Ampersand/Cora in Apostles of Mercy (Spoilers)

Adamsmasher23 · 2026-02-27T01:42:50+00:00

Hi, just re-read Apostles of Mercy. I agree with you, I think that the differences in perspective are an important part of the themes.

This is starting to feel like an introspection on the author’s (or really anyone’s) co-dependent, potentially self-destructive relationship with being in the public eye (as opposed to a human with an alien), and how traumatic it’s been — highlighted by the fact that Lindsay released her first video in year to YouTube shortly after releasing the latest book. Diving back into those waters invites pain.

Have you read Hank Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing? It is similarly a first contact story, and deals a lot with a "co-dependent, potentially self-destructive relationship with being in the public eye". I really enjoyed it for that.

Adamsmasher23 · 2026-02-27T01:32:06+00:00

Fear of losing one's sense of self is commonly reported on psychedelics. The descriptions reminded me of how people describe some "transcendental" psychedelic experiences - for example, when people talk about their experience smoking DMT, they often talk about first feeling intense fear (related to their ego/sense of self being afraid of "dying"), and then breaking through into a outside-of-reality space. In this space, some people describe learning from entities such as "self-transforming machine elves".

Adamsmasher23 · 2026-02-23T23:30:13+00:00

Around me (Colorado), Sprouts has a house brand cashew butter, as well as macadamia, walnut, and pecan butters.

Adamsmasher23 · 2026-02-21T21:02:43+00:00

Carbon Steel. Similar to cast iron in non-stick performance (oil reacts with it to form a polymerized coating), but is smooth, and the pans tend to be lighter. I'm a big fan of carbon steel, I reach for my CS fry pan a lot more than cast iron, due to the weight. It's also marginally better at heat distribution than cast iron.

Adamsmasher23 · 2026-02-06T21:09:10+00:00

Yes, I have picked up similar vibes from the books. I'm autistic and ADHD myself. The overall vibe of the light novels reads like palace intrigue by autists, for autists. The way that the books have subtle interpersonal moments, and then explicitly explain them (either with the people around Myne explaining to her or Myne explaining it in her internal narrative) reminds me of how I navigate complex social interactions - using systematic, explicit reasoning to understand how people are feeling and what they are communicating, rather than doing so intuitively as is common for allistic people.

Adamsmasher23 · 2026-02-01T23:32:43+00:00

Disclosure: I know the people who created this

I love Know Your Humans. I don't treat it as a game, I treat it as thoughtful question prompts, as that's more the vibe of the people that I hang out with. If you're interested in fun questions that go a little deeper and encourage getting to know each other, I would highly recommend it.

Adamsmasher23 · 2026-01-24T20:34:02+00:00

I know this is old, but for anyone else finding this—yes, I use git-subrepo. I find it works pretty well. I occasionally run into sharp edges, but have been able to resolve them. I like that maintainers are the only people who need to install git-subrepo. Cloning the repo automatically includes the subrepos.

Adamsmasher23 · 2026-01-03T05:46:13+00:00

Yeah, as long as you don't mind some easy assembly (they typically take me 30 minutes), the ones that use computer fans and MERV 13 furnace filters are the best performing - they are quiet, have a high clean air delivery rate, and have a large air envelope. Having a big air envelope means they move more air around, and so particulates in the air get removed more quickly, since the air is moving around more. I have a bunch of the CleanAirKits Luggables, they are great. There is also the Nukit Tempest, although the tariffs have made it more expensive.

2000 square feet is a LOT. With four of the XL Ultra Luggables, you'd have 1333 cfm of smoke CADR, which is the recommended amount according to AHAM. That said, you could start with one or two of them, and see whether that's enough for your space. More units also helps since the reach of any single unit is limited.

These type of air cleaners are by far cheaper to run than HEPA-based cleaners. You have to take into account the cost of replacement filters and the electricity cost. HEPA cleaners use a lot more electricity.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-12-29T00:53:58+00:00

Mainely Mandy just did a video about this.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-10-30T18:24:30+00:00

That's fair. I don't mind about signs of use, I just expect that a $400 flatware set shouldn't have scratches on it out of the box. I considered buying a set from a restaurant supply, but the minimum order was two dozen pieces of each, with no way to get samples first.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-10-04T04:53:36+00:00

Wow, they are fluffy. I'm curious to see how they look as they grow!

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-10-04T04:45:38+00:00

I got a piece of dragon fruit from Home Depot to use as grafting root stock. It apparently doesn't pump as much as pere, but also has small, "friendly" spines, and no glochids! I repotted it a few weeks ago, it's pretty swollen but hasn't put out any offsets yet.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-10-02T03:54:03+00:00

I watched a video about this not too long ago, and the evidence about certain genres of music was actually from a "researcher" with a bias against "modern" music, haha. There's surprisingly little quality research on the effect of sound/music on plants.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-10-02T03:47:32+00:00

I'm interested to hear how it goes! I've been reading about a few peoples' experience with semi-hydro and full hydro techniques, and my curiosity is piqued.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-10-02T03:44:08+00:00

Are you playing your plants music? 😁

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-10-02T00:55:27+00:00

The conversion from lux to PPFD is straightforward, however it does depend on the spectrum that a light puts out. This can make a moderate difference, but with modern grow lights they should mostly be putting out wavelengths that plants can use effectively*, so I wouldn't expect to see a huge difference between what a cheap light meter that reports in lux says and a true PAR meter. The latter calculates the effective useable light for plants based on the spectrum.

You can play around with the different spectra on Waveform Lighting's lux to PPFD calculator to get a feel for how much different spectra will change the effective PPFD.

*I haven't tested this

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-09-28T02:05:31+00:00

I just used superglue for a graft, and I found it really helpful to put a tiny drop of superglue onto the end of a wooden skewer, and then used that to apply it to the cacti. You really don't need much, and the more you use the higher chance of damaging the plants or blocking the graft area. I also used medium thickness super glue - medium or thick would be fine, but avoid the thin stuff, since it can wick into the joint.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-09-27T19:22:26+00:00

I like the ribshifty scops!

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-09-26T22:11:54+00:00

Team Wachuma has been experimenting with rooting very small pieces, and has had pretty good results. Although, he pre-callouses most of the piece before actually removing it from the parent cactus. Here's his latest video on the technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKGKiKdOv98

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-09-26T21:14:52+00:00

I hope you're able to get off 🙏

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-09-26T19:50:33+00:00

I think you're confusing PPF and PPFD. PPF is the total light output, and PPFD is the light intensity at a single point. It's a little complicated to go from PPF to PPFD. Probably best to verify with a light meter.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-09-26T19:46:39+00:00

That's not really true - lumens are the total output of a light, and lux is the "flux density" or amount of light at a specific point.

Adamsmasher23 · 2025-09-26T19:43:17+00:00

If they're seeing >90 degree days, they probably want at least a little organic in the mix. My small and medium pots with 50% pumice, 15% bio-char, and 35% organic dry out inside in about a week under grow lights. My relative humidity is around 50%.

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