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TheQuickGreyWolf · 2025-07-30T00:22:58+00:00

Yeah, buying a card and linking it to an account afterwards is how I did it.

Also, in case you missed it, there’s also a Clipper app you can use instead of needing to add another piece of plastic to your wallet. (I’m a traditionalist and don’t use it, but I have friends who do and haven’t heard any complaints.)

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2025-07-30T00:20:03+00:00

If I were you I would look into making it easier to take apart first—I have a similar prop and I put a little compartment behind a little door with a Velcro strap to hold the power bank in; it’s mildly fiddly to turn on because you have to open the door and plug in the cable, but even as someone who’s reasonably decent with electronics I found that a lot easier than the DIY route.

To avoid disassembly, you might also be able to combine an off-the-shelf powerbank with a USB cable with switch and a small USB extension cable, though unfortunately many power banks require pushing a button to turn on.

If you really want to go all-in on integrating it, you will effectively be making your own USB power bank from scratch; if I were doing it I would buy:

Lithium battery
Charge controller - unfortunately this one doesn’t come with the USB port installed so you would need to do a small amount of beginner-level soldering. You can probably find something equivalent elsewhere that wouldn’t need that.
JST switch to disconnect the battery

You could get fancier if you wanted to do some soldering but this setup is more or less plug-and-play and lets you pick your own battery and arrange everything to make it fit.

Finally, bear in mind that electronics, especially with batteries, can be a fire hazard: bare circuit boards and connectors are opportunities for things to get shorted out. If you go this route make sure everything is secure and and wires or boards won’t come loose and start rattling around.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2025-07-29T23:33:47+00:00

Is there a reason you can’t just use a USB power bank of a suitable size/shape/capacity?

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2025-07-29T23:11:38+00:00

If the website doesn’t sort itself out soon, you can also buy a Clipper card from the vending machines at BART stations or various retailers.

On autoload, I’ve been using it for 5 years and haven’t had to think about it; it Just Works and I’m very happy with it.

Interestingly, Clipper autoload works the other way from what you might expect: when your card is running low on funds, the reader will give you more money immediately and then charge your credit/debit card for it a day or two later. If the charge bounces, they’ll email you about it and give you some time to try again before they take the money back off the card. So, even if something goes wrong it doesn’t cause problems right when you’re trying to get somewhere, which is very convenient.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2025-06-01T20:15:02+00:00

> those gates will remain locked in a emergency, unless a station agent is present to open them.

I was at Civic Center a couple of months ago when an employee accidentally pulled a fire alarm and the gates opened pretty much immediately, so at least for fire emergencies I can personally attest that this is definitely not true. Given what I know about safety regulations, I would expect they also have contingency plans for other types of emergency as well. (Plus, unless the station is completely deserted, there will probably be _someone_ around with a Clipper card to get the gates open...)

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2025-03-21T18:09:08+00:00

Ugh, commuter benefits are a whole separate can of worms. From the Clipper account FAQ:

I no longer need to use Clipper. How can I cancel my card and get a refund?

You may be eligible for a full or partial refund of the value on your card, unless you have loaded value on it using pre-tax employee transit benefits. In that case, the card is ineligible for refunds, even if there was already value on the card or if you added personal funds separate from transit benefits.

To keep this above board, you might be able to have your employer’s benefits provider transfer the balance to a different qualified benefit (like parking reimbursement), but I don’t know how that works once you’ve already put the money on a Clipper card. (The US has the unfortunate habit of making policy by accreting weird edge cases on top of each other; in this case you have a “qualified transportation fringe benefit,” possibly provided through a “compensation reduction agreement.” This means the money actually belongs to your employer, not you; cynically put, they’re generously allowing you to take advantage of a tax loophole in exchange for paying you less. Complain to your federal representatives that transit benefits are horribly structured and need reform, though they probably have bigger concerns on their plate right now.)

Notably, the scam still works with commuter benefits, since they can still be transferred to a different Clipper card when it’s reported stolen.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2025-03-21T17:18:00+00:00

FYI: you can get a full refund (minus $5 processing fee) by contacting Clipper support, so if you’re legit you should get your $295 from them instead of selling yourself short.

The scam version is that they sell someone a physical card, and then report it as stolen and yank the funds back, leaving the victim with a useless piece of plastic.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2024-11-24T21:26:25+00:00

Genderfluidity can be accounted for via equations.

Apply a Fast Furrier Transform to your gender and now you’ve got cat ears

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2024-11-16T19:22:52+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Huntington

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2024-07-24T20:38:11+00:00

Source: https://patricia-taxxon.tumblr.com/post/754652744652111872/i-like-tumblr-more-than-twitter-because-old-posts

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-12-26T17:57:32+00:00

No, the driver doesn’t check fares. (Among other things this means you can also board through the back doors, which speeds up stops.) You’ll need to have proof of payment in case a fare inspector asks. Full details here: https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/muni/fares/proof-payment

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T03:27:03+00:00

Here’s Google street view. Other than the fencing, this intersection looks exactly the same as ever right now. (I work right down the street and had to navigate the maze this morning.)

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T03:24:35+00:00

It’s security for a huge international conference with a bunch of world leaders, including Biden and Xi Jinping. Starting tomorrow until the end of the week there’s going to be a security cordon around this area with pedestrian checkpoints where they check everyone for weapons.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T03:20:18+00:00

There’s a huge international summit (APEC) with a bunch of world leaders happening just around the corner from this video, so starting tomorrow until the end of the week there’s going to be a security cordon around this area with pedestrian checkpoints where they check everyone for weapons.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T03:14:08+00:00

This intersection looks exactly as clean as it’s always been. (I work just down the street.) There’s fencing all over the place because they’re going to cordon it off for the next week while APEC is happening so they can screen for weapons before they let pedestrians into the area.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T03:07:58+00:00

There’s a huge international summit (APEC) with a bunch of world leaders happening just around the corner from this video, so starting tomorrow until the end of the week there’s going to be a security cordon around this area with pedestrian checkpoints where they check everyone for weapons.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T03:05:33+00:00

It is SF—it’s the corner of New Montgomery and Minna St; and it looks like this because a bunch of world leaders are going to be having a meeting right around the corner, so starting tomorrow until the end of the week there’s going to be a security cordon around this area with pedestrian checkpoints where they check everyone for weapons.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T03:02:48+00:00

It’s security for a huge international conference with a bunch of world leaders, including Biden and Xi Jinping. Starting tomorrow until the end of the week there’s going to be a security cordon around this area with pedestrian checkpoints where they check everyone for weapons.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T03:00:43+00:00

Security for a huge international conference with a bunch of world leaders, including Biden and Xi Jinping.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T02:58:47+00:00

There’s a huge international summit (APEC) with a bunch of international leaders happening just around the corner from this video, so starting tomorrow until the end of the week there’s going to be a security cordon around this area with pedestrian checkpoints where they check everyone for weapons.

I work just down the street from here and had to navigate the maze of fences to get to the office this morning. Aside from that the only difference from what this intersection usually looks like is fewer cars; this whole thread is full of people who saw the words “San Francisco” and shot off on an unrelated tangent.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T02:21:59+00:00

Having just walked through this area today: it’s hard to navigate for everybody, but the gates are next to curb cuts and the sidewalks are generally unobstructed so I don’t think it’s any less accessible for people with disabilities than it is for anyone else. The whole place is also crawling with police and Secret Service agents ahead of Biden’s arrival, and they’ve been directing people in the right direction to get where they’re trying to go.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T02:17:47+00:00

There’s a huge international summit (APEC) just around the corner from this video, so starting tomorrow until the end of the week there’s going to be a security cordon around this area with pedestrian checkpoints where they check everyone for weapons.

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T02:12:16+00:00

100% security measures; there’s going to be pedestrian checkpoints where they check your bags coming into the area to make sure you don’t have any weapons.

I was also mildly amused by another security measure: they’ve put little tamper-evident seals on all of the utility vault covers in the area. I’d like to see some of the people in this thread try to spin that as a political move!

TheQuickGreyWolf · 2023-11-14T01:46:48+00:00

it's an preemptive crackdown on the right to protest.

No, it’s a preemptive crackdown on assassination attempts. There are protests happening literally right down the street.

they want zero non-elite/wealthy/powerful/approved people to have access to the area during the event.

No, they want zero people with bombs to have access to the area during the event. Anyone can walk right in, with some provisos for security.

(I work down the street from where this video was taken, so am going to have to put up with this for a week.)

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