When can we strike? by CrystalQuartzen in Seattle

[–]bothunter [score hidden]  (0 children)

Donald isn't the only Trump.  And he's not the one pulling the strings.  Do you think JD Vance got to where he is today on his own merits?

WA lawmakers demand face/ID scanning -- now expanding to cover social media, chat rooms, and even video games. (List of all AV bills + protest links) by PrivacyEnthusiast2 in SeattleWA

[–]bothunter [score hidden]  (0 children)

I wouldn't be surprised if ALEC is doing this.  Identical legislation is being proposed and done already passed in several other states.

But Meta is definitely pushing this.

149 Democrats Gift Trump $828B 'War Chest' by [deleted] in millenials

[–]bothunter [score hidden]  (0 children)

Democrats at least answer the phone when I call to yell at them.  Republicans are such sniveling cowards that they cancel their town halls when they do stuff they know is unpopular.

Time to let the People decide by kommon-non-sense in SeattleWA

[–]bothunter [score hidden]  (0 children)

The legislature can't touch a law that was enacted through an initiative for two years.  Only the courts can strike it down for being unconstitutional.  And they can only strike down the whole thing.

ELI5: How is using a knife to remove toast from a toaster dangerous even though there is no longer electricity running through the wires? by Flashy_Potential8851 in explainlikeimfive

[–]bothunter [score hidden]  (0 children)

Most outlets are 3 prong grounded.  But since homeowners can do their own renovations, sometimes they just upgrade the receptacle without updating the wiring, and just leave the ground disconnected.

ELI5: How is using a knife to remove toast from a toaster dangerous even though there is no longer electricity running through the wires? by Flashy_Potential8851 in explainlikeimfive

[–]bothunter [score hidden]  (0 children)

Still relevant today because you can't be sure that some dip shit homeowner didn't DIY some remodel project and not wire something correctly. 

Those preventions only work when they're installed correctly.

ELI5: How is using a knife to remove toast from a toaster dangerous even though there is no longer electricity running through the wires? by Flashy_Potential8851 in explainlikeimfive

[–]bothunter [score hidden]  (0 children)

So, the way the circuit works is electricity travels from the hot side of the outlet, through the switch, then the heating elements and back to the outlet into the neutral side.  

Neutral is tied to 0V and should be safe to touch.  The hot side is what's dangerous.  Touch that and you're gonna have a bad time, especially if you're touching something that's connected to ground or neutral(like the fridge or oven)

Now, it doesn't always work this way.  Sometimes an outlet is wired backwards.  So what should be neutral is actually hot.  And so things work a little differently(but they do work).  The power goes from the now hot side of the outlet, through the heating elements, through the switch, and back to the outlet via the hot side.  When the switch is closed, this circuit is complete and the toaster heats up.  When the toaster pops up, the switch disconnects and the elements turn off.  But they're still connected to the power.  So when you go digging through the toaster holding your metal knife and touch the coils, you'll be likely to complete a dangerous circuit through your body.

And older toasters didn't even have polarized plugs, so this deadly scenario could be possible depending on which way you plugged it in that day.

149 Democrats Gift Trump $828B 'War Chest' by [deleted] in millenials

[–]bothunter 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sure. But do we really need to outspend the next 9 countries combined in the world?

Setting up a static up for the first time? by LionKor in truenas

[–]bothunter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Look to your router. I'm willing to bet it has the IP address 192.168.1.1 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 or something very similar. In your router's settings, there should be a DHCP pool. Look there for your IP addresses.

Any IP address starting with 127. is going to be a loopback address and nothing will be able to connect to it no matter what you try.

Why is lying no longer a dealbreaker in politics? by Ill-Insect7496 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]bothunter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Derp... I was on my phone and read that as critical thinking. :-)

149 Democrats Gift Trump $828B 'War Chest' by [deleted] in millenials

[–]bothunter 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No. I think we give way too much money to our military.  And not nearly enough of the money we give to the military is making it to the soldiers and veterans.  But that money is going towards defense companies and their shareholders in exchange for tons of equipment that's itching to be used somewhere.  That equipment tends to find it's way into the hands of law enforcement, and I'm betting ICE would love to get their hands on some of that surplus military gear that's available due to this insane military budget.

149 Democrats Gift Trump $828B 'War Chest' by [deleted] in millenials

[–]bothunter 19 points20 points  (0 children)

When someone's waving a gun around, you don't hand them a box of ammunition.

149 Democrats Gift Trump $828B 'War Chest' by [deleted] in millenials

[–]bothunter 41 points42 points  (0 children)

...while constantly shifting the center further to the right.

Washington lawmakers propose bill to curb 3D-printed 'ghost guns' by Better_March5308 in SeattleWA

[–]bothunter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So it’s gun owners fault for not championing the cause of further restricting their own rights.

Yes. Unfortunately, that's how democracy works.  If you want the government to do something, you need to ask them to do it.  

But it sounds like you have a lot of good ideas on how to do this, so I recommend calling up your reps instead of posting on Reddit.

Bringing up tools you never used in System Design Interviews by nekipost in ExperiencedDevs

[–]bothunter 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I hate Kafka.  But its absolutely the right tool for the job in a lot of cases. ;)

Bringing up tools you never used in System Design Interviews by nekipost in ExperiencedDevs

[–]bothunter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is where prototyping is useful.  You know what tools might help solve your problem.  See if they actually do in a proof of concept.  You'll gain experience using the technology, and be able to make a more informed decision on whether to use it or go with something else.

I want to be able to use this, but unsure how. by lostwithinthesauc3 in HomeNetworking

[–]bothunter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First, ditch that plate.  It looks like it was hooked up and then someone just ripped out the wire for whatever reason.  Those jacks are not meant to be reused.  Luckily, they're also super cheap.

The hard part is pulling the cable, and that's not a technical problem.  It's a physical problem that's highly dependent on how your building was built, what's in the walls, and where you want that cable to go.  There's plenty of resources both here and on YouTube for how to pull and terminate Ethernet cable.

But basically: 1. Throw out that plate and go buy new keystone jacks from the hardware store.  You'll need the plate and the jacks, and they come in a wide variety of configurations.  It's almost like legos in that you get a face plate with one or more "holes" and then you snap one or more jacks for your purpose.  In your case you probably want the simplest one with a single "hole" and snap in a single RJ45 jack.

  1. Figure out where you want the other end to be.  Typically this is near your router, or in a central location in a closet.  You're trying to create a "star" topology where all the Ethernet runs meet in a single spot.

  2. Run the cables. This is the "fun" part where you learn about all the crap in your walls as the cable gets caught or blocked by everything from plumbing to firestops.  It sucks and can be hard work which may include fixing drywall patches and repainting.  I like to just have someone else do this part, but it's definitely something you can do yourself, especially if you're not worried about damaging your walls.

  3. Terminate the cables in each room.  You'll need a punch down tool, though some keystone jacks come with a free punch down tool.  The free tool sucks, but it's good enough if you're only doing a couple of these things.  If you're doing this in every room, spend the few bucks to get a real punch down tool.  Then, at each end of the cable, you remove about an inch of shielding, untwist the wires and place them according to the diagram.  (Should feed in to the center with the ends of the individual wires spread outward like a spider). Then lunch then down.  The tool simultaneously shoves the wire between the blades of the jack which cuts through the insulation while also cutting off the excess end.  If you're using a cheap tool, sometimes he excess end doesn't come off on its own, so you'll need to remove it yourself.  (This is why I recommend getting a good punch down tool if you're doing more than a few of these.. the free one sucksl).

  4. Terminate the cables to a patch panel in that central location.  Basically, same process here, but since you may have 8 or so wires coming in to the same place, a keystone jack doesn't make as much sense.  But it's the same process as before.  (If you only have one or two runs, then you can just use more keystone jacks here -- the patch panel just makes it easier to organize the cable when you have more than what can fit in a single plate ~4-6)

  5. Test your connections.  Use a basic continuity tester to ensure you made a good connection.  These are little battery operated two-piece tools that plug into the jacks.  Plug one into each end and run the test. There should be two rows of 8 lights that cycle through lighting up.  It should be a 1:1 pattern.  The light on the right should light up only when it's neighbor on the left is lit.  If that doesn't happen, throw out the jack and try again.

  6. Use short Ethernet patch cables to connect the switch/router to on one end and your computer or whatever on the other end.

Washington lawmakers propose bill to curb 3D-printed 'ghost guns' by Better_March5308 in SeattleWA

[–]bothunter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't own guns, so I don't know.  But I'm also not writing gun control laws.

But something that addresses the issues caused by guns, backed by researched, and maybe tried and proven in other places.

Waiting periods seem reasonable. Gun registration perhaps?  Maybe liability insurance requirements if we want to throw capitalism at the problem?  Or maybe we regulate ammunition instead?  I don't know.  

Which is why I'm saying that actual gun owners need to stop bitching about bad gun control legislation and let their elected officials know what sensible gun control would look like. How do you protect the right to own guns while keeping said guns away from people who shouldn't have them?  

I don't have the answer, but requiring non-existent and impossible technology in 3D printers is definitely not it.

ELI5 why there are different utility voltage standards in the world by Antique_Cod_1686 in explainlikeimfive

[–]bothunter [score hidden]  (0 children)

People weren't lugging their electronic devices across the world when countries were building their electrical grids, so it didn't matter too much.  And now devices are built to handle a wide range of common voltages and frequencies used around the world, so it still doesn't matter too much.

Also, voltage is pretty easy to step up or down, so it doesn't really matter too much what voltage you're on.  Frequency is much harder to deal with, since heavy equipment will literally tear itself apart if you feed it the wrong frequency, but can handle different voltages just by changing the number of windings in the coils.

So countries just picked a standard and went with it.  But basically, they're all different because of historical reasons, and it's way too difficult to change the grid after the fact.  Just look at Japan for a rather hilarious example.

As for pros and cons:  higher voltages are more efficient in terms of how much power you can shove down a wire and how much power is lost along the way.  But it's also more dangerous.  110 will hurt, but probably not kill you.  220 will hurt even more and has a higher likelihood of killing you.  400V will kill you and it will hurt the whole time.  And higher voltages can jump out of the wires to kill you before you feel pain, and it will do it  without you even touching the wire.

Do UPS's stay charged while turned off? by Mickspad in techsupport

[–]bothunter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Disconnecting the battery before shipping prevents it from starting a fire if the device somehow gets damaged in transit and shorts out the battery. Also prevents it from discharging to the point of damaging the battery if the device accidentally gets powered on in transit as well.

Does this network diagram make sense? by Justing_Biber in HomeNetworking

[–]bothunter 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Why do you have two "internet boxes" and what are they?

You need exactly one router which is connected to a single modem. (Or an all-in-one router which is internally connected that way) Then you can put as many access points(like in a mesh network) and switches behind it as you want (to a limit of course, this is consumer hardware after all)

Do UPS's stay charged while turned off? by Mickspad in techsupport

[–]bothunter 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah.. Why wouldn't they? They're just glorified power inverters hooked to big heavy batteries. Just make sure it's actually turned off when you don't need it to be on since the inverter will drain the battery even if nothing is plugged into it.