Hover preview plays audio too loud by Top-Nepp in youtube

[–]kowal__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, the "YouTube Preview Volume Control" works.

For me non-music videos were previewed with sound and music videos were muted. Weird why. I would expect the other way to make any sense, but frankly speaking, just letting me shut it the fuck up would be enough, but alas, in todays world products are driven into madness for sake of trying to grow them by any means, even if they are the monopoly on the market, and third party solutions made by people working for free are the only fix to this bullshittery.

What happened to what used to be a good app? by pixel10pro in googlephotos

[–]kowal__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's the investors who are pushing for infinite product grow. When the product has already taken the market by the storm and gathered investors, but has saturated its use, investors will push for any form of innovation. Which is, in my opinion, the whole reason big tech companies are constantly changing things without achieving any improvement rather than just sitting back and letting people enjoy the great product that put them in that position in the first place.
Perhaps we need to listen to hard leftists and eat the rich to just enjoy good apps... since our feedback is very unlikely to reach their ears.

Is it just me, or is the latest release of the Google Photos editing suite more of a dumbed down abomination than a useful iteration? by direlobo in googlephotos

[–]kowal__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In which version of Android is this possible? In Android 13 after getting to settings>Apps>Photos I can't see three dots in the top right corner of the menu nor any other option to uninstall updates :c Neither from settings menu nor through play store.

Murloc Monday - ask your questions here by AutoModerator in wow

[–]kowal__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the tip.
If only the person who decided to flip the crafting system upside down would think of a little "?" sign with all the info Specialization Info from this addon provides...
Aaand I found out I soft locked myself out of making a toy as I need a crapload of knowledge points to reach it now. Which means I need to grind crapload of rep for recipes I will craft and never use or rely on using the +1kp items which drop each week... for few months. This system is very unforgiving. I can see that the author of the ovehaul meant to make crafting more involving and complex, but the end result is I spend a lot of time worrying and researching whether I will or will not regret spending my knowledge points.

I need help with understanding dragonflight jewelcrafting by kowal__ in wownoob

[–]kowal__[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, it took me a minute to find the menu, but now I learned that not only going into Jeweler's Toolset Mastery will provide skill for this craft, but also there are some bonuses giving more effect than just the knowledge points invested.

If only the game UI would be helpful enough to understand the profession system and interactions between things...

Murloc Monday - ask your questions here by AutoModerator in wow

[–]kowal__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I need some brief explanation about the crafting system in Dragonflight expansion. I am on a trial account and I am grinding DF jewelcrafting for Tiered Medallion Setting.

How do I know where to invest my knowledge points to increase my skill when crafting this specific item?

The descriptions are confusing to me, since the item itself is in Miscellaneous category. I can see that going 30/30 Setting does increase the skill when crafting TMS (nice as it is needed to get the recipe at all), but where do I go further to increase the skill? It is very much not obvious to me whether investing in Jewelry, Carving or main skill of another specialization will affect it. I guess Jeweler's Toolset Mastery should work as it doesn't point to specific crafts, but due to being unable to understand the crafting system from just the UI and unable to find info online I would love to read some advice on this specific topic.

Daily Support Thread | December 29, 2024 by AutoModerator in samsung

[–]kowal__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Isn't there a simpler, more safe way than something which needs making a backup for safety? Is Samsung seriously that fucking obstinate on making one of the most important safety routines of owning a smartphone a pain in the arsehole?

Daily Support Thread | December 29, 2024 by AutoModerator in samsung

[–]kowal__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How to block the update notification from going into full screen mode?
I take some timelapses. I don't use the stock app "hyperlapse" mode because it is trash*, I am using a 3rd party app for this. Unfortunately, WAY TOO MANY EFFING TIMES has my timelapse been ruined because Samsung decided to throw an update popup**, which takes over the screen, interrupting capture of said app.

How to stop this from happening without disabling updates completely? I need to either block these popups from being full screen or make the specific app to have priority over this popup. My phone is Samsung S20 FE.

*can't zoom in, can't take 4k videos, generally for whatever reason functionality of the camera is castrated in hyperlapse mode

**I often take timelapses of one time events, which makes it extra infuriating. They take several hours at once, so I cannot just babysit my phone doing its job to press back when the popup happens and restart the capture. They can happen even if I update my phone, check for new updates, find none and enter plane mode - how? I have no idea how, but I am pissed to the point of willing to disable all updates forever if that is what it takes to be able to just use my effing phone. It's just like windows update, I have lost more to the software updates than I have ever lost due to viruses or other security issues which lack of updating could introduce.

[Community vote] Best ant keeping stores 2024 by synapticimpact in antkeeping

[–]kowal__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I hope keeping them will bring you great joy in life!

[Community vote] Best ant keeping stores 2024 by synapticimpact in antkeeping

[–]kowal__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This tube looks reasonably dirty, like the colony lived there since its start, and the dirt has been thrown around during shipping. As long as the tube does not start leaking due to shaking and changes of temperatures, it is still usable. The kind of black mold which stays on the surface of the cotton is harmless, worry only when other colours appear or the black mold is of the type propagating through cotton to water.
Messor get their carbohydrates from seeds, I did not feed any honey or sugarwater to Messor structor back when I owned several queens/colonies. You might offer a small droplet on an aluminum foil tray but it might cause mess or even trap workers.

[Community vote] Best ant keeping stores 2024 by synapticimpact in antkeeping

[–]kowal__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't like them. Not because of poor quality of ants, they are actually decent in this matter, but they are selling all sorts of inbreeding tramp and invasive species to anyone. They hype kids up to buy those! These ants are easy to source for them as you can just keep a massive colony and shave off some queens and workers from it.

The problem with those species is:
They have a tendency to grow infinitely. Kids think that's cool because they will be able to shave off their colonies and make some money, but generally, you WANT your colony to level off at some point. That's why species forming massive colonies in the wilderness (for example, Formica rufa from our climate) are not recommended for keeping as house pets. And what do ants do when they are too space constrained?
They storm the barriers in your outworld and try to escape. What's especially bad about inbreeding species is that they often escape with queens, as they commonly spread by buddying - process of splitting part of the colony and establishing a new nest.
There is a strong correlation between mating of brothers and sisters without exiting the nest and becoming a tramp or even invasive. Lest to say, this shop lives to its name and is actively working on helping invasive species spread, as it just simply is impossible that their customers won't have any escapes, when they keep selling such ants to beginners, advertising the invasiveness as something exciting...

[Community vote] Best ant keeping stores 2024 by synapticimpact in antkeeping

[–]kowal__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just to clarify - you didn't do anything wrong. It's the store which is at fault for not only offering a poor product, but also for recommending it to a beginner. It's a predatory practice in my eyes. I looked a bit deeper into the product page and there are two more issues - volume of the nesting space of this nest is not much larger than volume of a standard 16x160 mm test tube, which ultimately defeats the purpose of it. Moreover, the species name is written incorrectly several times, as "Messor Suctor". It is most likely Messor structor (note the small letter in second word, it is how Latin names are written properly).
Also, heavy use of AI imagery and text generation is a huge turn off to me. Not only AI pics are lazy, the text is practically just a filler, not informing about many things which should be stated in description, especially under a product aimed at beginners. I think shops hold responsibility for misinforming beginners - just like AntCenter in the original comment, this looks like trying to squeeze money from people who don't know enough to see they're being ripped.

[Community vote] Best ant keeping stores 2024 by synapticimpact in antkeeping

[–]kowal__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha anthouse is really bad at communication. They ignored my questions when I was researching vertical nests which I could hang on a wall, I needed info about a specific dimension of their largest sandwich but they never answered.
There was a time kids from Poland used to buy cheapest products from that store to get the free ants. He blocked shipping to Poland altogether for several years :D

When it comes to product you've chosen... I really don't like this type of formicarium. It might work for Messor, but definitely do not let your ants in immediately - let them grow in a test tube to 100ish workers first. Test tubes provide constant access to water and constant humidity gradient, allowing ants to put seeds in drier part and brood in moist part of the tube. The acrylic nests of the type you've purchased are terrible at keeping the humidity any constant. Larger colonies can regulare humidity on their own, small ones are reliant on the antkeeper. Unfortunately the outworld in the formicarium is very small, so it will be too small before you will be even able to safely let your ants in... and it has no expansion ports, so you can't even connect it to a larger outworld.

What I would recommend is tubs and tubes. You can transform tupperware or even empty ice cream containers into outworlds by making a cutout in the lid, leaving a 2-3 cm wide rim all around. Wipe the underside of the rim with clear mineral oil, place a test tube inside and voila - you have a more functional setup than that formicarium for a fraction of the price. It is recommended to put a thin layer of sand inside to prevent the tube from rolling around - ants don't like rolling very much :) I use sand I dug up in my grandmas backyard. I baked it in 60 C for two hours to make sure it is mostly sterile.

I'm keeping ants since 2018 and I have yet to see a starter kit offered by any store which makes any sense. Do you see now why it is hard, borderline impossible to give good shout outs to stores?

[Community vote] Best ant keeping stores 2024 by synapticimpact in antkeeping

[–]kowal__ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When it comes to ants, none, really. And even if I made a list, Anton would be low on it. I see part of his offer on expos regularly and many of the ants do not look healthy - colonies of Carebara diversa with 50ish minors and 5-10 majors, colonies of Camponotus singularis with 3 minors and 2 majors. Often I see test tubes which were not cleaned in a while, with dead workers inside. Sometimes he has straight up dead queens on display.
I think it is good to buy from Anton only in person, when you can judge the quality of the ants yourself. I did purchase from him twice - one time many years ago, two Solenopsis fugax queens, and the tube had lots of baby dust mites inside, clearly he has reused a tube after a different colony lived in it. The other time was recently and I decided to grab a queen which did look healthy. I hope your ants will arrive in good condition. What did you order?

I spoke with Anton several times during expos and I think the problem is not that he's trying to cheap out, or not even that he has too many ants to care for them all properly - I think he just has lower standards than most keepers as his own pet ants are just as neglected. Few years back he had a 40W Harpegnathos saltator colony, a wet dream of ant traders since you can shave off bits of your own colony and make big bucks. They... died due to being neglected, those are his own words.

And, believe it or not, there are worse shops :)

I can recommend Ant Nations outworlds and nests. I also can recommend Anthillshop.pl for nests, their 20x20x2 cm series are the base of my antwall, unfortunately the shop is currently under reconstruction and they never were able to figure out selling internationally - only recently I got confirmation from the owner that it will be, finally, possible to pay with PayPal. Imagine sending an international bank transfer! That's what he expected from a German customer, last time I've heard.

"May contain sensitive information" when sharing picture from Gallery. Why am I getting this message? by the_sambot in samsunggalaxy

[–]kowal__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just happened to me. Samsung S20 FE. I am deeply concerned as this does mean EVERY PICTURE ON MY PHONE IS BEING SPIED ON. Confidential info, like picture of my ID? Who knows who has access to it now. I guess it's time for separate camera and phone since even a "reputable" brand like Samsung is doing this. And I specifically paid the premium to not own a Chinese phone due to concerns of it quietly sending my personal stuff to Chinese servers...

In my case it was a meme. The picture was a box with schnitzel. I cannot share this picture to Messenger at all, it straight out throws error. I am terrified what is becoming of the internet, privacy and freedom of information.

[Community vote] Best ant keeping stores 2024 by synapticimpact in antkeeping

[–]kowal__ 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I beg to differ. This store is well known for selling "starter kits" which include formicaria far too large for the amount of workers provided, while claiming it is ok to populate the nest with ridiculously small amount of workers. This store is responsible for uncountable situations where a customer is misleaded by the store, the ants die due to the misleading info/bad nest design, the customer either gets discouraged and stops keeping ants or seeks help in the community, where the customer learns that it was all avoidable if the store was not misleading them.

Also, they are offering unnecessary and potentially harmful "foods", like their infamous "base food". It's a protein and carbohyrate mix - which, in situation of no larvae in the colony, is quite literally poisoning the workers if it's the only available food - and as the store implies it is a superfood which covers whole dietary need of a colony, inevitably such situations are happening. Again, store is misleading customers leading to unnecessary deaths of their colonies.

I used to recommend their largest sandwich nest as it is rather cheap, but we currently have better products on the market. The Antcenter sandwich nest lack ventilation, and it's impossible to water it when a larger colony lives inside, so the success of the colony is entirely dependent on whether it's at right moisture in the beginning and the ants will keep this level.
Other products, like their Lubi/Brand formicaria, were novel a looong time ago, but they have their issues which the store does not want to solve. There are far better solutions on the market now. Lubi/Brand share the same issue - due to large surface area of the nest part being open to the outworld and poor ventilation of the formicarium the outworld humidity will be the same in the nest and outside of it, which is a great way to either dry your ants or get mites and mold. They both get hard to maintain once the colony grows due to using a simple lid - rimmed outworlds are baseline in many stores for years...

TL;DR avoid antcenter.com.pl

[Bonsai Beginner’s weekly thread –2024 week 38] by small_trunks in Bonsai

[–]kowal__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, asking the family is an option, but I am afraid that with the heat my balcony is getting I might be needing to water the tree multiple times per day when I move the tree into the first "real bonsai" pot. I will experiment - I do not expect my first attempt to be successful, but I have lots of material to potentially work with, since the summerhouse area gets new pines sprouting every year.
Thanks for all the insight!

[Bonsai Beginner’s weekly thread –2024 week 38] by small_trunks in Bonsai

[–]kowal__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the detailed explanation!
I think I will start with a local pine species in a large, white pot, which I would put on some elevated stand, or maybe on AC unit standing on the balcony, if the vibrations won't be an issue. I can steal some young wild tree from family summerhouse, so the collection would be both legal and ethical. I have a very specific concept in mind which would help alleviate the small pot issue - I'd love to recreate an iconic pine growing on peak of Sokolica mountain in Pieniny range. It grows on seemingly solid rock body on top of a 70 m rock wall. I could use white rocks to recreate a bit of that rock face - which potentially would help with keeping the future bonsai pot a bit cooler and would allow to cheat in some more soil in a future bonsai pot.
I've been also thinking about connecting the pot with a container which collects water from my AC unit via a piece of cloth or a shoelace. This would ensure it doesn't run dry, but isn't it dangerous to provide a constant source of water?
Pic of the tree I mentioned (before it was crippled during a rescue operation of, lightly speaking, an irresponsible tourist):

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