Steven Segal

You’d be surprised at how many phones don’t have enough accelerometers to know their full orientation in space. Compass, NFC, and barometer are also not givens.

Not multistage, but it’s a heat pump with auxiliary heat. I have multiple zones controlled by dampers, too, soni have two of these thermostats.

I bought a Honeywell Z-Wave thermostat because I have a more complicated HVAC setup than the typical American home. It was one of the few I could find that was compliant with a home automation protocol that didn’t require something that announced its existence to the Internet. It’s been solidly reliable, replacing my dead Nest thermostat.

The thermostat:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HFL7R44

If Google assistant ends up dying this is the way I’ll be going with. I’ve already got HA up, I’m just using stuff that predates my HA setup.

I just want the LG G5 back. It had a(n):

• Removable battery
• SD card slot
• Infrared blaster
• FM Radio
• 3.5mm jack
• Compass
• Barometer
• Gyro
• NFC
• Fingerprint reader

And a ton of other stuff. Truly the best android phone ever made

Closest I can find now is the Ulefone line (no removable battery) but I have no idea if they’re decent phones or not.

Ah yes, let me scrounge around for the remote someone else in my ADHD household last had in their hand 45 minutes ago and has no idea what they did with it.

Meanwhile, my small child is coming downstairs for a glass of water while we’re watching Hereditary for the first time. The Roku app is a pile of garbage and won’t connect to my device fast enough, it just shows loading animations. So I just have to cut the power to the TV while I look for the remote.

Hypothetically, of course.

Just because you can’t imagine a scenario where it’s convenient doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

No need for this. A Z-Wave or Zigbee thermostat does the same thing.

I have three lights that were wired to one switch. With smart bulbs, I can individually turn them on and off or dim them. No “dumb” solution exists for homes that were wired in a stupid way. This isn’t a niche application, it’s a common reality.

Imo this is funny because it’s actually how bridges are designed

Go on

The question becomes, then, if I spend 5 years learning and mastering C++ versus rust, which one is going to help me produce a better product in the end?

An acquaintance of mine once wrote a finite element method solver entirely in C++ templates.

If you’re able to focus on learning stuff and school was kinda easy, engineering has always been a great career choice for us. Software development is a great one too, and comparatively easier than some of the more difficult engineering disciplines (though still difficult)

If you don’t want to do a 4 year degree, we also tend to do well in metalworking trades like being a machinist, welder, sheet metal worker, millwright, pattern maker, etc.

With welding in particular, the skill ceiling is infinite and the pay scales with how rare your skillset is. With enough experience, you can become an inspector if you want a less physically demanding job.

Some 2 year degrees that lead to pretty stable jobs are instrumentation and process operator. You’ll work in places like chemical plants or wastewater treatment facilities making sure everything stays running. You’re in the same environment for years on end and knowing every inch of your facility is critical.

Another 2 year degree is in non destructive examination (NDE). Basically training to use fancy gear to make sure manufactured parts aren’t going to fail. NDE technicians are the guys that make sure that metal parts are actually safe to send out into the world.

If you don’t want to get a degree, and you’re relatively physically fit (or don’t mind getting that way on the job), framing houses and carpentry is a good trade to learn and always in demand. Apprenticing as an electrician can lead to a good career as well, and doesn’t require a degree.

As far as hobbies go- that’s just… Whatever you like to do. You don’t have to pick one. It’s whatever you’d do to fill your time if you weren’t focused on surviving.

I have a somewhat common word as my last name.

My first two initials are ‘al’, which means “to the” in Italian.

My email is al.lastname@gmail.com

I get Italian train ticket reservation info about twice a year.

So, I’ve got steam wishlist items going into the third grade this year. I can wait.

Gilligan’s Island had a long, healthy life of reruns on over-the-air TV, which was the only affordable option (i.e. free) for my fellow poors up until ~2007

My reading journey mirrors yours. When I entered the professional workforce, I was consistently met with vacant stares when I’d use whatever words I thought perfectly fit whatever I was describing. I came to find that using “big” words like that (examples I can recall: superfluous, inimical, vacuous, cogent, avuncular) made people think I was trying to show I was better than them. I had to pare my verbal vocabulary back to the most basic form so I could do my actual job.

Granted, I was in a “white collar” job surrounded by blue collar folks.

A room temperature can of full sugar soda takes at most 2 hours to chill in a 0 °F freezer. A refrigerated can of full sugar soda takes about 45 minutes to get to just above freezing (the perfect temperature for Dr Pepper consumption).

Diet sodas take about half the time in both scenarios.

This is for 12oz cans.

I’ve got it down to a science.

I beat breath of the wild solely because I was holding out hope that it somehow got good at some point.

The dungeons and boss fights were enjoyable. But there were only 4 of those and the rest of the game was sorely underwhelming.

Tears of the kingdom is the first Zelda game I didn’t care to finish in 30 years. I’ve even beat Zelda 2.