I went this route a year or so ago. Wait, that was three years ago now? I should have never checked.

I’ve owned a few smart watches over the years and got tired of things failing. Bands splitting (remember the Microsoft band?), batteries degrading, cases splitting due to swollen batteries, etc.

The only downside is that straight analog watches will drift some over long enough time periods, so you will occasionally need to adjust them by a minute or two.

Amusingly, Android and Windows have a similar feature that’s been pretty reliable for the times I’m actually using windows.

Agree. Discovering new artists on YouTube music has been super easy.

I was thinking the exact same. YouTube music just isn’t the same and they can’t stop messing with the UI.

Hugin! That’s a name I have not heard in a long time. I got a ton of use out of that software in the aughts.

On modern(ish) bodies I haven’t really had the need to exposure stack. Most sensors have enough DR out of the box, especially if you’re able to keep ISO down. What promoted you exposed stack? Were you being proactive, were you looking for super dynamic range, …? I’m genuinely curious and do not mean to sound like I’m questioning the technique.

Nice photo btw!

and hardware innovation has stalled out. Because of course it has. They don’t have the space of a dedicated camera.

You’re totally not going to fit even a micro four thirds sensor in a phone, but there are a bunch of Chinese phones with larger sensors. Although they can be a PITA to find if you’re on the US, reviews like them.

I suspect the reason why we don’t see them from the mainline phone manufacturers comes down more to hardware BOM cost than packaging or size.

Pumped storage hydroelectric plants are totally a thing for the uninitiated. This approach seems less reliant on geography.

This photo is from 2017. The dome got a cleaning in 2021. I wonder what that does to the surface of the marbel over time.

The US isn’t #1, but our placement on this list still sad

Tech genius is only the most recent wave in this fad. We love our hero worship, which results in cycles of this type of thing.

The most recent example is probably the Robber Baron era of the guided age. Some notables of the time include Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, Leland Stanford, etc. Edison and Bell didn’t reach that level of wealth, but they probably would have if they were alive today.

Don’t worry, a lot of that money is still around wrapped up in family trusts. Sure, they’ve given a decent chunk away to white wash their names but these weren’t good people.

Late to the party, but to add on:

• the glamor shots of finished prints that you’ll see in photos and videos are super misleading. Shine a harsh light at most prints at a steep angle and you’ll see a fairly rough exterior finish in the z-axis
• Ellis’s tuning guide is a good thing to run through. It’s pretty straightforward and will give you a feel for what to tweak and when to tweak it
• I’ve been printing for something like 8-10 years and have never bothered with a filament dryer. I tend to buy 3 kg spools and some of them sit open for quite some time as I work through them. They live in my basement, which does have a dehumidifier in it but is usually around 55% humidity
• keep in mind that FDM printers are basically a CNC hot glue gun and keep your expectations in line
• 45° print orientation can be a cheat code if you have crazy overhangs
• watch the first layer. If you get a good first layer odds are your print will be fine
• different filaments have different physical properties and will print differently. This is true across polymers (ie PLA, PETG, ASA, ABS, TPU, etc), but can also be true across brands, colors, and blends (PLA vs PLA+, etc)
• don’t get hung up on things like acceleration or velocity. Speed is all about flow and the best way to bump that up is bigger nozzles, thicker layers, and wider extrusions

For real advice: get a pair of calipers and print some radius gauges. Then jump into CAD, even if it means learning it. The real magic of 3D printing is in making custom designs. I’m personally a huge fan of functional prints. Once you start seeing opportunities to print replacement parts, make jigs and fixtures, and make your own designs for things you’ll find tons of opportunities.

You’re right that’s exactly what it means. However, there’s a ton of spin going on with BS like the lost cause that try to spin the founding of the Confederacy as something morally just and even heroic. They focus on things like states rights, chivalry, rebellion (the rebel flag), etc. Of course those obviously come at the expense of truly local rights and the rights of women. If you read any of the speeches of the time or the actual articles of succession it will become very obvious that it was about slavery.

It doesn’t help that pop culture leaned into presenting Confederate symbolism as “they’re trying to morally rebel against the corrupt government” for a bit. That’s a big reason why the Dukes of Hazard car, the General Lee, had a Confederate flag on the roof.

The level of precision that goes into every day items is truly amazing.

I’m sorry to hear that friend! I’m happy that you’re still finding outlets to engage with.

Macro photography might be worth a quick glance at depending how mobile you are. Life in miniature can look otherworldly.

Odds are very strong that you have a phone in your pocket with a camera in it. The best camera in the world is the one you have with you, so you’re off to a good start.

What you’re describing is another good application for stacking/compositing. You can totally take multiple photos, put them into layers, and selectively remove content from each photo. There might even be automated tools that can do this vs doing it by hand. The more steady you can keep the thing taking the pictures the better off you’ll be.

The only real hurdle would be things like parked cars, or very high traffic areas where you never get a clear shot of a specific portion of the frame, but if you choose the right spot this could lead to some very surreal looking photos.

Great success! I made a post to share.

Completely agree. A decent amount of the clutter is aspirational. The kids will totally want to play my old consoles and not spend all their time on our PS5! That hasn’t really panned out and I’m coming to terms with reality.

On the good news side, we’re going to have to get everything out of our basement to replace the floor. We’re going to be very choosey regarding what goes back down.

We’re just barely over 40 and are taking stock over the massive quantity of things we’ve built up. We have a ton of stuff from previous times in our lives that still work, but we haven’t used in 5, or even 10, years. Some examples are easier, like college text books. Others are a bit more fraught like my original PlayStation, Dreamcast, and Xbox that all still work, but just aren’t getting used.

TIL that IBM designs and/or fabricates ICs.

In the past five years, the air district has issued 369 notices of violation to the company, mostly at its Fremont facility. Though all of the violations are still pending, meaning the agency has not resolved the issues, data from the past five years does not show any financial penalties associated with the alleged violations.

Sigh