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mechanicalpulse

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mechanicalpulse
·2 miesiące temu·discuss
> I also think calling these a "sensor" is a bit of a stretch.

Indeed. At best, they're an "emitter", a "proxy", a "relay", a "transformer", or some combination thereof with "sense" or "marshall" that indicates the transformation of input to output a la "sense proxy emitter" or "marshalling sensor".
mechanicalpulse
·2 miesiące temu·discuss
> Don’t we pass someone walking with a gas can on the highway every year though?

No. I see something like that every year on television, but not in the real world. If you've seen something like that every year, let me ask you a question: was the gas can empty or full? Gait while lugging five gallons of gas looks very different than gait while slinging around an empty can. Then, ask yourself whether or not you (or anyone you know) carries around a spare gas can in their vehicle.
mechanicalpulse
·2 miesiące temu·discuss
The solution is A/B testing and then looking at the resulting crash statistics. Weekly reports produced by the connected BI system should use excrutiatingly precise language like "number of {people,children,dogs,expectant mothers} {killed,saved} under <PO>'s <new idea>". A real Trolley Web Problem 2.0. /s
mechanicalpulse
·2 miesiące temu·discuss
> a little clumsily

s/a little/very/;

> What do you think the best implementation would look like?

We already had one! Dashboard indicator lamps have been an international standard (ISO 2575) since 1982.

> But it's also dangerous for a driver to run out of fuel on the highway if we didn't catch their attention.

Yes, it is. But the key word is "if". The product folks involved in making these UI/UX decisions were more concerned with whether or not they could (read: "chimp attract" for "feature parity" to "drive sales") than with whether or not they should (read: "should we be manufacturing two ton death machines that act like nannies?"). Where is the research that provides the answers to the questions "how likely is it that the driver isn't aware of how much fuel is in the vehicle?", "are our customers really as stupid as we think they are?", or even "what's the downside of training our customers to accept a more mindless state of existence while piloting giant metallic flesh-tearing bone crushers packed full of explosive hydrocarbons and squishy humans?"

> The general public though… uh oh!

You can come down from your ivory tower at any time. We have tacos down here and we all enjoy them.

To quote the late, great Lou Holtz, "they put their pants on the same way we do". I don't think there's ever been a time in all of my years on this planet that I've gotten into a car to go on a highway journey of any length and not looked at the fuel gauge. Oftentimes, my passenger will even ask me how much gas is in the tank. Glancing at the fuel gauge should be the first thing that any motor vehicle operator looks at when climbing into the captain's chair. Maybe I'm at that stage of life where I'm no longer capable of comprehending the manner in which the younger generations experience the world, but getting into an automobile and driving off without knowing how much fuel you have is like walking out the front door without confirming that your shoe laces are tied.

This constant othering of "the general public" without any research to back it up really grinds my gears, to use a contextually appropriate idiom. Please stop.
mechanicalpulse
·4 miesiące temu·discuss
None of it matters if the controls aren’t responding. You’ll know, too, because they make that sad static beepy noise like some sort of Tactile Control Panel ACKnowledgement failure.
mechanicalpulse
·4 miesiące temu·discuss
I can’t argue with you there. The Pentagon’s silence is deafening; I only want to caution myself as much as anyone against jumping to conclusions. It may be AI, it may be bad intelligence, it may be Russian counterintelligence, it may be an IRGC false flag, it may be a little bit of all of the above.
mechanicalpulse
·4 miesiące temu·discuss
[flagged]
mechanicalpulse
·4 miesiące temu·discuss
> I think Blizzard could have also made the player base just as happy by [...] understanding the underlying problem.

I'm reminded of the 1995 interview in which Steve Jobs elucidated the fundamental reasons that Xerox missed its golden opportunity to own the computer industry and why former PepsiCo CEO John Sculley later ultimately failed at the helm of Apple.

It's fundamentally the same issue with a number of gaming conglomerates nowadays. These companies are more interested in increasing the sales of sugar water than making great games. Perhaps, then, it's not surprising in the least to learn that former Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick was on the board of Coca-Cola for a decade.
mechanicalpulse
·4 miesiące temu·discuss
Modern 802.11 implementations are wildly complex. The output from `iw list` on a Linux system with a modern WiFi radio, a trip through the example configuration that ships with `hostapd`, or perusing the lengthy list of standards, amendments, and extensions on Wikipedia will reveal it, too.

Given the complexity of modern 802.11 protocols and the prevalence of WiFi radios in devices of all kinds, I find it well within the realm of possibilities for anyone to observe 802.11 traffic that is sufficiently ambiguous to create the confidence necessary to be a mentally workable substitute for evidence of a targeted attack. There may be a lot of evidence that could be found to refute that very same premise, though, if one knows what to look for.
mechanicalpulse
·4 miesiące temu·discuss
“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” — Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying (1889)
mechanicalpulse
·5 miesięcy temu·discuss
I do and it does.

    $ ls -al /dev/std*
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stderr -> fd/2
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdin -> fd/0
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdout -> fd/1
    $ ls -n /dev/fd/[012]
    crw--w----  1 501  4  0x10000000 Feb 27 13:38 /dev/fd/0
    crw--w----  1 501  4  0x10000000 Feb 27 13:38 /dev/fd/1
    crw--w----  1 501  4  0x10000000 Feb 27 13:38 /dev/fd/2
    $ uname -v
    Darwin Kernel Version 24.6.0: Mon Jan 19 22:00:55 PST 2026; root:xnu-11417.140.69.708.3~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000
    $ sw_vers
    ProductName:  macOS
    ProductVersion:  15.7.4
    BuildVersion:  24G517
Lest you think it's some bashism that's wrapping ls, they exist regardless of shell:

    $ zsh -c 'ls -al /dev/std*'
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stderr -> fd/2
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdin -> fd/0
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdout -> fd/1
    $ csh -c 'ls -al /dev/std*'
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stderr -> fd/2
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdin -> fd/0
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdout -> fd/1
    $ tcsh -c 'ls -al /dev/std*'
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stderr -> fd/2
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdin -> fd/0
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdout -> fd/1
    $ ksh -c 'ls -al /dev/std*'
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stderr -> fd/2
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdin -> fd/0
    lr-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  0 Feb 24 15:08 /dev/stdout -> fd/1
I tried the install example that you provided and it worked on macOS as well as Linux.
mechanicalpulse
·5 miesięcy temu·discuss
It's possible that he's taking "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" to its logical if unhealthy extreme by interpreting every ambiguous 802.11 frame as one with ill intent. However, just because he's paranoid doesn't mean there aren't misaligned people, devices, and applications out there probing networks.

It's probably a good idea for anyone to check themselves every now and then by playing Angel's Advocate just as much as they might play Devil's Advocate, but I don't think rejecting his premises out of hand with a drive-by diagnosis is all that helpful.
mechanicalpulse
·7 miesięcy temu·discuss
Oh my... This is how the code could look indeed. Which LLM did you use to generate this?
mechanicalpulse
·7 miesięcy temu·discuss
Yes! I also used glyphosate to kill things growing in and around my sidewalk, driveway, steps, and curb. I've also used a propane torch for the same purposes, but it requires more effort and cannot be applied quite so selectively. It works, though, and is a good choice for anyone who would rather use a petroleum product than an herbicide.

I looked up the product you mentioned and you're right -- it does look like deodorant! It's a gel that contains glyphosate and isopropylamine salt. Neat!
mechanicalpulse
·7 miesięcy temu·discuss
> As I'm sure you're aware, glyphosate is usually only appropriate as a weed killer on your property if you're looking to kill all vegetation in/around where you spray it.

> It's a non-selective herbicide in this context, it kills everything.

It is a non-selective herbicide, but it's not a systemic herbicide. It functions by interfering with photosynthesis, but since it is minimally absorbed via root systems, it must be applied directly to the foilage. You can spray it on the ground around a plant and that plant will happily ignore it. This is why the instructions are explicit about applying directly to the foilage during sunny days when the wind is light.

As a homeowner, I loved glyphosate. It was cheap, simple, effective, and could be applied in a selective manner. It's not the best choice for getting rid of broadleaf weeds in a lawn, but I used it all the time in my gardens to kill weeds and keep the bermudagrasses out.
mechanicalpulse
·8 miesięcy temu·discuss
Nest is hardly the only thermostat out there using solid-state relays. Have you considered the possibility that they did take it into account and they deliberately chose to use SSRs instead of electromechanical relays? Have you considered the possibility that they were concerned about the impact that mechanical relays may have on the RF, especially if "there is higher current than you think running through those terminals"? Have you considered the possibility that they were worried about making the first one fatter than it already was?

In my heat pump, none of the thermostat wires directly control the contactors. They all run into a logic board that applies logic like time delays, temperature-controlled defrost cycling, and active protection lockouts for the compressor. I mean, there's a seven-segment LCD on the logic board for system troubleshooting. The air handler has a variable speed blower as well.

I understand that HVAC equipment varies wildly, but if you try to solve every possible problem or scenario and target every possible customer, you'll never make it to market.

I also understand that I am the target demographic.
mechanicalpulse
·8 miesięcy temu·discuss
Well that's certainly a take. Solid state relays using optoisolated MOSFETs have been around for fifty years. Mechanical relays are overkill for signal switching as in HVAC thermostats, IMHO, but you do you.

Anecdotally, I have a first generation Nest and haven't had a problem. Maybe some of the earlier hardware had fewer protection against misuse (e.g., with non-24VAC systems or otherwise incorrect installation), but that's generally the case with most new things.
mechanicalpulse
·8 miesięcy temu·discuss
I also went about looking at the difference rather than the order. In the hexadecimal case, the difference is 15 (0xEF vs 0x12). I thought, then, that for any base B with ascending digits A and descending digits D, (D-(B-1))/A=B-2.

For binary, it looks like (1-(b-1))/1=b-10 or (1-(2-1))/1=2-2=0 in decimal.

For trinary, it looks like (21-(b-1))/12=b-2 or (7-(3-1))/5=5/5=1 in decimal.

For quaternary, it looks like (321-(b-1))/123=b-2 or (57-(4-1))/27=54/27=2 in decimal.

Essentially and perhaps unsurprisingly, the size of the slices in the number pie get smaller the bigger the pie gets. In binary, the slice is the pie, which is why the division comes out to zero there.
mechanicalpulse
·9 miesięcy temu·discuss
> Did you live at a time where Internet was not a thing?

You must be relatively young. Software existed before the widespread adoption of the Internet.

> I remember very clearly buying software on physical media and never, ever "receiving" a single patch.

You had to take action to receive them. They weren’t automatic updates like they are today.

> I don't even know how that would have looked... "buy this floppy disk, it's a patch for a bug in the other floppy disk you bought recently"?

That’s exactly what it looked like. That’s still the process today for some systems —- avionics updates for Boeing 747s are provided on 3.5” floppies.
mechanicalpulse
·9 miesięcy temu·discuss
At infinity, the shape becomes a sphere and all orientations of it are identical. It is no longer a convex polyhedron and, thus, not subject to consideration.