Little Rants

[Catoptric]

EL-50448 TPMS reset tool was only $3 with free shipping, and whenever you search on Amazon for it you will find the exact same sensor with different decals trying to make you think you are dealing with a different product (it's mass-produced and then rebranded,) and many are asking for significantly more for it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/385386677996

Very impressed (I literally don't know how they did it, since they are shipping domestically and even used UPS and it works instantaneously (set car in relearn mode, go from driver side in clockwork direction, and it will take less than 1 minute. Repair shops would prefer to just change out overpriced sensors when a $3 tool is literally all you need, and it wasn't sent from China.

And most of the auto shops just blithly ignoring the fact you don't need to replace the sensors (even when you asked them to against your best judgment) and thinking it was necessary won't even occur to the person who doesn't realize the sensors aren't faulty; they just needed to be reset after hitting a the tire bump (called "botts dots" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botts%27_dots )

I assume these go off as a precautionary method to check for any safety issues with the tire. For the longest time I just assumed if they needed to be "relearned" they were needing to be replaced, and that they would only honk whenever you achieve 36 psi, confirming they were functioning as needed. The whole point of the relearn setting has little to do with the pressure being recognized (though it is ultimately the intent) and more to do with confirming the location of the tire, as well as notifying you if it's working. Occasionally they seemed to get recognized without using a reset tool, and using the reset and attempting to do what I did sometimes requires you to relearn every tire (possibly if the car isn't driven enough, it starts to lose signal from the sensors which require rotation of the tire to generate power supply.)

Auto shops prey upon people's ignorance about their own cars.

https://www.quora.com/Why-does-it-seem- ... -of-people


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I thought I was very familiar with this subject, but this has been going on "in my back yard" and I didn't even know it.

[Catoptric]

I was able to get a Samsung 990 Pro 4TB with a discount by using the Samsung app (so it was closer to $250) which is a gen 4 NVMe SSD (and just to note, only processors built after Gen 11 can utilize this SSD) but also noticed, in addition to firmware being necessary to update on the hard drive to protect the drive from not damaging itself, Microsoft OS did an update that significantly throttles the performance (enough that even my old SATA raid configuration which eventually failed, seemed to sometimes perform consistently better depending on if another app is slowing it down; whether this is by design to try to prevent the system from overloading the system resources, or it's not a bit "odd" the way it tackles tasks--such as straight up refusing to acknowledge the task request--and even basic stuff like data showing up in the background without fucking doing a refresh of the folder, such as the desktop or download folder. . . Like it's 1990s Windows basic stuff.)

If running an external drive the system seems to hog up resources (but it's not the RAM at all. . . In fact no more than 10% is ever used at any one time, even with Chrome open.)


If your PC is running slowly, the latest Windows 11 update may be to blame
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing ... sd-speeds/

And though I haven't yet received the new SSD (I had a 4 TB Crucial memory which was about $200 as a secondary drive, which was installed after getting a necessary bracket from MSI, since the laptop couldn't install it in it's original form) and supposedly Samsung shows rapid drive deterioration within a very short time without firmware update, it almost seems as if the claimed write speeds are more hyped bullshit than not. An external disk drive is able to achieve 80 mb/s consistently whereas a SATA SSD will start off at that but then throttle down immediately to around 20 or lower depending on the application, and that might just be the external hardware. an NVMe PCIe is supposed to be at a minumum of 3 gig according to most claims even with the older cards.

I planned to clone a 1 terabyte PCIe NVMe SSD as a backup and run the primary off the Samsung 990 (as a way of "future proofing" the laptop while also trying to ensure no data is lost if I happen to mess up (hence a blu ray drive can both store discs that are becoming impossible for playback, and potentially using M-Data discs if it make sense as well even though it might legitimately be cheaper to just buy a terabyte SSD since M discs are absurdly expensive it seems.) Also backup systems seem to configure stuff in such a way that it might not even work properly if you were to rely upon it (a lot of issues creep up, hence why cloning a drive might be the best way to go, while keeping backup data stored elsewhere as much as possible.)

I think this is moreso, not because I have any important data really (just stuff I've worked on over the years that probably no one truly gives a damn about, but I figured would have some value of sorts if people had appreciation for the subject matters (movies, books, genealogy, photography, game data, and personal documents like writing or retro internet; considering that the internet we know seems to not even exist anymore, it would seem to be important to have some reminder of what society was like 2 decades ago. . .)

And society has turned into a festering shit stain that rewards narcissistic endeavors (so perhaps everything that motivates us is derived from a need for self-importance, and nothing else.)

[HighlyIrregular]

I'm going to have to come out against Blake Shelton's brand of socks and Land's End which sells them. Blake said "A lot of people are pulling for [Trump], no matter how much Hollywood fights it. I see people who don’t like him go and beat up people that do like him. You tell me, who’s crazy here? I probably wish there was another option, but there’s not."

So he's a Trump supporter. Country music guy...figures.

But I can endorse Christopher Knight's brand of furniture. I mean, until I learn something about him that I don't like. I almost bought his dining chairs but I went with these:

https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/s ... x1650.html

Not that Subrtex is a company I'd normally trust. I heavily discriminate based on dumb names, and Subrtex is a dumb name, but it's an internetly popular brand and they have their own website and the chair got good reviews.

[HighlyIrregular]

We fill our mattresses with peace of mind by adding green tea, olive oil, and charcoal, and sustainable materials like bamboo and Tencel™.

How does Zinus not know how dumb that sounds! Who are these people!

[HighlyIrregular]

I want to see the data on how much the modern "box springs" extend the life of mattresses. I just assembled my first one. I think manufacturers just wanted something more cheaply mailable.

[HighlyIrregular]

Bad writing from Oster. It would affect my decision to buy that brand.

Oster blender review and response.jpg (45.93 KiB) Viewed 4999 times

[Catoptric]

Has Spain lost its ability to paint?

Rare 17th Century Painting Deformed in Botched Restoration Job
https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-ge ... on-0013896

Better close-up photo
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... n-in-spain

The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immac ... l_Escorial

It might be "old news" but it's one that seemed to not get a lot of notice.

****

Rogue restoration strikes again after botched job on Spanish statue
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 20769.html


16th century sculpture of Saint George in Spain
https://www.graaffreinetadvertiser.com/ ... 1906260148
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/0 ... ation-job/

"He said this was just "the tip of the iceberg of so many cases that don't appear in the press.""

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Just imagine what 100 years of "restoration" will look like to the future of society, if the competence reflects some dystopian idiocracy?


More examples:
https://www.fineartconservationlab.com/ ... ork-again/

On the other hand, if something is forgotten about or overlooked, if not outright tossed out and/or destroyed, has a better chance of preservation.

Painting Stored In Closet For Decades Turns Out To Be Worth Millions

Medieval (13th century Cimabue) masterpiece found in French kitchen sells for over $26M
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/cimab ... index.html

[HighlyIrregular]

In NY, I made a note of what felt like dangerously hot water from the hot tap, which would infrequently occur: "temperature: 130 degrees on 7/30/2021." It seemed dangerously hot in my new place in PA, every day, and I just used my meat thermometer to test it. 160 degrees F. I'll be looking for an error code on the heater tomorrow. I don't mind it scalding in the tank because it kills microorganisms, but there needs to be a mixer to lower the temp before it reaches my tap. I have to figure out if I'm willing to pay for one if my landlord doesn't. I hope there is one and it's just broken. Actually, even in the tank, I read that 140 is the temperature to increase it to to kill more microorganisms. I'm not sure if 160 is ever good.

[Senseye]

Have you ever had a problem with microorganisms in your water tank? I never have and I keep it set to 130F. Seems like a waste of energy (and therefor money) to keep it higher.

[HighlyIrregular]

Have you ever had a problem with microorganisms in your water tank?

There's a smell when I boil water, and there are white spots in my pot when I pour it out, but it may be from hard water. When I purposely sniff the boiled water and the range hood I don't smell it, so maybe the nasties get boiled out. I drink bottled water now but I don't even want to cook pasta or make coffee with my tap water. I may try draining the tank. I want it cleaned though.

The temperature dial has low, hot, A, B, C, very hot. I moved it from B to hot and it dropped 20 degrees, to 140. I'd prefer 130. There's gotta be some problem. I may lower it more.