gazter
@gazter@aussie.zone
- Comment on Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them? 5 days ago:
Yeah, I like the idea of being able to switch floor lamps and what not from the doorway. No-one likes the big light, right?
Not sure if I like it enough to implement it in my dream home though. Possibly with some kind of different shaped plug, or a colour code that matches the switch?
- Comment on Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them? 5 days ago:
We’re getting into the weeds a little bit here, but there’s a lot of things that have power buttons that will put the thing into standby, not off. I’ve often done a ‘hard reset’ on my ‘smart’ tv when it starts acting up, just gotta cut the power.
It’s a small convenience, but it’s nice. I’ll happily pay the extra three cents in manufacturing costs for something that lasts decades and may be occasionally mildly helpful.
- Comment on Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them? 6 days ago:
Huh, it’s interesting- Here the power switches are a similar size to the UK, so when I searched up a picture of the Indian switches I thought they were ridiculously giant, not like regular sized UK/Australian ones
I guess it’s just whatever you’re used to is the ‘regular’.
Are light switches the same? What happens when you have a lot of switches together, like six or eight? Do you just have really wide banks of switches?
- Comment on Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them? 6 days ago:
Fridge, washing machine, dishwasher, television, phone charger, robovac dock, lamps, computer monitor, aquarium pump… I could go on.
It’s not strictly necessary, but it’s a convenience.
- Comment on Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them? 6 days ago:
I like the Australian 90 degree plugs, too. Much slimmer than the UK ones.
- Comment on Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them? 6 days ago:
Only half of one outlet? That sounds super frustrating. I think it would take me a while to discover that the random light switch that doesn’t do anything is related to the power point where only one side charges my phone.
- Comment on How is TikTok being blocked in the US? 1 week ago:
I’m not an expert. Removing it from DNS would stop anyone using that DNS from accessing it, right? So if I’m in Australia, using a US DNS, I wouldn’t be able to access it. And vice versa- Anyone in the US could just change their DNS to something outside the US.
- Comment on Darn it 2 weeks ago:
Transcription for screen readers:
The meme is making a broad generalisation about a large group of people all heading the same undesirable trait, that trait being making broad generalisations of large groups of people having undesirable traits.
- Comment on Darn it 2 weeks ago:
Bench seats were much closer to benches than couches.
- Comment on For work-sore hands 2 weeks ago:
Vaseline is not flammable.
- Comment on Caption this. 3 weeks ago:
Ok, I can see you aren’t interested in debating this.
- Comment on Grirrrll.... 3 weeks ago:
Oh my fuck, we absolutely would shave our tails, and there is just something so horrid about that thought that how I won’t be able to fucking sleep, thanks, I hate it.
- Comment on Caption this. 3 weeks ago:
It’s fairly straightforward- if a new car is an EV, consumption will be less than if that car was ICE.
- Comment on Caption this. 3 weeks ago:
Good point, and well made. However, ICE cars are already wearing out. 250 million ICE cars on the road. ICE sales stop. The next day, some of those 250 million cars wear out. Gas consumption goes down.
- Comment on Caption this. 3 weeks ago:
I’m still trying to understand what you’re saying about needing to stop producing any ice cars if we are to reduce consumption.
- Comment on Caption this. 3 weeks ago:
I don’t want to sound like I’m being another hater, you’ve copped a lot of unwarranted downvotes and vitriol. People not willing to discuss things is part of the problem- attacks and trying to silence people through downvotes does not contribute to discussion.
If you’re willing to keep presenting your viewpoint, I’d appreciate some clarity. I urge anyone replying to your comment to engage with thought and maturity. We all learn from opinions that aren’t aligned with ours.
My main question is around your claim that we would have to stop producing any new infrastructure that relies on oil, to prevent consumption going up. I’m not sure I agree- To use a simple example, if some industrial plant uses a diesel engine, and replaces it with a diesel engine that uses less diesel to achieve the same outcome, does that not reduce the overall consumption? Of course, this is a very simple example.
- Comment on This is the life I dream of from my cubicle 4 weeks ago:
Old puppy
- Comment on New social experiment 4 weeks ago:
.config/
- Comment on Hypothetically, if some mysterious force started to jam every radio frequency, how would modern day society adapt to this? 5 weeks ago:
Ah, so you’re a wizard. Meddling in unseen, invisible powers, using arcane diagrams and mysterious runes…
- Comment on Hypothetically, if some mysterious force started to jam every radio frequency, how would modern day society adapt to this? 5 weeks ago:
I’m just going to go with the scenario of ‘the specific part of the EM spectrum that we use for comms is no longer accessible to us’.
So, mobile data and GPS are out. A heck of a lot of people suddenly get very lost, and the immediate aftermath would include a lot of car crashes- mostly from people trying to play with their phone while driving, or just generally being distracted. Long term, people would get used to having to find themselves on a map. I doubt street directories would make a comeback, as it’s relatively straightforward to download a map to a phone by plugging it into to a computer, or USB to Ethernet. Oh, in that regard- The shortage of USB to Ethernet adaptors would probably hit before the toilet paper shortage.
There’s a large portion of the world’s population who like to stay inside and listen to the radio or watch TV, the internet still being an unwieldy thing that the yung’uns use. These people will start getting their entertainment and news by walking outside and congregating - At least until they get a computer or phone setup wired. Hopefully, many will continue to go for walks around town to see their friends and eat a meal. A lot of households are going to have a whole lot of Ethernet cables run all over the floor for quite some time. People will start buying switches and routers to get more outlets next to the couch, for example.
Massive queues will form around the few existing payphones, until businesses and homes at central locations will start offering up ethernet ports. Because this started soon after the Blackout, rooted in generosity and helpfulness, this will just become a free service.
Taxi drivers will start congregating at these spots, plugging in and updating their location, moving to other locations where there is few drivers- and hoping that others aren’t getting the same idea, unable to know that until they arrive. The old guard of taxi drivers, who worked pre-Uber and have an encyclopedic knowledge of the local streets are in high demand, and people seek them out.
A lot of scientists are out of a job. People who worked with radio astronomy are suddenly having to peer through optical telescopes again, and keep talking about the good old days. Whole divisions of people at space agencies, responsible for things like monitoring and control of satellites, space probes, and rovers are suddenly retasked to creating ways to create autonomous return probes to find out what the fuck just happened. Some start trying to work out ways to replace radio by using giant scaled up versions of television remote controls, putting giant infrared lights on mobile phone towers, with smaller repeaters on top of houses and cars. (For funsies, I’m assuming point to point microwave comms are out- which has the implication that microwave ovens don’t work any more, with the associated knock on effects of house fires from people melting microwave dinners in ancient, unmaintained conventional ovens).
People who worked with wireless stuff- from FM radio DJs to antenna design engineers are all out of work. Perhaps they start selling coffee to people stopping by those public ethernet locations? Unfortunately, there’s a noticeable economic downturn from so many vacant jobs, people being out of work suddenly, and commerce becoming so much more difficult. Cash becomes much more useful, and those handy dandy wireless payment terminals don’t work so good anymore, and while waiting for wired replacement terminals to arrive, people get used to cash again. There’s a knock on effect of people keeping cash to themselves, despite the government being almost completely unchanged. This downturn, along with jobs that don’t exist any more, puts a lot of people out of work. However, they are likely to start filling the jobs left vacant by the thousands of people who perished in the utter chaos that was every aircraft on the planet trying to land at the same time in utter confusion.
A couple might make it safely down, but it only takes one accident- say a little Cessna coming in low, not seeing the 747 coming in faster from above, to turn the runway into a total mess of burning jet fuel, wreckage, and stunned people slowly bleeding out, surrounded by smashed bodies and assorted socks. Aircraft block major highways attempting to use them as runways, often causing huge multi-car pileups by giving already already distracted drivers a totally insane thing to have to deal with. Many pilots take the opportunity to ‘do a Sully’. Hundreds die as waterways around major airports become congested with crashed aircraft, with many potential rescue personnel sleeping through the whole thing, because who the heck has their landline phone number, even if they have an actual phone plugged into the wall?
In short, I’d watch that movie. Maybe a series in three parts, immediate, a few months later, and then years after. Great question OP, thanks!
Oh, also- people who made special effort to get a phone that has a headphone jack will be smug as fuck for a very long time.
- Comment on Hypothetically, if some mysterious force started to jam every radio frequency, how would modern day society adapt to this? 5 weeks ago:
I really appreciate your comment- Do you work with RF day to day?
- Comment on Hypothetically, if some mysterious force started to jam every radio frequency, how would modern day society adapt to this? 5 weeks ago:
What I like about these kind of questions is how different people take things in a totally different direction. I find it absolutely fascinating to see detailed replies about connotations I never thought of. It’s the whole reason why I love xkcd’s What If. If you’re unfamiliar, do yourself a favour and have a read. I particularly enjoy his answer to the question of everyone standing in one spot and jumping at the same time. He more or less ignores the core question and focuses on the societal & environmental impact of a mass human migration to one point, resulting in a fantastic read.
- Comment on Why is daisychaining multiple extension cords considered unsafe, even if only done to the length of a standard cable? 5 weeks ago:
We may be discussing slightly different things here, I’m not sure if I follow the application of your math in this context.
My point is that a thinner wire will get much hotter than a thicker wire, given the same amount of current. Is this not the case?
- Comment on Why is daisychaining multiple extension cords considered unsafe, even if only done to the length of a standard cable? 5 weeks ago:
Not sure if you’ve ever used fuse wire before. It’s what was used before capsule fuses and breakers. Essentially, if too much current goes through it, it will melt, breaking the circuit as protection. The thicker the fuse wire, the more current it can pass through without melting. The length of the wire doesn’t come into it. 1cm of 10 amp fuse wire will melt at the same current as 1 meter of 10 amp fuse wire.
- Comment on What games have you sunk the most time into? 5 weeks ago:
I’ve got over a thousand in Space Engineers, although some of that is from leaving it on overnight to refine materials. Or possibly exiting the game, but forgetting to actually leave the main menu. Does Steam track time when the computer is asleep?
But I’ve likely got close to ten times that number in Dwarf Fortress. I’ve been playing it off and on for close to a decade and a half now, and when I get into it whole days can just fly by.
- Comment on What games have you sunk the most time into? 5 weeks ago:
Satisfactory scratches that same itch, in a totally different way. Adding that third dimension throws a lot of Factorio people off, because it makes it ‘too easy’- if you build it wrong, it’s fine, just go up a level.
Nah fam, play some more. Just going over the top song gonna cut it off the first few tiers. Especially if you want your factory to look good.
- Comment on So what are we going to do with all this social media age-gate stuff? 1 month ago:
Or a checkbox that says ‘Yes, I’m over 16’, as the current age-restricted content has.
- Comment on Starlink with self hosted? 2 months ago:
There is usually free tier packages available on the big cloud providers. You’ll get pretty limited resources, but you will get a static IP, and the ability to run a tunnel. There will be a couple extra steps, but nothing major. You’ll likely have the ability to run a couple services from there as well- maybe something to kick-start your home server if it falls over for whatever reason, or even your URL shortener.
- Comment on ugh i wish 2 months ago:
Of course there’s a difference. That’s like saying there’s no difference between a rare steak and a well done steak. Yes, they’re both steak, and to some extent they taste the same, but they are very different.
- Comment on I just need to keep it steady 2 months ago:
What I wouldn’t give for a modern N series. Those phones rocked.