cinnamontrout's recent activity
-
Comment on Can noise canceling headphones be effective against non continuous noise such as music? in ~tech
-
Comment on Can noise canceling headphones be effective against non continuous noise such as music? in ~tech
cinnamontrout (edited )LinkI've had a lot of experience blocking out sounds to help me sleep, and I've had many years of experience with tinnitus, but never have used tinnitus hearing aids. In my case, the situation I was...I've had a lot of experience blocking out sounds to help me sleep, and I've had many years of experience with tinnitus, but never have used tinnitus hearing aids.
In my case, the situation I was trying to solve was get to sleep in a neighborhood with noisy neighbors who played music late into the evening. The base thumps could be heard through my walls and it was very distracting.
The solution I came up was to use the best passive earplugs I could comfortably sleep with, coupled with a non-distracting, loud continuous droning noise generator that effectively masked the frequencies of the music. Without earplugs, the room was noisy but you couldn't hear the music distinctly. With the earplugs in, all sounds were reduced enough that I could sleep. If I used just the earplugs alone, after a few minutes my hearing would adjust and hear the faint sounds of music along with my tinnitus.
They key was to generate enough sound that masked both the music and the frequencies of my tinnitus. I found the best source was that was big air filter made by Holmes. It's quite large - about 25 inches by 25 inches by 8 inches. I tried all kinds of "white noise" machines but they did not effectively mask the low frequencies well. The best devices are ones which move a large amount of area. The best earplugs I found were made by 3M, the 1100 Foam Earplugs. you can buy a 200 pairs for $25 and I find I replace each pair every 3-4 weeks so it takes me a long time to go through them. I like them more than other foam earplugs because in order to create a good seal, you have to squish them down and shove them in your ear. Most foam earplugs expand way too quickly for you to have time to put them in your ear - the 3M 1100s expand slowly, giving you ample time to place them. They are also very comfortable and soft enough that I can roll my head onto the side with them in place and they do not hurt nor get dislodged.
I have also owned many noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds. They are largely ineffective for the task of blocking "interesting" or non-repetitive sounds like music or people talking, or sounds come on suddenly like sirens or car honks. At best they equal the sound deadening effects of great passive earplugs when it comes to non-repetitive sounds. I do enjoy them a lot for use on airplanes; the engine noise is a perfect match for noise-canceling headphone technology.
EDIT: Since V17's post made it clear I needed to clarify some points - the main reason I do not use active noise canceling devices is because alone they don't do enough to mask the distracting sounds. The over-the-hear (or on-the-ear) designs do not work well for how I sleep, which is on my side with one ear pressed into the pillow. The in-ear designs similarly do not work well for me in that way. I have to use some sort of passive, soft foam for my physical ears while sleeping, so that means I need to create distraction noise in some other way; hence the loud air filters.
-
Comment on Pizza Hut is lying: They’re not firing their drivers because of a minimum wage hike in ~life
cinnamontrout (edited )Link ParentEven the author of the article admits she's making up her core assumption: "I think they’re all just copying from the same press release that probably came right from Yum! Foods, the multinational...Even the author of the article admits she's making up her core assumption:
"I think they’re all just copying from the same press release that probably came right from Yum! Foods, the multinational conglomerate that owns Pizza Hut."
Nowhere does Pizza Hut say it's because of the minimum-wage increase. They haven't even made an official statement at all.
-
Comment on Tourist destinations that are more than just a nice view? in ~travel
cinnamontrout Link ParentTokyo DisneySea is, in my opinion, the best Disney theme park in the world, and I've been to all of them. It is so many things going for it - it is architecturally the most beautiful. It is owned...Tokyo DisneySea is, in my opinion, the best Disney theme park in the world, and I've been to all of them. It is so many things going for it - it is architecturally the most beautiful. It is owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company, not Disney, and they have invested a lot more money and it shows. The staff are the most friendly, and part of that is just the japanese culture but it is also because the locals consider going to Disney parks a special occasion, so they dress up and act appropriately like they are going to someplace special.
It was shocking to me as an American just how different it felt. I felt like I was the least well dressed person there and I don't think I'm all that bad by American standards.
The food is also excellent - they have unique food items that are designed to appeal to locals but also have a bit of Disney "flair". Japan is big on seasonal things and the food at the theme parks is no different.
The only downside is that after having visited Tokyo DisneyLand and DisneySea, I came back home to the US depressed about how bad our parks look and feel by comparison.
-
Comment on Smart home automation - tip, tricks, advice? in ~life.home_improvement
cinnamontrout Link ParentWhen you say "central station monitoring" I'm presuming you mean for a home security alarm/fire, where they have people who will receive signals of a break-in/fire and will go down a call sheet...When you say "central station monitoring" I'm presuming you mean for a home security alarm/fire, where they have people who will receive signals of a break-in/fire and will go down a call sheet and attempt to reach you and then call the police/fire department if appropriate?
I also have a Home Assistant setup but I also have an separate home alarm system that was installed by professionals and is monitored by a central monitoring service. You can use them separately, and for many years, they were completely independent of each other. However, recently I started integrating my Home Assistant system with my alarm panel; it does not affect what the central monitoring service does or sees.
The advantages are that my Home Assistant can now watch my alarm panel and if it sees that I have armed the house, I must be away and it can adjust the thermostat and turn off all of the interior lights that may be on.
The alarm panel is a Vista by Ademco/Honeywell and is an extremely popular old school alarm system. Most alarm companies use these for their installations still.
-
Comment on The impact of an accent on charisma/persuasion in ~talk
cinnamontrout LinkHow are you judging your accent? Are you making audio recordings and playing them back to yourself, and saving them to see your progress over time? It's often very difficult to judge which parts...How are you judging your accent? Are you making audio recordings and playing them back to yourself, and saving them to see your progress over time? It's often very difficult to judge which parts of your speech are considered problematic, or charming, to an outsider.
As you yourself noted, accent differences are perceived very differently from person to person.
I would not place too much effort on changing your accent. The message, and the vocabulary, matters often much more than the accent, especially inside the USA. This story would be different if you were trying to do this between foreign countries who have much stronger negative sentiments between each other.
If you have not seriously considered sales training, you should consider it. Persuasion is a nuanced skill with a lot of things beyond the verbal delivery of a message. It's timing, knowing your audience, gauging the receptiveness of your audience over time (days, weeks or months even!). Unless you are a trained actor, the time you put into mastering the accent is going to be wasted compared to the efforts you put into the other tasks.
-
Comment on Where is everyone hosting their email these days? in ~tech
cinnamontrout (edited )LinkI've been using https://purelymail.com/ for about a year now for my custom domains. Price is excellent - less than $10/year for my usage. It's a small operation - one guy. But it's excellent both...I've been using https://purelymail.com/ for about a year now for my custom domains. Price is excellent - less than $10/year for my usage.
It's a small operation - one guy. But it's excellent both in terms of support, delivery, and transparency of maintenance and outages.
I also use https://mxroute.com/ for some other custom domains. I've used them longer; they are famous/infamous for having a rather "frank" founder when it comes to public communications, but they are very responsive and have excellent delivery and uptime. They have sales during Black Friday and other holidays which can get you into some excellent pricing.
Both services assume you know how mail services operate; they will not hand-hold you. From someone who used to host his own mail servers, they handle all of the stuff I don't want to deal with and let me configure almost everything I want on my own.
-
Comment on What are some ideas for what can or should be done to facilitate kids’ independence and social life? in ~life
cinnamontrout (edited )LinkIt's not directly on topic, but regarding the article from the Washington Post, instead of getting kids Airtags, just get them an Apple Watch without an iPhone. Apple Watch's can now be set up in...It's not directly on topic, but regarding the article from the Washington Post, instead of getting kids Airtags, just get them an Apple Watch without an iPhone. Apple Watch's can now be set up in "kids mode" where they are paired with their parents iPhone and have much more limited capabilities. In addition to the GPS tracking, they can also send text messages to only contacts you have previously approved.
Airtags are much more limited in what they can do, and easily drop off the grid if the child is nowhere near someone's iPhone.
Setting up a child's Apple Watch is more reliable, and officially supported by Apple for doing so:
https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/set-up-a-family-members-apple-watch-apd54d0a51fb/watchos
But back to your original question -
I have family members who have done almost exactly what is shown in the Japanese Old Enough show - they send their kids on short errands alone to stores in their town, in a more limited fashion. A girl who is 7 is given a short shopping list for the grocery store that is part of a large shopping complex. The mother drives into the shopping area, hands her kid the written list and tells her to meet her back at Starbucks when she is done. She's not that far away, and the environment is somewhat controlled. She also happens to know some of the mall employees so there are some adults who keep an eye out and are used to her doing this, but the child is not really aware of these safety measure that are set up.
The entire experience lasts less than 15 minutes but to a 7 year old that's a long time to feel independent.
-
Comment on When did VPS hosting get so expensive? in ~comp
cinnamontrout LinkYou can find much cheaper VPS if you are willing to go with smaller companies and pre-pay for a year at a time. https://lowendtalk.com/categories/offers LowEndTalk has a section for current...You can find much cheaper VPS if you are willing to go with smaller companies and pre-pay for a year at a time.
https://lowendtalk.com/categories/offers
LowEndTalk has a section for current offers. RackNerd has specials on holidays - this most recent Easter sale looks to still be good. They have a 5GB KVM VPS with 100GB SSD for $58.88 per year.
-
Comment on I'm generally confused about dating women in ~life.men
cinnamontrout Link ParentEssentially, yes the platforms are built on a fantasy. I know a few people for whom dating apps are actually useful - they are all very attractive, way above-average looking people. And in their...Essentially, yes the platforms are built on a fantasy.
I know a few people for whom dating apps are actually useful - they are all very attractive, way above-average looking people. And in their normal life they are so far out of everyone's league they use the dating platform to hookup with the most attractive people in their area.
They are not looking for long term partners. It's just for hooking up - and you burn through partners quickly in real life, so the online platform casts a much wider net.
-
Comment on I'm generally confused about dating women in ~life.men
cinnamontrout LinkI've had a lot of experience with this, both directly and indirectly (lots of women in my family). So here's a bunch of things that may help: Regarding the advice many have already offered about...- Exemplary
I've had a lot of experience with this, both directly and indirectly (lots of women in my family).
So here's a bunch of things that may help:
Regarding the advice many have already offered about trying to widen your social circle: The reason this works is because most women do not want to feel like they are being interviewed for the position of future wife. Neither do most men. Almost everyone I know wants the story of how they fell in love to be - he/she was a wonderful person who just came into my life and I just knew. The best way for that to happen is for this person to actually be a part of your life, that you see regularly and on occasion without any romantic overtones. When you are around people regularly, you pick up on many clues about their personality and you get to see the real person. They are not performing for you or trying too hard to impress you. People who encounter each other this way often have the most realistic impression of their personalities, good and bad. This is the main reason why people often fall in love with co-workers or classmates. The daily environment of seeing someone, working on shared projects together generates a lot of the natural elements that cause attraction and also foster mutual understanding of each other.
Regarding soliciting feedback from your past dates - basically, you won't get useful actionable information from them. You may even get incorrect information, for a variety of reasons. Many women have had bad experiences and do not want to encourage a past suitor further, so they often will say what they think will end the iteraction with the least drama. This often means if you do have some glaring fault, they will not risk angering you and telling you what it is out of fear.
As someone who has entered the dating pool a few times in his life over many decades 20s, late 30s, who has tried online dating all both times (yes, there were online dating websites in the 1990s!) I can tell you the tech changes but the way people are do not. It's always a ratio of about 1-20 on the online sites, and doing social circles things go from 1-6 to 6-1 depending on the circle. Social circles always win.
And the other thing to be aware of - social circles are not always what they seem on the surface. When I was younger, I joined a social circle where I was the only one in my 20s, and most the volunteers were over 50. I was not attracted to any of the women there who were much older than me - however, I did end up going on a few dates with their daughters/nieces and I would not have had that opportunity any other way. Their mothers "vetted" me, essentially. Their daughters were basically looking for guys in bars or online and not doing well with that approach.
Finally I will repeat some advice that others have also said here - stop trying so hard. It's counter-productive. For 2 reasons. First is that desperation is not attractive. This is why you can't get a squirrel to eat our of your hand if you run at it with nuts. Sit quietly, hold out your hand, and they are much more likely to approach. Second is that need to be the kind of guy a woman wants to hang out with. A woman does not want to hang out with a guy who is desperately looking for her. She wants a guy who is happy with life, and living it to the fullest before she came along. So you need to be that guy, and one way to do that is to find purpose with a lots of other people, not future dating partners. Find a cause you believe in, and do the cause.
-
Comment on How does mutual fund pricing work when selling? in ~finance
cinnamontrout LinkYou've pretty much got it - that's a downside to owning a mutual fund. This is one reason Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are popular - you can sell in the middle of the day, like a stock. If you...You've pretty much got it - that's a downside to owning a mutual fund. This is one reason Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are popular - you can sell in the middle of the day, like a stock.
If you want to minimize your risk of getting a bad day on the market, sell only a portion at a time and spread it out over several days. That's generally a good idea overall because it's really hard to time daily market swings anyway.
-
Comment on Remote work to wipe out $800 billion from office values, McKinsey says in ~life
cinnamontrout Link ParentOffices are 12% of commercial real estate. The impact from vacant offices is not as large as what happened with residential real-estate in 2007-2009. That exact same blog you mentioned actually...Offices are 12% of commercial real estate. The impact from vacant offices is not as large as what happened with residential real-estate in 2007-2009.
That exact same blog you mentioned actually has a nice write-up about commercial real estate:
https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2023/04/a-few-comments-on-commercial-real-estate.html
Excerpt:
However, there are many other CRE sectors in addition to office and retail: lodging (hotels), health care, warehouses (including self-storage), manufacturing facilities, food and beverage establishments, power and communication, amusement and recreation (Disneyland!), religious, transportation and more.
-
Comment on Building my own email system and/or other privacy-first email solutions? in ~comp
cinnamontrout Link ParentI also got the notice about GandiMail being shut down at the end of November. So far I've found 2 pretty good services if you don't feel like rolling it on your own. There is MXroute.com - they...I also got the notice about GandiMail being shut down at the end of November.
So far I've found 2 pretty good services if you don't feel like rolling it on your own.
There is MXroute.com - they have specials but you can get pretty much the same service as GandiMail for as little as $49 per year.
Even cheaper is Purelymail.com - it's only $10/year, and if you do the pay-as-you-go option, it's even cheaper.
Both services will let you have unlimited maiboxes, unlimited domains and aliases.
I'm testing out Purelymail.com and I like it a lot.
Only one downside with Purelymail - it's a one man operation, has been in "beta" for years, but I understand he's got his brother helping him now.
-
Comment on Favorite podcast app? in ~tech
cinnamontrout LinkI like RSS Radio for iPhone. It has one feature that I do not see regularly, which is the ability to subscribe to a podcast URL that is on your local network. The reason I like this is I use other...I like RSS Radio for iPhone. It has one feature that I do not see regularly, which is the ability to subscribe to a podcast URL that is on your local network. The reason I like this is I use other tools to download podcasts onto my own server which I then serve up using DirCaster. This allows me to pull shows from my own server at home very quickly.
The other additional benefit is I can run audio processing on the podcast files to do things like level out the soft and loud parts, which makes them much easier to listen to in noisy environments like cars. This is especially important for podcasts which have a poorer production values and don't typically clean up their audio before posting.
-
Comment on Building my own email system and/or other privacy-first email solutions? in ~comp
cinnamontrout LinkI've run email servers in the past, and most if it is not too difficult if you are at all a seasoned linux admin. However, the biggest issue you will face is getting your outgoing mail delivered....I've run email servers in the past, and most if it is not too difficult if you are at all a seasoned linux admin. However, the biggest issue you will face is getting your outgoing mail delivered.
The problem is this is largely out of your control. Big email providers like Google and Microsoft are notoriously secretive and opaque about why they reject mail from small and medium-sized mail servers. In Microsoft's case, they often just "black-hole" your email so you don't even get a clue that your mail isn't getting accepted.
To get your mail accepted, you have to get a clean, dedicated IP, and one that is not even on a similar subnet as someone who is spamming. So that generally rejects almost all VPS's out there. And when (not IF) you run into trouble, you have to contact the destination email admins and basically beg to let your mail through and convince them you're not a bad actor. That's the tough part - there's no established protocol for doing this, and with the big players you're often talking to a wall.
If you really still want to do this, your best bet is to purchase a service that will deliver your mail for you; basically buy an SMTP gateway that will deal with that part. MXroute.com for example is very good at getting their email delivered. But for that same price, they will also host your mail if you don't feel like running your own IMAP/postfix/webmail services yourself.
Good luck - I do wish more people would host their own mail, but it's becoming much harder to go solo these days.
-
Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
cinnamontrout LinkI recently discovered Italian singer Giorgia, and really love her song Parlami D'Amore: https://open.spotify.com/track/2OL2eKYuQLAGNdOqVBB92p?autoplay=true...I recently discovered Italian singer Giorgia, and really love her song Parlami D'Amore:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2OL2eKYuQLAGNdOqVBB92p?autoplay=true
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLeLQnxhvKMIt came out in 1999, and I was surprised out how American it sounded in terms of popular music for that time. Turns out it was penned by the hugely prolific American songwriter Diane Warren. Cece Winans sang a first version of it called Listen with Your Heart, which has the same melody and structure but completely different lyrics which can't be just due to translation. The Italian lyrics are a lot stronger IMO and showcase Giorgia's singing talents.
-
Comment on What's your favourite ice cream flavour? in ~food
cinnamontrout LinkMy favorite ice cream is called The Munchies from Ample Hills Creamery. It's pretzel infused ice cream with mixed-in ritz crackers, mini pretzels, potato chips and M&Ms. It's an amazing...My favorite ice cream is called The Munchies from Ample Hills Creamery. It's pretzel infused ice cream with mixed-in ritz crackers, mini pretzels, potato chips and M&Ms. It's an amazing combination.
If you can't find it near you, you can make it yourself:
https://www.wnyc.org/story/recipe-ample-hill-creamerys-munchies/
This was one of the first ice cream flavors I learned to make and it still is a favorite among my family. Totally worth the effort!
-
Comment on What password management solution do you use and why? in ~tech
cinnamontrout LinkNot a developer, nor paid to say this, just a very early user who has been happy with the product: I use Strongbox Password Safe, which is a stand-alone application that can handle both Password...Not a developer, nor paid to say this, just a very early user who has been happy with the product:
I use Strongbox Password Safe, which is a stand-alone application that can handle both Password Safe as well as KeePass formats. Both formats are open source so I'm not locked in to this product if it goes away, and both formats have been externally audited.
For keeping my devices in sync, I have used Dropbox, but recently I switched to iCloud Drive because Apple in the last year introduced Advanced Data Protection (which you have to manually turn on) which provides end-to-end encryption of lots of things in your iCloud account, including the contents of your iCloud Drive filesystem.
The Strongbox Password Safe application is available as both a subscription as well as a one-time "lifetime" purchase. I bought it a long time ago when the lifetime price was under $10; it's more expensive now, but it's also grown a lot and the developer is still actively updating it with new features.
The specific models of noise-canceling headphones I have experience with are the Sony WH-1000XM3, the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds.
You are correct that foam earplugs when used alone are not the best for loud bass - that is why I use the large air-mass moving devices like the air filters. Unfortunately the best bass reducing active noise cancelling headphones are too large and heavy to wear while sleeping, especially if you roll onto your sides; none of the headphones or earbuds I have found work well when pressed into a pillow.
The point of the foam earplugs is just to reduce the total volume of noise to a level which makes it comfortable for sleeping. I need the physical noise makers in the room to create the masking necessary to ignore all of the extraneous sounds, including the tinnitus in my own head.
I currently own (and use) the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds when traveling on airplanes, and they are very effective for that purpose, but I still hear speech quite clearly through them.
The most effective means of reducing noise and speech on an airplane is to use the 3M 1100 earplugs and then use an over-the-ear sound reducing headphones like the WH-1000XM3 or Bose 700s. I have also found that the much less expensive Anker Soundcore Q30s work very well when used in combination with the foam earplugs; they have equal low-frequency performance for where the earplugs do not work.