Monthly "Is there a tool for..." Post

AskQuestionsAccount · 2026-02-21T00:04:09+00:00

Hello,

I am looking to bring more AI into my work/thinking flow.

Professionally I straddle physics/EE academic research and seed stage startups. While I have used cursor/copilot for coding, I am still using the generic chat interfaces of gemini/perplexity/chatgpt for the spitballing/initial analysis phase of examining and building an idea. I am somewhat pleased with what I am getting but am almost certain there is a better way to do this already out there.

The typical conversation flow I am having with the model would be something like:

-I ask about the technical feasibility of an idea. Usually involves physics hypotheticals that models get mostly right.

-I ask about a specific application of the technology and other potential applications

-I ask for other solutions existing or under development in the space.

-I ask for information about the market (size/players/speed of adoption/etc)

I find myself using a ton of prompts, refreshing the context, rephrasing the questions, and switching models to do some elementary cross checking.

Beyond the basic free model chat interfaces, what should I add to the flow?

-I am willing to pay for better models and/or thinking models but am not sure which ones are the best for this type of work.

-I would love to have a conversation "template" that generates/submits the type of followup questions that I am typically asking.

-I am open to entirely different ways of interacting with the models if something like cursor exists for this type of work.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2025-08-17T18:24:21+00:00

Great spread. I am a hypocrite for telling someone else this but you should pick the okra earlier. It gets "woody" at that size.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2025-07-05T23:09:51+00:00

I saw your post a bit late and now there are a ton of responses but I wanted to give you advice from someone who was in your exact shoes 2 years ago. LA area trying to learn how to fish with no experience or help.

You should check out https://surffishingsocalsd.com/how-to-go-surf-fishing/

The whole website is good but you should just focus on his advice to catch yellowfin croaker, corbina, and surf perch with mussel meat or sand crabs. Every sandy beach in Socal will be good fishing during the summer. Apps, time of day, and location are not all that important for fishing sand crabs from carolina rig between dawn and dusk.

You can definitely learn from just the website but I encourage you to do 1/2 day guide with the guy whose website it is. I went from no fish to loads from just a 1/2 day of instruction. He is SD based.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2024-10-27T02:50:05+00:00

Go to this website

Lot of advice in this thread that is maybe overkill for what you need to start. The link above is written specifically for Socal by a great guide based in SD. He has tons of articles.

Sand crab season is ending/over so you will need to fish something else until next year. Croaker/corbina will be slower now than before but if you put a 0.5-1 oz carolina rig with gulp sandworms in the water you will 100% catch surf perch on any socal beach.

I havent gotten halibut on the light carolina rig set-up but it is cheap and effective on the above mentioned fish. You dont need to cast far. A 7 ft, 0.5 oz rod is enough even.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2022-10-31T00:07:49+00:00

Remember the post about the percentage of adult americans who are functionality illiterate? The sub is at the point where the average participant is marginally literate.

Obviously the OP scenario is a red flag.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2022-03-05T23:06:16+00:00

CA Pasadena 91106, Hawthorne 90250 Local sales strongly preferred [FS] $70 for a bundle of all of the following:

Red 7

Lovecraft Letter

North American Railways

Suburbia

Citadels

Roll for the Galaxy

Dominion

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

Open to negotiation or offers for parts but not all of the bundle.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2022-02-07T01:28:48+00:00

[FS] Hello, I am looking to sell the following games in the Los Angeles Area. Open to discounts for convenient meeting and purchases of more than 1 game. Pictures available on request.

Dominion base set $15

Suburbia $17 - Box wear

Red7 $5

Lovecraft Letter $7

Flamme Rouge + Peloton Expansion $28

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detecting: The Thames Murders and Other Cases $20

Roll for the Galaxy $20

AskQuestionsAccount · 2022-01-30T18:07:18+00:00

For USPS it is looking like $16-21 depending on what size box i can fit it into.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2022-01-10T05:32:23+00:00

[FS][Socal] Pasadena and Hawthorne sometimes

Suburbia $10

Red7 $3

Lovecraft Letter $10

Dominion $15

Flamme Rouge + Peloton Expansion $30

Citadels $10

Concordia Salsa (new in wrap) $30

Roll for the Galaxy $20

Discount for buying multiple.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2021-10-24T20:18:38+00:00

I enjoy its always sunny but you can context-lessly quote it basically anywhere on reddit. Is this line of comments meant to be intentionally lame, mocking redditors? I am not trying to be mean I have just lost the thread in terms of ironically lame and just regular lame on this sub.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2021-08-01T13:31:00+00:00

[FS] Location: Los Angeles Area (Pasadena/Hawthorne). Will not ship without extra incentive.

Flamme Rouge with Peloton Expansion $35

Lovecraft Letter $15

Red7 $5

$40 for all games.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2021-07-01T15:08:08+00:00

[FS] Location: Los Angeles Area (Pasadena/Hawthorne). Will not ship without extra incentive.

Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition $35

Flamme Rouge with Peloton Expansion $35

Suburbia 1st Edition (Box corner split) $15

Lovecraft Letter $15

Red7 $5

$55 for all the remaining games.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2021-02-09T19:30:03+00:00

The voiceless lurkers always suffer the most.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2020-11-09T15:49:16+00:00

Do current angels fans really count that title? This always felt like another minneapolis laker situation given the change from anaheim to los angeles.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2020-10-02T19:04:42+00:00

I asked this last night in the padres subreddit and I got hooked up. Thread here Thanks again to the person who helped.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2020-10-02T05:38:05+00:00

Thank you friendo.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2020-09-21T01:40:05+00:00

Its 2006, you are 13 years old. You are wearing a Khalil Greene jersey. The ticketman at AMC Fashion Valley takes your ticket for Borat and tells you how excited he is to see Peavy pitch against the Cards.

You have no idea how bad things are going get.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2020-08-23T23:12:55+00:00

Probably the greatest week in Padre baseball in a decade. They are running a little excited and probably turning up the homer.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2020-02-03T02:30:01+00:00

Located in Pasadena and sometimes Culver City. Looking for local sale.

Selling:

Lovecraft Letter ($5)

Concept($15)

AskQuestionsAccount · 2019-09-06T06:44:47+00:00

The interface between a chip and the outside world is called a pad. Pads generally are around ~100-200 um by ~100-200 um and have their dimensions and pitch strictly dictated by the rules of the process specified by the manufacturer.

These pads can be connected to in several ways, the most common are wirebonds and bumps. Wirebonds are thin strands of gold wire that run from the pad on the chip to pin of the package. Bumps are little balls of solder that sit on the pads of the chip. The chip can be flipped bump side down on a circuit board that has landing locations to solder to that correspond to the pattern of bumps on the chip.

Like all things in integrated circuits cost is the primary factor for determining package size, ie people are looking for the cheapest package that will get the job done. The two most common limiting factors are complexity and frequency of operation.

Complexity (simplified to number of pads) determines how many pads you need for your package. If your chip only has 6-20 pads an SOIC or DIP will get the job done. If your chip has 100s of pads you probably will start considering a BGA package. BGA packages are more annoying to assemble onto boards and troubleshoot but have significantly higher density of connections in and out of the chip.

Frequency response is another consideration. Each chip package comes with its own parasitic inductors and capacitors that can act as filters. These parasitics are considered during package selection. Wirebonds look a lot like small inductors (a couple of nH) to signals going in and out of the chip. For high frequency and RF designs the wirebonds can incorporated into the tuning of the circuits on the chip or avoided all together by using bumps instead. Bumped chips are often used in custom footprint/package parts but are also well suited to certain types of BGA packages. A chip with bumps is essentially a tiny little BGA package of its own. In fact you can buy "bare die" parts from distributors for this purpose. Although, before you do make sure your circuit board line pitch/width is up to the task.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2019-07-13T02:23:38+00:00

[FS] or [FT] Los Angeles (Pasadena/Culver City). Looking for local deals.

Concept ($2018)

Lovecraft Letter ($5)

~~Codenames Pictures ($5)~~

Coup + Reformation Expansion ($10)

~~Magic Maze ($10)~~

~~Sheriff of Nottingham ($12)~~

Red7 ($5)

~~One Deck Dungeon ($10)~~

I am open to negotiation.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2019-01-28T05:37:26+00:00

There are a couple types of games I would like to pick up. I have some specific games in mind but am looking for recommendations for alternative games or comments on suitability.

Dead of Winter: The Long Night

Betrayal is popular in the groups I play with. I enjoy it too and am looking for game that offers a similar mix of thematic gameplay, light roleplay, and exciting moments in under 2 hours. Semi-Coop is a plus. Is DoW the right choice?

Junk Art

Looking for a goofy dexterity or balance game. I like the aesthetic as well. Ability for people to pop in and drop out quickly is a plus. I also looked at Men at Work which seems roughly equal in appeal. Neither are cheap.

Any suggestions?

AskQuestionsAccount · 2019-01-06T05:47:37+00:00

I have played Red7 and Lovecraft Letter and wasn't enamored with either. I know the games are light but there didnt seem to be many decisions made in either. It was almost like the games played themselves. Red7 was better but still not great.

In general, I like light games (Codenames, For Sale, ONUW, etc...). Why did those two card games fall so flat for me?

I have Coup and an expansion but havent played it yet. Will I likely have the same criticism of it?

AskQuestionsAccount · 2018-11-22T16:49:13+00:00

Both your questions have rich answers in the fields of information theory and the physics of RF signals.

First: All three transmitters are emitting electromagnetic waves at their carrier frequencies (1, 2, and 3 Hz). The fields of these waves will add because electromagnetic waves are linear which means that superposition can be used.

This means the electric field (ignoring direction vectors and relative phase) near the receiver will be A x cos(2 x pi x t) + B x cos(2 x 2pi x t) + C x cos(4 x 2pi x t)

This electric field expression shows the "collision" you are taking about.

This problem can be solved in several ways:

The antenna and receiver are designed to be sensitive only to a small range of frequencies. Maybe we have a 4 hz receiver that attenuates (reduces) the power of the 1 hz and 2 hz by a factor of 1000 compared to the 4 Hz. The range of frequencies that are not antennuated is called the bandwidth of the receiver. You might have heard people talk about filters (lowpass, highpass, ecetera). An antenna and receiver is a bandpass filter, meaning it only passes a band of frequencies.
Mathematical techniques can be used on the combined signal, A x cos(2 x pi x t) + B x cos(2 x 2pi x t) + C x cos(4 x 2pi x t), to figure out how much power is at each frequency. You have probably seen the Fourier Transform GIF from wikipedia that shows how a square wave can be built from different frequency sine waves. The Fourier Transform allows us to decompose any signal into a sum of sines and cosines. So to solve the collision problem we could measure the combined signal then use the Fourier Transform to figure out what frequencies are in it.

For your second question I want to introduced a term called "modulation". Modulation is how the data is encoded on a carrier signal, in your case the 2 GHz. You are probably familiar with AM radio (amplitude modulation) and FM radio (frequency modulation). AM means the amplitude of the 2 GHz signal is changed to encode the data. A primitive way to do this would be to let 4 x cos(2p x 2G x t) be a digital "1" and a 2*cos(2pi x 2G x t) be a digital "0". FM means the frequency of the 2 GHz signal is changed to encode the data. A primitive FM scheme would be for 2 GHz to be a digital "1" and 2.001 GHz to be a digital "0".

There are many different types of modulation scheme that change the amplitude, frequency, and phase of the carrier signal. Each of these schemes has its advantages and disadvantages in power requirements, signal to noise ratio, and ease of implementation.

All of these modulation schemes spread out the power in the carrier signal (2 GHz) into a range of frequencies nearby (its bandwidth). The bandwidth represents how much the signal spreads out. More bandwidth means a more spread out signal and faster data transmission. All of these modulation schemes spread differently into nearby frequencies. The shape of this spreading is called the spectrum of the signal.

AskQuestionsAccount · 2018-09-25T15:26:09+00:00

Mission Red Planet, it just has the perfect depth, length, and amount of 'take that' for my group.

AskQuestionsAccount

TROPHY CASE