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🇨🇦 tunetardis

@ tunetardis @piefed.ca

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Joined
9 mo. ago

  • TIL about abogen. A tool to generate audiobooks from EPUBs, PDFs and text with synchronized captions.

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  • A little follow-up on this. Tonight I had a look at what it generated. It produced 2 files: a .wav and a .ass. The latter apparently contains subtitles that sync to the audio. But how do you play them together?

    After searching around online, the general consensus seemed that you need to make a video file that throws it all together. For the background image I used a still of the book cover art. Then I ran an ffmpeg command that looked something like this:

     
            ffmpeg -loop 1 -i cover.jpg -i abogen_file.wav -vf subtitles=abogen_file.ass -shortest audio_book.mov

    It sounds pretty awesome and looks like this while it's playing!

  • TIL about abogen. A tool to generate audiobooks from EPUBs, PDFs and text with synchronized captions.

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  • I installed it yesterday and started having it chug through the Murderbot series I got in epub format. It seemed to be taking forever, but then I checked a system monitor and discovered it was using the GPU to do most of the work. So whenever my GPU-heavy screen saver kicked in, it slowed to a crawl.

    At any rate, it was done this morning but then I forgot to bring the files to work, so I can't say at this point how good a job it did? It was a bit of a pain to install because it needed Python 12 and wouldn't accept Python 14 for some reason, and pyenv on my Mac is a bit of pain because it hates tkinter. Go figure. But I got it working in the end.

  • Steam Machine

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  • Yes, Steam Machine is optimized for gaming, but it's still your PC. Install your own apps, or even another operating system. Who are we to tell you how to use your computer?

    I wonder if this means it's less locked down the Deck? Like is it kind of an iPad vs Mac situation? When I got the Deck and it was my only CPU travelling around at one point, I tried installing some general tools so I could get some actual work done on the road. Things were fairly heavily sandboxed, though nothing was a total deal-breaker I guess?

  • I am learning that people simply do not care

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  • Your coworker is reaching out to you in his own way, and you are making his life more bearable than you may know. What seems a little bump in the road may be a mountain to him. But life's a marathon, and he might come around yet.

  • Citing Trump Order on “Biological Truth,” VA Makes It Harder for Male Veterans With Breast Cancer to Get Coverage

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  • I lost a close male relative to breast cancer and he had been in the US Navy. It can happen to anyone and with men, it's often not diagnosed until it's too late due to the stigma and general lack of awareness that it's a thing.

  • The number of e-bikes with USB-C charging has now doubled – to two

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  • Yeah mine does, but it's a USB-A. Not sure of its max output, but it's rather limited compared to what USB-C could theoretically give you.

  • The number of e-bikes with USB-C charging has now doubled – to two

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  • I suppose with USB-C, you could flip it around and use the bike battery as a giant power bank you can plug your laptop or whatever into?

  • Gen Z's can't afford to move out

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  • This of course hinges on my parents and uncle staying reasonably healthy and financially secure, if they end up as vegetables with a nursing home draining all of their assets or decide to blow all of their wealth in Vegas or something the whole plan could kind of fall apart.

    I'm a Gen X with Gen Z kids and this is literally the kind of thing that keeps me up at night. I don't want to go through a long and costly retirement. My mom got dementia. My dad lived to be a hundred. Either of those outcomes fills me with dread that there is no way I have saved anywhere near enough to make that work. At least I don't see myself doing the Vegas thing, unless it's a side-effect of the dementia?

  • Utilities are doing even worse on climate than they were 5 years ago

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  • After someone here linked a number of these, I've become something of a junkie following sites like this which show power generation around clock.

    My armchair assessment in terms of utility carbon footprints these past few months has been that places with substantial hydro and/or nuclear capacity have fared best, though this past season has been rough on the former at least here in North America with drought-like conditions prevailing. Wind has also been disappointing. No wind during these heat dome events. Solar has done better, but even in a state like California that is fairly heavily invested in battery backup, the dream of a 24-hour solar grid still seems aspirational at this point?

  • Ditching your car for a next-gen e-bike could make your commute 68 times cheaper: 'Cities are making the switch more possible than ever'

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  • Yeah I guess the big issue there is the voltage on the main battery is pretty high. Too high for USB. But it has to be brought down anyway for the electronics, so why not let people tap into it at that point? It's petty not to offer the option.

    Mine was a USB-A connector hidden under the display. Once I realized where it was, it was easy enough to get to. On my wife's bike, it was trickier to find/use. I had to crane my neck and look carefully under where the finger controls were and there was a tiny panel with a USB-C connector behind it.

    This all reminds a bit of what happened when we got a hybrid car and my coworker needed a boost. I had jumper cables on me but it was a real head-scratcher to figure out where to attach them on a hybrid? Like in the bike case, the battery is plenty powerful but the voltage is way too high. Eventually, I found a positive 12V terminal hidden in the fuse box! You remove the cover and there's this U-shaped piece of metal sticking out you can attach the positive clip to.

  • Ditching your car for a next-gen e-bike could make your commute 68 times cheaper: 'Cities are making the switch more possible than ever'

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  • I've tried it both ways. What I have noticed with the e-bike is I ride it 7 days a week, where it was more like half that with my old bike. Frankly, it is so much fun I am making excuses to get out there.

    Some points based on my experience:

    • I used to avoid deep ravine trails due to the steep climbs involved. Now I seek them out.
    • I don't mind travelling somewhat out of my way to reach said trails. It's really no bother on an e-bike. Nothing is ever a slog anymore.
    • Heat waves and smog alerts don't phase me anymore.
    • As for winter, you have more options. You can get fat tires that ride better through snow or mud, for example. Of course you can do so with a regular bike also, but it adds weight, so there's a trade-off.
    • Travel times have lowered somewhat, but more importantly, they have become much more consistent. You don't pay a time penalty for fighting head winds.
    • I don't show up at work a sweaty mess.
    • If I want a stronger workout, I can choose where and when to do it, such as on a trail rather than busy city streets, and on the way home rather than work.
    • I tend to slow down more often, where before I was blowing through stop signs and what not.
    • If you have any muscle or joint issues, e-bikes are a godsend.
    • A minor point, but my e-bike has a usb for charging phones. (These things are amazingly stealth. I owned mine for like a year before realizing it was tucked under a rubberized cover below the front panel, and then I found it on my wife's bike in a different spot.)

    On the negative side:

    • My e-bike model at least is bulkier than a regular bike (I do have the fat tires for winter and all that), which can make it more challenging to lock it up at bike racks.
    • Brake pads don't seem to last as long as they used to.
    • Yes, it costs more initially. But as the article points out, if this is an alternative to driving, you quickly make back the investment. A regular bike is obviously the cheapest option of all though.

  • It Isn’t Just the U.S. The Whole World Has Soured on Climate Politics | How do we think about the climate future, now that the era marked by the Paris Agreement has so utterly disappeared?

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  • The carbon tax was revenue neutral. It came back to you in the form of rebates. If you were an average Joe and did absolutely nothing in response to it, you'd still break even.

    But if you did do something to lower your personal carbon footprint, you'd get ahead. You'd be getting back more than you were paying. And the higher the tax went, the bigger the payout would become. That was the point of it. It was an incentive to lower your taxes and emissions at the same time.

    But all people with half a brain could hear was TAX TAX TAX. And so here we are…

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    Rented e-bicycles more dangerous than e-scooters in cities

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  • I was renewing my CAA today (Canadian equivalent of AAA motor club in US) and they mentioned they do roadside assist for bikes now. So I looked it up and among the FAQ it said:

    Do we cover motorized bicycles? Yes, provided they are conventional bicycles with standard pedals and chain and mounted with an external electric geared motor. Motorcycles, electric scooters and mopeds are covered under Plus and Premier Memberships only.

    That's interesting that scooters are only covered by their higher tiers while e-bikes are fine with the basic plan I have. Bikes are looking better and better at this point.

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    Rented e-bicycles more dangerous than e-scooters in cities

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  • How is the center of mass is lower on a scooter? It is the same or higher.

    I guess I was thinking in terms of the contraption itself. The battery and the bulk of the weight would be down near ground level. But that's a good point about the rider's position.

    The tiny scooter wheels will react enormously to tiny disadvantages in the road surface and the consequences of it. Hitting an tiny rock on the asfalt with a e-scooter will result in way nastier accidents than hitting a similar rock on the asfalt with a bicycle.

    Yeah, this was main concern. There are potholes around here that are so bad your teeth may clunk together if you don't have any sort of suspension, and I can't help but think it would be difficult to steer your way out of those if you hit one on a scooter?

    My main reason for considering a scooter was for hybrid trips where you drive to another place and then ride around. But if anything, the by-laws are even more vague around e-scooters than e-bikes in a lot of cities, so that makes me a little reluctant to take one on the road. Folding e-bikes are getting much smaller now though, so that might be the better option?

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    Rented e-bicycles more dangerous than e-scooters in cities

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  • I ride a scooter on a regular basis. With regards to terrain: I can do uneven terrain pretty well. The only time I've run into trouble is when my wheel got caught on a train track once, but that was easily avoidable. 100% I can assure you they are easier to manage than skates.

    That's good to hear.

    As for the brakes, they can definitely kind of suck. My scooter only has brakes on the front wheel, which makes riding in the rain diffcult, but I've learned to do slower braking which prevents my back wheel from fish-tailing.

    Ohh boy… I think I will insist on rear brakes if I find myself in the market. Wow.

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    Rented e-bicycles more dangerous than e-scooters in cities

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  • I am curious about e-scooters but have never ridden one. They have a lower centre of mass which, in theory, would offer some advantage over bicycles in terms of the severity of collisions.

    Otoh would you not tend to have more control issues over uneven terrain? I think about my inline skates from the 90s. The streets suck here, and I had one too many an instance of a pothole or a bump sending me flying to keep that up.

    Scooters have bigger wheels than skates, of course, but much smaller than bikes and they seem to have very low ground clearance. This makes me a little edgy.

    My coworker who switched to one after riding an e-bike to work said the brakes were weaker with the e-scooter. That could just be a workmanship issue. I'd have to think about whether physics would play a role there?

  • Not so good rock formation

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  • C'mon this totally rocks! Seriously though, I like it.

  • Trump's video on Kirk appears to be AI(contested in comments)

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  • I've been thinking of late that his tweets look AI generated. You just enter something like: take today's news from a reputable source, invert all the facts, add lots of hyperbole, and capitalize words for emphasis.

  • Can a Brit confirm this?

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  • That's good to know! Actually, now that I think of it, my wife and I visited the one and only mosque in our home town during a public event in a show of solidarity after it got vandalized. And I have to say, it was an absolute food fest in there!