Zancarius

Exactly, and I think we as humans also read it differently. To me "3 years ago" reads "sometime in 2020, who knows?" but it might be "October 2020" to someone else. It's so imprecise as to be rather useless.

Okay, that's a shame. The most interesting part of the product is the part the article didn't even touch on!

Thank you for finding this!

I suspect there's a lot of individual variation too.

COVID for me was exceptionally mild with the only annoyance being the total lost of smell for ~12 days. Otherwise, the dry cough wasn't any worse than the one I get when my allergies are in full force. Some people are just going to get worse cases and others won't. That's going to impact personal risk assessment.

My mother had an even milder case of COVID than I did (no cough), but RSV almost sent her to the hospital this past Thanksgiving. For all the fixation on COVID we tend to forget that there are other virus that can be lethal to certain demographics (e.g. advancing age).

Just looked them up and found some on Amazon from $17-40ish depending on brand, length, and probably other factors.

I had no idea these were a thing!

They're pretty common. I had a sinus infection earlier this year that wouldn't go away and had to get some antibiotics. I picked up the RX from a local Walmart pharmacy (closer to where I live) and they use the same double-sided caps.

But again, it's like the other OP said: The childproof side is the one that they put on first which could present an issue for older people. I'd imagine you could ask them not to do that, though. I never really thought about it.

Thank you for putting this into perspective! It's a shame science journalism has become so sensationalist.

To compare: I find it interesting that, according to Britannica, the odds of someone dying in the United States from a lightning strike is about 1 in 15,300... over the course of one's entire lifetime.

I know of people who still won't go to church because of all of the above and are, for all intents and purposes, still deathly afraid to leave their homes. Regardless of what some might say in argument against your point(s), I absolutely do think that part of the public health emergency was the abject panic that ensued following COVID.

I stopped exercising caution earlier on in the pandemic, because in my estimation my relatively good health, age, and literature that was available (D3 being an important predictor of outcomes) meant that I was unlikely to have a poor outcome. I did eventually get COVID in Dec 2021, but aside from a total loss of smell for 12 days and a dry cough it was little more than an annoyance. I isolated, as appropriate, for a week or so (never had a fever) and went about my business. Yet, nearly two months later, I remembered telling someone that I had had COVID, they recoiled and backed away as if I were still infectious. Fear is a strong emotion.

Part of it is that the general public doesn't understand viruses. We can't see them. That's a problem, because it's an unseen enemy with (at the time) unknown outcomes—especially with rapidly changing information. I don't think the media helped either, because they relish in bad news.

My mother was very nearly hospitalized last year, though. Not from COVID but from RSV. I suspect over-sanitization reduced our baseline immunity to your typical run-of-the-mill pathogens, but I'm neither a doctor nor a biologist so that's little more than a guess. I have some friends who are nurses who suggested the theory, and they may be right.

Oh my gosh, I loved that book! The creative depth with the native creatures there and their experiences with humans was captivating.

I did that once thinking an oncoming driver had his brights on.

Then he flipped his brights on, and I then realized that his standard lamps were just ridiculously bright...

I think it's some combination of laziness or not knowing how their vehicle works. Some are coming equipped with auto high beams, but I'd wager those don't work on windy roads and therefore don't automatically dim.

On the other hand, I was driving at dusk last night to church and someone had his high beams on (still fairly light outside as the sun had only just set) and it was an older vehicle. So, I'm sure there's some laziness/ignorance to the high beam problem.

You're definitely not the only one noticing this!

(Don't get me started on squatted trucks...)

I think this is probably the case. Humans have a terrible memory for things.

As a counterpoint: I was looking at some hair clay of a specific brand I'd been thinking about getting. When I checked my Facebook account, lo and behold, they were running ads for that product. Not at all surprised since their ad network tendrils are probably into everything, and I was deliberately looking.

That latter part is important. I live out in the country, and I've had more than a couple of encounters with aggressive dogs. Occasionally other wildlife, but as I like to posit: The forest reveals its secrets if you listen closely enough.

I now have a vision of this conversation:

"How are you today, Mr. 142,620?"

"I'm fine, nameless, faceless script-reading CSR rep. How are you?"

Now THAT'S bizarre. Was that because the team was making others look bad by outperforming them via the LOC metric? lol...

We greatly (grossly?) underestimate the power of relying on external help, also. That's why ANY resource you can get a hold of is important.

In my dad's case he had many false starts toward quitting. He did, eventually, in 2017 but after 45 years the toll on his health was irreversible. I remember a conversation with his pulmonologist just a month or two before he was admitted to hospice: His general health was so deteriorated that he was no longer a candidate for any treatment—including lung transplant. Not that I think he would have gone along with it in the first place.

To underscore Gavan's point, one of my dad's extra duties when he was in the USAF (as an electrical engineer) was health and safety. He used to lecture, ironically, on the dangers of smoking. He knew what it would do, but addiction is powerful.

Thank you for sharing!

Merry Christmas! This post hits pretty close to home, particularly the bit about how ephemeral life is. My father passed earlier this year after a long battle with COPD (encourage your friends/family to stop smoking if they do!), but because it was expected I was blessed to have the opportunity to prepare and have many conversations I will remember until my last day.

The material can come and go. Family and friendships, relationships, and what blessings you can bestow upon others are ultimately what matters most.

If you know someone who will be alone this Christmas, and you have the means, please consider ensuring they won't spend it by themselves.

Absolutely correct on all points, my friend.

It's unpleasant to see the eventual culmination of things you knew would eventually come to pass despite pleadings to the contrary. I'm blessed to have been able to help Mum take care of him in his latter days. Even still, despite his advanced age (75), he was still young enough to technically have 5-10 good years left to enjoy life had he not succumbed to such addiction in his 20s. But, he did everything he could to the best of his abilities, as you said. I've a lot of notes to eventually go through on some hobbies of his that I will one day dig into. The one blessing with this is when they have ample time to get their affairs in order and share things they wanted you to know.

I understand this probably sounds a bit morbid, but it's life, isn't it? It's a good reminder to us all that what we have while we're here on this Earth is incredibly fragile and we need to cherish this gift as long as we are able.

Growing up, you always hear those tidbits of wisdom: Enjoy stories from your elders, because they won't be around forever. In youthful arrogance it's easy enough to laugh it off. Being older, though, you appreciate more. I'm grateful to have had the conversations that I did. I also have a deeper appreciation of some folks around Dad's age I've gotten to know over the last few years from church. Funny how things like this can help your perspective evolve over time...

What happens when the pad gets choked out with dust?

I'd bet that's a part of it to be sure!

You're in good shape then! By the time my father quit, the most he could do was shuffle about.

And you're absolutely right—it's hard to give up. I still remember the conversation he had with his pulmonologist. The doctor asked "So what made you choose to quit?"

Dad said "I decided to. It was a conscious choice that I wasn't doing this any more."

The doctor looked at him, smiled, and said "That's exactly right."

I'd guess you went through the same process: It's a choice. False starts to quit are simply an exercise in kicking the can down the road. Actually quitting is a conscious, decisive effort. The only other people on the planet who know what it's like are those who have suffered addiction. The rest of us? We truly don't know what you have to go through when you quit.

This is ultimately what killed my father: 45 years of smoking until one day in 2017 when he quit cold turkey and never picked up another cigarette. By that time the damage had been done. He had severe COPD. He was well passed the point of being a viable lung transplant candidate. He wouldn't survive the surgery. Besides, he already battled a litany of health issues stemming directly from smoking.

Fast forward to last year. His ability to breath normally was already a distant memory, and his ability to breath in any capacity without a struggle had become the new normal. After an evening in the hospital, I picked him and Mum up before a quick detour to the medical supplier in town to pick up... oxygen cylinders and a concentrator. About four months later his condition had deteriorated enough that his GP suggested hospice. A year after this initial but rapid decline and he was gone.

COPD is irreversible. It can be slowed, maybe even halted for a time, but it is impossible to reverse.

I'm glad you quit. You may have quit early enough to maintain a normal life. Regardless, I'm proud of you for taking that important first step.

For anyone else reading this who may be a smoker: Please, I implore you, consider quitting today. I know how the story ends. I've seen it first hand.

There's a small typo around 1/3rd of the way down: It reads "Alomogordo New Mexico." The city should be rendered "Alamogordo."

It's also something of a persistent anachronism that lends itself to the historic population centers, I suspect. The actual test location was at Trinity Site, which is closer to present day Socorro and Carrizozo[1] than to Alamogordo and detonated on the north end of what was then called the "Alamogordo Bombing Range." This location is now a part of the broader White Sands Missile Range. It gives me some amusement as a local, because we occasionally hear the question "Oh, Alamogordo? That's where they tested the bomb, isn't it?!"

I hate to disappoint their curiosity, of course, but according to present day geography, no; historically—kind of—if you consider everything was then associated with Alamogordo, including the army air base! To us, Trinity Site is 80 miles to the north/northwest and on the other side of the Oscura Mountains (north of the San Andres Mountains)!

[1] https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6815401,-106.4737885,20277m/...

I suspect the OP means, or at least the way I parsed it, is that they'll adjust to the changes to their lighting conditions, not that the light materially affects their physical coloration.

i.e. when someone buys them, they'll have to adjust to natural (i.e. sun) light, rather than the artificial growth lighting.

I agree. The fonts don't bother me so much as the ISO layout does, and even that's kind of a "meh" and something I likely wouldn't care about so much as the otherwise clean styling and the fact it's projected to have some features I like (Bluetooth, low profile, mechanical switches, etc).

Truthfully, from a quick search it appears that the Kailh low profile switches are reasonably easy to find key caps for. I like blank keyboards (uh, don't ask), so I'd probably just buy some blank caps and replace the ones that it comes with. I had to do that with some of the keys on my Das anyway because the stems broke after < 1 year of use, and I've been contemplating PBT key caps for a while.

To each his own! I'd probably buy this, if I were honest.

I think you're right, unfortunately. If it's not lost wholesale (as in my parents' case) it's a war of attrition.

They had a number of interesting artifacts (my mother's Australian) and other items that would've been of value for posterity's sake. Especially now that my father has since passed--photographs from his earlier years would have been worth much more to us now.

As a Christian, I'm not hugely fussed over the loss of the material things, but the archivist in my heart is pained to no end!

You can beat yourself up over it, but the reality is that you're right: Some people handle the past differently from others.

You did the right thing by attempting to reunite them with their (presumably) priceless property. Most people likely wouldn't react this way. I know my parents lost a TON of personal items, including countless photos, when the moving company that was hired by the USAF to move them out of CA to another assignment went under. I'd imagine they'd both have been amazed, surprised, and incredibly grateful for someone to have gone through the trouble you did.

...but who knows? Perhaps there was a divorce or bad blood in that family. At least you can say for certain you have a clear conscience, though!

> cats are pretty good at training them, too.

Mum has a cat who has this particular (and peculiar) habit of drinking from the faucet whenever he's had treats.

It's pretty hilarious how well he's trained the humans. Whenever he's had a treat, he'll walk toward the bathroom and flick his tail, ears turned back, expectantly waiting for someone to follow. If no one follows, he'll continue on his way and jump up on the counter top. If he still hasn't collected anyone's attention, he'll emit a distinctive (and very squeaky!) meow that he uses for no other purpose than "I want a drink" and will do so periodically until someone comes to turn the faucet on. Otherwise he'll lay there until he's noticed (if not, he'll give up and finally go to one of the water bowls).

He's also finicky about the flow rate. If it's turned up too high (he prefers a gentle stream—almost a dribble) he'll stare at you until the flow rate is corrected.

Talk about training his humans indeed!

Probably not common but definitely non-zero.

I'm in roughly the same boat as you (minus the multiple instances). My personal Minecraft server I run on a machine sitting behind me at home for friends uses SRV records. I bump the port number each "major" version release (yeah, I know, "minor" version in semver semantics) in case I ever have to run a previous version for whatever reason. This gets reflected in the SRV records. I've never actually had a reason to do this, but it's there if I need to.

Or at least that's the theory. I haven't updated it for 1.18. Not sure I will unless I run Tekkit or something in the future.

If it has a companion app for a phone (which this appears to be), you could easily have the phone do this for you. Not unlike setting up a wifi hotspot.

Just have support walk them through a menu on their phone for an "advanced" feature they just tap on, then hold the button on the microwave. Voila!

(Granted, I did tech support long enough to know this isn't easy; if someone can follow instructions, however, it should be doable.)

It does, but with generics coming down the pipe, I feel that "any" expresses intent somewhat better in certain circumstances. Or at least it ought to improve readability-at-a-glance.

I'd imagine you can continue using interface{} for the foreseeable future.