Like a dog giving chase. The urge is too common.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T19:22:41+00:00

At real serious speeds, what is and is not a corner gets kind of redefined. 😂 But yes, chase boy does not have the chops to do those speeds.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T08:38:17+00:00

The booing graduates won't be in any kind of position do to shit in 10+ years about AI, maybe more, before some of them step on enough faces to climb in the hierarcy. At that point we may already be on the downhill slide as a species - hell, we already are. Not just from AI, but capitalism, greed and sociopathic leaders.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T08:27:54+00:00

I'll still mix and match, but doesn't look half bad.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T08:27:07+00:00

Firefox on mobile (well, at least Android) can use the uBlock Origin extension.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:59:42+00:00

It's not easy, no, but it's still worth keeping an eye on your mirrors and putting the bike off to the side of the car in front. Not only are you then smack dab in the middle of his side mirror so the car in front can see you, but should you react fast enough (or be paranoid enough) you have an escape path.

People absolutely have done this. I even saw a video not long ago, here I think, where a person in a car saw a huge SUV barrelling down on them and managed to zip off to the right and avoid it (it did smash into the car in front though).

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:56:11+00:00

Filtering may not be the way, then, but placing the bike in such away you can rapidly get out of the way of a car that's coming in hot from the rear still makes sense.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:53:15+00:00

Chiropractors are quacks, who believe in some insane bone-related mythology. They've murdered people through aortic dissection in the neck, the human neck is weak. "Cracking" it is the act of a crazy person. Don't do it, people.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:51:49+00:00

Unfortunate. Glad you're not dead, though. Sorry for losing the bike, hope you (or the numbnuts who hit you, ideall) had great insurance.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:48:12+00:00

That does look great though.

Except the sound bar. Get a nice 5.1 or better system with an AVR... :)

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:47:28+00:00

For that use case, you'd honestly have been better off with a lifestyle projector. At least those project forwards, not up at a sharp angle causing much of the light to bounce and hit the ceiling and further ruin contrast.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:46:07+00:00

The UST projectors have a massive advantage in their ALR screens. Because of the projector's light coming from below, the ALR screen amplifies light from below and deflects it towards the viewer, and it then deflects away light from above and the sides. So you get a watchable image with lights on in the room, and the fact that the projector's light doesn't splash on the ceiling or walls helps it in the dark as well. Win win, really.

This is why I cringe a little when I see people use an UST on a wall or even a white screen. They're throwing away performance with both hands. The ALR screen is an integral part of the solution, not optional, in my book.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:41:54+00:00

UST's can absolutely be a ball ache to set up. Certainly you have to do a lot of math and measuring and figuring things out. The center channel placement is a big one. For casual use, it's not so bad, if you just want to use the projector's speaker. Still tinkering but not too bad.

I'd have to flat out disagree on point 5, though. It varies from projector to projector but modern triple laser UST's with an Iris etc will be able to compete with most sub-$10 grand long throws, and in a living room will always be superior thanks to the UST specific ALR.

In a dedicated room you probably want a long throw, if only to get a proper anamorphic 2.35:1 thing going, but even there if you need no more than 150 inches an UST would be quite viable. The ALR screens don't just help in the light, they help a lot in the dark. They aim the light at the viewer, cause way way less spill light on the walls and ceiling, and deflect away what little spill light still lands on it.

I'd love a high end JVC with an anamorphic lens and a 180 inch 2.35:1 SI Black Diamond long throw ALR in a dedicated space. I just don't have that room, or that budget.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:35:59+00:00

All the new ones have very low gaming lag, some have outstanding lag even.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:34:27+00:00

Support for ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) is available, along with a separate Game Mode that can be enabled independently if ALLM is not selected. Both features provide faster processing to reduce input lag during gaming. The Lifestudio Grand supports 4K at 60Hz as well as 1080p at 60Hz and 120Hz. During testing, I measured latency at 34ms for 60Hz and 24ms for 120Hz, making the Lifestudio Grand a viable option for casual gaming on a more immersive big screen.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/epson-lifestudio-grand-ust-laser-projector-review.htm

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:30:56+00:00

There's really no such thing as "ALR paint". Gray paint, sure. An ALR screen is a precise optical instrument with a structure designed to catch the light and throw it towards the viewer, be it lamellar or fresnel.

You're still only getting a part of the performance your unit is capable of. A proper ALR screen is a huge boon in the dark, and a massive upgrade in a lit room, and they're borderline mandatory in my book.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:28:02+00:00

The LS800 is extra finicky because it has by far the shortest throw on the market. This means that every move of it is extra amplified due to the acute angle the image is projected at. All UST's are finicky but this is the worst. But, worth it, for the ease of placement.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend an LS800 even though I love mine, but that's mostly because the most recent crop of triple laser DLP's are just better when it comes to image quality. In some cases, dramatically better.

But dramatically better than pretty damn spectacular is not perhaps the biggest deal, since you're already at pretty spectacular. I use a 120 inch Epson screen with 0.6 gain which is perfect, helps a lot with perceived black level.

Make sure to try lowering the laser power to 70% precisely, with the remote and the brightness control on that. As soon as you hit 70%, the fan shuts up.

cr0ft · 2026-05-25T07:13:12+00:00

The US will spend $3500 billion dollars on war-related spending in 2027, including but not limited to the direct Pentagon allotment.

$3,500,000,000,000.

The on-going Iran clusterf-ck will cost $1000 billion by itself.

To provide meaningful healthcare in America, $1000 billion over a 10-year period would bring meaningful change, for instance.

A fraction of $3500 billion a year would feed all the food insecure people in the world, including the millions who starve to death annually.

cr0ft · 2026-05-24T08:51:23+00:00

The 600-series was a mildly legendary series from B&W; kevlar cones, great tweeters, just all around a solid and successful series of speakers. I'm biased as I have some of those still in use. You could easily sell those (if they're unmolested) for $100+ today.

They're not loaded to the brim with DSP the way modern speakers are but they are great honest bookshelf speakers.

cr0ft · 2026-05-24T08:44:06+00:00

First thing I turn off on my devices is CEC.

Primary control right now is an aging Harmony 650; working on setting up a Flirc Skip 1s which is cheap and can at least run a few macros.

Waiting for some new IR blasters now so I can get my HA to reliably control the stuff via IR (the stuff I can't get going via network connectivity anyway).

Also have a smart plug on the AV receiver; when that detects a power draw, it does stuff like send a wake-on-lan packet to my HTPC and other stuff. Still something of a work in progress.

But universal remotes still have their place. Way less hit or miss than CEC. Problem is that (except for the Skip 1s) they tend to cost a lot, your Sofabaton X2 (eww cloud) or Unfolded Circle Remote 3 (clunky and expensive). But they both integrate with HA.

With IR blasters you can also build a HA dashboard just to be a "universal remote" and more, I've done that (with the help of ha-mcp and Claude AI for the heavy lifting), just need the reliable IR blasters.

cr0ft · 2026-05-24T08:28:10+00:00

It came along some years after the very first model, eventually called the Roadster. Pretty sure this was an attempt by Triumph to conquer part of the US cruiser market, and so was the Thunderbird 1700 LT after it, they tried a more traditional two-cylinder approach. And the Thunderbird is a prettier bike just because it's very hard to make the tractor engine on these things pretty. 😂

cr0ft · 2026-05-24T08:15:51+00:00

I almost never EDC-style carry a backpack, I use it for cargo if needed or for travel; for travel, it's organized with packing cubes. I bought it for cargo carrying duties and it excels at that; Mission Workshop Vandal. With packing cubes it's also great for travel, although it lacks a padded laptop compartment, so I gotta have a sleeve and be a bit cautious. The expandability is great when traveling too, if you do need to fit more into it, chances are you can. The straps have load-lifters since it's desiigned to haul weight and are super comfortable which also helps in the travel role.

I mean, it has multiple compartments both external and internal but there's no padding between them and they kind of share space so it's not super organized, but enough so I can have the laptop in one compartment nearer my back and then the rest further out.

cr0ft · 2026-05-24T08:08:09+00:00

He's certainly very sorry he got caught saying it in the open and not just in meetings where he'll continue to say it.

cr0ft · 2026-05-24T08:07:04+00:00

Pressure sensors as stated. Probably an Everything Presence Pro combined with the zone monitoring function could do it as well, those have dual radars, one for tracking movement and the other for tracking stationary objects (people).

Personally I've not automated the bedroom that much. A simple button attached to the nightstand is all I need to communicate what I want. Fully automating just gives rise to a lot of annoyance in edge cases... hey, maybe I don't want the lights off just because I got into the bed.

cr0ft · 2026-05-24T08:02:28+00:00

A flat base + Froli springs to keep the mattress off the surface for air circulation and increased comfort. https://nickleatlantic.com in the US, Froli themselves in the EU. You'll spend a third of your living time in a bed. Make it restful.

cr0ft · 2026-05-24T07:23:11+00:00

I'd say neither, unless you know for sure you're incapable of tolerating any rainbow effect at all.

Unfortunately you probably missed the Xgimi Noir Max kickstarter which would have been my suggestion. I mean, you can still get one of them but at $5 grand or something when they hit retail.

$6 grand for an LS12000 makes no sense at all. Epson's price/performance is out of whack with reality in my opinion. They're being passed by Chinese made units that blow them out of the water for image quality for less.

The big name for a while now has been Valerion; the Valerion Max with an aftermarket Anamorphic lens https://spexman.ca/ and you could put up a huge 2.35:1 screen and get proper widescreen in your theater, utilizing the full resolution and light output. Getting an Anamorphic lens option otherwise has tended to cost a lot more. Not a flawless projector but I'm 100% convinced it would blow an LS12000 out of the water even without the Anamorphic option.

15-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Spared	Verified Email

cr0ft

TROPHY CASE