[spdrun]

Sheesh, learn how to use a torch.

[spdrun]

I think home automation is a good thing because that will deter burglaries, maybe do away with them entirely.

Want to monitor you daughter? Or worriy she’ll be molested by intruder? Get an alarm when a window opens or when her bedroom light comes on at night. Haha… so many things for the paranoid.

I would like a device to record the MAC address of people who walk by my house then gives me a report on how often and when.

I don’t want to totally deter property crime — it keeps the rich and powerful honest.

Home invasions are extremely rare, so rare as to be a non-issue.

Recording MAC addresses — no thanks, no plans to be a stalker 🙂

[spdrun]

Same problem with servants as with cloud-crap automation.

You’re sharing a home with something that’s all up in your business. If it’s just a question of turning things off when you leave, no need for cloud-crap — a few wireless relays would do just fine without the privacy implications.

[spdrun]

Electrochromic glass doesn’t need “smarts”, just a switch to supply power or not.

I’m not so crippled that I can’t get up and turn a switch off. Home automation = tits on a boar.

[spdrun]

BTW – the easy fix is to leave the valve in place and either replace the washer(s) and stuffing, or the entire stem. The washer seats are probably just fine.

Basically, you want to shut water off at the street valve, and unscrew the fitting furthest from the handle to get to the washers. The stuffing is accessed via the “nut” closer to the handle.

It’s a 5 min job once you get the parts.

[spdrun]

Calexit 2017 — if CA doesn’t have to support places like Mississippi and Kansas, it could have much lower taxes and thus keep jobs in-state (or rather, in country).

[spdrun]

Actually, I like the idea of custom fabrication if it can be done locally (the robots are cheap enough). This would actually help local businesses — think about being fitted for a suit at your local robo-tailor shop, with a human helping you pick designs and doing final adjustments.

[spdrun]

Not sure if I agree. A circuit board plus a few LEDs and momentary switches can last decades. A washer/dryer knob often has a lot more moving parts, including a motor, geartrain, micro-switches, etc, all of which can break.

Also, some of the new washer/dryer knobs are just a rotary switch that sends an input to a control circuit board.

[spdrun]

Need I really list the ways?
(1) Amazon warehouse jobs are utter fucking crap, even as compared to the black pit of awfulness that’s brick-and-mortar retail. Utter monotonous work without even an opportunity to interact with interesting customers occasionally. Warehouse workers are basically bio-robots, soon to be replaced by real robots…

http://gizmodo.com/tell-us-your-horror-stories-about-working-in-an-amazon-1787750865
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-07/amazon-s-story-time-is-kind-of-a-bummer

(2) Amazon doesn’t allow for anonymous (cash) payment, and in fact, makes money tracking users’ purchase habits. Local stores simply don’t have the same kind of computing power behind them. Thankfully.

Lastly, I have no interest in living in the woods. I have more interest living in a less-developed part of the world where technology is significantly behind that of the US suburbs. And where cash and other anonymous means of payment are commonly accepted by necessity.

I like being around people. I can do without corporate and/or goverment snooping, which makes my ideal area a poorer one, where there’s less money to be made marketing to it, and where people don’t care enough to focus government resources on it.

Probably opening Pandora’s box, but how does shopping on amazon destroy privacy, and “decent” jobs? Also what harm is this causing? Are we talking about big corp. versus local retailers like everyone was worried about 15 years ago (aka Walmart/Budweiser/McDonalds). Well we can see what happened with that now that sales and market share of all 3 have been consistently sliding. Privacy? Well like I said, privacy is a very subjective and individual thing; and should be handled as such. If you want more of it, feel free to not use internet; abstain from social media; move to the woods and live off the land.

[spdrun]

I’ve heard good things about Vera.

[spdrun]

I sspect that the real number is higher than 22 million once you add in the numbers of the undocumented and unbanked, who are also unlikely to get contacted by interviewers.

Also, I wonder how good the results from online surveys are — many media outlets do the “answer these questions to continue reading” thing. I deliberately answer the questions randomly (pick a box without reading) to feed the pollsters erroneous data.

Are Amazon users antisocial? No idea.
Are they wrong to support a service that’s destroying decent jobs, destroying privacy, etc? At the very least, they don’t care about the harm their shopping habits are causing.

[spdrun]

It’s not a huge deal with ipv4, quite frankly. The only role of a server needs to be as a dynamic DNS, and the router can open a VPN channel for whatever outside device needs it.

(This can be an automated process that’s simple to set up and secured with long public/private keys.)

[spdrun]

Why accept it? There’s no added value for me in having a TV with a room-facing camera. None.

I don’t see the problem with having to use a remote control. In fact, my 2008-era 20″ LCD screen does exactly what I want it to, and not a bit more or less.

Same goes for an Amazon Echo. I got a trial of an Amazon Prime account because I needed to order something specific for work. For the rest of the month, I didn’t feel moved to order anything else via Amazon, so I dumped the membership.

I can buy 99% of what I need for cash within 5 min walking distance of my home, so what do I need a bug in my room for? Frankly, I don’t want shopping to be entirely easy or convenient — if it’s either, it would mean that I’d consume more, and I’d rather keep my consumption to a minimum.

BTW – I don’t go to malls either. For housewares, there’s a big hardware store that also sells home goods. For hardware, there’s another hardware store. For groceries, there are a few grocery stores and supermarkets. Clothing, there’s a whole street of random clothing and shoe stores near where my GF lives, it’s great.

[spdrun]

millennial: my smart phone is either off or in flight mode most of the time unless I’m on call or working.

There’s also a big difference between a camera that’s sitting on a shelf facing up as the phone charges and one facing the front of a TV with a clear view of the room. The latter needs an icepick through it. Or at least some black tape.

I wasn’t speaking to interaction as much as non-interaction. Interaction through online forums can be great. The problem is people who use delivery of everything to AVOID interaction.

[spdrun]

I have zero interest in being part of that world or profiting from it. Real estate is enough, innovation in that area is over-rated and not something I’d enjoy being part of.

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