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klondike_

1,083 karma · joined May 13, 2017

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klondike_··on NYC Subway Rat Detector
Brown rats are an invasive species in North America and interfere with the natural ecosystem. Some places have gone to great lengths to eliminate them

https://www.alberta.ca/history-of-rat-control-in-alberta

klondike_··on Twitch has stories now, because all social media has to be the same
Even LinkedIn had stories at one point but mercifully killed the feature recently
klondike_··on Woman who burned herself on Dunkin' coffee settles for $3M
They do it so that the coffee stays warmer longer during the winter months
klondike_··on RIP to my 8-port Unifi switch after years and years of Texas outdoor temps
The contractor probably only terminated the fiber. The tools to do fiber termination and splicing are much more expensive than $75
klondike_··on Low Demand for Travis Scott Creates Liquidity Crisis in Ticket Reselling Economy
Full article appears to be behind a paywall (or at least a login wall). Any alternative sources?
klondike_··on LG halts production of ATSC 3.0-compatible TVs over patent concerns
Every car I've had with SiriusXM also supported HD Radio. Low end cars tend to have neither, or only as a premium upgrade
klondike_··on My elderly parents can't resist answering the phone
You should avoid answering spam calls if it can be helped. If you don't pick up, your number will be marked as inactive in your system and they won't bother to call you in the future
klondike_··on Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study
Lead free solder is fine. When RoHS was first implemented, a lot of manufacturers had trouble changing their processes for the new solder. The result was a plague of bad, broken solder joints.

Nowadays, lead free solder is accounted for starting in the design stage. Manufacturers have had 15+ years of experience with leadfree solder and have largely worked out the issues.

Lead-acid batteries are extensively recycled. Electronics are usually just dumped in the trash, making the lead issue much more important.

klondike_··on Here Is What Happens to Dead EV Battery Packs
"Disposable" lithium batteries are increasingly common. Mostly vapes and single-use phone charge packs. Even though these use rechargeable cells, they often don't include a means to recharge them, so people just chuck them in the bin
klondike_··on The Xbox 360 Store Will Close July 2024
You get hardware banned from Xbox Live when a mod is detected, simple as. There's not much incentives for offline modding because most of the 360's library is easily moddable on PC
klondike_··on Eggs Need to Be Refrigerated
This is addressed in the article. The cuticle does nothing to protect against foodborne illness, and will likely degrade before you get the eggs home.
klondike_··on The era of cheap streaming is officially over
Neither will streaming, it seems. The big players are already moving to a one household per account rule
klondike_··on Unemployment Rate at or Near Record Lows in Half of US States
Reminder that you only count as unemployed if you are actively searching for a job, at least for statistics purposes. Low unemployment is often caused by people just giving up on their job search. In fact, rising unemployment is associated with improved economic conditions as people start searching for a job again. Unfortunately this fact is often omitted from discussions on unemployment statistics.
klondike_··on Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Attempt Autonomous LA to NY Drive 'Soon'
I don't think this is particularly impressive. It'll mostly be interstate driving, which can be safely handled by most adaptive cruise control systems already. I wonder how they will handle charging along the way
klondike_··on Repairing Electronics: A circular economy solution
1. Consumers will not pay extra for a longer-lasting bulb. Most will just get the cheapest available. Heavy duty bulbs exist for the commercial and industrial sectors, but are more expensive.

2. Edison-screw fixtures are designed for incandescent bulbs. They trap heat inside the fixture, accelerating the death of LEDs. Integrated LED fixtures tend to be more reliable, but installing them is not an option for renters and unskilled homeowners.

klondike_··on Ultralong-Range Electric Cars Are Arriving. Say Goodbye to Charging Stops
I don't understand the obsession with EV range. 99% of people just need enough range to get to work and back. Even if you wanted to take a road trip (increasingly uncommon as plane tickets get cheaper) you only need enough range for a day's worth of driving, since you'll need to stop to sleep/eat/bathroom at some point which gives you the opportunity to fast charge.
klondike_··on Why is there no open source firmware for laser or inkjet printers? (2019)
Generally counterfeiters will strip the ink from a $1 bill and print a $20 or $50 on it. This way it feels like real money. It is easily detectable if you hold it up to the light, but a cashier might not notice it right away.
klondike_··on DIY-Thermocam: A low-cost thermal imager based on the FLIR Lepton sensor
FLIR systems are limited in resolution and frame rate because of ITAR restrictions, even though they're the industry leader. Chinese systems have improved a lot in recent years and are not subject to ITAR and can offer higher resolutions and framerates
klondike_··on Windows ARM Dev Kit 2023
Microsoft doesn't want to be beholden to the Intel-AMD duopoly. By threatening them with ARM Windows, they force Intel and AMD to improve their low power offerings and to lower prices, even if ARM Windows never sees mass market adoption
klondike_··on San Francisco Target puts entire inventory on lockdown amid shoplifting crisis
Why else would they lock up all their merchandise?
klondike_··on Paper Mario PC ports beckon as coder completes decompilation of the N64 classic
Debug symbols were left in the released binary for SM64
klondike_··on California public school enrollment sees big drops
It depends heavily on your location. Public schools are generally assigned based on the student's primary address, so houses in good school districts tend to attract a premium. This leaves schools in poor areas chronically underfunded and understaffed
klondike_··on What if Meta launches a mobile app store?
Android has third party app stores and this doesn't happen for most apps (Fortnite is the big exception). If anything, app store competition will force Apple to reduce its ridiculous 30% fee on in-app purchases.
klondike_··on In-Flight Entertainment Challenge
It probably was a SNES: https://snescentral.com/article.php?id=1019
klondike_··on Ultrathin Metasurface Displays Take Aim at the LCD
>Even if it just switched the mirror between reflecting and not, I think it would be cool.

This is basically how DLP projectors work

klondike_··on Tabs in Notepad begins rolling out to Windows Insiders
Notepad is good because it is simple and starts quickly. It's perfect at what it's intended for, viewing logs and buffering stuff from the clipboard. If I wanted to code I would use an actual code editor rather than Notepad. Tabs just mean more clicks between me and the file I want to view.
klondike_··on City-Builder Taken Off Steam After Fan Goes Rogue
I think they're talking about the bad precident it sets.
klondike_··on Supreme Court Poised to Reconsider Key Tenets of Online Speech
I don't blame platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc for removing content subjectively. After all, they need to control spam.

Unfortunately things have been stepped up a notch recently and Tier 1 ISPs are now engaged in site blocking themselves. Even if you run all of your own server, these ISPs can prevent customers from connecting to your web site. Only around 5 Tier 1 ISPs control access to all of the internet.

This was the situation Net Neutrality was designed to prevent, ironically gutted by Republicans in 2016.

klondike_··on Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
Does it really matter? Letter size is close enough to A4 that I doubt anyone but paper nerds would notice
klondike_··on The sound of the dialup, pictured (2012)
Presumably uplink and downlink use different frequencies, similar to how duplex radio works
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