I have a bunch of spicy condiments and when I need gear I always open the fridge and my though process is whether any of them will work better than the chili oil I already know I’m going to end up using.

I’ve found Aliexpress shipping is much better than it used to be. It used to be 1 month for ocean shipping and another for customs and delivery. Now it is a couple weeks total. Just bought a bunch of stuff mid January and it all arrived last week.

At least in my experience, if a skip level is contacting you about feedback they normally know something isn’t right and want to gather examples. Just give objective feedback with specific examples of when you have seen it.

Yup. Though printers like the Bambu A1mini are very good and nearing that $300 level.

Only buy an ender if you want 3D printers to be your hobby. Buy something better if you want 3D printing to be your hobby.

Prime Rib with roast potatoes and all the fixings.

Seriously how many people have complained about how GIMP works and looks to the point where Gimpshop exists but they still haven’t made any improvements.

I’ve found it useful in the rare case that I’ve posted some project and someone wants to use it and has a question or something after the main thread is locked. I’ve had a few people reach out just to thank me for solving their problem which is always nice.

At one point the software stopped working on my computer at work. I couldn’t believe how many times I used it throughout the day without realizing it. My only issue is that it can’t search network shares properly.

Not enough sites support them and for some reason they haven’t made one that supports USB-A, USB-C, and NFC on one key. Seems like the most obvious configuration to cover everything.

Essentially it was because it was one of a small number of instances that had open signups without having to write an application (no matter how simple). Reducing the friction of getting an account and starting to use the site is more important than you would think.

Once it is popular then that is the one people will recommend since that is the instance they are familiar with.

Is there any pattern to the numbers they are coming from? For example, many of the calls i get spoof my area code and first 3 digits so I block those numbers automatically.

I’ve also used an app called Mr. Number in the past to screen potential spam calls for me.

+1 for trackmania as well. Yes it is a subscription but it is also only $10 for a year of standard access which gets you 4 campaigns and 365 TOTDs

If anything I’m less addicted to my smartphone now that Reddit got rid of the 3rd party apps.

The one and only exception to this that I’ve experienced thus far was my attraction to my wife. It was an instant click. My first thought after meeting her was that I needed to get closer with her. It’s worth noting I didn’t actually know what she looked like yet (we met online) and barely knew anything about her personality besides she was funny and apparently had similar hobbies to me (though I didn’t know which hobbies, I’d just been told that.)

Its funny how something so simple can make us have those feelings. I’ve had it from just hearing a woman laughing and thinking “I’ve got to get to know this girl”.

Both my work and home computers have photographs that I took.

Coffee often causes my stomach to be upset so I started drinking tea instead and found I quite like a lot of it. I usually drink an English breakfast or something strong that isn’t too astringent or malty with the occasional jasmine or tie guan yin green tea in the afternoon.

I just got a Boox Page to replace an early generation Kindle Paperwhite. Being able to load up android apps makes it much more useful (I find it to be great for cooking from recipes I store in Paprika) plus more flexibility with the eReader app you use.

At the end of the day the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you need help be proactive in asking for it. I can say with my team that I don’t have time to go around asking everyone if there are any issues, but I’ll make time for anyone that needs assistance to ensure they are unblocked. I also don’t want to micromanage people and annoy them when they are capable without my instruction.

It is hard to know how much information you have to give someone to do a task. Something that may seem obvious to me will require 30 minutes of discussion for some people while others like to go away and figure it out but will reach out if they are unsure about something.

Product pricing actually has very little to do with what the actual product costs to make, other than to determine whether it is financially viable to produce.

Rather, the aim of a seller is to maximize their profit by choosing the most efficient selling price for a specific demand. For a house, demand has greatly outstripped supply, and a buyer requires a place to live, so prices are high. Similarly, during the pandemic, the utility of computer parts was high and demand was high since many had to work from home, so prices went high.

It certainly gets more complicated than my (ECON 101 level) explanation here, but companies have just been taking advantage of a high demand for things and for people’s needs (e.g. housing and food) there is little to no pressure to reduce costs as demand is poorly correlated with price (inelastic).

I once had the troubleshooter fix a networking issue I had. I’m still shook.