bobstay's recent activity

  1. Comment on Shell to permanently close all of its hydrogen refuelling stations for cars in California in ~transport

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    The solution is for people to get used to it. Charging speed will gradually improve as the tech gets better, but it's only really an issue on long road trips where people will just get used to...

    The solution is for people to get used to it. Charging speed will gradually improve as the tech gets better, but it's only really an issue on long road trips where people will just get used to taking a 20 minute break every 2-3 hours.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Theory: All children love Darude - Sandstorm in ~music

    bobstay
    Link
    Have 6 & 3 year old. Can confirm Sandstorm is a favourite.

    Have 6 & 3 year old. Can confirm Sandstorm is a favourite.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Live UK National Grid statistics in ~enviro

  4. Comment on How to find out which extension opened an advertising tab? in ~tech

  5. Comment on What minor or inane decisions have had the biggest butterfly effect on your life? in ~talk

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    Ah, I'm using OpenSCAD so a lot of that geometry is manual.

    Ah, I'm using OpenSCAD so a lot of that geometry is manual.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on What minor or inane decisions have had the biggest butterfly effect on your life? in ~talk

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    If you get into 3d printing, you'll start to use trig (if you're designing your own models, that is).

    If you get into 3d printing, you'll start to use trig (if you're designing your own models, that is).

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Reading advice for new parents? in ~life

    bobstay
    Link
    My reading advice for new parents would be: Read now. Once the baby arrives you won't have any time, energy, or patience for reading...

    My reading advice for new parents would be: Read now. Once the baby arrives you won't have any time, energy, or patience for reading...

    1 vote

  8. Comment on How to find out which extension opened an advertising tab? in ~tech

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    I have reported it.

    I have reported it.

    10 votes

  9. Comment on How to find out which extension opened an advertising tab? in ~tech

  10. Comment on How to find out which extension opened an advertising tab? in ~tech

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    You're not wrong, and I should delete them all. But having caught this, I now want to pin down which one it is before I nix them all, so I can name/shame etc.

    You're not wrong, and I should delete them all. But having caught this, I now want to pin down which one it is before I nix them all, so I can name/shame etc.

    5 votes

  11. How to find out which extension opened an advertising tab?

    ~tech Ask
    Recently I've been coming back to my chrome browsers to find a tab open with the following URL: (link disabled to prevent giving them any more clicks) https...

    Recently I've been coming back to my chrome browsers to find a tab open with the following URL:
    (link disabled to prevent giving them any more clicks)

    https ://theaisecrets.beehiiv.com/p/chatgpt-can-now-work-docs-apps-websites-emails

    This is happening across all my computers, both linux, windows, and linux VM, so I don't think it's OS-specific malware, but I suspect a rogue chrome extension is opening the tab, because I have chrome synced across all affected devices via my google account.

    I've searched for this particular problem and URL to no avail, so I wondered if there's a way to track back which extension opened the tab, other than by doing a binary search disabling half my extensions at a time (which would be annoying as hell - the tabs only seem to get opened once a day or so).

    14 votes

  12. Comment on The world’s largest aircraft breaks cover in Silicon Valley in ~transport

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    Thanks, that was a good video. Releasing the gas (as said in the video) is a non-starter because helium is so expensive, scarce, and non-renewable. But I think combining two or three of the...

    Thanks, that was a good video.

    Releasing the gas (as said in the video) is a non-starter because helium is so expensive, scarce, and non-renewable. But I think combining two or three of the methods mentioned might work:

    • When dropping off cargo, start compressing the lifting gas into tanks well before landing - compensating for the loss of lift with thrust from propellers or aerodynamic lift until on the ground.
    • When picking up cargo, decompress the lifting gas from tanks to take off. This should be a relatively quick process as it's just opening a valve and allowing the gas to flow back into the lifting bladders.
    12 votes

  13. Comment on The world’s largest aircraft breaks cover in Silicon Valley in ~transport

    bobstay
    Link
    I really want to see a world where airships are once again a common sight in the skies. But I have two worries: How will they cope with unexpected bad weather (winds in particular) ? Can we...

    I really want to see a world where airships are once again a common sight in the skies.
    But I have two worries:

    • How will they cope with unexpected bad weather (winds in particular) ?
    • Can we justify the use of non-renewable helium?
    11 votes

  14. Comment on A new garment called the Tiger Summer Puffer keeps you cool in the heat... using beer in ~design

    bobstay
    Link
    What an absolutely unnecessary and wasteful nonsense product (and article). This is the sort of vacuous drivel I hoped to avoid on Tildes.

    What an absolutely unnecessary and wasteful nonsense product (and article). This is the sort of vacuous drivel I hoped to avoid on Tildes.

    13 votes

  15. Comment on Chiropractic isn’t what you think it is in ~health

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    I'm reminded of this Dara O'Briain clip (at 1m45):

    I'm reminded of this Dara O'Briain clip (at 1m45):

    Herbal medicine has been around for thousands of years.
    Indeed it has! And then we tested it all, and the stuff that worked became "medicine".

    1 vote

  16. Comment on Chiropractic isn’t what you think it is in ~health

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    As far as I can tell, the degrees that you describe (which include all the MD curriculum) exist only because a degree containing only the woo wouldn't qualify them to treat real patients - because...

    The federal government doesn't let basket weavers prescribe pharmaceuticals. ND curriculum includes all the same medical sciences found in an MD program. Possibly the biggest difference is that an ND takes up to three times as many hours of nutrition.

    As far as I can tell, the degrees that you describe (which include all the MD curriculum) exist only because a degree containing only the woo wouldn't qualify them to treat real patients - because it's woo. So such degrees allow the woo-mongers to get at patients, because they can claim "I'm a real doctor too".

    At least consider that if your knowledge of the field ends at the wikipedia entry, you may be unqualified to write off an entire profession.

    I did wonder if I was going to get the "dO yOuR rEsEarCh" response.

    If someone is going to claim that chewing this root (which mainstream medicine rejects as being a placebo at best) is going to cure someone's (potentially serious) illness, and that person is liable to ignore real treatments in favour of it, then this falls squarely under "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".

    So the onus is not on me to read past a wikipedia entry (which is quite scathing), it's on you to demonstrate that root-chewing is going to help more than real medicine.

    33 votes

  17. Comment on Chiropractic isn’t what you think it is in ~health

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    I'm sure you can get a doctorate in whippet-fondling with basket-weaving if you look hard enough. Sure, some "naturopaths" may incorporate some scientific principles in their work, but that...

    I'm sure you can get a doctorate in whippet-fondling with basket-weaving if you look hard enough. Sure, some "naturopaths" may incorporate some scientific principles in their work, but that doesn't legitimise the field in my book.

    The fact that it's illegal in some US states, includes homeopathy and is "based on vitalism and folk medicine" (whatever they are) plants it firmly in the "woo-woo" basket for me.

    43 votes

  18. Comment on Ministers set to ban single-use vapes in UK over child addiction fears in ~health

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    Health concerns aside, it is an utterly criminal waste of resources, not least because the batteries in them are normal lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that could be recharged 500+ times....

    These one use things you see strewn over pavements and in hedges and verges when people are done with them.

    Health concerns aside, it is an utterly criminal waste of resources, not least because the batteries in them are normal lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that could be recharged 500+ times. Instead, they're thrown out after one use and never recharged. I've taken to picking them up and extracting the batteries for my own projects, but very few people have the need/tools for such a process, so they just end up in landfill (or ditches).

    14 votes

  19. Comment on Germany will force 80% of gas stations to install EV charging in ~transport

    bobstay
    Link Parent
    I think this is a bit hyperbolic. The heater in an EV takes a few kW, maybe 3-5. The charger is delivering 50-150kW. You're not going to reduce your charge time by much by turning the heater off.

    I had also needed to turn off my car to minimize my wait, which meant no heat in the middle of winter and at midnight.

    I think this is a bit hyperbolic. The heater in an EV takes a few kW, maybe 3-5. The charger is delivering 50-150kW. You're not going to reduce your charge time by much by turning the heater off.

    7 votes

  20. Comment on Johnny Cash - Barbie Girl (2023) in ~music

    bobstay
    Link
    I was all ready to be angry, but this is impressive and disturbing, so I'm impressed and disturbed instead.

    I was all ready to be angry, but this is impressive and disturbing, so I'm impressed and disturbed instead.

    9 votes