grumpy-de-sre

Got to say after figuring this out I am tempted to ditch the western style mattress and replace it with something like a Japanese futon. I assume it'd be much easier to wash.

In the meantime I need to purchase a mattress encasement, I put one on my pillow and that alone helped a bunch.

Long term maybe desensitization is an option but I'm too lazy for that atm.

You can always go to an allergist for a skin prick test.

I'd say hallmark symptom would be chronic night time congestion worsening while in bed (an area of the house that has a very high density of mite allergen).

But running a bit of differential diagnosis on this,

* Inflammatory & Allergic Conditions (allergic/non-allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, turbinate hypertrophy, nasal polyps).

* Obstructive Sleep Apnea (do a STOP-BANG).

* Structural Blockages & Airway Obstructions (deviated septum, adenoid/tonsil hypertrophy, nasal valve collapse, turbinate hypertrophy).

* Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD/LPR).

For anyone looking for a sleep supplement, before you go down the rabbit hole of Theanine, Mg, etc. Try an OTC Azelastine or Fluticasone nasal spray for a month.

Turns out my chronic poor quality, restless sleep was a dust mite allergy that I should have figured out and treated a decade ago. Would wake up with a stuffy nose and very dry mouth but didn't have too many issues during the day. I was allergic to my bed.

Been using antihistamines, and a dehumidifier for several months now and sleeping better than I have in years. Given how extremely common mite allergies are there's got to be a lot of folks with undiagnosed issues here.

Stable systems are not static, they are just sufficiently damped that they don't oscillate uncontrollably [1].

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damping

Social stability is far more valuable than any social media business. But yes regulatory capture will need to be managed.

Recommendation for the EU, please force social media platforms to offer support for custom feed algorithms/plugins. If they don't offer them, ban them from the EU market.

Long term, once we figure out how to generate feeds that are aren't socially corrosive dumpster fires. Mandate platforms default to using one of a set of approved models (maybe we need a recommendation engine benchmark that scores social divisiveness).

In a lot of ways I really like recommendation algorithms, regularly I've had youtube recommend a video that's converted into new sub (eg. LiamTronix and his electric tractor conversion).

What we really need is "responsible" recommendation systems (that allow the joy of discovery while aggressively damping rage bait and extreme view points). They'd need to be trained with some kind of socially beneficial reward function rather than pure engagement or advertiser dollars.

Could such a recommendation systems operate on top of existing social graphs?

Land?

Western coverage on this is just terrible.

I think a lot of folks who were dismayed by the 2008 bailouts during the GFC would have a lot of sympathy and respect for whats going on. China didn't bail out, they let them burn.

The deflationary conditions are the next challenge and I'm very interested to see how they are combatted. It's interesting that Xi has come out strongly against Abenomics, and direct cash transfers, arguing that they'd distort things and "breed laziness".

Obviously this is a very unconventional view point, but looking at the financial shenanigans that have happened in the West and Japan over the last couple decades it's hard to argue in favor of the conventional methods.

Big issue is neither approach really increases the velocity of money, and just leads to it ending up in savings and bloating balance sheets. You've got to get the cash moving.

E: I do ponder how much of the deflation actually is an "efficiency dividend" due to the mass adoption of renewables and electrification. Saul Griffith (one of the folks behind the inflation reduction act) is working on a macroeconomic analysis that suggests renewable energy is inherently deflationary. Solar panels cost less as time goes forward but oil always costs more (due to getting harder and harder to extract).

Three red lines was definitely reactionary and perhaps late, but better late than never. I'd consider any form of intervention/deleveraging prior to a full blown meltdown evidence of being "not asleep". It's very hard to pass laws that negatively impact peoples life savings.

People like to forget China was aggressively combating financialization [1] long before Jack Ma was forced to step down. Ant financials ambitions were an absolute disaster in the making [2].

I still remember my wife casually mentioning, back in 2019 or something (well before Evergrande), that China was restricting property speculation. Prohibiting folks from taking out loans on third properties etc. As an Australian this was mind blowing to me, property speculation is a sacred religion there.

I far from agree with their politics on social matters, but their financial regulators aren't asleep at the wheel and haven't been regulatory captured.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_red_lines

2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgecalhoun/2020/11/16/why-ch...

Not to shill too hard but was recently in Northern china for a month, mixture of Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities (including cities in major decline [1]).

A lot of folks say China is decades in the future, this is not my belief. They are ahead in some major areas for sure but in other areas they are still a developing nation. China just does it's own thing and doesn't concern itself too much with the whims and concerns of the west.

One thing was abundantly clear however, China does not suffer from financially engineered Baumols disease. It was incredibly refreshing to spend time in a "functioning" society. Housing abundance, cheap EVs / public transport, great services, lively small businesses etc (no abandoned high streets).

If I were to guess this is probably because productivity growth so far has been able to keep up with the expansion of money supply. Where as the west tried to print itself out of structural deflation with a decade of ZIRP/QE. How do you avoid deflation in an aging society? Is it even avoidable? I guess we'll find out [2].

1. https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3133397/c...

2. https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-xi-debt-economic-plan-...

The interesting question would be how to tie the currency to real productivity in a way that makes financial engineering, and fraud unattractive.

Not a crypto shill but proof of work isn't so terrible, particularly something ASIC resistant. Energy isn't such a bad thing to peg your currency to (lot more flexible than gold). But nonetheless you still end up with a lot of weird distortions.

The legacy of ZIRP, and the effects of decoupling the financial and real world, are going to be felt for years to come.

Thank you! That's exactly what they are. Even "higher" tech than I first anticipated.

Yeh I loved twiggy for a while there but then he went all in on the hydrogen bullshit, and now those hydrogen projects are getting wound down before completion (aka fumbling the ball).

In general I think the east coast and the national energy market is cooked, I'm not sure how, and when the pioneering spirit died but it did. On the non-fatalistic side EV and rooftop solar uptake are great, so who knows?

On the other hand I'm much more optimistic about WA, they seem to be quietly making the correct decisions as far as I can tell. Expansions in desalination, huge battery projects, green industry (ammonia up in the pilbara [1], and inroads into the lithium supply chain in kiwana).

Let's see how this all shakes out, and hopefully the public rejects the pro fossil fuel / nuclear bullshit.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYY9miC2Y2A

Was in Northern China recently,

Got to say the shiny and non-rusted transmission pylons in Hebei got me more excited than was probably warranted. I don't think I've seen a shiny pylon before, I guess we mostly just stopped building them decades ago.

On the topic of agriculture I was very impressed by all the polytunnels we spotted from the high speed rail heading north out of Beijing. Every valley, and nook and cranny was full of them.

Took a couple photos of a small town in inner Mongolia that we passed, was amazing seeing green crops in the middle of a Siberian winter.

I believe this was a farm using recycled water to grow cut flowers https://imgur.com/a/kw1IDZ3

And don't be sleeping on the potential of UHVDC transmission.

Rooftop photovoltaic can (and will) cover local needs. Bigger issue is local energy storage (eg. community batteries).

> Do you have your own personal garden?

Yes, every season I grow ~20kg of vegetables on a 15m^2 balcony (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, celery, various herbs). They are grown vertically on a trellis system, using 11 liter hydroponic "bato" buckets and recycled/reused perlite (sterilized). Nothing fancy.

The main energy input is the chemical fertilizer. Electricity to run pumps/valves etc is very minimal and probably amounts to 5-6 KWh over the season. I use synthetic fertilizers but avoid insecticides/fungicides, instead opting to use biocontrols (shout out to Koppert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFPkAQUfYvo).

The future of agriculture (excluding cereal crops, which I dream might be replaced by synthetic starches one day) probably looks something similar to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_pR_HihCVo

Photovoltaic "fences" are one of those bizarre ideas that might actually make sense.

I really don't get the hype around Agrivoltaics at all. It all kind of pivots of the idea that land for Photovoltaics is scarce. Maybe it is in the UK but in the vast majority of the world this is a non sequitur.

Cover the crop in shade cloth, and mount the panels on the ground / roof structures nearby. No need to over complicate things.

The idea of Solarpunk has been resonating with me for a while now. I'm not completely sold on some of the community aspects (a little too hippy) but it's an incredible breath of fresh air compared to the cyberpunk dystopian bullshit that we are being force fed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R8GlENvhLI

I'm an Aussie living in the EU, and if anything is going to eventually tempt me to go back it's going to be ridiculously cheap solar energy. I think the odds of building any kind of utopia there are pretty remote but I think massive scale green steel smelters (+ other metals), green ammonia facilities, and expansion of desalination (combined with indoor agriculture). If Aus doesn't completely fumble the ball, I think there's a really good opportunity for another "mining boom".

Had a lot of fun listening to Saul Griffith explaining that solar energy and electrification is inherently deflationary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFr87rZyr3o

Yeh let's completely ignore the impact of yellowcake mining, enrichment, reprocessing, long term storage, and limited deposits.

Nuclear is low carbon, but it's far from an environmental panacea and it's about as far from decentralized production (punk) as you can get.

The real mind virus is that "Technology is evil" and it's been infecting the western world for the last fifty years. Technology is completely indifferent to human and environmental outcomes.

Solar panels are insanely resource efficient, and every study has shown lifespans in practice far exceeding initial expectations. Due to the fact that energy is inherently valuable, I'm sure there'll be a rich circular economy for solar cells/panels (same goes for batteries).

No idea if it leads to a solarpunk "utopia" or just a world with much cleaner air, and electricity abundance.

The story of Valentin Dikul is a great read for anyone interested in the importance of physical rehab, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_Dikul

Same goes for meniscus injuries in the knee (excluding probably things like bucket handle tears that risk further damage with use).

Tore my right meniscus in a skateboarding accident, was recommended keyhole surgery to shave it down but due to being fresh out of university and starting my career I couldn't be bothered to deal with the downtime of surgery etc. Figured I'd deal with it later if it got worse / didn't improve.

And you know what, after 24 months or so of limping about I was pretty much completely recovered and ten years later the knee is still in good shape. Meniscus injuries do heal, they just take a very long time and most surgeons/patients just don't have the patience for rehab. All-in-all no regrets.

I think clinical guidelines are actually swinging back to conservative treatment now. Kind of a reminder about how poorly evidence based surgery can sometimes be (but of course like any tool also a lifesaver).

I'm inclined to think about it in terms of east Asians than strictly ethnically Chinese. You see the exact same attitudes to work in Korea and Japan. Confucianism is a powerful force in the region.

Suffice to say don't underestimate the work ethic and skill of Chinese laborers.

I guess that would add credence to the culture element. All of east Asian shares in this practice really. Given a structure/framework in which to work productively, they tend to really crush it economically. However it seems this often comes at the expense of other aspects of society (underemployment, low fertility rates, elder poverty, deflation etc).

My impression, having visited the place, is that the Chinese laborers just work ridiculously hard. Part of this is due to culture and very heavy handed management, part of this due to the working class seeing huge returns on their labor (wealth has grown exponentially in their own lifetimes).

Definitely a fan of non-religious winter solstice celebrations (good occasion to combine elements of Christmas and new years). My wife is Chinese and loves dumplings so we pretty much celebrate Dongzhi. Always goes down well with our western friends.