced with souring bacteria (different ones will give different flavors and mouth feel - for example, lactobacillus will give a creamier texture). Beer styles like IPAs or lagers that have these bacterial strains would be considered ruined because the flavors those bacteria produced are not particularly of that style's flavor profile.

    Brewers can also add other things beyond the standard beer ingredients (called "adjuncts") to give the beer a specific flavor. Chocolate, marshmallow, fresh fruit like raspberries, etc. Adjuncts can be added to any style of beer, but it's more common in some than others.

    3 votes

  5. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~food

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    The juice-like beers are a style called "New England IPA" or "hazy IPA," they've been huge in popularity for the last 3-5 years or so. And, of course, they taste nothing like the traditional "West...

    The juice-like beers are a style called "New England IPA" or "hazy IPA," they've been huge in popularity for the last 3-5 years or so. And, of course, they taste nothing like the traditional "West Coast IPA," which is the huge bitter bomb everyone tends to think of when they hear "IPA".

    1 vote

  6. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    Thanks! I do some light homelab work and I've already got SSL-enabled HomeAssistant and OctoPrint servers on my home network that are publicly available, so I'll probably just add this to my...

    Thanks! I do some light homelab work and I've already got SSL-enabled HomeAssistant and OctoPrint servers on my home network that are publicly available, so I'll probably just add this to my domain. I'll also probably take the ordering service offline when I'm not actively hosting a party, but keep the cocktail database available.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    bitwyze
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    One of my hobbies is mixology/craft cocktails - I've got a pretty large home bar, 60+ bottles. I just recently hosted a party and did the bartending. I wasn't behind the bar all night, so anyone...

    One of my hobbies is mixology/craft cocktails - I've got a pretty large home bar, 60+ bottles. I just recently hosted a party and did the bartending. I wasn't behind the bar all night, so anyone who wanted a drink had to come find me and ask for one, which was not a great experience for them.

    After the event was over, I manually counted up all of the drinks I made, then calculated out all the ingredients I used (liquor, mixers, syrups, etc) to see how much extra I had on hand so as to plan better for the next party. I figured "there has to be a better way..."

    So, I'm working on building a web-based application that allows for people to sign in and place drink orders through the website. It solves both problems I have - people don't have to find me to get their drink orders in, and I don't have to be writing down orders and manually tabulate them at the end.

    I'm building the front-end in TypeScript using Angular, simply because that's what we use at work and I've touched our GUI code a little bit (I mostly work in C++ and Python). I decided to go with Rust for the back-end, mostly because I wanted an extra challenge, as I've never worked with the language before. My plan is to make a very small microservice design (one for ordering and one for managing available/highlighted drinks), which means databases - something else I haven't worked with before. I'm going with SQLite because I used it for maybe two days in college.

    It's mostly a resume boosting project for me, but I'm excited to see if I can actually get what's in my head onto the screen because it would be pretty useful.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on Amazon is warning employees they risk undermining their own promotion prospects unless they return to the office (RTO) for three days a week, as was mandated by CEO Andy Jassy months ago in ~life

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    For me, the issue is in flexibility and transparency. At my company, we're required to be in the office three days a week. Each team decides which days they go in (except everyone at the HQ office...

    For me, the issue is in flexibility and transparency. At my company, we're required to be in the office three days a week. Each team decides which days they go in (except everyone at the HQ office needs to be in on Wednesday). The company put the policy in place because they believe that face-to-face collaboration leads to more successful products.

    We'll ignore the fact that during lockdown, the company broke personal records in how quickly we developed new products and how much volume we pushed. And we'll also ignore that we're a global company and that my team regularly interacts with teams across the US and in Europe, so collaboration via both asynchronous communication and video calls is a necessity for us.

    My team has decided to be in the office Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Everyone on my team works from home Tuesdays and Fridays, except for one person who loves working in the office and goes in every day (and my manager, who is full-time remote). If I have a day full of meetings on Thursday that are all Zoom calls, it really makes sense for me to save my own time and money and take those calls from home. What difference does it make for me to put on some headphones and talk to a screen if I do it from my home office versus from my cubicle? But, if I do that, I have to go in on Friday. Because I need to be in the office three days a week. You know, so I can collaborate with my coworkers... Who are all working from home, because it's a Friday.

    Why can't my company just be transparent and say "look, we need people in the office to justify this real estate we purchased and the renovations we did," rather than hiding behind the facade of "being face-to-face results in better collaboration"? At least then my coworkers and I wouldn't need to speculate about the real reason we're in the office. And if the reason truly is the collaboration, why are they so inflexible on the policy for when it's just incredibly inconvenient every once in a while?

    It goes back to what the exemplary post up above says: it's about managers holding some sort of control over the peons.

    9 votes

  9. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    Conan is starting to become more popular as a package manager, but it's definitely not widely known at this point. EDIT: and png++ is on ConanCenter!...

    Conan is starting to become more popular as a package manager, but it's definitely not widely known at this point.

    EDIT: and png++ is on ConanCenter! https://conan.io/center/recipes/pngpp?version=0.2.10

  10. Comment on What everyday things can you replace with a higher-quality alternative? in ~life

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    I'm a bit of a coffee nerd, so if I may, I'll offer some advice. I started with an Encore and a French press and made some pretty tasty coffee that was always better than whatever I could get at...

    I'm a bit of a coffee nerd, so if I may, I'll offer some advice. I started with an Encore and a French press and made some pretty tasty coffee that was always better than whatever I could get at work (generally K cups or similar). I highly, highly recommend getting a quality scale that can measure to 0.1g. You can use a kitchen scale if you have one already, but they generally don't get that precise. (Here's what I have).

    If you liked filter coffee, I actually recommend going for a cheap V60 brewer rather than the French press - you can get a cheap plastic brewer that generally runs you less than $15 on Amazon (or you might be able to buy one at a local cafe, I know my local spot sells them). Paper filters are also incredibly cheap. A nice pouring kettle will also make your life a lot easier (but you'd want that for the French press as well). The reason I recommend this is because French presses make very different coffee than a filter brew. French press coffee generally has more sediment because the liquid hasn't been filtered through the incredibly fine weave of the paper filters - the metal mesh simply lets more particulate though. That's not to say that French press is bad - French press coffee can be delicious, you'll just get a "siltier" cup, which can often mean different flavors come though in the cup (both good and bad!).

    The best way to find out what you like is to brew a bunch of coffee and just experiment! Nowadays, about 8 years into brewing good coffee, I grind on a Niche Zero and brew V60s and espresso with my (modded) Gaggia Classic Pro.

    James Hoffman is a great resource for brewing wonderful coffee. Here's some good technique videos:

    Good luck, and have fun!

    6 votes

  11. Comment on Suggestions for updating a fitness tracker? in ~tech

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    Highly recommend Garmin. I have a Venu 2 and love it. I usually get between 9 and 11 days of battery life.

    Highly recommend Garmin. I have a Venu 2 and love it. I usually get between 9 and 11 days of battery life.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on What are your favorite webcomics? in ~comics

  13. Comment on Keyboard thread in ~hobbies

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    I don't have too many problems with it, but I also don't use arrow keys super frequently (I use vim bindings) I love a numpad - so I have a layer that's activated by my left thumb that turns the...

    split arrow keys

    I don't have too many problems with it, but I also don't use arrow keys super frequently (I use vim bindings)

    Lack of numpad?

    I love a numpad - so I have a layer that's activated by my left thumb that turns the right split into a numpad.

    Memorizing what the blank keycaps represent?

    I have regular keycaps, but yes, there are some that don't have legends. I tend to use those for macros. And memorizing the different layers takes a bit, but you eventually build a config that works for you after you iterate on your layout a handful of times.

    Here's my layout: https://configure.zsa.io/moonlander/layouts/gYdv3/latest/0

    I still need to do more iterations - I realize that having a hotkey for -> and => would be great for code.

  14. Comment on Keyboard thread in ~hobbies

    bitwyze
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I went with the black. I unfortunately have pretty oily skin, so I tend to avoid white peripherals because they discolor so quickly for me. Re: soldering - it's not terribly hard, though I do have...

    I went with the black. I unfortunately have pretty oily skin, so I tend to avoid white peripherals because they discolor so quickly for me.

    Re: soldering - it's not terribly hard, though I do have a degree in Electrical Engineering, so I've done my fair share of it (only through-hole, though, no SMD). PCB design is the hardest part, IMO.

    I also have a 3D printer and have been toying with building my own split (and I'd love to make the right thumb cluster have a trackball - that's my only complaint about the Moonlander). There's a website I saw for designing your own custom ergo keyboard, I'll try to find the link...

    EDIT: Found it! https://ergogen.xyz/#

    1 vote

  15. Comment on Beer peeps, what have you been drinking? in ~food

    bitwyze
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    Peak Brewing's Fresh Cut - a great pils, but the dry hoping just gives it something extra while still being incredibly drinkable.

    Peak Brewing's Fresh Cut - a great pils, but the dry hoping just gives it something extra while still being incredibly drinkable.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout ‘will pass’ in ~tech

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    My company (about 2000 employees) is 40 years old and has a variety of names based on job function, where you're located, etc. I hate it.

    My company (about 2000 employees) is 40 years old and has a variety of names based on job function, where you're located, etc.

    I hate it.

    8 votes

  17. Comment on Keyboard thread in ~hobbies

    bitwyze
    Link Parent
    Also on a Moonlander for about 1.5 years now. Absolutely love it!

    Also on a Moonlander for about 1.5 years now. Absolutely love it!

    2 votes