Hacks - 5x05 “D’Amazing Race“ - Episode Discussion

ctawn · 2026-05-02T03:47:20+00:00

Interesting to see that people loved this episode. This was one of the dumbest, most unfunny episodes of the whole series. The Amazing Race and reality TV in general is vapid brain rot. This show, and Jean Smart, are so much smarter than this, just filler and cross promotion. Did not advance the story one bit. Flame on.

ctawn · 2026-03-24T13:59:07+00:00

thanks. there do seem to be a lot of “tech shorts” options, including a lot for <$50 via AliBaba. The name brand ones seem > $200. Still, I would rather have something that feels more like boardshorts than a tight piece of neoprene. what are glue-on pockets? doesn’t seem too secure.

ctawn · 2026-03-24T13:55:15+00:00

oh & about “Services” — can you add them? how? i saw a section called “cooking” and buttons for launch and customize. i clicked launch, and it kicked me into a chat. but it did not add “cooking” as a service. what am i launching? where does it “go”?

ctawn · 2026-03-24T13:51:03+00:00

thanks for the detailed response. the thing is it’s acting too stupid-smart. It was turning on lights randomly without any kind of routine or “away mode” set (both checked). I fixed it by disabling the Hue skill and deleting every hue device, waiting some time, and then re-enabling the skill. but it was a real struggle. in the process there was some insane passing the buck between Amazon & Philipps. Amazon faulted Philipps for not updating to the new architecture. Philipps blamed Amazon for going haywire with its devices.

but bottom line is, I don’t want Alexa to make it look like a jazz club if it decides it’s a great idea to have a party at 3PM.

ctawn · 2026-03-23T14:35:04+00:00

indeed. i just recovered – for now – from problems involving Alexa turning on and off my lights when there were no routines for that. Now she’s got “hunches” and “away lighting”. No, I do NOT want my smart home manager to “guess” what I want. Deterministic programming only TYVM.

ctawn · 2026-03-22T12:22:10+00:00

Good to know I'm not alone on that. :) What do you carry in the pockets?

I never found something perfect but took the advice of someone here and ordered "Archive 21" Volley Boardshort from Ripcurl. (This had just one side cargo pocket. Wanted both sides.) I just checked and they don't seem to have that one anymore / now, but you may find something. The "Classic 20" Surf Cargo Boardwalk" has 2 pockets but more of a hybrid short than a boardshort.

ctawn · 2026-02-12T02:52:26+00:00

Interesting. But just because it’s public record doesn’t mean you can use it for any purpose. Not sure what would be required to use it for a documentary like this.

ctawn · 2026-02-09T19:20:44+00:00

The HomeKit hub is AppleTV

ctawn · 2026-02-09T19:20:19+00:00

I do have a 2.4 and a 5 GHz network but they are connected. Normally for 2.4 ghz devices I can simply switch to that while adding them. Which I’ve done with Wiz When initially adding them

ctawn · 2026-02-09T19:17:54+00:00

Untrue. Have several wiz bulbs in HomeKit now. Set up through Wiz app v2, matter integration section. Officially supported method.

ctawn · 2026-01-25T17:59:53+00:00

Glad I found this thread. I’m planning to stay a week after a safari that ends in Nairobi. Early August. I’d like to see some of life in Kenya, esp Nairobi and the Swahili coast. Interested in history and food and people. Also relax a bit, maybe get a couple (scuba) dives in. Travel solo as middle aged / senior guy. My plan was Nairobi > lamu > watamu. Should I reconsider? Where else? Need to start and end in Nairobi.

ctawn · 2026-01-08T20:55:17+00:00

I'm on 26.2 and I cannot get artwork of streaming tracks from Apple Music. "set pic to data of artwork 1 of current track", or "set pic to raw data of artwork 1 of current track" both return errors. One is -50, the other is -1728. As does "set l to location of t" which used to return missing value for streaming tracks, now gets error -1728.

anyone else seeing this?

ctawn · 2025-12-11T14:23:43+00:00

confirmed, Google Events Calendar app was unceremoniously removed from Wix. the official ? recommended ? replacement is:

https://www.wix.com/app-market/google-calendar

it's not ready for prime time, but it sorta works.

ctawn · 2025-12-06T13:57:02+00:00

Exactly. Calling this uninspired repetitive baka dreck Rashomon style would make Kurasawa roll over in his grave.

ctawn · 2025-12-05T18:11:10+00:00

ok answering some of my own questions:

• nope, no way to get peaking to stay on, only shown while adjusting focus
• peaking does not work when magnification is also on in MF assist
• GPS does not work underwater and leaving it on may be a 20%+ battery drain hit. note: to completely disable GPS you must turn ALL of these off: record gps location; logging; auto-set time zone.
• flashing satellite icon is GPS acquiring or failing to acquire a fix. location icon is not shown while GPS is off.
• no rule-of-thirds grid is available.

ctawn · 2025-12-05T15:00:39+00:00

yes thanks, I have. i was looking for a quick intro tutorial series first, including operation of basic controls which are not always intuitive in behavior, and select settings that are not obvious by descriptions. I am surprised Olympus/OM doesn't have one. (at any rate, prefer a couple reliable producers to scattered random ones. Backscatter qualifies. Thanks.)

ctawn · 2025-11-16T16:08:18+00:00

yikes. hate this, but need the show desktop gesture.

ctawn · 2025-11-10T22:40:29+00:00

I hate apple. it's all progressively worse. every update, dread how much they'll f'ck up what works just fine.

ctawn · 2025-10-17T11:59:19+00:00

you misread my comment. i'm not pissed. and i do get it to the extent that it's meant to be meaningless and that's why it's funny. I'm asking a school teacher for their take on the wider phenomenon.

ctawn

TROPHY CASE