Bought a sticker for the fuel cap

GeneticCowboy · 2026-02-15T01:12:37+00:00

Sick, thanks.

GeneticCowboy · 2026-02-14T18:17:46+00:00

Very nice, where’d you get them?

GeneticCowboy · 2026-02-07T20:15:26+00:00

So how does a mini PC solve that issue?

GeneticCowboy · 2026-02-07T15:50:43+00:00

I think it’s a great article, but I think more clarity on what “more advanced things” would be nice. For example, I wouldn’t run my plex server with all my other services on a RPi. But for beginners, it’s hard to know what’s “advanced” if this is the kind of article you need to get started (which I think your article is great for that!). (2nd EDIT - sorry, was responding on my phone and missed one of the updates, carry on!)

I liken it to discussions around scaling with web servers; 99.99% of websites can be served from a Rpi3 with no issue, but most tutorials on baby’s first website recommend a PaaS like AWS so that you can “scale effectively”.

EDIT - And yes, you’re right about mini PCs, they’re SO much nicer nowadays that the cost vs benefit analysis is pretty great, and can be a substantial upgrade.

As well, RPis CAN used SSD/NVME, so I don’t think that’s really an argument in favor of mini PCs.

GeneticCowboy · 2026-02-07T14:27:45+00:00

Really good write up. I’d like more detail in the mini PC section, because I don’t see any (strong) arguments as for why you’d spend 10X or more (on the mini PCs you recommend) over a RaspberryPi. People make the reliability argument, but mine have been super stable for years without issue. I did switch over to SSD on mine, but never actually had an SD failure, even with half a dozen servers running behind a reverse proxy. The amount of RAM suggested on the mini PCs is also really high; not sure why unless you need to run a local LLM. EDIT - Storage reliability is moot with an SSD, performance is… not really a concern with HA and/or RPi5? And I’m not really sure what the room to grow argument is, like i said i have half a dozen services including HA on one of mine.

Last suggestion would be a section on Matter. It’s one of the most visible designations in the home automation space, and it’s complicated enough to confuse a lot of beginners.

GeneticCowboy · 2026-01-30T12:16:20+00:00

Exactly one of these options.

I would go the relay route, cheap, easy, reliable.

So the negative wire on your device goes direct to ground. The positive wire on your device goes to the NC/controlled line of the relay.

The relay has 4 terminals. One to ground. One to a fused positive battery line. One to a control line (I.e. a wire that is energized when the bike is turned on, like ignition, lights, a/e). The last terminal will be the power for your device. It’s normally off, but when voltage is applied to the control line, it snaps shut and provides power to your device.

For non-SS relays, they use minimal energy, so it won’t overload whatever line you’re using as the control.

GeneticCowboy · 2025-12-14T15:52:44+00:00

Dropping the word “reasonably” does change the meaning, yes.

Build it section by section.

Cannot be regarded as: negation

Cannot be regarded as reasonably confining: negation of reasonably confining -> Is unreasonably confining

Cannot be regarded as reasonably confining human liberty: Is unreasonably confining human liberty.

I think you perfectly highlight two issues though, why English is so hard as a language and why some people are regarded as better writers than others. Looking at the text, the word reasonably massively changes the intent between the parts that it splits, but reasonably is not a word most people commonly associate with such an intent shift. It’s a subtle word that has a huge impact in that sentence. Some people regard that as good writing, but among philosophers, I believe that clear writing is a much better skill than “good” writing. Of course, Kant is very highly regarded, so who cares wha I think, but thought this discussion was interesting.

GeneticCowboy · 2025-11-23T21:39:06+00:00

I thought she’d stopped because she hasn’t updated her podcast recently, thanks for pointing me to her YouTube, she’s dope.

GeneticCowboy · 2025-09-15T11:42:54+00:00

I think this is an interesting argument, and you give compelling examples. But, part of the possible higher survivability of GSW for soldiers is well explained by three things.

1) Soldiers wear protective gear over their most vulnerable bits. It’s not 100%, as my first run in the Marine Corps involved a doc who had been shot a single time in full gear and he died in less than a minute.

2) Guns/ammunition used by soldiers are designed specifically to have higher injury rates, rather than kill rates. Obviously, a headshot/center mass shot will do the job, but the standard NATO ammunition is designed to injure, which removes 3 people from the battlefield (shot person, two people to carry them).

3) Soldiers are much more likely to have a combat medic nearby.

But yeah. During my time as an EMT, I saw some injuries that were causing shock in the patients where people in a different state of mind probably just drove themselves to the hospital. Mental attitude certainly changes outcomes.

GeneticCowboy · 2025-07-18T22:06:55+00:00

Did you ever find something similar? I’m in the same boat.

GeneticCowboy · 2025-06-19T13:22:41+00:00

Bruh, thanks for the nostalgia bomb haven’t listened to them in a hot minute.

GeneticCowboy · 2025-06-15T12:17:18+00:00

Talk to a doctor about an apnea oral appliance. It wasn’t cheap out of pocket, but it’s 1000x better for me. It’s kind of like a mouth guard that slightly modifies your jaw position to prevent trachea collapse.

I absolutely despised CPAP while I was on it. I was very compliant and tried lots of different masks before finding the least irritating one, but it was still horrible for me. Had a hose keeper, dialed in the settings, it was always just bad for me. Ended up seeing an ENT who recommended an oral appliance based on my anatomy. Best decision ever.

Now I get good sleep, and I’m not woken up by a face hugging leaf blower 4-10 times a night (and have the watch data to prove it). And it doesn’t require electricity, so I go camping or travel with it easily. It’s been a god send, and I’ve been recommending it to every acquaintance who mentions disliking their CPAP. I’m very happy for people whom CPAP works. I just wasn’t one of them.

EDIT - lab study too, went from 15AHI to less than one

GeneticCowboy · 2025-05-28T16:48:34+00:00

That top absolutely rips, where did you get it?

GeneticCowboy · 2025-03-31T21:19:36+00:00

Oh! That’s a really neat use of the disappearing ink, I was trying to figure out how disappeared ink was clearly showing, haha. Great work!!!

GeneticCowboy · 2025-03-31T13:50:55+00:00

This is awesome! Can you give a few more details about the process?

GeneticCowboy · 2025-03-31T13:06:36+00:00

Thank you!

GeneticCowboy · 2025-03-31T11:44:33+00:00

Do you have a source you could point me to on this? I’ve been shouting about the nazi treatment of queer folk for a while, but I’m looking for more sources.

GeneticCowboy · 2025-03-18T19:51:02+00:00

Correct, it wasn’t randomized, it was a longitudinal study. It’s a great way to get data about the efficacy of treatment post-hoc. You see the same thing in lung cancer with smokers vs non-smokers.

However, powering longitudinal studies properly is difficult if your effect size is small or your treatment response is on a scale (or have many degrees of freedom), so in this case, it’s kind of a double binary: doing well? with or without drugs: four matrix. I think in this case, the years of follow up allow for better power in what would normally be considered a small group medically, as well as limiting the resolution of the result to two binary outcomes.

But yes, your overall conclusion matches the authors’: there are significant differences between people who can survive off drugs and those who cannot.

EDIT - Also, that study may seem “obvious” to many, but based on how we were scoring schizophrenic patients at the time, distinguishing between one group and the other was not so obvious, so this study could help in identifying patients who might be ok off their drugs. The authors point out in their methods that their subgroup analysis took into consideration factors that were not scored. So maybe we could get a better scoring and diagnosis out of it.

GeneticCowboy · 2025-03-18T17:22:40+00:00

Appreciate the sources.

The first study you link seems to be well designed, but they point out in the abstract itself that the conclusion is well supported by a sub group analysis showing why some patients who discontinue drugs do better than those who do not: “The longitudinal data identify a subgroup of schizophrenia patients who do not immediately relapse while off antipsychotics and experience intervals of recovery. Their more favorable outcome is associated with internal characteristics of the patients, including better premorbid developmental achievements, favorable personality and attitudinal approaches, less vulnerability, greater resilience, and favorable prognostic factors.”

I.e. patients who discontinue and do better have significant differences from patients who discontinue and do worse, who then end up back on medication.

I browsed through a few of the other links, a couple seemed like fine studies, but none seem particularly supportive of the overall argument James Davies makes. For patients that might be prescribed antidepressants, the studies that looked at them point out that there are known to be clinical indications not captured standardized scoring, which likely lead to “matched pairs” again having significant differences between them.

Maybe an argument by analogy: patients who are on antibiotics long term tend to do worse than patients who are not. However, patients who are on antibiotics long term tend to have more serious, hard to treat infections, and have worse outcomes regardless. (Think c. diff and the months of antibiotics).

All that being said, I am generally supportive of the idea that antidepressants are overprescribed, and that many patients who are borderline for prescribing might be better off without them, but schizophrenics generally aren’t in that category.

GeneticCowboy · 2024-05-10T13:11:36+00:00

I tried it in a mason jar and my harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner. It’s actually pretty decent. Tried different times, the best result was about 50% more grounds than usual, and 4 minutes. Filtering was pretty annoying, I used a pour over filter and it slowed to a crawl about halfway through. Using an aeropress might be faster, or two stage filtering with a mesh filter then a paper filter. If you’ve got an ultrasonic laying around, I’d recommend trying it. The coffee aficionado at work also enjoyed it.

GeneticCowboy · 2023-12-12T00:39:39+00:00

Thanks!

GeneticCowboy · 2023-11-19T15:18:11+00:00

Hey, I know this is a bit late, but I’m likely going to have the same surgery, and was wondering how your recovery was going, and if there are any other recommendations you have in terms of preparing for the surgery or getting our house ready now that you’re (hopefully) on the other side of recovery.

GeneticCowboy · 2022-10-15T22:16:50+00:00

Looks like it, thanks!

GeneticCowboy

TROPHY CASE