oblib (u/oblib) - Readit News

oblib commented on Bald eagles are thriving again after near extinction newsweek.com/bald-eagles-... · Posted by u/geox

neolefty · 10 months ago

> It's truly great to see them, but my experience is you can't trust them.

Suddenly a life lesson.

> ... it finally let go of the hen and took off.

How was the hen afterwards?

oblib · 10 months ago

She was fine.

oblib commented on Bald eagles are thriving again after near extinction newsweek.com/bald-eagles-... · Posted by u/geox

oblib · 10 months ago

I'm 66 years old and never saw a Bald Eagle until I was in my 30s. That was near St. Louis along the Mississippi River. Where I live now (the Ozarks) they're common to see and have been for over 30 years. Some years ago I was camping out here on a lake shore and early in the morning there was a pair of Bald eagles sitting together on a limb on the other side of the lake. I couldn't help but stand there and stare at them. After a bit one of them took off and started flying right toward me, and when it got to my side of the lake it swooped down and pick up a dead branch off the shore line and then turn at me, flapped it's wings a couple time and then threw it at me! Then it flew right back to where its mate was and sat back down next it. I couldn't help but think they were both laughing at me.

Last year, about this time of year, I saw my first Golden Eagle. It was trying to snatch one of my hens. Those are truly amazing. By far the biggest bird I've ever seen. And to be so close to it too. I wasn't more than 12ft from it. I waved my arms and screamed at it and it finally let go of the hen and took off. As it took off I saw there was a "murder" of crows sitting in the trees watching us, at least 30-40 of them, and the eagle took off heading their way. As soon as it got close to the them they all took off chasing it, dive bombing it and cawing like mad!

It's truly great to see them, but my experience is you can't trust them.

oblib commented on Experiment finds AI boosts creativity individually – but lowers it collectively techcrunch.com/2024/07/12... · Posted by u/ankitdce

oblib · a year ago

The summation "Low creativity, high benefit … high creativity, no benefit" is a fair summation.

oblib commented on You Should delete Twitter yoyo-code.com/you-should-... · Posted by u/panstromek

oblib · 2 years ago

I never used Twitter much because I sucked at creating a response to posts within the text limit, but when Musk bought it I deleted my account because I knew it'd get just flat out stupid.

oblib commented on Ask HN: What was your most humbling learning moment? · Posted by u/spcebar

oblib · 2 years ago

I was in my early 20s talking with a friend who was at least twice my age. I was bitching about a guy who'd look at the work I was doing who really didn't know squat about it and start telling me how I should be doing it.

After listening to me for a bit he quietly said "Well, you can learn something from everyone if you focus on that."

I spent a couple days pondering that. At first I tried dismissing it because he wasn't there when the guy I was whining about was blabbering on and on, and he didn't know the guy, but it kept bugging me and after a few more days it occurred to me that if he was right I'd been missing out.

Just a few days later the guy I was whining about came by again and looked at the work I was doing told me he knew a guy who could do most of that for me and it wouldn't cost as much and I could get it done a lot faster. So I went and talked to the guy, and sure enough he could do it, and do it faster and better, and it cost me a lot less.

I ended up making a lot more money on that work, and the company I was doing it for was thrilled with the changes. And since then I've focused what I can learn from others, even those who tend to annoy me.

oblib commented on Show HN: Every mountain, building and tree shadow mapped for any date and time shademap.app... · Posted by u/tppiotrowski

oblib · 2 years ago

I'm impressed! I live on a forested ridge above a horseshoe bend in a big lake and there's a fairly steep hill behind our home. Our home is surrounded by big oak trees but there is a big front yard that's all lawn, and behind us there is a lot of open space where we have a pretty big garden and a pretty steep hill below that is forest with big hardwood trees. It pretty much nails down when and where it's shady.

oblib commented on An analysis of studies pertaining to masks from 1978 to 2023 medrxiv.org/content/10.11... · Posted by u/ohshit

brailsafe · 2 years ago

I like your comment because it doesn't necessarily make any direct attributions, while covering some breadth and depth of your observed social environment and the regional stats.

Growing up in skateboarding and bmx, there was a similar anti-helmet anti-pad sort of sentiment, perhaps a similar sort of anti-authority culture.

I have two shots, no boosters, and selectively wear a mask when a situation seems to call for it, and haven't yet tested positive, but I figure it's fairly likely I will eventually, or have and just haven't tested positive. Many many people I know have got it by this point, unless they're particularly isolated, as would be true in the general population.

My impression is that many vocal people vehemently picked one extreme take or the other, likely in opposition to each other.

I wore it in the outdoors for like a week, and then on transit and in cafes etc.. I never felt particularly strongly one way or another, and still don't, but just as tiring as hearing anti-mask people go on their rants were my interactions with people who clearly wanted to be seen wearing it more than they actually believed it to be useful, along with those who were/are adamant that not wearing a mask meant you're trying to kill people.

For example, doing outdoor sports without a mask, and then putting one on to post a video on Instagram, or finding a way to bring up covid long after 2021 for the purpose of trying to bait a conflicting opinion out and subsequently beating that horse to death.

Getting stuck in any of those situations/conversations was perhaps most convincing in that I should continue not really being concerned with the opinions of others, quite the opposite of being persuaded to either wear or not wear a mask. Getting both sides of it, somewhat regularly, indicated to me that everyone has some inane axe to grind and mostly just wants someone to listen.

What I'll remember most about the pandemic was how much pointless and tiresome division it brought forth, how unhealthy the reaction was for me personally in terms of shutting everything down, and just hoping none of the vulnerable members of my family succumbed to it. The only thing I'd do differently in retrospect would be to have engaged those people less, because it never made the day any better, and good days were tough to come by.

oblib · 2 years ago

Most of those here didn't wear a mask. When the local mandate to wear them was imposed that just pissed people off here and I got scowled at when wearing them but I refused to react to it and that's as far as it ever went.

I never reacted any different at all to those who were not wearing them. I understood early on wearing those masks were not for my protection and I really did not want to infect anyone.

The N95 masks were a way to protect myself and others at the same time so I kept up with when they'd become available and got them as soon as I could, and made a point to use them, and we gave quite a few to others. My wife brought them to where she works and handed them out. They'd been wearing cloth masks there up until then.

You're spot on about the division. Like I said, I took a lot of guff early on for wearing a mask here. Honestly, I think no small reason that stopped happening here is because so many got infected here and after dealing with it themselves they settled down on shitting on those wearing masks or getting vaxxed.

I see a few people wearing a mask when I go to the big box stores in town now and no one pays any attention to it.

oblib commented on An analysis of studies pertaining to masks from 1978 to 2023 medrxiv.org/content/10.11... · Posted by u/ohshit

vondur · 2 years ago

I know many people who wore N95 masks all the time who were infected. More than once too.

oblib · 2 years ago

I really don't know what to make of that. I can say we did make a point to keep a distance from others, changed our masks pretty often, and we both used hand sanitizer when we were out in public spaces, so it's possible that made a difference.

We were both in our 60s when this crud began, the low end of the high risk group, so could be were more cautious than most.

oblib commented on An analysis of studies pertaining to masks from 1978 to 2023 medrxiv.org/content/10.11... · Posted by u/ohshit

throwing_away · 2 years ago

> I can say that my wife and I did wear masks and we did not get infected with covid.

When did you stop?

I have been wearing N95s everywhere since the pandemic began and I don't think I've been infected yet, but according to the wastewater data, it seems the virus is still very prevalent in population.

In fact, it seems another wave is building right now.

oblib · 2 years ago

We stopped wearing masks after about a month after our 1st vaccination. We've both kept up on those vaxxes since. I work from home so I'm so I'm rarely in crowds but my wife works at a resort and interacts with folks from all over and she's still not been infected.

One of our adult daughters refused to get vaxxed and came to visit for Christmas in 2022 and just 5 days after she arrived she got sick af here. She was in bed for 5 days. Her 2 children, who were 15 and 11 years old and not vaxxed didn't come down with any symptoms at all though and they stayed very close to her.

That same daughter has been infected 2 or 3 times since then and is now dealing with "long covid" issues.

I expect we will see another wave soon as well. People will be gathering and sharing it again. That happened last year and nothing much has changed since aside from the severity of infections, and that probably had do so with natural immunity from prior infections, and folks are still dying from it.

The vaxxes have worked for us though so we'll keep up on them.

oblib commented on An analysis of studies pertaining to masks from 1978 to 2023 medrxiv.org/content/10.11... · Posted by u/ohshit

oblib · 2 years ago

Where I live in SW Missouri during 2020 most of my neighbors refused to wear masks and 72% were infected in that 1st year. Among those who did wear them less than half wore the properly. Most of those I saw wearing them did not cover their nose. I guess that was their way of protesting against the local mandate to wear them.

So there is really no way to analyze the effectiveness of masks if you simply ask "did you wear a mask?" and "did you get infected with Covid?".

I can say that my wife and I did wear masks and we did not get infected with covid. And that we bought a box of N95 grade masks as soon as those were available, which was around the beginning of 2021. We both wore them until the vaccines were available, and we've both got the jab and booster shots as recommended.

The last statistic given by the County here was over a year ago and it said that 78% of the residents had been infected with covid and around 450 were killed by it. That's pretty close to 1 in 100 who live here. Most of those killed by it here were elderly and in nursing homes that 1st year.

I started working with my father customizing cars when I was 14 years old in 1973 and from the very start I wore both paper masks and respirators with filters and way back then I took a lot guff from guys who considered that to be unmanly, so even back then there was a stigma involved with wearing those.

Back then I figured it was a "macho man" thing, but during covid women here also refused to wear them, or wear them properly, and they would sneer at me too when I was wearing one in a store.

I'm not a sociologist but this is something that deserves being studied.