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andechs

116 karma · joined March 1, 2018

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andechs··on Repair Cafe – Fix Your Broken Items
I've done this fix on at least 3 MX Masters, just going in through the rubber on the side to remove the switch, since disassembly through unscrewing everything is more work.

Needing to replace the feet every time you open the mouse is pretty frustrating.

This applies to the MX Master 1 & 2.

andechs··on Switzerland's ingenious cooling caves
Toronto uses the [Deep Lake Water Cooling System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Lake_Water_Cooling_System) to extract "cold" from lake water before it is treated and used for drinking water.
andechs··on Musk announces funding secured for Twitter buy
he just wants free-er speech for his OWN political views
andechs··on I hate what video games have become
The median spend might be zero $ per year.
andechs··on Los Angeles is spending up to $837k to house a single homeless person
> If their property taxes had risen with the rate of the area that they bought a house in as we grew up, we would have been unable to continue living there and forced to leave. The same thing goes with my grandparents.

We're ensuring stability for the older generation, at the expense of a younger generation who couldn't possibly afford the same neighbourhood they grew up in.

Those with millions in real estate equity can use that equity and financial engineering to defer the property tax increases until their death.

andechs··on Scientists find a way to ‘catapult’ rockets into space like ‘slingshots’
The object is not a point mass at the end of the arm, it's a line. Different parts of the line are moving at different relative velocities & accelerations relative to the centre of rotation, and thus when released the rocket not going to go straight.
andechs··on Electric vehicles could fully recharge in 5 minutes with new cable design
If you have higher capacity batteries, you're carrying around extra weight you're not using.

The long range model 3 has a 480kg battery. Unless there's a massive revolutionary discovery in battery technology, for 10 times the range, you're going to need to carry (and accelerate) 10 times more mass every time you stop and go.

andechs··on Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer
When a central authority is in charge of adding transactions to the blockchain, ie: DMV issuing licences, what's the advantage of blockchain over a standard database?
andechs··on Ford Hires Away Executive Leading Apple’s Car Project
A EV is a much simpler device than a ICE - it's a battery and an electric motor, it's much simpler than mechanical power. Gone are oil pumps, transmissions, etc.

On top of all this, you can now route power through electrical wires, rather than needing an accessory belt to distribute mechanical power to the A/C, oil pump, power steering etc.

The electric car's tech advances are mostly in the battery technology (and vapourware "Level 5 automation in 2019"). Tesla will have a unique differentiator in battery tech and production, but it's not crazy to retool an existing ICE manufacturer to EVs.

andechs··on Restaurant workers quit at record rate
Walmart and Amazon raising wages allows them to exercise their huge scale to further crush their competitors.

With their huge efficiencies of scale and deep cash reserves, they are better able to offer higher wages than competitors. During the pandemic, both Walmart and Amazon have seen huge growth. They can continue this growth post-pandemic by squeezing their competitors on wages, and eventually emerging with less competitors.

andechs··on Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?
In order to send representatives to the European parliment, the EU requires that representatives be elected in fair elections: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_European_Parliament_elect...

Part of being a member state of the EU requires having access to some sort of public healthcare system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Health_Insurance_Card

This isn't "over reach of federal government" - it's ensuring that the citizens of anyone who wants to be part of a certain association have certain basic rights.

andechs··on Plan2Scene: Converting Floorplans to 3D Scenes
Matterport does this and uses it for real estate listings all the time.

https://matterport.com/gallery/bclm-tollhouse

The "dollhouse" view is really handy for being able to get a sense of the space.

andechs··on Nvidia cripples cryptocurrency mining on RTX 3080 and 3070 cards
> moral but are actively ineffective at their stated purpose; they just lead to the hypothetical price-gouge transaction never occurring. If you drive across state lines to bring HAM radios or water filters or what-have-you during hurricane katrina, and try to sell at above market rate, you'll be tossed in jail and your goods will be seized by the police, rather than making it out to the people who actually need them and are willing to pay 2x or 3x the usual price.

The reason is they don't want private individuals entering danger zones just to make a buck - a profiteer could easily end up a victim from the dangerous situation.

andechs··on A SpaceX booster now trails only 4 space shuttles in flight experience
I think you're underestimating the value of "you can breathe the air" and "water is easily available via melting snow" when comparing it to Antartica.
andechs··on 'World’s most powerful' tidal turbine sets sail from Dundee
How big is this tank? Water is heavy, and we're talking about an insanely massive tank to generate any reasonable amount of energy... that can also move and be used as a gravity battery. Anything you build the tank from would also be vulnerable to the corrosion of the sea water.

Hydroelectric dams essentially build a tank, but they only build one wall of the tank. Hydroelectric turbines are about 90% efficient, so you're essentially looking to extract the same amount of energy from the weight of the sea water... with the complicating factor of needing to peak smooth due to tides.

andechs··on Suez Canal says traffic in channel resumes after stranded ship refloated
The discovery of the alternate route by "everyone else" means that the roads are now in more usage.

Unless the bridge collapse resulted in increased traffic levels afterwards, the same traffic that used to go over I85 is now distributed over 2 routes.

While there's a net negative to you, it's likely that a lot of people ended up saving time on their routes.

andechs··on Solar Is Cheapest Electricity in History, U.S. DOE Aims to Cut Costs 60% by 2030
Not all battery storage needs to be electrochemical - hydroelectric dams work amazingly as pumped storage batteries (although site specific).
andechs··on Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
I'd actually argue that Android users have more options, thus the market price for apps is reduced by the amount of supply.

When you're looking for a "Todo" app, there's 1000's on Android, and many or most are free. Many people might be better served by a quality app, but when the alternatives are good enough, it's a hard sell.

andechs··on Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than concrete
Cinder block construction can also be difficult to insulate and hide services such as electricity and plumbing behind. In addition, brick buildings are a bad idea in areas subject to [seismic events](https://www.npr.org/2010/01/14/122547242/haitis-buildings-we...).
andechs··on WhatsApp whitepaper removed sentence about never having access to private keys
Even then, a lot of the "I was talking about something with a friend and never even Googled it then got an ad for it" can be explained by Facebook leveraging their social graph to target ads if your friend googled something.

They have a social graph that indicates who your probable friends are, regardless of actual Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp friend status; using Bluetooth & Wifi identifiers based on physical closeness.

andechs··on Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages
The tax deduction on mortgage interest is one of the most regressive pieces of tax policy.

Those with more expensive housing benefit more from the credit. Non-homeowners do not benefit at all, and renters tend to be poorer than homeowners.

andechs··on Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup
Toronto's deep water cooling system is the largest in the world, and air conditions a good chunk of the downtown core.

http://buildipedia.com/aec-pros/engineering-news/torontos-de...

andechs··on How I built a keyboard/video/mouse switch for my two 4k monitors
Does something like this exist for USB-C devices? I have to plug and unplug a certain device to change it between machines.

Not full emulation and remaining "connected" - just the ability to press a button and change what the device is plugged into.

andechs··on Dishwashing detergent hack: Two ingredients (2015)
Most of the electricity usage is due to the drying cycle of the dishwasher. If you want to be super efficient, set your dishwasher to skip the drying cycle and either prop the door so that the dishes can drip dry, or hand dry the dishes coming out of the dishwasher.

Generally, when hand washing dishes, hot water is used. Typically ~5-10 times more water is required when hand washing, which results in more water needing to be heated (and is less energy efficient as a result).

andechs··on Why it’s hard to kill the Bloomberg terminal (2019)
Why would they though? If their customer retention is already super high, the only reason to make an onboarding curve more shallow would be to acquire new users.

Given there's already a social appeal to getting a Bloomberg Terminal, why would they invest the development time/dollars? What's their ROI?

andechs··on A first look at Unreal Engine 5
Removing the splash screen for Unity is a feature - Unity has a pretty bad rep (perhaps undeservedly) because so much shovelware uses the engine.
andechs··on Google ends plans for smart city in Toronto
Most of Toronto's rental stock is privately owned condos, rented out. There is next to no Condo Corporations in Ontario that aren't senior specific that ban renting the unit to long term tenants (many ban short term AirBnb in their bylaws).
andechs··on Some scientists are serious about resurrecting zeppelins for cargo
If it's filled with Hydrogen, it doesn't burn for very long - it would be an explosive burn. The cargo is still aloft in the air though, but that's also a theoretical problem with planes.
andechs··on Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if websites aren't accessible
Microsoft does a TON of work to make it's applications not only accessible, but user friendly to screenreader and keyboard users.

This is most obvious in the OneDrive online. The selectable list of files is implemented using Layout Grid, and thus is a single tab stop. Arrow keys can be used to navigate the grid and inline actions, and it's a single SHIFT-TAB to navigate up to the multi-selection actions.

There's ARIA controls and interactions that are defined in such a way that a non-sighted user can just hear what "type" of interaction it is and already know how to navigate it.

andechs··on Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
Because the 2nd hand valuation is so much lower than the purchase price, there aren't any sellers.

There's TONS of demand to get a diamond for 80% off retail, but many diamond owners would rather not sell than accept the massive write-down on their "asset".

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