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A lot of TVs on the market these days are "Smart TVs" which I don't want. I've had smart TVs in the past and found that I don't use any of their features. Further, the software is often laggy, bugg...
What books (or other sources) would you recommend for folks wanting to learn about intentional community building?
What are some developed ethical theories and frameworks regarding killing? For example, is it ever ethically justified to kill? When, under what circumstances, and why?
When explaining a piece of knowledge, sometimes the explanation is short and simple and other times it is long and complex. Some people put the burden on the explainer, and demand that they make i...
It is common nowadays for the term “colonialism” to have a default morally negative connotation. But, what really is colonialism, and is it always bad? Why/why not?
What exactly are the steps to creating your own TLS certificates such that they create minimal error messages for users? For example, a simple self-signed certificate will trigger a lot of errors ...
So 6 months ago, I posted this puzzle on Puzzling Stack Exchange that was part of my "Filling in an 8x8 minesweeper grid with mines" puzzle series. This specific one was based on Day 30 of the Mine...
The Steam Deck comes with an OS which is basically a customized Arch, plus Steam, Plasma and some extra programs. The Steam Deck mounts most system dirs as read only, so for example it's not possi...
A philosophical zombie is an entity that is externally, behaviorally indistinguishable from some conscious entity, but lacks inner conscious experience, a.k.a. qualia. See articles “Zombies” and “...
Common general-purpose battery types available on the market today are: Disposable batteries, usually with some sort of zinc chemistry Older, generic rechargeable batteries, usually nickel chem...
Where can I get a high-quality, ergonomic mouse with a dedicated middle click button? I use "ergonomic" loosely, in the sense of "doesn't hurt to use all day". It doesn't have to have a special ...
Science tends to discover knowledge by performing experiments in the lab. For example, suppose we have a hypothesis that a volume V of atmospheric air, when compressed quickly to a certain ratio, ...
How can I confirm that an ethernet cable is free of defects? I have a bunch of ethernet cables around my house. Some are apparently defective, and cause network problems when used. When these prob...
In order to understand Gödel’s theorems, one must first explain the key concepts essential to it, such as “formal system”, “consistency”, and “completeness”. Roughly, a formal system is a system ...
Many companies sell water filters for improving the composition of water received from city mains. There is a variety of models with different number and types of filter stages, and corresponding p...
I have a Lutron Maestro MA-T530G. I installed this to control an old bathroom fan which was malfunctioning. I'm planning to replace the fan anyway later, but I wanted to have a timer in the meanwh...
I think there may be a common fallacy which I do not know if it has been given a name and a fully developed, possibly mathematical, argument. The idea is something like a basic fallacy of assuming...
Prompt engineering has emerged as a critical concept in the use of LLMs. Are there any good resources for learning prompt engineering techniques?
Every single article I've read about periapical tooth abscess (including the one on this previous link) states that it won't go away without treatment. I mean it's just hard for me to understand h...
LLMs are trained on a lot of text. At its heart, an LLM is a glorified autocomplete engine. You give it text, and it adds more text that matches the pattern. You need to "direct" the autocomplete,...
I want to use ChatGPT to edit individual source code files. When I give it the file and state what changes I want, it tends to do those quite well, but it's also very chatty and includes a lot of e...
I know what Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are and how they work, but I regularly get confused by what exactly the support vectors are. In case of linearly separable data, the support vectors are ...
Port Orford Cedar is a type of lumber which naturally emits a pleasant aroma. I'd like to make some wooden crafts with this wood, because the wood itself seems nice and I really enjoy the smell. ...
In the United States, there are various IRAs intended to help ordinary people save for retirement. It appears that generally, one funds these accounts and purchases securities with the funds. In ex...
I looks like either RewriteEngine on RewriteRule (.*) http://localhost:8080/$1 [P,L] or ProxyPass "/" "http://localhost:8080/" ProxyPassReverse "/" "http://localhost:8080/" would allow...
I have a physical machine available and I don't want to pay hosting fees. What if I just host my website on my home server? What are common pitfalls of doing so?
My web host only lets me upload static files. They don't support .htaccess or dynamic scripting. As such, I can't implement 301 redirects between pages. I should be able to put some JavaScript in...
I've heard the term "wall fishing" in the context of interior wiring of a house. What does this mean?
Some lenders offer an option where one can pay additional money in closing costs to get a lower APR. This is often called a rate or point "buy down". Is this a good idea?
I have a showerhead with a flexible, 5 foot hose. I don't know if this matters, but the flexible hose is made of metal rings. When you yank on it, it stretches a little (there's probably some elast...
When cooked in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom or in Breath of the Wild, hearty ingredients produce food that completely fill up your hearts and give you extra temporary hearts. They are some of the mo...
I am setting up a domain that uses a CNAME record so that is hosted on the same server as another site. I seem to be able to set up the www subdomain just fine with a CNAME but I'm having trouble ...
My house has some conduits put in by previous residents. The conduits are plastic enclosures running along walls, which contain electrical outlets as well as ethernet plugs (actually it also has RH...
From what conceptual framework could one derive self-consistent ethical principles about how to distinguish between situations in which people’s right to privacy enables them to choose what data ot...
What free alternatives are available to the GPT-3 and GPT-4 large language models (LLM)? Are there competing models with similar capabilities that I can download and run on my own computer?
I have a 1/2in OSB board with "32/16" stamped on it. This means that when used as flooring, it the supporting joists must be spaced 16in or denser (32 is for roofing). However, if I did put it on ...
On harder difficulties, it's easy to run out of money in the beginning and get stuck with no way to progress. How can I create a positive cash flow early on?
My internet is provided via a coax cable. The speeds are much less than advertised, and the ISP's technician said it's because my coax cables are low quality and degrade the signal. The cables are...
When I want to extend my power lines, I first have to delete some so I can add a power switch. Sometimes I also have to delete entire power line sections so I can move them further out. But in real...
In the last 5-10 years, I've noticed that many searches (especially Google) about technical or semi-technical questions, have the results clogged with "content farm" results. It's hard to precisel...
I want to give an AI the ability to read, write and manipulate files on my computer, such as with the OpenAI function calling feature. The goal of this is to use the AI to work on a project compris...
There is a lot of debate about the "cognitive" capabilities of LLMs and LLM-based chatbots, like ChatGPT. It's common to see statements like "these models just apply statistical pattern matching" a...
How does climate change research establish causality? For example, when it is said that human activity causes global warming, what sort of logic is used to justify this claim? Let's not get into t...
Say I wanted to make a "time machine" using command blocks. I can use /time add to change the time and make things faster, but I don't know how to subtract time as a /time subtract command doesn't ...
In North America, it is common to build wood-frame houses with pieces of lumber making up the frame and OSB boards acting as wall sheathing. The OSB sheathing reinforces the frame against various ...
When I work with wood in my garage, it quickly fills with sawdust. Everything in the garage gets covered with a film of dust. Many of my tools have dust extraction ports. I know some people get sp...
In the following scenario: A person is not running for President of the U.S. Somehow, they receive a large number of votes as a write-in candidate, and secure the election victory. They decline ...
I applied to Google AdSense to be able to use their system to put ads on my site, however my application was rejected due to "insufficient content." Googles help page is pretty vague about how muc...
Is the historical method a scientific method? When I was a child in grade school, I learned that "The Scientific Method" had the following steps: Observe a phenomenon: find things by curious ex...