spongebue

@spongebue@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anyone other young people into Retro Computing?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Kinda sorta. I’m firmly in the millennial generation, so there aren’t as many computers older than me. But I can tell you about my dad bringing home a brand new 486 (25MHz) and temporarily setting it up for the first time on the kitchen table, before it was officially set up downstairs.

  In high school I got a handful of leftover computers to play with. Some early Pentiums, a really weird 486 tablet (still have that in my crawlspace!), and stuff like that. Great to learn hardware on, do some homework in my room, listen to Winamp, etc.

  Then college came and I had less time and space. Then I bought a home a couple years later (when they were all on sale!) and had a kid. Most of my time and money goes to those things.

  But! I hate where technology is going now. I remember things being fun and innovative, rather than yet another thing weirdly integrated with an app on your phone (likely with a subscription 🙄 ). So I’ve spent some time restoring antique radios, and put together some fun projects I’ve found that use a 3D printer and Raspberry Pi, including a working mini computer that runs a Dosbox instance with my favorite games from that 486.

  Tl;dr not that young by Lemmy standards, but I get it!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Parents opt kids out of school computers, insisting on pen-and-paper instead⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  “it’s only an hour of homework!”

  -Each of your 6 teachers

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it really dangerous to fall sleep in the bath?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a battle of evolution: we lost our ability to do that, but have a decent reflex to catch ourselves from danger. It’s why I don’t fall off a bed. Even when that bed is a hammock on top of a tree.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it really dangerous to fall sleep in the bath?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Cool! I’m not entirely sure because I know little about it, but you may have actually brought up a valid point! It’s a shame we had to climb a mountain of snark and smartassery to get to that possibility.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it really dangerous to fall sleep in the bath?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Can you wake up?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it really dangerous to fall sleep in the bath?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  In Korea they say not to leave a fan running overnight. Why? Because it will blow the oxygen away and you’ll suffocate.

  Doesn’t mean it’s true.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bread mattress: so my sleepy ass can partially eat it, as I'm in the lengthy process of waking up (possibly improving efficiency)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, that’s a brand new sentence!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bread mattress: so my sleepy ass can partially eat it, as I'm in the lengthy process of waking up (possibly improving efficiency)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I feel like bread’s limited shelf life, and all the nasties that accumulate in a normal mattress from normal use, would make this idea fucking disgusting. Just leave a loaf of bread on your nightstand like a normal person.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A lot of the laid-off staff from the Washington Post should start a news cooperative. Seriously!⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  When the Denver Post got bought out by a private equity company (you know how that goes), a bunch of journalists from there got together to create the Colorado Sun. It operates on a model similar to NPR/PBS, except federal/Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding was never a thing to begin with.

  I’m not sure how well it’s working, but well enough that they’re still around after several years!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How can we convince Trump voters to NOT vote for Trump (or Vance) in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 election?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Historically, yes. But that general idea has really been flipped over the last decade. 2018 midterm flipped the house D. 2022 gave Republicans control of the house, but not nearly as badly as expected and even gave an extra D seat in the Senate. There have been countless special elections (same idea, usually even harder than a midterm for Democrats) where they pulled through, giving Georgia and even (briefly) Alabama Democratic senators.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How can we convince Trump voters to NOT vote for Trump (or Vance) in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 election?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  So, I’ll argue with people on Nextdoor about things like ICE and trans issues when they come up. Over the last few weeks I’ve been talking directly with a woman from there, after a discussion about ICE. She identifies as conservative/libertarian, but to be fair she also voted for the incumbent Democrat in our congressional district so there legitimately was some wiggle room there, not just a MAGA claiming to be moderate.

  Over the long course of our conversation, she seems to see the anti-Trump point of view a lot better and even changed her mind a little bit on some topics. I also accidentally triggered what I can best describe as an introspective crisis when I explained that I’m not entirely comfortable considering her a friend when she turns a blind eye to the harm Trump is causing others, including the diverse group of friends I have (it was a more detailed, gentle explanation but that was the gist of it)

  Since this is ongoing and I’ve been kind of surprised at how it’s gone, here’s what I think has worked well…

  • Keep things friendly. I know that’s hard to do, but if you come on too strong and angry, you’ll just drive people away from you and firmer in their position

  • Stay on-topic to the things that matter most. Things like people being sent to CECOT without so much as a trial (disregarding multiple amendments in the bill of rights)

  • Stay factual. Be prepared to back up with sources, and offer to ahead of time. Be absolutely sure that everything you say is bulletproofly true. Avoid getting alarmist.

  • Pace yourself. I’d go hours just thinking about what was said and how best to respond. We agreed this was best so we didn’t get distracted from our lives too much

  • Listen. I can’t think of anything where I’ve really changed my mind, but it does give a way to frame your concerns (“I hear what you’re saying about the influx of migrants. I’m not sure what the data shows there, but if you let the government bypass protocol they’re basically incentivized to let the mess get so big they can take away rights and that doesn’t sit well with me” or “I get that you want people to go through the legal process, but ICE is picking up people in court on their way to their check-ins. They’re TRYING to keep things legal and are getting punished for it”). Sometimes I’ve circled back to things said earlier to make a connection (don’t like CECOT happening? This is the kind of thing that got us there)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If people started tagging trump in all their socials, like every post, would that be a bad thing?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Assuming you mean metaphorically, I’m pretty sure people/organizations that much in the spotlight already get plenty of tags and the platforms limit notifications

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Flowers nut on unsuspecting bees⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh, they fully suspect it

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Companies with TLDs named after them is the best example of how ridiculously big those companies are.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I think you’re thinking of D’s, not TLD’s.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK You may have unclaimed funds held by your government⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I used to work for (3-letter US pharmacy chain)

  Having done the same (well, a smaller company they bought well before I started), you have my deepest sympathies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The proliferation of 3D printers probably had a negative impact on the sales of Altoids⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I think few people were buying Altoids for the box (not nobody, I know exactly what you’re talking about, but I’m just saying it was a small piece of the pie) and the fad kind of faded.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Electric Bills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Energy is not created or destroyed, it only gets transformed from one form to another. Fuel represents a storage of energy. So when you burn fuel, you are taking the energy contained in that fuel and using it to create heat energy, harness it to make a car move, generate electricity (which you seem to agree is energy as well), or whatever.

  Think about high school physics. Bring a 200 pound weight to the top of a tower, and it has potential energy. Nothing happens, just as nothing happens to fuel without a spark, but if you drop it out turns into kinetic energy. Let it hit the ground, and the sidewalk will absorb some of that energy as it breaks, it gets absorbed into sound energy, the whole process repeats on a smaller scale as it bounces, etc. All energy, and not in the hippy “the universe is all energy, maaan” kind of way.

  The first part of this Technology Connections video also shows how propane is stored energy that gets converted: youtu.be/OOK5xkFijPc - just because that spark was needed to convert the energy in that propane to heat, doesn’t mean the spark is the source of the energy. If you’re going to be pedantic enough that I have to explain that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Electric Bills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I never said it would happen immediately 😉

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Electric Bills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Gas isn’t energy

  It absolutely is. Do I need to explain why that’s a ridiculous take, or have you had enough coffee by now to realize it?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Electric Bills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean… Gas prices are relatively low right now, at least here in 'Merica. I’ve seen them more than double what they are now, how did that happen?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why Are Cars Getting Rid Of Android Auto?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It does? I honestly love it and it will be very hard for me to go back

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Electric Bills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Still nothing terribly new here. Energy has always had inelastic demand, meaning usage doesn’t change much with price. Whether gas costs 1, 3, or 5 dollars people still need to get to work and will still buy stuff. Maybe people will start to combine trips or whatever with higher prices, but nothing huge.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Electric Bills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Which wasn’t a factor before? 😉

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Electric Bills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not sure about that. The way I see it, there will be more supply for the below-expectation demand, which would make prices go down

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Electric Bills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The same way you pay more for gas in summer or when the economy is doing well: demand is higher so prices go up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do US airports have a lot more jet bridges than EU airports?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Yep, it’s got a rubbery grippy surface to follow the plane. As the plane goes down, the wheel will creep up a little bit so the jet bridge height will go down a tiny bit too.

  Fun fact: they also have an alarm if something funky happens, like if someone pulls on the unit when it’s in use.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft wants to replace its entire C and C++ codebase, perhaps by 2030⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Shit, with the way computer horsepower has improved over the years, how hard can it be to add a legacy Windows emulator or whatever WINE is, especially when you have the original source code available?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do US airports have a lot more jet bridges than EU airports?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Bluecifer*

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK: if you dont have Kagi, the next best thing is to search DDG with date range set before 2012 (ish)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  You can never regret pizza.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whats the best use for 75 dollars?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve got 4 Pis in my house right now:

  • Octopi server for my 3D printer (Zero 2 W)
  • Home Assistant server (400, but this was before I understood how Home Assistant worked and how much I didn’t need easy display access
  • This adorable retro thingymabob: www.printables.com/model/…/files (I think on a 4?)
  • A nearby flight display thingymabob: github.com/c0wsaysmoo/plane-tracker-rgb-pi (another Zero 2 W)

  I’m also looking at making one of these (put a few parts on the Christmas list 😀 ) github.com/fatihak/InkyPi