What do you nerd out over?
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Talk nerdy to me
Weather! It's just so interesting. I love clouds and adore thunderstorms (although unfortunately I live somewhere where they're rare).
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Arduino, ESP32, smart home automation. I could talk for hours. I've started to get into PCB design this year, and I've had a lot of fun with it!
Where can I learn how to link different tech through HA? Insteon switch to flip a wifi bulb. Z Wave switch to open the Shelly relay for the garage door. ZigBee water sensor trips insteon siren. Etc. Is that all YAML? Is the Ecobee thermostat worth it?
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Oh, goddamn it, this is gonna take a while.
- Code. Like, I actually get real pleasure from seeing elegant and well-structured code. I have no idea why, but I'll almost start salivating at particularly beautiful code.
- Anime. Yeah, I'm a walking stereotype, a software developer who likes anime. But have you seen Frieren? It's so goddamn good.
- Philosophy. No, not bullshit continental philosophy. I'm talking real philosophy. Analytic philosophy. Distilled and legitimately useful logic. Which of course leads me to...
- Science. My YouTube feed is full of fascinating deep-dives into esoteric mathematical and scientific topics. Fuck yeah.
- Tabletop RPGs. Surprisingly, not a huge D&D fan, though it can certainly be fun. These days, I'm much more into story-focused systems, like Fate or Blades in the Dark. Most people I mention that to have never heard of either.
- Science fiction and fantasy. I mean, are you surprised at this point?
- Writing science fiction and fantasy. I mean, are you surprised at this point?
- Politics. Less so nowadays, since our political system is falling apart and we're being overrun by fascism, but I still do enjoy a meaty policy discussion.
That's a good list for starters.
Who is the most criminally under appreciated philosopher/author and why is it Ursula LeGuinn?
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Talk nerdy to me
Kamen Rider.
Every episode shocker pops out another animal-themed augmented human to take over the world. The 70s aesthetic, the awesome goofy fight choreography, combined with Shunsuke Kikuchi's groovy soundtrack, works wonders for me.
The way the shocker goons turn into foam and dissolve into the ground, is always a treat.
I grew up watching it and it never lost its charm.
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Talk nerdy to me
wrote last edited by [email protected]Western philosophy/existentialism and Scripture, but the former makes people feel insecure/bored and the latter is a sensitive topic. I'll nerd out about Dune too, and whoever has read the series will understand my interest.
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Who is the most criminally under appreciated philosopher/author and why is it Ursula LeGuinn?
Ha! My glob, she was so amazing. I had the opportunity to attend a reading she did from The Lathe of Heaven years ago, and I was struck anew not only by her creativity, but by the philosophical ideas underpinning it. A lot of people think The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is her most philosophical work, but I actually found what Lathe had to say about control, obedience, and power incredibly compelling.
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Talk nerdy to me
Old mechanical things.
The Japanese have a myth called tsukomogami. It's the idea that things get a soul after 100 years.
And while I don't believe that's technically true, per se. It's fundamentally based on something that I adore, and that's the fact that mechanical things all age individually and that it's something that we've lost with modern technology.
My go to examples are always typewriters and vintage camera lenses.
Each typewriter will age differently. Different keys will become sticky, it'll become misaligned in different places. They develop individual personalities as they get older. So much so that forensics can actually pinpoint when a specific typewriter typed a specific note.
In terms of camera lenses it's much the same thing. Different lenses will wear differently depending on what aperture/focal length, etc... that the photographer uses most often. Mold and discolouration between the glass elements will eventually form a unique look to a specific lense.
It's magical (to me) and something that I am sad that we are losing with modern consumer technology based on on "throw it away and get a new one".
Sorry. Longer than I intended. But you asked for it.
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You might be interested in a video game called The Last Sovereign. I discovered it during the recent fiasco around payment processors trying to block lewd stuff, but the nsfw visuals can be turned off if you’re not into that. It’s a very serviceable RPG with turn based combat that is well balanced and engaging. But I’m recommending it because you said philosophy and it’s basically a series of Platonic dialogues between characters discussing life, the nature of man, morality, ethics, sexuality, power, and much more. I’m pleasantly surprised at how often I find myself deeply invested in the conversations. I think the writer(s) must’ve needed an outlet for their philosophical musings and chose this quirky “lewd” RPG as the medium.
I'll check it out. I'm very much interested in video games that delve into deep topics that way. Have you ever encountered The Talos Principle series? Fantastic games that do surprisingly accessible treatises on philosophical topics while forcing you to think through pretty mind-blowing puzzles. Highly recommended.
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What is a good ruleset for a table that absolutely refuses to read more than an index card of rules but will follow the lead of the referee? Freeform, story-forward, ages 14 to 65? Swords and magic.
Unrelated, what do you think about the various versions of Traveller?
Oh, you need Fate Accelerated. Six stats, five descriptive phrases that define your character (one of which is your character's "trouble," giving the GM automatic story hooks) and a smattering of stunts your character can perform, and off you go!
Regarding Traveller, I've never had the stomach for it. Me and a group once sat down to create characters, and discovered it was so rules-heavy that by the end of two sessions dedicated to character creation, we still didn't know for sure that we'd done any of the characters correctly.
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The ESP32-S3 has become my standard goto device. If power usage is an issue, the ESP32-C3 is a great option. And the ESP32-C6 opens up Thread capabilities. I recently picked up a device with an ESP32-P4 that I'm wanting to play around with some more.
Have you done any Thread/Zigbee with an esp32? I cannot wait to get a C6 to test it!
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Talk nerdy to me
Motocross.
Love watching the pros and talking all about it. Recently got a coworker into it and it's been fun explaining all the ins and outs of the sport and, as a past rider, trying to relate track conditions/difficulties to him
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Pens
Its such a common thing that we've all used and have opinions. And the rabbit hole goes as deep as you want.
You're good with a Bic and shitty notebook paper? Cool. You have a $3,000 custom built fountain pen that's been handcrafted to fit your grip and is based on a sketch you made from a dream with a 21k gold nib? Also cool.
Honestly, regarding ballpoint pens, I've never used anything that beats bic. They write so smoothly and they just work on anything. I even use them to write my name on the plastic labels of water bottles at my job
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What is your relationship with Tolkien and his corpus?
I've read Lord of the Rings a few times. And The Hobbit. And his lesser-known works (e.g., Leaf by Niggle, which is just great). And The Silmarillion. And The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (which, honestly, isn't his best). And I know what an Istari is (and why Gandalf, being a lesser Ainur, is actually so much more than a mere "wizard"). And I know that while they changed the line from "you cannot pass" to "you shall not pass" for dramatic purposes in the movie, the original line subtly says a whole hell of a lot more about who and what Gandalf is and why the Balrog should have actually been shitting itself.
So you might say I'm passingly familiar with it.
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Talk nerdy to me
Mechanics in nature.
There's a protein that's basically a tiny little mobile suite that literally walks along microtubules.
Some bacteria propel themselves with a literal electric motor.
Your ears are more something that belongs under the dashboard of a helicopter than something growing organically... they can literally detect an air-pressure change caused by a pin dropping on the other side of the room, by allowing that pressure to beat on a drum connected to a chain of bones that transmit pressure into a little snail that squirts little jets of fluid over a tiny little field of grass stuck to the inside of the snail shell, and depending on how much grass wiggles, it sends a jolt over to your brain as an interpretation of pitch. AND IT DOESN'T STOP THERE! Connected to that snail are three little hula-hoops made of bone, each oriented to a different plane, and also filled with tiny grass and fluid; and when you move your head along that specific plane, the tiny grass wiggles and that's how your brain knows which way you're moving / gives you a perception of balance.
There's a type of grasshopper with gears in its legs.
I love this shit.
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How do you think AI can best contribute to these? Can advanced paternity recognition be helpful for spectrum analysis? Can it be used for closed loop control of the many variables inside a fusion reactor? What do you think about 3i?
How do you think AI can best contribute to these?
AI is a generic term for a number of different things. Most people these days seem to use it referring to LLMs and automated image or video generation. I don't think either of those is likely to contribute a ton until they mature a lot more. Having said that, machine learning is already being used in a lot of these fields. For example, automated systems using machine learning are being used to find new information about variable stars from old stellar images. We've been taking pictures of the stars for more than a century. No human team could ever hope to go through all those images looking for changes in stars over all that time but a computer can.
Can advanced paternity recognition be helpful for spectrum analysis? Can it be used for closed loop control of the many variables inside a fusion reactor?
No idea on this one. This is a little too much on the engineering side of things. I geek out more on the theory side.
What do you think about 3i?
ATLAS/3i? I think it's frankly amazing that we've detected three interstellar objects passing through our solar system in the last 8 years or so. Interstellar visitors must be extremely common for use to spot so many in such a short period of time.
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Have you done any Thread/Zigbee with an esp32? I cannot wait to get a C6 to test it!
Here's the guide I've used. Super easy to do in ESPHome. I've only tested it, but it seems to work very well.
https://smarthomescene.com/guides/how-to-create-thread-devices-with-esphome/
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Where can I learn how to link different tech through HA? Insteon switch to flip a wifi bulb. Z Wave switch to open the Shelly relay for the garage door. ZigBee water sensor trips insteon siren. Etc. Is that all YAML? Is the Ecobee thermostat worth it?
Just install HA and try it out! It's a lot easier to do than you might think. Every vendor or connection type has its own Integration. Most integrations can be set up through the UI very easily. I have dozens of integrations.
And the automations have had a lot of work the last few years. They are getting much easier to set up in the UI without having to worry about code or yaml.
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Honestly, regarding ballpoint pens, I've never used anything that beats bic. They write so smoothly and they just work on anything. I even use them to write my name on the plastic labels of water bottles at my job
Ya ballpoints are really the workhorse of the pen world. Even with all the advancements in writing tech, a standard ballpoint will always get the job done. I have Fisher space pen refills in a few of my work pens because I know they will always write whenever and wherever I need them.
These days there is a pretty good consensus around the Uni Jetstream as the "best writing" ballpoint ink. Its a hybrid oil-based ink formulation with lubricants that really flows. Other brands have started to get on the hybrid wagon too so it's been great for budget pens all around.
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Old mechanical things.
The Japanese have a myth called tsukomogami. It's the idea that things get a soul after 100 years.
And while I don't believe that's technically true, per se. It's fundamentally based on something that I adore, and that's the fact that mechanical things all age individually and that it's something that we've lost with modern technology.
My go to examples are always typewriters and vintage camera lenses.
Each typewriter will age differently. Different keys will become sticky, it'll become misaligned in different places. They develop individual personalities as they get older. So much so that forensics can actually pinpoint when a specific typewriter typed a specific note.
In terms of camera lenses it's much the same thing. Different lenses will wear differently depending on what aperture/focal length, etc... that the photographer uses most often. Mold and discolouration between the glass elements will eventually form a unique look to a specific lense.
It's magical (to me) and something that I am sad that we are losing with modern consumer technology based on on "throw it away and get a new one".
Sorry. Longer than I intended. But you asked for it.
Machine spirit 40k lore
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Talk nerdy to me
Self-hosting, device modding and homebrew, and getting the most out of PC hardware/DIY gaming setups.
IT jobs are a ton of fun for me when I'm helping someone new to the hobby because they love to get invested in all of the little tips and tricks to bring the most out of their machine (Even if they have to use Windows ;-;).
Every single console I've ever owned has been cracked open with homebrew installed, and it's a large reason I got into retro gaming and 3D printing spare parts for things.
Also, hosting PC game servers for yourself and friends instead of paying a provider is so liberating, you start looking at it as "I paid for the whole machine, how far can I push the experience?" and start pushing mods and configs in games that would bring most VPS systems to their knees.
