patience_limited's recent activity
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Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news
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Comment on Has sexual content invaded too much of the internet? in ~tech
patience_limited Link ParentOh heck, you just reminded me of the day I got a goatse link for the first time with my (very nice, but very Christian, Mr. Rogers-esque) boss looking over my shoulder. The Internet was not a...Oh heck, you just reminded me of the day I got a goatse link for the first time with my (very nice, but very Christian, Mr. Rogers-esque) boss looking over my shoulder.
The Internet was not a safe, family-friendly, tidily segregated place by the late '90's; it was full of landmines even for the relatively experienced. We had to police IRC #bookz carefully to keep out disguised porn content so it didn't turn into alt.binaries.
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Comment on Non-parents give crappy parenting advice in ~life
patience_limited (edited )Link ParentI babysat a fair amount through my teenage years, and have quite a bit of contact with families going through the worst times of their lives with pediatric cancer care. Parenthood is beyond...I babysat a fair amount through my teenage years, and have quite a bit of contact with families going through the worst times of their lives with pediatric cancer care. Parenthood is beyond exhausting, the hardest work there is, and it would be great if the U.S. offered more social burden-sharing. [It still astonishes me that hospitals don't offer on-site daycare centers for the families of patients.]
Over the years, I've worked with a lot of men and women who are suffering from New Baby Syndrome. Their hollow-eyed, zombie non-presence from weeks and months of almost no sleep is one of the scariest things I've ever encountered - it just never stops for a couple of years. And they do it again!
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Comment on Non-parents give crappy parenting advice in ~life
patience_limited (edited )LinkI'm not a parent, never wanted to be, not terribly interested in the messy details (though kids can be fascinating to observe - they're astonishing learning machines). But I have no hesitation in...I'm not a parent, never wanted to be, not terribly interested in the messy details (though kids can be fascinating to observe - they're astonishing learning machines). But I have no hesitation in judging parents who say belittling or demeaning things to their children, and even fewer qualms about intervening when someone physically harms a child.
I had a guy who worked for me brag about hitting his wife and pre-teen daughter with his belt, and knew, right that moment, that I would end up getting him fired. Sure enough, it was the most obvious sign of a mountain of personality problems, misbehaviors, and incompetencies that justified ousting him. Was he beaten as a child, and just reproducing the things that turned him into a terrible person? Probably, but that doesn't mean his behavior towards his family in the present is tolerable.
I don't think there's such a thing as intrinsic parenting skill. As others have said, the parents of my acquaintance are following the patterns they know and making it up as they go along. Some parents are better at observing and empathizing, some are calmer and more tolerant. Some lean into authoritarian discipline, some manage their children more loosely. Generally, the kids turn out all right, except for the ones who've been demeaned, neglected, threatened physically, or otherwise twisted by forced too-early caregiving for their parents' inadequately treated mental illnesses. At best, children have an adult other than their parents to turn to so they have a sense of what's normal and what's just strange about their particular family hothouse.
And yes, as most of us have, I've been irritated or annoyed almost beyond bearing by the relatively harmless things parents allow their kids to do, like letting their boy kick my airplane seat for an entire 5-hour flight. And I've said not a word.
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Comment on Slugs - how are you coping? in ~life.home_improvement
patience_limited LinkYou can always eat them. Seriously. I guess I've been fortunate in that I've got raised beds and they prefer hostas. -
Comment on The deadliest of all dead ends in the 3D printing industry in ~tech
patience_limited Link ParentThank you! It's been about 5 years since I last looked deeply into the state of jewelry-grade printing technology, and it seems to have changed a great deal. Overwork, arthritis, and lack of...Thank you! It's been about 5 years since I last looked deeply into the state of jewelry-grade printing technology, and it seems to have changed a great deal. Overwork, arthritis, and lack of workspace got in the way, and I'm just starting to research the state of the art and affordable solutions again. I see Formlabs is all over this, so it's time to dig deeper.
I have all kinds of ideas for multicomponent bracelets. They're ugly expensive for materials and it's very time-consuming to solder hinge parts by hand, while there are some neat snap-together hinge designs from plastic printing that might transfer to metal.
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Comment on The deadliest of all dead ends in the 3D printing industry in ~tech
patience_limited (edited )Link ParentI'm mainly a hobby jeweler and metalsmith due to the costs and learning curve for producing anything that meets my (admittedly very perfectionistic) standards. I've done some hand-sculpting in...I'm mainly a hobby jeweler and metalsmith due to the costs and learning curve for producing anything that meets my (admittedly very perfectionistic) standards. I've done some hand-sculpting in wax, but don't have the spoons, space, or resources to build my own casting setup, which is what then led me to PMC work. Again, I wasn't satisfied with what I could make, and that led to toying with the idea of 3-D printing.
It's only now that good wax and ceramic printers are available, but they're still not right for reasons of cost, scale, or precision. As you mentioned, the amount of hand finishing needed after printing is a big issue if you're working in metal rather than plastic. The couple of reasonably finished CAD prototypes I sent out for Shapeways printing came back almost unusably rough. That was years ago and quality has probably improved. Even now, truly jewelry-quality wax printers start at 4 - 5 figures, the software is likewise expensive and difficult to learn, and you've still got to deal with investment and casting costs.
So I contented myself with lapidary work (stone shaping and carving), which has a much lower cost of entry. We've just finished rebuilding a workshop, and I may revisit the whole 3-D printing process whenever work lets me have the time.
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Comment on The deadliest of all dead ends in the 3D printing industry in ~tech
patience_limited Link ParentSetting aside the learning curve for CAD as applied to 3-D printing, I've seen many marvelous (and marvelously useful/artistic) items come out of desktop scale devices. The article really drills...Setting aside the learning curve for CAD as applied to 3-D printing, I've seen many marvelous (and marvelously useful/artistic) items come out of desktop scale devices. The article really drills in on the current lack of mass scale and material problems. There are thousands of manufactured products that could take advantage of the infinite adjustability and versatility of additive forms, but the printing technology isn't there yet.
If I wanted to make the one tiny Teflon gear that's busted in my no-longer available food processor, there's no desktop (or production-scale) printer which can handle that feedstock. Not to mention the nasty fumes even if PTFE was an easily extrudable material. If I wanted to make a wildly ornamented 12" flower pot, the material cost, time, and limited scale for home printing would be very hard to work with.
I've tinkered with precious metal clay for jewelry design. Extrusion and CAD would make much more precise and versatile forms from the clay than the usual pottery-like hand-formed results. However, the cheapest bronze clay is still expensive for a wasteful iterative design process (and yes, there are now printers that can handle a DIY version, which is what led me down the rabbit hole again).
For objects that can be made from common feedstocks, the sheer length of time and unreliability of output makes other processes (injection molding, casting, milling, robotic assembly, etc.) much more economical at scale. That's why the article focuses on the overcrowding of the desktop scale printer ecosystem, and the impending collapse of the nascent commercial printing marketplace.
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Comment on The deadliest of all dead ends in the 3D printing industry in ~tech
patience_limited LinkFrom the article: I was saddened to hear that Shapeways, one of the early successes of bespoke consumer and small designer 3-D printing, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. Every time I've...From the article:
And those beautiful 3D prints, they are proof that the truth is being told. Look at them, how good they are. It really works. Take it in your hand. Touch it and feel it. See?
Then, the products go to market and collide with reality. They still look good, but they don’t solve problems. They become a token of a potential opportunity that won’t be realized. Not the right scale, not the right performance, and, even if it can be achieved somehow, not at the right price.
We’ve talked about this many times before. In 2015, the consumer 3D printing bubble burst. Most of the stars of that scene have faded into oblivion. Now, the industrial 3D printing bubble has burst. Shapeways was the first victim. The rest are either hanging on by their fingertips or saving themselves by selling out at a steep discount.
History repeats itself because no one looks at the source of the problem, but tries to improve something that is parallel to it. A 3D printer is a product with specific values and capabilities, but, at the moment, it is not a tool for mass, precise industrial manufacturing. It doesn’t solve the problem. It flows with it.
I was saddened to hear that Shapeways, one of the early successes of bespoke consumer and small designer 3-D printing, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. Every time I've thought about getting a desktop printer, I wind up asking myself, "But what will I really use it for?". Wax printers precise enough to prototype jewelry prints for casting are hellishly expensive (as were Shapeways' prices), and it's not like I could direct-print enough interesting items at a low enough material and time cost to sustain a business. The article agrees with my impressions on a larger scale - 3-D printing is a protoyping and bespoke design technology, not ready for manufacturing.
"Never say never" and all that, but the nature and cost of the materials, and slowness required for precision, mean that our fully automated on-demand luxury communist future needs further development.
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The deadliest of all dead ends in the 3D printing industry
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Comment on Kamala Harris lacks charisma and time in ~misc
patience_limited Link ParentAnd if you wanted to go broader than the U.S. for examples, there's always Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a comedian who played a fictional Ukrainian comedian who became a fictional Ukrainian President, who...And if you wanted to go broader than the U.S. for examples, there's always Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a comedian who played a fictional Ukrainian comedian who became a fictional Ukrainian President, who then became a real Ukrainian President. Funny how that turned out.
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Comment on Kamala Harris lacks charisma and time in ~misc
patience_limited Link ParentRepublican dominance in the Senate is how you get liberal Federal and Supreme Court Justice candidates shut down and reactionaries appointed, just for starters. With Robert Menendez' conviction,...Republican dominance in the Senate is how you get liberal Federal and Supreme Court Justice candidates shut down and reactionaries appointed, just for starters. With Robert Menendez' conviction, there's already a numerical disadvantage pending. It's completely appropriate to take that kind of strategic calculation into account.
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Comment on Kamala Harris lacks charisma and time in ~misc
patience_limited Link ParentFor strategic reasons, I’d rather not see a Senator pulled out of any state that isn’t solidly Democratic.For strategic reasons, I’d rather not see a Senator pulled out of any state that isn’t solidly Democratic.
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Comment on US President Joe Biden announces that he will not run for re-election in ~news
patience_limited Link ParentI wouldn't read too much into Obama's lack of an explicit endorsement of Vice President Harris. For better or worse, there's a tradition that former Presidents stay away from involving themselves...I wouldn't read too much into Obama's lack of an explicit endorsement of Vice President Harris. For better or worse, there's a tradition that former Presidents stay away from involving themselves in party politics. Of course, Trump respected no such statesman-like traditions.
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Comment on Kamala Harris lacks charisma and time in ~misc
patience_limited (edited )LinkWhat an empty, unresearched, ahistorical [archive link], vapid yet typical punditocracy hit piece. We're talking about someone who, as a state prosecutor had sufficient anti-death penalty...- Exemplary
What an empty, unresearched, ahistorical [archive link], vapid yet typical punditocracy hit piece. We're talking about someone who, as a state prosecutor had sufficient anti-death penalty convictions to go against the wishes of both California U.S. Senators and alienate the California police unions, which refused to endorse her for a decade.
In the essay I linked, the writer had the opportunity to interview with Harris during her first Presidential run in 2020. This quote is revealing about how holistically she arrived at her criminal justice strategy:
“In the criminal-justice system,” Harris replied, “the irony, and, frankly, the hypocrisy is that whenever we use the words ‘accountability’ and ‘consequence,’ it’s always about the individual who was arrested.” Again, she began to make a case that would be familiar to any progressive about the need to make the system accountable. And while I found myself agreeing, I began to fear that the point was just to find ways to treat officers in the same brutal way that we treat everyone else. I thought about the men I’d represented in parole hearings — and the friends I’d be representing soon. And wondered out loud to Harris: How do we get to their freedom?
“We need to reimagine what public safety looks like,” the senator told me, noting that she would talk about a public health model. “Are we looking at the fact that if you focus on issues like education and preventive things, then you don’t have a system that’s reactive?” The list of those things becomes long: affordable housing, job-skills development, education funding, homeownership. She remembered how during the early 2000s, when she was the San Francisco district attorney and started Back on Track (a re-entry program that sought to reduce future incarceration by building the skills of the men facing drug charges), many people were critical. “ ‘You’re a D.A. You’re supposed to be putting people in jail, not letting them out,’” she said people told her.I'm content that she's someone who can embrace complexity, works with the world as it exists, has a vision for improving intolerable situations, and can hold both empathy and a sense of justice. I'm concerned that her brief hasn't involved enough military, foreign policy, and economic management experience, but reporting on her Vice Presidential role is atrocious. Kamala Harris has, by virtue of sitting in the same briefings as the President for 3+ years, certainly been exposed to the expectations, responsibilities, and knowledge required.
Much of the "dislike" of Harris is being manufactured for the same reasons progressives (particularly women) have always been denigrated. She's in favor of Medicaid for All policies, labor rights, fair taxation, environmental protection including climate change mitigation, attacking the root causes of crime, public housing support, gay rights, global human rights... I'm not going to give the whole Wikipedia laundry list. Of course she's an object of hatred for the billionaire class, the fossil fuel barons, the racists and sexists, the small-town and Southern feudalists. Personally, I think we could do a lot worse; she's charming enough, articulate in a way Biden has never been, quick on her feet, and deserves better press coverage than she's been given.
If I was stacking the deck, I'd give her a running mate like Andy Beshear or Mark Kelly - moderate white guys with good narratives who've managed to get elected in swing or conservative states.
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Comment on The joy of reading newspapers from other countries in ~news
patience_limited (edited )Link ParentThe slant of both FT and The Economist is generally free-market libertarian/right-wing - for me, reading them is about knowing the enemy. I'd love better English-language sources for global news....The slant of both FT and The Economist is generally free-market libertarian/right-wing - for me, reading them is about knowing the enemy. I'd love better English-language sources for global news. [I used to be able to read German fairly fluently, but that "Translate" button was right there...]
TBH, I've recently dropped FT and most of my other newspaper/magazine subscriptions because a) they're not good for my mental health; b) the content quality is noticeably declining; and c) the billionaire ownership is getting intolerably intrusive (also responsible for b)).
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Comment on The joy of reading newspapers from other countries in ~news
patience_limited LinkSo I've been a Financial Times reader since around 2001, because I wanted news that wasn't so freighted with American jingoism after the 9/11 attacks. I wish I could say that the "view from 10,000...So I've been a Financial Times reader since around 2001, because I wanted news that wasn't so freighted with American jingoism after the 9/11 attacks.
I wish I could say that the "view from 10,000 feet" was reassuring or comforting in any way. However funny the Tory antics, corruption, and incompetence might be from afar, they managed to beggar (formerly "Great") Britain, isolating the nation politically and economically.
What I actually saw was the dreadful foreshadowing of how thoroughly plutocratic takeover could ruin the U.S.
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Comment on You don’t need a pickup truck, you need a cowboy costume in ~transport
patience_limited Link ParentThe regulatory change drastically escalates the rate at which heavier vehicles have to meet fuel economy standards: "Passenger trucks" a/k/a SUVs will have to meet a 50 mpg standard. It doesn't...The regulatory change drastically escalates the rate at which heavier vehicles have to meet fuel economy standards:
The standards will increase fuel efficiency standards for new heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans by 10% each year from 2030 to 2032 and by 8% each year from 2033 to 2035.
The standards will:
Result in an average of 50.4 miles per gallon for new cars and passenger trucks sold in 2031
Result in an average of 35 miles per gallon for new heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans sold in 2035"Passenger trucks" a/k/a SUVs will have to meet a 50 mpg standard.
It doesn't sound like much for heavy vehicles, but those monster trucks currently get 10 - 15 mpg. It's reasonable regulation that gives enough time for compliance and shifting the balance of vehicles on the road if manufacturers find it too onerous to comply.
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Comment on You don’t need a pickup truck, you need a cowboy costume in ~transport
patience_limited Link ParentMicromobilty (1 - 2 person enclosed vehicles) is still struggling.Micromobilty (1 - 2 person enclosed vehicles) is still struggling.
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Comment on You don’t need a pickup truck, you need a cowboy costume in ~transport
patience_limited Link ParentI totally get the desire to have optionality in something that costs so much. We do our own construction/gardening/landscape/forestry work on an acre and a half, so we use the full capacity of an...I totally get the desire to have optionality in something that costs so much. We do our own construction/gardening/landscape/forestry work on an acre and a half, so we use the full capacity of an AWD SUV at least every other week (even the tow hitch about every other month). Unmaintained dirt roads, snow, ice, potholes, and downed trees come with the Northern MI territory.
But I wonder if the city/developed suburb drivers are weighing the "maybe I'll need to off-road, haul 4 x 8 plywood, pull a trailer..." , or if they just want a big-ass, mean looking daily ride to intimidate people they can't scare otherwise.
Old books can be loaded with poison. It's not just old books, there's even more recent history of unsafe objects using toxic and radioactive heavy metals for coloration. Bon appetit!