← Feed

Posts

• Post #4412674

  Thunderstorms will be thundered!

• Post #4322918

  I don't usually drink bottled water, but to get through the summer, sometimes I buy sparkling mineral water. Unfortunately, the local mineral water isn't sold in glass bottles anymore, and while, yes, some studies have shown that glass bottles maybe contain more microplastics than plastic bottles (seems a little sus), I can't stop imagining plastic bottles sitting in a hot warehouse and contaminating the liquid within. So I buy a few bottles of French mineral water, the only type...

• Post #4305171

  I've had to run the air purifier for weeks straight. As someone who doesn't like any noise, even white noise, it's draining.

• Post #4185748

  This may be a long shot, but does anyone know of any source for historical data (even just for this year) for pollen allergens by species for European locations? The source I am using groups all grasses together, and I'm curious about specific types. #Allergies #Pollen

• Post #4129963

  When a post includes red flags like "It's not X, it's y" "That's the point" And words like "built" as well as framing what happens "instead" It's been extruded by an LLM.

• Post #4107115

  LOL. Nope.

• Post #3979978

  I'm not sure why LLMs say things "stopped" doing something instead of saying they don't do it anymore. Worse on purpose, indeed. It's really something when complaints about LLMs use LLM speak. Yes, tired subtoot.

• Post #3811884

  I went to the doctor to get help with allergy symptoms. To protect myself from breathing in the pollen, I wore a mask on the way there. Though I did get some help, the doctor initially suggested that my symptoms were due to the mask. 😭

• Post #3761494

  Unexpectedly, I guess due to the super El Nino and because allergies can worsen over time, I've been hit by the grass pollen. So when my air purifier indicated that the air filter was dirty, as a temporary measure, I cleaned it until I could get a fresh one. I suffered a day and a night without it waiting for the filter to dry. When I put it back in, the warning still flashed. So in haste, I went to order a new one. The branded ones aren't available (anymore? here?) so I went to the B...

• Post #3761116

  Something that was stressing me out resolved itself. It was stressing me out because something was off about it, and the conclusion was likewise off. I know someone else might read the situation another way and try to resuscitate it, but for now, my intuition was correct that it's too much for me to deal with when I'm dealing with other stuff.

• Post #3755362

  Does anyone have experience with Proton Meet call quality? I tried to briefly move to Signal for video calls, but without the automatic background noise muffling Zoom has, the audio quality wasn't great for anyone involved. I'm wondering about Proton Meet's overall quality compared to Zoom. #Proton

• Post #3624547

  Sometimes we do what we can, and that has to be enough.

• Post #3582314

  Just as I'm settling in to read for the rest of the evening, someone in an apartment above me has decided to run a power tool. Because if you're not disturbing someone else's peace, are you even living?

• Post #3575624

  When I write something ranty, I think back about the time a dude read something similar and exclaimed, "You sound so angry!" This was back before I had been exposed to the many wonderful internet feminists doing good work and couldn't understand what was wrong with that. Now I know there isn't anything wrong with that. Anger is a perfectly reasonable response to a lot situations.

• Post #3574116

  "Just get AC," the Americans say. Oh ho, if it only it were that easy. Let's say you own your apartment. It's not just a matter of deciding to put in an air conditioning unit. No, you often have to go through the rigamarole of getting a vote allowing you to do exterior work to the building from all of the other residence that live in that building. Those window air conditioners people in the US sometimes use don't work with European tilt-and-turn windows. If you rent, wel...

• Post #3573876

  One thing about the heat that I don't think is considered often enough is that it's not just "the heat" that affects people's lives. Yes, the heat is the cause, but it has a knock-on effect for everything else. Sleeping in a hot room is less healthy than one that's cool. But if you can't sleep at all or sleep poorly due to the heat, you're liable to have other health issues -- your immune system is less effective and your mental health may suffer (not to mentio...

• Post #3572729

  Several days after the heat has subsided, I'm still dealing with an unpleasantly warm/stuffy apartment. This is due to the building absorbing heat over the days and releasing it slowly. It isn't just a matter of opening the windows -- it's like an oven that's been turned off. The heat has to dissipate and may take some time to do so even when you open the door. I've been using a fan blowing out during the day, but I feel like I'm just heating up the outside air. Nights...

• Post #3492620

  I recently got to introduce someone to Emily Bender's work.

• Post #3468649

  Same temps as yesterday, but I'm feeling it more today because the flat didn't have the opportunity to cool meaningfully overnight. A few clouds today, too.

• Post #3442634

  Stepped outside to take out the trash. It's "only" 80 F, but that's before 10 am, and the humidity is higher today. With a fan blowing out, I've managed to keep it cooler than outside, but the windows are in shadow until the afternoon, when the temperatures rise. I don't think it'll get below 70 F tonight.

• Post #3424605

  These days I really dread device updates because of everything we are nonconsensually opted in to, including ever more "integration with" LLMs.

• Post #3420984

  Though I should be getting as much done as I can before the heat drains all of the energy out of my brain and limbs, I'd also like to have a slow morning. How to have both?

• Post #3420878

  Last week, when it was cooler, I took a walk and saw a couple of Mormon missionaries approaching me. I was prepared and said to them in cheerful English, in response to their local-language greeting, "I'm not the right person for this conversation!" and kept walking. However, let it be said that I have empathy for the individuals far from home, appreciation for their dedication to learning the language, and I give a nod to their politeness and tidy grooming. "Why not?" I...

• Post #3143763

  How do people in hot countries (summers that reach 40 degrees, for example) with lots of stone pavement take their dogs out? What measures or tricks do you use? I would imagine that the pavement is still too hot for their little paws even at the end of the day.

• Post #2426304

  I ordered a couple of t-shirts to wear around the house from a company with good manufacturing, etc. standards. This is rare for me because I don't really like t-shirts. It's difficult to find any that are flattering. However, since I'm not intending to wear them out, a certain slouchiness or sloppiness is okay, and anyway, they're for hot weather so they should be a little big. As expected, they look silly on. They have some odd pouchiness around the armpit are...

• Post #2426302

  I wanted to celebrate a recent accomplishment, so I ordered from a shop that sells nice-quality local products. I do like many of the traditional flavors of this part of Eastern Europe, and they remind me of my Grandmother's Midwestern kitchen -- sauerkraut, horseradish, dill pickles. But for the longest time, I couldn't find any traditional products that were produced, well, traditionally -- everything (even ALL the pickles) had sugar and preservatives. It seemed you could on...

• Post #2228184

  Grateful for the rain and the cooler evenings. I'm looking at a pleasantly cozy Saturday.

• Post #2047432

  I'm curious how much collective responsibility we have for pointing out LLM output when we see it. I, for one, am glad when someone identifies that an image or video has been generated. I'm not as good as others at identifying those. It helps me learn, but it also helps me not promote/boost such content. I am, however, familiar with the patterns of LLM text. I'm a little flabbergasted when nobody says, "Why did this have to be AI?" or "This is...

• Post #1872666

  Day one of a brief unseasonal heatwave triggered by El Nino and the climate emergency in general. The central heating is still on, and the trees love the sun and warm weather, so they're releasing their pollen effusively -- no opening the windows for me. The local catkins are almost emptied, but the ones in Scandinavia are still full, and so the wind currents blow the pollen around the region. I do see a lessening of pollen concentration after the heatwave, though pockets in the north s...

• Post #1723445

  You all have me spoiled. Whenever I encounter someone I'd like to stay in touch with and they aren't on Signal, I'm just so confused.