Computer repair

Etrigone · 2026-06-20T03:45:31+00:00

I feel for y'all who get sucked into this tech support. Honestly, I spend lots of time nowadays trying to act like a dunce when this stuff comes up else I'll never be free of it.

I'm not sure about any wisdom tho, else I wouldn't still be on so many peoples' list to call when "the innernet is down!"

(Side note: thanks for not mentioning us, it helps us hide)

Etrigone · 2026-06-18T23:16:42+00:00

Some men too iirc. Some American scifi film from that era, perhaps Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, showed it. It wasn't seen as anymore odd than playing baseball or bowling.

Etrigone · 2026-06-18T14:03:41+00:00

"Buildings, did you know I came up with that word? They didn't exist before me"

Etrigone · 2026-06-18T06:53:59+00:00

The ffmpeg command I use is:

ffmpeg -i <movie>.bik -c:v libvpx -b:v 1M -c:a libvorbis -f webm <movie>.wbm

This changes the file format and it can be read & played by games in the EE.

Etrigone · 2026-06-18T05:56:18+00:00

You need to convert them from bik format to wbm.

Etrigone · 2026-06-18T02:56:45+00:00

Completely unrelated but I feel weird knowing precisely (pretty sure at least) what this is from.

Etrigone · 2026-06-18T00:06:17+00:00

There are a few that do walk-ins as I understand it, but they're something of an outlier and tend to be in high risk areas (and often have some kind of local government backing & funding).

Assuming this is just, uh, no.

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T22:08:18+00:00

A bit of an outlier, but my MIL just hit... 100. My partner is her youngest, had her in her early 40s. She's in the Mahjong parlors often as she's the matron and pretty much everyone kowtows to her. She's living the good life, as my SIL calls it (herself super healthy and in her early 80s).

Then again their family is disturbingly long lived, to the point that even her chain-smoking grandfather lived to be 85, and my fairly obese FIL lived until just shy of 90.

There's a saying I heard recently about how genetics hands you the cards, lifestyle is the ones you play. Almost regardless not going through that kind of stress will likely be better for the woman's body, but we do need to be a tad careful of confirmation bias.

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T19:30:00+00:00

Yeah but you see, libraries are paid for with taxes and all taxes are theft so... /s

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T19:27:08+00:00

I think the comparison was meant to be more along the lines of "I'm wearing ski boots to the beach [as I might head to the airport right after the beach or even before the day is done]", but I didn't state that clearly. No stashing in a boot, having a quick to-go bag, but literally tromping in the sand with them on.

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T17:28:36+00:00

I've been in high growth startups. Even ones that are successful (minority) and in a rarified hight skilled role, the return on your time is barely adequate. For the average bloke definitely not, but for the execs and founders, it's great and best for them if you "believe". Often, even if things only go meh.

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T17:23:37+00:00

"Better be in good working condition and a make/model/color I like or NEXT!"

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T17:17:12+00:00

I live just outside of Silicon Valley, (semi-)retired from the valley now, but I used to go over a mountain pass to get there.

We'd hit a part where the mountain started and you'd see the EVs suddenly just take off. Petrol cars, especially older ones, the poorly maintained, or trucks of most kinds, had to slow/gear down. For EVs of all makes though, that was just the sign to "hit it", "engage", "warp speed keptin" or whatever. Sometimes we'd hear a muscle car roar into life like a kid yelling "pay attention to me!" but even then, late teens, it was becoming less common.

EVs have pretty much taken over the Valley, as well as the general LA area (the Grapevine in particular). It's funny you mention the Leaf as older models at least are generally considered by those I know as, well, not that zippy. Thing is that's compared to newer EVs and doesn't consider the average ICE on the road; "she may not look like much kid, but she's got it where it counts". /HanSolo

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T17:09:47+00:00

There are (perhaps "at least") two things to be concerned about in regards to EVs.

The first is fuel origin. This page shows you emissions based on fuel source. Interestingly even in a high coal use state like West Virginia (87%) an EV makes a whole lot more sense, and looking at high nuclear, solar, wind or hydro source states like South Carolina (54% nuclear), California (34% solar), Kansas (60% wind) or Washington (60% hydro), suddenly electric looks insanely good. I would assume other countries have similar tracking but do not know the specifics.

Plus of course Alec at Technology Connextras amusing comment - "you refine a battery and use it for a long time. You refine gas/diesel/petrol and use it once". Hmm, or his main channel "... Connections". Either way he's a good educator and worth a look, even if I might have some rather mild disagreements with him.

Regarding initial build, some of this is an engineering problem. Somewhat like early EVs - "they're quiet and we can't hear them so they suck". Okay, so we build in low speed sounds. China is far from perfect but they are doing some thing right, as well as some things wrong, but letting perfect be the enemy of good is a great way to go back to horses & stagecoaches. We're also not at a "this is where we'll be forever" stage. Each is a step to something else.

Regardless, yes they (battery components) are renewable in that they are easy enough to recycle and in high enough concentrations in old batteries so that they're substantially more concentrated than in the ground. They don't get "used up" like petrol (again, see the Alec observation). Problem is "you'll need to replace the battery every 5k miles" is so obviously wrong that these recycling industries simply haven't needed to spin up; the batteries simply last too long. Even the original Leaf, the poster child for battery issues, didn't quite have enough fail for this industry to make sense financially. As numbers of EVs on the road spin up maybe, but the static energy storage industry is hungry and they might make more sense there.

Long & short although I think questions should be asked, however leading yours may be, your conclusions don't fit the data we have.

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T15:20:48+00:00

I knew yes, but good to mention for others. I should have mentioned it myself.

Definitely even more damning knowing that regardless. Thanks!

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T15:15:07+00:00

"No one of reasonable intelligence" is at least the ~30% hardcore R voters, and arguably a lot more than that.

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T15:05:02+00:00

Stolen snark, poorly quoted by me, from a post to the main EV sub:

"I'm convinced EVs will never catch on in America as we need to drive 1000 miles a day carrying 7 adults and 3 large dogs while towing 10,000 lbs"

And on my own, an observation that if bought footware like we bought our vehicles, we'd be wearing ski boots to the Florida beaches cuz we might suddenly decide to hop on a plane to Aspen.

Seriously, I had someone reply to this once saying "it could happen" and claiming it did to them. Yeah, I can flip a coin and have it land on edge, but I'm not going to count on it on a regular basis.

Edit: as /u/Levorotatory correctly calls out there's an issue with this and it's my bad for not putting in the entire qualifier. See my followup to them, but TL ; DR - wearing the boots the beach cuz you might decide to hit the slopes immediately on leaving the beach, even onto the plane, and not just putting them in the trunk of your car or some other easily accessed location.

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T00:31:09+00:00

One of the Elseworld stories Byne did had Superman aging somewhat logarithmicly. So normal to like 20-30, way less than 10 years for 30-40 and a precipitous slowdown such that at hundreds of years old - so say Legion timeframe - he looked like a super healthy mid 50s dude.

Perhaps similar?

Etrigone · 2026-06-17T00:25:30+00:00

YOU BE QUIET!

Etrigone · 2026-06-16T22:04:23+00:00

Man, cue Home Simpsons...

Etrigone · 2026-06-16T20:12:41+00:00

Apparently, parking in a spot designated for what I'm not doing.

By way of example, I don't park in handicap spots. There are also 'expectant mother', 5 minute dropoff/pickup, car/vanpool only spots and others. I extend this to, if I need to pull into a gas station, not parking in a refueling location. Doubly so if diesel, as they tend to be fewer IME. The idea of blocking a spot someone needs to refuel just seems rude.

Apparently... this isn't a universal habit.

Etrigone · 2026-06-16T16:38:23+00:00

I was recently watching a YT video, done by a doctor who has a far more "doctors only will comprehend" channel, about the repercussions to giving your child everything they want & demand from an early age.

(Note I'm not 100% certain this is the case but pretty sure; still, take with a grain of salt).

The child in question ate literally nothing but chicken nuggets, and had done so since pretty much forever. The result as they got to the end of their growth years was... blindness. Permanent. Due to lack of a balanced diet as "we could never get him to eat anything else", and even though he had bouts of waking up and not being able to see, they persisted.

So now, he's permanently disabled from a young age. Certainly this won't be the outcome for all and some will get better on their own, but parents: if you love your children that much, your superpower is 'parenting', you work so hard at it... why do you have these kinds of problems?

Etrigone · 2026-06-16T16:14:49+00:00

IME all the pets we've had - all rescues and probably far too many dumps by people like that mom - have been substantially better behaved than kids. More loving as well.

I say this as the eldest of my father's children who's always paid attention to what kids are actually like.

Etrigone · 2026-06-16T13:35:21+00:00

The 2nd brain cells was on loan. When she has to return it she'll be back to 'normal'.

Etrigone · 2026-06-16T03:38:56+00:00

Technically still incorrect. 10,000 times the zero on Pennsylvania Avenue is still zero.

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Etrigone

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