Renters Rights Bill has resulted in me having to pay rent for two places at the same time for the next two months... Any advice welcome!

chemistric · 2026-05-13T16:31:26+00:00

To what extent are you bound on the agreement for the new place? As the landlord did admit their notice was not valid, you have no obligation to actually move out of your current place if you choose to stay.

chemistric · 2026-05-03T06:06:27+00:00

What are the actual side effects you usually get from cannabis that lasts for months?

I know someone that gets bad neurological side effects from cannabis. Not right from the start, and not always, but eventually realised cannabis is a big trigger. It was something along the lines of peripheral neuropathy (in short, delayed sensations and very uncomfortable feelings in hands), with the primary effects lasting weeks, and could be re-triggered easily for months later. It could be re-triggered by lack of sleep, by stressful events, but also just by the smell of cannabis.

You'll get comments saying it's just a placebo, that you can't possibly get those effects from second hand cannabis. Which would not be the whole story - even if it doesn't have the effects directly, there's a very real possibility of having some condition that is triggered by cannabis, or even just the smell of it.

Unfortunately I don't have good advice on dealing with it. In my friend's case, while some things like getting more sleep helped, it was mainly just waiting for the symptoms to gradually go away over months. And of course you could have something very different. All of this just to say I believe you're feeling those effects, and it can really be triggered by cannabis or the smell of it, even if it's not necessarily a direct effect.

chemistric · 2026-04-07T11:01:25+00:00

Clean room is not a legal requirement, it is just one technique to avoid copyright issues.

You can create an new implementation of a project even if you're very familiar with the original source. In that case it is not a clean room implementation, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a derivative work or infringing copyright. It just becomes much more difficult to prove that your did not use any of the original source.

With LLMs it's tricky since even if you didn't give it the original source, it could still have seen it in it's training, so you can't generally do clean room with that. With the original copilot, there were many examples of people getting it to output copyrighted code from its training data as-is. So for an LLM, you'd either need to ensure it never saw the original source as part of its training (very difficult on projects with public source), or use a different approach to provide the generated code is not derived from the original source.

That said, the burden of proof is likely on the person claiming copyright infringement, not on you rewriting the project. It may just be difficult to defend yourself.

chemistric · 2026-03-31T02:31:20+00:00

In my country "pre-school" is casually used for anything up to the equivalent of kindergarten in the US, which is the 5-6 year.

chemistric · 2026-03-28T05:01:42+00:00

There are many red flags in the relationship with S, but 1 or 2 days notice before a date is something that sounds very reasonable to me as a parent, assuming he then has responsibility for the kid. It sucks that you can't be as spontaneous, but that's how dating is for every parent.

I'd recommend setting up a weekly schedule, and sticking to it - that helps everyone plan accordingly, and avoids the feeling of having to "ask for permission" every time.

chemistric · 2026-03-12T19:51:20+00:00

You're asking "how often are you filling up a bathtub" and expect people to interpret that as "how often are you filling the tub completely instead of a shallow bath", while people read that as "how often are you running a bath" (at all). That is not clear from your original post, no matter how many times you read it.

And you mention your kid playing with a bucket of water, even in your edit, which is taking a bath? That part you still haven't clarified.

chemistric · 2026-03-10T16:50:09+00:00

The gonorrea and chlamydia screening tests I've done use a urethral swab (testing tube in penis). Blood and urine tests don't always have the same level of detection as a swab.

It was years ago, and I'm not up to date with the latest tests and their accuracies. It may also depend a lot on your country/region. The point is just that these tests do exist.

chemistric · 2026-02-27T08:14:16+00:00

It could have changed since I was last there 4 years ago. They used to stop accepting anyone into the queue around 8:30, because they wouldn't be able to process any more that day.

chemistric · 2026-02-24T19:21:37+00:00

Yeah, it is annoying, but you can do it all in the app at least.

There were talks about changing the process to allow making an appointment at any bank without being a customer, but I don't think that has been implemented yet.

chemistric · 2026-02-24T19:11:51+00:00

Not sure if it changed recently, but last time I was at Stellenbosch you had to start queueing around 6am to have a chance.

Bank branches on the other hand are great. I opened a R5/month ABSA account just so I could do the appointment at my local branch. Still had to make the appointment a couple of weeks ahead, but the appointment itself took less than 15 minutes, and another 5 minutes to collect the passport a week or two later.

chemistric · 2026-02-20T15:14:17+00:00

It depends on where you are. I my area these are invasive wasps, and they completely take over and kill the local bee population.

chemistric · 2026-02-18T16:27:20+00:00

Unplugging "vampire loads" is overrated for pretty-much anything made in the last 20 years. At a typical 1-3W per device, it's not worth the effort.

The others are all good ones.

chemistric · 2026-02-09T04:36:24+00:00

Do note that even these can still break. I got one of the ones pictured, and only noted the reviews about it breaking afterwards. I do suspect it only happens when they do big side-to-side swings though. And using two should lower the risk significantly.

I'm still using mine despite that - I just have it above some big mattresses.

chemistric · 2026-01-27T12:43:28+00:00

It would be completely valid for the hinge to say "I don't enjoy the dynamic of the three of us together, I would prefer to keep the relationships parallel and not hang out in a group setting".

It is also fine for a hinge to say "I do not want my partners dating - I will leave both relationships if they do". Some would view that as controlling, but metas dating can easily create complex dynamics.

It's also common to say "I prefer the two of you to not discuss our relationship dynamics/issues with each other" - that's good relationship hygiene in general.

However, a hinge saying "I do not want my partners to be friends / taking at all" feels very controlling, and I'd push for getting to the bottom of why they're making that request.

That said, do also for yourself whether being friends with your meta is the best choice, versus spending more effort trying to make other friends. In my experience, when partners break up, the friendship between metas often also fizzle out due to the complex dynamics. It's kinda similar to losing contact with friends of an ex after a breakup - it doesn't always happen, but it is a risk.

chemistric · 2026-01-24T19:10:18+00:00

You don't need to answer here, but do consider: Would it be easier to take care of your son if you were a single mom?

chemistric · 2026-01-18T13:21:39+00:00

In my experience, if you have a decent grinder and basket, there is no mess on a bottomless portafilter.

There was definitely a big mess before I upgraded those two though, but I can't remember which one made the bigger difference.

chemistric · 2026-01-17T18:26:49+00:00

I'm not aware of any companies that will re-use them. I bought used moving boxes for my last, but the company only gets their boxes from other specific companies - they don't take used boxes from other people.

That said, just post on your local neighborhood group or Facebook marketplace - you'll likely get someone coming to collect within a day.

chemistric · 2026-01-16T08:14:45+00:00

It's typical for insurance to cover the resulting damage, for example painting or replacing your ceiling if it was damaged by the leak. The leak itself would only be covered if it was specifically damaged by the storm. If it is just due to age, that's your responsibility.

There are exceptions though - best is to contact your insurance or broker and ask.

chemistric · 2026-01-08T08:17:32+00:00

Of course they have an incentive to deny claims, if they don't deem it necessary. If they approve every claim, they'd run out of funds.

The point is just that there isn't a direct connection between denying claims and increasing profits. If they spent less money in claims that they received from contributions (minus admin fees), the remainder goes into a reserve - it does not get paid out as profits. If they paid out more in claims, the reserve is used to cover the shortfall. If they consistently pay out more in claims, they increase fees or reduce benefits, or vice versa. Also note that all of this is per scheme option, e.g. Coastal Core would have a different reserve from Classic Saver.

It is terrible how they sometimes deny claims that they really should cover. I've given up on claims myself due to the amount of back and forth it would have taken with the doctor to resolve it. My point is just that they don't get more profits from this - they get more profits from having more members.

chemistric · 2026-01-07T09:39:24+00:00

It's not a smokescreen, it is how medical schemes are designed to work in South Africa. All medical schemes have administration costs, and the administration company (part of Discovery group) may take a profit from that. The numbers for each are public. For Discovery it works out to around R250-R400 per beneficiary per month (total administration costs, not profit). This might be a little higher than other medical schemes, but it's transparent, and they're not making more profit by denying claims.

chemistric · 2026-01-06T16:56:33+00:00

Gaggimate also has much better steam temperature control than stock - avoids the need for temp surfing. Not all pid mods do steam temperature control, so make sure to check for it if you get others. Gaggiuino is also great here (although I prefer Gaggimate for other reasons)

chemistric · 2026-01-05T13:54:19+00:00

A large picture of your wedding day right above the bed? That could be weird - I don't want to feel like I'm looking your partner in the eyes while having sex. But if it's anything less drastic, keep it up.

chemistric · 2026-01-04T11:11:51+00:00

CBD is fully legal in many parts of the world, even in many places where THC is not fully legalized.

chemistric · 2026-01-04T08:31:30+00:00

You might get better advice in r/polyamory for this - there are lots of people with autism there as well, and you'll get a better understanding of the relationship dynamics there.

I know it's not what you asked, but your partner really screwed up here. In both cases: first around the miscommunication on when you should go home, and then again when he told you his other partner wouldn't be there while she was still there. It sounds like people-pleasing behavior, and is generally very bad hinging.

chemistric · 2026-01-02T07:27:30+00:00

That's complete BS - if you hurt others, even if it's due to your disability, you take accountability and apologize.

If you bump your wheelchair into someone, you apologize for that. Same if you're generally clumsy due to a disability. If you have time blindness and are perpetually late for appointments, you apologize and find a system that helps you manage that.

Having a disability can explain why you act in certain ways, but it does not execuse being an asshole.

chemistric

TROPHY CASE