qjkxbmwvz

joined 2 years ago
[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 20 points 2 months ago

Open, or standards-compliant local-only gear is the way to go for smart home stuff IMHO. Never had a problem with a Zigbee, Matter, or ESPHome device suddenly deciding it would stop working because manufacturer said so.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 9 points 2 months ago

Yeah it's missing the text, "...then the Planck X would be..." for the first two.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I don't think this is the black and white issue that the headline suggests.

Homeless advocates appear to be on board with this, at any rate: https://www.kqed.org/news/12047353/heres-why-sf-homeless-advocates-are-glad-lurie-ditched-push-for-1500-shelter-beds

It sounds like the "more beds" campaign promise was somewhat misguided, as slapping a bandaid on homelessness isn't a fix; more beds is, to an extent, just for show. Hopefully we'll be able to get actual, research-based solutions to homelessness here.

I'm not super optimistic, but changing course on a campaign promise because the experts and advocates say your current plan is bad shouldn't be criticized out of hand IMHO.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 12 points 2 months ago (10 children)

One of the best things about having an instant pot is the ease of making refried beans from scratch. They're fairly low effort, and so so much better (not to mention cheaper).

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 65 points 2 months ago (3 children)

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/12/550465000/behold-the-fatberg-london-s-130-ton-rock-solid-sewer-blockage

You're not just "sticking it to the man" when you do this though


you're being a dick to your city, its residents, and employees.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 6 points 2 months ago

Alligator Alcatraz ~~detainees allege~~ proponents boast about inhumane conditions at immigration detention center

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 1 points 3 months ago

And a big plastics shill, unfortunately.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Move ‘em 2 millimeters in the wrong direction and you’ll have a bad time

Are you referring to getting, I dunno, yogurt in places outside the digestive tract?

My understanding was that gut bacteria play a pretty crucial (beneficial) role in overall health, not to mention the whole gut-brain stuff.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 13 points 3 months ago (7 children)

Pretty sure those "horrible little scalawags" play some pretty crucial roles in the human microbiome...

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Or just a San Francisco resident


these ads are everywhere on BART (+Muni I guess) right now. (As far as ads go, they're pretty good I guess


and no, I don't even use them, much less work for them.)

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 10 points 3 months ago

For back-of-the-envelope or mental calculations, pi is often 3 or 10^(1/2).

The latter is better than 1% accurate, and has nice properties when doing order-of-magnitude/log space calculations in base 10.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 6 points 3 months ago

ZigBee router thing:

I've been happy with the SMLIGHT SLZB-06M. You can easily flash firmware, and it has PoE which was important for me. I believe it also supports Thread, but I haven't tried this yet (and I'm not sure if it supports it at the same time as Zigbee).

Zigbee smart plugs from Third Reality have been pretty solid in my experience, and they report power usage.

For circuit breaker level monitoring, I have an Emporia Vue2. I have it running esphome, completely local


unfortunately this requires some simple soldering and flashing, so it's not turnkey. But it's been rock solid ever since flashing it. (Process is well documented online.)

I've had decent luck with cheap wifi Matter bulbs, but provisioning them is finicky, and sometimes they just crap out and need to be power cycled; Zigbee bulbs (e.g., Ikea) have generally been reliable, though sometimes I've had difficulty pairing them initially. After power cycling a Matter WiFi bulb, it takes a while for it to respond to Home Assistant; Zigbee bulbs generally respond as soon as you power them on.

I have a wired smart light switch from TP-Link/Kasa (KS205), and it's been completely hassle free (and totally local


Matter over wifi). The Kasa smart switch dongles I have work flawlessly but need proprietary pairing, and I'm afraid to update firmware in case they lose local support.

Good luck! Fun adventure :)

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