[subego]

Originally Posted by reader50 

You can still buy new VCRs on eBay. Unopened models that haven't been made in 20 years.

If your home automation company is/was at all popular, you'll be able to buy new spares for some time. Prices will gradually increase as the stock gets smaller.

Good point!

[subego]

That it’s called “4K” when it’s “2160”.

As an aside, “4K” actually means something. It’s the number of sensors on a 35mm motion picture film scanner. It’s a horizontal measurement because the sensors are arrayed horizontally. The vertical resolution is undefined and arbitrary.

[subego]

20 year old article about a project of ours doesn’t show up on Google, but does on Bing!













Fries done.

[Thorzdad]

Election commercial season has officially begun, and the local airwaves are crammed with ever-increasingly insane ads for republican candidates, each trying to prove they are the true Trumpster. It’s like a mad dash to the bottom of the barrel. This going to be a very long year.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

airwaves

Well, there’s your problem.

[Thorzdad]

I gotta have my Jeopardy.

[Spheric Harlot]

Americans constantly assuming that everything that's not outright fascism is "left-wing".

It's fucking annoying.

[andi*pandi]

Many americans don't know what the correct definitions of fascism, communist, socialist, nazi, really are. Those terms are used as insults much like "gay" used to be in high school.

Case in point, my local town politics facebook group. Anonymous gardeners took it upon themselves to plant garden beds in an usused median in town and posted their progress on Instagram. Right wing crackpot immediately posted a rant about how the COMMUNISTS WERE COMING FOR PUBLIC LAND AND HOW DARE THEY, and proceeded to lump anyone left of Reagan into the Marxist subgroup out to destroy America. The conversation got heated between left/right. The city ripped out the gardens within 24 hours.

The reasonable people of the group just wondered why they hadn't applied for a permit instead of going all clandestine about it.

In another post, the righties called out moderators who remove bickering/racist comments fascist nazis who are not inclusive.

I wish facebook had moderation controls like this forum.


Did the debate/public outcry got the guerilla gardeners any positive publicity for the hungry, public gardens, or? Dunno. Their insta has gone silent. Maybe they will be quieter about it.

[Waragainstsleep]

People who would complain about turning a publicly owned wasteland into a garden (and people who would rip it out without having something better to do with the land) should really just be put out of everyone else's misery. Pointless, spiteful little people.

[Brien]

Websites going mostly or exclusively to video articles (looking at you, Gizmodo). If I want to read, let me read.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Brien 

Gizmodo

Well, there’s your problem.

[ghporter]

Yeah, but it’s not just Gizmodo. Which I don’t think I’ve even had a Google hit on in a long time.

Doing a search for “how to do X” usually leads to tons of YouTube crap, which may or may not be accurate but is almost guaranteed to be produced by someone who couldn’t “public speak” his/her/its way out of a wet paper bag with written instructions, a flashlight and a life coach.

I’m biased - I am formally trained to “public speak” on any subject I have material to speak on (and typically on any impromptu subject I at least have an idea about). But still…..

I typically want written instructions. If I can’t make sense of those, then I might want a video to show me what I’m missing. Then I want clear visuals, not your phone’s “fish eye” effect, mumbling, and so on.

[subego]

The best of all worlds to me is written with supplemental GIFs.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by subego 

The best of all worlds to me is written with supplemental GIFs.

That's a pretty good format, as long as the GIFs are well done and the text isn't either too basic ("turn the top side of the tool toward your LEFT to loosen...") or too jargony.

If I'm trying to do something, I've done enough research to not need things explained as if I were completely ignorant, but I don't want to have to wade through engineer-speak either.

[subego]

The example which stands out to me was an analysis of Mike Tyson’s boxing style. I could only be so impressed by a description of how difficult it is to execute. The GIFs directly showed the insane balance involved.

[andi*pandi]

sure, that's a visual. but it doesn't need 15 minutes of SUBSCRIBE NOW I"M AWESOME patter before hand.

also if I'm searching up the key command to do something in illustrator do I want a 15 min video or do I want a one paragraph text I can skim?

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

sure, that's a visual. but it doesn't need 15 minutes of SUBSCRIBE NOW I"M AWESOME patter before hand.

*Shaky selfie camera*

WHAT'S UP YOUTUBE????? WELCOME BACK TO THE CHANNEL!!! TODAY'S VIDEO IS SPONSORED BY NUTRINA SUPPLEMENTS AND NORD VPN! Get your gaiinzzz and don't let the government see! DON'T FORGET TO MASH THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON and RING THAT BELL!!!!!

[subego]

$60 worth of taxis because asshole blocked my garage.

[reader50]

Did asshole have his car towed? Or at least, did raw eggs accidentally land on his paint?

[subego]

No tow. For that to happen, a cop needs to be dispatched to write a ticket and then they send a truck. Takes 2-3 hours minimum.

Vandalism is tempting, but they know where I live.

Also, no eggs. I think my best options right now are salad dressing and A1 sauce.

[andi*pandi]

a nail in the sidewall will also cause need for a towtruck.*



*but yes call the police instead

[Waragainstsleep]

What about private two trucks?

[subego]

I haven’t checked, but I imagine that’s illegal. The actual location the car parked was on city property.

[reader50]

Know anyone in the local street gang? Send the word, and asshole comes back to it sitting on blocks. With graffiti talking about how the other gang sucks, and "i luv u claire".

If he complains to the cops, he gets a bonus ticket for being illegally parked. Since he can't drive it without tires, that would also trigger an immediate tow.

[subego]

Originally Posted by reader50 

Know anyone in the local street gang? Send the word, and asshole comes back to it sitting on blocks. With graffiti talking about how the other gang sucks, and "i luv u claire".

Don’t know any gang members, but I’ve met Claire.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

What about private two trucks?

Knowing how tow companies are universally predatory snakes, it shouldn't be hard to find someone to snatch a car?

[subego]

Maybe I’m naïve, but I assumed predatory towers don’t swipe cars off the street because that’s grand theft.

Parking lot is another matter entirely since it’s private property and marked with warnings.

[Laminar]

Tell the cops you think that someone is dealing drugs from that car? Or that someone in that car was taking pictures of kids walking by? Slap a BLM and a Hillary sticker on it to make sure the cops are maximum pissed off and it'll get impounded for sure.

[subego]

I’m not sure they need these incentives. Cops here are thrilled to impound cars for merely being in a tow zone, it just takes a few hours to work through the process.

[subego]

Adding a Gmail account to macOS Mail in Monterey doesn’t work. It tries to load a login page using Safari and hangs. Same deal works fine on iOS.

[reader50]

I looked up bird droppings on eBay. All it found was removal supplies, no dispenser cans. But I'm liking Laminar's bumper stickers. Suggest laying in a few for annoyance value. Mystery parkers get a few free stickers on their bumpers. Be discreet - smaller sizes, located on bumpers where they might not get noticed & removed for awhile.

Cops Suck
Voodoo is not a crime.
(assorted satanic slogans)
An honest cop stays bought
More drivers prefer Beer
Mine is bigger than yours

I wonder if the Westminister Babtist Church offers bumper stickers. Creativity is probably better though. Donate 1-2 random stickers to each parker, in case the tow truck doesn't arrive fast enough. Who knows, karma may catch up with them after all.

[subego]

“Lightfoot for Mayor” will probably do the job.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

I’m not sure they need these incentives. Cops here are thrilled to impound cars for merely being in a tow zone, it just takes a few hours to work through the process.

The incentives aren't for the tow, they're for the response time.

[Laminar]

TIL that LED bulbs on your garage door opener can cause interference with the remote. I've been fighting a non-responsive opener for more than a year now - I've tried several different models of remotes with brand new batteries, and also a car with a built-in opener so batteries aren't even a question - and nothing has helped. I have to be all of the way in my driveway with the remote pointed straight at the garage door and it still takes 10-15 clicks before it opens. I've tried unplugging and replugging various garage devices including the new Fire stick that I blamed for a while, to no avail. Then I find out that cheap or standard LED bulbs can cause RF interference. Genie makes garage door opener specific bulbs that shield against RF interference, so I've ordered a couple. When I get home today I'll just pop the existing bulbs out and see if that makes a different. This would definitely reduce a stress point every single time I come home.

[subego]

Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
[Starts opening]
Click
[Closes]

Dammit. DAMMIT!

[Laminar]

Yep, at least 25% of the time. Every day after work I come stomping into the house in a bad mood and it's mostly this.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Every day after work I come stomping into the house in a bad mood and it's mostly this.

Back when you’d have to guess when taking a selfie and it would take a few tries, you could always see the clear progression from “happy, selfie pose” to “fuck this shit”.

[Laminar]

Total fail, both bulbs were already severe service incandescent. One recommendation I saw was to totally flip the breaker for the whole garage off and run the opener off an extension cord into the house. That may be the next step.

[reader50]

Is there an option to add an external antenna? Most garage doors are metal today. And there is metal lathe under plaster. So the garage (when closed) is a poor man's Faraday cage. You could test this by using the clicker when the door is open. If you have great range, but it sucks when closed, that's your answer.

[Laminar]

It didn't used to suck when closed. I could hit it from a block and a half away and it would work. Nothing about the garage construction or opener itself has changed, but something else is adding interference.

[Thorzdad]

How close is your nearest neighbor?

[ghporter]

It could be the brand of opener. I went with a Liftmaster after having to have several service calls for my pricey Genie opener “consistently inconsistently” crapped out. Seems these units have a logic board that just gets stupid; it can “forget” up and/or down limits, which essentially locks the thing up. Hard.

Liftmaster and Chamberlain (the mother brand) cost a bit more, but they are robust. I set up Homelink in the car once, and (unlike with the Genie) haven’t had to reprogram it in the greater than a year I’ve had it.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

incandescent

In other minor irritant news, I feel like I read in passing they’re trying to outlaw these again.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

In other minor irritant news, I feel like I read in passing they’re trying to outlaw these again.

That's where I found the discussion - people were lamenting the coming loss of the severe usage incandescents because LEDs cause interference.

[subego]

Interesting. My severe usage bulbs (Aero-Tech brand) last about two years, so snagging a 20 year supply isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.

I’d be fine with LED, but I want the color temp to drop when dimmed. Maybe I can make a Hue simulate it.

I’ve got a Cree LED in my garage not causing problems, but it’s in the ceiling fixture and not the opener itself.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by subego 

In other minor irritant news, I feel like I read in passing they’re trying to outlaw these again.

They are. Sunset date is July 2023.

I've been meaning to dig up the details, to see what exceptions are listed. My concern is appliance bulbs. LEDs work nearly everywhere ... except in ovens. It's hard to picture anything else that can take 550 - 800 F (288-427 C) without melting. 800 is for self-cleaning ovens.

[subego]

I’m assuming there are some carve-outs. All my incandescent stage and studio shit is hosed otherwise.

Did like everyone forget how much pushback this got last time?

[reader50]

I don't remember a lot of pushback, except for Trump not liking CFLs / LEDs.

I like the idea of efficiency standards, so long as there are exceptions where an equivalent bulb is not available yet. If you pay attention in the stores, the incandescent section has been shrinking for years. The market is squeezing them out anyway, though slowly.

[subego]

Well, there was enough pushback they made huge revisions to it.

CFLs suck. They’re ugly, and just like a fish are filled with mercury. LEDs back then sucked too. Too blue.

I guess I could make the argument there still isn’t an economical LED which drops color temperature as it dims.

[ghporter]

Recent LED bulbs have been available with a lot warmer color temperatures. For some things I LIKE really high color temperatures - anything where I'm trying to see fine details, especially with magnification, needs to be as white as possible. But a 7000K light over the bathroom sink? Not a good look...

The phosphor technology is what's getting better. I don't have any specifics, but empirically I've noted that newer bulbs have been both more consistent from bulb to bulb, and (not counting the ones you can shift the color of) less expensive.

I don't miss "heating" my house with incandescent lamps. I'm not only not making the house warmer with my LEDs, I'm also not paying the electricity bills I did before I started changing them out.