More #FirstWorldProblems as my new hybrid heat pump hot water heater failed city inspection. Apparently the plumbers will have to redo the condensate drainage, as the plan of "empty the bucket" isn't going to cut it, it must go into a sewer drain or be piped outside.
@fedops Agreed. There are parts to the city code in Arlington and Texas in general that I like (such as allowing for my strange solar panel/home battery setup), however there are some real oddball things here and there that are maddening, like this. Crazy.
@fwaggle@fedops Ah but I've looked further into it, and while it is against regs it is not required. I've spoken to the plumber AND the city, and I can simply have things remain the way they are. Apparently the plumbers did know the code, and I remember they gave me the choice of drainpipe out the wall of the garage, or bucket. So I am opting for bucket.
Latest follow-up podcast is out! YouTube: https://youtu.be/JPGMBbBt9s8 Audio version: https://share.transistor.fm/s/1bad8d75 Sean and I talk about old designs, new designs, and the coincidences linking them. Wind turbine design goes back centuries, but are they actually linked to newer designs?
The big news in search this week is that Google is continuing its transition to "AI search" - instead of typing in search terms and getting links to websites, you'll ask Google a question and an AI will compose an answer based on things it finds on the web:
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
@pluralistic This new offering of an AI search engine reminds me of the radio receiver on board with the crew on Hitchhiker's Guide, used for listening to music, news, and entertainment, where it had become so unusable that they've just throw something in the direction of the sensitive and elaborate frequency tuning mechanism, hoping the tuning dial would land on something listenable.
@mattferrell Let Sean know since he referenced a human ear growing on a rat I was 1) immediately reminded of a character Ear Man from the David Cronenberg film “Crimes of the Future” (I did not see it, just saw stills from the movie), and 2) also immediately kept mentally seeing Sean as Ear Man trying to do the podcast. Very distracting, I kept giggling like an 11 year old. Otherwise, great podcast.
If you're looking for a way to irritate other #nerds, particularly #tech nerds, just say "What's the big deal about Al? Always in the headlines, who's Al anyway?" And don't say #AI as in "ai" say Al like "Al Capone".
@mattferrell Yeah I caught a lot of this shit online from my blog post series on getting panels and batteries. Assuming the annual cost of electricity is the same as 2017 when I got the first "wave" done, with wave two and three done in 2019 and 2022 respectively, it will all be paid for in electric bill savings in about 2030. However since rates have slowly increased, that will be actually 2026.
Works fine on cloudy and winter days, can charge my EV for free, and my neighbors in this working class neighborhood are getting solar, despite the "cost".
Plus if the zombie apocalypse happens and the zombies attack the grid itself, I'll still be up and op, probably bitching online about zombies.
Thunderstorms and in general just constant rain for today, but in the middle of morning yoga there was a short window for the rain-averse #dog to get in short walk. We got about a 1/4 mile in, not much but enough to motivate a ceremonial dump on a neighbor's lawn that I bagged up (and no, dark-humored smartass, it was a dog dump not a people one).
For the #weather nerds, nothing of note from this area in Texas, mainly just rain.
Interestingly, with the rolling thunder, the #dog is in "guard mode". This is typically done during #yoga in that she keeps going back and forth between myself and the front door or myself and the back door, sitting alert with ears up to protect me. She's doing this now with the thunder. Yes, she is only a chiweenie, but she's fierce and will fight the #weather if need be.
I'm really irritated with Google and want to get rid of my Gmail but this will not be easy. I have lots of saved emails. Not sure what to do with it all. Any suggestions?
@idoubtit I simply run my own mail server, but I don't recommend that to most people except complete geek nerd deluxe types. But a number of friends state proton mail is good, and they have tools to assist in mail transfer.
@paul@idoubtit Yes, I've run the main domain for personal mail for myself and several others since 1997. Things were harder back then, but even with DMARC, DKIM, SPF, SMTPS, using IMAPS, VPNs, and managing it things have gotten easier over the years as technology and options have improved.