Notices by prokyonid (prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org)

@brouhaha @thomasfuchs Ketamine isn't physically addictive at all as far as medical science can tell, but as with any make-you-feel-great-on-demand type substance, there is always the risk with misuse of developing a psychological addiction strong enough to result in physical harm to a person.

@ryanl @thomasfuchs this is basically it - A battery-powered quartz watch is simple, accurate, and will run for years with no maintenance. It's made of inexpensive materials and you can run off a line of thousands with relatively little time and labor.

A mechanical watch is fiddly, requires regular winding, and even then will slowly either gain or lose time. It's made at least partially by hand, using lab-created precious gems for bearings, and require occasional disassembly for a clean/lube.

@botvolution I don't think it could have developed today, in the worldwide online auction space. In the US, you really only run into it at auctions targetting business or gov't customers. The closest you typically see in regular auctions is a 'handling fee' which is normally a flat fee per item.

Auctions with a "Buyer's Premium" are so weird.

'Yes I think this thing is worth $100 and I'll pay that for it.'
"Great, we'll be charging your account on file $120."
'But I said I'd only pay $100'
"Well, you're only paying $100 for the thing, but it's an additional 10% to buy it from us. Then of course you have sales tax on both the item and also on the service of us selling you the item."

I'm glad I finally got a copy of 'The Art of Electronics' but when I'm trying to read it, I feel like I skipped over a 101-level explanation of circuit design and I think I really need that. Does anybody have any suggested reading for that kind of skill level?

Is anyone aware of an adapter that can let me connect a device expecting POTS to a cellular antenna? Like if I wanted to hook up a fax machine and have it use the actual phone system.

#retrocomputing #retrotech #fax

@thomasfuchs is IKEA furniture good? I've never been to one or seen any of their furniture in person, but I know it's all flat pack stuff so I assumed it was made of particle board.

@thomasfuchs found it! hardreset.info

I do not promise anything regarding the content or quality of the site, other than that it was extremely helpful to me nearly a decade ago

@thomasfuchs there's one I used to use all the time, but I don't know if I had it bookmarked anywhere other than at my workstation at the telcom I used to work for.

@thomasfuchs did it make it

@botvolution I'm in Ohio. I looked that plant up and I'd say you're right but now I'm wondering how the heck it got in my garden.

Some weird plant has appeared in my garden. What the heck is this?

#plants #botany #whatisthisthing

@joeo10 @adafruit at best a quarter of the country voted for it

But even amongst those who voted, you'd have to use up the margin of error to hit half of them

@botvolution see, that's the complication - because there are three optional questions, some entries have three extra lines, otherwise I could just use regex to select and delete eveything I don't need. That might still be possible, but I'm not great with regex so the best I've managed so far is running half a dozen search-and-replaces for every permutation of 2 or 3 answers, using a regex to delete every odd occurence of a date and then manually removing the comments if they're present.

Every week at work I get a .txt file which is basically survey results. Format is something like this:

1/02/25
893747 (always six digits)
Jeff
Completely Agree
Disagree (this line is optional, not always present)
Neither Agree Nor Disagree (optional)
Random Comments (optional)
1/07/25

I have to take dozens of entries like that and I manually turn them into this:

893747
Jeff
Completely Agree
1/07/25

I bet there's a way to automate this. Anyone have any suggestions?

@botvolution while undeniably also delicious, unsalted roasted cashews are like US$6.50/lb to unsalted roasted peanuts US$2.50/lb. I'll save the cashews for when I'm making something to be proud of!

A trick I picked up a few years back, when I was learning how to prepare pad thai:

Do you have a cheap asian-style noodle dish you are needing to fortify? Maybe it's instant noodles and you have no protein at all, even. Just shake in some unsalted peanuts! Lots of protein, extra texture, and it won't screw up the flavor profile of any sauces you're using.

@VirginiaHolloway @sky @johnlogic A fine is always an unjust punishment for any crime, on the basis of socioeconomics - because it means wealthy people can just pay their way out of trouble.

Passing a bus with the sign out should not incur a fine - but it should be grounds to automatically pull your license.

@vitor @thomasfuchs actually it's arguably worse in context! The Atlantic reporter is just upset the IDF won't let them tag along to watch the undenied child killings to judge if they were illegal or fine actually.

@thomasfuchs Maybe it's relative then. I was surprised to see listed working full Socket 7 systems, cases and all, around ~$150 - $200 shipped, and mainboards at ~$40, after a couple years ago seeing prices nearly double that.

Some Commodore and Atari stuff seems to be down right now too, but again that's relative - I have been seeing Amiga 500s in the mid $200s, when I'm used to seeing them in the upper $400s.