ProdigalFrog

I’m pretty sure one of the creator’s/writer of voyager was really disappointed that it never actually fulfilled the premise at all, so he went and made the Battlestar Galactica reboot in 2003 as essentially what Voyager should’ve been if the premise was taken seriously.

Actually quite cool, I could see myself trying that.

Good find, hadn’t considered that effect. I always tend to use the mineral types that study seems to show blocks sweating the most.

Was curious from your comment, and found a rather good article testing if sunscreens caused skin to heat up more. They found un-tinted sunscreen does not meaningfully contribute, but tinted ones did.

Valve has a history of hiring modders and making the mods official products (counter strike started as a Half Life mod). Black Mesa was originally a free mod, they then approached valve about selling it later, which Valve then approved. Had the devs not asked permission, Valve probably would’ve shut it down had they tried to sell it.

Cheers for taking the time to do that, nocturne :)

Surprised it’s not a blend, since full polyester I would’ve thought to be uncomfortable in high heat, but I guess those little holes throughout the fabric really do allow it to breath and negate that effect?

I agree, the tradeoff doesn’t seem worth it in most cases.

While looking to see if they mention what those shirts are made of (doesn’t seem like they mention it anywhere, unless I’m missing it), I did notice one of the pictures mentions it’s treated to be water resistant, which unfortunately could mean they’ve been coated with a PFAS containing repellent, which from what this test showed, appears to come off and potentially contaminate the environment somewhat :(

Could be they use something else, but I think PFAS containing stuff is still the most common.

From what I understand, the dyes used in dark colors tend to be less transparent to the wavelength of UV light, and thus absorb some of the UV instead of letting it through. As a side effect, that also makes them heat up more, but the skin is technically more protected (assuming a like-for-like garment, as it’s likely that a thick white shirt will still be more protective than a thin black one).

Looking into it again for this comment, it appear that all color dyes offer some UV protective effect in clothing, and the more intense the color, the more protective it can be (though still varies by the specific color itself). There’s a more in-depth explanation of how that works in this scientific article, under section 6.6.2. I’ll put in an spoiler for convenience sake.

:::spoiler How Dye blocks UV The UVR protecting ability of the dye sources depends upon absorption characteristics of the functional group present in the chemical structure. Sankaran et al. reported that the UVR protection ability of cotton fabrics was effectively improved when dyed with vegetable and animal dyes from madder, indigo and cochineal [79]. Some direct, reactive and vat dyes with darker shade are capable of giving a UPF of greater than 50 due to the nature of dye-fibre bonds. Multiple studies investigated that the potential role of few natural dyes like curcumin and onion skin dye on fibre or fabric by providing UV protective characteristics. The combinational effect of dyes and UV absorbers together on fabric can also reduce the transmission of UVR. The dye shades substantially increase the UPF value of bleached cloth when compared with non-bleached fabric [43,46,74]. Although, light colours reflect solar radiation more efficiently than dark ones but part of the radiation penetrates more easily through the fabric. Since the dye’s absorption bands extend to UVR, all types of dye function as UV absorbers (280–400 nm). The capacity of dyes to raise a fabric’s UPF depends on the extinction coefficient. Another experimental result revealed that the colour depth and dye concentration are the most essential factors influencing the UV protection property of cotton knitted fabrics. Therefore, the UVR blocking ability of textiles are enhanced with increase in ingredient concentration with either a dye or pigment or a delustering agents or other additives [80,81]. :::

But the construction of clothing (how dense or thick the weave is) and what it’s made of appears to matter more for UV blocking overall than the color does. Cotton, linen and Rayon for example appear to offer less protection than wool, polyester, or nylon (synthetics feel kinda gross to wear in hot weather though, IMO). A blend can help make-up for that, though then there’s the problem of microplastics every time you wash them, so personally I still stick with natural fibers.

The usage of commercial AI’s hosted in data centers encourages the growth of that industry with the construction of more data centers, which are hazardous to the populations that live around them, encourage pretty severe water waste in areas with already dwindling groundwater, and collectively use a tremendous amount of particularly polluting electricity since the local grids cannot adequately supply them, meaning many resort to using inefficient portable power generation on-site, and in many cases is causing energy prices to spike.

While I personally think that AI use is virtually always detrimental (since there is growing evidence that AI usage appears to cause people to atrophy their critical thinking skills, and many deferring to incorrect answers), for those that still insist on using it, using a self-hosted local LLM is the most ethical option, as it does not encourage the construction of more data centers, and avoids feeding multinational fascist corporations with more data.

I’m quite fond of Paneer Masala, but I had no idea paneer was so easy to make. Thanks for the write-up Nocturne! :D

I used to make Quark regularly at home, which is a soft spreadable cheese that goes really well with a jam on crackers or a bagel. It’s quite easy to make, and doesn’t require a press, just a cheese cloth that you twist to squeeze the whey out before eating, so should be pretty perfect for making in an apartment.

There’s a lot of different ways to make it, but the easiest/simplest recipes are the ones that just call for milk and buttermilk, like this one.

Nice looking setup! ^^

Thanks for mentioning harper, hadn’t heard of it until now.

I uh… I wouldn’t mind if they sent some of that struggle to my country, I think I could bear it.