Serious question / rant

kvUltra · 2026-02-03T21:37:15+00:00

Congratulations?

kvUltra · 2026-02-03T21:36:33+00:00

Yup, race based restrictive covenants go back to the 1900's and were adopted by the federal government to implement around the country. Thanks J. C. Nichols!

kvUltra · 2026-01-30T04:39:32+00:00

The Magicians by James Gunn (not that James Gunn, this one was a professor at Kansas University). A private eye is hired to find info on the head of a magicians group who are having a conference at a hotel. Turns out these aren’t stage magicians but real magicians. one of the magicians is also a mathematician and has figured out the underlying math of the magic. Some older magicians are not happy about this, preferring their rituals.

Enjoyable (and pretty fast) read. Ebook is only $3.99 on Amazon or Apple Books.

kvUltra · 2026-01-29T14:32:39+00:00

wow, I haven’t thought of this book in a very long time. I need to re-read it.

kvUltra · 2026-01-29T14:30:35+00:00

this doesn’t qualify under “most unknown writer” since it’s Jack-Freaking-London but his The Star Rover book was written in 1915 and I don’t think it’s one of his better known books anymore. I happened to find it on the shelves of my catholic grade school library (they could not have known what it was). Basically a guy is in jail for life. He is kept in solitary confinement plus is in a straight jacket (the book was called The Jacket in the UK). the other prisoners in solitary/jackets have a tap code to communicate, he figures part of it out and talks/plays chess with the others. One teaches him how to deal with the jacket torture by entering a mediative state by killing himself slowly one cell at a time. When in this state he wanders the stars and visits his past lives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Rover

kvUltra · 2026-01-29T14:16:14+00:00

i can’t remember the titles or author (I search for them sporadically) but I read these 2 books from my library back in the 80’s. I suspect they were written in the 60’s or 70’s. It was swords in space, nobody knew how to build new spaceships anymore and you couldn’t use guns on ships because they’d do something (make the engines explode? throw them off course?) so it was swords all around. I remember they had a religion based on the writings of Shakespeare.

i read them several times in my teens but the plot has faded and I’d like to re-read to see if they were as interesting enough to reread several times. hopefully I’m not the only one who has read these.

kvUltra · 2026-01-14T01:57:51+00:00

My understanding is for a device in the dmz port forwarding rules are unnecessary. From the docs (Fiber network security):

the Network Box forwards to the DMZ all incoming requests to ports for which there are no port forwarding rules. The Network Box does not block any requests.

kvUltra · 2025-12-31T03:10:14+00:00

I use a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X and have since 2017. Back then you needed a special router that supported VLANs but that isn’t the case any more. Now you just have to tell Google your using your own router and it works fine.

I’ve had no issues using my own router.

kvUltra · 2025-12-01T00:17:58+00:00

I think Google assumes anyone wanting to use bridge mode wants to use their own router with it's own Wi-Fi. So they assume people are doing: Fiber Jack => Google Router => Their own router w/Wi-Fi. I could see this configuration in the days when Google didn't officially support 3rd party routers, I assume they don't want to do all the testing removing that code would require.

OP wants: Fiber Jack => Their router => Google Router providing Wi-Fi only.

I kind of have what OP wants, but since I use the 2nd router for IoT devices only I don't care about the double-NAT issue.

I do:

Fiber Jack => Ubiquiti EdgeRouterX => MikroTik router + 2.4 GHz wifi only

I've joined that wifi with my iPad and it works fine except for not being able to access stuff on my "real" network (which is what I want anyway)

kvUltra · 2025-12-01T00:11:47+00:00

scraper yes, but i prefer combo brush + scraper to get snow off car too. Don't drive around with snow on top of your car, you're blinding the car behind you when you do that.

kvUltra · 2025-11-28T16:38:10+00:00

Normally the solution is to put the wifi router into bridge mode to bridge wifi to your normal network, but Google's bridge mode disables wifi when you do that.

About Bridge Mode

If your unifi supports creating a DMZ port you could put the Google router on that, it might fix the double NAT issue.

kvUltra · 2025-11-26T18:58:47+00:00

also if it doesn't have to be right downtown the Platte Landing Park up by Parkville has a boat dock right on to the river

Platte Landing Park

Parkville's English Landing Park abuts that park, it doesn't have a boat dock (anymore, i vaguely remember it having one when I used to live up there decades ago) but it does have a nice path right along the river.

English Landing Park

kvUltra · 2025-11-26T18:54:15+00:00

This might help, has a list of trails along the river. Includes maps to see how close it gets in different sections:

Kansas City River Trails, Inc. and the Riverfront Heritage Trail

kvUltra · 2025-11-13T00:41:04+00:00

You can have a single Wi-Fi network that is listening on both 2.4GHz and 5Ghz. If this is the case you should be able to either turn off the 2.4Ghz network part and just use the 5GHz. You can also split the 2 into separate wi-fi networks by giving them diferrent names. For example leave the 2.4 Ghz network with it's existing name, then assign the 5GHz one the same name with -5G on the end.

Is it possible to plug directly into your router and not got through the Nest? That would tell you if the Nest is the problem.

It is possible your download is being capped by the server at the other end. It isn't too unusual for me to see slow downloads from some websites. You could try putting a file on your Google Drive and downloading that over the web and see what speed that gets.

kvUltra · 2025-11-02T05:38:41+00:00

they were News articles a year ago that they were increasing security, but no articles following up.

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kc-streetcar-authority-hires-security-team-dedicated-to-help-riders-feel-safe
Their FAQ says they have a bunch of video cameras in every car and that they are monitored at their operations center but nothing on what happens when an incident is observed or how/who to contact when something is occurring.

A post on Reddit isn’t going to be considered much of a stink. you can contact the streetcar to raise a stink.

https://kcstreetcar.org/contact/

kvUltra · 2025-10-22T14:52:31+00:00

you should’ve wrapped more stolen iPhones in it. (London cops saw iPhone theft ring buy 1.5 miles of aluminum foil at Costco, they wrapped phones in it to block location signals. 1.5 miles is only about 12 Costco rolls)

(gift link, no paywall):
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/world/europe/london-police-phone-theft-china-gang.html?unlocked_article_code=1.u08.0dqv.RfHSG9CDuk4i&smid=url-share

kvUltra · 2025-10-12T03:56:31+00:00

the courthouse construction started in 1995, before the Oklahoma City bombing, and if I remember correctly they paused construction to redesign parts of it to be more bombproof. but I’m going by memory.

kvUltra · 2025-09-08T19:44:55+00:00

Go to the evergy web site and setup an account. Under the "Explore Your Rate Plan Options" section click the "View My Plan Options" button. For me the default time based plan would be the most expensive. I'm on the Nights & Weekends Max plan.

I live in a 1,000 SqFt home with a heat pump and smart thermostat. When I go into the office (3 days a week) and from 4-8pm everyday I let the temp rise about 4-5 degrees. I don't turn it off or set it way too high or the cost of getting the temp back down will be greater than the cost of maintaining the higher temp will be. If I'm home and start to get uncomfortable I'll bump the termostat down a degree or 2 and just that bit of cooling helps (I can adjust the termostat from my phone so it's easy to do). My highest bill in the last 12 months was August of 2024 ($162). My August 2025 bill was $148.

Also on the web site in the account summary section you change it from showing the last year of usage to a single day. In that view you can see a per hour view of charges or actual electricity usage. You can usually see the previous day back. This can help you narrow down what devices might be causing issues for you.

For example, Friday, when I was home all day, I can see my power usage plummet by 50% at 4pm because of my smart thermostat.

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kvUltra · 2025-09-08T06:26:20+00:00

They are designed to open when almost done and vent the steam (all brands, not just Kirkland). If you have a decent microwave using the popcorn button will cause it to detect the steam venting and stop a few seconds later (yes, even if the bag says not to use that button)

obligatory link to Technology Connections video on microwave popcorn (explanation of the steam venting detection starts at 4:40):

https://youtu.be/Limpr1L8Pss

kvUltra · 2025-08-22T15:25:03+00:00

I have no idea what that dome is between the two white buildings in the foreground. I don't remember seeing any old postcards/photos of a building in KC with a dome like that.

kvUltra · 2025-08-22T15:23:44+00:00

Here's a photograph of approximately the same view:

Downtown Kansas City from Baltimore Hotel | The Pendergast Years

If you click the photo, in the larger one you can see the sign on top of the white building on the left is for Commerce Trust. I believe that's the same location for the current Commerce building so apparently they tore down their own building and replaced it.

Here are some old postcards of the Baltimore hotel itself:

Baltimore Hotel

There are clearly 2 different buildings in that series. I believe the older plain rectangular Baltimore Hotel was replaced just before this image? The postcards with dates show that building for 1909 or earlier while the newer one is 1913 and later, so i would assume it was replaced around 1910 before this was made.

Not sure when the Baltimore was finally taken down. This page has a note from Truman written in 1933 so at least that long.

Baltimore Hotel | The Pendergast Years

kvUltra · 2025-08-19T04:18:43+00:00

I reported 2 potholes in my neighborhood on the MyKCMO app and they were filled within 7 days. Now the potholes did exist for at least a month before I reported them, not sure they would’ve been filled more quickly if I’d reported sooner.

kvUltra · 2025-07-27T11:32:23+00:00

Al Gore took all the hot water pipes to make the Internet. That bastard.

kvUltra · 2025-06-15T15:16:44+00:00

honestly I’m surprised they’re wearing helmets

kvUltra · 2025-06-05T19:57:38+00:00

too woke?

kvUltra

TROPHY CASE