clayh's recent activity

  1. Comment on What diagramming tools do folks use? in ~comp

    clayh
    Link
    I saw a ShowHN about this Mermaid-based tool this morning. It might be worth looking into: https://github.com/RohanAdwankar/oxdraw

    I saw a ShowHN about this Mermaid-based tool this morning. It might be worth looking into:

    https://github.com/RohanAdwankar/oxdraw

    3 votes
  2. Comment on Financial collapse? in ~finance

    clayh
    Link Parent
    Essentially, foreign stocks pay dividends that are subject to foreign withholding taxes before they reach you. The FTC lets you claim a credit on your US tax return for the foreign taxes paid,...

    Essentially, foreign stocks pay dividends that are subject to foreign withholding taxes before they reach you. The FTC lets you claim a credit on your US tax return for the foreign taxes paid, reducing your US tax liability. It will show up on your 1099-DIV. You can take it as a simple deduction on 1040 schedule A or as a tax credit on form 1116 (I think). The latter gets you more of a credit. There’s a threshold that provides an easy-out exception. You usually can get up to 0.25% on your after-tax returns if you claim the credit.

    I may have some details wrong here but that’s the general gist of it.

    3 votes
  3. Comment on Financial collapse? in ~finance

    clayh
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Stocks are considered a hedge against inflation much like bonds are considered a hedge against deflation. The Bogle approach to owning whole market index funds (that are “self-cleansing”) provides...

    Stocks are considered a hedge against inflation much like bonds are considered a hedge against deflation.

    The Bogle approach to owning whole market index funds (that are “self-cleansing”) provides weighted ownership of huge multinational corporations. JL Collins argues that is sufficient international exposure. The US Total Market funds at Vanguard are VTSAX or the ETF version, VTI.

    You’ll see “VT and Chill” because VT is Vanguard’s Total World Index ETF. It’s basically a combo of VTI and VXUS, which is Total Ex-US Stock Index ETF. It traditionally has underperformed VTI but has done very well this year, in no small part due to the performance of European defense companies and the US not providing as much support to Ukraine.

    Anyhow, the global economy is almost infinitely complex and still extremely tightly bound to the US Dollar. While China and other countries might like to divest of US Treasury Bonds, they will harm themselves and the rest of the global economy greatly if they dump them. They know that. So do other countries.

    My personal opinion is that the global economy would be healthier without complete USD dominance. It may shift in that direction, so pay attention and rebalance as needed. This is leaps and bounds easier if you’re just rebalancing between VTI and VXUS. It’s like 30 minutes of paying attention once each year or so. Or, “VT and Chill” gets you there.

    There are tax advantages to holding VXUS and other Ex-US ETFs and funds, like the foreign earned tax credit. That will help determine whether you want those in a retirement account or taxable brokerage account.

    I’m not a financial advisor, so do your own research etc etc.

    Edit: had wrong ticker for VTSAX

    11 votes
  4. Comment on Financial collapse? in ~finance

    clayh
    Link
    The most important thing is to try to avoid panic or being emotional about it. I'm of the "hold index funds for a long time and don't look at them often" camp, Boglehead-ish. If you have a few...

    The most important thing is to try to avoid panic or being emotional about it. I'm of the "hold index funds for a long time and don't look at them often" camp, Boglehead-ish. If you have a few days, try reading A Simple Path to Wealth, by JL Collins. While there's a chance we could see a 1929-level crash, there are enough market protections in place to prevent that from happening (most likely, nothing is certain). My stuff is at Fidelity and I hold FZROX and FZILX in a 60/40 ratio in my retirement accounts and VTI and VXUS in a 60/40 ratio in my taxable account.

    Regardless of what you choose to do, the book is a good read and really helped me understand what was going on with things like bonds, for example. It's also good at providing a roadmap for what to hold and where as you approach retirement and have to deal with required minimum distributions.

    Don't panic!

    39 votes
  5. Comment on EA is reportedly about to be sold in a record-setting $50 billion buyout to an investor group that includes private equity and Saudi Arabia in ~games

    clayh
    Link Parent
    That’s not entirely true. The US Dept of Justice pressured Epic and Riot until Tencent gave up some control. The Chinese govt now has some retaliatory policies in place forcing Tencent not to...

    That’s not entirely true. The US Dept of Justice pressured Epic and Riot until Tencent gave up some control. The Chinese govt now has some retaliatory policies in place forcing Tencent not to enter into new agreements that have US-based employees working on products from companies under full or partial Tencent ownership.

    9 votes
  6. Comment on iOS 26 is here in ~tech

    clayh
    Link
    I've seen a lot of negative reactions to iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. I was primed to dislike them, but they seem fine so far; a nice refresh. I have yet to encounter any problems or legibility issues....

    I've seen a lot of negative reactions to iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. I was primed to dislike them, but they seem fine so far; a nice refresh. I have yet to encounter any problems or legibility issues. I don't think that any of the visual changes were necessary, but they also don't bother me.

    5 votes
  7. Comment on Looking for some video game suggestions based off some specific parameters in ~games

    clayh
    Link
    I would say Into The Breach for a puzzle game. If you can handle ASCII, give Brogue CE a try (free! open source!). In my family, the go to game for what you describe is Spelunky 2.

    I would say Into The Breach for a puzzle game. If you can handle ASCII, give Brogue CE a try (free! open source!). In my family, the go to game for what you describe is Spelunky 2.

  8. Comment on Colossal Game Adventure: Voting topic in ~games

    clayh
    Link Parent
    Oh yeah, sure. I misunderstood how those were split out.

    Oh yeah, sure. I misunderstood how those were split out.

    1 vote
  9. Comment on Colossal Game Adventure: Voting topic in ~games

    clayh
    (edited )
    Link
    Sid Meier’s Covert Action (5) The Grue That Binds (5) Sid Meier’s Pirates (5) The Last Express (5)

    Sid Meier’s Covert Action (5)
    The Grue That Binds (5)
    Sid Meier’s Pirates (5)
    The Last Express (5)

    1 vote
  10. Comment on Thinking about my next (career) move in ~life

    clayh
    Link
    “Mid-Life Crisis” is a thing that manifests differently depending on the individual. It was around age 40 when I started to have the voice described here, but it wasn’t saying “time to move on” as...

    “Mid-Life Crisis” is a thing that manifests differently depending on the individual. It was around age 40 when I started to have the voice described here, but it wasn’t saying “time to move on” as much as “is this it?” Many of us were pushed from a young age to idolize career ladder climbers and it takes a while to recognize it’s a fallacy. It’s possible to find true meaning and purpose through work, of course, and a lot easier to do so in a system that provides opportunities to try different type of work. White collar jobs were the mythical top of the ladder for a lot of Gen X and Millennials. It takes some exploration, but the “move on” voice can be satiated through changes in daily non-work life: new hobbies, new sports, new community involvement, etc. After all, the “move on” voice isn’t entirely about what’s missing in your work life and career. It’s more of a sign that we need something new to engage our minds/bodies; a need to feel something different, learn something new, unravel a different type of challenge. When you’re in a solid career, the best ways to explore that might be through personal life enrichment.

    3 votes
  11. Comment on Tildes' Colossal Game Adventure: Inauguration and nominations in ~games

    clayh
    Link
    Ooh. Lode Runner was a favorite back in the day. It’s an early platformer with fun movement. I first played it on C64. Border Zone is a collection of 3 short Infocom text adventures about...

    Ooh.

    Lode Runner was a favorite back in the day. It’s an early platformer with fun movement. I first played it on C64.

    Border Zone is a collection of 3 short Infocom text adventures about espionage during the Cold War. The one that lives rent free in my head involves sneaking across the Iron Curtain while trying to avoid searchlights. It occupies a similar place in my brain as Papers, Please.

    4 votes
  12. Comment on How many remakes have ever actually lived up to or surpassed the original? in ~movies

    clayh
    Link Parent
    I’ve actually just been working on a tool and using the IMDB Non-Commercial Datasets, enabling me to do exactly that. It’s building graphs on top of Kuzu DB (for fun lol). I’m not quite ready to...

    I’ve actually just been working on a tool and using the IMDB Non-Commercial Datasets, enabling me to do exactly that. It’s building graphs on top of Kuzu DB (for fun lol). I’m not quite ready to share but will do so soon. I mainly need to swap to bulk loading the data since there are tens of millions of nodes and edges and the load takes too long. Anyhow, the datasets are here if you want to poke at them yourself.

    https://developer.imdb.com/non-commercial-datasets/

    1 vote
  13. Comment on I am new to Mac OS, give me your favorite or preferred settings/ tools! in ~tech

    clayh
    Link
    I really like Yoink and use it daily. It's a little shelf that appears at the side of the screen when you start dragging something. You can drag and drop anything onto the shelf, then go about...

    I really like Yoink and use it daily. It's a little shelf that appears at the side of the screen when you start dragging something. You can drag and drop anything onto the shelf, then go about your business and later drag it off of the shelf into a folder, app, whatever. I use it all the time when I take screenshots. They appear in the corner for a few seconds right after taking them, before they save to disk. During those seconds, I drag them onto the shelf, then later into Discord or Teams or whatever. That both makes them easy to access but also doesn't save them to disk, reducing clutter.

    https://eternalstorms.at/yoink/mac/

    2 votes
  14. Comment on Sweden's secret to wellbeing? Known as koloniträdgårdar, tiny urban gardens provide city dwellers access to nature, fresh produce and community. in ~hobbies

    clayh
    Link
    These exist in the US as well. A lot of them began as Victory Gardens and later morphed into community gardens. https://www.history.com/articles/americas-patriotic-victory-gardens

    These exist in the US as well. A lot of them began as Victory Gardens and later morphed into community gardens.

    https://www.history.com/articles/americas-patriotic-victory-gardens

    6 votes
  15. Comment on Looking for surreal horror/mindbending in ~books

    clayh
    Link
    Check out Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It an amazing and surreal ca. 1970 Soviet novel that was the inspiration for the movie STALKER, the subsequent games, and the Metro 2031...

    Check out Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It an amazing and surreal ca. 1970 Soviet novel that was the inspiration for the movie STALKER, the subsequent games, and the Metro 2031 series. It’s far more about people and the things that motivate them than being hard sci-fi. It’s pretty short and a great read.

    2 votes
  16. Comment on Dwarf Fortress update 52.01 adds Lua scripting for more powerful modding and procedural objects 👾 in ~games

    clayh
    Link Parent
    There are several ways to do it, including the official Game Porting Toolkit from Apple. It’s not particularly difficult, but I agree that it would be nice if teams ported to the Mac....

    There are several ways to do it, including the official Game Porting Toolkit from Apple. It’s not particularly difficult, but I agree that it would be nice if teams ported to the Mac.

    https://developer.apple.com/games/game-porting-toolkit/

    https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-play-windows-games-on-mac/

    2 votes
  17. Comment on The "standard" car charger is usually overkill in ~transport

    clayh
    Link Parent
    It depends a lot on what kind of EV you get. A Tesla Model 3 requires far less electricity to charge fully than a Rivian R1S, for example.

    It depends a lot on what kind of EV you get. A Tesla Model 3 requires far less electricity to charge fully than a Rivian R1S, for example.

    2 votes
  18. Comment on Eight years ago, IO Interactive was bleeding money. Now it's one of the biggest privately owned video game companies in the world. in ~games

    clayh
    Link
    A confused Swede posting about a Danish company?!!? ;) I like the Hitman series and I'm happy to see IOI doing well. I was not very impressed with the Bond game preview, however, so I hope I'm in...

    A confused Swede posting about a Danish company?!!? ;)

    I like the Hitman series and I'm happy to see IOI doing well. I was not very impressed with the Bond game preview, however, so I hope I'm in the wrong and they can continue their good work.

    7 votes
  19. Comment on Looking for indie co-op games recommendations in ~games

    clayh
    Link
    Enshrouded is a ton of fun in coop. So is Satisfactory. Another vote for Valheim, too.

    Enshrouded is a ton of fun in coop. So is Satisfactory. Another vote for Valheim, too.

    3 votes
  20. Comment on 007 First Light announced (Gameplay reveal next week) in ~games

    clayh
    Link Parent
    Fleming's Bond wasn't exactly a "healthy" strapping young man, IIRC. Didn't he have issues with alcohol and some other character traits that made him vulnerable; yet, he succeeded in spite of...

    Fleming's Bond wasn't exactly a "healthy" strapping young man, IIRC. Didn't he have issues with alcohol and some other character traits that made him vulnerable; yet, he succeeded in spite of these vulnerabilities?

    1 vote