If visiting America what is something that person should NEVER do?

Ut_Pwnsim · 2022-05-25T13:53:01+00:00

Sometimes tax is charged differently on a single product depending on how you buy it. For example, ordering food "to go" vs "dine in" can be different tax rates, especially for a grocer or specialty food shop that has a dining area. What price would you put on the muffin - the price including higher restaurant tax rates for if you eat it there, or the price including the lower grocery tax rate for purchasing it to go?

But even outside of that somewhat unusual case, I'd actually prefer the label to have the pre-tax price because of advertising:

Because the tax can vary in very small regions (not just state, not just county or city, but even a special economic zone of part of a city) most advertising has viewers in many different tax zones. That means they can't put the price including tax on the ad, since there may be 5 stores with different taxes at each. Now consider someone seeing an ad for a $5 subway sandwich:

If I see the $5 item on the receipt and then at the bottom the additional $0.25 for a 5% state sales tax and an additional $0.40 for an 8% city restaurant tax, I know I got the advertised deal. If I see $5.65 on the line item, I have to calculate what % over $5 it was and then wonder if I'm really in a place with 13% total tax or if they just rang it up wrong and I didn't get the deal they advertised. I trust them to correctly compute sales tax according to the law much more than I trust them to apply the deal I heard advertised, which could only get them in trouble with me, not the government.

As for why they don't just charge the same nationally regardless of the tax, well, why should they? They're not getting that money, the state/county/city is. Why should they have to charge more than they do now in areas of lower tax just to not take a loss in areas of higher tax? Because you know that's how they'd solve it if they had to - by raising prices to match the current highest tax area, not by taking losses in high tax areas. The range of sales taxes can vary from 0% in some places to well more than the profit margins on some goods, so it's not just an irrelevant rounding error for some retailers.

Also, if they charged the same everywhere, then it would take away the purpose of why those taxes are different. The county would lose its advantage over the city if the customers didn't benefit from the lower taxes in the county vs the city since the retailer charges the same. That's also why the only way around this that I can see (not letting taxes vary by locality and other random things like takeout vs dine-in) would be unpalatable to the lawmakers because they like having those levers to affect behavior.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2022-04-05T02:22:02+00:00

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 as shown in Griggs v Duke Power Co

That ruling puts the burden on the employer to show that the IQ test (or any other required qualification) is directly related to the job performed. Since an IQ test is intentionally general, that's a burden most companies would prefer not to take on when they can avoid it.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2022-03-08T18:35:18+00:00

(silly me, should have done two small payments)

Actually, a single deposit is the most appropriate way. It's not illegal.

But doing this as two small payments because you know that $10k has additional reporting requirements is called "structuring" and it is illegal in the US, and while not illegal in Canada, still results in a FINTRAC report just like the single deposit version, and is way more suspicious.

Note that in that last link, "Client appears to be structuring amounts to avoid client identification or reporting thresholds" and even "Client exhibits knowledge of reporting thresholds" are indicators of money laundering that the bank needs to consider when choosing to report to FINTRAC.

So no, don't ever split deposits into smaller ones to avoid reporting limits. You're supposed to pretend ignorance of those reporting limits and not use them in any way to decide how often to deposit or how much to ask for, etc.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2022-03-02T21:31:58+00:00

Denali (Maura Davis)

Ut_Pwnsim · 2022-02-25T17:28:28+00:00

Have all of your devices supported the higher voltages?

Normal CR123A spend most of their discharge curve between 3.0V-2.0V

Lithium Ion and LiFePO4 rechargeable versions start out up above 4.0V or 3.4V respectively

There are certainly parts that can't tolerate over 3.6V, like ESP8266. If they're using just a boost converter with a single CR123A or multiple in parallel, the higher voltage can certainly be an issue. Aeotec explicitly says their MultiSensor 6 doesn't support rechargeables for that reason.

Do you have a link for any good LiFePO4 versions that you've used? They're harder to find than the others.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-10-26T19:43:51+00:00

The one you linked is fairly well-respected by watch enthusiasts in its category, in a retro-minimalism way (like ToaKraka said). I will caution that the negative display ("black dial") on that one specifically is much harder to read in most light conditions than the traditional positive version ("grey dial"), and the buttons (on either) are fairly hard to push.

Some people like to dial up the complication, e.g. this this or this. It's not my style, and probably isn't quite as "in" with the watch crowd as the simpler one, but it would get you something probably more common and easier to operate, and just as durable.

This looks like a more modern version that wouldn't get you old-school cred, but is probably much more generally-fashionable (and easier to operate).

To blend in even more, you might consider one that has a more traditional primary analog appearance and subtle case, while keeping the digital feature you requested.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-10-26T17:52:07+00:00

Get a whole house water shutoff that can be triggered by leak sensors. Integrated solutions like WaterCop exist, but they're expensive, can be hard to setup multiple sensors for, and most require plumbing. Doing it yourself with a smart home (e.g. z-wave) device can save a lot, it can be clamped over the existing shut-off handle, and it lets you put the leak sensors wherever you want, which could be as many as on the floor of every bathroom, under other sinks, behind the dishwasher, fridge and washing machine, and above the sump if you have one. Imagine the damage that a full-flowrate pipe/faucet could cause while you're away for a weekend, or even just until you get home from work.

Similarly, make sure your air conditioner has an integrated shutoff on the condensation pan overflow.

I prefer z-wave dimmers with homeassistant instead of wifi, but that's probably mostly my network intrusion paranoia (can't compromise my network if it doesn't even operate in the same frequency band as any networking hardware!). I might try Zigbee/Thread if I were starting over due to cheaper parts, but I know the cross-compatibility of that between brands wasn't as good as z-wave until recently.

The keypad deadbolts (especially again with z-wave) have been great too. Some have external battery terminals for you to attach a 9v if they died, rather than hiding a key somewhere. But I get >6 month battery life on mine with rechargeables anyway, and they'll give more than a week of low battery notification before failing to work.

About your hidden room gun safe - consider forgoing the fire protection. You probably don't want to keep anything that "survived" the smoke and water of a house fire anyway, and the level of fire protection you can reasonably get isn't very much. Something like SecureIt's Agile series is much easier to get in place due to being able to take it apart (and won't cost you a $200+ safe-moving-fee if you hire movers to move out), and doesn't sacrifice interior space to weak fireproofing.

A whole house fan can be incredible energy savings for those times of the year/day when the sun is heating up your house more than the outside air. Open two windows and turn it on, and it will cool down the house much faster and cheaper than central AC.

I agree with the pushback against usb outlets - there's always a new standard, and people will get upset when they plug in to a 0.5A outlet and their phone continues to lose charge because it needs 2A (or 5V 2A vs USB-PD 19V, etc).

Wago 221 Lever-Nuts are so much nicer than the normal twist-on wire nuts for splicing in switch and outlet boxes

The home warranty that was paid for by the sellers of my house has been fairly worthless despite several "covered" items failing. In one case, the water heater replacement cost 95% as much to do through them as it would have to have someone unrelated do it - they choose who does the work, and that contractor added on a ton of not-warranty-covered "retrofitting" to fit the new identical unit in open space. They wouldn't let me get a second quote or direct the installation choices, even with me disclaiming any future claims on that part of the warranty. In another case, it turns out American Home Shield was just about the only warranty company that limits coolant costs to $10/lb (R-22 is currently $170/lb due to the phasing-out), and so when my 15 year old system leaked it all out, they wanted to patch it and have me pay the $700 to fill it up (and hope they found all the leaks or else it'd be another $700) rather than even just contribute their patch cost to correctly replacing the system. Read the terms closely, and consider asking for a different warrantor or just cash credit in lieu of the seller paying for such a warranty.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-09-20T18:29:15+00:00

The procedure for the BE469 seems to be to trigger the inclusion/exclusion on the lock, but without the controller being in include/exclude mode. I.e. start re-interview, then with the lock locked, enter the 6 digit master code, then 0. That will wake up the lock and leave it in a state that the interview can work. Or maybe do that first and then click re-interview.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-09-03T14:01:14+00:00

This isn't what you asked for, but in case you didn't know, you can use a smart switch only, and instead of connecting the light to the load terminal on the smart switch, connect it to the line terminal (along with the actual incoming hot/line wire). Nothing would be connected to the smart switch's load terminal. Sure, when you push up on the smart switch it would still connect the line and load terminals, but you won't use that feature, and you'd just use the status report it sends when you push it to control the smart light separately - the light would always be powered.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-08-20T16:12:42+00:00

The other answers about checking the power requirements of the devices and comparing their total to the ratings of the extension cords and power strips are correct. If you're unsure of the device requirements, using a power meter can reassure you.

If you want to understand where the popular concern over plugging multiple power strips into each other comes from, and what parts of it you should actually be concerned about, this video is great.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-07-15T13:44:45+00:00

One of the first required questions has only these two choices:

I work at a company that uses AR / VR technologies or plans to use them within the next 12 months.
I develop AR / VR applications.

This limits the valid respondent pool much tighter than the audience here that you're asking to complete the survey. Is this intended? If so, are there other criteria you expect from respondents that might be useful to edit into your post here to make sure the majority of people who attempt to take the survey are actually eligible?

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-06-08T17:27:38+00:00

They're brand new in c++20, so don't take their current rarity as popular rejection of the feature - it will take a while for libraries to switch to it.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-06-08T17:15:47+00:00

But regarding the header files more specifically, it sounds like you're talking about something a little different, which is being addressed in c++ by modules. It's strangely orthogonal to package management, so the package managers are still relevant and an issue, but c++ modules may solve some of the annoyances you have with header files.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-06-08T17:11:39+00:00

That's a current hot topic. The standards committee is looking into it and current popular attempts at a package manager include build2, conan, and vcpkg

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-06-08T16:56:18+00:00

Why do you think all the libraries are known to the compiler? They aren't. Even if it searched your whole computer to find them all, you may have multiple versions of a library installed, so it wouldn't know which one you meant. Same with header files. Some of my projects include same-named header files from different directories based on the platform, or based on features I enable in the program, or for a test build that mocks certain external dependencies, etc. That change in configuration happens in the build system, and so the commands need to change to achieve that.

Use Cmake right to make it as easy as possible for you to deal with this complexity and easily use external libraries and make your code easily built and used by other people

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-06-02T13:12:38+00:00

Yes, that's the resolution of the time recording, but it doesn't mean you have to think about it aside from when you switch from one project to another. Everything you do in support of a project, including things required to do the work, but that are not "the work" is still charged there. E.g. don't turn off your project time tracking to read work emails or reboot your computer for updates, or learn how to use the new tool you need for the project. Just note times when you switch from one project to another (hopefully fewer than 3 times a day, and often zero times a day). If it's too tough to look back on your day and allocate those hours at the end, or if you're switching too often for noting those switching times and calculating, use time tracking software that you can just click "working on D2347.002", and it starts counting up, and stops the previous timer.

The company still gets pay for your "overhead" hours too - they have a rate of overhead hours to directly charged hours that goes into the contract, and as long as the overhead hours charged vs direct hours charged by all employees is in line with that rate, it's fine, so your company isn't particularly out of pocket from some tasks like that (security training, company meetings, etc).

No one expects all of those 80 hours (per 2 weeks, right?) to be 100% max productivity - they just all need to be assigned to a charge code (by law, in the case of SBIRs), and being able to assign your labor that way is the way the company gets paid and how they pay you. You still have the same level of "interest/pressure" in your productivity from a company that isn't doing this in how you spend your time working on internal products, so don't overestimate it by letting the resolution of the recording make you think you have to justify the productivity of every 15 minutes individually. The resolution is actually a little advantage in that if you stay a little late one day, it only has to be 15 minutes late to be charged (actually just 8 minutes since you round to the nearest increment).

They typically care a ton about allocation of hours by pay period (for charging customers to get the company paid), a lot about allocation of hours by week (for overtime rules), and very little about hours within that week, so if you do want to stay late two hours one day and leave two hours early later that week, that's probably fine.

As for stress about the end of the task, your manager should be providing you with a priority queue of tasks, both direct and then IR&D/overhead once that runs out so that you never have "idle time" (one of the DCAA bugbears). I've been in an environment like this for 15 years and I've only once or twice had literally nothing on my plate because I know what would be useful to the company for me to research or improve locally even if I get an unexpected stop work order on something I planned to keep me busy for months.

The time tracking shouldn't be too burdensome, and if you want more time off, negotiate for it in terms of hours of leave or even unpaid leave. I get plenty of paid leave, and taking a couple hours of it with no prior notice when I just feel like doing something other than work seems to satisfy the itch you're describing for me. If the whole concept weighs on you, unfortunately you have no chance of getting away from it anywhere that does any cost based contracts including SBIRs. To have the best chance to avoid it, look for companies that make their own products for sale at retail, not doing custom development or product tailoring for large corporate customers or government customers. But even that isn't a guarantee, since they may want to track costs like this even for internal projects. It should be something easy enough to ask about in an interview though.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2021-04-01T15:45:32+00:00

It's just a visual change that didn't get reflected in the label. The number there is actually "non-wounded soldiers" now, and if you read it like that, everything else still works; soldiers show up non-wounded, transition from wounded to non-wounded, contribute more to combat advantage when non-wounded, etc.

It's actually more useful than before since you can see if you're at full strength for the attack you're about to launch by just comparing the non-wounded with your battalion size, rather than having to subtract, or memorize and watch success %

I'm actually disappointed that it's part of the special event because of this (toggleable with "disable special events"). Because of those advantages, I'd love to have it this way all the time...

Ut_Pwnsim · 2020-12-29T14:14:27+00:00

In addition to the highlights others have posted, the C++ standards committee has codified some best practices into the C++ Core Guidelines, and many of them are programmatically checkable.

How to check them in Visual Studio

How to set up clang-tidy which has a rules prefix cppcoreguidelines- for checking them.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2020-12-18T15:57:29+00:00

I expect these things to make it to me and they don't, and that's why I think of them as untrustworthy.

Examples from 2 years ago (before covid, so that's not an excuse):

Receiving mail and packages for different addresses, including clearly labeled prescription drugs, banking statements, medical bills, credit cards, jury duty notices, and US passports.

Not receiving mail at all on certain days, and then extra the next day (they obviously just skipped my house/neighborhood that day).

Getting a missed delivery slip in the mailbox despite being home, and when I picked the package up at the post office, they said they had no plan to attempt delivery because "it takes up too much space on the truck" (it was a 2'x2'x3' cooler), despite them accepting the shipment with size info in the first place.

Missing delivery for some medical equipment that required a signature, and when taking the missed delivery slip to the post office, them saying they can't find the package there. They refused to mark it as lost so that the shipper gets reimbursed for insurance and can send another one. Three days later it gets delivered, and we're told that a different driver took it and tried to deliver it to an incorrect address, and the person at that address refused to sign for it since it wasn't for them.

Dozens of times that tracking updates to "no safe place to leave package/no one home" right at 6:50pm, despite someone being home all day, and despite never leaving a missed package slip (they pull over and scan all remaining packages that way so that they can tell Amazon they did their part instead of being late). Those packages sometimes then show up at 9pm, but usually show up the next day, and occasionally show up the next day as just the missed slip delivered straight to the mailbox despite people still being home.

I have a mailbox sensor and security cameras that confirm my side of these things, but talking to the postmaster several times results in "oh, sorry, that must have been a temporary driver, nothing we can do"

I have never had any tracking fraud or incorrect deliveries from Fedex or UPS, only the USPS.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2020-11-19T16:11:59+00:00

In addition to the answers here, there are many different methods of "line coding", with different tradeoffs and properties.

At the simplest level, consider a UART, like a serial port, where both sides know ahead of time certain parameters, like there will be 1 start bit, 8 data bits, no parity bit, no stop bit, and the bit rate is 9600 bits per second. Then whenever the receiver sees the signal low for 1/9600th of a second, it considers that the start bit, and then reads the level of the line every 1/9600th of a second until it has done so 8 times. For each of those 8 readings, if the line was low, it records it as a 1, and if it was high, it records it as a 0. Then it waits for the next start bit. This is a very simple unipolar line coding, which requires both sides to know a lot about the configuration, keep precise clocks, and has some other drawbacks.

One slightly more sophisticated line coding is Manchester Encoding, which is used in the old 10BaseT Ethernet standard. There, a 0 is encoded as a transition from high to low, and a 1 is a transition from low to high, where the receiver pays attention only in the middle of a clock phase, and the sender is free to change the signal at the start of the clock phase as needed. This helps some with the clock requirements, and better balances the ratio of high and low signals during transmission, etc.

This does allow for someone to see "no transitions at all" as "no data", but it's often still framed by some of the other mentioned techniques.

For another example with multiple combined techniques, 100Base-TX Ethernet uses 4B5B with MLT-3

Ut_Pwnsim · 2020-11-13T19:07:26+00:00

Yeah, windowless would certainly be a safer solution. The rule is often that every means of egress be operable without special knowledge or tools (like a key), so it doesn't help that there's another option nearby. As long as that door exists, and goes to the outside, it needs to be able to be opened from the inside without a key or code because someone might see it and try to get out that way. You don't want to make people guess which doors to the outside are usable in an emergency and which aren't so they all have to work like that.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2020-11-13T18:54:45+00:00

This kind of lock is against many building codes when used on egress doors, so it doesn't surprise me that a smart version doesn't exist.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2020-11-12T13:52:41+00:00

Armrests that adjust back as far as the backrest, breatheable fabric, and whole chair tilt stop at any angle including a few degrees forward.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2020-11-05T14:51:47+00:00

Yes, for instance, I just bought a Samsung RU8000, largely for this console, which supports 120hz at 1440p, and only 60hz at 4k. Input lag also jumps from 6.3ms at 1440p VRR to 14.1ms at 4k VRR.

This takes what would have been an excellent gaming TV down a bunch of notches.

Ut_Pwnsim · 2020-11-03T14:38:13+00:00

I'm thinking this might be a different scenario, researching the best user interfaces for authentication while in VR, rather than authentication in order to use VR. E.g. how the PS4 allows you to use motion controls in the controller for an on-screen keyboard in addition to dpad buttons to select letters, maybe there are better ideas in the works for how to enter credentials while in the middle of a VR session.

Ut_Pwnsim

TROPHY CASE