dustylungs's recent activity

  1. Comment on This to That (glue advice) in ~creative

    dustylungs
    Link
    Your handy web-based tool tip of the day. I supposed this could also be a request for other useful single-purpose web-based tools. If you know of one you'd like to share, please glue it to this...

    Your handy web-based tool tip of the day. I supposed this could also be a request for other useful single-purpose web-based tools. If you know of one you'd like to share, please glue it to this post in a comment below.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on Perplexity’s Comet browser invites in ~tech

    dustylungs
    Link
    Related PSA: If you have a PayPal account, Perplexity is currently offering a year of Perplexity Pro for free.

    Related PSA: If you have a PayPal account, Perplexity is currently offering a year of Perplexity Pro for free.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative

    dustylungs
    Link
    Home renovation projects are one of my creative outlets. Recently one small project turned into a kids-playhouse adventure. I noticed last winter that one of my basement closets was extremely...

    Home renovation projects are one of my creative outlets. Recently one small project turned into a kids-playhouse adventure.

    I noticed last winter that one of my basement closets was extremely cold, like below freezing cold, so I made a mental note to come back and rip out the closet's rear wall in warmer months to see what the problem was. I finally got around to it last week, and it turned out that there was a big unfinished (and poorly insulated) room behind the closet.

    Finding this felt almost like one of those Reddit threads where someone discovers a boarded up old room hidden in their house. --almost; but this room wasn't quite so big; under 200 cubic feet, with 4-foot ceilings. More storage space! You know I was excited.

    My kids were excited too, but they decided that additional storage was boring and that it would be better used as a playhouse. Being the pushover dad that I am, and realizing the potential to create my legacy as "Dad who can do anything!", I caved and began planning how to convert the dark and cold cavern into a safe, fun and WARM playhouse for them. And now I'm in the middle of building it.

    So far I have sealed up air leaks in the exterior wall with expanding foam, added a layer of foam board insulation to the walls, framed the walls with studs, wired an electrical outlet, wired ceiling lights (on a 3-way switch to prevent older siblings from shutting off the light when a younger sibling is in the back), routed HVAC air supply ductwork to the room, and cut and framed a window into the drywall facing out into the main basement room. The final steps will be to hang and tape drywall inside the playroom, trim and paint the walls (color scheme TBD), and install flooring. Then we'll "furnish" it with a plush rug, some beanbag chairs, a bookshelf, and some easy-open picture frames on the wall so the kids can swap in and out their own artwork.

    Given that this is a less-than-half-height room, working inside of it has meant I'm either crouching or kneeling a lot. My body hurts. It has been fun designing and building this, but wow it is exhausting. The next project the kids have been asking for is a treehouse-like loft built in an open area above their bedroom closets. I'm going to need an extended recovery period from this current project before I start thinking about that one.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on Old Man Trump by Woody Guthrie in ~society

    dustylungs
    Link Parent
    What do you think? Is there possibly a sensible way to interpret my comment? Or are you seriously suggesting I'm excited about bringing back songs about killing Native Americans? Or is your...

    Even the ones with lines about proudly killing Indians?

    What do you think? Is there possibly a sensible way to interpret my comment? Or are you seriously suggesting I'm excited about bringing back songs about killing Native Americans? Or is your comment just a form of a value-signaling purist gotcha game? Look at my comment history and that of pretty much anyone on tildes and answer your own question. Commenters like you drive people away from this site.

    9 votes

  6. Comment on Starting a tool library in ~tech

    dustylungs
    Link Parent
    On the flip side, people like that make it possible for the rest of us to find a "mitre saw (barely used!)" for 75% off the original price on FBMP or Craigslist.

    I know at least six people that own miter saws that have used them exclusively for one project of cutting baseboard trim one time

    On the flip side, people like that make it possible for the rest of us to find a "mitre saw (barely used!)" for 75% off the original price on FBMP or Craigslist.

    4 votes

  7. Comment on Old Man Trump by Woody Guthrie in ~society

  8. Comment on Old Man Trump by Woody Guthrie in ~society

    dustylungs
    Link
    I think Woody Guthrie's music deserves a revival. His see-through-you defiance of fascism and his anthemic support for solidarity among the working class seem like they might be very welcome in...

    I think Woody Guthrie's music deserves a revival. His see-through-you defiance of fascism and his anthemic support for solidarity among the working class seem like they might be very welcome in current times.

    As I was reading more background on Guthrie, I came across this fact that I thought some of you might also find interesting: In 1950, Guthrie rented an apartment from a landlord by name of Fred Trump. Guthrie's impression of Trump was one of disgust, motivating him to write lyrics for an (apparently never-performed) song called Old Man Trump. He references Trump again in another song called Ain't Got No Home.

    9 votes

  10. Comment on 'I destroyed months of your work in seconds' says AI coding tool after deleting a dev's entire database during a code freeze: 'I panicked instead of thinking' in ~comp

    dustylungs
    Link
    In technical terms, what does it mean when an AI agent says this? "I panicked instead of thinking"

    In technical terms, what does it mean when an AI agent says this? "I panicked instead of thinking"

    8 votes

  11. Comment on Some AI music I generated in ~creative

    dustylungs
    Link Parent
    Thanks! This is really interesting. I also found the work songs Wikipedia entry and spent a good bit of time crawling around further in the topics. "I love folkways and foodways and how they...

    Thanks! This is really interesting. I also found the work songs Wikipedia entry and spent a good bit of time crawling around further in the topics.

    "I love folkways and foodways and how they reconnect us to our land and each other". (!) As someone with a bit of anthropology in my background, that reminds me very much about what originally interested me in the field. I love that in the study of diversity (e.g. in music, food or connections with the land) we can find fundamental commonalities.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Happy Bastille Day! in ~society

    dustylungs
    Link
    July 14th is Bastille Day. If you celebrate, what do you do? What significance does Bastille Day hold for you? And what relevance or symbolism do you think it has (or should have) in present day...

    July 14th is Bastille Day. If you celebrate, what do you do? What significance does Bastille Day hold for you? And what relevance or symbolism do you think it has (or should have) in present day society, including outside of France?

    2 votes

  14. Comment on JetStream - An online school for weather in ~science

    dustylungs
    Link
    JetStream is the U.S. National Weather Service's Online Weather School. I was trying to teach my 6-year-old about different types of clouds and found this site while first making sure I myself...

    JetStream is the U.S. National Weather Service's Online Weather School. I was trying to teach my 6-year-old about different types of clouds and found this site while first making sure I myself knew the subject. This is a great site! It's good for teaching kids and fun for adults too. I just felt like I had to share.

    9 votes

  16. Comment on Some AI music I generated in ~creative

    dustylungs
    Link Parent
    Sea shanties? This I must learn more about. Can you recommend anything in particular I can listen to? And is there anything about the history of sea shanties that you find shareably interesting?

    Sea shanties? This I must learn more about. Can you recommend anything in particular I can listen to? And is there anything about the history of sea shanties that you find shareably interesting?

    2 votes

  17. Comment on Share the contents of an old file you've got lying around in ~talk

    dustylungs
    Link
    This post reminded me of a site I haven't looked at in a long time: http://www.textfiles.com

    This post reminded me of a site I haven't looked at in a long time: http://www.textfiles.com

    3 votes

  18. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of June 30 in ~society

  19. Comment on What's a new skill that you've picked up recently? in ~life

    dustylungs
    Link Parent
    Tildes has recurring threads for what-programming-projects-are-you-working-on, what-are-you-reading, and I think a few others. I would love to see a recurring what-are-you-repairing thread. Good...

    Tildes has recurring threads for what-programming-projects-are-you-working-on, what-are-you-reading, and I think a few others. I would love to see a recurring what-are-you-repairing thread.

    Good job with the microwave. Not a lot of people would have tried repairing that (including the ones who are unaware of the danger of the capacitors inside them).

    9 votes

  20. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~society

    dustylungs
    Link Parent
    "Owning the libs". "Humiliating Trump". These as the key points of public discourse are symptoms of a pretty dangerous disconnect between the public and real power.

    "Owning the libs". "Humiliating Trump". These as the key points of public discourse are symptoms of a pretty dangerous disconnect between the public and real power.

    7 votes