@quixote@mastodon.nz
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

quixote

@quixote@mastodon.nz

Usually found Elsewhere, so this should be the perfect place for me. Longer thoughts at Acid Test (http://www.molvray.com/acidtest/) and Reimagining Democracy (http://www.molvray.com/govforum), (1st ed. 2010). The header pic is the Eastern Sierras not far from Bishop, California, looking west (Rockies behind, Pacific ahead). #tootfinder #searchable

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NeadReport, to Birds
@NeadReport@vivaldi.net avatar

My son loves to sit out on our front steps and feed the blue jays peanuts (in the shell). And now my wife and I have taken to doing the same. Jays are Corvids and that means they are very smart birds. They come around about the same time each day and announce themselves with various calls and screeches. We will attract upwards of 5-6 jays at a time; perching in the maple tree out front and diving to pick up peanuts we toss out.
Yesterday, our kid placed peanuts on a porch railing and set up his phone cam to shoot video of the thieves in action. No sooner had he stepped inside and the nuts were gone! Here is that video.

Yesterday, our kid placed peanuts on a porch railing and set up his phone cam to shoot video of the thieves in action. No sooner had he stepped inside the nuts were gone! In this video you will see two different jays fly off with their treats.

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@NeadReport I love how they keep looking, trying to figure out a way to hold a second peanut in their beak 😂

sjvn, to random
@sjvn@mastodon.social avatar

Update your Chrome browser ASAP. Google has confirmed a zero-day exploited in the wild https://zdnet.com/article/update-your-chrome-browser-asap-google-has-confirmed-a-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild/ by @sjvn

This nasty bug is also present--and needs to be patched--in Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, and all the other Chromium-base

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@sjvn I run Chromium in Debian Bookworm (12.5, I think). Debian's Chromium version is 121.something.

Possibly this is less than ideal.... Do I need to scurry around and do something about it?

(Mostly I use Firefox, even though it's also a royal pain these days.)

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@sjvn What I actually wound up doing:

  1. I have bookworm, not sid, so went looking for a bookworm solution.

  2. After much poking around in the weeds, finally realized I didn't have the security repositories active, which is where the 124 version patched for bookworm is.

  3. add

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free

to /etc/apt/sources.list.

  1. Run sudo apt update, then sudo apt upgrade

and -- ta-da! -- patched chromium + all the other patches I've missed. 😜

quixote, to random
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

Finally found it. The cartoon I saw that summarizes my feeling about the Hamas-Netanyahu disaster:

shoq, to random
@shoq@mastodon.social avatar

The new Atlas robot from Boston Dynamics. The first generation used awkward hydraulics to control the body parts. This is now all electric. Just mechanically speaking, these machines will soon be far superior to humans for most physical tasks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ECwExc-_M

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@shoq I don't know what it is about Boston Dynamics, but all their robots are creepy.

They need to get some animal behaviorists on staff who could tell them how to make demo videos that look less like C.O.U.N.T.D.O.W.N. T.O E.X.T.E.R.M.I.N.A.T.I.O.N.

CelloMomOnCars, (edited ) to solar
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

" prices have significantly decreased, leading participation to increase. This has disrupted rate equity between solar-owning customers and non-solar-owning customers.

The proposed alternative would have all grid-provided energy billed at retail rates and all excess solar energy credited at [a lower rate].

The billing would only apply to future customers, but would not affect customers who already own them."

https://www.alligator.org/article/2024/04/gru-authority-board-adopts-changes-to-billing-for-solar-owning-customers

Edit: please read whole thread before you get mad

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@CelloMomOnCars Utilities ("utilities" since they're making themselves less and less useful) are desperate to figure out how to impose rent they can grab for solar energy they've done everything they can to quash.

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@CelloMomOnCars I wasn't implying you were wrong to point it out!

As someone who just got the sharp end from my own utility, plus the oh-gee-it's-so-unfair-to-the-renters argument, I am not sympathetic.

At least in NZ, these are the same utilities stopping islanding. The same utilities stopping us from using our car batteries as backup power. The same ones lobbying government for every penny they can squeeze out.

If they really wanted to help renters, they could subsidize solar for them.

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@CelloMomOnCars Def not happy with what they do.

But, unfortunately, saying 'change the public boards' is theoretically true in much the same way as when open source nerds tell you to write your own software if there's something you've objected to in what's available.

Long term, you're not wrong. But the future is now and the utilities are screwing it up.

Do I know what to do about it? I wish. (Lobby the public utility boards, I guess 😝 )

CelloMomOnCars, to random
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

Stranded Assets Thread

Big Oil and its allies are attacking the International Energy Agency for forecasting a relatively imminent peak in fossil-fuel demand and the rapid uptake of

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-25/climate-change-iea-critics-are-wrong-about-energy-security

The fossil fuel industry is shooting the messenger, because the message contains the words "stranded assets".
If the banks hear that message, that industry is DONE.

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@CelloMomOnCars The article indicates that it's because risk models are based on historical performance.

Which, sort of, well, yes, you can see where they're coming from. But the whole point being that the times are changing, and that every investment ever has a warning that 'past performace is not indicative of future results ... you'd think the banks would have had the intelligence to remove that source of bias!

Rjdlandscapes, to TeslaMotors
@Rjdlandscapes@mastodon.nz avatar

's new the 5 entry level model will have 40kwh but no DC fast charging

Is this acceptable for 25k euro in 2024/25 ??

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes I doubt it!

Rjdlandscapes, to TeslaMotors
@Rjdlandscapes@mastodon.nz avatar

So the 5 has officially been revealed, and it looks great

Priced from about £25k , so upper $40k's+ in I guess

110kW, 90kW and 70kW front mounted motor
40/52kwh pack
Up to ~400km wltp
80-100kw DC fast charge
11kw AC + V2L
500kg towing

And obviously, a baguette holder

Quite a stylish little thing!

image/png

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes Oh my goodness. I WANT a baguette holder!

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes 😆

Rjdlandscapes, to TeslaMotors
@Rjdlandscapes@mastodon.nz avatar

So the new 5

Looks funky, loved the og 5 was such a good car.

Thoughts?

image/png
image/png

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes First thought: zomg! It's yellow!

Second thought: If it wasn't so yellow, that wouldn't be bad at all.

(Yeah. I don't care for yellow cars. Why do you ask? 😆 )

foone, to random
@foone@digipres.club avatar

Today I'm doing a USB cable test.
I have quite a few to go through

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@foone My god, man. You have each cable in that pile neatly looped with its own rubber band. You don't know the meaning of the word "trouble." The rest of us, we're just living proof of Spontaneous Knotting of Agitated String https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0611320104

Strandjunker, to random
@Strandjunker@mstdn.social avatar

Wealth of Elon Musk
2012: $2,000,000,000
2024: $204,500,000,000

Wealth of Jeff Bezos
2012: $18,400,000,000
2024: $196,000,000,000

Wealth of Mark Zuckerberg
2012: $17,500,000,000
2024: $170,400,000,000

Federal Minimum Wage
2012: $7.25
2024: $7.25

Three words: tax the rich.

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Strandjunker And limit wealth accumulation. I'd say US$500,000,000 total assets. After that, 95% tax rate.

I would make one exception: the actual individual inventors, artists, entertainers (incl sports) could accumulate more if people liked their stuff that much. But not something anyone could buy the rights to. And not transferable by inheritance or otherwise.

The accumulation of money and power are the biggest toxins.

astrokiwi, to gardening
@astrokiwi@mastodon.nz avatar

Three hydrangeas in a fence line shaded spot mysteriously dying in late summer. Enjoying contemplating which flowering native to replace them with. Possibly Brachyglottis B. repanda x B. greyii 'Leith Gold'?

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@astrokiwi I really like the way B. greyii looks and planted one.

All it did was die on me, one branch at a time! Deeply distressing.

(This is in Whangarei. It may grow better elsewhere?)

skyfaller, (edited ) to random
@skyfaller@jawns.club avatar

Which alternate OS should I install on my backup Android phone, a Google Pixel 5a 5G? I was going to test , but I waited a while and now my phone is only supported until August 2024. https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-lifetime

This is a problem plaguing all Android devices, they become very difficult to keep secure once Google stops providing security updates. seems to provide an extra year: https://calyxos.org/docs/guide/device-support/

I can't find info on long-term security for . https://lineageos.org/

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@skyfaller I'm going to have the same question soon. (Pixel 6a...)

Rjdlandscapes, to Electricvehicles
@Rjdlandscapes@mastodon.nz avatar

buy the 12 Auckland Vector DC sites, add them tot he chargenet network and they are paid sites from the 19th Feb

Such a good move, free DC chargers in Auckland were such an issue

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes @piwakawaka I hadn't heard about Vector planning to start charging for them. I wonder how much?

So, now EV users who need to charge on the road will get to pay triple the top household rate

AND nearly 2x the RUC,

on top of the premium for buying an EV because you get your reward by saving the planet. Or something.

If the DC fast chargers weren't such a giant price gouge... as it is... REVOLUTION NOW.

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes @piwakawaka Yeah. I don't expect them to be the exact same price as home, and, sure, fast chargers are pricey.

But they're cheaper to put in and maintain than a petrol station.

There's no excuse for the insane prices on the road. It's pure profiteering. Which, I guess, means National will be trying to figure out how to make it more expensive.

Rjdlandscapes, to NewZealand
@Rjdlandscapes@mastodon.nz avatar

Get ready for Insurmageddon

Insurer Suncorp has told the Government there has been a “step-change” in global reinsurers’ attitudes to New Zealand.

“The step-change in 2023 is that New Zealand no longer presents only significant earthquake risk, but also significant weather risk to reinsurers,” Suncorp said in a submission, published this month, to Parliament’s inquiry into how the country is set to adapt to climate change.

https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/350168807/home-insurance-will-become-more-expensive-more-limited-and-harder-get

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes Hah. Great. Coincidentally, I just spent the better part of today trying to make sense of homeowners insurance in NZ. They're so --bleeping-- coy about prices, it's impossible to find out which companies might work. And now I find out it's going to get even worse! 😬

iBlame, to random
@iBlame@kolektiva.social avatar

I haven’t had the heart to look at the news. What’s the general zeitgeist around the ICJ ruling?

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@doublemonkeyfun @iBlame Yeah. Maybe hard to convict when genocide means intentional extinction of a whole "gens," tribe, ethnicity? Israel is doing a good bit of mass murdering, but that's not identical to genocide unless you're using the word just as a punchy term.

Interestingly, Hamas has explicitly said they want the destruction of Jews. They just can't do it. Somehow less appalling, but not really better?

(Tangent: brilliant accounts of life now in Gaza: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/series/gaza-diary )

Rjdlandscapes, to NewZealand
@Rjdlandscapes@mastodon.nz avatar

Break the health service, sell private care and PPI hospitals etc I guess is the plan..

We had local decision making and they made bad decisions.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/507330/reti-confirms-transfer-of-decision-making-to-regions-is-among-health-priorities

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes "We had local decision making and they made bad decisions."

Not that long ago, even. And the consequences kick us every day. You'd think if they're hoping people forget, they'd at least give it a few months.

But donors waiting for payback stop for no one.

Catlynn, to random
@Catlynn@nerdculture.de avatar

Tending one of three blooms he’s laid claim to

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Catlynn That is one well-fed globular hummingbird!

astrokiwi, to random
@astrokiwi@mastodon.nz avatar

NZ folks: what is a good option for an air filtration unit for a room in the ~10 m^2 range? Want to covid-safe indoor spaces

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@astrokiwi About six months ago, I got a Trusens Z1000 Air Purifier, supposed to do up to 23m2 rooms, has HEPA Filter, and passes the air under a UV-C Light. Cost NZ$129 at PBTech. It was mainly to stay in hotels with less worrying about any airborne germs left behind. Seems to have worked well for that. At least, we didn't catch anything. Fairly quiet.

Rjdlandscapes, to NewZealand
@Rjdlandscapes@mastodon.nz avatar

From @politicalrod
National achievements so far

  1. fk Wellington
  2. fk Ferry’s
  3. fk Auckland transport
  4. fk Smokefree
  5. fk Cycle ways
  6. fk EV industry
  7. fk fair pay
  8. fk clean water
  9. fk waste water
  10. fk new hospital

And they have been on holiday

quixote,
@quixote@mastodon.nz avatar

@Rjdlandscapes Well, it is important to have a bit of fun on holiday!

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