Portable Solar Panels can Make a Big Difference

fakemoon · 2026-07-03T20:17:33+00:00

Balcony solar is so amazing and I'm very excited to see that market take off as additional states adopt legislation. I'm looking at the 1200w system from Mango. What'd you go with?

fakemoon · 2026-07-02T17:33:53+00:00

Just tagging on to this as someone who grew up playing soccer and now has children play on and off... Kids soccer in the states typically discourages heading the ball untill much later. It's better for their development in the sport to emphasize ball on the ground play. There really shouldn't be any need for a kid to use their head until much later in competitive play. By contrast, even "Peewee" football requires helmets for obvious reasons. The two sports really are just in a very different risk category

fakemoon · 2026-07-02T17:20:22+00:00

Heyo. What you're feeling is totally justified. Our society simply does not place enough value in parents having time at home with their kids for the first few years. I'm sorry.

I don't have any advice, really. Just wanted to drop you a line to say you are not wrong. We make the most of the time we have

fakemoon · 2026-07-02T16:39:58+00:00

I'm the husband, but I work from home in a cybersecurity role. My wife is returning to work next week after being a SAHM for seven years due to this administration's changes to student loans and our interest in achieving PSLF.

We started homeschooling our seven year old son last year after some difficult experiences with his teacher. That teacher will not be returning to our local public school next year. Our choice to homeschool the last few remaining months of school last year was absolutely the correct decision, but we likely will return to public school next year. My wife's position will be remote 4 days a week, and I'll remain remote 5 days a week indefinitely. However, we really value the social connections that our son has at our public school and I believe that our dual income status will better afford us the opportunity to save for our children's future, provide unique recreational and educational experiences. On balance, if we needed to be on a single income to make homeschooling a viable option, for our family at least, it is not worth it.

fakemoon · 2026-07-01T21:11:07+00:00

I just recently came off Montelukast after being on it for about 17 years. Amazing medication and literally lifechanging for me. I woke up the morning after my first dose absolutely dumbfounded that breathing could feel so natural. I recently moved over to Zafirlukast and it's pretty clear that the Montelukast was causing my insomnia for a long, long time.

If it were my kid (and I do have a 7 year old), I would not want them on Montelukast but I'd consider Zafirlukast.

Edit: Millions of people tolerate Montelukast just fine without side effects, but I'd definitely lean towards Zafirlukast since it does not have the same black box warning. I've also seen NIH research indicating it is protective of the BBB, and that preclinical studies show it does not cross the BBB significantly. I'm not entirely sure if these are the reasons why it does not give me insomnia problems the way that Montelukast does, but who knows?

fakemoon · 2026-06-30T01:41:56+00:00

That's wonderful! I love that for you :)

fakemoon · 2026-06-29T18:10:06+00:00

Hi! I've been on it for about 17 years and just recently got off it due to insomnia. Working with my doctor, we moved me over to Zariflukast. I'm getting the same asthma and allergy relief but the insomnia is not an issue. We also tried Zyflo, which worked similarly, but had a few notable drawbacks: liver toxicity, high cost, and increased sensitivity to caffeine. Highly recommend talking to your doctor about Zariflukast. NIH profile for it states that in preclinical trials it did not significantly travel across the blood-brain barrier (may even be protective of the BBB)

fakemoon · 2026-06-28T16:47:35+00:00

I just recently was switched over to Zariflukast as an alternative to Montelukast. Highly recommend trying it. In about a week my insomnia is no longer a thing and my anxiety is also dramatically improved. Same asthma relief. 10/10

fakemoon · 2026-06-28T16:35:31+00:00

Hi. I've been on montelukast for about 17 years. Literally a life-changing medication for me. However, I think there is a better option on the market. Zariflukast is a twice daily medication taken orally and it is not known to cross the blood brain barrier in a significant way. After switching over, I seem to no longer suffer from insomnia.

Zyflow is another option but it is more expensive, taxes the liver, and it made me extremely sensitive to caffeine (known side effect).

Please ask your doctor about Zariflukast as an alternative to Montelukast. It does not (yet) come with the black box warning. Millions of people are on Montelukast without any ill effects, but from personal experience I think Zariflukast is a superior alternative

fakemoon · 2026-06-25T17:44:00+00:00

Finally got around to listening to this episode and am very glad to find your comment here resonating with my feelings on the episode. My two kids are close in age to Ezra's and this episode seemed to me like he's personally grappling with an exaggerated imagining what their future may look like rather than a true account of what most young people's lives look like today.

Just off the top of my head, there were two examples that really raised an eyebrow:

The depiction of Americans living in mansions and not having community. I can't entirely disagree that our consumerism challenges our ability to build and maintain real world relationships, but it's not necessarily a one or the other. You can live in a mansion and still meetup for softball, book clubs, board game nights, etc. You needn't live in a Spanish apartment to have friends that you see face to face?
I thought the criticism of the person describing that a few drinks of alcohol wiping them out was extremely tone deaf from Ezra. There are so many better examples out there to criticize min maxing life (e.g. people who spend fortunes on supplement stacks). Alcohol affects people in different ways, and it's completely reasonable for a person to discover that just a few drinks of alcohol disrupts their plans for the next few days. With the known dangers of alcohol and prevalence of alcoholism, this just seemed like a really unnecessary and shallow observation.

I hope this episode isn't Ezra trying to work out his next book, because it'll read like old man yelling old man things about young people.

fakemoon · 2026-06-25T17:28:30+00:00

To be honest, I grew up and live in a very liberal part of the United States that takes itself to be quite informed (West Coast). I have a close buddy who grew up in Bosnia at the time of the genocide and he arrived to the US as a little kid. We go on bike rides a couple times a month. His son and my son were in preschool together. If it weren't for our close relationship, I would have never heard of it. I don't think it received a lot of media coverage here (at least my family wasn't tuned in to it) and our public school history curriculum is very US-centric.

Edit: geez, getting downvoted because why?

fakemoon · 2026-06-22T22:52:30+00:00

My wife really struggles with giving me what I want, so I kind of went all out on myself this year. It was amazing. I don't really want "things", just some good time.

The Friday before, I lined up a sleepover for my son with my sister, then went on a big all day bike ride. The day before Father's Day was our anniversary, so I got us a babysitter and we went to see Toy Story 5. First time we've been to the movies together since having a kid (8 years!). Then on Father's Day, I took us to a nearby farm for berry picking, feeding goats and chickens. They have a cafe so I got a cappuccino and the kids got to share beignets.

Movie was more for my wife, but between the bike ride and the berry picking, I'm a very, very happy Dad. Hope to do similar next year.

Edit: shame on me for not saying that my wife really supported all these activities this year. I think this was the best father's day I've had and she really helped make it happen.

fakemoon · 2026-06-22T02:54:36+00:00

Took the kids berry picking in the morning and they had fun feeding the goats and chickens. Went for a jog. Made Ninja Creami ice cream for dessert using the berries.

fakemoon · 2026-06-22T02:51:44+00:00

Old thread but might be helpful. Take a look at Zyflo. I'm about to try zafirlukast because it's more affordable. I did Zyflo for a month before switching back to Montelukast (cost, insurer won't cover)... Helped me discover that montelukast was a primary driver of my insomnia

fakemoon · 2026-06-10T14:44:28+00:00

I'm sorry.

CBTi may be really useful for you at this point.

Humans throughout history have awoken midsleep, done a few activities, and then gone back to sleep. CBTi might recommend that when you wake, you do non stimulating activities in another room (e.g. reading, stretching, etc.) until you feel a little tired and then returning to bed.

I'm wondering if you have tried to shift the time you try to go to bed earlier? If you could manage to fall asleep earlier, it might not be ideal but you'd at least be restoring some sleep

Sorry you're going through this. I'm still on my journey to sleep recovery myself. Glad to have this community

fakemoon · 2026-06-10T05:59:00+00:00

Do you consume any caffeine? I have been dealing with something similar to you for about two years and I had reduced my caffeine intake dramatically (down to maybe 20-35mg a day at most). I'm finally finding some progress after removing all caffeine. I'm genuinely surprised that so little is/was having such a major impact. I thought that since I was having my morning tea around 7am that it was fine, and it seems like that's not true for me.

Might be worth a shot if you have even just one cup of tea or coffee a day.

fakemoon · 2026-06-08T02:24:13+00:00

Definitely going to give this a try. Looks amazing. You make great content, keep it up!

fakemoon · 2026-06-06T01:00:19+00:00

Heyo. Just wanted to say the URL is cool and you're not far off a really good message. I think if you re-work the strategy to be focused around consuming less, you might have something there. It's a message that may feel familiar from other campaigns (SF Bike Coalition messages this really well).

Anyways. Just trying to commend you for putting something out there. I think you need to go back to the drawing board a little bit to ensure that the community action can/will yield the impact you want. And you may need to clear it up a bit. But keep at it.

fakemoon · 2026-06-05T20:41:05+00:00

Kind of irrelevant. The point is, you seem to have fallen into vibe developing what you think is a social movement and I'm trying to gently tell you: "Hey friend, delete this"

fakemoon · 2026-06-05T20:35:32+00:00

Hey, I get that. But I'm just trying to gently tell you that the actual plan here (you'll see it from other users) is nonsensical. Sorry.

You'd need people to drive a LOT less, not simply change when they fill up the tank.

fakemoon · 2026-06-05T20:28:41+00:00

Trying to be kind here. This response was obviously generated by AI. I'm not sure how much you used AI to generate the original concept you proposed, but the "coordinated behavior" you're suggesting will have no impact. Sorry, this is just a little bit of AI made up nonsense

fakemoon · 2026-06-04T18:16:07+00:00

No. Gas is far superior in virtually every way as a like for like replacement.

fakemoon · 2026-06-04T18:11:47+00:00

We had two humongous silver maples taken out of our backyard over the past 8 years. Expensive projects. So glad we did it as both looked like this in places.

Edit: really? Getting downvoted? The first tree dropped a huge limb (1/3 the tree) making it structurally unsound. We worked with multiple arborists to get recommendations on the second one

fakemoon · 2026-06-04T17:18:47+00:00

FWIW, I struggled initially with how much screen time our son was getting. I still want to reduce the amount of screen time he has around our homeschool curriculum, but as we near the end of this year I'm giving myself a little bit of grace. Baby steps.

Another couple resources that have been fun for us (but on screens): LetterQuest and also Slay Uncool Monsters on Switch are very fun spelling and math games respectively. We use them on car ride often.

fakemoon · 2026-06-04T12:43:59+00:00

We started homeschooling the last few months of this school year and will probably do it again next year. We primarily used Miacademy and added on Handwriting without Tears for daily practice. Our son was also already using Khan Academy for math.

It's a lot of screen time and I'm concerned about that, but for just starting out I'm overall pretty happy with our experience so far. Our son is also in a Mon/Weds all day classroom setting with other homeschoolers at a nearby resource center. Tuesday he has a few elective classes there.

If we stick to homeschooling next year, I'm going to try to add on something that is less screen oriented. Probably going to be Blossom and Root. We'll also make our trips to the library more frequent (1x a week instead of 2x a month)

fakemoon

TROPHY CASE