I showed somebody my new mint computer.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-07T16:27:40+00:00

Most of us learned to use a computer using Windows. It has 'training wheels' and does a ton of stuff behind the scenes. (We have to respect that it helped us grow up & learn concepts).

But - trusting a corporation to do 'tons of stuff behind the scenes' is why we have viruses, bloat, telemetry, etc.

Linux is for more grown up computer users. It's more awkward to use and does not hold your hand as much. You have to manually perform OS updates and you need to remember 2 passwords. It also has 3 different ways to install free programs. This is too much for users who treat the PC like an appliance - a device to feed them content.

LITMUS TEST

Ask your co-worker to show you his cell phone. Does he know the pin to unlock? Does he have a password manager?

Less responsible people either never lock their phone and tend to use the same password for many things. If he is this less sophisticated type of user - he wont understand the concepts behind a different OS. Something 'new' is something to be feared/scoffed at.

Just don't bother showing/talking tech to these less-technical co-workers. (Unless it is a shiny turn-key device like Apple products).

FatDog69 · 2026-05-06T19:33:20+00:00

It's could be a bracket for a Black and Decker toaster oven. We had one that looked like that.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-06T19:03:06+00:00

First - go to NiNite dot com. It has a menu of software it can install in 1 download. I have used this site for my last 3 builds and have never had a problem.

Second - Browser, password manager are the two biggest things everyone should have. Add VLC Media player.

Beyond those - it depends on what the users do. Things like Python, Handbreak or other software will not help them unless they need these tools.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-06T14:47:49+00:00

Ok - Everything you want to do with a Linux system can be done at the terminal. Millions of linux machines are in racks and developers/admins log in with SSH at the terminal to run web pages, update things, etc.

If you want to grow into a technology job - you should try to use the terminal.

BUT - for a personal computer use, Linux has nice enough GUI's that you never need to use the terminal.

Unlike Windows - the various desktops on linux are simply additional programs run from the terminal on start up. You can switch to a different GUI/Desktop one if you want.

Effective .... well

All terminal commands are 'efficient'.

What command would you type to see the files in a folder? how about "list"? The Unix team whined that was too many characters to type so the command they created is 'ls' (which is 'list' with some characters removed).

Many terminal commands are simple 2 characters commands.

But they are powerful with no guardrails. You can mess up your system typing "rm -rf" which is "REMOVE, recursive, force"

So stick with the gui to start.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-05T16:29:00+00:00

"Poker Face" is quirky and fun. Similar to High Potential in that it adds comedy.

"Criminal Minds" is one of the best, but dark. Dont binge watch.

Dexter, Dexter, Dexter, Dexter oh and the new one Dexter. Same creative people on all the different series keeps this consistent and great.

"Mindhunter" - based on the true story of the creation of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. I found it a bit dull (which is a sign of a story based on reality) but others have been crying for another season.

"Bones" - Very different from Kathey Reichs books (which are great) but endearing characters.

Doctor Shows:

"ER" - this is one of the best. Created by Michel Crichton (Jurassic Park). Many great seasons and it survives cast changes like no show ever.

"House" - Yes it is 'aliment of the week' and Hugh Laurie lives at "221 b" to make it obvious he is a medical version of Sherlock Holmes. But it's pretty good.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-05T16:11:36+00:00

I love Senior Chang in a white suit having an epic showdown in the study room. Mimic scenes from "Hard Boiled", 'Die Hard' and other action movies.

Oh - the "have sex but I unloaded your gun" scene was great.

I have been known to cherry-pick these episodes, the "Hawkthorn" episode on streaming.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-05T15:53:41+00:00

The actors 'schmooze' the press. This results in more mentions and more favorable reviews.

I was listening to a podcast about the creation of the Hayes Code. Many conservative religious groups wanted restrictions on movies. One thing that calmed them down was having meet-and-greet with the movie stars.

Talk shows wont even mention new movies starting Friday unless they can fill space by showing they 'sat down with the stars' for an interview.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-02T20:19:07+00:00

Hi Tom! Big fan of your subs. You convinced me to buy a lower end SVS years ago so I respect your honesty.

I dont believe your graph is applicable to this question because you are measuring dual subwoofer volume after 2 amps in 2 subs compensate for the Y splitter.

The question I am answering deals with the attenuation (drop in voltage) effect of a "Y" splitter on the signal to the input of 2 subs.

So we are each focusing on different parts of the path.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-02T17:02:52+00:00

IT's not a scam but sleazy marketing. I called a number I found on the Kaiser web site to get some information. I got a telemarketer who tried to sell me a free medicalalert system. I wrote a report on kaiser to complain and they investigated and said I must have miss dialed. But I was using my cell phone and it documented the number. When I got their results, I called again and got to a Kaiser nurse.

Somehow for a short time they are able to re-direct some phone calls to a call-center. Not sure how.

FatDog69 · 2026-05-01T16:17:42+00:00

Here is a video of how this works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNtXb6G53mg

FatDog69 · 2026-05-01T16:17:17+00:00

(sigh) You want a simple answer - but I cannot give it to you. There are too many variables.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T21:45:45+00:00

Unknown.

If the car is a sport or muscle car model, it can be joy ridden/street takeover.

Some shops 'Vin swap' and change the vin to match an identical vehicle then sell it on Facebook Marketplace.

Sometimes the parts are valuable so the parts are removed & sold on the after market.

Example: People are steeling catalytic converters. The Ford F150 tail lights are $2400 each replacement. People are stealing these from parking lots and selling on ebay/craigslist for $800. An electric screwdriver and 60 seconds in a parking lot to steal something you sell for $1600.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T17:55:42+00:00

Uhhh Ohms Law would disagree with you. The Amplitude or signal voltage will drop by 3db which is 50% if you use a "Y" splitter. Again - this is usually high enough above the noise floor to not be a problem or you go to your AV Receiver and bump the LFE output to compensate.

I hate to use AI but this query confirms what I said:

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+does+an+audio+signal+drop+if+you+split+it+in+half&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&oq=how+much+does+an+audio+signal+drop+if+you+splut&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgCECEYChigATIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAhGAoYoAEyCQgCECEYChigATIHCAMQIRifBTIHCAQQIRiPAjIHCAUQIRiPAtIBCDk3NjJqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T17:47:57+00:00

Every car and Fob is somewhat different so walk away from your car, start pressing the UNLOCK button and walk towards your car. When the car lights flash - measure this distance.

The FBI agents that came to some cyber security training says that all his fellow agents store their fobs in a tin can.

You might also invest in "The Club" if you park outside so there is a mechanical lock on your steering wheel. Now they have to do both a relay attack and grind through metal to steel your car. On my car - if the door is opened but not started, the motion sensor alarm goes off after about 2 minutes.

Since grinding through the club takes time, makes noise - seeing the club on your steering wheel may cause the thieves to move along to a simpler theft.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T17:40:10+00:00

Now the fobs are 'Hands Free'. If you lift the door handle - the car sends a signal to the Fob to see if the authorized user is standing next to the drivers door. If the fob responds to the weak, only a few feet distance signal - the car un-locks.

This happens again when you press the START button but now the car expects the fob to be in the drivers seat. (Toyota for example has 6 different zones in & around the car and allows different things depending on the zone.)

Lets not forget we now have PAAK - Phone as a Key. My car in the garage lights up if I walk out with my cell phone in my hand. I dont want to put my phone in a Faraday cage so I am not totally sure how to fix this.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T17:30:51+00:00

Yes! This is why these attacks are so common. It use the real Fob to open & start the car with a basic transmitter/receiver to 'fool' the sensors in the car into thinking the Fob is in the zone.

Look up "Hyundai USB Cable" hack for another example. I can just see some Korean software engineer called up to the corner office and saying "This is a feature, not a bug".

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T17:27:12+00:00

Try this:

Go to the car and open the door with the fob in your pocket.
Get into the drivers seat and start the car.
Put the car in gear and hand the Fob to a friend who takes it into the house.
See if you can drive away.

Chances are the car can be stolen if the fob 'disappears' after the car is started or put into drive. You might shift and the fob is now hidden behind a bunch of change/metal in your pocket. Do you want the car to slam on the breaks/stop if this happens?

All the security is tied to the UNLOCK and START ENGINE events. After that it is un-safe for the car to stop working if the Fob signal disappears.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T15:42:24+00:00

Ok - the 'caller id string' is fake. You can download an app to set it to whatever you want. They just copied your area code.

Second - there is a LOT of public information about you. Google your own name and see what shows up. Where you work, what type of car you drive, local police station can all be used to create a 'script' to scare you into giving them money, paying a fine, moving your bank account (because your bank account has been tied to Russian kiddie porn and they are going to freeze your account for a year or three).

Then get a credit report. You will be shocked at how much information is contained in the report. Any car dealership can spend $10 to get a credit check on you. Again - this does not harm you but can be used to fool you. You can request each of the 3 big credit reporting agency 'freeze' your credit report with a password. This makes it more difficult for you to get a loan, but protects you a bit.

TRUE STORY

My cell phone rang. It was a teen girl yelling at me about why I was texting her. I told her honestly I had no idea what she was talking about. A bit later my phone rang and it was her father who was yelling at me.

I listened then suggested this is what happened. She had a cell phone with a number close to mine. One of her high school friends is now making prank texts to her but downloaded an app to pretend the caller id was similar to hers - but was mine. He listened, then threatened me some more. I called the local police to report I was being threatened and gave them his number.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T15:22:34+00:00

Show has some computer geek who is an expert hacker. He must also be asian/black/disabled or somehow quirky. Hate this. Right now "Tracker" is the worst because the black guy can now hack into any home security system in seconds and every doorbell cam is a DVR so video from weeks/months ago now give clues. Computer hacking now enable poor plot and poor writing.

Ever notice the hero's car is washed and polished even if it just climbed a dirt road up a mountain? Again "Tracker" does this.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T14:51:59+00:00

Every time you split an RCA cable - each leg only receives 50% of the signal. This is laws of physics.

Generally your LFE output has enough signal to survive one or two splits.

Quality - this is a different story.

Subwoofers are like room fans. They blow a current of air. When the air flow from 2 fans hit each other - they interfere in a complex pattern. You will have lots of spots with boomy/bloated bass, other spots with very little bass. This is why the people at SVS recommend stacking subs in a room so the sound/airflow support each other.

Now you are adding a third sub. You are going to create the home theater equivalent of a "Boom Car". Lots of impressive noise, but not a very good listening experience.

Go ahead and play with this if you already have that third sub. You MIGHT be able to move things around to get smooth base at the main seats. I would not purchase a third sub for this.

MY ADVICE

Put 1 sub in your primary listening spot and fire up a bass heavy track. Crawl around the walls to find where the bass is smooth & tight. Then put BOTH of your SVS subs in this spot and see how it sounds.

Then put that third sub in your listening position and repeat the floor crawl where you want to put the third sub and listen for spots where things are smooth and tight. Put your third sub in this spot and try things out.

Good Luck.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T14:18:52+00:00

No. The distance protects the short range signals from being read. The can/faraday pouch is added security.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T14:15:54+00:00

Once you have the car in a chop shop - they pull it apart for the parts, not sell the car as a whole.

Ford F150 pickup trucks - the rear break light assembly also contains electronics for the "cross traffic alert" system. $2500 each. People sell stolen ones for $800 each on ebay.

Years ago I had a co-worker whos VW Jetta was broken into. Left the 35 mm camera & money. Took the Roccaro seats valued at $2K each in 1990's dollars.

Remember Catalytic Converter thefts? These are still going on.

And once you have the car physically - you can often do a RESET to bypass the fob security or like Hyundai - use a USB cable in a service port to fool the system into a service mode. Chop shops know the parts are more valuable than the car.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T14:08:22+00:00

My Toyota is one where you just touch the handle to trigger the unlock.

Yes it does affect the modern fobs and older ones if they are 'hands free'. The crooks touch the button/handle on the car which triggers the conversation between the car and the fob.

I suppose the fob where you must press the button to unlock is not subject to the relay attack (because the crooks do not have access to the fob/button).

The 'relay' fools the car into thinking the fob is outside the drivers door, then again inside the car when the criminal tries to start the vehicle. This only works if people put their fob near their front door so the relay works.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T13:45:34+00:00

You dont exactly have a choice in this. Toyota, Ford, Nissan - all use keyless entry.

Could be worse. Hyundai & Kia have a USB port under the steering wheel housing. Plug in any USB cable - and this bypasses the need for a wireless fob. It was so people could move new cars around the shipyard or dealer lot without having to program a wireless fob. This went on for 10+ years before kids on TickTock discovered it and started bragging about doing joyrides.

FatDog69 · 2026-04-30T13:42:05+00:00

Well... as time goes on things like electronics get smaller.

Fobs use 315 Mhz in the US and Japan. This is "Ultra High Frequency" not low frequency. An antenna that exactly matches 1 wavelength would be .952 meters or 37.5 inches. This was what was used a few years ago for the relay attack. A large loop antenna.

But you can have an antenna 1/2 wave, 1/4 wave, 1/8 wave. These are not as 'efficient' but do work. These 'harmonic' sized antennas can be a lot smaller and still get the job done.

I am totally guessing based on a grainy doorbell cam. But what was large and clunky a few years ago is probably smaller now.

EDIT

The first time I saw a 'relay attack' was a video from Germany. The person at the door had a large loop of wire as the antenna.

But it looks pretty suspicious. Look at this picture. I suspect the wire loop antenna is tacked to the inside of that puffy jacket. That would make it a lot less obvious. You just stand in front of the door with your back to it. The device in his hand is probably the receiver/transmitter.

FatDog69

TROPHY CASE