Talk nerdy to me :D
Kamen Rider.
Every episode shocker pops out another animal-themed augmented human to take over the world. The 70s aesthetic, the awesome goofy fight choreography, combined with Shunsuke Kikuchi’s groovy soundtrack, works wonders for me.
The way the shocker goons turn into foam and dissolve into the ground, is always a treat.
I grew up watching it and it never lost its charm.
Retro handhelds.
My favorite is between the monster (steam deck) and the custom build (miyoo mini plus). A few friends and I geek out over them. And custom Roms, indie devs, ect…
There’s a ton of Indies onastodon as well.
Aztecs.
Mixtec-Pueblo culture before European contact was vibrant, dynamic, and layered. It was reflected by its surrounding cultures of K’iche’ (Mayan), Chichimeca, Iréchikwa (Purepecha), and Otomi. Their books look like comics painted on accordions. I’ve been to Teotihuacan so I’ve seen the massive pyramids the peoples of the valley built millennia ago. I’ve read about how cities were planned and zoned then built with stone and you can still witness the logic behind those decisions today. The comida is good too.
I wish I was smart so I could learn Spanish easier.
On the words of Hernan Cortés: “Su casa es mi casa.”
Jokes aside, I am positive a Game of Thrones or Vikings-like tv show based on the birth of the Mexicas, then the expansion with finally the fall of the Aztecs would be brutally fantastic.
I always look at the Mexican flag in awe for what it really means and how it became.
Any books that you would recommend but aren’t academic?
Any books that you would recommend
Oh absolutely I got a mini library of…
aren’t academic
Nope.
Jokes aside, I am positive a Game of Thrones or Vikings-like tv show based on the birth of the Mexicas, then the expansion with finally the fall of the Aztecs would be brutally fantastic.
It’s a cartoon but there’s Onyx Equinox which is pretty cool and plays in mesoamerica.
Onyx Equinox mentioned!! One of my favorite shows for that reason. I wish more media used Mesoamerican history and myths, they are awesome.
Just wish it wasn’t in development hell…
I wish more media used Mesoamerican history and myths, they are awesome.
Here’s one more:
It’s fully available on youtube.
“Aztec” by Gary Jennings.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/aztec-gary-jennings/784861bf1a137811?ean=9780765317506&next=t
It’s a novel about coming of the Spanish.
I had to read it when I came across an article the author wrote. He wanted a word for ‘orange.’ He wanted to book to sound authentic, and the Americas didn’t have oranges. He ended up using jacinth
Thanks, that one I had it on my wishlist.
Enjoy. He did a few follow ups, but the first is the best.
Jet ski accessories and gear.
Do you have a recommendation for a fun used PWC for a new rider?
It will depend on the type of waterways you’re going to use them in. I recommend getting a hull that is known as a dry ski and a stable one. It used to be that some manufacturers were known to be more stable than others, but that’s not really true anymore.
So factor that in if you’re looking at a Used ski.
On getting a used one versus a new one really your decision points are the same as buying a used car versus a new car… The features of the new skis Bluetooth, apps and the GPS are really nice if you’re on a big body of water.
I ski a lot in the Chesapeake Bay, so I really love having a GPS. If you’re just skiing on a lake, where there really isn’t that much of a chance of getting lost an older model will be fine.
I like having a depth meter but again I’m skiing in a very big complex body water. If you’re just skiing on a lake, you don’treally have to worry about that.
Arduino, ESP32, smart home automation. I could talk for hours. I’ve started to get into PCB design this year, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it!
Which esp32? There are so much options nowdays!
The ESP32-S3 has become my standard goto device. If power usage is an issue, the ESP32-C3 is a great option. And the ESP32-C6 opens up Thread capabilities. I recently picked up a device with an ESP32-P4 that I’m wanting to play around with some more.
If only the C6 was actually supported correct everywhere…
Have you done any Thread/Zigbee with an esp32? I cannot wait to get a C6 to test it!
Here’s the guide I’ve used. Super easy to do in ESPHome. I’ve only tested it, but it seems to work very well.
https://smarthomescene.com/guides/how-to-create-thread-devices-with-esphome/
Where can I learn how to link different tech through HA? Insteon switch to flip a wifi bulb. Z Wave switch to open the Shelly relay for the garage door. ZigBee water sensor trips insteon siren. Etc. Is that all YAML? Is the Ecobee thermostat worth it?
Just install HA and try it out! It’s a lot easier to do than you might think. Every vendor or connection type has its own Integration. Most integrations can be set up through the UI very easily. I have dozens of integrations.
And the automations have had a lot of work the last few years. They are getting much easier to set up in the UI without having to worry about code or yaml.
The integrations are working. I just don’t know how to cross link them…
Here’s an example. The first picture is part of the UI configuration for this automation. The second picture show the yaml that was generated from this. Utility Room Occupancy is a Zigbee door sensor. When it turns on (the door opens), it triggers the Utility Room Lights on. The light is actually a WiFi LED bulb. The rest of the script turns the light off when the door closes.
What’s beautiful about Home Assistant is that it just creates devices that look identical no matter what integration you’re using. A light is a light no matter how you interact with it.
I really appreciate the help. But you lost me at step zero. What ui configuration for what automation? How do I get THERE?
Quasi-egalitarian Neolithic and Chalcolithic civilizations like Çatalhöyük in Turkey or the Carpathian Basin civilizations in Eastern Europe, and some/much of the Indus Valley civilizations in India
Type faces (“fonts”) and typesetting. I personally like a face with a large x-height, double story open loop g, and a full range of f-ligatures. The art of lead typesetting has disappeared in favour of software solutions; TeX does a beautiful job, particularly when using Knuth’s faces. (Adobe’s InDesign also deserves an honourable mention, but it’s unfortunately proprietary and closed-source). And when using standard TrueType or OpenType faces, the difference between a page generated by either of them, and one output by Microsoft Word, for example, is noticeably staggering.
One of my favorite parts of being a math teacher is getting to write in latex all the time.
It’s such a bummer collaborating on a document because they all use Word.
I used latex once for a technical documentation.
It certainly makes handling large documents way easier than all the convoluted features word has
Korean cooking, specifically their use of fermented and preserved food and how it relates to their climate of very hot summers and very cold winters and also their history as tributary state to Ming China and later under Japanese occupation.
Too many totally unrelated things that makes it so I cant ever be an expert in any one of them. I probably have adhd
Generalist Scholars unite! And I definitely have ADHD.
Aperiodic tilings! Just a couple of years ago someone discovered a single tile (down from the set of ~20000 that was first used to prove that aperiodic tiling was even possible) that can completely cover an infinite plane without ever falling into a repeating pattern.
The use of “aperiodic” is somewhat loose here compared to what I would expect. Like… I can instantly see several places with the same pattern just on that small sample…
Aperiodic, in this sense, doesn’t mean that there aren’t any bits that repeat. In fact, if you pick any patch of tiles of any arbitrary size, that patch will be repeated infinitely many times. What it means to be periodic is that if you slide the whole tiling over so that one of the patches aligns with the repeated bit, there will still be something outside the patch that doesn’t align. Compare that with, say, a repeating grid of squares, where if you slide one square onto a different square then everything lines up, all the way to infinity; it’s impossible to tell that it’s been slid over.
Neat!
Propane and propane accessories.
What and what accessories do I sell for a living?
Yeeup.
Mm hmm
I’ll tell ya wut
Typewriters. I love these machines, and the effect they had on our societies, and how they still have a strong influence on our keyboards and typographical likes.
And they are beautiful.
Found Tom Hanks.
Oh I’d love to nerd with him about typewriters 😅
Oh, goddamn it, this is gonna take a while.
- Code. Like, I actually get real pleasure from seeing elegant and well-structured code. I have no idea why, but I’ll almost start salivating at particularly beautiful code.
- Anime. Yeah, I’m a walking stereotype, a software developer who likes anime. But have you seen Frieren? It’s so goddamn good.
- Philosophy. No, not bullshit continental philosophy. I’m talking real philosophy. Analytic philosophy. Distilled and legitimately useful logic. Which of course leads me to…
- Science. My YouTube feed is full of fascinating deep-dives into esoteric mathematical and scientific topics. Fuck yeah.
- Tabletop RPGs. Surprisingly, not a huge D&D fan, though it can certainly be fun. These days, I’m much more into story-focused systems, like Fate or Blades in the Dark. Most people I mention that to have never heard of either.
- Science fiction and fantasy. I mean, are you surprised at this point?
- Writing science fiction and fantasy. I mean, are you surprised at this point?
- Politics. Less so nowadays, since our political system is falling apart and we’re being overrun by fascism, but I still do enjoy a meaty policy discussion.
That’s a good list for starters.
You might be interested in a video game called The Last Sovereign. I discovered it during the recent fiasco around payment processors trying to block lewd stuff, but the nsfw visuals can be turned off if you’re not into that. It’s a very serviceable RPG with turn based combat that is well balanced and engaging. But I’m recommending it because you said philosophy and it’s basically a series of Platonic dialogues between characters discussing life, the nature of man, morality, ethics, sexuality, power, and much more. I’m pleasantly surprised at how often I find myself deeply invested in the conversations. I think the writer(s) must’ve needed an outlet for their philosophical musings and chose this quirky “lewd” RPG as the medium.
I’ll check it out. I’m very much interested in video games that delve into deep topics that way. Have you ever encountered The Talos Principle series? Fantastic games that do surprisingly accessible treatises on philosophical topics while forcing you to think through pretty mind-blowing puzzles. Highly recommended.
What is a good ruleset for a table that absolutely refuses to read more than an index card of rules but will follow the lead of the referee? Freeform, story-forward, ages 14 to 65? Swords and magic.
Unrelated, what do you think about the various versions of Traveller?
Oh, you need Fate Accelerated. Six stats, five descriptive phrases that define your character (one of which is your character’s “trouble,” giving the GM automatic story hooks) and a smattering of stunts your character can perform, and off you go!
Regarding Traveller, I’ve never had the stomach for it. Me and a group once sat down to create characters, and discovered it was so rules-heavy that by the end of two sessions dedicated to character creation, we still didn’t know for sure that we’d done any of the characters correctly.
You are absolutely correct about FA. I’m reconfiguring my planned next campaign around it. Thank you so much!
My pleasure! And if you’re being the GM, remember to keep track of the character trouble for each character. It’s basically a built-in way to make everything personal for the characters, as well as a mechanic to offer them extra fate points in return for invoking the trouble.
My favorite example is this: Imagine you’ve got Indiana Jones as a player character in your game. His trouble would be, “Snakes… Why’d it have to be snakes?” He gets a fate point when you invoke it (if he accepts), but in return, it guarantees that he’s falling into a pit of snakes. Instant drama!
Who is the most criminally under appreciated philosopher/author and why is it Ursula LeGuinn?
Ha! My glob, she was so amazing. I had the opportunity to attend a reading she did from The Lathe of Heaven years ago, and I was struck anew not only by her creativity, but by the philosophical ideas underpinning it. A lot of people think The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is her most philosophical work, but I actually found what Lathe had to say about control, obedience, and power incredibly compelling.
Agree. AND. Left Hand of Darkness. Dispossessed.
Adventure Time fan as well?
I like it, but I don’t nerd out about it.
Go read Joanna Russ.
imho she writes rings around the popular woman.
I will. Thank you.
I’m running a Roll20 campaign for 7 players who are gearing up for a fight with a human who can change size at will.
This is set in the One Piece universe, I assume you’re familiar with it.
I want them to control a giant mecha to fight him on “equal” terms as a final fight.
Got any good RPG systems that might help with that?
Have a lot of players and they are good about following homebrew rules - and I expect this to be a one time mech fight.
I’ll probably add a mechanic for someone to “pilot” the mech and use their Devil Fruit/Haki to affect the entire mech as a full action that gives some sort of stat bonus.
Also btw I love Frieren. It’s so good! The manga is also incredible. Dandadan is fantastic too, and along with TTGL, has inspired this boss fight for me.
What is your relationship with Tolkien and his corpus?
I’ve read Lord of the Rings a few times. And The Hobbit. And his lesser-known works (e.g., Leaf by Niggle, which is just great). And The Silmarillion. And The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (which, honestly, isn’t his best). And I know what an Istari is (and why Gandalf, being a lesser Ainur, is actually so much more than a mere “wizard”). And I know that while they changed the line from “you cannot pass” to “you shall not pass” for dramatic purposes in the movie, the original line subtly says a whole hell of a lot more about who and what Gandalf is and why the Balrog should have actually been shitting itself.
So you might say I’m passingly familiar with it.
Mixology and movies are probably the top 2 for me. But unfortunately both of these things can be deceptive in conversation. So if I start talking to someone about either one, the enjoyment of the conversation will depend on how deep down the rabbit hole the other person is. But in those rare moments when they seem to be on the same page, I could talk for hours!!
Some things that have been exciting recently: I wandered into a Binny’s and saw a whole shelf full of Chartreuse which I have not seen in many years!!! On the movie side of things, I’m very excited for Yorgos Lanthimos latest upcoming film! The trailer looked great and he always makes highly interesting films!
Weather! It’s just so interesting. I love clouds and adore thunderstorms (although unfortunately I live somewhere where they’re rare).
