potate

joined 2 years ago
[–] potate@lemmy.ca 11 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I way prefer the wood for what it's worth. I love weathered wood - it ages beautifully, lasts for years and years, and the environmental impact of cedar (assuming that's what it is) is far lower than concrete too.

Concrete is the plastic of things that aren't plastic. Produced mostly with fossil fuels, huge GHG associated with production, and will sit as a lump of trash forever-ish once the next person decides they prefer a different look.

Make your own decisions obviously - I'm aware that I'm particularly carbon footprint averse.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 33 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I live down the street from a school in Calgary. I'm building a 'little free banned library' that I'm going to be filling with every book the government bans

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Perfect is the enemy of good only if you WAIT for perfect. I eat minimal meat, get my veggies from a local farm share, have solar panels, an EV that charges only off excess solar production, a heatpump, have re-insulated the attic, ditched the gas range for induction that runs off solar, etc. My footprint is less than anyone around me, but probably still way higher than your average individual living in the global south.

I'm trying to hit net zero and once I hit it, I'll keep going because Canada (where I live) is rich and I want to continue to reduce my footprint (the dream is net negative in my life) because I'm privileged and have the resources to push harder. I make it a game - figure out what's my best opportunity to reduce my footprint, do it, move on to looking for the next thing I can do.

Giving up (most) red meat and patting yourself on the back is severely minimizing what you COULD be doing. I'm a long, long way from perfect, and am exceedingly lucky to have the resources to play this game - but carbon reduction is a way of life, not a checkbox IMO.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 26 points 3 weeks ago (23 children)

But seriously, what IS vibe coding?

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 137 points 1 month ago (11 children)

Legitimately one of my favourite YouTube channels. Tech deep dives (generally on extremely esoteric topics), sarcasm, and interesting insights.

 

Was tearing my hair out this morning when I couldn't listen to podcasts on the way to work. I updated my S23 Ultra to ONE UI 7 yesterday evening and this morning Android Auto was working fine EXCEPT that I had no audio. Adjustment of volume in the car and on my phone were unsuccessful.

The solution was to make a quick phone call and now audio works fine again. I have no idea why it worked or why audio wasn't working to begin with - but I thought I would share in case it helps anyone else.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 42 points 1 month ago

Friendly reminder that getting vaxxed is free. My partner has a shitty immune system so I got two rounds of boosters.

Here in Alberta all you need to do is call 811 and they can book you in with a vaccine specialist.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What emulators do you recommend? I have an S23 but am about to try swapping it for a Fairphone running e/OS

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

To be honest - that's probably the dream setup. The challenge is that android games seem to all be low-effort ad delivery systems.

My happiest place is turn-based strategy and RPGs. XCOM, Total War: Warhammer, anything Baldur's Gate, 4Xs that sort of stuff.

I have several hundred hours killing time on Unciv on Android. Mindustry is fun but cramped. Polybridge was great until I finished it.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I had a decent PC back in the day (I grew up in the era of building my own water cooling systems) but as a casual gamer I can't wrap my head around around modern graphics card prices and I rather be able to play on the sofa for five minutes while I wait to pull something from the oven.

I'm old.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago

Joysticks need to be replaced again, battery life is becoming tragic so that needs replacing too. Any time I pick it up at this point, the battery is dead.

Biggest issue to be honest is that I want a bigger screen and that isn't the device's fault.

I'm going to order a whack of parts from ifixit and spruce it back up for those Nintendo exclusive hankerings.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's a SteamOS version too, right?

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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by potate@lemmy.ca to c/games@lemmy.world
 

Looking for some advice. My Switch Lite is approaching the end of its life and given that a Switch 2 is basically the same price as an OLED Steamdeck I was thinking it might be a good time to jump back to PC gaming.

I'm not much of a gamer. I got the Switch Lite because of portability and the ability to wake it up, play for ten minutes and then toss it back in my bag. My only beefs with the Switch ecosystem is that you can't download DLC - for Cities Skylines I have the bare game on Switch but a pile of DLC on my laptop for example.

So - would going with a Steamdeck make sense? Any gotchas I should know about? Is there a better option?

Thanks all!

**edit: y'all rock. I'm ordering an OLED Steamdeck

 

Stetson (a CNIB guide dog in training) joins me at work a couple of days to practice quietly sitting through meetings and navigating business environments. The result is a lot of napping.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

Mine (2025) rattles when twisted.

 

Thanks to Emporia's excellent tools, I have outlets and usb chargers in my house that only work when I'm generating excess solar. I don't need my power banks every day so they get plugged into those outlets.

Oh, and my car. My car only charges as fast as my solar generation permits. I love Emporia.

 

I've been doing the 'buy Canadian' thing for a few years now. I actually enjoy the game of trying to find cool folks making cool stuff and I know that there are others like me just like there are people who lack the time or inclination to do the research.

I also think it can be tricky for people looking at starting a business to be able to identify a need.

So what's a product you don't know of a Canadian alternative to?

Personally, it's cast iron cookware. Meyer makes great stainless stuff, but there isn't a single foundry making cast iron cookware in Canada. I've actually started emailing a few to see if I can find a Canadian foundry that would be willing to batch produce cast iron skillets. Finding a local brand already doing it would be a LOT easier!

 

Got the pretty brutal news that one of our three cats is suspected to have FIP. Luckily, treatments have become available in the last couple of years so I'm trying to not get carried away freaking out - but this poor thing has had a tough go.

She came to us as part of a foster litter of kittens without a mom. She was half the size of her siblings and super malnourished. Long after her siblings were adopted, she stayed with us. She had allergies requiring special food and daily (expensive) meds and no one wanted to adopt a higher needs cat. She then had a reaction to her meds which caused excessive gum growth so the shelter decided she needed all of her incisors pulled. At that point she'd been with us for over a year and was fully integrated with our two cats. We decided that maybe this was her forever home and hoped that we could better manage her care by working directly with our vet instead of coordinating through the shelter.

Wrapping our heads around her now having FIP is rough - but we're going to do everything we can to help her through it and are hopeful she'll recover. Poor kid deserves a win...

 

I have an absolutely incredible set of moose hide trigger mits by Hides In Hand - a traditional leather crafter in Canada who use locally sourced hides.

I backcountry ski a lot and DESTROY gear. My hides in hand mits are the most durable and comfortable mits I've ever had. The issue is the acrylic fleece liners - I blow through them.

So I decided to make a set of sheepskin liners. I went to Bill Worb Furs - who source pelts from traditional hunters and trappers (read: mostly, but not all indigenous) and scored some hides.

I deconstructed the original liners, made a pattern and made these new liners. Cost me $30CAD and I have material for a couple more.

Totally pointless, could have bought replacements, but it was a super fun project for someone who has never made something like this before.

 
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