kbin.pithyphrase.net

homesweethomeMrL , to Texas in Ascension will stop offering health insurance plans in Texas

“A spokesperson for Ascension said the decision to end Ascension Personalized Care coverage in Texas was not related to the ransomware attack that hit the health care system in May, but did not immediately offer an explanation for the change. KUT previously reported that the ransomware attack had caused issues with billing and claims processing for Ascension Personalized Care plans.”

🤔

reddig33 OP ,

Looks like Ascension is struggling to stay afloat. Not sure how you run a non profit hospital system into bankruptcy other than supreme mismanagement.

https://www.statnews.com/2024/07/01/ascension-hospital-sales-financial-performance/

Twitches , to Home Improvement in Should I insulate my garage attic?

You need some kind of vent fan to blow that air out of there. Like a thermostat attic fan for example, In the garage. I've seen people crack a window if you got it. Crack the garage door or back/side door when you're home. Nothing is going to get rid of that heat except some ventilation of some kind.

southsamurai , to Work Reform in is this the right way to establish boundaries with my nosy coworkers at the hospital?
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

I've never needed anything beyond the combination of the whole "I don't do politics, or religion at work", and a blank stare until people go away.

And I was a nurse's assistant, so it was a similar situation, where I was often the only male employee. I didn't learn how to give good blank face until almost 30, though. It's harder to do when you're younger.

Later on, I had to add the bits about sex/romance because, believe it or not, some women will mess with you just to cause trouble. I would add sexual matters to the politics and religion, and just walk away. There's zero way to engage in those kinds of talks as a man in the workplace. It can not end up in a good place.

Now, I could easily get away with the stone face because I'm typically a very friendly, polite, and affable guy. I'm even downright charming at times. So when I drew firm boundaries, it was rare for anyone to take it personally. Those that did, well, they're not the sorts that last at any job.

Now, if it's break time, and we're swapping recipes or other nice things, I was often at my most affable because as much as I actually hate people in general, and get worn out from group interactions, I can fake being an extrovert very well. That's mostly about a lot of listening, laughing in the right places, then offering the occasional bit of conversation to let them know you're paying attention.

Workplace conversation should be casual at all times, no overly personal stuff, no hot button topics ever. If things are that friendly, meet up outside work and get back to the job. Not because of some bullshit protestant work ethic or capitalist bullshit, but because you agreed to do a thing for a period of time, and fucking around while the job is still on is lame.

dennis5wheel OP ,

Workplace conversation should be casual at all times, no overly personal stuff, no hot button topics ever. If things are that friendly, meet up outside work and get back to the job. Not because of some bullshit protestant work ethic or capitalist bullshit, but because you agreed to do a thing for a period of time, and fucking around while the job is still on is lame.

exactly...

CameronDev , to Home Improvement in Should I insulate my garage attic?

Get/borrow a thermal camera, and use that to see where the heat is coming in. Some libraries have thermal cameras, but that might be rare. You can also get very cheap and nasty thermal cameras from Aliexpress for $60 AUD

reddig33 OP ,

Good suggestion. Our local Home Depot rents these as well.

catloaf , to Ask Science in Would celite/carbon vacuum filtration perform well enough to remove photopolymers from isopropyl alcohol?

Exactly how pure are you trying to get? You can buy 99.5% pretty easily.

remotelove OP ,

I have a stock of 99% IPA already that I use for cleaning the bed of my regular 3D printer, electronics cleaning and for drying things coming out of my ultrasonic cleaner. (I can use salt to drop any water out of IPA, actually.)

With resin 3D printing, my washer uses about a gallon of IPA and it will get super dirty after a while. For that particular case, it's just going to be more efficient to clean the IPA and reuse it until it needs to be distilled. (Wishing the parts in stages will help reduce IPA use, actually. Water washable resin is an option, but I would rather not dump that water down the drain or hassle with hazmat disposal, when applicable.)

catloaf ,

Oh, I missed that it was for 3d printing.

Maybe an actual chemist will chime in, but I couldn't find any sources about purifying or recycling IPA, at least none that you could do at home. At a guess, maybe a reverse osmosis system without the finest membrane? Like you said, the water and IPA molecules should be smaller than the dyes and resins.

Maybe also consider washing with the dirty IPA, and just giving a rinse at the end with the clean IPA in order to conserve. Ultimately it sounds like everything I've found is material you're already familiar with, unfortunately.

remotelove OP ,

Thanks for looking around! I already have a good selection of chemistry glass and am no stranger to doing home experiments. (I could probably use a good vacuum filter anyways and maybe I am just searching for an excuse to get one.) Distillation is an option for me, but it'll be last resort. Still, having a few proper distillation pieces would go nice with my collection....

Some filter rigs I have seen are using small RO systems, but that seems like a pain to clean and those people probably need to filter a ton of IPA for it to be cost effective. Regardless, it is absolutely worth exploring more as setting up a filter loop would be awesome until it gets gummed up.

This looked promising as it is dealing with ethanol and plant extracts: https://youtu.be/VjxZVpGv_aM?si=5VFLYQkObCzUawbb .. (This video specifically got me thinking about what could/couldn't be filtered and is the root of this post.)

And absolutely, a multi-stage rinsing system is going to be needed if I scale up, which may be in the near future. Full context: I am studying and planning for a reverse engineering/prototyping business, so there could be a considerable amount of printing in my future and this is particular problem is part of the cost analysis.

finley , to aww in This guy was chilling in the middle of road.

Hello, spiky baby!

jahtnamas , to KDE in Is there some way to make Telepathy work with XMPP
@jahtnamas@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

is there any reason you don't want to use kaidan for XMPP instead?

Starcross OP ,
@Starcross@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

First and foremost for the KDE 4 aesthetic
Also Kaidan looked and felt pretty buggy on my system

marilyn , to Learn Japanese in Where does this extra stroke come from in the kanji for cicada?
@marilyn@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@x4740N It looks normal to me? In general, 虫 means bug/insect. According to Wiktionary, it originally derived from an ancient Chinese snake glyph: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%99%AB

I didn't know about the etymology before, but it makes sense (given that 蛇 means "snake").

x4740N OP ,
@x4740N@lemm.ee avatar

https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/f7886339-e309-435f-9509-0ae42cc4976e.jpeg

According to the Radicals for 虫 the stroke that I've highlighted doesn't come from them so I'm wondering what it is there for since the only Radicals for it are "丶" and "中"

TheGuyTM3 ,
@TheGuyTM3@lemmy.ml avatar

from what i know, the kanji for "insect" is a fundamental radical itself, but if you really want a mnemotechnic, i'd say that 口 is the insect mouth biting an arm ム (not the real meaning of that but it kinda looks like an arm)

based on this list
https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/013f9eee-0719-4fb8-97b2-d6032fd2509b.jpeg

protist , to Home Improvement in Should I insulate my garage attic?

You might've insulated your garage door, but did you weatherize it? You can get decent weather stripping to go along all 4 edges of the door to block off the cracks. As far as insulating your garage ceiling, it's something I've considered too, but one thing I don't have an answer too is how that would affect the airflow or code compliance for my gas furnace and gas water heater, which are both in the garage.

Also, when we did an exterior remodel, we discovered there was no insulation in the exterior garage wall, only in the walls shared with the interior of the house, so you may be contending with that. We had that wall insulated when we did the renovation, and it made a noticeable difference. I've also planted trees to shade that garage wall, otherwise it gets blasted with afternoon sun.

If I had the energy and time, I would put batt insulation above the garage ceiling and also replace my attic stairs, which are old and poorly sealed. A mini split AC would also be pretty sweet.

You might be interested in watching videos by Matt Risinger on YouTube, he does a ton on insulation projects in 70s-80s builds in Texas

itchick2014 , to Photography in [OC] Just getting into photography

This is really good for a person starting out with a DSLR. You have a great composition here. I recommend learning by experimentation and inquiring with others. A lot of photography concepts are covered well on YouTube. I learned a lot from Ken Rockwell though I know a lot of people don’t care for him. One thing to invest in is a good tripod. Take the same photo with multiple settings until you find what you want. Though knowing techniques is good and desirable, a lot of decisions are subjective to you as the photographer.

PeepinGoodArgs , to Photography in [OC] Just getting into photography

Yes, as someone that got into photography many years ago:

  • Rule of Thirds—Honestly, this is the easiest thing to learn. It won't make your photos amazing or anything, but it is a consistent way to view any scene, which is very useful.
  • Then watch some random video on photographic composition. There are many different ways to view a scene.
  • Learn the Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO/Exposure Triangle. Absolutely crucial for learning to shoot manual.
  • Learn to shoot manual. Try taking good pics of fireworks on July 4th. It's tougher than it looks.
  • You don't need to get into editing raw photos, but it's fun af. I switched from Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop to ON1. I'd also recommend Affinity Photo. Unlike ON1, Affinity does not have a subscription and their software is comparable to Photoshop.

As for your photo, at a glance, I can't really tell it's shot as such as high ISO. But once you zoom in, you can see the fuzziness. Still though, I think it's kinda clear why you took the picture. It looks you're focusing on several interacting subjects (the bunny, the butterfly, the turquoise fence with the bunny outline) that all framed really well by the wooden house and the negative space at the top and right edges of the frame. I, for one, like it a lot!

Anyway, have fun! Photography is one of the hobbies I'm happiest to have. I hope it ends up being as fulfilling for you!

FQQD OP ,
@FQQD@lemmy.ohaa.xyz avatar

Thanks for the detailed comment :)

Unfortunately, there aren't any fireworks soon where I live, but when the time for new year comes, I'll try it out.

But from my previous tries to photograph firework I do know that on a smartphone, it's basically impossible xd

ianovic69 ,
@ianovic69@feddit.uk avatar

A friendly warning, please be careful when suggesting the rule of 3rds, especially to the less experienced. It's greatly misunderstood and as a result it generally causes confusion and boring photos.

Please see the article in this Lemmy post, about this and composition generally.

Thanks.

Hello_there , to Home Improvement in Should I insulate my garage attic?

I have the same problem with a different setup. Half finished walls. Nothing up except the roof. No insulation on walls or ceilings. 15 degrees hotter than outside.
Lack of insulation on roof and vents that are kind of blocked by the finished walls is my issue.
Solutions I've thought about are putting a vent up high, by the ^ of the roof. Putting a fan near that. Stapling insulation to the joists, just under roof, to keep some of that heat out.

Out of left field solution: get a heat pump water heater. It will be a lil loud tho.

sic_semper_tyrannis , to Photography in [OC] Just getting into photography

It says failed to load media unfortunately. I'm glad you're enjoying the hobby. Darktable is a great editing software fyi

FQQD OP ,
@FQQD@lemmy.ohaa.xyz avatar

Yeah, I'm sorry for the image not loading. I uploaded it in full res and my instances server doesn't have the best bandwidth, so it may time out.

Here it is on Imgur:

https://i.imgur.com/XzG7mfc.jpeg

sic_semper_tyrannis ,

That is quite nice composition for a beginner. Well done

Andonyx , to Photography in [OC] Just getting into photography

That's a really interesting photo. I like the way you captured some dramatic light and played with focus planes. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have over the years. This is an interest that will actually take you places and make you try things you never thought you'd do before. Have a great time finding beauty in the world and sharing it with people.

IMALlama , to Photography in [OC] Just getting into photography

First, nice photo! Even "old" gear can take great photos. Throw motion and/or low light (with a fast lens) into the mix and you'll beat a modern smartphone.

The quick lead into the exposure triangle is:

  • ISO is basically "gain" applied to the photons that hit the sensor. Some gain = fine. More gain = you start to run into signal to noise ratio challenges
  • shutter speed helps you freeze the action, or can also let the action blur on purpose. Examples of intentional blur include panning photos (think auto racing) and long exposures (at night or during the day with the aid of a ND filter)
  • aperture. This is the ratio of focal length to lens aperture. Keep in mind it's 1/x, so as x grows the actual aperture is getting "stopped down" (aka closed/smaller). Wider aperture (aka small denominator) = less depth of field and more light will hit the sensor. Stopping down = more depth of field and generally more sharpness/less vignetting, but if you take this too far you'll hit diffraction and lose sharpness

You wind up trading values against each other in various scenarios, which is why it's called the exposure triangle. It's very much a "you pick two and deal with the third" situation. Which two you prioritize really comes down to what you're trying to accomplish.

For your barn photo's exposures, let's talk tradeoffs. It sounds like you know that your ISO value was too high, especially for a static subject and good light. So how to get it to go down? You could do a mix of:

  • using a slower shutter speed. Unless you have a tremor, the rule of thumb is minimum shutter speed should be more than 1/focal length. You could have easily shot this at 1/100, if not lower. That would cut ISO down to around 1600
  • open your aperture. f/14 is very closed and likely isn't needed unless you really want to see something deep in the background/foreground. You're also likely losing some sharpness due to diffraction

Happy shooting! Feel free to ask follow ups.

FQQD OP , (edited )
@FQQD@lemmy.ohaa.xyz avatar

Yeah, I definitely noticed the "you pick two and deal with the third" thing.

I think the trick in most cases is to

  • Set the ISO as low as possible, depending on the lighting of the scene
  • Set the shutter speed, depending on if it's a moving target, such as animals
  • Set the aperture to even out the brightness
  • Play around with the ratios, as needed

That worked pretty well for my latest tries.

When I made the barn photo, I did have that composition in mind since I played around with compositions in the past, but literally had no idea what's important for the exposure triangle. I pretty much just pressed buttons until it was bright enough and was lucky it looked good, besides the grain

IMALlama ,

It is all about trade-offs, but the tradeoffs have to be situational.

Considering only shutter speed and a "static" subject, you have to consider whether or not your subject is actually static. For example, are there flexible things present (plants, etc) and is it windy? For something like a desert landscape with zero motion your shutter speed can be as low as you want it to be (note that you might need to block some light from reaching the sensor using a ND filter). For "still" people you probably don't want to go too low because we're constantly in motion. That said, ever rule was made to be broken. Want to photo stars? Don't use a super long shutter speed - you'll get star trails. What's that, you want star trails? Bump shutter speed even more so they look intentionally vs somewhat smeared balls of light. Sports and wildlife are basically the only scenario where you need a fast shutter speed... until you want some motion blur. Granted, motion blue and sports will still probably be a fairly fast shutter speed.

Aperture follows a similar arc - do you want shallow depth of field, do you want to see more of the foreground/background, maybe you forgot your ND filter and want a slow shutter so you have to stop down, maybe it's really dark so you have to use a fast (wide aperture) lens wide open.

The only thing you universally want to take one way is ISO and that way is low. Unless you want some grain. Or you're shooting something with motion indoors and you can't compromise any more on shutter speed or depth of field. Or your lens aperture is already wide open and you still need more light.

When staring off you might want to try shutter or aperture priority, based on the situation, and let the camera handle the other two values. Heck, I still do this 95% of the time 15 years later.

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