RoyalHenOil's recent activity
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Comment on What video games have had you taking real-life notes? in ~games
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Comment on Welcome to the millennial midlife crisis in ~life
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI immigrated to rural Australia a decade ago to live with my partner. His family were traditionally poor farmers, and it's a lot like that here. They got a gas stove (upgraded from a cast iron...I immigrated to rural Australia a decade ago to live with my partner. His family were traditionally poor farmers, and it's a lot like that here. They got a gas stove (upgraded from a cast iron wood stove) in the 1980s, and my partner's mother was the first person in her family who could drive a car when she got her driver's license around 1960.
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Comment on Box office: ‘Furiosa’ just barely beats ‘The Garfield Movie’ in disastrous Memorial Day weekend — the worst in decades in ~movies
RoyalHenOil Link ParentFor me, it's not even that my home theater experience has gotten better; it's that the movie theater experience has gotten so bad that I find it actively unpleasant. I used to love going to the...For me, it's not even that my home theater experience has gotten better; it's that the movie theater experience has gotten so bad that I find it actively unpleasant. I used to love going to the theater many years ago, but the last several times I went, the movies were played way too loud and the sound mixing was muddy.
My set up at home is not impressive (I pretty much just watch movies on my computer or tablet), but being able to adjust the volume and reduce the bass if necessary means I can actually immerse myself in the movie.
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Comment on 3D printing - A beginner's observations and some practical applications in ~creative
RoyalHenOil Link ParentOh, I'm not familiar with that kind of thimble. I should try it. Mine is designed to be used like a tailor's thimble, but the side that I push with is flattened and has a rim around it (inspired...Oh, I'm not familiar with that kind of thimble. I should try it.
Mine is designed to be used like a tailor's thimble, but the side that I push with is flattened and has a rim around it (inspired by the tip of a raised-edge quilter's thimble). It's shaped to my thumb to ensure that the flat side is always oriented correctly behind the needle eye.
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Comment on 3D printing - A beginner's observations and some practical applications in ~creative
RoyalHenOil (edited )Link ParentIt's nothing exciting. You can buy them (they look like this), but being able to print your own means you can make them more specialized for specific sewing projects — for example, for assorted...It's nothing exciting. You can buy them (they look like this), but being able to print your own means you can make them more specialized for specific sewing projects — for example, for assorted concave or convex curves.
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Comment on Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same. in ~tech
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI prefer it for the great majority of my searches. When I first started using it, I felt like it was basically on par with Google, but now it really feels like a big backward step when I open a...I prefer it for the great majority of my searches. When I first started using it, I felt like it was basically on par with Google, but now it really feels like a big backward step when I open a new browser and accidentally do a Google search when I thought I was doing a Kagi search. I'm not sure if Google has gotten worse, if Kagi has gotten better, or if it's just various customizations I've made to my Kagi search results over time — it's quite possibly all three — but I don't think I could go back now.
Mind you, I am not a subscription kind of person. I don't do Netflix, Spotify, etc., etc., because I am basically allergic to the financial complexity that comes with them; I have to really get a lot of value from a product to be willing to subscribe, and I'm not willing to subscribe to more than about 3-4 services at a given time (I will cancel one to start a new one, even if they are totally different classes of product, just to keep my total subscription number as small as reasonably possible). But Kagi's service is worth it to me and I feel good about supporting them.
That being said, there are a couple of cases where I will use both Kagi and Google in conjunction:
- When searching for the cheapest place to buy a specific product, or when searching for a broader selection of products to choose from, I find that Kagi and Google give me very different results, so it's worthwhile to have a look at both sets of results. Usually Kagi will find me more obscure shops, which usually have better deals and a more unusual selection (for example, Kagi recently saved me about $80 on a $175 tool by finding an up-and-coming tool shop that's trying to break into the market with some incredible deals), but not always.
- When searching for images, Google usually gives me better results. At this stage, Kagi disobeys quotations marks when I do an image search, so I get more junk results mixed in, and it also returns fewer images. However, it often gives me different results from Google, so I still check both. I hope/expect that Kagi's image search will be improved in the future, but I think regular search is their priority right now (which is fair; I do regular searches way more than I do image searches).
I still use Google only for video searches or map searches.
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Comment on 3D printing - A beginner's observations and some practical applications in ~creative
RoyalHenOil LinkWe have a 3D printer, which we received as a gift, and we have used it a lot more than we expected to. We overwhelmingly use it to make repairs or improvements around the house. I'm mostly the one...We have a 3D printer, which we received as a gift, and we have used it a lot more than we expected to. We overwhelmingly use it to make repairs or improvements around the house.
I'm mostly the one who uses it because I am more interested/experienced in 3D modeling.
Here are some examples of things we made with it:
- A replacement seal for the shower door. (It is a non-standard design, so we couldn't just buy a new one.)
- An adjustable brace to fix a broken monitor stand.
- A specialized waterproof case around an outdoor ethernet coupling.
- A specialized waterproof case around the outdoor DC connection the powers the solenoid valve to my irrigation system. (I have plans to update this design for operating multiple solenoid valves; the plastic case will effectively be the hub.)
- A replacement part for a broken needle felting tool. (I have plans to design new needle felting tools altogether because all of the ones I have — and I have quite a few of different makes and designs — have various flaws or drawbacks that would be very easy to fix.)
- A thimble specially fitted to my thumb and specially shaped for the way I prefer use thimbles (to forcibly push needles through dense layers of cloth).
- A template for custom ladder hooks for securely attaching our ladder to the our ceiling beams (we made the actual hooks out of wood because that's stronger, but 3D printing allowed us to test and perfect the design much more easily and cheaply).
- A soap press for combining small pieces of soap into a bigger Frankenstein bar of soap.
- A funnel that attaches two shampoo bottles mouth-to-mouth (so that the last bit of shampoo/conditioner in the old bottle can be added to the new bottle).
- Tools for making seedling pots out of newspaper.
- Assorted gears designed to be driven with our hand drill (useful for converting hand-cranked tools, such as yarn winders, into something much quicker).
- A guide for directing fabric through a sewing machine (embedded with a magnet so it attaches to the needle plate).
- And many more. These are the ones I immediately called to mind.
We do download some files for what we need, but the great majority of our projects call for 3D modelling because what we are making is extremely specialized. My 3D modelling experience is with vertex modelling (think Blender or Maya), not CAD, but I use the free version of Fusion 360 for most 3D printing tasks because it is so simple and quick for the kinds of things we print. Fortunately it's a lot easier than vertex modelling!
I only know two other people who have 3D printers. One of them uses it for his various Arduino project, and the other uses it to make assorted tools and things for her silversmithing and gem setting business. She also does lost PLA casting (which is like lost wax casting) using designs she models in Blender.
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Comment on ‘Deny, denounce, delay’: the battle over the risk of ultra-processed foods in ~food
RoyalHenOil Link ParentWhen you refine whole grain flour, you get both white flour and bran. They are both equally processed because they are created simultaneously through the same process. White flour is less healthy...When you refine whole grain flour, you get both white flour and bran. They are both equally processed because they are created simultaneously through the same process. White flour is less healthy than whole grain flour, but bran is more healthy than whole grain flour.
It's the nutritional value of the ingredients that we should focus on, not the degree of processing. Processing is a red herring; yes, it can be used to make extra unhealthy ingredients, but it can equally be used to make extra healthy ingredients.
It's not difficult to assess how healthy or unhealthy a given food product is, so why don't we just do that instead of focusing on hard-to-define proxy that does not even correlate that well?
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Comment on Rubbing your eyes is way more harmful than you think in ~health
RoyalHenOil Link ParentI got so fed up with eyelashes and eyebrow hairs getting into my eyes that I adopted this habit, which I highly recommend: Every day, gentle tug all along your eyelashes and eyebrows to pull out...I got so fed up with eyelashes and eyebrow hairs getting into my eyes that I adopted this habit, which I highly recommend:
Every day, gentle tug all along your eyelashes and eyebrows to pull out any loose hairs. I usually get a few loose hairs per day, so getting rid of them manually can dramatically reduce the risk of one of them randomly falling into your eyes.
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Comment on Congo names third American in a foiled coup plot as mourners gather in Utah to remember plot leader in ~news
RoyalHenOil Link ParentThe US-centric nature of this article is painting a misleading picture. This was a Congolese political party attempting to seize power during a political crisis. Its leader, Chritian Malanga, was...The US-centric nature of this article is painting a misleading picture.
This was a Congolese political party attempting to seize power during a political crisis. Its leader, Chritian Malanga, was a Congolese man who lived in the US for a portion of his life as a political refugee, and his son, Marcel Malanga, was born in the US during that time (making him a US citizen).
I don't know about the third American mentioned in the article, but there were also British and Canadian citizens involved. The political party operated primarily outside of Congo due to political persecution, and so it is not surprising that some of its members had dual citizenship in the countries where they resided as refugees or as children of refugees.
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Comment on The most mispronounced brand from every country in ~humanities.languages
RoyalHenOil Link ParentIn many cases, companies will designate different pronunciations in different countries. For example, when I moved from the US to Australia, I was startled by the pronunciation of "Nissan" here....Now with brands we have an interesting case because you could say that the company may dictate how its name is pronounced.
In many cases, companies will designate different pronunciations in different countries.
For example, when I moved from the US to Australia, I was startled by the pronunciation of "Nissan" here. Americans say something like "NEE-SAHN" (or "NEE- SARN" for any non-rhotic speakers reading this), while Australians say something like "NIS-in". But this is actually the way that the company itself pronounces its own name in each country: official Nissan TV commercials all say "NEE-SAHN" in the US and "NIS-in" in Australia.
Both of these pronunciations differ from the Japanese pronunciation, but it seems pretty unfair to call them mispronunciations when Nissan itself promotes these pronunciations.
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Comment on The most mispronounced brand from every country in ~humanities.languages
RoyalHenOil Link ParentB and V are also pronounced pretty differently between German English. BMW is pronounced something like "bay em vay". However, I think it's incorrect to expect an acronym to be pronounced the...B and V are also pronounced pretty differently between German English. BMW is pronounced something like "bay em vay".
However, I think it's incorrect to expect an acronym to be pronounced the exact same way across all languages. Unless the acronym is actually pronounced as a word (like "laser", which is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"), it's just a string of letters, and I think those letters should be pronounced consistently with the language being spoken.
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Comment on What kinds of part time jobs did you do when you first entered the job market? in ~life
RoyalHenOil (edited )LinkIn high school, I had a part-time job working at a professional photo lab (most doing wedding photography) where I scanned film and did some basic touching up. I also did other occasional or...In high school, I had a part-time job working at a professional photo lab (most doing wedding photography) where I scanned film and did some basic touching up. I also did other occasional or seasonal jobs: babysitting, odd yard work jobs for neighbors, filling syringes with flu serum, and working at the polls during elections.
As a university student, I had a part-time job working at a research museum. They were in the process of moving their extensive ichthyology collection into a larger warehouse (a former mall, actually), and I was brought on to help inventory the collection and check for specimens that needed maintenance.
Later, I got a part-time job working in a lab of one of my professors, where I was tasked with separating roots from soil samples, dehydrating them, and weighing them. I also did some field work for the lab, which mostly consisted of setting up experimental sites (basically mapping out several small plots in the forest, weeding, cutting and splitting wood, and digging trenches).
When I immigrated overseas, my visa limited me to seasonal work, so I got a job doing physical labor on a farm: planting, weeding, pruning, harvesting, greenhouse repair, etc. (When I got my full visa, they promoted me into a proper research job in the R&D department and I stayed for eight years.)
Right before I immigrated, I had a part-time job offer that I really badly want to do, but the timing just didn't work out (I got the offer about a month before I moved): I participated in a zombie walk, and there were some people there there scouting for talent for one of those real-life zombie shooter games. They really wanted to hire me, but I already had my plane ticket and my visa. I would have delayed my immigration plans for six months for that job if I could have; I can't think of any job that would be as fun, except maybe being a white water rafting guide.
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Comment on Microsoft confirms Windows 11 Recall AI hardware requirements in ~tech
RoyalHenOil Link"Recall" is an unfortunate name, particularly for something like an AI product, which people are already pretty nervous about. It brings to mind product recalls due to faulty or dangerous design."Recall" is an unfortunate name, particularly for something like an AI product, which people are already pretty nervous about. It brings to mind product recalls due to faulty or dangerous design.
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Comment on University suspends students for AI homework tool it gave them $10,000 prize to make in ~tech
RoyalHenOil LinkIt sounds like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Disjointed communication between different departments is a big problem for large organizations, but it's something that...It sounds like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Disjointed communication between different departments is a big problem for large organizations, but it's something that they really must prioritize or it can lead to severe consequences.
Another fun example is the Chinese spy who recently defected to Australia (one of the Five Eyes) and is spilling everything he knows. Why? Because he is facing charges for making a militant anti-China video ... which he created for a sting operation against a genuine anti-China activist. He spent 15 years operating undercover like this for one department of the Chinese government, only for a different department to muck it all up and effectively force him to divulge extensive state secrets to the enemy to save his own skin.
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Comment on In defense of embroidery in ~creative
RoyalHenOil (edited )Link ParentThe surviving pieces of historical embroidery we see today were certainly elaborate works of art created with expensive thread (e.g., silk threads in an array of different colors). However,...The surviving pieces of historical embroidery we see today were certainly elaborate works of art created with expensive thread (e.g., silk threads in an array of different colors). However, embroidery and darning are very closely related — they use the same tools and materials, and the techniques are very similar (albeit simple/traditional embroidery is quite a bit quicker and easier than darning, in my personal experience).
I would be deeply surprised if it was uncommon for European peasants who were darning their clothes anyway to occasionally embellish their work with a bit of decorative embroidery to entertain themselves on long winter nights. These garments may not have survived to the present day (peasant clothes did not suddenly go out of fashion and disappear into a closet for decades; they were worn until they fell apart), but they were still very valuable to the people who wore them. They generally only had a couple sets of clothes, which were made from sturdy linen that lasted for many years and were repaired many times over. It's hard to imagine that peasants did not love these clothes and put effort into making them nice.
We do know that this happened in Japan. Peasants who were repairing or reinforcing their clothes anyway would commonly do decorative embroidery that eventually came to be known as sashiko. This was simple winter work for women living in farming communities and fishing communities, and it was done with inexpensive undyed thread.
There are also many examples of folk embroidery traditions in Europe, which I strongly suspect grew out of peasant needlework due to the simple patterns and the highly regional nature of the designs.
For example, this is a historical Ukrainian men's shirt with folk embroidery. According to the museum that owns it, the fabric is homemade linen and the embroidery is cotton thread. It even has a repaired hole on the arm. I strongly suspect that this was not a rich person's shirt.
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Comment on It’s time to bury the defective detective in ~tv
RoyalHenOil Link ParentFor what it is worth, I lost interest in House around the third season when the show was obviously starting to transition away from focusing on the medical cases to focusing on House's...For what it is worth, I lost interest in House around the third season when the show was obviously starting to transition away from focusing on the medical cases to focusing on House's increasingly outlandish foibles.
Meanwhile, I found Sherlock's personality grating and unbelievable from the very start.
Tropes are not inherently bad, but this one is hard to do well, in my opinion — not because quirks are hard to write, but because the temptation is to grow that quirk into a spectacle. Well-written characters are multi-facted, and their signature quirk should enhance their personalities, not absorb them, and it certainly should not steal the spotlight. That's especially true for the detective genre, where the cases are the whole point. It's possible to do this well; I loved The Wire and Jonathan Creek, for example. But these are older shows written at a time when quirky characters were allowed to simply be. More recent shows seem to be under this intense pressure to constantly up the ante, even when that's wholly inappropriate for the genre and setting.
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Comment on I am a witch. Well, a well witcher... in ~talk
RoyalHenOil (edited )Link ParentMy suspicion is that, if dowsing works in some cases (I've heard a lot of people insist it can be used for finding cables, pipes, and even non-conductive buried objects), double-blinding will ruin...My suspicion is that, if dowsing works in some cases (I've heard a lot of people insist it can be used for finding cables, pipes, and even non-conductive buried objects), double-blinding will ruin the effect because it's not actually the dowsing rods that do it. I think it's something way more interesting and impressive: I think people are subconsciously reading the landscape.
Anecdotally, I have found it surprisingly easy to find buried objects. I found a septic tank by observing a patch of ground with a slightly higher ratio of weeds to grass (indicating ground that was a tad drier than the surroundings). I found a pipe by noticing that the grass above it looked slightly thicker and healthier (the soil was less compacted where the ditch had been dug out, making it easier for the grass to grow and spread its roots). I found a cable by observing the very faintest linear depression over top them (so shallow that I could only see it from certain angles). I have used similar techniques many times to trace deep tree roots and to locate large rocks I want to dig out of my garden.
These are cases where I was deliberately searching for clues but, even so, I startled myself at my accuracy. I expected that I would have a few false starts before I found what I was looking for, but the truth is that I have never dug in the wrong spot. Every time I have tried to find a buried object, my first guess has been right.
Since then, I have watched videos of archaeologists deciding where to situate their digs, and they do a lot of the same things. They walk around a landscape, take note of very subtle patterns, and start mapping out roads and buildings before spade touches soil.
I can imagine that some people learn to pick up on signs like these without being fully conscious of it, and the dowsing rods just serve to reveal their subconscious hunch (e.g., because they slightly change their grip when they expect dowsing rods to find something).
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Comment on ‘Mitzvah night is cancelled’. Inside the sex strike that has infuriated husbands and shaken the ultra-Orthodox world. in ~life.women
RoyalHenOil LinkEverything about this article is so hard for me to relate to. It really is a completely different world from mine — all the way down to wives refraining from sex with their husbands to put...Everything about this article is so hard for me to relate to. It really is a completely different world from mine — all the way down to wives refraining from sex with their husbands to put political pressure on them. It makes their lives seem so ineffectual and loveless.
I can't imagine anything like that. There are plenty of issues I care very deeply about but I don't need to go through my partner to do something about them. And even I did for some reason, it wouldn't occur to me to put pressure on him by treating him differently in any way. All I would need to do is explain my concern and ask for his help, and he would empathize and fight for change on my behalf. I would, of course, do the same for him. I would feel so isolated and unloved if it were any other way.
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Comment on France declares state of emergency in New Caledonia after deadly riots in ~news
RoyalHenOil Link ParentYes, I agree, and this is why I'm torn. My intention here was not to argue for one side or another, but to explain why emotions are so heightened around this issue that France has had to declare a...Yes, I agree, and this is why I'm torn.
My intention here was not to argue for one side or another, but to explain why emotions are so heightened around this issue that France has had to declare a state of emergency. Both sides have very real and important grievances, which are unfortunately at odds.
In addition to some of the games already mentioned, I took a lot of notes for Roadwarden. This is not strictly necessary to play the game, but it helped me organize my thoughts about all the different characters and communities so I could prioritize how to help them (or hurt them in some cases).
Taking notes really helped me feel more immersed in the world as well, seeing how all the characters' stories are deeply interwoven. I really loved this game and I'm eager to replay it and make some different decisions (I space out my replays so that they feel more fresh) because when my partner played it, he learned different information than I did, suggesting that the story is even deeper than I realized.