patience_limited's recent activity
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Comment on Ray Gunn | Official trailer in ~movies
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Comment on A Western Mass. lesbian bar required KN-95 masks. When it changed the rules, all hell broke loose. in ~lgbt
patience_limited LinkI take medications that cause immunocompromise, and wouldn't dream of asking the entire world to mask for my special needs. I get my f'ing vaccinations and wear a mask myself if I'm on a...I take medications that cause immunocompromise, and wouldn't dream of asking the entire world to mask for my special needs. I get my f'ing vaccinations and wear a mask myself if I'm on a particularly suppressive drug regimen; even cancer patients with near zero white blood cell counts do this. Having others wear masks as well isn't that much more protective - there are other animals that carry human-infectious diseases, 'flu and measles are ubiquitously airborne.
What baffles me is why the community tolerates and supports people who are so lost in solipsistic, narcissistic social media rage that they fail to have empathy for anyone but themselves. I've spent enough time in lesbian communities to recognize that they're often dysfunctionally heavy on emotional processing, to the detriment of actually building or accomplishing anything. It's absolutely true that many of the community members have taken horrifying amounts of damage, but a small number of people who act out destructively can sabotage any support community. If I was Jackie Matallin, I would have thrown up my hands, said "F-- this", and taken care of my own needs for a change.
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Comment on Do you iron your clothes? in ~life
patience_limited LinkThe ironing hierarchy for me is wrinkle-prone natural fiber broadcloth, wrinkle-tolerant synthetics/blends, and knitwear. Generally speaking, tee shirts, sweaters, sweats, etc. don't need ironing...The ironing hierarchy for me is wrinkle-prone natural fiber broadcloth, wrinkle-tolerant synthetics/blends, and knitwear.
Generally speaking, tee shirts, sweaters, sweats, etc. don't need ironing - they just get laid flat and folded after drying. Synthetics go on hangers, but don't need much minding to look smooth.
Jeans and khakis these days (women's, anyway) have enough elastane content to spring back into shape, and can generally be flattened and folded without wrinkling.
Broadcloth shirts and trousers other than soft flannel get ironed. Trousers look better on me with a sharp front crease, and shirt button plackets and collars should lay smoothly. However, most of those items are rarely-worn business formal attire. My business casual shirts and pants tend towards knit sweaters, polos, and easy-wearing blends.
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Comment on Help me choose a small electric car in ~transport
patience_limited LinkLate to the thread, but when I got my used 2023 Bolt EV last year, I received good advice here. Also some notes on running the Bolt EV in a cold climate. You'll do fine with overnight Level 1...Late to the thread, but when I got my used 2023 Bolt EV last year, I received good advice here.
Also some notes on running the Bolt EV in a cold climate.
You'll do fine with overnight Level 1 charging if you're driving < 50 miles/day. The charger itself isn't much more cumbersome than an extension cord, so I usually just keep it in the vehicle. Any household 120v outlet on a 15A circuit will do.
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Comment on Meta’s Muse AI works and creeps me out in ~tech
patience_limited LinkI initially wasn't sure how seriously to take this story about a mother's horror at the information Muse offered up about her children. It's being corroborated from other sources, and Meta claims...I initially wasn't sure how seriously to take this story about a mother's horror at the information Muse offered up about her children. It's being corroborated from other sources, and Meta claims to have "fixed the problem".
I'd really just love to scrub every sign that I exist from the entire Internet, but here I am posting.
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Comment on A three-year-old's metastatic cancer disappeared after two doses of CAR T-Cell therapy, genetically engineered immune cells that target cancerous cells in ~health
patience_limited Link ParentCAR-T therapies can be done more cheaply (soft paywall), but personalized medicine is unlikely to become cheap relative to typical median incomes globally. mRNA cancer vaccines will still be...CAR-T therapies can be done more cheaply (soft paywall), but personalized medicine is unlikely to become cheap relative to typical median incomes globally.
mRNA cancer vaccines will still be manufactured with targeting per the specific tumor. Maybe cheaper to make than the drawn-out process for separating, modifying, and culturing CAR-T cells, but still not something that scales to an entire patient population.
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Comment on What is your "when I found out about 9/11" story? in ~talk
patience_limited Link ParentAbsolutely. I was disinclined to trust the Bush administration (and the petro-war hawks and loony proto-Christian Nationalists around him... anyone remember Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft?) in the...Absolutely. I was disinclined to trust the Bush administration (and the petro-war hawks and loony proto-Christian Nationalists around him... anyone remember Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft?) in the first place. It was so clear that firing up Muslim hate was a prelude to relitigating Daddy Bush's Iraq war, even though the U.S. bombing countries and alienating the world to kill a terrorist cell was exactly what Osama bin Laden was trying to engineer.
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Comment on What is your "when I found out about 9/11" story? in ~talk
patience_limited (edited )LinkI was in culinary school after burning out on IT work with all the Y2K craziness. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I had a breakfast service course, which meant a few hours of making omelets...I was in culinary school after burning out on IT work with all the Y2K craziness. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I had a breakfast service course, which meant a few hours of making omelets to order in the school's cafeteria. My station faced one of the TVs in the room, so I had the surreal experience of trying to cook eggs while seeing CNN's footage of planes hitting buildings and then the tower collapses, played over and over again. I do recall that one of my first coherent thoughts was, "Oh, shit, who are we going to start bombing?"
To complicate matters, my brother was in New York that week for job interviews near the Twin Towers, and my spouse's favorite cousin worked in the Federal court location in the Twin Towers complex. Given the chaos and jammed up phone lines, it wasn't until late that day we were able to confirm their safety. Turned out the cousin was off work because she'd been thrown while horseback riding; she lost most of her colleagues.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (September 2026) in ~health.mental
patience_limited LinkAsking for advice from any Tilders who've had to deal with hypomania - what are your management strategies, if any beyond "stay medicated"? Warning - health rant incoming For the past six weeks,...Asking for advice from any Tilders who've had to deal with hypomania - what are your management strategies, if any beyond "stay medicated"?
Warning - health rant incoming
For the past six weeks, I've been stuck in insurance prior authorization hell over the biologic drug that keeps me functional, and haven't had a dose in three weeks. Biologics aren't cures, they just interrupt the inflammatory cascade from the underlying autoimmunity. What they don't tell you is that if you cease using a biologic drug, you're likely to have a flare that's as bad as anything you've ever experienced.So after a week of increasing pain, depression, and mobility problems, I broke down and got back on prednisone. Prednisone is the worst miracle drug. [Tip for /u/atkion - insurance companies love to see you on prednisone, a $7 drug in place of one that costs thousands, despite the serious harm it can cause.] I'm mostly free from pain and can move again. But prednisone has neuropsychiatric side effects in a substantial fraction of users, in addition to the unpleasant-to-dangerous physical ones.
This time around I've been verging on hypomania. Insomniac, irritable, unfocused, twitchy like a massive caffeine overdose. I've spent too much money, driven far too fast and aggressively, had an appallingly short-tempered interaction with someone at work, embarrassed myself by being nearly incoherent about something that I'm theoretically expert in...
Being this wired up is completely new to me. My rheumatologist is now part of a health system that's absolutely terrible at communications. It's black box-warning dangerous to just stop taking the prednisone; cessation requires a weeks-long dosage taper.
It's the busiest part of the year, I've got some very demanding travel coming up, and I'm terrified that I can't trust my own judgment. I don't know how much I'm pushing the line between "I can manage this" and "I'm going 'til I break just so I get to stop."
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Comment on UN says world will miss its climate target, warming must be reversed in ~enviro
patience_limited Link ParentNope, I'm betting on the Fash team to get rid of "useless eaters" once they've automated all the things.Nope, I'm betting on the Fash team to get rid of "useless eaters" once they've automated all the things.
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Comment on Farmers turn to perennial grains as one solution to extreme weather in ~enviro
patience_limited Link ParentThank you!Thank you!
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Comment on Farmers turn to perennial grains as one solution to extreme weather in ~enviro
patience_limited Link ParentThe deeper plant roots help with carbon sequestration - surface mowing or tilling doesn't pull all of the plant parts out and expose them to air. The plant matter at depth also encourages more...The deeper plant roots help with carbon sequestration - surface mowing or tilling doesn't pull all of the plant parts out and expose them to air. The plant matter at depth also encourages more bacterial, nematode, mycorrhizal, and fungal growth, which transforms the soil's water holding capacity, improves soil nutrient uptake, and stores still more carbon underground.
It's quite a virtuous circle.
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Comment on Summer US box office hits all-time $4.76b record: how audiences surrendered to moviegoing in ~movies
patience_limited LinkWe went to a movie theater a few weeks ago for the first time since COVID-19, since all reports suggested that Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey needed a theater-scale presentation to get the full...We went to a movie theater a few weeks ago for the first time since COVID-19, since all reports suggested that Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey needed a theater-scale presentation to get the full experience, and it was a rainy Sunday afternoon with cheaper matineé pricing. Our local is one of the few IMAX locations remaining, but Spider-Man: Brand New Day had already bumped The Odyssey to a conventional screen.
I can't say I'd repeat the experience. While the visuals were fine and mostly benefitted from the full immersion, the Dolby audio was nearly intolerable with Nolan's preferred over-layered sound, heavy use of near-"brown note" subwoofer decibel levels, and jump-scares. The 45 minutes of ads before the movie started were just noxious.
Maybe I'm pickier than the general audience seeking escapist thrills...
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Comment on UN says world will miss its climate target, warming must be reversed in ~enviro
patience_limited (edited )Link ParentAside from the morality, the sources are too diffuse and global for terroristic activity to have any real impact on emissions. Not to mention that the backlash would play right into the hands of...Aside from the morality, the sources are too diffuse and global for terroristic activity to have any real impact on emissions. Not to mention that the backlash would play right into the hands of fossil fuel industry-sponsored fascists.
You might put the fear into executives of a corporation, but entire nation-states that profit from fossil fuel extraction are a different ballgame. And they're not changing their behavior even when their activities are making their countries uninhabitable.
China really took the only course of action available - making fossil fuel use so uncompetitive and uneconomical that only propagandized fools continue to pursue it as the primary energy source.
Edit: If you really want to see change, get corrupt money out of politics. It's not that no one knows what to do, it's that our leaders are thoroughly bought and paid for.
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Comment on Farmers turn to perennial grains as one solution to extreme weather in ~enviro
patience_limited LinkFrom the article: This is a hopeful development, even though it might take a generation or so for widespread and efficient use. The Kernza® perennial wheatgrass in the article has grains only 20%...From the article:
Perennial grains don’t require yearly planting, harvesting and replanting. Instead, they are planted once every few years.
Researchers say their root systems, which can reach several feet down, can access water deeper in the ground. That helps them better withstand short-term drought. And when heavy rain hits, the larger root structures can absorb excess water that would otherwise run off and erode the soil. Those deeper roots also sequester more carbon, reducing pollution in the atmosphere.
This is a hopeful development, even though it might take a generation or so for widespread and efficient use. The Kernza® perennial wheatgrass in the article has grains only 20% of the size of standard wheat grains, so the ratio of chaff to edible grain is much higher, and the properties aren't quite a 1:1 substitute.
Even so, the benefits are substantial - less fossil fuels used for cultivation; minimized tilling, which preserves topsoil, sequesters carbon, and minimizes nutrient runoff; lower water, fertilizer and herbicide use; higher biodiversity and animal/bird habitat in undisturbed fields; and grazing for integrated livestock. It's not a drop-in replacement for current industrially farmed grains, though.
I had the pleasure of taking a course this summer with the head of a local school's regenerative agriculture program, who's also a farmer, and she was a fountain of knowledge about this stuff. The bottom line is that the upfront cost is higher both in labor and material, but regenerative practices can produce 80 - 90% of conventional yields after a few years, have far lower input costs over time, and can be maintained indefinitely.
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Farmers turn to perennial grains as one solution to extreme weather
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Comment on What's a show you love that's from before your time? in ~tv
patience_limited (edited )LinkHow is it possible that no one has mentioned The Muppet Show, especially after all the recent callbacks to the Dolly Parton and Tim Curry episodes? Maybe it's that clips are still culturally...How is it possible that no one has mentioned The Muppet Show, especially after all the recent callbacks to the Dolly Parton and Tim Curry episodes?
Maybe it's that clips are still culturally ubiquitous. Maybe it's that The Muppet Show had a variety act format, not single-episode or overarching story lines. Maybe it's that Jim Henson intentionally chose to wrap it after five years instead of letting it devolve into stale repetition and waiting for the audience to get tired.
I'll go back and watch an episode from time to time because it's so exuberant and joyous, sharply funny, and beautifully expanded the expressive limits of the obscure craft of puppetry. There's a little bit of each of the Muppet characters in all of us. The guest stars usually played into the setting so admirably that it felt more seamless than the concurrently running celebrity interview shows.
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Comment on A case study on emergent cheating and whistleblowing in autonomous research swarms in ~comp
patience_limited (edited )LinkSo AI agents have manifested stigmergy, which isn't surprising since they're designed to be eusocial swarms. What's cool is there are many examples in biology for modeling swarming/flocking...So AI agents have manifested stigmergy, which isn't surprising since they're designed to be eusocial swarms.
What's cool is there are many examples in biology for modeling swarming/flocking behavior that might help to design guardrails. What's not cool is that they're stochastic models and the behavioral excursion limits are going to be hard to predict and constrain reliably. This paper is a really interesting example because there was an "evolutionary" split to two differently aligned swarms competing with each other. What caused one to devalue the truthfulness rule after finding a loophole, while the other conserved and emphasized it?
It's wild reading the natural language reasoning messages the prover agents use to describe their actions.
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Comment on What are your "how on earth did I not learn this sooner" tech moments? in ~tech
patience_limited LinkThis is a Windows Server-world thing, but I'm startled on a regular basis by encountering techs and admins who don't know about the Windows PowerShell Test-NetConnection command....This is a Windows Server-world thing, but I'm startled on a regular basis by encountering techs and admins who don't know about the Windows PowerShell Test-NetConnection command.
"Test-NetConnection {ip address} -port {TCP port}" reveals whether the network endpoint is pingable and has the expected port number open. It's a simple way to confirm that there aren't obstructing firewall rules and that there's a running service listening on the endpoint.
In Linux world, most people know how to do this with netcat or curl, but thought I'd put this out there.
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Comment on Adulting -- what advice or encouragement did you receive / wish you had received when you were just starting out moving out? in ~life
patience_limited Link ParentLife be like this.Life be like this.
I wasn't quite convinced by The Maltese Falcon/The Fifth Element mashup vibe in the trailer, but I'll give Brad Bird the benefit of the doubt.