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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)EU
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2 yr. ago

  • Negative absolute temperature is a thing. Lasers exhibit negative temperatures when active, i.e. the lasing medium has a negative temperature expressed in Kelvin. Adding more energy doesn't increase its entropy, it just turns into more laser light. Any such system with bounded entropy can have a negative thermodynamic temperature.

  • Yep, it reduces cam-out. Not very well, but it does better than a slotted screw made by a drunk apprentice with a dremel being torqued with a flat-head prybar. Torx, Allen, and Robertson all reduce cam-out far more, but Phillips still sadly get used in new products.

  • Mostly correct. Trump was found guilty of significantly inflating the value of his properties already. There are still charges over falsification of business records, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit fraud. Those don't have guilty verdicts yet. Damages haven't been decided, as you note.

    It's also worth noting that this is a civil trial. That means that refusal to answer questions can result in "adverse inference" where the assumption will be that the worst possible answer was given (an admission of guilt). It may still be worthwhile to refuse to answer, e.g. under 5th amendment protections to avoid incriminating oneself on criminal charges. Criminal charges can be brought based on testimony given in civil trials, but adverse inference isn't enough to get criminal charges.

  • Astronomers already use Julian Dates for various reasons. Right now it's 2460261.2834606, it'll be later by the time you read this. Julian dates/times are fractional days starting from January 1st, 4713 B.C. = 0. Just keep counting up from there.

  • Pretty much how I DM.

    Bosses have prep time. Glyph of warding can be cast on a page in a book, with trigger conditions specified by the caster. E.g. when a good-aligned creature with ≥8 int comes within 10ft of it.

    Explosive runes are 5d8 damage (dex save for half) per glyph.

    Nothing says it can't be cast on more than one page.

    A 50 page book with a glyph on every page means 100 dex saves for 5d8 each. Evasion is nice but you'll fail a save eventually.

    Your "friendly" neighborhood lich has had time to prepare dozens of these. That tempting library full of magical books might just be a TPK.

    As a "consolation prize" at least the player gets to roll 100 d20s at once! Multiple times if they survive the first book.

  • Budgerigars (small parrots).

    They're active, smart, and social. They fly.

    So I made them a flight cage that takes up most of the room they're in. I'd prefer a full walk-in aviary, but don't have room in my apartment.

    Cleaning isn't bad, I just shop-vac out the litter tray & refill it with a 20lb bag of corn cob bits. Fresh food in the mornings, take it out & replace with pellets around noon. Clean water daily. Millet treats when I let them out (about an hour per day to interact with them).

    Feathers get everywhere when they molt. And feather dust. Their room has its own HEPA filter.

    Vet appointments are more expensive for exotics than cats & dogs. There are fewer exotic vets, and I always go to a board certified avian vet. Boarding when I go on vacation is also more expensive (about $50/day), especially since they're flighted.

    They're not anywhere near as loud or destructive as larger parrots, but that doesn't mean they're quiet. Just means they might not damage your hearing from the next room. They wake up with the dawn, and let you know about it.

    They're extremely sensitive to airborne toxins (avian respiration is rather different from mammalian). That means absolutely no teflon cookware use, no air fresheners, etc.

  • Blackbird Cider Works in Buffalo, NY makes some good dry & semi-dry ciders. They're in grocery stores all over western New York, but not elsewhere (too small). There are others who make nice ciders elsewhere, but none of the big national chains do.

  • I use NixOS & Home Manager. My config is in git, and I use an ephemeral setup with ZFS & tmpfs:

    Mount layout:

     
        
    /		 tmpfs  
    ├─/boot /dev/sda1  FAT32 EFI system partition
    ├─/nix	 rpool/local/nix ZFS partition
    ├─/home/persist rpool/safe/home ZFS partition
    └─/persist	 rpool/safe/persist ZFS partition
    
      

    ZFS partitions under rpool/safe/ get backed up, the rest don't need to be. Everything else can be rebuilt (and most of it gets re-created at boot anyway, since / and /home are tmpfs).

  •  
        
    #define max(x,y) ( { __auto_type __x = (x); __auto_type __y = (y); __x > __y ? __x : __y; })
    
      

    GNU C. Also works with Clang. Avoids evaluating the arguments multiple times. The optimizer will convert the branch into a conditional move, if it doesn't I'd replace the ternary with the "bit hacker 2" version.