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LEGO Megazord is a Mighty Morphin' Masterpiece - The Brothers Brick
  • This is unbelievably detailed.

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    PSA: Be careful about those respirator masks...
  • I've totally had that happen to me before :(

    That said, I love my honeywell(?) half-face respirator otherwise. It beats a standard face mask in comfort by a mile. I even got some paper N99 filter sheets + reusable holders for them, which works great and makes it so I don't blow through plastic cartridges.

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    How do you store your grounded coffee?
  • Oxidation (and other processes) do affect coffee flavor, and grinding it up increases surface area / exposure to oxygen, speeding that up. Putting it in the fridge seems to also worsen flavor, but the freezer seems to be pretty reliable. Here's a nice video discussing this by a weird coffee person (James Hoffmann): Should you freeze coffee beans?

    Also, KGLW, nice!

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    Tesla-beating BYD and other Chinese carmakers using Mexico as back door poses ‘extinction-level’ threat to U.S. auto sector, warns trade group
  • Yeah, and the the EV9 (3-row) is $60k (not remotely cheap, but the cheapest I'm aware of). It's obviously worth checking the 5-year cost proposition (given fuel vs. electricity pricing), but if the math doesn't work out for your driving needs, then you're pretty well out of options for now.

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    Tip: a Reversed Featherboard Makes a Good Thin Ripping Jig
  • Yeah, I think if you're going to do a lot of thin strips, a jig is worthwhile (and that seems like a nice method). I liked just using the featherboard because it worked (surprisingly) well, felt safe, took a matter of seconds to set up, and doesn't require me storing a jig (I'm tight on garage space).

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  • I found that simply reversing my featherboard makes it function very well as a thin ripping jig to make repeated (thin) cuts on the non-fence side of the blade. The featherboard's hard side is simply set at the appropriate distance from the blade on the side opposite the fence. Then the fence is moved to support the larger "offcut" side as with a typical thin ripping jig, and you can make the cuts with push sticks as usual.

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    What's a movie you don't really watch but your damn proud to have on your shelf?
  • Schindler's List - incredible movie, beautiful case, no way I want to rewatch it any time soon.

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    What's a movie you don't really watch but your damn proud to have on your shelf?
  • I loved the fountain, too. It is so incredibly beautiful, and I'm glad to own it for the same reasons. I also can't imagine when I'll want to watch it again...

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    Woodworkers, will you please share some of your favorite tips and tricks with us?
  • Thoughts on this video? It seems like it weakens the joint a bit. I've never done it myself (I use cauls with packing tape and iterate between them and other clamps), but I've heard the salt tip recommended a lot.

    https://youtu.be/QfTsHJqykMs?si=0Xq4hs7vQ6AxXwok

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    Woodworkers, will you please share some of your favorite tips and tricks with us?
  • Have either of the kids shown a passing interest in learning to woodwork? Obviously tons of safety precautions need to be taken (including potentially changing the nature of projects to do them more safely for kids), but maybe that's a way to at least get in the shop a bit, even if it's to make some simple hand-tool boxes out of scrap with a kiddo.

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    I added flip down caster wheels to my table saw. Cheaper than a mobile base.
  • I have what look to be almost those exact wheels on my table saw platform. I have a jobsite saw for which I built a cabinet, and I also put flip casters on it. I love them! They're miles better than the "locking" ones that just roll while you're trying to cut things.

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    Biden admin again bypasses Congress to sell military equipment to Israel
  • I found more up-to-date numbers that suggest it's more like 23x the aid (Ukraine:Israel):

    How Much Aid Has the U.S. Sent Ukraine? Here Are Six Charts.

    In any event, the US appears to have sent substantial aid to Ukraine, and it's in jeopardy only (to my knowledge) if congress can't get more through in early 2024. My understanding is that the war-specific funding (so far) requested by the Biden administration for Israel has been more to the tune of $14B requested for 2023 (e.g. this article), concurrent with a roughly-quadruple $60B+ request for Ukraine (this article).

    It seems to me that the Biden administration is strongly in support for Ukraine, and is making (and, historically, getting through) requests for continued aid far in excess of those to Israel (which receives multi-billion-dollar aid from the U.S. every year and under every administration). Biden's only non-standard "funding" here is authorizing sale of arms to Israel, which is in place of any congressional funding due to the unpopularity of the Israel war in the USA (which is unpopular for a variety of, in my opinion, very good reasons).

    To be clear: I'm not suggesting that the U.S.A. should blindly fund genocide. I'm simply arguing that continued (substantial) funding for Ukraine hasn't been in jeopardy until recently, and that it is still not a guarantee that extraordinary measures (beyond what Biden has already done with the lend-lease-style "loaning" of US Arms to Ukraine, etc.) will be necessary or helpful, given the broad support in the US Congress (to date) for the war in Ukraine. My expectation is that the Democrats in congress will make some concessions to the Republicans in congress, and a Ukraine funding package will pass early in the new year.

    TL;DR: equating the funding of Ukraine to the funding of the war in Israel and using it to suggest the Biden administration hasn't adequately attempted to fund Ukraine doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

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    Biden admin again bypasses Congress to sell military equipment to Israel
  • Israel received $3.18B in FY 2022 compared to $11.8B for Ukraine.

    USNews - US Aid history

    Edit to add a quote from the link:

    In 2021, U.S. obligations to Israel amounted to $3.31 billion, a figure that saw Israel returning to the top spot among aid recipients that year. But in 2022, the U.S. committed $12 billion to Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion, far exceeding Israel’s $3.18 billion that year. While some figures are still considered “partial,” total U.S. aid globally for 2022 currently adds up to more than $60 billion, a level not seen since 1951.

    It'll be interesting to see what that chart looks like for 2023 and 2024. And hopefully there's less genocide all around, eh?

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    Biden admin again bypasses Congress to sell military equipment to Israel
  • It looks like there's some precedent for workarounds that FDR used to aid the UK when Isolationists didn't want to help during WWII, and that Biden has already been doing a good chunk of it. Without direct cash, I do think there are fewer options, but I'm curious what will happen if an aid package isn't passed by Congress in early 2024 once the current one runs out.

    Politico: The WWII Strategy Biden Can Use to Bypass Republicans on Ukraine

    Roosevelt’s effort to arm Britain ran the gamut from outright executive fiat (bases for destroyers, surplus transfers) to skillful negotiation with Congress (cash and carry, lend-lease). But there was a common thread running through these maneuvers: The United States never appropriated direct military assistance to the United Kingdom. It traded stuff for stuff. Allowed the British military to buy war materiel from private manufacturers and transport it on British ships. Offloaded “surplus” goods.

    ...

    Biden faces a similar set of circumstances. To sustain America’s support of Ukraine, he will need to find creative ways to bypass the handful of GOP congressmen who currently enjoy functional control of the House. He already enjoys some leeway. Last year, he signed into law a latter-day version of the Lend Lease Act, patterned after the original law, that allows him to lease military equipment to Ukraine on a five-year basis. He might also look for ways to use NATO or other allies as a middleman in the transfer of arms.

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    Biden admin again bypasses Congress to sell military equipment to Israel
  • More info from a different article that provides context:

    Bypassing Congress with emergency determinations for arms sales is an unusual step that has in the past met resistance from lawmakers, who normally have a period of time to weigh in on proposed weapons transfers and, in some cases, block them.

    In May 2019, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an emergency determination for an $8.1 billion sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan after it became clear that the Trump administration would have trouble overcoming lawmakers’ concerns about the Saudi and UAE-led war in Yemen.

    Pompeo came under heavy criticism for the move, which some believed may have violated the law because many of the weapons involved had yet to be built and could not be delivered urgently. But he was cleared of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation.

    At least four administrations have used the authority since 1979. President George H.W. Bush’s administration used it during the Gulf War to get arms quickly to Saudi Arabia.

    AP Article Link

    As others pointed out, this appears to only apply to arms sales, not for aid packages as in the case of Ukraine.

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    Star Trek TNG christmas song Make It So
  • This got a good laugh out of my wife this morning when my son asked to hear "Let it Snow" again.

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    Follow-Up: My Dad's 1st Computer
  • This is so cool to see. Thank you for sharing!

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    All I want for Christmas is Q
  • Excellent - thanks for the heads up on those others

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    All I want for Christmas is Q
  • That was phenomenal.

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    Idk, Tuvix or something
  • I made this comment on another thread, but clearly it's how the Romans spelled it: Tvvix. /s

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    no idea what the deal with tuvix is. made this instead of asking
  • Ah, yes, the traditional Latin spelling: Tvvix.

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  • github.com GitHub - TencentARC/T2I-Adapter: T2I-Adapter

    T2I-Adapter. Contribute to TencentARC/T2I-Adapter development by creating an account on GitHub.

    Tiny, fast controlnets for SDXL via T2I-Adapters!

    > Sep. 8, 2023. We collaborate with the diffusers team to bring the support of T2I-Adapters for Stable Diffusion XL (SDXL) in diffusers! It achieves impressive results in both performance and efficiency. We release T2I-Adapter-SDXL models for sketch, canny, lineart, openpose, depth-zoe, and depth-mid.

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    www.caranddriver.com 2024 Chevy Blazer EV Base Model Dropped, New Starting Price Jumps

    The 1LT trim is dead, and the now base 2LT trim is considerably more expensive than previously alluded to by Chevy.

    Another EV with the base model dropped almost immediately. A frustrating trend for sure.

    > As if some Titan-born Marvel villain snapped his infinity-stone-laden fingers, the base option for the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV has vanished into thin air. The previously announced 1LT trim level, which was to start at $44,995, is gone, leaving the front-wheel-drive 2LT trim (pictured at top) in its place at an as yet unnamed price.

    [...]

    > A Chevrolet spokesperson told Automotive News that the brand envisions higher trim levels on the upcoming Equinox EV will meet the needs of potential Blazer EV 1LT buyers, but with the Bolt twins on hiatus, we lament the removal of another budget-oriented option.

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    !

    The graphic above summarizes the median 512x512 render speed (batch size 1) for various GPUs. Filtering is for single-GPU systems only, and for GPUs with more than 5 benchmarks only. Data is taken from this database (thank you vladmandic!). Graph is color-coded by manufacturer:

    • NVIDIA consumer (lime green)
    • NVIDIA workstation (dark green)
    • AMD (red)
    • Intel (blue), seems there's not enough data yet

    This is an update/prettier visualization from my previous post using today's data.

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    I made a small kitchen knife this weekend from scrap wood (an offcut of a coffee table I posted previously). It's a toy knife made for my son, who likes to hang out it the kitchen with us and play with his toy food set. We got the set secondhand from our neighbors, but it sadly lacked a knife, so into the shop we go! Process:

    • Sketched a rough outline onto wood
    • Roughly cut it out with a jigsaw
    • Sanded it into shape with my belt sander (which is mounted upside-down into a purpose-built holder jig that clamps onto my bench)

    More images below.

    Cutting out the shape:

    !

    Shaping on the belt-sander jig:

    !

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    I couldn't find recent summarized data for the (excellent) benchmarks provided via the sd-extension-system-info repo, so I went ahead and pulled/summarized it. Here is the median It/s for each GPU with more than 10 entries in the table (single GPU setups only).

    Source: https://vladmandic.github.io/sd-extension-system-info/pages/benchmark.html

    !

    !

    Note: updated (found an error in the original post where I hadn't actually eliminated dual GPUs etc.)

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    imgur.com Oregon Maple(?) Coffee Table - First Time with Epoxy, First Time With a Slab

    Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users like jasparaguscook.

    A repost (from Reddit) of a project I finished last summer. It's made from the excess of a (nicer portion) of a slab that a friend cut using an Alaskan sawmill. Edges are chamfered using a circular saw. Knot and void are filled with a scrap from the slab + epoxy. Legs (and epoxy) were purchased from Amazon. Finish is danish oil + a topcoat of lacquer that I wiped on and buffed with steel wool to make it matte. I expect it'll warp some, and this was mostly a quick "let's see what I can do with some epoxy and a scrap slab", but I ended up really enjoying the process and the finished result. I still have the "better" section of this slab drying in the garage (it's destined for a desk). That's a project for this summer. So far, it hasn't noticeably warped and is holding up well to my toddler's best efforts at destruction.

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    I finally finished the dresser I've been working on (it's #2 of 2, built to fit in our closet). No drawer slides, just paste wax, and made pretty much entirely from plywood and glue.

    The project was pretty simple, but I went for (fairly) tight tolerances (a few mm clearance), so I was grateful for having made a crosscut sled on this one.

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