StrawberryPigtails
@StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.org
- Comment on How do I stop sleeping through everything? 1 week ago:
I switched to first to black coffee instead of, in my case, Mt. Dew. Then once I was caffeine free (and more importantly to me at the time, sugar free) save for coffee, I switched to decaf. Felt tired the first week, but no headaches. Decaf still has caffeine in it so you avoid the migraine, but so little it doesn’t affect you much.
Honestly, the massive sugar cravings were a bigger problem for me for months than the caffeine withdrawal, but I lost 20 lbs just cutting the sodas out.
- Comment on How do I stop sleeping through everything? 1 week ago:
I do this even after cutting caffeine almost completely.
Got better after I got an Apple watch as I was able to see exactly how long I was sleeping for. Used that information to change when I went to bed. Will still sleep through a apocalypse, but at least I don’t usually oversleep anymore.
- Comment on If you had to buy a new TV, what brand would you get? 2 weeks ago:
The vast majority of TVs nowadays have really just become manufactured e-waste, mainly due to the piss poor computers they have running the “smart” features. Have a look at your local thrift store or Goodwill. You might find something there for a discount that will last a bit.
Nowadays, I probably wouldn’t buy a new TV. Too much malware preinstalled even if their smart features aren’t under powered. I would look instead at digital displays or larger computer monitors. It will bump the price back up to what TVs used to cost when I was younger, but at least your paying with cash instead of your privacy. Will probably last a bit longer to boot.
- Comment on How long do we have before PCs get locked bootloaders and corporations ban installation of "non-approved" software? (for context: Google is restricting sideloading worldwide on Android ETA 2027) 5 weeks ago:
It’s been done before. ChromeBooks comes to mind, but there have been others. Usually winds up killing the outfit that tries it.
As far as I know Chromebooks only survive because of the educational market. Locked down devices are preferable in schools.
I won’t buy one, but I could see such systems becoming dominant in another 20 years or so.
- Comment on Do you read analog clocks to the exact minute? How do you do this quickly? 1 month ago:
I don’t generally read them to the minute very often. For the most part, 5 min increments are close enough for what I need, most of the time. If I do need a more precise time, I’m usually already closely watching the clock and it’s just addition (was 1341 when I started this, now it’s 1345.).
If I need to get the precise time, cold, than it’s as simple as: closest 5 min tick, then add or subtract minute ticks till you get to the minute hand
Eventually you get to the point where it’s not something you consciously think about. You just look at the clock and then pattern recognition takes over and you just know what time it is.
- Comment on Can you get shadowbanned on Lemmy? 1 month ago:
I can see this post from the SDF. I think you may just be having federation issues.
- Comment on what's the best material for wiping out a cast iron skillet? 1 month ago:
I tend to use a paper towel with a little bit of canola oil, after hand washing it lightly with soap and water.
My cast iron won’t win beauty pageants, but they are functional equipment, not wall decorations.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
From what I’ve noticed, “not figuring it out” is often either a question of fine motor coordination or poor ear training.
Other times it’s outlandish expectations from yourself. Your not going to be playing "Money for Nothing " by Dire Straits for a while, but something along the lines of “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley is probably achievable within your first week.
Fine motor control is mostly just a matter of practice. Use a metronome and start SLOW.
Ear training in this context is being able to map a sound in your head to a finger position on your instrument. Again practice, pick a simple melody and try to find that melody on your instrument.
As for what instrument. What do you want to play? You could get any instrument in the world, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t want to play that instrument.
I mostly play and teach guitar, you can easily get a reasonable instrument in the $300-$600 range. Sometimes cheaper.
Serviceable keyboards can be had for about $150.
- Comment on Could one legally get a hold of those bank bill dye security dye packs, dye your own legally obtained cash with it, and spend it places? Just to make people suspect you're secretly a bank robber. 2 months ago:
It’s probably mostly legal. Though they might hit you with defacing currency. Technically that’s still a crime, though I don’t think it’s been used in a while.
The dye is available to the general public so that part is easy. Given how trigger happy US law enforcement is, I wouldn’t recommend doing this. Sounds like overly complicated suicide.
- Comment on Does the ping between your eyes and brain increase when you're tired? 2 months ago:
I like that description. I may borrow it the next time I’m asked to run a safety training.
To answer your question, yes. Your reaction time does slow down as you become more tired. The effect is similar to being very drunk. This fact is the basis for Hours of Service regulations in the US trucking industry.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3307962/
academic.oup.com/sleep/…/2749684
- Comment on Where are all the successful "red cities"? 2 months ago:
From what I’ve noticed, cities tend to be more liberal than rural areas. I can’t think of a major city off the top of my head that is a republican stronghold. I’ve got to go to work but I found these two links which may help.
- Comment on 32, f. Are there any dating sites that are actually free and don't suddenly force me to pay to actually use the site? 2 months ago:
With the very big caveat that I’m 15 years out of date, you might see if OKCupid or Plenty O Fish are still around.
I would check for you but I’d rather not cause my wife to worry. I met her on OKCupid. If I remember correctly, searching was free but messages always were a paid service regardless of platform.
- Comment on If you have cut off mainstream music streaming, how do you discover new music or artists and songs like what you're listening frequently? 3 months ago:
MusicBrainz is an open source database of music. ListenBrainz is an open source service that captures your listening habits, if you’ve configured your music player (or Spotify) to use the service. It’s similar in nature to last.fm’s scrobbling.
ListenBrainz has a feature where once a week it will build a pair of playlists for you. One is stuff it is pretty sure you will like (based off of what tracks you have favorited) and the other is more… experimental. Stuff it’s not so sure you’ll like but is similar to things you have listened to and liked in the past.
- Comment on Can I learn how to "photoshop" images without PhotoShop^TM and also on my iPhone? 3 months ago:
Professionals use Adobe software because it is what they know and because it is the standard. But there is no reason you need to use Photoshop unless you are working with a company that requires Photoshop.
Photoshop is just an advanced image editor made by Adobe. On Windows, Mac and Linux, GIMP is probably the most well known alternative to Photoshop. It can do roughly 99% of the things that Photoshop can do, and, more than likely, far more than you are ever likely to need. Even as a professional image editor or artist.
I’m sure that there are several options for iOS, but I don’t know them by name.
- Comment on If you have cut off mainstream music streaming, how do you discover new music or artists and songs like what you're listening frequently? 3 months ago:
Recently, most of the music I’ve found has been something the Youtube algorithm has decided I need to listen to. Most recently it’s been the Andrew Sisters and before that it was SailNorth.
Other than that, ListenBrainz does a pretty good job of suggesting new music to listen to.
- Comment on With all the animals that die in the sea, is it possible they get pickled in there? 3 months ago:
I’m no expert in the field, but under the right conditions, possibly. But that would also be incredibly unlikely. The oceans are so full of life that something would feed on the remains, and even if not it would be more likely to decompose than be preserved. Bacteria is everywhere, including in the ocean, and bacteria is a significant component in decomposition.
I believe the brine solution we use for preserving food is a much higher salt concentration than sea water.
- Comment on [Opinion] We Should Immediately Nationalize SpaceX and Starlink 3 months ago:
The only time the government is willing to spend money on space exploration ( or anything for that matter) is if they are trying to play a game of “Im better then you” with other nations.
We have a public space agency in the US and they have done jack all in maned space exploration since the end of the Apollo program. And what little they have done has been massively overpriced.
In my opinion , it’s best to have both public and commercial space flight programs. Greed in two different directions might actually accomplish something and I strongly believe that we need a STRONG space presence not just in our own solar system but in many systems throughout the galaxy for our own survival as a species.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 months ago:
Where I live, roaches are particularly bad. Especially the tiny ones. The $100 I give to Terminex every quarter is probably the only bill I am very happy to pay. They do a good job.
- Comment on Is Pop_OS! kind of bad? 4 months ago:
It could be both you and your PC.
Depending on your specs, the OS could be poorly configured for your setup.
As for the Distro itself, I’ve tried it but the default UI didn’t work for me. If I remember correctly, it was Gnome based at the time and I kept fighting its opinions on how I should be working.
Solved the problem by nuking the install and installing NixOS with the KDE6 desktop.
- Comment on Boys and beans and... 4 months ago:
I got tired of the torn up cuffs and jean cuffs are uncomfortable to walk on when you don’t have shoes on.
- Comment on I found an interesting USB-C alternative to barrel jack wall warts. Thought I'd share... 4 months ago:
I think that is basically what this is. I was actually looking for a replacement power supply for a cat feeder when I found this. Considered it for a minute then discarded the idea as cool, but overly expensive in my case. If I had had a spare 30w USB-C power supply, might have gone another way, but the older wall wart style power supply only cost me $15.
- I found an interesting USB-C alternative to barrel jack wall warts. Thought I'd share...www.adafruit.com ↗Submitted 4 months ago to technology@lemmy.zip | 11 comments
- Comment on Does anyone know where or even IF I can purchase this scope mount part? 5 months ago:
Like others have said, your best bet is to just buy new a new scope mount and rings from any firearms shop. Easier and less headache. You will need to know your scope’s tube diameter.
However, if you are dead set on repair rather than replace (and are in the US), for oddball engineering projects like this I tend to use McMaster Carr. If they if they don’t have what you need I would be very surprised. They are an engineering supplier, and have prices to match. But they sell anything thats not electronics. Excellent customer service too.
For electronics builds or repairs, I recommend DigiKey.
Between the two you could build or repair just about anything.
- Comment on How can we make lemmy have more relevance? 5 months ago:
It’s the content that makes a platform relevant. So follow the usual youtube call to action.
Subscribe, comment, share and post.
Don’t bother preaching, it’s a waste of breath and is just annoying to the average person.
- Comment on How come id Software / Bethesda have never sued Bungie / Microsoft over the similarity between Doomguy and Master Chief? 5 months ago:
If I remember the Halo books correctly (it’s been a while) the Spartan armor started out a golden color but dulled to green hue due to hits from Covenant energy weapons over time. Not particularly relevant to this discussion but I thought it was an interesting bit of lore.
I need to go back and reread them. Great series and well written for the most part.
- Comment on How come id Software / Bethesda have never sued Bungie / Microsoft over the similarity between Doomguy and Master Chief? 5 months ago:
Originally doom guy was just a face at the bottom of the HUD that grunted and got bloody as you took hits. The only images of him I remember was just a marine in green combat armor, not too dissimilar to modern real world combat armor, standing on a pile of dead demons and zombies(1993) and the 3rd person cinematics from Doom 3 (early 2000s ish?) where again he looked just like a normal human marine.
Halo come around in the mid 2000’s and Master Chief was never shown outside his armor or with his helmet off. Outside the TV show I’m not sure if that is still the case.
Not sure when the modern images of doom guy came about but I think it was around 2015. Probably not earlier.
- Comment on Why plans are already in motion for a Trump third term – no matter what the law says 6 months ago:
No.
- Comment on FBI boss makes clear swift capture of 'Most Wanted' fugitives was no accident – expect more to come 6 months ago:
Um, that’s not what I found. This list is mostly drug dealers and people who ran from murder charges with only one who was wanted on fraud charges.
- Comment on Why is Trump not able to end wars (as he promised he said he would) 6 months ago:
He hasn’t done so because he doesn’t actually want to do so. He wants to put on a dog and pony show and make himself look good. Not actually solve real problems.
Additionally, regarding the Ukraine War, there’s not a damn thing the US could do to end the war except wipe one or both parties off the map completely, killing everyone.
As far as Israel’s aggression, we could put a damper on it for a little while by not selling Israel any more weapons, but that again wouldn’t actually stop the fighting. Israel is actually pretty good at making weapons themselves. Again the only way to stop the fighting in the region, for real, would be to go in and just kill everyone. The bad blood between all the parties runs too deep.
A slower more peaceful solution in both regions might have been possible a few months ago, but our international credibility has gone down the tubes faster than I would have thought possible.
The best advice I can give anyone right now is stop listening to what they say and start watching what they are actually doing.
Best not to spend too much energy worrying about what’s going on the other end of the globe right now though. I suspect things in our own country are going to get a lot more interesting before too long and it may not hold off till midterm elections, let alone the next Presidential election.
- Comment on Whats the most downvoted comment/post on lemmy? 7 months ago:
Damn. That might be the most votes I’ve seen on any post, period.