What do you nerd out over?
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"Aztec" by Gary Jennings.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/aztec-gary-jennings/784861bf1a137811?ean=9780765317506&next=t
It's a novel about coming of the Spanish.
I had to read it when I came across an article the author wrote. He wanted a word for 'orange.' He wanted to book to sound authentic, and the Americas didn't have oranges. He ended up using jacinth
Thanks, that one I had it on my wishlist.
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Talk nerdy to me
Ice, ice, baby! I love fancy ice. Have gear to make crystal clear big ice for whiskey, and also a countertop ice maker for what the kids call "the good ice".
It's just such a cheap upgrade to any drink.
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Talk nerdy to me
Project moon
Don't say the word 'wild' near me...
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Talk nerdy to me
Just came here to say that I love how engaged people are with their hobbies. Keep going!
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Talk nerdy to me
Watches bro!
Digital watches are fine & the battery operated ones are cool too, God speed to them, but I'm talking about the Analogue ones.
Specifically Automatic ones.
Fucking piece of assembled metal parts and it will go all tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick on its own from the moment you put it on your wrist.
It'll continue to show you the proper time. Some will also tell you what day of the week it is or what's the date. Heck, I've got one that tells me the day, date, month AND the moon phase!
On top of this, these nuggets are built such, that they will last longer than your poor ass on this planet, still blingy and going tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.
You know those make Seikos and Citizen? Those mfs put bloody gps AND solar IN.A.FUCKING.WRIST.WATCH!
Why you ask?
So that when your dumb ass gives up on adjusting to the local time after you get off the plane in a different time zone, it will do it for you. That shit is too posh for your fumbly fingers to try to set the correct time, so it says, "Hold on, let me look at the sky real quick and I will set the day,date & time myself, you are too dazed and hungover. Please save your filthy fingers for your disgusting Doritos."
You know the best part? They look more gorgeous than Kate Winslet's porcelain titties embellished with a diamond neck piece.
It'll cost less than your monthly groceries. Don't miss out bro, get one.\ -
Here's an example. The first picture is part of the UI configuration for this automation. The second picture show the yaml that was generated from this. Utility Room Occupancy is a Zigbee door sensor. When it turns on (the door opens), it triggers the Utility Room Lights on. The light is actually a WiFi LED bulb. The rest of the script turns the light off when the door closes.
What's beautiful about Home Assistant is that it just creates devices that look identical no matter what integration you're using. A light is a light no matter how you interact with it.
I really appreciate the help. But you lost me at step zero. What ui configuration for what automation? How do I get THERE?
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Watches bro!
Digital watches are fine & the battery operated ones are cool too, God speed to them, but I'm talking about the Analogue ones.
Specifically Automatic ones.
Fucking piece of assembled metal parts and it will go all tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick on its own from the moment you put it on your wrist.
It'll continue to show you the proper time. Some will also tell you what day of the week it is or what's the date. Heck, I've got one that tells me the day, date, month AND the moon phase!
On top of this, these nuggets are built such, that they will last longer than your poor ass on this planet, still blingy and going tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.
You know those make Seikos and Citizen? Those mfs put bloody gps AND solar IN.A.FUCKING.WRIST.WATCH!
Why you ask?
So that when your dumb ass gives up on adjusting to the local time after you get off the plane in a different time zone, it will do it for you. That shit is too posh for your fumbly fingers to try to set the correct time, so it says, "Hold on, let me look at the sky real quick and I will set the day,date & time myself, you are too dazed and hungover. Please save your filthy fingers for your disgusting Doritos."
You know the best part? They look more gorgeous than Kate Winslet's porcelain titties embellished with a diamond neck piece.
It'll cost less than your monthly groceries. Don't miss out bro, get one.\wrote last edited by [email protected]Watch tax.
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The one I had before. I gave this one to my Pops coz his wasn't working well.
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The one that I'm currently wearing.
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Please nerd out. I want to knowwwwww
Check out the Rubin Observatory! Iâve been to a few astronomy talks recently that have discussed it, itâs incredible the amount of new discoveries itâs expected to make in the coming years.
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Adventure Time fan as well?
I like it, but I don't nerd out about it.
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Iâve come to the conclusion that if youâre buying tools, you should go for the sets. Take a socket set, for example. Realistically, youâre probably using the ratchet, an extension, and three to four sockets the most. At some point the cheap ratchet breaks and you replace it with a high-quality one. You may also lose or break a few of the most commonly used sockets and replace them with high-quality ones. In ten years youâll have a set with a high-quality wrench and a few high-quality sockets that you commonly use, plus the rest of the other sizes youâll only touch once every few years.
Had you gone for the high-quality set right away, you would have paid even more - and now youâd have a 4mm made-in-Japan socket you spent 10 euros on that youâll never use.
I've stood by the philosophy of buying cheap tools and replacing what breaks with better quality.
The proliferation of 10000 different battery standards has made this a little more difficult recently, but it still works most of the time.
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Iâve come to the conclusion that if youâre buying tools, you should go for the sets. Take a socket set, for example. Realistically, youâre probably using the ratchet, an extension, and three to four sockets the most. At some point the cheap ratchet breaks and you replace it with a high-quality one. You may also lose or break a few of the most commonly used sockets and replace them with high-quality ones. In ten years youâll have a set with a high-quality wrench and a few high-quality sockets that you commonly use, plus the rest of the other sizes youâll only touch once every few years.
Had you gone for the high-quality set right away, you would have paid even more - and now youâd have a 4mm made-in-Japan socket you spent 10 euros on that youâll never use.
I guess I am a tool nerd as well. Currently live in a tiny studio and have no driveway. Have a tool box as tall as me plus a LOT of cordless tools.
My socket sets and wrench sets are old USA made Craftsman stuff I've had for over at least 30 years.
I still have a few of the old Craftsman USA screwdrivers. Most have disappeared.
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I've stood by the philosophy of buying cheap tools and replacing what breaks with better quality.
The proliferation of 10000 different battery standards has made this a little more difficult recently, but it still works most of the time.
Pick one of the battery ecosystems and carry on. I bought a Ryobi starter set about 20 years ago when they were still using NiCad batteries. They switched to lithium ion batteries but kept the connector the same. I bought the new style batteries when my old batteries died. All the old tools work the same.
I believe Makita and DeWalt follow the same philosophy.
Harbor freight does not.
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Watches bro!
Digital watches are fine & the battery operated ones are cool too, God speed to them, but I'm talking about the Analogue ones.
Specifically Automatic ones.
Fucking piece of assembled metal parts and it will go all tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick on its own from the moment you put it on your wrist.
It'll continue to show you the proper time. Some will also tell you what day of the week it is or what's the date. Heck, I've got one that tells me the day, date, month AND the moon phase!
On top of this, these nuggets are built such, that they will last longer than your poor ass on this planet, still blingy and going tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.
You know those make Seikos and Citizen? Those mfs put bloody gps AND solar IN.A.FUCKING.WRIST.WATCH!
Why you ask?
So that when your dumb ass gives up on adjusting to the local time after you get off the plane in a different time zone, it will do it for you. That shit is too posh for your fumbly fingers to try to set the correct time, so it says, "Hold on, let me look at the sky real quick and I will set the day,date & time myself, you are too dazed and hungover. Please save your filthy fingers for your disgusting Doritos."
You know the best part? They look more gorgeous than Kate Winslet's porcelain titties embellished with a diamond neck piece.
It'll cost less than your monthly groceries. Don't miss out bro, get one.\I used to. I had a small collection that was stolen from me and I never replaced any.
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Talk nerdy to me
wrote last edited by [email protected]Rucking, lifting, Wing Chun, Star Citizen, Stoicism (the og version). I try not to monologue too much on them but it takes restraint.
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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.
Iâm running a Roll20 campaign for 7 players who are gearing up for a fight with a human who can change size at will.
This is set in the One Piece universe, I assume youâre familiar with it.
I want them to control a giant mecha to fight him on âequalâ terms as a final fight.
Got any good RPG systems that might help with that?
Have a lot of players and they are good about following homebrew rules - and I expect this to be a one time mech fight.
Iâll probably add a mechanic for someone to âpilotâ the mech and use their Devil Fruit/Haki to affect the entire mech as a full action that gives some sort of stat bonus.
Also btw I love Frieren. Itâs so good! The manga is also incredible. Dandadan is fantastic too, and along with TTGL, has inspired this boss fight for me.
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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.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I have a tin box full of very old nibs which still look pristine. I bought them on impulse at a flea market dirt cheap. I have no idea what to do with them.
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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.
Iâm super into mechanical watches for the reasons mentioned. Quartz (battery operated), not so much. But Iâve got a growing collection of mechanical watches and theyâre some of my favourite possessions. Not because theyâre flashy and make me look rich or whatever but because of the mechanisms inside.
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Pick one of the battery ecosystems and carry on. I bought a Ryobi starter set about 20 years ago when they were still using NiCad batteries. They switched to lithium ion batteries but kept the connector the same. I bought the new style batteries when my old batteries died. All the old tools work the same.
I believe Makita and DeWalt follow the same philosophy.
Harbor freight does not.
This is antithetical to the original proposition.
I bought a Ryobi sander with its battery and charger for $20 at a garage sale to do one small job, I have a bunch of Makita tools and batteries but it would be completely foolish to buy a new Makita sander for one job.
I have a greenworks battery system and love my electric lawn mower, but when the stupid edger finally broke, I didn't buy the same stupid tool that takes a giant 4AH battery because I'm tied into the system, I bought a lightweight Makita edger that shares the battery with my drill driver.
When I need cheap battery tools for one job, I buy Ryobi. When I'm upgrading, it's probably Makita.
When I needed to cut down a few damaged trees, I bought a wired chainsaw and a long extension cable.
If I just stuck to Makita because I have that battery system, I'd be sitting on thousands of dollars in Makita tools I'll use once a year at most.
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Ice, ice, baby! I love fancy ice. Have gear to make crystal clear big ice for whiskey, and also a countertop ice maker for what the kids call "the good ice".
It's just such a cheap upgrade to any drink.
what about beer
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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.
yeah, that's pretty interesting. I would also argue that genetics and the way that information is processed and organized in the body is pretty interesting.
and what's also cool is that the body has such a consistent spatial layout. I.e. you could think that since genetics produce proteins, they only do a biochemical reaction, but not a mechanical reaction. Then what causes the geometric layout of the body to be so consistently shaped?