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🇨🇦 tunetardis

@ tunetardis @lemmy.ca

Posts

39
Comments

764
Joined

3 yr. ago

9mo ago

What's something incredibly useful you can buy for roughly £100 or less?
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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 9mo ago
induction stove: you can buy a stand-alone element that plugs into the wall for about that much, and they're faster and use less power than a conventional stove
bidet: a low-end model, at least
multitool: should be able to afford a pretty good one for that budget
cajon: all right, maybe not "useful" per se, but man they're a lot of fun!

9mo ago

Alright you've probably heard of ebikes but have you seen Sterling Bikes?

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 9mo ago

Ok I think I understand. You need something more than an easy level Mario Kart.

10mo ago

Was there ever a time where you were incredibly lucky?

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 10mo ago

Clearly open for a sequel.

Hmm…now that I think of it, there's a tenant renting the upstairs these days. I hope someone told her about the hornets?

10mo ago

Was there ever a time where you were incredibly lucky?

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 10mo ago

I was in the upstairs bathroom at my parents' place which had a skylight you could open. I did, and half of a hornet's nest fell from it. I slammed the window shut as quick as I could and then looked down. The other half was floating in the toilet with the hornets momentarily dazed. I closed the lid and flushed. When I peeked under the lid, it was gone.

10mo ago

'Just in': Elon Musk officially launches new political party

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 10mo ago

Best case scenario is it will split the right wing vote. In Canada, we're used to it going the other way with conservatives taking advantage of a split left.

11mo ago

Permanently Deleted

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

I don't think there is an easy answer to a question like that, as it involves a lot of individual circumstances. You did land a licence, which suggests you are not cognitively impaired to the point that driving is out of the question? Give yourself some credit. It sounds like you are on the anxiety spectrum though, as am I. Perhaps you were in the midst of a panic attack at the time of the accident?

I think in some ways it's a noble calling to find alternatives to driving? But do it for the right reasons. If it's stage 1 on the path to becoming an agoraphobiac, fuck that. You're only 19. Don't build a cage around yourself now that you'll only realize is there when you get your standard issue midlife crisis at 40.

My son doesn't drive, and he seems to be doing ok. He strategized to get an apartment near enough to work and amenities that he can walk most of the time, and there is also an LRT station nearby. He rideshares for anything else.

I don't know what will happen if he ever starts a family? That could introduce some challenges, but one day at a time I guess. For my part as an empty nester at this point, I have discovered an ebike is an awesome alternative to driving the 10k to work. It saves so much money over any other option, is better for the environment, and I've even managed to shed a bit of weight. Still got the old dad bod though…

But I think these are some of the right reasons to look at driving alternatives. Anxiety just sucks, and you'll probably still have it on an ebike or public transit. Take care of that first and then assess your options, I think?

11mo ago

Divination methods have moved from tarot to the anus

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

I know someone who's going in for a colonoscopy. Maybe they can get the two-for-one package with a reading tossed in?

11mo ago

What is “cheese” called in your language?

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

That's Swedish isn't it?

My dad had this brilliant idea for everyone to say "cheese" in the local language every time he took a selfie of us when we were travelling around Europe. Let's just say even though that was years ago in my childhood, I can look through that album and know instantly which photos were taken in Sweden!

11mo ago

Apple is reportedly creating its own Steam-like game launcher, but it's still missing the key to making gaming on Mac great

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

I upgraded from a 2018 Mac Mini to an M1 Macbook Air. It was quite noticeably faster. I had a big code project at the time that took over a minute to compile on the Mini, and on the Air, it zipped through it in <20s. I think even Intel programs emulating through Rosetta were faster, which is just crazy.

But now I'm thinking about going back to a Mini again. That M4 model sounds like it's an absolute beast!

11mo ago

Apple is reportedly creating its own Steam-like game launcher, but it's still missing the key to making gaming on Mac great

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

lol Xcode. I miss the days of Metrowerks Codewarrior. I guess back then, the official Mac tool was some clunky shell environment. I can't even remember what it was called. But ironically, I'm more comfortable on the command line than in Xcode these days, which is not a shining endorsement for the latter.

Automator is kind of interesting though. I've been looking at it lately and it's pretty powerful once you figure it out. Again ironically, I've been using it mostly to manage terminal sessions in their own windows, so even though it's meant for gui scripting, I'm doing sort of command line on steroids with it. :p

11mo ago

Apple is reportedly creating its own Steam-like game launcher, but it's still missing the key to making gaming on Mac great

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

I develop software for macOS but am not a game dev. I guess one thing that comes up with my friends who are is that Apple has a proprietary graphics framework called metal that's historically not been easy to adapt to something more cross-platform like vulkan. There has been some progress on that front in terms of them providing some much-requested apis to give better feature parity with third parties, but I don't know where things stand today?

11mo ago

Bugs sounding a little tasty tho, ngl

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

My mom's childhood was partly spent in a war-torn country where they had no choice but to eat crickets for protein. Years later, I showed her an article about how some gourmet restaurants are experimenting with cricket preparations. She looked pensive, and said "They should harvest them from the rice fields. I think the rice-fed ones taste best?"

11mo ago

It’s Time To Go Back to Web 1.0

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

I'm not a web dev but was chatting with a friend who is, lamenting web 2.0 for pretty much the same reasons as OP. He's like "2.0?!? Where have you been? It's all about web3 and blockchains." Now where was that comfortable old rock I had been hiding under again?

When the www was in its infancy, I thought there needed to be a standardized way to classify content. Something Dewey Decimal System-ish I suppose? But it would need to be easy for casual content providers to use, since the only way it could work would be in at a grass roots, decentralized level where each provider would be responsible for classifying their own content.

Perhaps there could be tools like expert systems that would ask you a number of questions about your data and then link it up appropriately. It could usher in a golden age of library science!

But then everyone went fuck that. Search engines.

11mo ago

Trump Makes Wild Claim Canada Is ‘Considering’ Becoming U.S. State

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

I'm almost afraid to ask what Golden Dome is? If it's SDI 2.0, we need to stay away in droves. I think there's some merit in sinking a bit of R&D into dealing with emerging threats like drones, and maybe upgrading the ancient DEW line radars? But if this is another Star Wars missile shield over the entire continent proposal, that was a costly boondoggle in the 80s and I see no reason to believe it wouldn't be one again today.

11mo ago

Another way electric cars clean the air: study says brake dust reduced by 83%

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

EVs are generally heavier, meaning more tire wear, so I’m skeptical that the reduction is all that meaningful.

Yeah this was my first thought as well. In the balance, I have no doubt that EVs are better for the environment than ICEVs, but when we're nitpicking about particulates coming out of wear and tear, the weight issue has got to play into that.

In North America, people tend to drive automobiles that are way bigger than they need to be. I have read that this is in part due to auto dealers enjoying larger margins on big vehicles and encouraging this on their clientele. But EVs are different. Bigger means more batteries means more expensive to manufacture. So the sweet spot in terms of profit margins may be something smaller? But whether this will translate into fewer SUVs and pickups on the road I don't know.

Wish car manufacturers never bought up the streetcars and trolleys, they effectively killed public transit in the US pretty early on.

At least it seems light rail is having a moment. I grew up in Toronto where they never did give up on streetcars, though there was a close call (in the 80s I think it was) when the auto lobby tried to have them removed. Fortunately, the mayor at the time was a huge fan. And now it seems the street cars have been upgraded to 3-car light rail.

And LRTs seem to be popping up all over the US too. Do you know the way to San Jose? It's light rail. That system's been around forever, but I was surprised on my last visit to Phoenix to see an LRT whiz by. That's about as car-centric a city as I could possibly imagine.

11mo ago

Another way electric cars clean the air: study says brake dust reduced by 83%

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

Thru regen braking, EVs reduce that (but bikes are even better!)

In fairness, regen braking is not all that common in ebikes, though some models do have it now. But bikes are better for the environment than cars in every way regardless.

11mo ago

I probably interact with people who are at the pinnacle of their chosen skill but I'd never know because that skill isn't something that generates fame.

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

Oh man really? That's hilarious! I'm glad Dad didn't shell out for a big spread in there then. It was just his name and that's it.

This reminds me a bit of that shady outfit that was promising to have a star named after you for a price. I was taking astronomy at the time and some friends asked me about it. I said NO! Don't even think about it. While there are way more stars in the Milky Way alone than there are people who have ever lived, astronomers are most certainly not in the business of naming them all. You can get a visiting comet named after you if you spot it first though.

11mo ago

I probably interact with people who are at the pinnacle of their chosen skill but I'd never know because that skill isn't something that generates fame.

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 11mo ago

I was at a used bookstore and there was this volume called the Who's Who Almanac or something to that effect. I was shocked to find my dad's name in there! He was an academic in a rather narrow discipline. I wouldn't say he was a prolific publisher or had any major discoveries under his name, but he spoke numerous languages and was well-travelled. To be fair, the book was essentially a giant list of names and didn't include bios or anything, so the bar might have been pretty low? But still…

12mo ago

What social media site do you hate most?

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 12mo ago

I suppose Facebook, if only because it's the hardest to avoid for me. Friends, family, local businesses, charities, bands I follow, bands I play in, friggin everything is on FB and the feed is such a cesspool at this point. And the only thing that might have a snowball's chance in Hell of challenging its dominance is maybe Discord? Some of my friends seem to be spending more time there of late, and a few community groups I'm involved with have started their own too. But I dunno.

12mo ago

Ontario to spend hundreds of millions to boost alcohol sector

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🇨🇦 tunetardis @lemmy.ca 12mo ago

So the provincial priorities are to make it harder to ride a bike but easier to consume alcohol and drive. I am clearly not their target demographic.