mindstalk: (Earth)

It's kind of annoying. For much of the year, I tried watering the yard, almost flooding parts of it. And while the grass seemed to respond, and some other plants, and the jade plant leaves plumped up, a lot of patches remained stubbornly bare.

And then it rains, and suddenly everything's green, moss appearing in the desert. And I wonder, did I not use enough water? Was it too strong?

Or perhaps it's not even the rain, but the cooler temperatures, with lower evaporation and greater morning dew? The mosses in particular might care more about that. And the weather statistics won't tell me about changes at the centimeter-high microclimate level.

stuff

2024-11-18 16:02
mindstalk: (lizqueen)

I previously mentioned seeing the lowest recumbent trike I'd ever seen. A day or two later, I passed the highest recumbent bike I'd ever seen. Definitely a bike, 2 wheels, which looked about as big as the 20" wheels of my folding bike. Obviously they're usable, but I have no idea how you mount or stop such a bike, at best it looks like you'd have your leg at a very awkward ankle.


I've been indulging in hot chocolate recently, and realizing it actually costs money. Like I just got some peppermint hot chocolate form Trader Joe's, and it's $6.50 for 8 servings (not counting any milk added), something like 80 cents a serving. An earlier variety was maybe $5.50 for 10, still 55 cents each. On Amazon I see other expensive ones, even over a dollar per.

I also see Swiss Mix, "milk chocolate flavored", for 10 cents a serving. I guess the difference is whether the ingredients list goes "sugar, cocoa..." or "sugar, corn syrup, whey, cocoa..."

Chocolate can counteract the bitter flavor of Bitrex in mask fit testing. I plan to see if sipping hot chocolate works as well, or better.


I now have a new Tdap shot. I'd accidentally gotten a Td shot 2 years ago in Canada; I hadn't known there were different blends, so went in asking for "tetanus" or maybe even "Td", in all ignorance until afterwards that I wasn't getting a pertussis booster. Finally fixed that lack.


Not very deep, but a short video on the virtues of garbage/beater bikes. I'm in the category of people who have only owned a fairly cheap bike, though not garbage. I am reminded of advice I saw once on how to get bikes while moving around between cities: just buy a really cheap one, and sell or abandon it when you leave... Though safety, or having luggage baskets, are another matter.


Place vs. non-place in urban design.

OSP history videos on Cyprus and Sicily. Apparently Cyprus stayed literate through and after the Bronze Age Collapse, and Norman Sicily was a great ferment of multiculturalism, with Muslim scholar in court and coins with Arabic as well as Greek or Latin text.

slug

2024-06-01 08:51
mindstalk: (lizsword)

I'd stepped out for a bit of morning sun and air, and saw this loooong dark thing, multiple inches, crawling on the wall of the house. Instinctively I knocked it off. On the ground it shrank to under an inch, and I realized it was a slug, not some horrifying centipede. I confirmed this with a poke, and then picked it up to move it to some bushes.

Man, they are slimy. And the slime is sticky. Soap does nothing, just vigorous scrubbing.

Lol, oops:

If you accidentally come across a slug's trail or handle a slug in the garden, your first instinct is likely to run for water so you can wash off that disgusting mucus. Resist this urge. Slugs use their mucus to help prevent dehydration. As such, slug mucus absorbs water -- meaning the mess on your hands will get worse if you try to rinse it off.

If you've been slimed, wait a few minutes for the mucus to dry. Then rub your hands together briskly to roll the dried mucus off. Once the mucus is gone you can wash your hands with soap and water. If you're having trouble getting the dried slime to rub off, try using a dry powdered borax hand soap or rubbing a paper towel between your hands. If slime gets on your clothing, treat the area with white vinegar before washing.

Oh well, next time.

mindstalk: (frozen)
This is based on a manga, but I will change character names to clear pre-conceptions.

So we have this young woman Sarah, age 20, and an older but still attractive one, Heather.

Sarah has:

* declared that her main motivation in life is seeing Heather be happy

* said that she is susceptible to Heather's seductive wiles

* voluntarily taken over waking up and grooming Heather in the mornings, for the past 4 years

* been repeatedly possessive about anyone else touching Heather, even to the point of ripping Heather out of another woman's arms. She has carried an unconscious Heather through dangerous weather, even when someone much stronger than her was available.

Also, while not doing anything clearly sexual or romantic, Sarah and Heather touch much of the time, including sleeping on each other's bodies, or cuddling together overnight when camping. Sarah often wraps her arms around Heather's shoulders from behind.

There's also a young man, John, the same age as Sarah. Sarah and John are friends, more or less; they certainly care about each other's well-being. They went on a date once, almost by accident or mutual teasing/bullying. It was a nice date. John thought Sarah was cute. Sarah has shown some subtle awareness of John as a strong and kind young man. They did not hold hands or kiss. It was their only known date, in between two separate instances of Sarah being possessive about Heather's body. Sarah has never once shown John the same intensity of feeling (motivation, possessiveness) that she has shown for Heather.

Is Sarah, in any way, remotely straight?

If I add the information that Heather has been Sarah's teacher and housemate since Sarah was 10, and her only guardian since Sarah was 15, does this change your opinion? (All of Sarah's behaviors described have been in the past 2-4 years, there's no trick here a la a 10 year old saying they'll marry a particular adult when they grow up.)
mindstalk: (12KMap)
When I haven't had enough sleep, and try to get more sleep in the morning, sometimes odd things happen. Like not having any clear transitions between waking and sleeping, but finding myself with odd memories. Like this morning, where without ever feeling 'asleep' I found myself with memories of a shootout between flying cars. I have no idea what would have inspired that, but presumably I was dreaming in between!
mindstalk: (Default)
If you question the sense of buying $3000 wristwatches, you get people challenging the utility of any wristwatches. "If you have a phone then a watch is useless", "people buy cheap Casio digital watches to be fashionable".
mindstalk: (angry sky)
I was walking home this evening, and noticed the sunset was absolutely gorgeous. Bright orange to the left, along a washboard of clouds; pink/purple to the right, along thinner clouds. I pointed it out to a passing man, who hadn't noticed, and appreciated it.

Then he said he was a contractor, and asked permission to say something about my mask. I agreed but tensed up, fearing something like "it can't stop viruses", and his actual start of "it was made for smoke" was not promising. But his actual point was that it wouldn't filter my outgoing breath, which I knew, since the final 1 in "3M Aura 9211+" signals a valve. So I assured him that I knew about valves, and would wear an unvalved mask if I were ever close to being the weakest link, and we departed.

(Actually, the CDC had a report suggesting the valve blocks as much as a loose surgical mask, which would mean a valve wouldn't be the weakest link until everyone else was wearing unvalved respirators. But I don't know how solid the report is or whether it scales up to forceful breaths like coughing.)
mindstalk: (Default)
You've probably seen those "if yuo cna raed tihs" passages that purport it's really easy to read scrambled words, "all you need is the first and last letters in the right place". But I've noticed that the scrambling on those often isn't that different from the look or sound of the original word, so I've suspected deliberate catering. And I've done some algorithmic transformations instead. See how easy these are!

This one is simply sorts all the internal letters:

"For iacnnste," he tlod Madinrn. "Your mehotr will caeilnrty be both scehkod and saddeend by this dceiiosn. She may eerxt her iceeflnnu. Echits and law aer, as you know, on her sdei. How will you renopsd? To waht eentxt are you wiillng to fnud this cchioe? How mcuh soorrw are you wiillng to casue? How mcuh dadiisn are you wiillng to bare? Selruy, your fdeinrs msut rceiol as you setp benoyd taht wchih tehy feel and know to be peoprr. Your menotr may cdeinosr it ibcemnnut uopn her to aelrt the Saefty Ocffie, and the Saeefits deem it tehir dtuy to ieennrtve."

This was scrambled at pseudo-random. You'll probably recognize it but would you want to read it?

Tihs hbobit was a vrey weod-llt-o hibbot, and his nmae was Bagings. The Beagsgins had lveid in the nbhiougoorhed of The Hill for tmie out of mnid, and ppoele censriedod tehm very rplseecbate, not only bsaeuce most of tehm were rchi, but aslo bsaucee tehy nveer had any adeenutrvs or did ainytnhg untpeceexd: you cloud tell what a Bnigags wulod say on any qteuoisn wthouit the bteohr of aksnig hmi. Tihs is a sorty of how a Bigngas had an avtuenrde, and found hlisemf doing and saying tnghis atgthloeer unetecepxd. He may hvae lsot the nohbeirug’s rcpeset, but he genaid—wlel, you wlil see wtheehr he gniead aitnynhg in the edn.
mindstalk: (glee)
My superpower!

Okay, not much of one, but pretty useful. I can think of at least 7 doors or gates that I've oiled in the past 3.5 years. Four of them in one house: my door, the bathroom door, the front door, and the door of my host's office (the latter two being near my room and quite audible.)

It still seems like magic. I don't use a WD40 can or anything to squirt oil, I just rub olive canola or vegetable oil over the hinge, maybe trying to push some into the cracks via fingernail. Soon enough, silent operation.

My first use was on bicycle folding baskets, where the concern wasn't noise but folding or unfolding smoothly at all. I didn't think it would work but figured it was worth a shot. It worked.
mindstalk: (Default)
I still find it weird how you and your clothes can be a bit whiffy, then you shower, and afterwards those same clothes now seem very whiffy. "I'll put this T-shirt back on after I shower." *shower* *sniff* "Oh gods, no."
mindstalk: (YoukoYouma)
Random things I expect fellow geeks to have heard of, justifiably or not:

The Head of Vecna

The Dread Gazebo

Hazel, Squirrel-Queen of Camelot

Maglor Lives!
mindstalk: (juggleface)
In shape, Westeros is basically Britain + upside down Ireland. https://i.imgur.com/1PBDC69.jpg

Somene had an amusing tale of playing a Jesus-inspired cleric in a D&D game. Sadly it cuts off at a cliffhanger.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gametales/comments/4ce2ux/jesus_plays_pathfinder_nongreentext_edition/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gametales/comments/4edhad/jesus_plays_pathfinder_part_15/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gametales/comments/4glsy6/jesus_plays_pathfinder_part_2/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gametales/comments/5k7dz2/jesus_plays_pathfinder_part_3/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gametales/comments/6652do/jesus_plays_pathfinder_part_4/

The Spanish word 'hueco' means "hollow". I first learned of the word from the anime Bleach, where Hueco Mundo is the Hollow World (world of Hollows, not a hollow world). Makes it easy to remember! Ironically I stopped watching Bleach before the end of the Soul Society Arc, so everything I know about Hollows is secondhand.

I take one overarching lesson from the History of Middle-earth: authors, if you scribble lots of notes about your work, *date them*.

Interesting essay on the wife of Feanor and fandom's fascination with her scant clues. http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/reference/references/pf/nerdanel.php

Things I learn from yuri manga:
* Japanese eat noodles with chopsticks but pasta with forks. A character asked why.
* A bright green mineral from an asteroid exists. It is not called kryptonite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldavite
* What those little kid backpacks are called. Also they cost a lot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randoseru
mindstalk: (Default)
I don't know if you've ever held the underside of a compact disc up to white light, but if you do and play with the angles, the light splits into wonderful hues, like a prism. It's the diffraction grating effect Feynman talks about in QED. I'd been without one for a while, but got an old CD from my host, so I can enjoy pure hues at will again. It actually seems better in room light than in bright sunlight, maybe because solar glare can get too blinding. The easy mode is just a line of color from hub to edge, but with the right angle you can get various effects, including a halo around the whole rim.
mindstalk: (Default)
Walking around Glendale is still pleasant but a lot less magical when I'm not coming from a Boston winter. Instead this year I've had subtropical or outright tropical vegetation since May 2[1], apart from a week in Hobart.

[1] I'm torn between "May 2" because I'm American, "2 May" because of Euro style, or "May 2" because ISO (Year month day) sortable order with implicit year.

links

2019-04-21 00:22
mindstalk: (Default)
Communities need walkability https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/8/4/want-community-build-walkability

Tor.com analysis of Eowyn, including earlier text where she was more accepted as a leader and Aragorn's only love interest. https://www.tor.com/2019/04/04/exploring-the-peoples-of-middle-earth-eowyn-shieldmaiden-of-rohan/

Analysis of Miriel, Feanor's mom. https://www.tor.com/2019/03/07/exploring-the-people-of-middle-earth-miriel-historian-of-the-noldor-pt-1/

And his wife! https://www.tor.com/2019/02/21/exploring-the-people-of-middle-earth-nerdanel-called-the-wise/

Great white sharks flee orcas https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/great-white-sharks-flee-killer-whales/587563/

Medieval people tried to keep clean, but clergy didn't. https://aeon.co/essays/medieval-people-were-surprisingly-clean-apart-from-the-clergy
(OTOH there's some passage complaining about the Danes washing their hair and stealing English women.)

Sansa Stark as Gothic heroine, plus what that even means. https://www.tor.com/2019/04/18/the-gothic-and-game-of-thrones-part-i-the-burial-of-sansa-stark/

What the Mona Lisa probably looks like under the grime and yellowed varnish: https://matiasventura.com/post/the-colours-of-the-mona-lisa/ (Prado copy) and http://www.lumiere-technology.com/Pages/News/news3.htm (digital de-varnishing)

Racist history of zoning https://medium.com/@ABetterCAF/why-we-keep-saying-us-zoning-laws-are-the-legacy-of-racism-eee64e58e337

Microwave weapons are a failure https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/high-power-microwave-weapons-start-to-look-like-dead-end/
mindstalk: Tohsaka Rin (Rin)
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8


If you're a young adult from southern Virginia, in an In'n'Out in San Diego, and you ask for sweet tea:

View Answers

You should not be mocked, that's perfectly reasonable
1 (12.5%)

You should be mocked, silly Southerner
0 (0.0%)

You should not be mocked, mocking is cruel and this hardly merits it, but in my heart I'm mocking you, silly Southerner
4 (50.0%)

Mu
3 (37.5%)



Question inspired from eavesdropping on the subway tonight.
mindstalk: (Default)
At the place I'm staying now, there's a hair dryer prominently labeled as 1875 Watts. That's... a lot. A 5000 BTU/hour window air conditioner is 1465 Watts. Small and effective [1] space heaters are often 1000 or 1500 Watts. No wonder hair dryers can trip breakers.

[1] Unless trying to heat a cavernous and leaky basement on low power.

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