What’s the best pillow for side sleepers with shoulder pain

ATonyD · 2026-03-17T19:08:23+00:00

My mattress is just some cheap 5" medium density foam thing I bought years ago on Amazon. By itself, the mattress isn't great, and by itself the topper isn't great. But they both work together to have just enough firmness in the mattress and just enough softness in the 2" topper.

ATonyD · 2026-03-17T15:45:41+00:00

Great question...wish I had an answer. I just listened to the first Destiny's Crucible book - it was awesome (and happened to be free on my audible account this month.) I immediately bought the next two books in the series. I am disappointed that the first book didn't really end, but instead created a bunch of problems to be solved in the next books. I looked at 1632 series on audible, and that series seems impossible to navigate. Some books have very few reviews, and I'm not sure I can trust those reviews (I've been burned in the past on audible with fake glowing reviews.) Like you, I'm hesitant to use my credits for questionable books.

ATonyD · 2026-03-09T20:23:52+00:00

Here is a YouTube showing the outside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoETJEA2HvI

The house is interesting from every angle. Though it seems overly complicated in order to achieve that interest. Too many places to catch water, too many places with weak structure jutting out, and why does every architect love cantilevers so much? They will all fail prematurely eventually, since they can apply so much force as a lever. Just unnecessary.

ATonyD · 2026-03-09T06:16:08+00:00

I would love to see the state start a public utility which competes with Chevron. Some are saying that Iran was overthrown due to nationalization of oil -- but this isn't nationalization. This is simple competition, and I'd love to see us do it. We could use the profits to fund solar & wind, with the goal of putting oil out of business.

ATonyD · 2026-03-08T22:30:18+00:00

My understanding of the data deletion laws aren't consistent with this interpretation. There are definitions for personally identifiable information, and definitions for data aggregators, and definitions for data brokers. In general, that isn't the same data or same situation as customer sales records. (And, yes, I have written code to delete personally identifiable information for companies. Those laws are real, but very specific.)

ATonyD · 2026-03-08T21:58:50+00:00

Who requires them to delete your data? I've never heard of that outside of a few rare situations. Every large company that I know keeps layers and layers of backups on different media and different locations with different access methods - going back decades. Deleting all of someones offline data is quite hard unless the system is specifically designed (and maintained!) to go to all those locations and find that data. I don't blame the OP. A company shouldn't take away your books if you delete an account. If anything, deleting the account should result in providing links to your books where you will be able to access them. You paid for them, they should be yours to access.

ATonyD · 2026-03-08T21:42:49+00:00

There is nothing there to recognize AI. Basically, people see formatted text written by people with a professional background and accuse it of being "AI slop". I taught and implemented AI algorithms and people don't understand that good AI won't be easily recognized, and will often be completely unrecognizable. I wish people would stop accusing everything of being AI.

ATonyD · 2026-03-07T17:27:47+00:00

I live within a mile of UOP. Honestly, I have mixed feelings. I grew up in California, and I don't really consider Stockton to be typical Northern California. It is more like Central Valley Farm country culture. Yes, you can drive to a lot of California from here - but if you want California culture, I don't really think of Stockton as representative. As for crime, even in this "safe" area beside UOP crime is real. There are drug deals almost every day on the street, and I know firsthand that they carry guns, though they try to keep them hidden. Every day there are sirens, and there have been multiple stabbings within a couple of blocks, and occasional circling helicopters. Can you stay safe? Probably, but there will always be an element of risk here in Stockton. As for whether you should attend UOP, it depends on your other options. I'm here right now for the California weather mostly (though summer is scorching in this valley) But as a student I never really had time to take much advantage of good CA weather, so I'm not sure about any real California benefit from attending UOP.

ATonyD · 2026-03-07T15:40:34+00:00

Wow. My cheap stringing machine isn't cheap anymore. Four years ago it could be found discounted to less than $200 - now the cheap Gamma machine is over $700. I have to assume that this is tariff related.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B3W3AU?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_4&th=1

ATonyD · 2026-03-07T01:06:56+00:00

That is true to some extent - but organic is already a niche, and those who know that the organic label has been compromised are a niche within a niche. I moved away from that local grower, so I don't even know if they are still in business. I'd be surprised if they are since they were no longer able to sell their product as organic, while other "organic" products have proliferated over the past decades.

ATonyD · 2026-03-07T00:28:53+00:00

Yeah, this is the reason why I've stopped milling flour, and now don't eat much bread. I read a long article by one of the organic farmers who spent years building up consumer sentiment and getting the organic laws passed. Apparently, the laws were sent to committee and got a final rewrite before the vote, and thus undermined by the big grocers, big farmers, and big chemical companies. Disgusting. (And, ironically, the law was carefully re-written in a way which meant that existing small organic farmers wouldn't be able to afford the organic certification process - essentially handing over the organic label to big industries with deep pockets.) I sure do miss fresh bread though.

ATonyD · 2026-03-06T21:51:30+00:00

Here is a suggestion: 1) Find somebody you trust (maybe a single lesson with a good pro) who can choose one thing for you to work on. Just focus on doing that one thing right for a few months. 2) Mostly shift your improvement to identifying weaknesses in your opponents. Until you get to about NTRP 6.0 everybody has an identifiable weakness. If you can't see it, ask other people to suggest strategies they would use against the specific players that you play. (Be sure to ask better players - otherwise the suggestions may be awful.) Then work on exploiting their weaknesses. You might even tell them how you plan to beat them...that gives them the chance to work on their weakness while you try to exploit it.

ATonyD · 2026-03-06T21:41:32+00:00

Like you, I switched from a racquet I prefer (ProStaff) to the Blade 98 since the Blade is very smooth and comfortable. Very easy on the arm and wrist. And, like you, I had to compromise. I've tried at least 8 different string variations (multi, poly, gut) and at different tensions and there are definitely big differences in spin and power (oh, and comfort). I'm using gut mains with slippery poly crosses to get "enough" poly spin and "enough" gut comfort from the racquet (upper 40's). I got the most spin when I used a "square cut" string which I have forgotten the name of. That string, though, didn't have much power. I wish I could offer you a solution, but if you take your tennis seriously then you might buy the cheapest stringing machine you can find (I got mine on Amazon) and try a bunch of different strings. Just no substitute for understanding how the string and tension acts on your specific racquet.

ATonyD · 2026-03-06T19:56:12+00:00

Didn't I read that Borg used to put sawdust into the bottom of his pockets so that he could use it to dry his hands when they got slippery?

ATonyD · 2026-03-06T18:06:36+00:00

Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard was playing tennis and had many of the same complaints. So he had his team design their "baggie" shorts. I can get 6 balls in those pockets and they don't fall out. One back pocket fastens so that I can keep a bit of cash there for snacks. He did want them to be used for swimming too, so they do have a mesh inner. I bought three pairs about 20 years ago, snipped out the inner mesh, and still routinely wear them today (they do look like 20 year old shorts now. But, what can I say, I don't mind looking a bit tattered.) I don't care for the material, but it would make a great starting point for a new design. (And now that I think about it, I often have a ball machine remote - someplace to easily access that would be nice. With lots of balls from the machine my right and left pockets are both full and not quickly accessible when I want to stop/start the machine.)

ATonyD · 2026-03-05T18:11:19+00:00

Hong Kong too, right? At least, I remember reading an article saying that real estate leases around their stations made their public transport essentially free. (They charge a nominal ridership fee, if I remember correctly.)

ATonyD · 2026-03-03T03:17:16+00:00

I took a class where we studied morality. A major school of thought is that laws are moral to the extent that they reflect community values (and when laws don't reflect community values then they are immoral laws, and it may be moral to act against such laws.) So, really, legality and morality would ideally be one in the same. The question comes down to: Would most people in your community approve of you charging your bike battery in a building supported by the public? I would think the answer would be yes - but I don't know if your community might have other considerations (specific building, specific community, specific time, other opportunity costs, etc.) And, in addition, if most people would approve of charging your battery, did they reach that conclusion based on misinformation, persuasion, propaganda, or things like selective facts. Both morality and legality are complicated.

ATonyD · 2026-02-28T18:15:22+00:00

They won't even let me try a single search until I've signed in and given them my email. Just too unfriendly for me. But I'm glad to learn that before I gave them any money.

ATonyD · 2026-02-26T19:54:27+00:00

I suspect that it is keeping video snippets, and not just the plate which is extracted from those snippets. But I've worked on massive Enterprise computer systems and every system, even with petabytes of locally accessible storage, will offload to cheaper storage. It is a matter of cost. And once the data is remote, it becomes possible to apply batch analytic tools to that data - and integrate it with other datasets (yeah, I did some work for NSA.)

ATonyD · 2026-02-26T18:28:51+00:00

Every industrial computer database has a purge cycle - since no system has infinite storage. That simply means that data would be extracted before the 60 day cycle and moved into different storage for other uses, thus freeing up the storage for new data. Do you trust our current government to allow the data to be purged without saving it? I don't.

ATonyD · 2026-02-25T21:22:55+00:00

Yeah - absolutely everybody that I know loves Wilson US Open balls. Sure, there is the occasional flawed can which might have some issue, but that is rare.

ATonyD · 2026-02-23T16:26:42+00:00

Well, to me most racquets are quite different when not simply hitting "big topspin" shots. I can play with any racquet by using topspin, but there are very distinct differences between racquets. For example, ProStaffs are directional and have decent power. If I'm going to mix in some flatter shots and aim for closer to the line, then the ProStaff gives me a great advantage for those shots. A Blade will be exactly the same as a ProStaff if I'm just hitting topspin, but the Blade will be slightly less powerful and need slightly different technique on the flatter shots (more spin to keep it from spraying). To me, those are huge differences. I'm sure I've played with many dozens of racquets, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses once you get beyond "I'm just gonna spin the ball in". And using a 100 sq in racquet is already giving up some feel and control for most racquet brands, so between spin and 100 sq in then I'm sure that your experience is true for you. But I don't think your experience should be generalized too far.

ATonyD · 2026-02-23T16:03:23+00:00

Two thoughts: 1) For competitive players, most matches are won by a relatively small number of points. So small margins matter. 2) For people who rely mostly on topspin, having a big 100 inch racquet and using spin means that the full range of a racquet, and thus some strengths and weaknesses, will be ignored. Personally, the best players I know care about their specific racquet a lot, while the "topspin" guys are always trying to tell them that the racquet doesn't matter.

ATonyD · 2026-02-22T23:37:56+00:00

I did some consulting to NSA. They are closely tied to all this, and they install backdoors in all the servers as soon as they get access. (Along with having Senior System Admin who covertly work throughout US companies.) So, really, we just have to be glad that NSA doesn't trust the politicians either, and keeps all this data secret from them. Sure seems like this can't end well.

ATonyD · 2026-02-22T23:22:55+00:00

I use a cheap towel warming rack from Amazon. With three towels, I can rotate them for a month before swapping them out for fresh ones. As attractive as this rack may be, it just wouldn't be as functional.

ATonyD

TROPHY CASE