patience_limited's recent activity
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Comment on Why everyone is suddenly in a ‘very Chinese time’ in their lives in ~tech
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Comment on Canada agrees to cut tariff on Chinese electric vehicles in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products in ~transport
patience_limited Link ParentI picked up a 2023 Bolt (high trim level with heated seats!) with 23k miles for $16k USD. Perfect condition, gets 240 miles with an 80% charge, in summer driving. Winter, I'm happy to get 130 mile...I picked up a 2023 Bolt (high trim level with heated seats!) with 23k miles for $16k USD. Perfect condition, gets 240 miles with an 80% charge, in summer driving. Winter, I'm happy to get 130 mile range with all the heaters running. It's a fantastic commuter car, though not for long trips given the distance between chargers where I am.
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
patience_limited Link ParentNorthern Michigan (roughly the same latitude as Portland) drivers are having problems too... It's been about 8°C warmer than usual for January, which means everything is thawing and re-freezing...Northern Michigan (roughly the same latitude as Portland) drivers are having problems too... It's been about 8°C warmer than usual for January, which means everything is thawing and re-freezing daily, or there's alternation between freezing rain and snow throughout the day. I've seen overconfident local drivers with their AWD going at the speed limit (which is for dry pavement) and promptly spinning themselves into the ditches.
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
patience_limited Link ParentThe struggle is real. There are a number of U.S. South-based vendors that I work with remotely, and I've learned to dread the chatter. I just want to get in, get my configurations done, and get...The struggle is real. There are a number of U.S. South-based vendors that I work with remotely, and I've learned to dread the chatter. I just want to get in, get my configurations done, and get out, but the small talk usually adds an extra 30 - 60 minutes to each call.
Perhaps I'm just too "Midwest Nice" to do anything but hint that I have another meeting or task to get to...
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Comment on An acquired taste - Gourmet magazine relaunching as worker-owned cooperative after Condé-Nast lets trademark elapse in ~food
patience_limited Link ParentAnother Lucky Peach fan! I've got the Lucky Peach: 100 Easy Asian Recipes volume and use it regularly.Another Lucky Peach fan! I've got the Lucky Peach: 100 Easy Asian Recipes volume and use it regularly.
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Comment on An acquired taste - Gourmet magazine relaunching as worker-owned cooperative after Condé-Nast lets trademark elapse in ~food
patience_limited LinkFrom the inaugural article: More details in the New York Times here. The newsletter is being published on Ghost. While this story is a candidate for Good News, I thought it might be worthy of its...From the inaugural article:
We are bringing Gourmet back from the dead.
Condé Nast, in its monied magnificence, failed to renew its trademark for the magazine. Now it is ours—and yours too if you subscribe. This new incarnation is lean, mean, and worker-owned, and we will be sharing profits with our contributors. We want everyone to dine at our table of success.
Who are we? A collective of writers, editors, and designers who love to cook and eat, bon vivants who aspire to never be boring on the palate or the page. We will be delivering, piping hot or pleasantly cool, a newsletter to your inbox twice weekly. One will contain a recipe from our brilliant squad culinaire; the other will deliver investigations, scoops, dispatches, postcards, love letters, decoder rings, instruction manuals, vibe reports, archival cuts, menu doodles, paeans, diatribes, and gossip from the front lines of the human appetite. We will not use AI, because it has no taste.
More details in the New York Times here. The newsletter is being published on Ghost.
While this story is a candidate for Good News, I thought it might be worthy of its own discussion for lovers of good food, cooking, culinary history, great food writing, collective labor action, food photography, and even the old media concept of "magazines" as curated journalistic collections with a common editorial voice.
The original Gourmet's writers included culinary luminaries like James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Madhur Jaffrey, and Ruth Reichl as an editor. Guest writers included the likes of David Foster Wallace ("Consider the Lobster" was first published in Gourmet), Annie Proulx, Ray Bradbury, etc. Gourmet used to be the culinary equivalent of National Geographic - a rich resource for global food culture and recipes, written by passionate people who studied and immersed themselves in the material. There were legitimate critiques that it was gastroporn and foodie lifestyle journalism for the rich, but even as a starving college student, I found great recipes in its pages that were worth the time to cook. [Gourmet's recipes are archived at Epicurious.]
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An acquired taste - Gourmet magazine relaunching as worker-owned cooperative after Condé-Nast lets trademark elapse
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Comment on Recommendations needed: Favorite “comfort” movies in ~movies
patience_limited Link ParentYou only beat me to The Princess Bride by minutes. ;) Yes to all of these, and the mention of Labyrinth reminded me that The Dark Crystal should probably be on the list as well.You only beat me to The Princess Bride by minutes. ;)
Yes to all of these, and the mention of Labyrinth reminded me that The Dark Crystal should probably be on the list as well.
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Comment on Recommendations needed: Favorite “comfort” movies in ~movies
patience_limited LinkMy idea of "comfort" may not be everyone's, but... Drunken Master Kung Fu Hustle Amelie The Princess Bride Ratatouille Tampopo Oh Brother, Where Art Thou Guardians of the Galaxy Young Frankenstein...My idea of "comfort" may not be everyone's, but...
Drunken Master
Kung Fu Hustle
Amelie
The Princess Bride
Ratatouille
Tampopo
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou
Guardians of the Galaxy
Young Frankenstein
When Harry Met Sally
Strictly Ballroom
Triplets of Belleville
City of Lost Children
Monty Python's Meaning of Life
The Addams Family
Dodgeball
Lost in Translation
My Neighbor Totoro
Orlando
Eat Drink Man Woman
The Incredibles (and The Iron Giant)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Hairspray
Hugo
Only Lovers Left Alive
Lilo and Stitch (the animated version)
Chicken Run
The Full Monty
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Bend It Like Beckham
Four Rooms
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
The Fifth Element -
Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets
patience_limited Link ParentWeird - I thought I linked to the one that's on sale for $109 USD.Weird - I thought I linked to the one that's on sale for $109 USD.
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Comment on "Have your best baby" in ~health
patience_limited LinkSo the "Have Your Best Baby" advertising reads like the "Torment Nexus" meme as inspired by Gattaca.So the "Have Your Best Baby" advertising reads like the "Torment Nexus" meme as inspired by Gattaca.
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Comment on Hooters | Bankrupt in ~food
patience_limited Link ParentIt was a lunchtime visit. The Hooters was situated in an area with many large corporate offices. Some members of our team were regular customers. They didn't think we would need to call ahead....It was a lunchtime visit. The Hooters was situated in an area with many large corporate offices. Some members of our team were regular customers. They didn't think we would need to call ahead. There were other tables of 8+ people, and we didn't have to wait for a large table to open up or smaller tables to be joined. The place was just grossly understaffed, and I suspect that was the private equity influence.
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Comment on Hooters | Bankrupt in ~food
patience_limited LinkSo I went to a Hooters once, when I lived in Florida. Understand that I had some serious culture shock encountering South Florida feminine esthetics. I'd never seen so many women with obvious...So I went to a Hooters once, when I lived in Florida. Understand that I had some serious culture shock encountering South Florida feminine esthetics. I'd never seen so many women with obvious breast enhancements, including petite girls barely out of their teens with weirdly spherical DD+ boobs totally out of proportion to their bodies, or 70+ year olds sporting completely horizontal shelf racks. People have the right to modify their bodies as they choose, but as a matter of taste, I often found their choices (especially when combined with extensive plastic surgery, Botox, and fillers) well into the uncanny valley.
I was the only female-appearing person on a big IT team, and pretty much got along as one of the guys. My response when they wanted to go to Hooters (ostensibly because they were craving Hooters' hot wings) was a shrug and a "nothing I haven't seen before, heh heh heh".
Mostly, I felt sad for the waitresses. They weren't the people with thousands of dollars to spare for all the popular enhancements. They looked like ordinary women making the best of their situations, trying to give the customers the experience that they went to Hooters for. Bouncing, jiggling, and smiling, they served us bad food in an ugly chain restaurant with the smell of overused fryer grease. We weren't easy to serve, either - there were only two waitresses on duty for the whole place, we showed up in a group of 12, the kitchen held up the orders for 30 minutes, and we were all antsy to get back to work for various scheduled meetings and events.
Everyone ante'ed up big tips out of pity for the overworked staff, but there was general agreement we'd never go back.
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Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets
patience_limited Link ParentIt''s probably substantially cheaper in Canada without Amazon U.S.'s interpretation of the tariffs on Chinese imports, which seems to be somewhere around 30 - 50% above last year's prices.It''s probably substantially cheaper in Canada without Amazon U.S.'s interpretation of the tariffs on Chinese imports, which seems to be somewhere around 30 - 50% above last year's prices.
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Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets
patience_limited Link ParentThe vest is a common item on Amazon, from the "Venustas" brand name. There are a few variations - fleece or insulated, differing battery capacities, etc. I didn't want to inspect a gift too...The vest is a common item on Amazon, from the "Venustas" brand name. There are a few variations - fleece or insulated, differing battery capacities, etc. I didn't want to inspect a gift too closely, but I think it's this one. The sizing seems to be true to American sizes, and the battery does last all day.
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Comment on Iran’s supreme leader signals harsher crackdown as protest movement swells in ~society
patience_limited Link ParentI'm not sure what you mean by "a majority of [civilians] have enabled that horrible government for 45 years". Iran went from a repressive monarchy to a repressive theocratic autocracy with...I'm not sure what you mean by "a majority of [civilians] have enabled that horrible government for 45 years".
Iran went from a repressive monarchy to a repressive theocratic autocracy with Ayatollah Khomeini or his appointed successor, Ayatollah Khamenei, in power for that entire period. There's never been a point where Iranian citizens had the opportunity to give meaningful consent to their situation. Any liberalizing tendencies have been violently suppressed - opposition figures exiled, jailed, and executed, protestors shot in the streets. Questioning the Supreme Leader and the Islamic State's divinely appointed role is legally treated as apostasy, punishable by death.
I say this as a deeply ashamed U.S. citizen... People who haven't lived under repressive regimes have no place damning the people who have to live there for failing to resist, when the penalties they face are deprivation, torture, and mass slaughter. History has plenty of examples of monarchs and dictators who massacred or starved a significant portion of the populace and still remained in power. Until their nation failed due to outside conquest or military revolt and civil war.
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Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets
patience_limited LinkSpouse got me a battery heated vest for the holidays. I did not expect that I'd be sharing it permanently with the cold-hating cat. But now the vest also makes a pleasant purring noise.Spouse got me a battery heated vest for the holidays. I did not expect that I'd be sharing it permanently with the cold-hating cat.
But now the vest also makes a pleasant purring noise.
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Comment on Consumer Electronics Show 2026 in ~tech
patience_limited (edited )Link ParentI think it's worth looking at the concept gadgets to see what new technologies could emerge. The self-focusing glasses and color-changing nail tips hint at the near-maturity of some useful...I think it's worth looking at the concept gadgets to see what new technologies could emerge. The self-focusing glasses and color-changing nail tips hint at the near-maturity of some useful improvements - not needing five pairs of glasses, or multiple copies of the same object just to have different colors available. The stair-climbing robot vacuum hints at a future of increasingly sophisticated mobility assists and repair/rescue robots or telepresence devices. Mountain/crater-climbing planetary exploration rovers! [I'm still 12 years old at heart and get excited about this stuff, but I've never been to a CES and suspect that the dreary, overhyped repetition would burn that right out of me.]
Humanoid robots... much smarter people than I have peered deeply into the ethical and economic traps they pose. We haven't solved human enslavement yet. Expensive, fragile, inept simulacra of humans aren't going to be replacing soldiers, surgeons, sex workers, caregivers, etc. any time soon, even with LLMs or specific models powering them. The real power is going to be in task-specialized robotics powered by refined AI models and geospatial awareness, that can do a very narrow range of things much better than humans can. I've already seen janitor robots (which basically look like oversized Roombas) covering whole hospitals, picking up trash, vacuuming, and mopping continuously.
Otherwise, laptops and consumer electronics are following the same commodity refinement path as cars - incremental technology improvements that don't change the fundamental nature of the devices. The increasing competitiveness of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 processors vs. AMD, Intel, and Apple is kind of cool, but again incremental even with the NPU addition. Slapdash insertion of AI "features" is just marketing fairy dust right now.
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Comment on US Border agents shoot, wound two people in Portland in ~society
patience_limited (edited )Link ParentFor enforcement purposes, the U.S. defines any areas within 100 air miles of the geographical border as part of the border zone. From the American Civil Liberties Union's "Know Your Rights" page:...For enforcement purposes, the U.S. defines any areas within 100 air miles of the geographical border as part of the border zone. From the American Civil Liberties Union's "Know Your Rights" page:
The federal government defines a “reasonable distance” as 100 air miles from any external boundary of the U.S. So, combining this federal regulation and the federal law regarding warrantless vehicle searches, CBP claims authority to board a bus or train without a warrant anywhere within this 100-mile zone. Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population, over 213 million people, reside within the region that CBP considers falling within the 100-mile border zone, according to the 2020 census. Most of the 10 largest cities in the U.S., such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, fall in this region. Some states, like Florida, lie entirely within this border band so their entire populations are impacted.
I'm in Michigan, so this is another state that's fully within the warrantless stop-and-search territory that CBP and ICE claim. The entire coastline of the U.S. (which encompasses Portland, OR) as well as land borders is included.
A Congressional bill to restore a more reasonable 10-mile zone around the borders has been stuck in committee since 2019.
Technically, Customs and Border Patrol only has jurisdiction in the border zone while Immigration and Customs Enforcement can operate anywhere in the interior U.S. But Trump 🤷♀️🤡💩.
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Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news
patience_limited LinkLate, but definitely offbeat: British museum seeks treasure hunter to recover 900 missing artifacts Another creepy bone collector and human remains seller... who's clearly playing to type. List of...Late, but definitely offbeat:
British museum seeks treasure hunter to recover 900 missing artifacts
Another creepy bone collector and human remains seller... who's clearly playing to type.
You could equally well argue that Americans are at a very European time in their lives, or a very Socialist, or a very Nationalist, or a very Fascist, or a very Christian, or a very retro-Traditionalist time in their lives...
We're thrashing for alternatives to hypercapitalist hyperindividualism, destroyed state capacity, narrowing opportunities, social isolation fostered by algorithmic engagement plus the loss of public spaces/services, and the sense that every important aspect of our lives has been reduced to lies and extraction.