Remember when everyone was obsessed with mining cryptocurrency? Those makeshift rigs with multiple GPUs hanging precariously from metal frames, fans whirring away like mini jet engines? Well, history has a funny way of rhyming. The latest trend in tech circles isn’t mining digital coins - it’s running local Large Language Models.

The online discussions I’ve been following lately are filled with tech enthusiasts proudly showing off their homegrown AI setups. These aren’t your typical neat-and-tidy desktop computers; they’re magnificent contraptions of cooling systems, GPUs, and enough computing power to make any IT professional’s heart skip a beat. One particularly impressive build I spotted looked like a miniature apartment building, with GPUs occupying the “top floors” and an EPYC processor serving as the building’s superintendent.

Cleaning out the garage this morning, I stumbled upon some old Streets ice cream containers, which sparked a rather depressing realization about how far our beloved frozen treats have fallen. Looking at today’s “frozen dairy desserts” sitting in my freezer, the difference is stark - and not in a good way.

Remember when ice cream was actually ice cream? These days, many of our childhood favorites have been quietly reformulated into something that barely resembles the original product. The culprit? A cost-cutting move that replaces real dairy fat with cheaper vegetable oils, particularly palm oil. It’s a perfect example of what’s known as “enshittification” - the gradual degradation of product quality in pursuit of higher profits.

Sometimes the most interesting innovations come from unexpected places. Recently, I stumbled upon a fascinating discussion about dry ice blasting - a cleaning method that sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie but is revolutionizing commercial kitchen maintenance.

The technology is brilliantly simple yet incredibly effective. It uses tiny pellets of dry ice, about 3mm in size, propelled at high speed to clean equipment. When these pellets hit the surface, they expand to 800 times their original volume, effectively lifting away grime and grease without leaving any residue. The best part? No chemicals involved.

The shopping receipt sitting on my kitchen bench tells a story that’s becoming all too familiar. Desiccated coconut, that humble baking staple, has jumped from $2.70 to $4.00 at Coles - a staggering 48% increase. Looking at the prices across our major supermarkets, it’s the same story: Aldi at $3.90, Woolworths matching Coles at $4.00.

This might seem like another example of supermarket price gouging, but digging deeper reveals a more complex story. The Philippines, a major coconut producer, was hit by six devastating typhoons in just 30 days last year. These natural disasters didn’t just destroy crops; they took hundreds of lives and devastated communities. It’s a stark reminder that behind every price increase, there’s often a human story we don’t see on the supermarket shelf.

The scenes at Cranbourne’s newly opened Panda Mart this week have been nothing short of chaotic. Picture this: a 200-meter queue stretching to the main road, frustrated shoppers yelling at each other, and staff eventually forced to close the store’s doors. The whole situation reads like a Black Friday horror story, except this isn’t even a sale - it’s just Thursday in suburban Melbourne.

The store, essentially a physical manifestation of online marketplaces like Temu, promises rock-bottom prices on everything from kitchen gadgets to party supplies. But watching the mayhem unfold, I’m struck by a deeper concern about our society’s relationship with consumption and value.

Standing in front of my wardrobe this morning, I noticed yet another perfectly good shirt developing those dreaded little balls of fabric that make it look worn and tired. It’s frustrating how quickly clothes seem to deteriorate these days, even from supposedly reputable brands that charge decent prices.

The decline in clothing quality isn’t just my imagination. The fast fashion industry has fundamentally changed how our clothes are made, prioritizing quick turnover and low costs over durability and quality. Walking through Bourke Street Mall recently, I realized that even traditionally reliable retailers have succumbed to this race to the bottom.

Looking through my desk drawer the other day, I found my old iPhone 11 gathering dust alongside various charging cables and forgotten adapters. This discovery coincided perfectly with an interesting post I spotted about someone transforming their old OnePlus phone into a home server - complete with what looked like an entire tube of silicone adhesive holding it together.

The specs were impressive: 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and an 8-core CPU. That’s more powerful than many entry-level servers, and it was just sitting there, destined for landfill. While the setup looked a bit, shall we say, “enthusiastic” with its liberal use of adhesive (prompting some rather colorful comments online), the concept is brilliant.

The other day, my parents handed down their vintage cocktail shaker during their downsizing effort. It’s a beautiful piece - heavy, substantial, with that classic design that speaks of countless martinis and memorable evenings. There’s just one small catch: the inside looks like it’s seen better days.

Looking at this tarnished beauty sitting on my kitchen counter, I’m struck by how objects like these carry stories. The slight wear marks, the patina of age - they’re not imperfections but chronicles of family gatherings and celebrations past. Still, that scuzzy interior definitely needs addressing before I mix my next Manhattan.

The tech world never ceases to amaze me with its rapid developments. Just yesterday, while sipping my flat white at my favourite café near Flinders Street, I stumbled upon an fascinating discussion about LLaMA-Mesh - a new AI tool that generates 3D models directly within Blender using language models.

The concept is brilliantly simple: type what you want, and the AI creates the 3D model for you. It’s like having a digital sculptor at your fingertips, ready to manifest your ideas into three-dimensional reality. The current implementation uses LLaMA3.1-8B-Instruct, and while that might sound like technobabble to some, it represents a significant step forward in making 3D modeling more accessible.

The other day, while wandering through Coles in Brunswick, I spotted something that caught my eye - refillable roll-on deodorant bottles from Thank You. It got me thinking about our ongoing battle with single-use plastics and the small changes we can make in our daily routines to reduce waste.

Looking at the $15 price tag, my bargain-hunting instincts initially made me hesitate. That’s quite a jump from the regular $4 options sitting right next to it. But sometimes we need to look beyond the immediate cost to see the bigger picture. The environmental impact of throwing away plastic deodorant containers every few weeks adds up significantly over time.

Looking at my own modest home server setup tucked away in the corner of my study, I found myself completely charmed by a recent online discussion about someone’s DIY AI computing rig. The setup featured a fuzzy stuffed llama named Laura perched atop some GPU hardware, watching over performance metrics on a display - and somehow, it perfectly encapsulated everything wonderful about the maker community.

The whole scene reminded me of those late nights in the early 2000s when we’d gather for LAN parties, computers sprawled across makeshift tables, fans whirring away while we played Counter-Strike until sunrise. Today’s home AI enthusiasts share that same spirit of DIY innovation, just with considerably more processing power.

The other day, while waiting for my coffee to brew at work, I witnessed something that made me do a double-take. My colleague’s manager was methodically printing out every single email from their inbox. Not just the important ones - every single one. The printer hummed away like it was 1999, churning out paper after paper of digital communications that were perfectly accessible on their computer screen.

This scenario, shared recently in an online discussion, struck a chord with me. The environmental impact alone is staggering. Running some quick calculations during my lunch break, I figured that printing just 30 emails a day amounts to over 7,500 sheets of paper annually. That’s roughly one whole tree every year, not to mention the energy consumption and toner waste.

Recently stumbled upon a fascinating thread discussing open-source alternatives to popular SaaS products. The list was impressive - everything from project management tools to photo storage solutions. But what really caught my attention wasn’t the alternatives themselves, but the complex discussion around what truly constitutes “open source” software.

The conversation particularly heated up around photo management solutions like Immich and Ente.io. While many users praised these alternatives, others raised valid concerns about breaking changes and sustainability models. It reminded me of the countless hours I’ve spent in my home office, tinkering with various self-hosted solutions, only to face the harsh reality of maintenance overhead.

I’ve been following the latest developments in space exploration, and one recent breakthrough that caught my eye was SpaceX’s successful test of their mechanical arms catching a returning rocket. It’s a remarkable feat that speaks volumes about the innovative spirit driving the industry forward.

What struck me about this accomplishment was the sheer size of the rocket being caught - 400 feet tall, equivalent to a 37-story building. The thought of landing such a massive structure without legs, which adds weight and reduces payload capacity, is mind-boggling. As one commenter pointed out, this design choice is a deliberate move to eliminate legs and increase efficiency. It’s a testament to the innovative thinking at SpaceX, where experts like Dan Rixen, a CTV Science and Technology expert, see this as a “new level” in space travel.