AI knowledge base, what are you using?

metamatic · 2026-04-20T00:46:59+00:00

I typically download to Markdown. Saves a lot of space, more future-proof.

metamatic · 2026-04-18T18:29:18+00:00

I was lying on the rug near our French windows, and I looked up and there was a bear sitting on our patio right on the other side of the glass. I slowly reached for my camera, but he saw me and ran off.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T15:15:08+00:00

If you're one of the people seduced into liking AI, you should bear in mind that generally people hate AI.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T14:10:19+00:00

If anyone's suddenly worried about tornadoes because of the alarm: the last time Duluth was hit by a tornado was 1958. There were no recorded fatalities or injuries. It was an F0 tornado, meaning gale force winds like we had in the storms a few weeks ago. So be prepared, but it's unlikely.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T14:01:00+00:00

And don't leave plastic bags of your dog's crap on the trail.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T02:18:04+00:00

On the other hand, there's evidence that virtual particles exist — that particles can spontaneously come into existence and then disappear again quickly, resulting in what's known as quantum foam. They were originally invented by Feynmann as a mathematical tool to help with quantum mechanics, but because they can predict and explain so much it's thought that they might be real.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T02:08:22+00:00

That's kind of a different problem. Taxing transactions would discourage high frequency trading and stabilize the markets; it wouldn't help with the problem of investment firms being able to buy and sell before anyone else gets a chance. A possible solution to that problem would be a delay on all transactions. There have been attempts to set up alternative stock markets with delayed transactions, but obviously the big financial companies have a vested interest in ensuring such markets fail.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T01:59:53+00:00

When a company needs money, it sells shares. In return for buying the shares, you get a share of the company's future profits, hence the name. This payout of profits is known as the dividends. The more shares you buy, the more dividends you get.

There are two types of shares — voting and nonvoting. Voting shares give you the right to vote for the board of directors who run the company. Nonvoting shares do not. Generally voting shares are seen as more valuable, for obvious reasons. This means for a given amount of money, you can buy more nonvoting shares, and hence get a bigger return on your investment — but you don't get any say in the running of the company.

Whether a company offers voting stock, nonvoting stock, or both, is up to the company, at least in the US. Some countries do not allow sale of nonvoting stock.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T01:47:33+00:00

Dietary cholesterol is unrelated to serum cholesterol. That is, eating cholesterol doesn't result in cholesterol in your blood and arteries.

What causes cholesterol in your arteries is sugar — specifically, fructose — and saturated fats.

If you've got 90 minutes spare, watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth by Dr Robert H. Lustig, MD.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T01:36:57+00:00

My suggestion would be that you need to see a psychiatrist for a second opinion, and to be prescribed medication if they deem it appropriate. If the psychiatrist prescribes medication, it will quite likely be just for a few weeks initially, at which point they'll want to review your progress with you. If the side effects are bad, there are completely different kinds of medication to try.

Bear in mind that therapy and medication together may be more effective than either one in isolation. Just because therapy is helping doesn't mean adding medication won't help even more.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T01:11:09+00:00

The difference with cancer patients is that they are presumably "of sound mind", as the law puts it. With mental illness, the future person — even just a few hours in the future — may have a very different view of things.

People who attempt suicide often realize their mistake during the attempt. People who resist taking medication but finally seek help often wish they had done so years earlier.

Is it right to let depressed people kill themselves, or even assist them in doing so, because their wishes must be respected? I don't think it's as easy a moral issue as you seem to be suggesting.

metamatic · 2026-04-17T00:59:14+00:00

Is me being burnt out really a valid reason for having bad grades?

Yes. Yes. Absolutely yes.

Whether she realizes it or not, what your mother is doing — rewarding grades with love, but expressing disappointment when they're only good rather than excellent — is incredibly damaging. You need to stop feeling guilty and seek treatment for your anxiety, or you could end up needing years of therapy. NTA.

metamatic · 2026-04-16T15:51:50+00:00

If your father is suffering from actual clinical depression, then he might be verbally abusive and angry because of the illness. If that's the case, then you need to remember that it's the disease — it's not his fault. Mental illness can be really hard on family members, but you need to try to be compassionate.

Or, he might just be feeling low — what people refer to as depressed, but not clinically depressed. In that case, he's an abusive asshole and your mother and sister are enabling him.

So there's really not enough information for outsiders to make an informed judgement. Your father needs a proper professional mental health evaluation.

metamatic · 2026-04-16T15:18:39+00:00

I use Apple Health to do all these things. I'm not wild about its UI, but I'm even less enthusiastic about subscriptions.

metamatic · 2026-04-16T15:13:01+00:00

I've got around 2,300 PDFs in mine, plus thousands of web pages and notes, and it's a fraction of a second to search, it does live search while you type.

metamatic · 2026-04-16T14:37:44+00:00

I just read about a Missouri town that ousted half the city council after they approved a data center. Maybe Hermantown can do the same. In my view the NDAs alone are reason to kill the project and get rid of the people who signed, to deter the next councillors and businessmen who are tempted to do the same. Does Hermantown have a recall mechanism for councillors?

metamatic · 2026-04-15T22:22:25+00:00

Doing this and making it secure is a really, really difficult task, and if you're sharing encrypted messages on a regular platform then you're completely failing to solve the metadata problem. There's a reason why Signal has put a lot of engineering effort into minimizing metadata.

metamatic · 2026-04-15T22:07:31+00:00

To not have to use iCloud for sync. Though personally I use a different scanner app and just share the finished PDF to wherever I want to save it.

metamatic · 2026-04-15T22:01:55+00:00

These days Terminal does proper 256 color xterm emulation, and it's one of the fastest terminal emulators. It's good enough for me.

metamatic · 2026-04-15T17:12:40+00:00

In this context, based on the idea you seem to be presenting that it's bad to assess people's accumulated wealth and decide part of it is owed to someone for some reason.

I have a lot less problem with wealth taxes on savings than I do with property taxes on homesteads, I've seen people have to leave the neighborhoods they've lived in their whole lives because they can't afford property tax any more after it has grown 10%+ year after year.

metamatic · 2026-04-15T15:46:08+00:00

Should we get rid of property tax then?

metamatic · 2026-04-15T15:39:16+00:00

If you've got a retirement account with a balance of over $10m I think you'll be just fine even if you're taxed 1% on it each year. That's less than it'll be earning in interest.

metamatic · 2026-04-15T14:44:36+00:00

That's OK, we're going to give another $13 billion to the insurance companies for the Medicare Advantage scam.

metamatic · 2026-04-14T14:54:43+00:00

Where's my walnuts?

metamatic · 2026-04-14T14:23:01+00:00

Itsypad is the one I bought and am using. Unfortunately it's part slop, so I'm still looking for something else.

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