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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • The ‘mostly safe 4% rule’ actually includes inflation. It’s based on the assumption that assets are invested in a mix of broad stock market and treasury bonds, and allows the retireee to increase their annual spending by inflation, It usually results in the retiree dying with substantially more wealth (inflation adjusted) than they started out with. The stock market is a natural inflation hedge and, in this day of multinational conglomerates, a currency hedge.




  • If there’s multiple pieces, there will be seams, although they may not be visible in a video. This is one of the reasons people ‘fake’ bends: build up the structural wood from multiple pieces, which gets good strength while minimizing material usage, then cover the bent surface with a thin (ie, flexible & inexpensive) veneer, and trim that the to final shape.

    Most of the methods mushroommunk described are good for curving wood along its long axis, making the visible/usable surface of the wood curved.

    If you mean the desk top is curved, like a C-shape around the user, then they’ve probably just cut the curve into a big sheet or two of engineered lumber (eg. plywood), and covered that with veneer.



  • I have a n ESP32 with a thermocouple stuffed down my (gas) oven chimney, so I can tell what temperature it actually is (about 40°F/20°C cooler than the dial).

    I have one plugged into an addressable LED matrix, which has yet to get mounted, but will eventually be a closet/dressing light. There’s a few places where I’d like a ‘normal’ warm white light, with the option to switch to a blinding daylight for chores, and maybe a low-light, colorful animated nightlight.

    I have a Pi-0w reading temp/humidity/CO2 in a grow tent that’s a good candidate for ESP32-ification. I have an air quality sensor plugged directly into a Home Assistant server that could go on ESP32 if I wanted it in a different location. Humidity in the bathroom, with a controller for the bathroom fan is another good candidate.

    If I can come up with a good way to put them on battery, with a 6-12 month lifetime, then temperature in the attic, and on the input/output sides of the HVAC would be useful.



  • I was really intimidated by ESP32. Liked RPi, back in the 3b days, because I could comfortably sit in the python interpreter, play with sensor interfaces, and get immediate feedback of what & where I screwed up. Familiarity led me to RPi4 for libreelec and 0w for more sensors.

    Recently took the plunge on some ESP32s, though, and, just…wow. I mean, I’m going through esphome, but every sensor and control I’ve checked is just a couple of lines of YAML away. And low enough power that I’m starting to think about batteries. ESP32 is still pretty intimidating for noobs, but the ecosystem that’s grown up around it is fantastic once you get over that hump.



  • I started using HA to turn lights on and off on timer while I’m out of town, so it looks like the house is occupied.

    Then, because I am a nerd, I added some environmental sensors so I could see temperature & air quality.

    Eventually linked the air quality sensor to a smart thermostat, so it could turn the HVAC fan on when the air is dirty & off when clean, rather than leave it on 24/7 (like the HVAC people recommend) or on ‘circulate.’ That saved around 3.5 kWh electricity every day, or $100/year, while keeping the house dust and allergen-free.



  • The problem isn’t necessarily corporate services - the problem is corporate services with no practical competition. If there’s an actual marketplace, then enshittification is limited, because you can just hop providers when service degrades. If there’s an actual marketplace, then you can hop providers when some government takes control your provider.

    Putting fun services behind the wall of ‘you must be this technically competent to participate’ isn’t going to fix the broken system.