Whats a current obstacle or challenge in your life you'd like to share and have people brainstorm for solutions?

I have an idea for an invention, but I don't have the tools or materials to make it, nor do I have the proper space to make it. I have blueprints drawn and experts consulted on design, but not the means to actually do it.

4

Unable to find love or happiness.

7

Have you tried drugs? They won't get you either but maybe you won't care if you're zoinked all the time.

5
- Can't access traditional drugs. But I've tried other things. They temporarily numb the pain. But it comes back and hits even harder....
  
  2
Completely anecdotal but...

I found a lot of happiness in my my hobbies. Rock climbing has been just perfect for me.

I found my wife on tinder, so maybe give that a try.

2
- Good for you but I doubt I'll have any luck on any dating apps.
  
  1

I have 99 problems

2

I like money, but I have none. Please fix it.

2

Buying a house

17

Unfortunately I think this is one you just gotta wait out. Eventually as the older population downsizes/ moves to assisted living/ dies, houses will become available.

Also, vote for governments that view housing as a human right and not an investment.

5
See if you qualify for any down payment assistance programs. Combined with an FHA loan, you could possibly get into a house with under $5k.

2

Climate change

16

Where do you live if you're comfortable sharing?

5
- Earth
  
  16

TL-DR: I want dual axis solar array on my hiace rooftop

Explanation:

This video clearly states the advantage of having this feature on your solar, gives you more than 8 hrs of peak power (8:00 - 17:00) with a comparatively small surface area (perfect for space-concious application), compared to about 5 hrs laying it down flat (10:00 - 15:00)

And yes, I get it. A 30% increase in energy collection daily isn't significant to justify the maintenance that can come with actuation.

But as a guy living in a van full-time, 30% is the difference between having 2 ceiling fans on for an hr and 5 hrs through the night. Yap, full blast, it's hot here.

Further more; this video show-cases the single axis solar array, Then I started wondering, if it reaches high noon, this guy will have to I dunno, turn his car around? So that the solar panels can actuate another way around.

Surely there is a solution to this somewhere... right?

13

https://www.reddit.com/r/VanLife/comments/1avrsbd/rooftop_solar_tracker/

Looks like someone out there had the same idea.

https://www.roboteos.com/shop

They're currently selling a packaged system for ~$5k, which is a bit pricey, but maybe worth if you're full time on the van life. Looks like you could probably fit 2 of these units on a typical roof, obstructions permitting. Alternatively you could do one tracker and one flat unit.

It looks like ground based 2-axis tracking systems can be found for ~$500-1k, you'd just need to bring your own expertise to mount it to the roof and program the controls yourself.

Semi-unrelated: others mentioned painting your van white (which you already have) but I'll raise you one better - consider painting it with an IR-Emissive cooling paint, e.g., https://i2cool.com/

There's unfortunately few products on the market at this time, but keep your eyes peeled.

1
- Oof, 5k? Thanks for the insight
  
  Edit: On further reading, I noted that the package is 400 watts of solar.
  
  I got approx 1kw on my roof and 9.6kw of batteries, so.. five-figures dollars 😬
  
  The original plan was extending to about 1.5kw, but then I thought having tiltable 1.5kw will be significantly better
  
  That's why I decided to tackle the tilting problem first.
  
  Thanks for bringing roboteos on my radar.
  
  1
so far i landed on a sketch.

Have a Crack at the design integrity Engineers :)

3
- That's pretty good!
  
  1
I don't have enough knowledge on the subject to suggest a solution.
But asking a question along a tangent since you mentioned heat:

Which colour does your van and its roof/interior have?
If its a darker colour, maybe trying a lighter colour would help reduce the heat gain?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_2lsMXR_wo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLVNjS403M8

2
- Thanks, I was looking for a portable dual axis solar tilt solution to capture more electricity from the sun from my rooftop.
  
  If it was heat, I would have just moved to a higher altitude place with a bonus of fresh, cool air.
  
  My van is white, BTW ;)
  
  2

I'm fed up with streaming platforms and want to turn an old PC into a pirate movie streaming server. It'd be nice to have a detailed guide on what services to use, how to get it to stream to devices, and how to set up a VPN. I assume a Linux distro makes the most sense but I have no platform alleigence. I'm generally pretty competent with computers but I'd like the guide to assume I know nothing about Linux, because I my only experience is with my steam deck

13

I can help start you off if you want.

(To ward off the mods all of these suggestions are for personal photos and personal video files, created by, or for the user, and in no way am I recommending that piracy is ok or legal)

There are a few frontend/backend solutions that you can pick from that are popular and well supported.

plex

Jellyfin

Kodi

Plex and jellyfin are my picks as those are what I’ve used. They will work on any laptop or desktop running windows/mac/Linux (with some caveats).

The front end that you pick can be a steaming device like a Amazon fire stick, Roku, or AppleTV, this also includes smart TVs, (not all TVs support all or any) for widest support an Android tv would work).

As for where to get your media files there are a lot of options out there, but be careful (I don’t know the this instance’s stance on site recommendations so I can’t list them). As for how, torrenting is still the most popular, but not the only option. You’ll need a torrent program to get the files to download to your “server”. It is also very encouraged and recommended to use a vpn while you download and seed to protect yourself.

While not expansive or detailed I hope this helps.

My Lemmy profile has my matrix ID so if you wanted to talk in a space with more privacy you can send me a message there.
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- With zero sarcasm: thank you for taking the time to write that explanation out.
  
  However, this is kind of exactly what I'm talking about. You're saying I can use plex, or jellyfin, or kodi, with all the opperating systems (but not?) and you say I can stream to smart TVs, are Chromecasts smart? I can follow instructions, I just don't understand how this technology stack works together. Nobody even tells me what Linux distro to use!
  
  7

I am looking into a career change but I've been doing the same type of job my whole career.

I have an upcoming interview for a job that sounds really interesting but I'm worried that I won't be able to highlight my transferable skills.

Does anyone have tips/suggestions?

10

Have ChatGPT brainstorm questions, then ask him to focus on transferable skills. Now you have an idea of what it might look like and you can think of how to explain it to ChatGPT.

5
- Just nailed an interview because I prepped with ChatGPT. Gave it my resume, the position I was applying for, and some of my recent accomplishments and it helped me realize that I was a stronger candidate than I thought, so I was able to use that during the interview.
  
  Please keep in mind that at no time do I ever believe ChatGPT blindly.
  
  2
Is there some kind of project or proof of your abillity/portfolio you could bring in to showcase. Its always better if you have product to demonstrate your skills and knowledge so they can feel confident in your abillity to produce similar product for them

5

I live in an increasingly dystopian capitalist world where simple necessities for life are increasingly challenging to obtain, while the pressure for higher productivity for less pay continues to increase.

10

Join an organisation agitating for proletarian revolution. If there aren't any near you, you can start with trade union work to build a mass of militant workers that can form the base of a political organisation.

6
- I work in a very small company in an IT type of field. I fully support unionization in general, but I don't think it's relevant to me at the moment. Do you disagree?
  
  1
Start learning a new language so you can move to a country that actually cares about their citizens :)

1

I wanna build a fun NN that takes as input an image of your face, and outputs your predicted weight.

If the prediction is wrong, you enter the real answer and then it will use your face and your real weight for the next round of training

I just really want to know if it's possible to guess someone's weight by their face, and think it could be a fun exercise.

It'd also be fun to see what features it extracts at various layers (e.g. age, cheek sag, double chin, eye sink, etc.)

7

You'd probably want height in there as well

7
That would be interesting, although make-up would skew results.

Tinder being a great example of that

2

I would like to force my Luba 2 robotic mower to mow steeper terrain (almost 45 degrees). The main problem is wheel slipperiness. Current ideas:

some kind of net in that area for better grip
making wheels rougher (eg with nails).
rope that would constantly pull it uphill to counter force of gravity.

7

What about adding a weight on top to make it heavier?

7
You'll want to add weight and grip. I'm not certain what the wheels are like, but you may be able to either replace them or modify them for better traction. I'd see if you CSB find all terrain bike tires and cut them down.

Weight wise, you'll need to play around and see what you can add without hindering movement.

Counter suggestion, kill off the grass in the area and replace it with a creeping ground-cover. You won't have to mow, it adds ornamental value, and it's better for local wildlife.

3

I've been living with my parents for almost 2 years now after graduating from university. Now, I have a job that pays me just enough to live off of and I've been wanting to move back to the city where I lived for University. But, my situation is as follows that prevents me from doing so. My dad has a condition, one of the worst conditions you can get, you can probably guess what it is and please don't say what it is because I don't like the word. Because of this, my dad can no longer work, and my mom has been trying to find work so I'm taking care of things. And, because of this condition, home life isn't as great as it used to be and my mental health has deteriorated to nearly nothing. I don't know what to do and how to get everything back to normal. I've been looking for apartments but how can I leave in good consciousness knowing what I'm leaving? I'm stuck and I cannot move literally and figuratively.

6

Thank you all for the advice. I've made a decision and I'm going to be moving to the city. My dad is in relatively good health right now so I think we can manage. Again, thank you all. I really appreciate it

1
All of you being burnt out all the time isn’t helping anyone. You have to take care of yourself, you’ll be much better able to help and contribute to your family when you’re in a better mental and physical state. I’d suggest (as someone else did) to find a place relatively nearby so you can still help but at least have your own spacer. Good luck!

1
So shouldn't he apply for disabillity or something? Not to be unkind but you can't keep your parents warm by setting yourself on fire.

home life isn't as great as it used to be

Are they making it that way, like do they act manipulatively or threaten you or harm you in any way?

3
- They're working on it. I think maybe something may happen with it by the end of this month? And don't worry, I know I'm burning myself to warm them. I'm trying to fix that a bit. No, it's not me that's the target. The condition is straining all of our emotions and things are just in general not as happy anymore.
  
  4
What about moving out to a nearby apartment? That way you can still be close to help your parents but have your own space to retreat to.

2

Narcissists at work. Seriously. Manipulative fucks who are ladder climbing and have little interest in the field. They make my life harder. I currently have to deal with one at work and I know many more are up ahead. How do you handle someone who basically shows classic signs of narcissism, and controlling and toxic behavior, especially when the person themselves are not in the slightest open to the idea of changing or being wrong or seeking help.

I've tried setting boundaries, being nice, being sneaky, being absent/avoidant and nothing seems to work. This person has chosen me for some reason to be their pet or something and they get angry when I sway from the script (which is the case on a daily basis).

3

Malignant compliance maybe? I had a boss who kept nagging me about stuff she didn't even know how to do so I decided to give her my undivided absolute attention calling her every time I was going to do somehing, every time while I was doing it, every time after completing the task and so on.

I did this for a while and only as a last resort because I was fed up with her attitude. It worked like a charm! Lol

2
- I think that could be a helpful trick. I noticed someone else in our office did that to that person and this person got quite uncomfortable. :)
  
  2
"Either they leave or I leave" would be setting a boundary. Get some other people on your side in it.

1
What's the script? What happens if you just... Don't? (Really, the worst thing you can do to a narcissist is ignore them)

1
- The script is that I am poor and helpless and need thei constant advice and directions to function.
  
  Ignoring them makes them angry. Several times I tried to ignore something and get distance but it always increases their desire to "check" me and make sure I'm okay and in-script. So avoiding or ignoreing them exacerbates this. :(
  
  2

It appears i have upset my hip/ lower back and if I love wrong it refers pain into my knee and I can't bend it without laying down on my back and doing a minute of stretches to get it right again.

Then it's good for an hour or two before it happens again.

Fortunately I'm an Australian and can go to a dr and physio. Unfortunately I'm in PNG for work for 3 more weeks with none of that available

3

Yoga with Adrienne on YouTube (back and hip videos) and buy Dr. Martens shoes if you can get ahold of them. Maybe there's some equivalent where you are they have cork soles so they aren't too squishy.

2
- Thanks I'll check out the videos.
  
  Shoes i can't do much about given i wear work boots 13 hours a day but luckily today it's improved with some stretching and taking it easy
  
  1
As a schlub with chronic back problems, I recommend actually doing your physical therapy regularly! It only helps if you do it.

2
- Yeah that's the plan when I can actually get to a Dr/physio. At the moment I've been getting by doing stretches a couple times a day.
  
  2

Idiotic bureaucratic systems designed to not work

So not much brainstorming to do with a bunch of anthropomorphised catch-22's.

0