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Sam Lin

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Sam Lin

  1. You didn't let Roflbox borrow your car for years, did you?
  2. The feature you are looking for is called "pass-through charging" and is somewhat rare. Anker doesn't do it any more, here's their explanation why: https://support.anker.com/s/article/Do-Anker-power-banks-support-pass-through-charging Their wall plug power banks like linked above will not simultaneously charge the power bank and your connected device, they will finish charging your device first and then to back to charging their internal battery.
  3. If that's the goal, have a local metal shop laser cut you a piece of steel to fit your grill. Much less fiddly than a bunch of griddle pans, and you don't have the lost cooking space from the joints between pans. Or, even easier and cheaper, just buy a griddle insert that fits your grill: https://www.amazon.com/SQ180-Stainless-Universal-Griddle-Tailgating/dp/B000HQHBSQ
  4. This. Criteria #1 when I bought was no HOA. I dgaf what my neighbor does with his property, because it's none of my damn business.
  5. You need to watch Ping Pong Playa. It is stupid and hilarious.
  6. Snakes on a Plane
  7. I'm down 92% on Alpo, so :hookem:
  8. Finished this a few days ago, definite quick read. But great, simple message, though I feel it could be made more concise. The steps in his process have names that are just unnecessarily complicated, and the process itself is a bit overcomplicated. I think a bit of editing would make this "management method" something that could be easily grasped by more people and therefore more effectively implemented. To me, it comes down to Empower: Share Common Goal (and he mentions referring to Start with Why, which I am currently reading and will comment negatively on when I finish), Ensure Skillset, and Trust (but Verify). Found a lot of parallels between the examples in the book and management structures I've experienced myself. Highly recommended. Easy read, easy concepts, fairly simple to act on, and big ROI effects. I would recommend this as a read to anyone wanting to improve "management" - and by that I mean anyone who has any responsibility for anyone else, at any level of an organization. This is a layman's book, entertaining to read, but with a strong, effective message.
  9. Zen: Become One with the other Two. Pick up your phone and start fucking around on it.
  10. I think black or cayenne pepper is supposed to deter them? Might try sprinkling the planted areas around your flowers.
  11. Ordered an AnOrdain, and am quite impressed with the level of "custom" service on what is not that expensive a watch (~$1500). Tons of (much) more expensive mass market product that doesn't give this level of personalization. On top of already being able to select multiple strap options prior to checkout, and offering custom engraving or map graphics engraving at no additional charge, here are the custom questions after order. Even strap length choices are uncommon, but regulation to account for which wrist worn and storage position at night?? Unheard of: So that we can tailor the watch to your specifications, could you please confirm: your preferred strap length (please refer to our fitting guide) which wrist the watch will be worn on (we will use this information to regulate the watch) which position the watch will be stored in at night (for example, dial facing up) the name of the wearer as you'd like it to appear in the certificate of authenticity
  12. You'll get all kinds of opinions on it, my opinion is don't bother if it hasn't failed by then. Many of these cars never have IMS issues. Do oil analysis and frequent changes if you want to be paranoid, but even that is arguable whether analysis gives you any meaningful early warning. I'd just get it and drive it. Replace IMS whenever you need a clutch. Do use the lack of IMS or lack of records as a bargaining point, pay 3k less than you would for one with proven IMS replacement - then, if it does fail on you, you pay the 3k and fix it, end up with the same car same price.
  13. Definitely going to start adding a "side of burgers" to my BBQ orders. Genius.
  14. Little Miss BBQ in Phoenix AZ is an Austin? transplant, he was on the old site and posted when he was starting out. I find it too salty, otherwise it is good. He's kicking ass, I think up to 3 locations now, big line basically every day for lunch.
  15. I've had a few bikes stolen over the years, and would vote for an instant death penalty for bike thieves. And cat (catalytic converter) thieves while we're at it.
  16. I would attend one of your seminars on The Emu Principle, if you offered free pizza. And the building had parking.
  17. Doesn't say it's a wife, but...
  18. That's not unpopular, but at least it isn't as bad as Marvel, where their universe got so meh and stupid they had to create multiverses just to be able to keep making shitty movies.
  19. Just finished both of these. (Thinking Fast and Slow first, and then The Undoing Project.) I'd call The Undoing Project a teaser for Thinking Fast and Slow, it's much more about the individual life histories of Kahneman and Tversky, and the people around them, than about the theories they developed. It touches on the theories in basic, easy to understand examples. (Feels like 80% biography, 20% theories.) Much easier read, also 200pg shorter. And it's a genuinely entertaining and enjoyable read, lots of historical content about life in early Israel with constant war. Thinking Fast and Slow is all about the theories, much more explanation of the theories as well as the formulas that are used to define the theories, and many more varied examples. Analogy: if Thinking Fast and Slow is a movie, The Undoing Project is the trailer for that movie. Would recommend reading The Undoing Project first, it is the more "enjoyable/entertaining" read, and then continuing into Thinking Fast and Slow if the theories grab your curiosity. As for the theories themselves, by now they are widely accepted as correct and as revolutionary; the Nobel prize doesn't come easy. It's real, useful food for thought. I hope to keep their lessons strong enough in my mind to question my own intuitions and decisionmaking at least part of the time.
  20. A real 1%er would have bought a new car.
  21. Saw this on Twitter recently, thread title reminded me of it. Terrifying even to watch, guy rides an actual 115ft wave.
  22. Some thoughts: Sources - this is a whole area of its own, independent from the audio system. Vinyl will be the biggest hurdle here. Vinyl just has space and equipment requirements that you can't get away from, and it does not rip well to digital, plus that sort of destroys the whole point of vinyl. You need a turntable, (tone arm and cartridge will be included for most entry turntables, otherwise you need to add those as well) and phono stage/phono preamp. There are entry level products that have that built in. The CDs I'd advise ripping to FLAC (lossless) and storing on a NAS feeding a digital media server, that server will also be your connection to Amazon Prime and to Tidal or Roon in the future if you really get into high rez sources. The NAS you can also use on your home network to back up computer files, feed a Plex server so you can download TV shows/movies to watch on smart TV, etc. Some streamers have a drive built in, but your collection will likely be too large for the drive, but to keep it simple, you can just get an external USB HDD and most of the streamers can directly connect USB. Going to a NAS like a Qnap gets you more space but also RAID redundancy, so you don't lose everything if one drive fails. Be aware ripping the CDs will be a long, time-consuming process, and it pays to research the CD database software so it does all the naming/tagging automatically. There used to be some companies that you could pay to rip it all for you, you send them your disks, they send you back the files. But that's the better future-proof solution, and frees up your future physical storage space as well as your need to keep a CD player. That said, if you really want a CD player, the obsolescence of CD has killed resale values of top-end CD equipment and you can build what used to be a 5-digit dream system for low thousands. Outside thought, unless your CD collection is really esoteric, take a look at the Roon/Tidal catalogs. You might find they already have digital high-rez versions of all your CDs, in which case you might just pay for a subscription and stream it all vs the time/hassle of ripping your own stuff and needing a drive to store it. You need to think about where you want to be on the convenience vs sound quality scale. You can have both, but not cheap. And you also need to consider what audiophiles refer to as WAF, Wife Approval Factor. Can the system be visible? Can it occupy a bunch of space? Does it have to look nice in addition to sounding nice? Even a few Sonos speakers gets you into the thousands that you are trying to avoid. Sonos is nice for convenience, but once you start talking about multiple units/surround sound or multiple rooms/zones, the cost adds up. Room actually seems pretty good, good size, open sides, carpet, those make it easier than a small reflective room. But the size and the openness would push me towards floorstanding speakers over bookshelves and over sound bar type products. If you lean simplicity, consider active speakers, which means amplification is built in, so you don't need a preamp and amp to drive them. Some of these have Bluetooth capability built-in, in which case you could just run audio from your PC or phone. That's how a Sonos setup works. At minimum I'd consider an integrated amp with Bluetooth or streaming ability. That keeps you to one box + speakers. System concepts, from less to more. Generally correlating to performance but not really. But correlating to simple/cheap/performance, pick any two. And definitely in order of WAF: Source (phone/PC/streamer/turntable)-->active speaker with BT input (Sonos fits this, KEF has a few products at higher prices, this is a small niche product so your price is higher and your selection is lower) Source-->integrated BT receiver-->speakers Source-->BT streamer-->integrated amplfier-->speakers Source-->BT streamer-->preamp-->amp-->speakers
  23. Audiogon
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