Reminds me of that one time I fried some electronics and learned my lesson the hard way.

So, there’s this fancy USB power meter that shows a bunch of data on everything that is going on while charging. Turns out, it doesn’t communicate USB-C PD stuff correctly and can zap some electronics as a result. Here’s how to fry stuff with the wrong voltage.

1. Plug in a C-C cable between the charger and the power meter.
2. Plug in another C-C cable between the output side and a phone that can tell the charger to ramp up the voltage. The phone negotiates a higher voltage according to the PD protocol.
3. Unplugg the phone, but leave all the other cables as they are. Normally, the charger would drop back to 5 V, but now that the power meter is still there, the voltage will stay at 15 V, 20 V or whatever.
4. Plug in sensitive electronics that can only handle 5 V and watch how the magic smoke escapes.
5. ???
6. profit

The concrete below had some holes that I was able to use for attaching the threshold. Those holes didn’t line up perfectly with the existing holes of the prefabricated threshold, so one of them had to adapt. Drilling aluminum was a lot easier than drilling concrete, so I just went with the easier route. Just realized, that I could fill those vacant holes with fake screws to make it look nice.

Got a robot vacuum that couldn’t climb over a particular threshold. Fortunately, it was made of wood and attached with a few screws, so I took it out. Now the robot is able to roam free. Well, now I can also see bare concrete where the threshold used to be, and that’s no good.

I went to the local hardware store and bought a slim aluminum threshold. Oh, it doesn’t fit. Well, I guess it’s time to try those cut-off wheels I got with my knock-off dremel. I reshaped both ends of the new threshold so that if fits perfectly. Time to screw it on.

Turns out, the screw holes don’t line up perfectly. Well, at least it’s held by 4 screws, but now there are also 2 vacant holes. It’s not perfect, but it is better than what I started with. I’ll count that as a win anyway.

It’s not so much about humanity being smart as it is about governments having the incentive to intervene. They set the rules as to what is allowed, easy and cheap. Companies just play the game by the rules set by those governments, while consumers buy what’s available.

Releasing greenhouse gases, and manufacturing single use items out of very durable materials is cheap at the moment, so that’s what companies end up doing.

I’ve met a bunch of small YouTubers. Fame is completely relative, but within their small circles they are famous. There was a local YouTuber convention, so I decided to try it out. Had it been over 50 km away, I wouldn’t have gone, but I’m glad I did. I listened to some interviews, took fan photos, watched a few on stage shows etc. It was fun.

Forests are much more fun IMO. There’s always so much to see and experience. Bring binoculars with you, and you can try identifying birds. If you’re into botany, there’s no shortage of plants to explore. If chilling is your thing, find the nearest fireplace. If there’s a lake or a pond, you could combine that with swimming too. Bring a fishing rod, and you’ll have a chance to get some food.

I can remember a bunch of times I said something stupid, and my subconscious mind keeps bringing those up every now and then.

How many times have other people said dumb things? Oh, that happens pretty much every week, but I can remember only a couple of them. There are at least thousands of moments like that, but why can’t I remember most of them?

Also, my subconscious mind doesn’t remind me of events like that. Those memories just don’t randomly resurface when I’m trying to fall asleep or when I’m standing at the bus stop. It’s like my brain has been programmed to forgive everyone else but myself.

Oh, but if we assume everyone else is like me, that would mean pretty much nobody remembers any of the stupid things I’ve said in the pas. Even if someone does remember something, it’s going to be just one screwup instead of hundreds. Also. They aren’t actively thinking about it every week, nor are you likely to bring it up in a conversation.

I think I’m just fine. No need to worry about these things. When an idea like that pops up, I’ll mentally package it and send that box off to a volcano.

Nah, 3.1 tiling wallpapers are where it’s at. That’s peak nostalgia. Especially the ones where you clearly ran out of colors and the gradients were really choppy.

I can see that fedora was very popular back in the day.

Whereas fractions are entirely clear to every American. Like, which drill but is biggest: 7/64, 3/32 or 1/8?

That’s a common problem with these titles. If you want to make them short and snappy, you’ll either end up with something vague or straight up incorrect.

If life doesn’t get in the way, you could consider getting to bed early. Just steer clear of movies, games and the entire internet. Those things have a tendency to mess up grand plans like this.

Haven’t seen one about that yet. Potential PFAS sources are literally everywhere nowadays, so I’m not entirely sure how concerned should I be. Many coffee machines have plastic parts here and there, so the paper is probably the least of my concerns.

The fact that boiled coffee in a pot contains high levels of the worst of the cholesterol-elevating substances, the diterpenes cafestol and kahweol, is already known. It’s even mentioned in the latest Nordic nutritional recommendations, where the advice is to reduce or refrain from drinking boiled coffee. However, a regular drip-filter coffee maker, which uses a paper filter, manages to almost completely filter out these cholesterol-elevating substances.

Sounds like I won’t be using an espresso machine or moka pot very much in the future.

I see an angry space kraken.

The effects of alcohol can be seen in various biometrics too. For example, in has a negative impact on heart rate variability, resting heart rate, deep sleep, restlessness, duration of sleep and sleep efficiency.

source: Pulse blog

Initially, I imagined it’s a cozy cottage in the middle of nowhere, but then I remembered that Switzerland exists. You could totally have some shops only a few tram stops away.

Getting some old computers ready to be sold. Installed Debian on an old one that probably won’t be able to handle W11. Probably not worth much, but better sell it while it’s still worth anything at all.

Also realized I have a some spare SSDs I could use somewhere.

Quick, switch the bat-signal on!

But, but… I saw it on TV. It has to be true.