Dang, I was hoping to use my framing nailer I bought 20 years ago for a job I ended up not doing. But I do lean a little more towards screws anyway. Might go for a tin roof, not sure yet. There is some rationale for taller since it will be housing my VR rig. One reason for a self-build is I want a large window in the back as there is a bit of a view there (albeit over a cemetery).

At this point, mainstream reporting can be regarded as actively malicious.

While I have nothing against buying pre-prepared (kit would have been more likely than a premade. Access is tricky), I couldn't find a design that was quite the way I liked. So self-built it is. Wooden boxes are not exactly rocket science after all.


It may be a little taller

With the fall in lumber prices, mine is back on the table. Aiming for 12x20 which is the same size as the neighbor's shed which it'll be sitting next to. I've got to get an awkwardly growing tree down first though.

They think they're buying things that make them happy. But for most things, it's not the thing, it's the buying that gives a short-term dopamine hit. Understanding what makes you happy requires introspection, understanding and the ability to confront some possibly hard truths.

Page numbers really don't make much sense in an e-reader. They are useful though so Amazon, at least has started allowing authors (or rather whatever you call people who compile e-books) to include them. Not sure about the open formats but theoretically they're not hard to add so if they're not there already, they may be later.


I doubt we'll be seeing the end of letter anytime soon. A4 has the advantage that it has the same ratio if halved or doubled (hence A3, A5 etc) but letter has handy multiples of inches. As a point of interest, hexaflexagons are said to have been invented when an American studying in England was messing around with the bits of paper he'd cut off to fit his binders.

Epub and mobi are actually preferable for that *because* they are designed for reflow. PDF is a layout format so if (for an admittedly rare example) your PDF was designed for a 5"x5" page, printing to letter or A4, it would be suboptimal (in fact, even the differences between letter and A4 have caused me issues on occasion).

I've said for a while that they should have used a language that was designed for the domain where the contracts could be mathematically proven. Possibly they should have gone with COBOL or something

PDF has some issues because it is a display/layout format and doesn't work well with some devices. It's not terrible though. epub and mobi are basically marked-up text which is designed for reflow and is fine as an archive format. PDF is preferable for some works which rely on layout so there are some competing aims there. FWIW, the PDF format was originally not open but it turned out their protection was incredibly weak. Plain text has a whole range of issues as a book format and is only really any good for the simplest of works.

Same here. Except Amazon has large science fiction collections at a dollar a piece so I do buy those occasionally and some books for free so worth grabbing. Calibre can also unlock the DRM on amazon books if you're worried about them going away or being altered (which everyone should be).

Built-in front lights make reading in bed less of a hassle if you have a bedmate.

I like to go for movies which are worth the big screen. The problem is other people fucking up the experience. So many benefits watching at home if the big screen isn't required.

Two observations (not really meant as comment)

• Theaters are in dire straits right now and it's looking like the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.
• AMC is owned by the Chinese if I recall correctly.

This is the default with everything now anyway. K-street writes the legislation and the politicians don't even have the integrity (or often even time) to read it and the voting is all manipulated and horse-traded anyway.

Just remember this gif exists for a reason

It was secretly replaced in one night in 2011 with a coin that uses exactly the same code, algorithms and blockchain.

Have we finally seen the end of 3XXXX? Please say it's so.

Well, while we may differ on the details, we can probably agree that nearly everything about this situation is fuckery from the government. But really, I think the message I'm trying to get over is: "My butt's been wiped".

Linear looks great when you zoom out to the full chart

You know what the people who helped fulfill the self-fulfilling prophesy weren't doing? Crying about not having TP.

And do you know what gaslighting means? Not that.

There was actually ample time to stock up. I waited a couple of days after the news started talking about things and was worried I was going to be too late but while the stores were busy, they were not stampeded and there were plenty of goods on the shelf. I picked up one of those big packs from Costco which was more than enough to get my family through the rush. It was a few days later when the predictable calls to lockdown came and everyone entered panic mode while I sat on my couch metaphorically eating popcorn.

Human beings are the only animal we know capable of complex forward planning. Am I supposed to feel bad about doing so?

OK, I'll give you lumber. I didn't see it had fallen like that. But it seems there were backlogs and probably lots of jobs got cancelled. Good for me though, I have a shed I want to build. We'll have to see with the other stuff but IMO, the effects of government spending are going to dominate.