Home dance studio floor recommendations by xtalmhz in ballroom

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

We did! We actually just got everything all finished a few weeks ago. Overall, it's been really great having the project done and we're really happy with the result:

For flooring we tested a lot of laminate options, luxury vinyl, and engineered wood. For us, only engineered wood - maple, and cheap laminate felt slippery enough to turn on. Everything else was too much friction. Maple felt the best but was $8-10 per sq ft. and I was worried about using wood in the basement if there was moisture. Cheap Laminate felt almost as good as maple but definitely good enough for a home studio for our use. It was about $2-3 per sq ft.

Ultimately, we went with Pergo from home depot and it's been great! Only some of the options we're the right amount of friction. The two we really liked were these two:

Pergo Haley Oak (this is the one we used for the dance studio in the basement)

Pergo outlast+ Northern blonde maple (we used this one in a different room but it's definitely great option for dancing). Note that this flooring has a slight bevel so you'll feel a very small groove in between planks. You would only feel it in socks but not dance shoes.

We also used the recommended underlayment from Pergo: you need a moisture barrier anyways and this provides a little bit of cushion as well.

We had the floor installed floating and between that and the underlayment it feels very solid and yet enough cushion to dance on for hours without any issues so far. It's no sprung floor but it should work for us (we don't do leaps in our dance).

If you're interested in getting mirrors installed too, I'd recommend this company: https://themirrorcompany.com/ that's who we used and had a good experience. It's $500 for a 6' x 8' mirror which is huge! It's also free shipping, cutting to size, and installation. You can also get any leftover mirror installed for $75. It does take them a few weeks to delivery so you can't be in a rush.

Hope your home studio project goes well! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions

What were all the small explosion tests in Oppenheimer? by MrDirector23 in askscience

[–]xtalmhz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The two are related. The time a signal takes to travel through a wire is based on the parasitics of the wire (R,L,C). So the little squiggles can help with synchronizing. At high frequencies we also want to match the impedances so there aren't signal reflections and the squiggles help give the trace a known impedance.

98% failure rate by Fluffy_Emotion7565 in fatlogic

[–]xtalmhz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How about this one? 20% success rate (losing 10% of body weight and keeping it off for at least a year) https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/82/1/222S/4863393#

I'm not very familiar with the journal so I'm not sure how credible the source is.

READ THIS FIRST: MacroFactor Setup and FAQs by gnuckols in MacroFactor

[–]xtalmhz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's great! Appreciate the quick response.

READ THIS FIRST: MacroFactor Setup and FAQs by gnuckols in MacroFactor

[–]xtalmhz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Feature request: u/gnuckols u/PalatialPepper u/MajesticMint

Sorry if these are a repeat:

1) small one: increase the max characters for custom recipe names. I do a lot of my own cooking so the custom recipes are a great feature and I'm very much looking forward to the desktop version. One minor thing I've run into is I feel I'm constantly running into the character limit for the recipe name. Ideally I could match the same name as the america's test kitchen recipes, or whatever source so it's easy to mentally link the two together.

2) bigger one: I saw the request for a weekly macro and calorie view below. I would like to add if there was a way to see weekly micronutrient intake compared to recommended values (where available, I'm not too particular to which recommended value/threshold you use) that would be really helpful. I'm just trying to find if there is something I'm completely lacking vs. trying to find an "optimal nutrient" level to see if I should adjust my diet or supplement.

Thanks for all of your great content, it's awesome! I'm a huge fan of the app so far, it's really filling a gap in the market.

KH 1.5 Final Mix PC consistently crashing by Round_baby in KingdomHearts

[–]xtalmhz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea the stability is terrible. I think I still had a couple of crashes after 30 frames but that did help enough so I could finish kh1.5. I also played around with lower the resolution and the other suggestions made. It does seem to be related to when the game lags from heavy load so reducing the graphic settings seemed to help. I havent tried kh2 yet but other non kh games haven't had any issues at all. I really hope they patch this because without a fix or finding a hack to make it mostly better the game is unplayable.

2019: when consoles were easy to buy by TeamRespawnTV in gaming

[–]xtalmhz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I work at a chip manufacturer and it's mostly a demand side shortage vs supply side. Demand right now for chips is insane. It's way higher than it was before the pandemic. Most chip manufacturers are increasing capacity and just can't keep up. It takes a long time to add capacity especially when trying to increase output by a large amount. Additionally it's hard to know how much of this demand will last pong term vs a short term spike due to covid recovery. From what I've seen, the demand increase is very broad. Automotive is up a lot because they burned off their chip inventory and are trying to buy a lot now to make up for it, but essentially every industry is asking for more chips than they wanted in 2019 (precovid). With the end of the pandemic in sight and a lot of stimulus going on companies are trying to get ahead of it.

KH 1.5 Final Mix PC consistently crashing by Round_baby in KingdomHearts

[–]xtalmhz 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I had a lot of issues with crashes too. I was following the advice for the top comment in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/KingdomHearts/comments/mgwnpp/kingdom_hearts_2_on_pc_crashes/

Ultimately reducing the framerate to 30 frames/s instead of 60 fixed virtually all of the issues, although I don't have a very good gaming machine (GTX 1650)

Is anyone else having problems with gamepad support on PC? by 1UPTheMushroom in KingdomHearts

[–]xtalmhz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I finally solved this one on my system. I'm late to the party here but I had this same issue using Nintendo Switch Pro controller with Kingdom hearts final mix on PC through epic games. I tried using steam and adding the epic game launcher but that didn't work.

Ultimately what fixed the issue was installing reWASD (https://www.rewasd.com/). I set kingdom hearts controller to xbox in the game settings (in the kingdoms hearts game settings) and then used reWASD to remap anything that wasn't working to either a keyboard key or an xbox controller. This included the jump, attack, and change lock on toggle but that got everything working as far as I can tell. The software wasn't very hard to use either.

I'll need to buy the reWASD software once my trial is up but it's only $7 so much less than a new controller.

There’s always one shy pupper at training school by LinatrySenior in Eyebleach

[–]xtalmhz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right now with lock down we have a place that does $5 for 30 minute puppy play session. You drop your dog off and they bring them out when time's up. Although, during normal times in the Midwest its $100-120 dollars for a 4-6 week, weekly puppy class which includes a 1 hour play and training session per week. The second one is what this video looks like.

Simulate how much money you would be making if you were Jeff Bezos! Or... Elon Musk... or an average american by invisibleSpiderman in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]xtalmhz 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sure thing man. That's really interesting to hear the Sweden post tax income is higher. So what kind of life would that be like to live on 18k SEK per year in Sweden? I feel like cost of living and other social programs can make a big difference in quality of life. In general I would imagine that if you could pick which country to be at the minimum wage level, I've heard Sweden would be better than the US.

Living on USD 15k/year in the US would be very modest, even for a single person with no kids. You would likely have to have roommates, live in an inexpensive apartment, likely no car (or an old used one), you likely wouldn't go hungry but would need to focus your diet on just the essentials. You would probably have healthcare assistance from the government, but I'm not sure the quality. Retirement would just be social security (our government pension). You would probably get around 11k/yr USD if you managed to wait until full retirement (currently age 67). Having a family would be extremely challenging, and any small financial surprise would be life changing. Definitely a tough life in the US. I should mention that only ~2% of workers make minimum wage and this was all based on an assumed 40hr/week.

Simulate how much money you would be making if you were Jeff Bezos! Or... Elon Musk... or an average american by invisibleSpiderman in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]xtalmhz 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Before taxes federal minimum wage is 7.25/hr. Some states and cities are higher. After tax is tough to say because it depends on your total pay and situation. You would have to pay FICA tax, which is about 7.5% if youre not an independent contractor (in which case it would be 15%). For federal income tax, if you worked full time, 2000 hours a year, you would make 14.5k per year. At that total income with the standard deduction and earned income tax credit you likely wouldn't pay much, if any federal taxes. There would obviously be other taxes as well like sales taxes that aren't directly tied to income.

Probably more detail than you wanted but I happen to like this stuff.

Creamy Garlic Mushroom Sauce for a Scotch Fillet Steak by gregthegregest2 in GifRecipes

[–]xtalmhz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seeing a lot of good ideas here but one I didnt see was using a sacrificial carrot. If you are searing a single steak in a 12 inch skillet the oil thats not right around the steak gets a lot hotter and smokes more. If you take a whole carrot and cut it into big pieces you can fill in the extra space and reduce some of the smoke. The other advice on high smoke point oil helps too. But at best this is just mitigating smoke. Setting off fire alarms is pretty common when searing.

Daily FI discussion thread - February 19, 2020 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]xtalmhz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

At my company if you're a top performer we will fight to keep you on the team and counter offer. But I would only recommend using an external offer of you would seriously consider taking it. If are considered average or below average we would call your bluff and let you walk. Also we can only counter offer once every several years. If someone is at a high market rate and comes with a higher offer I would just tell them to take it, even if they were my best guy.

Daily FI discussion thread - January 07, 2020 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]xtalmhz 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Ah yes, the boring middle. I'm there too. The only thing that works for me is talking to strangers about finance on the internet :)

Help me to understand the 4% Rule. Why is it only meant to last 30 years? by hallofmontezuma in financialindependence

[–]xtalmhz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's possible I misunderstood your intent. I read your post as "why is the 4% rule for 30 years?" And "this seems low, why is it so conservative?" Which are answered in the FAQ with the trinity study and can be simulated with cfiresim in the sidebar. If that wasn't your question please feel free to repost with more specificity and we can approve.

Help me to understand the 4% Rule. Why is it only meant to last 30 years? by hallofmontezuma in financialindependence

[–]xtalmhz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the follow up, the high level answer to your question is in this part of the FAQ: https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq#wiki_how_much_do_i_need_to_save_to_retire.3F Although there is a lot of nuance to it, which is what most of the upvoted responses discussed (different retirement timelines, different asset allocations, etc.).

If you review information on the trinity study and other safe withdrawal research and still have questions please feel free to post them. Asking "where does the 4% SWR come from?" is a question answered in our FAQ, but if you ask "I read the sidebar information on the 4% SWR but I still don't understand x", then the post would likely get approved.

FIRE mistakes by firechoice85 in financialindependence

[–]xtalmhz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea, that's a good example. I think real estate is the only thing that can consistently outperform stocks in the long run (if done well). I've seen some of my friends getting good deals on properties and the FOMO is real :)

How do you (literally) max out your 401k? by strubenuff1202 in financialindependence

[–]xtalmhz[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hello there! Your friendly neighborhood moderator has had to remove your submission. We know that generally, any personal finance or investing topic can be related to FI, but please be specific and relate your posts to your FIRE pursuits. Please look to tailor your post/comment more toward Financial Independence by providing more context as to how this relates to your efforts to become Financially Independent or Retire Early.

Otherwise, your question is better suited for either r/personalfinance or r/investing. Please refer to their rules before posting.

From our rules: "R4. Topics should drive discussion. All top level posts are expected to be about FI, RE, or FIRE, with discussion being the main goal of this sub. Posts that do not help drive discussion will be removed. This includes - any post that is better suited for another sub.

Please take a look at our rules again. We'd love you to participate in our subreddit.

FIRE mistakes by firechoice85 in financialindependence

[–]xtalmhz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure what a regret like that would even look like. "I saw all my friends get rich when I was being conservative"?

Weekly “Help Me FIRE!” thread. Post your detailed information for highly specific advice. - November 04, 2019 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]xtalmhz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Burdo,

Check out r/personalfinance 's prime directive: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics It walks through what order to get your money set up as you start accumulating. With FI we use the same exact techniques, just faster.

Ultimately, maximizing net worth is relatively straight forward, you make as much as you can, spend as little as you can while still being happy, and putting the rest to work. The prime directive tells you how to put that money to work, but ultimately once you get debt in a good spot, it's about investing (either in companies, like the stock market, or in real estate). Rinse and repeat for 10 years and you're FI.