#USB Wireless Card

[linguisticparadox]

I got my siblings raspberry pi zero w kits for christmas so they can set up pi-hole and I'm trying to save them a lot of trial-and-error hassle by typing up simple instructions but. it's hard when I don't even know what routers they have? bc that can complicate things.

ugh I better make sure they don't have fucking AT&T

anyway I'm doing the desktop environment version of the os bc I don't feel like coordinating getting their router logins and fucking IP ranges or whatever to do headless setup, and setting up wifi via the command line is a little weird so the lite os wouldn't work either (again I am trying to keep this simple). Plus idk how complicated SSH is for headless setup, I've never done it and even though I'm sure I could I don't wanna add on any weirdness for them to deal with. but I'm like. should I go so far as to install the os's for them or is just imaging the sd cards enough...

I also keep having to fight the impulse to be like "well I don't want to do all the FUN STUFF and leave none for THEM!" because like. I Am An Outlier in that respect I think.

[shopnglows]

Magnetic Wireless Charger for iPhone 16/15 Pro Max – 15W Fast Charging with MagSafe, PD USB, 4K 60Hz, USB 3.1, SD/TF Compatibility

Upgrade your charging experience with this magnetic wireless charger designed for iPhone 16/15 Pro Max. Supports 15W MagSafe fast charging and comes with additional features like PD USB, 4K 60Hz display compatibility, USB 3.1, and SD/TF card support. Perfect for tech enthusiasts who value speed and versatility!

A sleek magnetic wireless charger compatible with iPhone 16/15 Pro Max, featuring 15W MagSafe fast charging and multifunctional PD USB, 4K display, and SD/TF card options.

#WirelessCharger #MagneticCharger #iPhone16 #iPhone15ProMax #FastCharging #MagSafe #TechAccessories #USB3.1 #4KDisplay #ChargerInnovation

[sourcreammachine]

the year is 2058. socialism is sweeping the globe

we use memory cards for everything. with usb type-E being the universal standard for like everything (and with like every device having loads and loads of ports), Physical Digital Media is stored on cards (yes, cards) that plug into the usb slot. appearing like a short thumbdrive (or more like a wireless receiver for a wireless mouse), you plug it in and it mechanically contracts to be totally flush. push it again, and it mechanically extends for removal

this is how we do data storage. the bus is lightning fast. movies and tv shows, in their upwards of 16k240 codec, get distributed on cartridges as do video games. of course, digital distribution is still a thing and extremely popular and convenient, with people able to save whatever they please to the cards. you can get a movie from the store, keep the card that contains it, all the while copying the file to your master card that you put everything on. they’re your files. you can put megabits on there, or exabits. you own the damn thing

[mangionebabymama]

Official Inventory report from Altoona PD

from r/BrianThompsonMurder

It reads:

- red notebook manifesto and multiple handwritten notes

- 9mm black ghost handgun

- US passport / maryland ID / 3 cards debit/credit for Luigi Mangione

- homemade 3d printed silencer

- 1 9mm magazine with 13 rounds 3 hollow point

- US currency $7,807

- foreign currency $1620

- AAA batteries / wired headphones / 16 gb sandisk

- Polaroid digital camera with a mini storage drive.

- medical mask / watch/ pen / rope / flashlight / .67 cents

- USB from wallet

- USB on necklace

- CVS receipt

- USB x2 / mini SIM card

- pocket knife / screwdriver / [baggies?] and zipties

- best buy receipt

- greyhound bus ticket philly to pitt

- fake NJ id / quik trip ticket / visa gift card

- 2 hand written notes

- medical face mask 25 count

- handwritten note from backpack

- iphone with SIM card

- macbook pro laptop

- black jacket

- green jacket / brown beanie / blue gloves, black belt, black underarmour leggings

- black backpack / clothing / hair clippers / food wrappers

- wireless earphones

- black shoes

- black jeans

- black neck gaiter

[adz]

KIT’S MEDIOCRE EDC/LOOT DROP

my bag is an orbitgear M500 "swift" with a modzip-3g ballistic bullet sleeve. on the bullet sleeve's clip i've also got a matador 18L transit tote; it's a packable waterproof bag for things like groceries.

most of the time when i leave the house, i bring this bag. there are two big sections in the bag.

in the front i keep stuff that i want to be sanitary - spork, wet wipes, spare mask, hankerchief, tampon, makeup wipe, benadryl (misplaced lol), a hair tie, and a compact (which i’ll probably remove since i never use it).

in the bigger section, which has two waterproof zip pockets, i keep medication (including ibuprofen, acetaminophen, benadryl, lactaid, pepto bismol, and a day’s worth of my everyday meds), as well as spare earplugs, more hair ties, chapstick, and currently a fruit roll-up, although i prefer a white chocolate macadamia nut clif bar (gf & vegan, good carbs, stores well).

on the far left, i've also got a sharge carbonmag 10,000 mAh powerbank and a lever gear keychain lightning cable with usb-c adaptor + SIM tool. the powerbank allows wireless charging, which is convenient for my phone and earbuds (below). the keychain cable is extremely compact and bends back on itself, so the powerbank can lie flat against your phone if you put it in your pocket.

in the bullet pouch i keep a pen, flash drive, my own ear plugs, a can opener, and a spare battery for my pentax 6x7. also a lighter & hairpin (where permitted by law).

these things sometimes go in the bag but are in my pockets if not. secrid wallet (the only wallet i ever want to own for the rest of my life), rovyvon aurora flashlight, and the pissbuds. the wallet holds 8 cards + a little cash and a flat multitool, and it has a spring arm that fans out the cards in the main metal protector - it’s convenient, looks nice, and fits in my front pocket. it’s the first real wallet i’ve ever owned after a decade of mightywallet-ing.

my brother gave me the flashlight, which is extremely bright, glows in the dark, has a UV & a low light option, and charges via micro-usb… an issue cuz i need to get another cable lol. if i ever upgrade my phone, I’ll probably get a newer usb-c version of this.

the pissbuds are nothing ear (1) buds. i got them for cheap. they’re great. they have noise cancelling, and the battery lasts a long time. they sound decent and charge wirelessly. i was given a much nicer set of earbuds (sony wf-1000xm3) by a dear friend, but i use them less often because the case is bulkier, the buds are heavier & less comfortable, and the controls are less responsive & intuitive to me.

i have an iphone SE-2. it’s old and cracked and slow. i like the size and i can’t afford anything better. in general, i’m happy with it.

the last thing that i carry is a carabiner with my house key (not pictured) and two keychain multi tool things. i never use either of these but you can supposedly smoke weed out of the silver one, which is cool. the carabiner was like $8 from home depot and i fucking hate it. it’s heavy and not highly strength-rated. I got it because I thought the circular loop would make it more convenient, but the carabiner itself is far too thick to put anything useful (like a key) on the loop. I often look at nicer carabiners online and think about replacing this one.

thanks for tuning in, hit the inbox with any questions, i love you

[trainsinanime]

Tram de Liège

After a lot of delays, the new tram line of Liège, Belgium finally opened today, bringing this mode of transport back to the “glowing city” after 58 years. So obviously I left work early and travelled through two countries to check it out.

The line had been planned since the late 2000s, and just about everything about it had been controversial, from its existence to its PPP financing model (which got ruled illegal by the EU not once but twice until they finally got it right) to its construction and delays.

As it stands, the line is almost 12 kilometers, almost all of it at the western bank of the river Meuse, with a single short branch over the river to Bressoux, serving the Expo Centre and also the depot. Three sections are wireless, and trains travel through them on battery power. Personally I think that’s at least two too many; wires would not have massively disturbed the view of the Pont Atlas or the new station quarter at Liège Guillemins, the city's striking main railway station.

As usual for these types of projects, a lot of city spaces got extensive renewals as part oft eh tram project, and between you and me, they were urgently needed. Liège has not always been a very nice city. In places, these improvements have meant reducing space for individual motor traffic and adding bike lanes. However, a number of new bike lanes are just the dreaded “share arrow” on four lane roads; this could be better.

Extensions at either end to Seraing and Herstal (yes, the one from the guns) are possible and some construction started back in 2023, but they got cancelled in 2024 due to high costs.

Costs are a major issue here. The line was very expensive, with a final bill of 530 million euro. In comparison, the line T9 in Paris, probably not a city with low construction costs, has a similar length and only came to 480 million euro (both figures include rolling stock and a dedicated depot and workshop, and come with the caveat that my French is atrocious and I may have misunderstood French Wikipedia here). So the Liège Tram is not quite crazy expensive, but definitely expensive.

The trains seem and feel very French, but are actually from Spanish CAF, part of the Urbos family. They are 45 meters long, 2.65 meters wide, fully low floor, with wide open spaces for standing passengers and persons with reduced mobility, but relatively few seats (though the seats all have USB charging ports).

Today, operations were fairly rough, I’m not going to lie, with lots of breakdowns and issues. I travelled the entire network, and ended up in two trams that just randomly stopped for ten minutes, presumably while the driver was trying to fix some issue. As a result, while headways are supposed to be good, actual headways were essentially random. On a more regular level, I would say signal priority is not yet handled perfectly, there are a number of places where trams had to stop due to red traffic lights.

Ticketing also left me baffled. I think I had a valid ticket, but I’m not actually sure. The Dutch-Belgian-German border region has a special day pass, the Euregioticket, valid in all trains and buses in the regions of Aachen (Germany), where I live, Maastricht (Netherlands) and Liège. But all documentation for it predates the tram, so there’s no point that actually says it’s valid on trams. The ticket validators on the trams certainly couldn’t tell me. Half of them were out of service anyway. And for the others, I have no idea how to get them to read a QR code on my phone, if they even have a camera for that. They’re supposed to, according to an employee of the operator I spoke with at a station, but I certainly didn’t see it. What the validators do is magically open the wallet app on my phone, which would probably have scared the shit out of me if this hadn’t been something I’d seen before. Some types of chip card readers for public transit just do that, apparently, regardless of my phone's settings. It was probably fine, I guess?

But don’t let the negativity fool you. The line is on track to be a huge success. Many of the trains I was in were rather full. Not quite packed, but definitely well used. A lot of that is probably people just trying it out (I noticed several people who did the same end-to-end-and-back runs as me), and a lot of it is that people are forced to use it, since the bus network was changed do that many bus lines now end at tram stops. But still, this clearly will be the backbone of the city for many years to come.

Now let’s hope my own city of Aachen manages to do the same before too long. We need more trams in this world.

[chiimi-png]

What’s in my bag

With the impending start to a new school year in wanted to share what I carry around on my backpack. Keep in mind I’m mostly working on written projects and not on models atm so it may vary from past semesters and even next semester.

Front Pocket:

Here I try to keep important things that I need to have at hand so it holds my house keys, car keys, card holder, wallet pouch and a an emergency pen.

Main Pocket:

Here is a bit of a free for all, I have a folder for printouts, written pages, syllabus, my planner, pen case, wireless mouse, USB-C hub, laptop and phone chargers, toiletry bag, and a book, as well as any other thing I might need for the day or things I collect through the day. I may also carry a hoodie in the winter and my water bottle with coffee or water depending in the time of day.

Lastly, my laptop pocket that carries my Macbook Pro 13” M1 (2020)

[zzz-updates]

[Prize Event] Christmas Wishing Well

Merry Christmas, dear Proxies!

On this special day, members of Section 6 have carefully prepared Christmas surprises for all Proxies~ Come choose your exclusive present now!

✨ Vote for the Agent's present you wish to receive to enter the lucky draw for the corresponding prize pool~

>> Official Hoyolab post <<

[Prize List]

Miyabi: Razer Kraken Kitty V2 Headset ×10

Harumasa: DualSense™ Wireless Controller ×10

Yanagi: Apple Pencil (USB-C) ×10

Soukaku: $50 Amazon Gift Card (USD) ×10

*The total number of prizes for this event will be shared across all event platforms. Each Proxy can only win once.

[How to Participate]

Vote for the Agent's present you wish to receive to participate.

[Event Duration]

2024/12/24 – 2024/12/30 23:59 (UTC+8)

Winners will be announced on January 3, 2025, in this event post.

[Notes]

1. Event winners will be announced on January 3, 2025, in this post.

2. Please enable Reward Notifications before the announcement, as we will notify you of the results via System Messages. If you do not enable notifications and this affects the process of sending rewards, the rewards will not be re-issued. Link to system notification settings: https://www.hoyolab.com/setting/notification

3. Prizes in this event are limited to one per account.

4. Replies suspected of the following will be disqualified: reply content that violates community rules, plagiarism or theft of others' content, replying to a reply, starting a separate post to reply, and any posts containing advertising of any form.

5. Winners of physical prizes should fill in their address within 10 working days from the issuance of the winner's notification on the HoYoLAB platform, or their rewards will be deemed forfeited. For a step-by-step guide on how to fill out your address, please see >>>Prize Delivery Address Guide

6. For any questions regarding the event, feel free to contact us at: zzzcs_en@hoyoverse.com

7. For more rules, please see >>

[psiroller]

youre like the pam to my jim (preview)

im on my office romcom au bullshit folks. itll be a oneshot and basically pwp but here's the lead in to wet ur whistle.

dunmeshi/chilaios/dom!laios/eventual bdsm club shenanigans/2.2K

cw: blue collar blues, language, not so unresolved sexual tension, questionable workplace romance between a superior (chilchuck) and his subordinate (laios). this is not used for leverage (laios is actually the dom in this scenario, inverting the power imbalance) but i thought id mention it. they keep it professional on the clock (USUALLY)

Though he’d rocked up to the office less than an hour ago, Chilchuck’s workday had already run long. All the printers had gone offline, and he had to spend a few hours troubleshooting with Kuro how to get them operational; there had been a software update, apparently, that rendered the very outdated inter-office network unusable. Of course, this meant an hour on the phone with the district manager trying to get their network updated to the company-wide standard, something that had been blown off for a year and a half; the way she reacted to his request, Chil might as well have asked her for her firstborn. All he could get for his trouble was a tepid “I’ll look into it”. This meant running around handing out USB sticks like holiday cards so his employees could get something done, and lots of lines at the printers into the foreseeable future, and naturally their budget for office supplies had been cut, so it all came out of his pocket.

The whole department was behind on their calls, but Chilchuck fought back the urge to go around crabbing at people to catch up. It served him well, as Marcille approached him in the afternoon and informed him that the phone lines were down, and the voice mailbox wasn’t functioning, and there were angry customers on the line. Another call to Kuro, who was really stretching the limits of his contract, and it turns out that the phones had also been pushed a software update that made them incompatible with the inter-office network, and they would have to take every call in two rings or they would be automatically parked on a line that no longer existed and be summarily hung up on.

Mr. Tims announced he would be taking a lunch. He blasted a cigarette in the parking lot and returned to his desk to sulk, face in hands, dreaming of days when their lines were all directly connected and they didn’t have to go through the song and dance of software updates, firmware updates, network security updates, OS updates, wireless headsets, broken wireless headsets, lost wireless headsets and keycards and lost keycards and broken keycards and daily performance numbers and corrective action reports and work smartphones with keylogging software in them and mouse movement monitoring and—

Chilchuck went back to work. He used his personal cell to call up the DM and informed her of the raging clusterfuck that had become his department—and probably the whole branch—now that the office network was effectively obsolete. She sounded on the verge of tears—apparently her other branches had also fallen victim to the endless onward march of the digital millennium, and she was at her wit’s end trying to fix them all at once. Every stress-deadened neuron in his withering brain proclaimed: serves you right. If you had fixed this when I first asked, we’d all be stressed out at the usual operating baseline. He wished her the best and hung up. He stared blankly at his desktop calendar, seeing that the next district meeting was in three days. His vision briefly fuzzed over and he fantasized about leaping onto the table and screaming, just screaming until his throat was raw and his face was purple and they had to have the orc from the main branch’s operational compliance department drag him out.

 Chilchuck went for coffee. He was risking time theft, but his DM had bigger problems, and there wasn’t much he could do. The frantic calling died down, Marcille having performed some kind of forbidden ritual to pacify their frothing customer base. During his walkaround he saw most of the floor taking calls, even folks who normally ducked phone duty, so she must have gone around recruiting people to her cause. Chilchuck made a note of that; he’d have to compensate her somehow for taking on what should have been his job.

Laios, however, was nowhere to be seen. This rankled Chilchuck; Laios rarely missed a day except for the handful of times Chilchuck had to send him home for being deathly ill, so of course the day he had to miss, there was catastrophe. His cubicle was empty, he wasn’t in the break room, he wasn’t in the parking lot putting out an engine fire on his piece of shit motorcycle, not at the watercooler. Nothing. He checked with Marcille if he’d called out, and she quirked an eyebrow up at him.

“No? He’s in the server room, with Kuro.”

“Kuro?”

“Yeah, he said he went to help.”

Mr. Tims ground his teeth. “That’s not his—I’ll go talk to him.”

Marcille smirked. “Sure you will.”

Chilchuck glowered at her, but Marcille faced his evil eye with insufferable smugness. He remembered all too soon that she saved his ass this morning, and he had to close his open mouth and walk away.

“We’re even now,” he growled.

“Nope! Still getting that Starbucks gift card!”

She was right, but he wouldn’t be admitting it. Chilchuck stormed out of his department and down the hall, sliding smoothly into a closing elevator with a few other disgruntled employees, taking a frankly infuriating number of stops at basically every floor until he could ride it all the way down into the basement. When the doors parted, hot, stuffy air flooded in. Chilchuck winced and loosened his tie and waistcoat as he stalked the rows of servers, the heat only getting worse the longer he lingered, until he found Kuro kneeling with his arms in the guts of the worst cable management imaginable, Laios helping him separate out the lines to keep track of each spaghettified clump of wires.

“Chil!” Laios said, getting a growl from Kuro that probably meant be quiet in Western Kobold. “Oh, uh, sorry. Mr. Tims! How is it up there?”

“Bad,” Chilchuck ground out. “Of course. We could really use a hand with the calls up there, you know.”

“Oh, are the lines working again?”

“Enough to receive them, but not enough to park them, so it’s a disaster for customer satisfaction,” Chilchuck said, trying to manage his volume. “So what are you doing down here? I don’t recall you being in IT.”

Laios slopped some sweat off the back of his neck with the palm of his equally sweaty hand. His dragon-patterned tie had been loosened enough to nearly slip off his neck, just enough to stay in code, and he’d tucked the end of it into his pocket to keep it out of the way, having forgotten his clip again. The heat in their dilapidated, poorly ventilated server room made his business casual button-up cling nicely to the curves of his chest and solid core, the one bright point in Chilchuck’s day so far.

“Oh, well, I wasn’t getting anywhere with my work… I mostly had a bunch of bills to print and mail out today, so naturally that was going nowhere. I had my personal USB on me, so I tried to get it done manually, but Namari was hogging it for her shipment printouts because apparently their system is kaput in the warehouse… and when I checked again everyone was using it. Some of the newer printer models don’t come with USB ports, so some of the more up-to-date departments were mooching off ours.”

“I thought the lines seemed a little excessive,” Chilchuck grumped. “I don’t think I’ve seen those things used more rigorously than they have been today.”

“Yup, that’s why. So I caught Kuro running between the floors trying to troubleshoot his latest Band-Aid fix, so I’ve been doing all the stuff that doesn’t require a tech degree, heh.”

“Laios okay with software,” Kuro chimed in. “Break hardware.”

“Yeah,” Laios said with a frown. “But the part was replaceable!” He beamed, cutting off a lecture. “Good thing Kuro hangs onto spare parts.”

Chilchuck’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to the real IT technician of the pair. “Is he actually helping, Kuro? Or are you humoring him?”

“Nice to have extra hands.” His tail wagged loosely, bushing the cuffs of his slacks. “He runs up to other floors. Checks employee access and network strength in offices. Saves time.”

“Alright then. Keep up the good work.” Chilchuck met Laios’ eye. Laios winked at him. Chilchuck blushed and ignored him, heels clacking on the cheap linoleum as he walked away.

Chilchuck hopped on call duty, having found everyone in their place and doing what all could be done. His customer service voice got a workout that left him feeling tense and jittery, every call opening with a frustrated sigh or straight up yelling. After a few quick resolutions and a handful of longer, 20–30-minute stretches of troubleshooting and over-the-phone customer cocksucking, the landline made a happy little beep, the flashing lights next to every line dying out one by one as they were parked. A dialogue box popped up on his PC: Connected to HP-5669964.

“Hey, Chil!”

Laios strode into Chilchuck’s office, startling his boss for a second as he rounded the desk in a few long strides. A big hand clapped down on Chil’s shoulder, jostling his arm and spilling coffee on the crisp collar of his shirt. Chilchuck grimaced.

“What.”

“We fixed it!”

Chilchuck eyed Laios suspiciously and set his mug down.

“How the hell did you…?”

“Don’t get too excited, it’s a temporary fix,” Laios chuckled. “But we narrowed down the problem to some kinda software incompatibility. Shuro rolled back the servers to an earlier restore point, so it’s like the update never happened! Of course, the update’s going to get forced on us again once the clock rolls over, but we can just do that tomorrow, too. If you want, I can come in early to-“

Mr. Tims raised a finger. “No. We’ll take care of it tomorrow when we usually punch in. Not everyone’s a morning person like you, Laios. It’s going to be 10 AM before anyone’s awake enough to do any work, so that’ll cover the time it takes for the servers to spin up.”

Laios leaned forward on the desk, hanging over Chilchuck’s high-backed ergonomic chair, one he had to shill out for himself. “What?” Chilchuck hissed, glowering up at him.

“I’m not hearing a ‘thank you’.”

Chilchuck scoffed. “For doing your job? You’re not doing this just for me. You’re being paid.”

Laios’s cupped Chilchuck’s cheek, hand engulfing half his face, which flushed and burned in Laios’ palm.

“Watch it, Touden,” he growled, arms crossed. Laios’ thumb stroked his cheekbone; Chilchuck didn’t swat him away. “We’re both on the clock.”

“Chil,” Laios said, in that honey-sweet tone that meant Chilchuck was about to be nagged. “You’re burnt out.”

Chilchuck blinked up at him, dark eyes shadowed by dark rings that Laios traced, up to his subtle, deepening crow’s feet. “Huh? No I’m not. This has just been a frustrating—” Laios’ fingers pushed into Chilchuck’s hair, shaking it out, raking blunt nails against his scalp. “—day. I’m not… you don’t have to…” He slumped into Laios’ big, warm palm, calloused but gentle in handling him. “… what was the question again?”

Laios chuckled. “Nothing. I got it handled.”

Chilchuck snapped back into reality and bit into the meat of Laios’ thumb to try to get him to unhandle it. Laios took it like a champ, pulling his hand out of Chilchuck’s mouth and cradling the whole of Chilchuck’s head in his palm, raking it back and forth, mussing up his hair, which Chilchuck reached up to fight off; his arms disobeyed him, flopping around like limp noodles until he gave up and relaxed into it.

“I can see you through your office windows, y’know. You looked like you weren’t having a great time. So I figured I’d help take care of it, ease your mind a little.” Laios’ smile had a sad quirk to it. “You look a little pale. You didn’t have cigarettes for lunch again, did you?”

Chilchuck grimaced. “None of your business.”

Laios sighed. “That’s a yes.”

“It’s just a rough week, Laios,” Chilchuck said. “I’ll be alright.”

Laios’ hand trailed down, framing Chilchuck’s chin with his thumb and forefinger.

“You’re coming home with me tonight,” Laios said, meeting Chilchuck’s eyes with that relentless force, gold boring into him. Sometimes Chilchuck wondered if Laios’ eyes ever got dry; he hardly ever blinked.  “We’re getting food into you, and a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, we’re going to the club to work some of that tension out of you. Understood?”

Chilchuck’s pupils blew wide. His thick eyebrows pinched and he grimaced, unable to look away. Laios’ body curled over him, blocking out the office, the noise, the chaos. Chilchuck sighed, dropped his arms into his lap, and let Laios carry the weight of his skull.

“Oh, right,” Chilchuck realized, his eyes bright. “It’s Friday.”

Laios grinned and patted Chil’s cheek. “See? The fact that you forgot means you’re burned out. See you at six.”

Chilchuck threw paperclips at Laios until he left his office. At 6 PM, they met up on top of the hood of Chilchuck’s old Mustang; his tongue tasted like black coffee. Laios smiled, making it hard to kiss him deeply; Chilchuck got impatient and started biting. Marcille speedwalked past the car and neither of them noticed or cared.

[maryellencarter]

So my birthday is coming up in November! Last year I had my worst birthday EVER so far *knock wood*, dealing with my loser now-ex-boyfriend who had gotten himself hospitalized by drinking rubbing alcohol and did Not want me warning his parents to lock it up. (Alcoholism and stupidity are two different diseases and some people have both of them.)

So anyway I am still homeless, which is exhausting, but this year I do have a mailing address where I can get packages! So I have made a birthday wishlist. Some notes:

* The thread cutter is the item I want the absolute most. The shelter I'm currently at won't let me have scissors in my room, so I can't do any of my handicrafts. If I can get a thread/yarn cutter it's impossible to poke people with, I can pick up some sewing or crocheting and be slightly less stir-crazy.

* The wifi at this shelter blocks gaming websites, including the interactive maps I use for Breath of the Wild and Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, so I've been playing a lot of Animal Crossing. I have a fair number of amiibo cards already, but the three I've listed (Genji, Sasha, and Pashmina) would cover some gaps in my collection and help me get some of the DIY recipes I especially want.

* My current mouse has a USB-A dongle, but my computer has only USB-C ports, so I have to use an adapter and I'm always worried it's going to snap off or get lost. So a USB-C wireless mouse would be really nice.

* My last two electric razors each simply died one day, and my beard eats safety razors for breakfast. I'd like to try the rotary-head style of electric razor, my father always used one so I suspect it might work better with a stiff bristly beard like mine.

* The book, Saltwater Mittens, is low priority because I can't have my knitting needles in my room either, but it's one of the very few knitting books I actually want to own rather than just check out of the library, so I thought I'd add it. You know how most knitting books that reference traditional patterns are like "with a modern twist" or "inspired by traditional designs"? Nope. These are actual, historical, we looked at real Newfoundland fishing mittens in a museum and You Can Make Them Here's How.

[studyfindsindia]

🎵 Loud enough to fill your room. Small enough to carry in your pocket.

Meet the Zebronics Zeb-County Bluetooth speaker — India’s favorite budget speaker under ₹600 💸

✅ Deep bass

✅ USB/SD card/AUX support

✅ Compact & portable

✅ Built-in FM Radio

✅ 4+ hour playback

Perfect for study time, chill time, or party time 🕺📚

🛒 Grab yours here ⬇️

[fat-fuck-hairy-belly]

You may not like it, but this is what peak laptop performance looks like

From top to bottom:

HDMI cable plugged into an HDMI to DVI adapter plugged into a monitor

USB to Ethernet adapter

USB hub with 4 USB 3.0 ports in which there is:

External sound card

Wireless mouse connector

And there is also a keyboard plugged on the other side of the laptop

[neo-pussy]

i just did a few reaction time tests using two different gaming mice (one being a cheap wired mouse, the other being an entry level wireless mouse from a known brand) and got surprisingly different results. the really surprising thing is that the wired mouse is not, in fact, the fastest.

i did 4 tests of 5 for each mouse (randomly switching mouse to try and mitigate getting better at it after doing the test a bunch of times) and the best of all, with an average reaction of 223.5ms was the wireless mouse over 2.4GHz. the surprising thing is that in this case and only this case (wireless 2.4) did i get any below 200ms results, going as low as 150 once.

the second fastest was the crappy wired mouse, with an average of 244.5ms of reaction time, which is +21ms on average.

and the third and last was the wireless mouse over bluetooth, averaging at 271.5ms, 48ms more than the 2.4GHz score.

given the scenario (mouse on a desk, with a computer located under the desk, with a wireless pcie card on the bottom of the computer with two antennas pointed upwards, and the wireless 2.4GHz dongle placed on the top USB ports) i'm gonna say that a 48ms difference for bluetooth and 2.4GHz is not usual, and perhaps with a better setup, like a desk top desktop (haha, get it?) or a laptop, the difference would be minimised (but not eliminated). as for the difference between the 2.4GHz and the wired, i think it can be clearly attributed to the poor quality of the wired mouse. but what in particular, i have two theories :

1 : the mouse has very low quality internals that do not allow for a fast transmission of signals, whether it is in it pcb or in the cable or whatever.

2. the mechanical parts of the mouse (the actual buttons) are of a terrible quality, require perhaps more force to push the button, adding a delay to the press.

it could be a bit of both, but i do believe that the wireless mouse clicks just feel better.

i think in order to get any scientifically acceptable result, i would need to get a much higher volume of data, try it with different people, different mice, different computers.

[breakcut]

Tagged by @leadxxr

Tagging: @rpdb0y , @ripgray , @fogsnatched , @exmortiis

[riflebrass]

Alright RAM and headset have been ordered. They won't get here in time for this weekend's game of Enshrouded but next weekend should be good.

I don't know a whole lot about RAM. I ended up getting the Corsair 64gb modules. It has 3600mhz. I'm not sure how great that is for DDR4 but it's faster than the cheaper memory sticks that were 3200. I see DDR5 is up to 6000mhz but that requires a new motherboard.

As for the headset it has 3 input modes. There's a bluetooth option which I'm going to avoid since I'm sure that's what's causing my current audio problems. There's a 2.4ghz USB dongle for non-bluetooth wireless. Finally if all else fails there's an option to use an AUX cable.

My next weak point in the system is my video card. I have a GTX 1660TI with 6gb of V-RAM. Since I don't care about ray-tracing and I hardly ever play any new games it shouldn't need to be replaced anytime soon.

[alonelystargazer]

why are smartphones so impractical now?

I currently have a galaxy S10 that I've had for 3 years now and I'll probably keep at least for another year but just out of curiosity I checked out the new Galaxy S24 and there's no headphone jack so your forced to use Bluetooth headphones? (do they sell wired headphones with USB-C Jack instead of a 3.5 mm jack?) no SD card slot for expandable storage so you're either stuck with limited storage or forced to buy the higher storage option? there's like a million lenses on the back taking up space and are probably just placebos for people to believe they're using high quality cameras for their photos

the only features that are still available from my "outdated" phone model that matter to me are wired charging and water resistance

I personally do NOT need AI assistance or face ID or fingerprint scanning or anything else that requires my biometric data to be stored on the manufacturer's servers or whatever

thank goodness that phones are still available unlocked and can be used with prepaid wireless providers bc I would never want to be stuck in a contract with a phone provider and pay for a new phone over the course of 2 years, so you don't even technically own it but also by the time you've paid it off the phone is "outdated" so what's the point? if it's to build credit there's other ways of doing it

ugh don't mind me I'm just being grumpy bc I don't really like what tech companies are currently doing and what the future of tech looks like

not to mention that smartphones are just too damn expensive now, like even the base models of some phones are minimum $600 like that's rent money!!