Brendan Long

Karma: 2,025

Brendan Long 28 Jan 2025 7:14 UTC
4 points
1
on: Nvidia doesn’t just sell shovels
It seems like the big players already have plans to cut Nvidia out of the loop though.
And while they seem to have the best general purpose hardware, they’re limited by competition with AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm.

Brendan Long 27 Jan 2025 22:37 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: AnthonyC’s comment on: Lazy Hasselback Pommes Anna
I rice my potatoes while they’re still burning hot, which is annoying, but I’m impatient and it means the result is still warm. If you’re (reasonably) waiting for the potatoes to cool down, you might be able to re-heat them in the microwave or on the stove without too much of a change to texture, although you’d have to be careful about how you stir it.

Doesn’t the stand mixer method overmix and produce glue-y mashed potatoes? I actually don’t mind that texture but I thought that’s why people don’t usually do it that way.

Brendan Long 27 Jan 2025 21:44 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: AnthonyC’s comment on: Lazy Hasselback Pommes Anna
I also like Yukon Golds best in mashed potatoes, but I use a ricer (similar to this one).

Brendan Long 27 Jan 2025 17:50 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: AnthonyC’s comment on: Lazy Hasselback Pommes Anna
I get the 10 lbs bags at Costco (usually buying 20 lbs at a time). Are the Trader Joe’s ones noticably better tasting? I’d love to try more potato varieties but no one seems to sell anything more interesting unless I want tiny colorful potatoes that cost $10/lb.

Brendan Long 27 Jan 2025 0:04 UTC
4 points
0
in reply to: Said Achmiz’s comment on: Lazy Hasselback Pommes Anna
I actually have this exact box grater so I sacrificed a potato for science and determined:
- The thickness looks a little smaller than I usually do but should be fine.
- It’s not quite as sharp as my mandoline so it might get tiring.
- The slicer is very small, so you might have trouble with large potatoes. I usually cut potatoes on the small side (for smaller slices) anyway, so this might not be a problem.
- You should get something to protect your hand since you’ll definitely cut the tip of your finger off if you slice 6 lbs of potatoes like this without a guard.

Brendan Long 26 Jan 2025 23:17 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: Adam Zerner’s comment on: Lazy Hasselback Pommes Anna
I agree that more crispy bits is good. The recipe above optimizes for not being annoying to make, but doing the exact same thing and spreading the mixture on two sheet pans might work (and it would probably have a much shorter bake time).
I suspect the crispier version would be harder to store and wouldn’t reheat as well though.

Brendan Long 26 Jan 2025 23:12 UTC
4 points
0
in reply to: Adam Zerner’s comment on: Lazy Hasselback Pommes Anna
That’s a good point. I don’t really know what I’m doing, so I’m not able to predict exact variations. I found that this worked relatively consistently no matter how I cooked it, but the version in the recipe above was the best.
I definitely endorse changing the recipe based on how it goes:
- If it’s not crispy enough, bake it longer uncovered, or increase the temperature, or move the pan closer to the top of the oven.
- If the internal texture is crunchy/uncooked, bake it (covered) longer.
- If the internal texture is too mushy, bake it (covered) shorter. You could also make the inside crispier by discarding the liquid released when you salt the potatoes, but you’d also need to adjust the amount of salt to make it taste good, and it would effect how it cooks.

Lazy Hasselback Pommes Anna

Brendan Long26 Jan 2025 21:30 UTC

15 points

18 comments3 min readLW link

(www.brendanlong.com)

Brendan Long 8 Jan 2025 23:58 UTC
3 points
1
on: Alternative Cancer Care As Biohacking & Book Review: Surviving “Terminal” Cancer
Wouldn’t the FDA not really be a blocker here, since doctors are allowed to prescribe medications off-label? It sounds more like a medical culture (or liability) thing, although I guess they kind-of interact since using FDA-approved medications in the FDA-approved way is (probably?) a good way to avoid liability issues.

Brendan Long 12 Dec 2024 23:46 UTC
5 points
0
in reply to: habryka’s comment on: (The) Lightcone is nothing without its people: LW + Lighthaven’s big fundraiser
I’m planning to donate $1000^[1] but not until next year (for tax purposes). If there was a way that pledge that I would.
1. ^
  I’m committing to donating $1000 but it might end up being more when I actually think through all of the donations I plan to do next year.

Brendan Long 23 Nov 2024 22:22 UTC
2 points
0
on: Bellevue Library Meetup—Nov 23
I showed up and some other people were in the room :(

Brendan Long 23 Nov 2024 21:51 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: Brendan Long’s comment on: Bellevue Library Meetup—Nov 23
I’m finishing up packing but won’t make it there until 2:15 or so.

Brendan Long 23 Nov 2024 18:29 UTC
3 points
0
in reply to: Søren Elverlin’s comment on: Benefits of Psyllium Dietary Fiber in Particular
Haha, well that dosage probably would probably cause weight loss.

Brendan Long 23 Nov 2024 18:26 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: AnthonyC’s comment on: Which things were you surprised to learn are metaphors?
All of the sources I can find give the density as exactly 4 oz = ¹⁄₂ cup, although maybe this is just an approximation that’s infecting other data sources?

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=density+of+butter+*+(1%2F2+cup)+in+ounces

Brendan Long 23 Nov 2024 18:24 UTC
3 points
0
in reply to: Said Achmiz’s comment on: Which things were you surprised to learn are metaphors?
But ¹⁄₂ cup of butter weighs 4 ounces according to every source I can find: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=density+of+butter+*+(1%2F2+cup)+in+ounces

Which means a 4 ounce stick of butter is ¹⁄₂ cup by volume.

Brendan Long 22 Nov 2024 6:14 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: Said Achmiz’s comment on: Which things were you surprised to learn are metaphors?
It sounds like ¹⁄₂ cup of butter (8 tbps) weighs 4 oz, so shouldn’t this actually work out so each of those sections actually is 1 tbsp in volume, and it’s just a coincidence (or not) that the density of butter is 1 oz / 2 fl oz?

Brendan Long 13 Nov 2024 23:44 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: kylefurlong’s comment on: The Humanitarian Economy
The problem is that lack of money isn’t the reason there’s not enough housing in places that people want to live. Zoning laws intentionally exclude poor people because rich people don’t want to live near them. Allocating more money to the problem doesn’t really help (see: the ridiculous amount of money California spends on affordable housing), and if you fixed the part where it’s illegal, the government spending isn’t necessary because real estate developers would build apartments without subsidies if they were allowed to.

Also, the most recent election shows that ordinary people really, really don’t like inflation, so I don’t think printing trillions of dollars for this purpose is actually more palatable.

Brendan Long 13 Nov 2024 19:32 UTC
2 points
0
in reply to: kylefurlong’s comment on: The Humanitarian Economy
You’re right, I was taking the section saying “In this new system, the only incentive to do more and go further is to transcend the status quo in some way, and earn recognition for a unique contribution.” too seriously. On a second re-read, it seems like your proposal is actually just to print money to give people food stamps and housing vouchers. I think the answer to why we don’t do that is that we do that.

Food is essentially a solved problem in the United States, and the biggest problem with housing vouchers is that there physically isn’t enough housing in some areas. Printing more money doesn’t cause more housing to exist (it could change incentives, but incentives don’t matter much when building housing for poor people is largely illegal).

Brendan Long 13 Nov 2024 6:39 UTC
−2 points
0
on: The Humanitarian Economy
I think you’ve re-invented Communism. The reason we don’t implement it is that in practice it’s much worse for everyone, including poor people.

Brendan Long 10 Nov 2024 5:28 UTC
2 points
0
on: Bellevue Library Meetup—Nov 23
I’ll try to make it but I might be moving that day so I’m not sure :\

Brendan Long

Lazy Has­selback Pommes Anna

Lazy Hasselback Pommes Anna