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Joined 7 months ago
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Cake day: November 29th, 2023

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  • You would think that US voters would’ve had enough of this system by now. The only reason third - or fourth, fifth, etc. - parties don’t really work is because people keep voting for the same two… and expecting different results. The classic definition of insanity.

    Now, it’s not going to be easy to sway enough people, but doing nothing surely isn’t going to fix things either. It clearly hasn’t to date.


  • FinishingDutch@lemmy.worldtoPolitical Memes@lemmy.worldOh Joe...
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    2 days ago

    As a European… we’re not really fond of this situation either. Both candidates would get laughed off stage here. I don’t mind a seasoned, older politician, but these two should stick to golf and not running a country. Get yourself some better candidates or better, vote for a third party.



  • I am, in fact, quite aware of how air conditioners work :D A lot of devices work like this; it’s why a refrigerator and freezer generate heat. And why things like a slushy machine are real power hogs. Basically, anything that gets things cool will generate heat elsewhere.

    Thing is, a refrigerator and freezer are very much needed in daily life. An air conditioner thankfully isn’t - yet. But on days where we have 25+ celsius, the aircon is the difference between being sweaty, irritable, unproductive and with poor sleep or… perfectly comfortable. So, we choose to not be miserable. It keeps me sane during heatwaves.

    But yes, absolutely nobody should own one. And I highly encourage everybody else not to get one. I’m keeping mine though.



  • Here in the Netherlands, the panels are wired into the grid so you’re always delivering back and not using that power directly. What happens is, they basically deduct the power generated from the power you’ve used. This crediting system will eventually disappear, as too many people are feeding back solar power.

    For all intents and purposes, as long as we generate more than we use, we’re paying nothing except grid charges and taxes. So if you’ve got a low energy use day and plenty of solar, there’s really no reason not to run an AC (or a washer/dryer, etc)


  • We’ve got nine panels on the south facing roof. Right now, reasonably sunny day, they produce about 3.6 -3.7 Kw. That amply covers the power consumption of one of the two LG aircons we have. Those take about 2.5 kW. We usually just run one, depending on outside temp.

    I’m not really familiar with solar generators in general, but that feels like you’d need a pretty beefy one to keep an AC powered.



  • Yeah, that’s certainly one odd aspect. Also, there’s a ton of other methods to handle labour shortages. Like activating underused groups, such as women. Or offering retraining so people can switch to different jobs. And higher pay for sectors with shortages doesn’t hurt either, considering the already very low pay in Greece.

    Running your existing workforce ragged is NOT the way to deal with this.

    But hey, maybe we’re missing some cultural or political piece of the puzzle as to why they went this route.



  • Here’s the way I see it: to most people, that word is not linked to a disability. It’s just a word to describe bewilderment or exasperation at someone, something, some situation. It’s not intended to be hurtful.

    I have a disability as well. I see about twenty percent of what normal people see. I’m pretty much blind without my contacts or glasses. I don’t get offended when someone uses terms like ‘short-sighted’ or when someone says ‘are you blind?’ to someone else. We also use seeing metaphors quite a lot if you pay attention to them. I’m not offended by it, because I know the language is not intended to offend me.

    I’ve also worked with people who had actual mental disabilities. And trust me, most of them know damn well when something’s intended as an insult or when it’s just metaphorical use.



  • Thankfully i haven’t had any bad experiences like with that chair. Even as kids, we were always very specific with the gifts we wanted. Parents likewise. Mom will straight up just send me 10 items she wants for mother’s day or her birthday. That suits me just fine.

    Buying things that fit someone else’s interest is tricky at best. I have very specific hobbies and interests. Usually, if it’s ‘cheap enough for you give as a gift’, it’s certainly cheap enough that I’d have bought it for myself if I wanted or needed it. It’s also difficult for people outside of that interest to judge what is a good value or what an item might cost. I.e. to me, a 50 dollar dildo sounds expensive. It’s a piece of rubber after all, how much can it cost? Most casual people wouldn’t know that a thing like a 250 dollar dildo even exists. So while they think they’re doing you a favor by buying something they consider ‘expensive’, it might not be what you want or need.

    Gift cards are just silly. It locks you into a specific store and some cards even expire or are otherwise really inconvenient to use. COMPANIES really love them though - because people just don’t always use them or let them expire. That’s free money for a store, and a wasted gift…

    Ironically, personally I do like to give physical gifts. But I only do it when the person has no gift expectation and only with items that I’m personally familiar with. For example, interns at our company always get a really nice pen when they depart. I like to tailor the specific pen to the intern, based on their writing habits, favorite color, etc. Usually I give people Lamy Safari fountain pens or rollerballs, in their favorite color. It’s a way for me to introduce them to a hobby that I like, while also being a meaningful gift. After all, everyone can use a good pen, right? You might not buy one for yourself, but you’ll certainly enjoy using it.


  • Seriously though, it’s pretty much the best gift you can give if you simply don’t want to pick the wrong thing. Which is much, much more likely to do if the recipient doesn’t outright tell you exactly what they want.

    If someone wants to buy me a physical gift, I always give them exact suggestions: buy x, version Y. Shop at this store, pay no more than Z for it. That way it’s pretty much impossible for them to fuck it up. Can’t get it done? Give me cash instead.

    If it’s acceptable to give a gift card, it’s acceptable to give money as far as I’m concerned. It’s the universal gift card without the restrictions.



  • Guess I should stock up while I can huh?

    I’ve been a RPI fan since the beginning and have used their boards for all sorts of projects and tinkering. But it’s hard not to feel like it’s losing sight of what made it attractive in the first place: low power and low priced computing. It had its charm in buying a Pi Zero and just chucking emulators on it and handing them out to folks who might want to have a go.

    But with the more expensive, more powerful hardware you just can’t really use them for things like that anymore. Just too expensive and too much oomph for the use case.

    We’ll see if the company finds its way. But this usually isn’t a good sign…