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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: March 7th, 2024

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  • Depending on what I want to do, I used a combination of Unified Remote and LocalSend, both of which are available for Linux. With Unified Remote, I can control my PC on my home network. So if I want to copy over a URL, for example, I could open notepad and paste it remotely from my phone’s clipboard (or type it manually), or I could open a new tab on my PC’s browser and paste the URL so it’s open and ready for me the next time I’m at my PC. I can sit downstairs on the couch and check the status of a project upstairs, open and run new programs upstairs, etc.

    My only two complaints are that I need to be at the PC to handle admin messages like “Are you sure you want to install this program?”, which I guess is a safety feature but it’s still annoying. And secondly, I really wish they had an easier way to toggle between left- and right-mouse-click, it gets annoying.

    To send images, actual files or even folders, I use LocalSend. It does require that you click Accept on the device you’re sending to, but I can use Unified Remote to do that, and then save the files to wherever I want to (or accept the default).

    This may be less streamlined than other options, but what I really like about it is that I can complete a task and then not have to think about it again. I don’t have to go back to my desktop and download or save anything, I’ve already done it, the job’s complete. The only exception is when I’ve put a new URL into my browser, but that’s generally because I wanted to look at it on my (much larger than my phone’s) desktop screen.

    Anyway, it works nicely for me; I hope you find a solution that works for you!


  • My mom used to save gift cards and use them for “special things”, to get something she really wanted but was a splurge for her. When she died, she had probably like $800-900 in gift cards waiting to be spent, and they’d lost like a third of their value. They were part of my mom’s estate, so they went to my sister (the executrix). When my sister died, I found those exact same gift cards, still unspent, only this time they’d lost all their value. Plus she has a bunch of gift cards of her own that she’d been saving that had lost a bunch of value as well.

    I know I’m fortunate that I don’t need to scrape money, and that not everyone can afford to do this. But after losing out on a bunch of money, this is what I do: when someone gives me a gift card, I spend it immediately and enthusiastically tell the giver what I got - or, in some cases, supposedly got: occasionally I’ll use the card to buy a gift for someone else, or I’ll just buy gas or groceries. But I use it on something I want or need, even if it’s just in the vaguest way. That avoids losing the value of the money, which I absolutely hate.

    But I take the birthday or holiday or thank-you or thinking-of-you card that the gift card came in, and I’ll tuck in the same amount of cash as was on the gift card. I have a little stash of cards in my desk (and my heir knows to check those cards), all with some amount of money in them. And when I’m feeling down, or really need a treat, or just need to remember that I’m loved, I go pull out the cards and read through some of them. And if I’m still feeling bad, I may pull out some money from the card and go buy myself something - an ice cream or a nice dinner or a pair of socks - it doesn’t matter. To me, it’s that person giving me a giant hug on a day that I really need it, whether that person is even still around - to me, that’s an immensely valuable gift, and something that I always treasure.

    Also, to keep each gift giving, I usually sneak back a couple weeks later and put the same amount of money back into the envelope: just because I spent that specific money doesn’t mean my mom or grandma loved me any less, and sometimes I need to be reminded of that.








  • When the air turned orange from the Canadian wildfires last year, I had massive, massive headaches from the smoke. On the recommendation of Wirecutter, I bought a Coway, and my headaches cleared up.

    I’ve been very happy with it. The low and medium settings are quiet, while the high setting is a bit noisy for me. When the wildfires were running, I had it on low or medium all the time and it was fine. Since then, I mostly have it on Eco mode, where it samples the air periodically and kicks on at whatever speed it thinks is necessary. Mostly it just quietly pops on at low speed for dust or pollen or whatever, and I rarely notice that it’s done so. It always kicks in at high speed for a few minutes after I’ve changed the cat’s litter, and once it noticed that the bread was starting to burn in the oven before we did, lol.

    Anyway, I got a Coway based on Wirecutter’s recommendation, and I’ve been very happy with it.

    Edit: I got the 200m, which covers like 1700 square feet.



  • GenX tv addict here. I grew up in a time when, if you wanted to watch a show, you need to make an effort to be in front of the tv when it aired. If you missed seeing it, you had to hope that if was repeated over the summer (only about 2/3’s the episodes of a continuing series would be repeated, and if a show was cancelled, that was it). If you missed it on summer repeats, you’d have to hold the show went into syndication, was carried locally at a time you were able to watch it, and then stalk the series because syndication packages were notoriously shown out of order (which is why almost all the episodes ended up with the characters being in the same base situation as they started out in).

    It was the same thing if there was an episode or series you loved and wanted to watch again.

    VCRs were an absolute game changer. You didn’t have to revolve your life around a tv schedule- you could go out, to go events, go shopping, have a late dinner. You could pause tv to go to the bathroom, you could watch and re-watch episodes that you enjoyed, or verify something you thought had happened earlier instead of relying on collective memory. If you missed taping something, you might still have to wait for re-runs - but there was also the chance that someone else had taped it and could loan you the tape.

    Having learned the lessons of broadcast tv, I taped everything I watched, and I kept the tapes of the stuff I liked, or that had actors I liked. I could sit down today and watch all the episodes of David Soul in Casablanca or Billy Campbell in Moon Over Miami, or short-lived shows like Space Rangers or South of Sunset.

    I still record and save things locally. The myth of having immediate access to everything ever produced was always just a myth.





  • I’d’ve called the front desk when they were screaming at each other in the room. The front desk handles this sort of thing more than you and would have a better feel as to whether (for example) these are regular customers, how the local cops react, whether this is a normal or irregular occurrence for the area, etc. If the front desk or the cops had then stopped by the room with a noise complaint, that may have interrupted the disagreement enough that it may not have escalated later on. If they didn’t stop by with a noise complaint, I very likely would have done the standard ‘banging on the wall to get them to shut up’ thing, which may have had the same effect (I have trouble sleeping and this nose would’ve made me very irritable). I don’t know if I’d’ve opened my hotel room door, but I’d’ve at least looked out the peephole to assess the situation - and I’d’ve double-checked the lock and chain on the door during the first argument.


  • The same way you form any group: you meet regularly. Set a time and place that seems like it would be good for a good percentage of the people, and turn up there, every meeting. Have some of the meetings be about a concept or theme; let everyone know what the concept is ahead of time, so they can think about it and maybe do research or bring examples. And have some of the meetings be open meetings, where anyone can talk about stuff relevant to the group’s purpose. If it becomes a more active group, you may need to limit talking time per person in the open meetings; and if a particular topic catches fire in an open meeting, you can revisit the topic in a themed meeting.

    But groups are formed the same way friendships are formed: people turn up regularly to spend time together. Some meetings you may be the only person there, but be open and welcoming to those that do show up.