xstresedg's recent activity
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Comment on File not found: A generation that grew up with Google is forcing professors to rethink their lesson plans in ~comp
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Comment on File not found: A generation that grew up with Google is forcing professors to rethink their lesson plans in ~comp
xstresedg Link ParentThe biggest issue that I've come to learn about people is that at a certain age, they hate learning new things and new things make them angry, frustrated, or disappointed. They don't take the time...The biggest issue that I've come to learn about people is that at a certain age, they hate learning new things and new things make them angry, frustrated, or disappointed. They don't take the time to learn, even those who are more tech savvy.
A friend of mine hates Snapchat with a passion. He thinks it's stupid, saying something akin to "why don't the kids just text like regular people". It's the same thing that people said about text messaging and instant messaging until it was just the norm.
I think that some people when they get older just don't want to learn new things. Older can simply mean post-adolescence, too. Even the most progressive/liberal person likely still has close-minded views. I'm sure I even do, but I do my best to keep my mind open, even if it means prying that bitch open and dumping the knowledge in. I'll abuse me as I wish lol
EDIT: and when I say progressive/liberal, I'm not trying to bring the actual politics into the discussion. I'm just using that as an example since those folks tend to have a more open mind to things, from my point of view and experience. BUT, they also have a closed-mind to other things that they disagree with, even if they don't understand the thing they are closing themselves off from. It's just human nature, methinks.
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Comment on Their baby died in the hospital. Then came the $257,000 bill. in ~health
xstresedg LinkThis shit is the reason I wouldn't want to live in the US. Not intending to offend Americans. I just can't understand living in a world like this, at least not in the modern world.This shit is the reason I wouldn't want to live in the US. Not intending to offend Americans. I just can't understand living in a world like this, at least not in the modern world.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
xstresedg LinkWeight update After going back up to 258 lbs (~117.3 kg), I'm starting to lose again. I'm down to 253.8 lbs (~115.4 kg). For the most of the last week, I wasn't watching my calories (and really...Weight update
After going back up to 258 lbs (~117.3 kg), I'm starting to lose again. I'm down to 253.8 lbs (~115.4 kg). For the most of the last week, I wasn't watching my calories (and really over eating on a few days haha), but the last three days I pulled it through, albeit a bit aggressively.
Diet
I'm starting to get back into cooking, having made some good soup (red cabbage stew) on Sunday. It made approximately 5 quarts, plus one bowl that I ate for a late lunch that day. That will normally be my lunch, though yesterday I ended up with no lunch due to work being a bit busy when I was hungry, and me not being hungry when I wasn't working. I ended up giving in and getting McDonald's for supper, but still it was under my approximate nominal calorie burn for the day of 2500-2600, at least based on one calculation. Today I also indulged and got McDonald's breakfast, but that was due to me actually being hungry right away in the morning as opposed to the usual where I'm not that hungry. Likely due to the binge around 6 pm yesterday.
Supper will ideally be some soup, as well as some bachelor beans with hotdogs (because it's one of those nostalgic staples from my childhood that I love to this day). That will put me under my 2000 kcal max, and will also let me have a snack before bed if I want/need it.
It's also worth noting that I usually only eat twice a day: lunch and supper, or breakfast and supper. It's something I've preferred for a long time, but I fell into a few years of the typical eating 3 times a day, and eating heavy at all meals without paying attention to what I was eating.
Fitness
Still trying to get used to my damn exercise bike, but to basically no avail. I just abhor using it for more than 5 or 10 minutes, but it (theoretically) is more useful for calorie burn in a shorter amount of time than walking, plus walking actually hurts. Due to my gout, my feet hurt often, and due to my weight and inactivity, my back hurts something fierce, as well. In 10-15 minutes on my bike, I can burn as much or more calories than walking 20-25 minutes. Theoretically, as I don't have one of them fancy bikes that tells you the exact effort used to expend the speed and distance. Mines just a cheap one from Amazon. I bought it cause it folds up lol
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Comment on Tesla wanted $22,500 to replace a battery. An independent repair shop fixed it for $5,000. in ~tech
xstresedg Link ParentThis is why we need Right to Repair legislation. So that mechanics can get the training, the tools, the parts, and the manuals to fix shit properly. This extends to computers, phones, tablets,...God I hate that this article made me defend Tesla, but it's pretty irresponsible in how it glosses over how incredibly dangerous what it's advocating for is.
There might be a middle ground where more information, training and tools are made available, but for the love of god do not go poking around anywhere inside an EV's power train without an actual expert around. And an expert who knows EV power trains specifically, not just 'cars' in general.
This is why we need Right to Repair legislation. So that mechanics can get the training, the tools, the parts, and the manuals to fix shit properly.
This extends to computers, phones, tablets, farm equipment, and basically everything electronic. The problem is that companies like Apple and Samsung make deals with their part manufacturers to only sell the parts to them. They make proprietary tools, keep their manuals in confidence, and scream about hackers and trade secrets anytime people want to get near them. I want to read your board schematics and change a chip, not study how your security software works and become elite hax0rz.
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Comment on What's a hidden health issue you live with? in ~health
xstresedg Link ParentI'm sorry to hear, Akir :( I hope she is able to get better, and get moving around again!I'm sorry to hear, Akir :( I hope she is able to get better, and get moving around again!
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Comment on What's a hidden health issue you live with? in ~health
xstresedg LinkGenerally hidden is my gout. There's no real visual symptom other than my weird gait because pain. It's manageable, but as noted early, I'm in pain fairly often. I tend to describe the pain as...Generally hidden is my gout. There's no real visual symptom other than my weird gait because pain. It's manageable, but as noted early, I'm in pain fairly often. I tend to describe the pain as sharp, almost like something cutting me where it hurts, though sometimes it is a dull ache. When I have a flair up, however, wherever the flair is, the pain is crippling. Last time I had a flair up, it was in my right ankle, and it made it that I could barely walk 10 feet. The biggest challenge is that I'm afraid to make quick movements: quick bend-over or crouch to pick something up, jumping, running. I'm so wary about hurting myself that I tend to take things slow in the case of picking something up, or I just don't run or jump. I had once instance back when the first new Star Wars came out, I was crossing the street a block away from the movie theatre, but had crossed in the middle of the street as it was late and no one was driving by. I hopped up onto the median and then hopped off of it, and my hip gave out as it wasn't used to that sort of impact. So my 260+ lbs. body came crashing down. I was lucky enough to have practiced the art of fucking around with my friends and I was able to shoulder roll, rather painfully, avoiding smashing my face into pavement. Still fucked my palm up pretty bad. I quickly got up and speed walked to the movie theatre. While it wasn't my gout that caused the event explicitly, it had been my inactivity and weakness, which was in part caused by my gout, that did it.
People need to be more aware that arthritis, gout included, will happen to you in some way shape or form. It is, unfortunately, one of those things that will creep up on you. Eat better, move more, stretch, and stay active as long as you can, because one day you won't be able to.
As for sharing, I do. I tend to joke more about it now than anything, but the conversation usually moves into a conversation about arthritis so there's usually a good that comes out of it.
Oh, I guess worth noting, I was diagnosed with gout in November 2012, though I had been experiencing symptoms all throughout 2012, as well on and off symptoms over the previous few years to 2009 when I had my first symptoms, not knowing what they were. I thought I had sprained my finger somehow, but looking back, it's the exact issue I get in my hands now when I have a flair up, and it can last months.
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Comment on Tech workers rebel against a lame-ass Internet by bringing back ‘GeoCities-style’ WebRings in ~tech
xstresedg LinkI'm quite liking the recent throwback design to 90s and early 00s web design. Gives me that good nostalg.I'm quite liking the recent throwback design to 90s and early 00s web design. Gives me that good nostalg.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
xstresedg LinkWeight update Weighed in at 256.6lbs (116.39kg) this week, which in a mystic twist ended up being my original goal for this week. That being said, it's unfortunately .8lbs(.36kg) heavier than last...Weight update
Weighed in at 256.6lbs (116.39kg) this week, which in a mystic twist ended up being my original goal for this week. That being said, it's unfortunately .8lbs(.36kg) heavier than last week. Part of me wants to blame the switch over to a new scale (moved from my housemate's scale to a Fitbit Aria, as I may or may not be moving in the next couple months depending on if the prospective buyer buys the house and wants to keep us or not), but I also can't mentally justify it and instead want to naturally blame myself, whether logical or not. Hopefully I can do better this next week.
Diet
Adding in a diet section here. So I essentially base my caloric intake on an ideal floor of just over 2000kcal per day, which equates to about 14,500kcal per week. My week is more of my focus than my day, but I keep a tally of my day to thus keep a tally of my week. If I go over in a day, I've learned not to be upset, and try to adequately balance it out. Now my ceiling is my estimate maintenance calories per day, which is recalculated every week. This week it is: 2558kcal/day, 17,903kcal/week. It leaves me a lot of playroom and, in theory, as long as I'm staying under my maintenance I should be losing. However, as the body doesn't always line up with equations, my maintenance could be higher or lower, depending on my body's reaction to weight loss as well as other aspects of my natural function coming into play. I am at the line, though, where my body may panic and retain what it can instead of losing.
Fitness
That is where exercise comes into play. In theory, by activating my body function outside of normal parameters, it should allow me to break past that "starvation" limit that my body may or may not put into play and allow me to lose weight further. This I need to do more of, but the years of laziness is a habit not easily broken. So here's to hoping I use my exercise bike more and start doing what calisthenics I can to help any bit. It's still a long journey to go to hit 210!
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
xstresedg LinkWeight update I'm currently 28.8 lbs down from 284.6 lbs in May. Only 5.8 lbs to go until goal one is achieved (250 lbs). For the metrically inclined: 13.06kg down, 129.09kg in May, 113.40kg for...Weight update
I'm currently 28.8 lbs down from 284.6 lbs in May. Only 5.8 lbs to go until goal one is achieved (250 lbs). For the metrically inclined: 13.06kg down, 129.09kg in May, 113.40kg for goal one. At least as per DuckDuckGo doing my math for me.
Goal two will be 230 lbs, goal three will be 220 lbs, and goal four will be 210 lbs. 103.32kg, 99.79kg, and 95.25kg. A healthy weight for me, at least as per calculations that do not take muscle into consideration, is ~170 lbs. However, I do have denser bones and used to lift weights in high school, plus any bone density and muscular increases that have ocurred as an adult and from my weight gain over 10+ years, so that number is likely higher.
Fitness
I'm trying to make a habit of using my exercise bike once or twice a day, though I am not a fan of it, or cardio in general. Hopefully I can force myself to learn to enjoy it, but 5 minutes on the bike feels like an eternity, even with something to watch.
I have found that when I go for walks now though, being nearly 30 lbs lighter, that I get no shin splints, so that's nice. But my feet and back still feel like death during and after. My landlord is selling the house and they were doing a showing over the lunch hour, so I decided to talk a walk. Walked 4.1 km, and my heels/Achilles tendon are still paying the price for it.
I'll never be pain free, unfortunately, but I do hope that losing this weight will reduce the daily aches and pains a bit. Gout's a bitch.
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Comment on If you've ever wore braces or any similar mouth/teeth focused apparel, what has your experience been like? in ~talk
xstresedg LinkI had braces for grade 10 and 11, if I remember correctly. It's been a while haha. Post-installation sucked because I got them like 3 or 4 days before Christmas. I could only eat mashed potatos...I had braces for grade 10 and 11, if I remember correctly. It's been a while haha.
Post-installation sucked because I got them like 3 or 4 days before Christmas. I could only eat mashed potatos and jello salad. I was able to get one piece of a sausage down after about a half hour because chewing hurt very bad. I had to cut them into pieces smaller than a Cheerio. After a week or two, the pain subsided. Though, every adjustment, it hurt again for a couple days.
The brackets usually caught on my cheeks so they were always cut up, and I slept a lot on my stomach back then so my inner lips were usually a bit too. Worse was when I had a spring put in to push two teeth away to give a third tooth room to move (which proved futile as the tooth was dual-rooted or something, which the dentist found out after he tried turning the tooth with his hands, which was brutally painful). The spring would dig into my inner lip while I slept, and when I woke up, it was fairly embedded, so pulling my lip off sounded like something being suctioned off of something else. It amused me.
I did once have a wire come partially out of the farthest bracket back on my right side after having a Werther's toffee square. I was able to push it back into place.
That's all I can really remember it being in terms of uncomfortability. My plastic retainer wasn't so bad to wear after my braces came off, I just wish I followed my dentist's recommendations fully. I stopped wearing them daily too soon, switching to only nighttime, and then stopped wearing them all together very early too. Some of my teeth have gone a bit back into a less desirable position, though overall my teeth look okay now.
The main reason for my braces was that my upper right canine was due to what a few people I know called a vampire tooth (https://imgur.com/DNVgso3, not a picture of me, just one I found online)
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
xstresedg LinkI'm currently making a game called Booster, heavily inspired by the old DOS Jetpack games (https://dosgames.com/game/jetpack/), using Godot Engine. Basic synopsis is you're a dude with a light gun...I'm currently making a game called Booster, heavily inspired by the old DOS Jetpack games (https://dosgames.com/game/jetpack/), using Godot Engine. Basic synopsis is you're a dude with a light gun (called a Matter Disruptor in Booster) and a jetpack. The idea is you travel the level, collect gems, destroy objects and disable enemies. You would progress from level to level to reach the end by collecting certain items, a la many simple but fun DOS games.
It's still in the early stages, but it's coming along nicely. You can view progress at https://snitlist.neocities.org/ or my Twitter https://twitter.com/snitlist (I also retweet a lot of other game projects that I'm following, or see that I really like).
I do intend to have a level editor, but I think that'll be the hardest thing to create for this project. I want to get all functionality down before building out a level editor.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
xstresedg LinkI'm currently down 22lbs since May 26th, though I've platueaed over the last two weeks. Not sure what this Wednesday will bring either. Initially it was meant to be a combination of eating...I'm currently down 22lbs since May 26th, though I've platueaed over the last two weeks. Not sure what this Wednesday will bring either. Initially it was meant to be a combination of eating ~2000kcal per day (~14000 per week) as well as exercise, but the cut was enough that it made exercise a challenge, but I was still losing weight despite no exercise after the first week. However, my gout then flared up on Week 3 and lasted almost three weeks, and while it's calmed down, it appears to have borked my knee. I am starting to get back to exercising again, just using my exercise bike. Hopefully I'll get on going for walks too, but we'll see.
Eventually, I'd like to get back in the gym, too, as I haven't been there since pre-COVID.
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Comment on Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you. in ~books
xstresedg Link ParentOh, shit. Yeah reading your explanation, what you've said to date does make sense now. Sorry about that. Yup, I agree. I get what you're saying.Oh, shit. Yeah reading your explanation, what you've said to date does make sense now. Sorry about that.
Yup, I agree. I get what you're saying.
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Comment on Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you. in ~books
xstresedg Link ParentThe issue isn't that the user cannot buy the books, because they can. The issue is that Amazon won't sell books, even at the elevated price libraries pay, to libraries for users to borrow for...The issue isn't that the user cannot buy the books, because they can. The issue is that Amazon won't sell books, even at the elevated price libraries pay, to libraries for users to borrow for free.
I feel like I'm missing something in what you're saying, so I apologize if I am.
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Comment on Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you. in ~books
xstresedg Link ParentBut that wouldn't be benefiting library users, as they'd still end up on the hook for Amazon books, then.But that wouldn't be benefiting library users, as they'd still end up on the hook for Amazon books, then.
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Comment on Saskatchewan, Canada First Nation says Biden's move to block Keystone XL pipeline means lost opportunity in ~enviro
xstresedg Link ParentI always enjoy learning of First Nation bands that I've not heard of. Wasn't familiar with Nekaneet, but that's because they're down in Cypress Hills. I've never been down there before. I'm from...I always enjoy learning of First Nation bands that I've not heard of. Wasn't familiar with Nekaneet, but that's because they're down in Cypress Hills. I've never been down there before. I'm from Central-East SK (at least using the COVID tracker definitions) originally.
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Comment on Are there any gender-neutral or non-binary honorifics? in ~talk
xstresedg (edited )Link ParentYou are correct, that is not how how plurals work. I guess my stance is less change it to ONLY use 'x', and more to allow the use of 'x', as that is the evoked sound at the end of the word. I...You are correct, that is not how how plurals work. I guess my stance is less change it to ONLY use 'x', and more to allow the use of 'x', as that is the evoked sound at the end of the word.
I think, overall, I want less inconsistencies, but no one is advocating for changing the language to adopt appropriate letter and spelling usage. To simplify the language, we should be utilizing 'k' and 's' more, and 'c' less, even to the point of changing the use of 'c' to something like 'ch'. We should also be looking at words like 'through', ''though', and 'cough', and adopting a more proper spelling to make it less confusing.
Since no one really brings it up as a main topic, though, nothing gets done. No discourse is had, and people move on, but during the learning, will complain about it. Then, the only answer given as to why it's like that is "well that's how it's always been done" or "it came from this word so we aught to spell it like this".
And finally, yes,of course. I'm all for allowing the use of 'x' in place of 'ks'. Why not? To me, it's simplifying writing, switching out two letters for one.
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Comment on Are there any gender-neutral or non-binary honorifics? in ~talk
xstresedg Link ParentFor me it's simply an ease of spelling. Reducing the amount of characters one has to write or type, especially in the confines of mobile messaging, can help. I don't believe it's about...For me it's simply an ease of spelling. Reducing the amount of characters one has to write or type, especially in the confines of mobile messaging, can help. I don't believe it's about inclusivity, or lack thereof, in online circles, either. I simply think it's done as a means of simplifying the written or typed word. But I cannot speak for others, only myself.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
xstresedg Link ParentYeah I have some light weights but I don't get that same mental reward with them. I'd need heavier but I don't have the money to throw into weights right now. As Gaywallet suggested though, I may...Yeah I have some light weights but I don't get that same mental reward with them. I'd need heavier but I don't have the money to throw into weights right now. As Gaywallet suggested though, I may look into using a plastic bottle of some sort.
I can understand this. I think in the case of Windows, they have this constant drive to change everything even if the thing worked fine before. It's this modern mentality that everything must change drastically from its last iteration, and that is something I don't understand, but I try my best to do so. My thoughts are the idea of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I've no issue with updating the visuals, but when you have Settings and the Control Panel for Windows 10, they're both available, and they are not set up the same at all. So, as long as Control Panel exists, I won't take the time to learn Settings, as I just don't need to. Either update it so that Settings is the sole place to make those changes, or merge the two together, essentially modernizing the Control Panel.
That being said, I wouldn't equate new technology or services with an existing technology/service/platform that changes. Learning new services or technologies that become commonplace and nigh-mandatory makes sense. Having to adapt to a lateral change of an existing technology is stupid and unneeded, UNLESS it can legitimately make the technology easier to use. Settings isn't any easier to use than the Control Panel, in my opinion, so that change seems silly.