ylph's recent activity
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Comment on The hatred of podcasting in ~life
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Comment on Felipe Massa’s $80M F1 ‘Crashgate’ lawsuit heads to court this week: What to know in ~sports.motorsports
ylph Link ParentAccording to the article, Massa is not asking for the championship results to be changed, at least not at this point. In addition to the monetary damages, he is asking for FIA to make a...According to the article, Massa is not asking for the championship results to be changed, at least not at this point. In addition to the monetary damages, he is asking for FIA to make a declaration that he would have won the championship, if they followed their own rules. It is possible that if FIA was forced to make such declaration (which I think is already unlikely), he could use it to try to overturn the championship results with additional legal action, but I think it would be very difficult.
Hamilton or McLaren were not even involved with the controversy - as far as I know, it was between Renault and Ferrari, with Renault trying to help Alonso at Massas expense. Even if you disqualified Alonso from the race, that would result in 2 extra points for Hamilton, and 0 for Massa, so he would have lost the championship by 3, instead of by 1. The only way Massa wins the championship is if the whole race result was cancelled, but I personally don't see how that would be justifiable under these circumstances (not to mention that FIA has explicit rules against revising results once the season is complete and prizes are given out)
I haven't really followed this too closely for a long time, so I could be off on the current situation with the FIA, but I would think at most they would try to settle with Massa for some money, and in exchange make him agree to drop any further challenges.
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Comment on First shape found that can’t pass through itself in ~science
ylph Link ParentIt makes a nifty pencil holder ?It makes a nifty pencil holder ?
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Comment on What are some interesting landmarks in your neck of the woods? in ~talk
ylph (edited )LinkCarhenge reminded me of the Spindle in Berwyn just outside Chicago. I stood in line for the Nintendo Wii back in 2006 at that Circuit City that can be seen in the photo... It was removed and...Carhenge reminded me of the Spindle in Berwyn just outside Chicago. I stood in line for the Nintendo Wii back in 2006 at that Circuit City that can be seen in the photo... It was removed and destroyed a couple of years later, which was kind of sad - it was a pretty cool landmark.
Interestingly Google Streetview even captured it back in 2007 not long before its demise.
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Comment on Who's tried durian? in ~food
ylph Link ParentThe Thai Monthong can be pretty decent - it does smell less when fresh (but gets smellier as it ripens) and also has a pretty mild vanilla-custard-like flavor, so it can be a good first durian for...The Thai Monthong can be pretty decent - it does smell less when fresh (but gets smellier as it ripens) and also has a pretty mild vanilla-custard-like flavor, so it can be a good first durian for someone who's never had it before. The ones imported to US are usually picked and frozen before fully ripening, to limit the smell, but sometimes at the expense of flavor. I think Thais locally do prefer less ripe durians to begin with as well.
People in Malaysia seem to prefer more ripe durians, with stronger smell, and richer flavors - which I enjoy as well now. Of course it's best enjoyed fresh from the stall during the season this way - freezing them and shipping across ocean is tricky to preserve the ideal ripeness and texture. But frozen Musang King can still be quite enjoyable, if fresh is not an option.
I personally can enjoy all kinds of durian. If I had access to some inexpensive kampong, I would be eating it all the time ! Probably for the best for my health that I don't, haha..
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Comment on Who's tried durian? in ~food
ylph Link ParentDurian availability is seasonal. The season itself depends on locality, and can vary year to year, depending on rains and such. Malaysians like to eat fresh local seasonal durian (which is the...Durian availability is seasonal. The season itself depends on locality, and can vary year to year, depending on rains and such. Malaysians like to eat fresh local seasonal durian (which is the best way to enjoy durian, if you have the option), so during peak harvests there are durian stands everywhere, while other times of the year those stands are either closed or sell other fruits. You can still find some durians off season, often not local, or less popular varieties.
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Comment on Forgot Chrome's unusable, any recommendations? in ~tech
ylph Link ParentIf anything, my YouTube experience in Firefox (144) in Linux with uBlock Origin improved in the last few days, with the new YouTube UI rollout that just hit me - for a few months I was getting a...If anything, my YouTube experience in Firefox (144) in Linux with uBlock Origin improved in the last few days, with the new YouTube UI rollout that just hit me - for a few months I was getting a spinning circle for about 10 seconds before a video would start playing, but now it's back to starting right away, no more spinning circle!
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Comment on Who's tried durian? in ~food
ylph LinkLove durian ! Thought it smelled absolutely horrid the first time I tried it, but over time, came to love the smell as well. Used to be hard to get here in the US (for a long time, only frozen...Love durian ! Thought it smelled absolutely horrid the first time I tried it, but over time, came to love the smell as well.
Used to be hard to get here in the US (for a long time, only frozen Monthong from Thailand was available here) but nowadays, there is actually a decent selection of durians from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam - still only frozen, but much higher quality than used to be the case. Also highly recommend Year of the Durian - they ship very unique varieties of durian - it's crazy how different some of them can taste, especially some of the D. graveolens varieties.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump’s 100% China tariff triggers $20b wipeout, 1.6m crypto traders liquidated in ~finance
ylph Link ParentIt's a classic risk on/risk off situation - when economy is doing good, stocks are doing good, risk takers feel more confident, have excess profits they can invest in riskier investments, and use...It's a classic risk on/risk off situation - when economy is doing good, stocks are doing good, risk takers feel more confident, have excess profits they can invest in riskier investments, and use higher leverage to amplify their bets. This is the risk-on environment. Cryptocurrencies are the ultimate high risk "investment", so demand for them goes up when risk is on. There are no real fundamentals when it comes to valuing crypto - no cashflows, no book value - just supply and demand (and manipulation..)
When stock markets stumble, risk takers get more risk averse and try to scale down their risk exposure (flight to safety), expecting less excess profits to be available to chase risky investments in the future, deleveraging, forced sales/covering, etc. resulting in dropping demand for crypto. This is the risk-off environment.
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Comment on Giant sinkhole in Chilean mining town haunts residents, three years on in ~enviro
ylph LinkThe location of the sinkhole here Looks to be closer to 200 feet deep (based on the shadows of nearby structures) Some of the articles are reporting it as 656 feet deep, but I think they are...The location of the sinkhole here
Looks to be closer to 200 feet deep (based on the shadows of nearby structures)
Some of the articles are reporting it as 656 feet deep, but I think they are accidentally doing a double meters to feet conversion - your main link reports it as 64 meters deep, which is 210 feet (which a quick google confirms matches the local reporting in Chile) - I think others took the ~200 number, assumed it was meters, and converted again ending up at 656 feet.
Just one of many small symptoms of sad general decline of journalism, even at places like Reuters and NPR.. playing loose with what should be easily verifiable facts, instead running with only photos showing no bottom (because more dramatic and spooky), and NPR even running with saying it could fit the entire Washington Monument inside, which it clearly couldn't.
Not to take anything away from what is still definitely a massive sinkhole.
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Comment on It’s the little things that make me not fully jump to linux in ~comp
ylph Link ParentCachyOS is bleeding edge for kernel/Wayland/KDE/nVidia/Proton etc. updates - it's a rolling Arch based distro and they release upstream updates usually within days of them becoming available, so...CachyOS is bleeding edge for kernel/Wayland/KDE/nVidia/Proton etc. updates - it's a rolling Arch based distro and they release upstream updates usually within days of them becoming available, so should always be up to date on any upstream fixes.
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Comment on Is OpenWRT worthwhile at home? in ~comp
ylph LinkI used to run OpenWRT for years (and DD-WRT before it on the original WRT54G router 20 years ago) on various Linksys/Cisco home routers (always trying to pick hardware that had good OpenWRT...I used to run OpenWRT for years (and DD-WRT before it on the original WRT54G router 20 years ago) on various Linksys/Cisco home routers (always trying to pick hardware that had good OpenWRT support and compatibility), but eventually switched to pfSense on a dedicated Celeron J3455 based fanless mini-PC for routing, and a few used Ruckus R710 WiFi APs from eBay for WiFi around the house. I have to say, the Ruckus APs were a revelation - they work SO MUCH better than the consumer Linksys/Cisco stuff ever did for me - I have almost 2 year uptime on one of them right now - as in it has been running without a single reboot for almost 2 years, and the others have only had to be rebooted due to moving power plugs around, never due to any issues. I paid less than $50 for each of them, and just run them with the standalone AP firmware (not even the Unleashed firmware) and have had absolutely rock solid WiFi all through the house for all kinds of WiFi devices, old and new. With the Linksys/Cisco units running OpenWRT there would always be WiFi issues, that often required reboots to clear, which just isn't the case with Ruckus - I had no idea WiFi can even be this good.
The R710s are only WiFi 5, although that has not been an issue for me, and they can be had for $30-$40 on eBay right now. They are supposed to get security updates until 2027 I believe, although the standalone firmware has not been updated in 2 years (hence my 2 year uptime) but the Unleashed firmware is still getting updates. I would like to upgrade to more modern ones at some point, but the WiFi 6 ones are still $200+ on used market, and the R710s have been so solid that I don't have much reason to mess with my setup right now.
I am generally a big proponent of open source software and open hardware (run Linux on my main desktop even) but whatever proprietary secret hardware and software sauce Ruckus cooked up with their antennas and beamforming, MU-MIMO and what not really does work. It's been a while since I went with my setup, but at the time the consensus was that OpenWRT compatible hardware does not really match up in terms of WiFi performance and reliability - not sure if things have changed much since.
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Comment on What's your go-to hot sauce? in ~food
ylph LinkNobody mentioned the TJ's Green Dragon sauce yet - for me this one replaced Sriracha as the default sauce that I put on most things that don't otherwise call for specific sauce, it's super...Nobody mentioned the TJ's Green Dragon sauce yet - for me this one replaced Sriracha as the default sauce that I put on most things that don't otherwise call for specific sauce, it's super versatile, although pretty mild, but has a nice flavor - especially like it in fried rice of any sort. My second choice is usually Cholula which is pretty versatile also.
Once I got a small bottle of this chili sauce from Hong Kong that was one of my all time favorites - however I am not sure what happened to the company, I think they went through some hard times during covid, and all their internet presence seems to have disappeared, domain expired, social media accounts went dormant, and this sauce seems to be unobtainable now. Would love to find an alternative with a similar flavor profile - most of the other Hong Kong style chili sauces I've tried so far are a bit different, although I am limited in what I can find in the US.
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Comment on Android emulators to actually use mobile apps in day-to-day life? in ~tech
ylph Link ParentIt depends on your intended use probably - the app offers a lot. It includes a pretty good free Chinese-English dictionary, and a few free add-on dictionaries as well to get started, so you can...It depends on your intended use probably - the app offers a lot. It includes a pretty good free Chinese-English dictionary, and a few free add-on dictionaries as well to get started, so you can get a feel for it.
The free English-Chinese dictionary is just a wordlist I believe, the better options are paid (the New Century E-C is the best one I think, but it's like $30 by itself, the Oxford Chinese Dictionary is less extensive but still pretty good and has both C-E and E-C for only $20 - or get the basic bundle which includes it plus a few other useful things for just $25)
I think the app is most useful if you are learning Chinese or are studying it (or a related field, Chinese history or art or something like that) - for basic translation needs for someone with no Chinese knowledge at all, Google Translate is probably good enough - but for anyone with deeper interest in Chinese, Pleco can become a much superior tool.
If you are more advanced and want a good Chinese-Chinese dictionary, then you have to buy those (there are a few) There are also a lot of specialty dictionaries, Classical Chinese, medical, tea terms, buddhist terms, proverbs, Cantonese, Taiwanese, etc.. (some are even free) Some of these are Chinese-Chinese so best for someone who already understand enough Chinese to make use of them. Once you install the app, you should be able to explore what is available.
There is also a decent flashcard system, OCR, handwriting recognition, etc. Also various readers and materials for language study.
If you are serious about learning Chinese, then the professional bundle gives you a lot for $50, and I think it's well worth it. Great thing about Pleco is once you buy any of the add-ons, you get a key that you can use to re-activate all your purchases unlimited number of times, on either Android or iOS (not sure if there is a limit on how many can be active at one time, but I use it both on my phone, and Desktop (using Waydroid currently) and never had a problem re-downloading the purchased dictionaries and add-ons, and it works without GApps or Play Services - the app connects directly to Pleco servers to authorize.
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Comment on Android emulators to actually use mobile apps in day-to-day life? in ~tech
ylph LinkI use the very excellent Chinese dictionary app Pleco (with $100s of dollars worth of purchased dictionaries) which is only available on Android and iOS. I have gone through a bunch of emulation...I use the very excellent Chinese dictionary app Pleco (with $100s of dollars worth of purchased dictionaries) which is only available on Android and iOS. I have gone through a bunch of emulation options over the years for this (including running Android in VirtualBox VM, BlueStacks, etc.)
Finally settled on running it in WSA (Windows Subsystem for Android) which worked the best for me in Windows - the (ARM only) apk worked flawlessly, could be resized, bidirectional clipboard worked, it was basically like using a native Windows app. Support for WSA has officially been discontinued recently by Microsoft, but it can still be installed and used (with some tinkering - there are guides on line on how to do it) and it still works well for Pleco.
I have recently moved my main desktop to Linux, and was able to get it also going using Waydroid. This required a bit more tinkering to make work, but once I got everything configured, it is almost as good as WSA was.
Pleco does not require any GApps or Play Services, App Store or anything, which makes it a bit easier, since I can run it on a very minimal Android image with very little overhead. If you want the full GApps experience, there are options to set that up, although I am not sure how well they work. Something like BlueStacks might be a lot simpler to get going in that case.
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Comment on Android emulators to actually use mobile apps in day-to-day life? in ~tech
ylph Link ParentHaving just gone through setting up Waydroid to run an ARM only apk, you can install an ARM translation layer (either libndk or libhoudini - see https://github.com/casualsnek/waydroid_script) and...Having just gone through setting up Waydroid to run an ARM only apk, you can install an ARM translation layer (either libndk or libhoudini - see https://github.com/casualsnek/waydroid_script) and then the ARM apk should work on x86 - at least it does for me.
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Comment on Help with ants in the shower! in ~life.home_improvement
ylph LinkKnowing the species of ants you are dealing with can be quite helpful - there are different common ant species that invade homes, and the optimal strategy for dealing with them can be different. I...Knowing the species of ants you are dealing with can be quite helpful - there are different common ant species that invade homes, and the optimal strategy for dealing with them can be different.
I can tell you what works extremely reliably here in coastal Southern California where we have a supercolony of invasive Argentine ants that covers huge portion of the state and loves to nest in urban areas and invade homes - both to seek water and food sources.
Step 1 is to maintain an external chemical perimeter barrier around the home. There are a few options for this, and professionals have access to more potent chemicals, but I find the Ortho Home Defense spray to be very effective - it's inexpensive at Home Depot, and I spray the outside of the house along the concrete wall footings, basically along any hard house surface that is close to outside dirt surrounding the house. You don't need to cover a wide area, just 1-2 inches wide along the entire house wherever possible. Ants will not cross this barrier once applied, and one application usually lasts through at least one ant season - 6-12 months. This really reduces the amount of scout ants that enter your house looking for water or food, and then invite the whole nest over.
Step 2 is if you do get a line of ants in the home - like you have in your bathroom. First I always attempt to locate where on the outside is the line of ants getting into the home. 90% of the time, I can find a place somewhere along the outside perimeter where the ants are coming in - in which case I return to Step 1 and re-apply the barrier in that area (note this will trap lots of ants inside the home, and they will search for an alternate exit, so the next part is still important) Regardless of whether I can or can not find the entrance point, I then use the Optigard Ant Gel Bait - of all the options I tried, this one has worked the best for me. I put a small amount of the gel (like pea size amount) on a disposable piece of plastic near where the ants are, or near any place I can see them entering a room or bathroom. Once ants discover it, they start feeding on it, and eventually laying a pheromone trail to it for other ants to follow. Within 15-30 minutes, you might see a huge increase in new ants as they come to feed on the gel - they will fill their body with it, and then carry it back to their nest to feed their queen. If you don't like ants, this part can be gross, but is extremely important - leave them alone for this part. The gel eventually kills the ants that feed on it, but the effect is delayed, allowing them enough time to carry it back to their nest and spread through the colony. Almost always, I see no more ants coming to the bait within 12-24 hours. The gel will also usually kill any ants you might have trapped inside the house by applying Ortho where they were getting in. Also the poisoned ants will often seek water before dying, so you might find lots of dead ants in your bathtub after the successful use of the bait gel.
I bought a package of 4 tubes of the gel 9 years ago, and have only used 2 of the tubes in the 9 years so far - a little goes a really long way.
Argentine ants are a supercolony and share queens, so old nests will eventually be repopulated from neighboring queens - so they will eventually be back. If I am diligent with Step 1 above, I only have to perform Step 2 maybe 2-3 times a year though (and usually it's because when I work in the yard, I often carry ants on me when coming back into the house, which defeats the barrier - they are able to find a way out, as the barrier is never 100% effective) 2-3 times a year might seem like a lot, but I live in a fairly large suburban home surrounded by landscaping that is absolutely filled with Argentine ants - they are absolutely everywhere here, and unlike some of my neighbors, I don't like large scale chemical treatment and poisoning my whole yard - so I consider the targeted treatment with a barrier + spot treating breaches with bait gel to be a good compromise.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
ylph Link ParentOh man, I don't think I could disagree stronger - I don't think the game cares where you start, and I don't think any individual starting place will offer a better experience over any other. In...Oh man, I don't think I could disagree stronger - I don't think the game cares where you start, and I don't think any individual starting place will offer a better experience over any other. In the tutorial area, almost everyone you talk to will give you some hints of places you could go, but there is a strong emphasis on leaving the choice up to you. Depending on which of the MANY threads offered to you in the beginning you tug on, you might feel compelled to go to any of the planets first, and there is no wrong choice - the point is to pique your curiosity enough to make you go explore, somewhere, anywhere, and slowly suck you into the central mystery as you discover things.
In my playthrough the planet you suggest was like the 5th one I went to, and I still had a great time. Watching many other playthroughs on YouTube, I have seen people take a crazy variety of approaches and different places to start. This makes watching others play the game almost as much fun as playing it for the first time, because they often put it together completely differently from how I did it, and even though we both experienced many similar moments of discovery and connections, the exact constellation of clues is often different, leading to different experiences.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
ylph (edited )Link ParentThe game provides very little guidance on how to progress, and allows many very different paths to the end. Some people take a very focused approach and try to solve every puzzle or challenge they...The game provides very little guidance on how to progress, and allows many very different paths to the end. Some people take a very focused approach and try to solve every puzzle or challenge they encounter as they encounter them. However, you can run into challenges of widely different difficulty as you chose how to explore the world, including some more end-game challenges, so this can lead to frustration.
I am older and generally have very little patience for time wasting in games - but for me the approach that worked really well was that as soon as I hit something that was too difficult to solve in 1 or maybe 2 attempts, either due to lack of some knowledge, or skill (like controlling the craft initially) I continued the exploration somewhere else (as there were always countless other places and leads to follow right from the start.)
This way I was always discovering something new, and never felt too frustrated or stuck. And I found that as I came back to challenges I abandoned earlier, they became a lot easier to solve, either due to increased skill (I got much better at flying the craft as time went along, and understanding the various game mechanics) or increased knowledge from exploration.
The game does reward exploration a lot - for example most places that are hard or frustrating to reach at first, once reached, reveal some kind of shortcut that can be used to access them easier in the future, so that you rarely have to repeat frustrating parts of challenges you already solved - but these shortcuts are not always obvious and need to be discovered through exploration. There are few possible exceptions to this (I don't want give away too many spoilers) but even there, once you understand the challenge well enough, it is not actually difficult to execute.
So my advice to anyone getting frustrated would be, don't get too stuck on the first approach you come up with to do anything - if it's too frustrating or difficult, let it go and come to it later, and try to think of different possible ways to approach the problem.
It is tricky to balance handholding with free exploration in a game like this, but I ultimately I found the lack of handholding to lead to some of the games biggest payoffs and rewards, and a worthy tradeoff. That said, I watched various playthroughs after I completed the game, and realized that I completely missed at least 3 things that would have made some of the parts that challenged me the most so much easier. The way I ended up getting through the <most feared path in the game> was absolutely ridiculous in retrospect, and not at all intended by the devs - I admit this was one place I did get frustrated, until I found my method, which worked but was still extremely stressful. Watching others play the game I realized there were at least 2 other ways to do it which are so much easier, I felt like an idiot for not figuring them out :)
Ultimately it's still not going to be a game for everyone, which I can understand (to be willing to spend time in the world and invest effort in the challenges, you do have to enjoy the vibe and mood to some degree, and that is probably quite subjective - in my case the world always sparked enough wonder in me to make me want to keep going, even when I was somewhat aimlessly just kicking rocks and looking around to find something interesting) - but I would advise anyone to give it a chance, and to not get discouraged by initial difficulty - a small change in approach to the game could still unlock its magic at least for some of those who give up too soon.
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Comment on Los Angeles area wildfires: over 5K acres burned and over 30K people forced to evacuate so far in ~enviro
ylph (edited )Link ParentSanta Ana winds are a pretty unique phenomena due to Southern California geography and climate, the conditions that cause them can arise pretty much anytime of the year. It causes very dry air...Santa Ana winds are a pretty unique phenomena due to Southern California geography and climate, the conditions that cause them can arise pretty much anytime of the year. It causes very dry air (often <5% humidity) to blow in from the inland deserts to the coast with sustained speeds over 40mph and gusts over 90mph over several days. These are very dangerous fire conditions any time of the year, also making fire breaks pretty much useless, and greatly accelerating the speed with which fire can spread, both due to the high wind speeds. Any fire that starts on a Santa Ana day is extremely dangerous and difficult to fight - 10 years ago we had Santa Anas in San Diego when 20 separate fires started, with more than 10 of those on a single day. The Palisades Fire was reported to go from 10 to 200 acres in 12 minutes yesterday.
To make things worse is the lack of rain we had this year, making all brush extremely dry and flammable. This comes in cycles, there are dry and wet years. Santa Anas after a prolonged dry period is really the perfect storm situation, and can happen any time of the year.
We do also have a normal fire season coinciding with the typical dry season - most fire prevention methods and protection of urban areas are effective against these fires, if they start near urban areas with good access, they can be controlled in time before they spread. We also have significant resources for fighting wildland fires away from urban areas and containing them before they reach urban areas. These fires can still grow really large and get out of control and cause damage as well of course, but Santa Ana fires are just so much worse.
Edit: just saw this video from yesterday that illustrates the conditions. This is from the Eaton Fire in Pasadena here
Apple did not actually coin the term podcast. The term was coined and in use by the community before Apple added support for podcasts into iTunes and iPod. Podcasts originated as audio over RSS, which was later automated with scripts and apps to upload the mp3 files downloaded from RSS feeds to your iPod for listening, all without Apple involvement. Apple adopted the term and added the feature directly into iTunes later.