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Joined 8 months ago
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Cake day: March 7th, 2024

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  • Depending on what I want to do, I used a combination of Unified Remote and LocalSend, both of which are available for Linux. With Unified Remote, I can control my PC on my home network. So if I want to copy over a URL, for example, I could open notepad and paste it remotely from my phone’s clipboard (or type it manually), or I could open a new tab on my PC’s browser and paste the URL so it’s open and ready for me the next time I’m at my PC. I can sit downstairs on the couch and check the status of a project upstairs, open and run new programs upstairs, etc.

    My only two complaints are that I need to be at the PC to handle admin messages like “Are you sure you want to install this program?”, which I guess is a safety feature but it’s still annoying. And secondly, I really wish they had an easier way to toggle between left- and right-mouse-click, it gets annoying.

    To send images, actual files or even folders, I use LocalSend. It does require that you click Accept on the device you’re sending to, but I can use Unified Remote to do that, and then save the files to wherever I want to (or accept the default).

    This may be less streamlined than other options, but what I really like about it is that I can complete a task and then not have to think about it again. I don’t have to go back to my desktop and download or save anything, I’ve already done it, the job’s complete. The only exception is when I’ve put a new URL into my browser, but that’s generally because I wanted to look at it on my (much larger than my phone’s) desktop screen.

    Anyway, it works nicely for me; I hope you find a solution that works for you!



  • Converting older office buildings - say, 1950’s and earlier - is often feasible, it’s the newer ones that can be problematic. Most people don’t want an apartment without a window (and often fire or occupancy codes require a window). This isn’t really an issue for older building stock, as they were constructed when air conditioning wasn’t as prevalent, windows provided ventilation, and window light was used to supplement office lights.

    Modern office buildings don’t worry about windows for either ventilation or light, so each floor can take up a massive amount of space. If this happens to be a long, thin space, you could put in some apartments - but a lot of the buildings are more square.

    How do you handle that? Do you make each apartment really long and thin? If so, do you put in a hallway on one side that eats up precious space and does nothing other than keeping you from going through each room in turn? Or do you make it so you have to pass through each room to get to the end?

    If you have the pass-through-each-room style, then which room should be the end room? Traditionally the living room gets the big windows, so you can entertain guests, but that leaves you passing through bedrooms to get there. If you put a bedroom at the end, then only one person/couple gets the light, and you’re still potentially walking through the second or third bedroom.

    You could make the apartments more square - but these are massive floors, sometimes taking up entire city blocks. And as I mentioned, often code requires windows, so what do you do with the massive space in the center? Do you make each apartment wide and long - those will be expensive and won’t help the affordability crisis. Do you build in common areas: say, put in resident storage units every 3 floors and a gym every 5 floors and toss in some community spaces? That’s great, but those common spaces will need housekeeping and maintenance, which raises ongoing costs. You can put in office space, but most people don’t feel comfortable having those on the same floor, and it raises security concerns for the residents. There are a couple places that have put in a giant light well in the center, but that’s expensive and makes the resulting apartments expensive too.

    Conversion tends to work better with older building stock and while that works fine in some places, what do you do in cities that don’t really have a good supply of older buildings? The supply of 1950’s era office buildings is certainly limited in places like Los Angeles or Phoenix.


  • Let’s make this Black spouse somebody who has a really close relationship with another Brady

    … Ri-ight. I’m sure that this proposed show, with six grown-up Brady kids, six Brady spouses, and a decent number of Next Gen Bradys will have plenty of time for yet another character … I’m sure that wouldn’t be a token position at all …

    Actually, while I was writing this, I had a thought and I went back and re-read her comment:

    “One of Jan’s children was going to be trans, and one of the Bradys was going to have a Black spouse. […] Let’s make this Black spouse somebody who has a really close relationship with another Brady, and that’s how this Brady met them.”

    It’s interesting, isn’t it? She mentions Jan specifically, and “another Brady” who could have a black spouse, but she’s pretty coy (“this Brady”) about who was originally going to have the black spouse. Who wants to bet it was her?



  • My mom used to save gift cards and use them for “special things”, to get something she really wanted but was a splurge for her. When she died, she had probably like $800-900 in gift cards waiting to be spent, and they’d lost like a third of their value. They were part of my mom’s estate, so they went to my sister (the executrix). When my sister died, I found those exact same gift cards, still unspent, only this time they’d lost all their value. Plus she has a bunch of gift cards of her own that she’d been saving that had lost a bunch of value as well.

    I know I’m fortunate that I don’t need to scrape money, and that not everyone can afford to do this. But after losing out on a bunch of money, this is what I do: when someone gives me a gift card, I spend it immediately and enthusiastically tell the giver what I got - or, in some cases, supposedly got: occasionally I’ll use the card to buy a gift for someone else, or I’ll just buy gas or groceries. But I use it on something I want or need, even if it’s just in the vaguest way. That avoids losing the value of the money, which I absolutely hate.

    But I take the birthday or holiday or thank-you or thinking-of-you card that the gift card came in, and I’ll tuck in the same amount of cash as was on the gift card. I have a little stash of cards in my desk (and my heir knows to check those cards), all with some amount of money in them. And when I’m feeling down, or really need a treat, or just need to remember that I’m loved, I go pull out the cards and read through some of them. And if I’m still feeling bad, I may pull out some money from the card and go buy myself something - an ice cream or a nice dinner or a pair of socks - it doesn’t matter. To me, it’s that person giving me a giant hug on a day that I really need it, whether that person is even still around - to me, that’s an immensely valuable gift, and something that I always treasure.

    Also, to keep each gift giving, I usually sneak back a couple weeks later and put the same amount of money back into the envelope: just because I spent that specific money doesn’t mean my mom or grandma loved me any less, and sometimes I need to be reminded of that.