I love this post!
Just wanted to add that different cultures have different sets of constellations, but AFAICT the Pleiades was not one of them. For example, in the Greek-derived constellations that the astronomical community uses, it’s part of Taurus.
The Pleiades are an open star cluster, and an asterism, but they aren’t a constellation in the formal definition of the word.
There are more and more accommodations for physical disabilities where a medical intervention is readily available, such as glasses. There are still lots of barriers, but it is often seen as a moral right to make things easier for them, especially if it’s in such a way that they can maintain their autonomy.
I have ASD and ADHD, and in many societies, there is still a big lack of understanding. People could try being accommodating, but they don’t have enough practice with that that it ends up being very, very hard/exhausting to do it even partially.
I bought Plus on day 1, and spent the first day inputting prompts that I didn’t get anywhere with (and had so many conversations) using 3.5. It answered usually on the first try.
My usecases have mostly been human-interaction (I have ASD) and time management (ADHD) related. It also worked great for questions like “I have tried X, Y, and Z, so don’t use them in your suggestions,” which 3.5 was bad at.
Another one where it shined was when talking about an acquaintance with many allergies that seemed to have nothing in common. It identified some common proteins between the foods and suggested new foods to try instead.
It also works around the X not Y problem. I asked it how to learn to like coffee given caffeine does not affect me, and it asked me for details of things I’ve tried. Eventually figured out why I want to learn to like coffee, and suggested alternatives to coffee which I could try at cafés which are not chocolate milk.
Recipes, too. I gave a list of ingredients to 3.5, and asked it to suggest an authentic Italian dish. Despite repeated prompting, it tried to give me something with most of the ingredients which would be anathema in Italy. 4 used a specific subset and gave suggestions that I could actually find.
On day 2, I helped a friend who was using 3.5, and I felt like I’d stepped back in time. Like, I was impressed by that thing? Definitely worth the price of admission for me.
I’m kinda on the ChatGPT side on this. It matches my intuition. That being said, we do lack context about how he said “Great!” And I’m autistic.
Relevant username? I just wondered if your name is actually Gene Smith, or you are a genesmith (a smith of genes), or just something else.
I have repeated some actions daily/often for years and still haven’t been able to convert them into habits. I’ve made another post a few months ago about how habit forming and routines are almost impossible for me, even for things like e.g. brushing my teeth or turning on my car. (ADHD/ASD combo, yay!)
For me, a major thing that is missing is how easy it is to get around without a car. I own one, and e.g. where I lived in my previous city, infrastructure was bad enough that I did the majority of 1 km+ trips by car.
Here, on the other hand, we go everywhere by foot or by public transport, we’re a five minute walk away from a major train station (so quiet too!), and if I’m alone my default is the bike. No need for a car for anything within 7 km for the most part. (IKEA is just beyond the range of public bikes, but I’m thinking of buying a personal one.) It’s easy and comfortable to walk half an hour to downtown, and it’s easy to get to restaurants and DIY stores and doctors etc within 5 minutes on foot.
Maybe grappling? (As opposed to e.g. pro wrestling.)
I love this comment. Thank you!
(And thank you for the test pilot example. I find it fits well with my life.)
Most of what I thought were habits growing up was just me interacting with structure and consequences other people had put in place. My preference was for their acceptance and approval so I did things the way they wanted but it was never routine for me.
I mention it in this post, but you have put it very succinctly. Thanks a lot!
Let’s do our best!
In most of the places I’ve lived since going to uni, I’ve had a microwave but no oven. Some were both microwave and oven. One was no microwave and no oven. There was not a single one with an oven but no microwave.
Compare how it’s done in Europe: Vaccinations happen in vaccination centres, and your status as well as the vaccine details (lot number etc) get registered with the government. Each country has an app that generates a QR code that is common throughout the EU, and restaurants etc can check it in places which require a vaccine passport. I’m more inclined to trust those than some random cards which are often handwritten!
Start with the basics. Make sure each passenger is buckled in, and that they have the seat angle and headrest etc at an appropriate position. I actually have some automation whenever I enter my car (Tasker yay!) that do things I tend to forget to do, and opens up a talking checklist that I go through before starting the car or after parking. (I can make a post if there’s interest.)
I bought a dashcam to help improve my driving (plans before every drive, then a critical review of drives). I also found good channels for advanced driving (e.g., Advanced Driving and Reg Local, from the UK) and more basic stuff (Conquer Driving, Advanced Driving again, Conduite Facile) to refresh.
In addition, I recommend cars with active safety technology. Even something like Adaptive Cruise Control, which keeps a safe distance from the car in front of you, reduces your cognitive overhead by quite a bit, and allows you to monitor the situation around you better (far, near, behind, etc). Add to that automatic braking, blind spot monitoring, alerts when there’s cross traffic while reversing, lane keeping, 360° cameras around the car etc, and you’ve already prevented many of the crashes you might have gotten yourself into.
And finally, you’ll want the actual protection in case of a crash. Find a bunch of safety tests, and find the ones with good safety ratings in multiple markets. Look at pictures of crashes. The more the car is shredded, and the more the passenger compartment is intact, the more likely you are to escape without a serious injury.
ETA: In terms of companies which I think are doing well with safety consiousness, I like Toyota (post 2018-ish) a lot, since they’re providing advanced safety features even at the most basic trims. Also, consider using OpenPilot (CommaAI) instead of stock, because it tends to work better.
I think it starts with (or contains) an F, so I don’t think it’s that. Maybe Foam?
I’m wearing a KN95 with a cloth mask on top.
Software: Tasker, to automate everything Android. Alternatives: Automate, IFTTT, Llama
More details on this post, including a comment of mine detailing things that my setup does. I’ll have some posts coming up as well, regarding Tasker and checklisting to drive.
But the point is, it’s extremely powerful and flexible. There are also a bunch of plugins (some free, some paid), that expand it even more. With Termux, for example, you can even write regular Python programs to do complicated stuff as well. Pretty much anything I needed to do, I was able to do, and I keep discovering new things. You can even make pretty GUIs to go along with that!
This is the first Android app that I ever bought (and remained the only one for half a decade).
One disadvantage is that the intents system is hard to figure out in case you want to use it (I don’t use it), and another is that some of the external plugins don’t really scale well in terms of having variables set in Tasker. But it’s still a very strong rec from me.
I don’t use focus mode for anything, though some apps are fullscreen by default.
I’m using Obsidian as well. IIRC there is an open source alternative that aims to work with Obsidian markdown files (with features still being added the last time I looked). I forgot what it’s called, though, and it doesn’t have the same plugin ecosystem either.
I love Tasker, and it’s probably the major thing keeping me from switching to iOS. I’ve never used the scenes, but here are my two major profile groups:
Tap an NFC tag in the car to toggle driving mode. Brightness and volume are set to an appropriate value, earphones are disconnected (with a reminder to remove them from my ears), forced connection to car Bluetooth (it doesn’t always connect if I don’t use Tasker), starts a 2-hour rest timer, automatically quiets alarms when they happen (once had 15 minutes on the highway before I could stop and turn it off), log the drive, start my driving checklist app (this can be a post of its own if anyone is interested), and opens up Maps. Turning off driving mode undoes everything, reminds me to take the earphones if I had them on when I started driving, stops logging the drive, and opens up the car shutdown checklist. Feature to add: Automatically save my parking. (I don’t do that yet because I add notes, especially underground.)
A speaking calendar. Goes through all my calendars to figure out when the next event is, figures out which language the entry is written in, and reads it out loud when the event starts. (Most of my events are from home so there’s no commute/prep time involved.) Can handle overlapping events. Feature to add: Speak when there’s a reminder as well rather than just when the event starts, for when COVID is over. Bonus stuff include
Knowing my SO’s part-time job schedule, and reminding me to send her a do your best 30 minutes before she starts, as well as a welcome back when she finishes.
For events between the two of us, it automatically opens up the chat app we use.
Adds a walk every day starting 1.5 hours before sunset. Reminds me to prepare 30 minutes before the walk starts, and announces the weather 5 minutes before, and opens the weather app.
Nothing opens if I’m in driving mode.
Some standalone tasks:
Tells me good night and opens up the chat app to tell my SO good night as well. If she has a job while I’m asleep (7-8 hours time zone difference), it lets me know, so I can send her the do your best message before I go to sleep.
Flipping the phone upside down mutes the ringer.
Controlling lights
Interfacing with Google Assistant
A bunch of other small annoyances.
Thanks! That’s actually where I found it in the first place. I thought it might have been Szilárd, but wasn’t able to find the quote.
I have a bunch that I like watching. I’ll add more in separate comments as I remember, but some highlights for transportation are Reg Local for driving cars (former police driving instructor; he has a book, but the videos themselves are so helpful) and Missionary Bushpilot for flying small aircraft in Papua New Guinea (gorgeous shots, very careful pilot).