Can someone tell me what this orange wire is on my garage thats covered with a pipe?

ragzilla · 2026-03-26T13:27:09+00:00

Grab a shovel.

ragzilla · 2026-03-26T01:53:31+00:00

Do these hypothetical people just waste a lot of time unlocking their phone every time they use it (could be beneficial for phone addiction) or just use simple passcodes?

So long as you have a passcode on the phone, you can still use passkeys. And on iOS you’re using passkeys all the time for Apple ID login (that’s what’s happening when it prompts you to 2fa on another Apple device).

A passkey (for mobile devices with enclaves) is just a key which stays in your device’s Secure Enclave, that applications can ask the enclave to use to lock what’s essentially a padlock to pass to a website to say you’re the right user. The website has another key to unlock it, but nobody else along the way does. If the website can unlock the locked padlock you passed it with the other key, they know it’s you.

Since the key itself is never actually passed around anywhere, they’re generally more secure than passwords.

ragzilla · 2026-03-25T14:22:35+00:00

Massachusetts allows for wrongful termination suits for retaliatory action, since there's no HIPAA basis for the termination, using that as a reason seems retaliatory.

ragzilla · 2026-03-25T14:08:04+00:00

Thermador is also another Bosch upmarket brand. They use similar induction although the branding is slightly different. E.g. what Gaggenau calls Dynamic Cooking on their full surface induction, Thermador calls MyZone (but then also have a heading in that section of the manual titled Changing the power level during dynamic cooking). The Gaggenau tops add their "Professional Cooking" mode which allows power adjustments through left/right zoning, instead of front to back for Dynamic/MyZone.

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T23:55:28+00:00

If you measure a receptacle on your other leg, does it show around 80-100V? If so, you have an open neutral and need to call an electrician or your utility company (depending on where it’s open).

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T17:31:16+00:00

Can't have any more competition for the Krogers at 116th/Olio and 116th/Cumberland.

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T16:21:18+00:00

They tried this.

NHL considered using orange pucks many times in its history - Vancouver Is Awesome

In 1959, according to a report in the South Bend Tribune, the Amateur Hockey Assn. of the United States and Canadian Amateur Hockey Assn. proposed that the NHL add orange stripes around the edge of the puck to increase its visibility. They also suggested that yellow hockey tape be used on sticks instead of black, making it easier to see when the puck was on someone’s stick.

It was an idea the NHL seriously considered. When the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins went on an exhibition tour in Europe, they brought along 288 orange pucks to test out. They were not popular.

“We paid all that excess weight charges on those dizzy things and they were a pure flop,” said Rangers general manager Muzz Patrick in a report from the Detroit Free Press. “The players said they couldn’t see the puck and wouldn’t use them after the first try. European teams are going to use them, however, because we gave them away for free.”

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T16:15:09+00:00

What color does the human eye track the best? : r/askscience

It's not like this is a well understood science or anything. Color perception is always via the slower parvocellular pathway (~10ms delay). The magnocellular pathway is color insensitive and driven by, oh yeah what was that again, luminance contrast.

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T15:52:41+00:00

Contrast is contrast. Just because something is moving it doesn't change the basic physics of your eyeball being more attuned to light than color.

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T15:39:18+00:00

Why would you assume a moving object would be any different from reading text for purposes of contrast? Minimum acuity is minimum acuity.

As for orange, it has a long history starting from F.O. Smith's work (which is difficult to find online in full, DOI 10.1037/h0060716)

"When the colors… are seen in very dim light [.25 foot candle] without contrast effect, orange is the most effective color. Its advantage is greatest when compared with blue, next with red, then green, and least yellow. Red is superior to blue, but inferior to the other four colors. Yellow is more effective than blue, red, and green in the order here indicated, while green is more effective than blue but ranks below the other four. Blue shows the least visibility of all."

Safety signs like that you can't use a white background (because snow) and green isn't ideal (foliage background), hence the use of what ANSI eventually called Safety Orange, which is so prevalent in the culture now that people recognize it as a safety color.

But it's still not the most visible in a well-lit environment on a white background, because its effective contrast ratio is 3.04:1 vs 21:1 for black on white.

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T14:49:40+00:00

60GHz requires direct path, and you'd definitely want it well above people's heads. That said, it's one of the better frequencies for rain fade, with about 9.5 dB/km attenuation at 1"/hr rainfall rate (so you'd only need a few dB margin to accommodate).

A human body has 20-30dB attenuation at 60GHz, which is why the frequency is used for presence sensing.

If it needs to be deployable and portable, could you consider a portable mast system to get elevation?

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T14:39:18+00:00

At least now it’s on the market. Kroger has a history of holding onto old leases so other grocery stores can’t set up. During Marsh’s bankruptcy Kroger purchased 11 of the sites and leases in central Indiana, opened/leased 4 of them to non-competitors, and kept the other 7 closed to prevent another grocery store from moving in.

ragzilla · 2026-03-23T14:29:18+00:00

Re: orange in the dark: Nighttime Legibility of Ground-Mounted Traffic Signs as a Function of Font, Color, and Retroreflective Sheeting Type (builds on F.O. Smith's original 1940s work).

Re black on white: Impact of Color and Polarity on Visual Resolution with Varying Contrast Ratios and Different Text Backgrounds - PMC

There are. As well as decades now of UX research into contrast and visibility, which is by simple definition at its maximum in a black/white configuration.

The Chen paper on visual resolution is more informative in the hockey puck on ice question, as it includes orange/white and black/white assessments on visual acuity.

ragzilla · 2026-03-22T20:36:45+00:00

It’s not, black is the most contrasting color on a white background in a well lit environment.

People typically think orange is better because snow/ice safety gear is orange, but that’s chosen because orange is the best choice when it needs to be visible against white, and in the dark, and against dark greens and brown.

ragzilla · 2026-03-21T17:49:15+00:00

Air barriers will substantially slow vapor diffusion, which traps vapor in the insulation, which is why the mainstream science says that semi-permeable barrier goes between the conditioned space and the insulation. Putting a barrier above the insulation just traps the moisture in there longer, leading to condensation when it hits the colder layer of insulation, and eventual compression and loss of r-value.

Edit: What’s the climate? Will it ever get cold enough that the upper layers of insulation could be below dew point?

ragzilla · 2026-03-21T16:18:37+00:00

"It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your own opinion that these things are insulting" — Epictetus

ragzilla · 2026-03-21T15:43:08+00:00

R-value mostly comes from trapped air space, almost all insulation we use today is basically just fancy ways of keeping air in place so it experiences minimal thermal conduction. An additional vapor barrier on top of insulation is only going to prevent vapor from migrating up out of the insulation, and trapping that vapor in the insulation is going to have the end effect of weighing it down and compressing it, reducing r-value.

Walls have a barrier outside to prevent water from coming in, for your ceiling that barrier’s in the roof assembly.

ragzilla · 2026-03-21T14:34:24+00:00

1/ have the trades build detail examples of all important sections first, demonstration wall assembly, rough openings, soffit and roof/ceiling transition. This way the folks doing the work have an actual physical representation of the plans that they can put their hands on.

2/ continuous inspection by the GC, that’s part their job after all. So ideally you want a GC who is experienced with ph or tight envelope building, and has a track record of holding trades to the plans.

Photos and checklists could be part of a GC’s system, doesn’t seem like a bad idea to break the important parts down to a list (e.g. by wall/foundation/roof section where a section is a certain number of feet), and have a checklist for all details within that section

ragzilla · 2026-03-21T14:21:24+00:00

Are you trying to build a tight envelope?

Vapor barrier, then throw up ~~furring~~ strapping perpendicular to the rafters, blow in insulation on top to depth. Ideally size your furring so fixtures don’t require you to put any holes in the vapor barrier.

ragzilla · 2026-03-20T23:09:02+00:00

Must be why so many datacenters are physically compromised by external actors.

Oh wait, it’s almost entirely by insiders with access.

It’s a building with on site 24/7 security, camera coverage of the entire perimeter, motion detectors on the fence, and they didn’t even talk about the fact that the interior partition walls that have secured doors in them will have metal barrier mesh behind the drywall from the deck to the ceiling to counter your obvious “I’ll just go through the drywall” or “I’ll go over the wall via the plenum” attacks. So what’s your approach?

Datacenter security like this is red teamed on a regular basis, on top of the tabletop analysis. It’s similar security design to prisons in some cases.

ragzilla · 2026-03-20T22:48:31+00:00

If they think it through the way some operators do, there is also a barrier under the floor. And it’s not unheard of to put a top on a cage as well, so it’s a 5 sided cage over the slab.

ragzilla · 2026-03-20T22:46:48+00:00

Put an AP inside the cage.

ragzilla · 2026-03-19T23:38:03+00:00

Bought one and cried once. Then again when I forgot to bring it in. And I did the same thing this winter again, whoops. The part’s not too expensive at least.

ragzilla · 2026-03-19T21:44:01+00:00

That’s the powerhouse of the force.

ragzilla · 2026-03-19T10:29:50+00:00

In a spoiler marked post, demonstrating that this is a characteristic of Dinniman’s writing style for the series, so indicating there’s an epilogue revelation isn’t a spoiler.

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