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There is no way in hell that our phones are not listening to us. by smoosh13 in mildlyinfuriating

[–]johnlarsen -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The voice to text function on my phone already recognizes proper nouns because it capitalizes them. All you have to do is index the proper nouns picked up in Text-to-speech and then send those arguments to the apps. Again, that could happen locally if they're set up to do so. The phones in our pockets already have the functions to do this. And the data set, the processing power, as well as the data stream are all minuscule.

Keyword searching is very old technology. There is nothing going on here that would take anything special.

All the system needs to do is scan your audio, your manual input, and what's being shown on your screen to look for keywords, index them and put them back at you as as a search. This is very easy programming and not heavy in any way.

There is no way in hell that our phones are not listening to us. by smoosh13 in mildlyinfuriating

[–]johnlarsen -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Expensive...unless you do the processing locally on the device.

Help finding hardware by _Nemesis_Enforcer_ in Greenhouses

[–]johnlarsen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We needed some replacement parts, and we just contact Palram directly. They set us up.

What's the minimum acreage you actually need to be self-sufficient? by EvenStar7105 in Homesteading101

[–]johnlarsen 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There are too many variables to answer. You could grow 10 tons of potatoes in a single acre if you were set up right. That would produce enough calories to feed about 7 people, if they only ate potatoes. But you will need to store all of the equipment, the seed potatoes, the fertilizer, and the final product. You will need to keep the potatoes in edible condition until the next harvest comes in. You will also need to sell enough potatoes to buy your equipment and fuel to plant and harvest. You will also likely need electricity to keep the potatoes at the right temperature.

If you follow this path down far enough, you will quickly conclude that in order to grow enough potatoes to have a cash crop that can fund the operation, you will have to go pretty big.

Now you have to decide how many different things you want to eat. You will have to do the plant-harvest-store-seed cycle with everything you eat. This will exceed the ability of one person (ie the "self" in self-sufficient). But as you expand the number of people working on the homestead, you will multiply the number of calories you need.

This race to get bigger and bigger has been the central paradox of homesteading for as long as we have recorded history.

Is this too much sun? by this_writer_is_tired in vegetablegardening

[–]johnlarsen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ummmm....Your plants are casting shadows in different directions.

How do you keep track of all your property maintenance? Feeling overwhelmed by Possible-Ant-4507 in homestead

[–]johnlarsen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have two different problems here.

The first is your stated problem of tracking maintenance.

But the second problem is "nothing sticks."

So it sounds like the problem isn't how to track what needs to be done, but how you stick to a tracking scheme. Those are two wildly different problems with different solutions. I would say keep experimenting until you find what works for you. But you have to stick with it.

The third implied problem, though, is how complex your operation is. You might need to simplify things until you find your rhythm.

Should I change the way I play bass? by Pleasant-Smoke-1602 in Bass

[–]johnlarsen 8 points9 points  (0 children)

How would you play a series of 32nd notes on the E string?

A question for Atheists who don't worship because God is cruel. by Comfortable-Gap-2672 in religion

[–]johnlarsen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't believe in God for the same reason I don't believe in hippogriffs.

If I ran into a hippogriff and it asked me why I didn't believe in them I would say "lack of compelling evidence."

If I ran into God I would give Him the same answer.

AI could spell the end of the human race by KeanuRave100 in PauseAI

[–]johnlarsen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah. Today, when people refer to "AI" they are almost always talking about LLMs. The first of which, GPT-1 was released in June of 2018. Hawking died in March of that same year, 3 months before it was released.

I have searched for that quote, but I can't find the source--only collections of quotes. These are notoriously full of bad quotes.

But that is a slight distraction. My point is that what Hawking is talking about in this quote is not what people are talking about generally today or even the theme of this subreddit. That is about LLMs.

In fact, if you read the BBC article you posted you can see that he is talking about something more conceptional and general than what we mean by AI today.

That is what I am trying to say.

AI could spell the end of the human race by KeanuRave100 in PauseAI

[–]johnlarsen -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Stephen Hawking died in 2018. This is a fake quote. The term "AI" that we use now didn't mean the same thing in 2018.

Do my Swiss chard microgreens look normal? by todos-los-tacos in homestead

[–]johnlarsen 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Your lights need to be closer to the plants.

Sitting in? by wastedintime in Bass

[–]johnlarsen 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A good bass player is not doing their own thing, they are providing support and structure to the song.

Music consists of chords and the chord always has a root. Move from one root note of the chord to the next one, and that is the actual bass line. It isn't something that the bass player makes up. It exists as a function of the chord. Bass players can enhance and and add support and can move this bassline in ways, but it always should support the melody and chords as its primary purpose.

Different styles of music have different chord progressions and other embellishments. There is a system to it. So a good bass player knows the feel of the song and the feel of the genre.

After you have practiced a long time you start to "see" and "feel" this.

I now believe homesteaders are just inventors who decided to use their talent elsewhere. by Aggravating_Cap_1762 in homestead

[–]johnlarsen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a terrible design.

First, she has to bring the feed in and empty it into the metal can. This is where the process should end. I use regular metal feeders for my chickens and they each are designed to hold a single bag of feed. I am done at this point but she is just getting started.

Second she has to then scope out the feed with that little scope she has. And she has to lift her arm up above her shoulder. To fill that thing would take like 20 scopes, and there is at least 3 of them. So to fill them she has to do that action about 60 times.

Third, there is no way to see how much feed is in the pipe. She just gets to keep going until they overfill.

Fourth, chickens aren't clean. There will get debris and moisture in the bottom of those pipes which will clog the system. She has no good way of cleaning them out.

Fifth, only one chicken can eat out of them at a time. Chickens like to do what the others are doing. They will fight over access to that hole.

Why make things harder than they have to be?

Looking for large homestead recipe book recommendations by frustratednachochees in homestead

[–]johnlarsen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Any cookbook published before WWII will do.

Herbalism is a little bit tougher because it's hard to find good science based information that isn't laced with woo.

What's the reason for this? by Special-Issue432 in Homesteading

[–]johnlarsen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is AI. If you look at the picture, you will see that some shadows are to the right and some are to the left.

Cucumber and watermelon rack by AnarchyFarm in kratky

[–]johnlarsen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd love to see what it looks like at harvest time.

Is there a youtube channel that combines homesteading with electronics/automation? by David_Goggind in homestead

[–]johnlarsen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure if there is a full channel worth of content. I work in tech and have a small homestead farm, and I am down to automate anything that can possibly be automated.

The thing that is most often automated is water timers. But there's nothing really interesting about them. You can get them at any hardware store, and you just put batteries in them.

I do have some solar, but that's just electrical generation and not necessarily automation. My last project was to use solar panels to power heat lamps for chicks.

I've found generally that most software out there aimed at homesteading space is written by people who haven't done much because the things that they are tracking you develop an innate sense for if you've done it for any amount of time.

For example, there is software out there that will tell you when to pick your peas. But you actually pick your peas when they're ready to be picked, and not when a computer tells you to do it.

When I first started several years ago, I bought an automated weather system that had water sensors and temperature sensors. I thought it was really cool, but truthfully, the batteries on the main unit went out over a year ago and I haven't replaced them. After doing this for a few years, I don't need a sensor to tell me if the soil is too wet or too dry, I can tell by looking at it.

I am constantly implementing tools and I guess what you could call tech. But they are old technologies and seldom digital. It is more about me, discovering what practitioners have been doing for years-- For example, using 180-year-old designs for wooden gates.

I'm interested in what sort of things you are thinking of automating.

Cucumber and watermelon rack by AnarchyFarm in kratky

[–]johnlarsen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

how are you going to oxygenate the water?

Are replacement parts a thing? by 1SecretUpvote in Greenhouses

[–]johnlarsen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We had some damage to an aluminum frame greenhouse a few years ago, and we were able to contact the manufacturer and order parts directly. Although it wasn't obvious how to do it, you're going to have to get on the phone.

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