limelight79 @ limelight79 @lemm.ee

See me at @limelight79@lemmy.world

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2 yr. ago

It's a post-truth world here in the US!

Interesting. This one didn't include a link to an article, just fear mongering.

The person that posted it deleted it after my comment, I think. I'll check.

A friend of mine posted something on Facebook (reposted from a local list in Arizona) claiming that two people were knocking on doors and beating up people, and one woman was in the hospital as a result. Pictures of the perpetrators and everything.

Something felt off, so I did a quick search on their names. And I found an article from some city in Texas where the same rumor had been circulating about that area. The article clarified that the two people had committed some crimes several years ago and were caught, tried, and convicted already.

So someone took one of these, changed the name of the area, and posted it to the local list. Why do people do this? A form of stochastic terrorism maybe?

Edit - I can't find the post (I think my friend deleted it), but I did still have a tab open with the article about it.

I have two thoughts on the pellet level - both measuring from the top. I have a few OpenGarage devices and a SaltSentry. Both essentially do the same thing, measure the distance between the sensor and the next object it encounters, but they are different methods - the SaltSentry uses a time of flight sensor, and from what I can tell from the pictures, it's just that small little thing at the point of the device. The OpenGarage uses a larger ultrasonic sensor.

Look how small and cheap those time of flight sensors are on a small breadboard (I literally just found those). Mount that on the underside of the top of the hopper, run some wires to an esp32 or similar, config it, and boom, I think.

Our detached garage has a propane furnace (one of those that hangs in the corner of the room). I just recently put a Shelly 1 into the thermostat circuit to control it, then I tried to attach a temperature sensor to it, so it can act as a thermostat...then I found that you need the Shelly Add-on to actually attach a sensor to it... So I got the Shelly Plus Add-On...but that's for a later generation of Shelly 1 than I currently have........so my next purchase will be a newer generation Shelly 1 to replace the Shelly 1 I already....yeah, this has been a frustrating experience. And I'm not a huge fan of Shelly after they took an order and my money and never delivered the product in 2023. So, if I buy Shelly, it's only via Amazon now.

We should start a "home automation pellet stove" community, now that there are at least two of us.

Mine has all electronic controls. I use a power monitoring plug to detect if it's running and turn on a nearby ceiling fan if so. It also counts how long it has been running to let me know when to clean it (~150 hours of run time). I have a Shelly 1 connected to the thermostat wires, and a temperature sensor elsewhere the room tied together in HA to make a thermostat to control the stove. I have a fairly complex script that sets the pellet stove's temperature based on various factors like time of day, outdoor temperature, etc. If the thermostat doesn't call for heat for half an hour, the pellet stove automatically shuts down and will restart if heat is called for (this functionality is built into the stove).

I'd like to monitor the level of pellets, and I'd like to have control of the level - it can run on levels 1-5, controlled by a push button. I normally keep it on 2, but on a really cold morning, jacking it up to 4 or 5 would be helpful - and make it even more critical I monitor the level of pellets.

I won't take glee in it, but I will take a stance of, "This is what this country voted for."

I say, bring on the tariffs, too. Yep, it's going to suck for a lot of people. But that's apparently the only way anyone is going to learn. Not Trump fans; I don't expect them to learn a damn thing, as a group. But the rest of the country will hopefully learn why voting for Trump was a bad idea and maaaaaybe give a bit more thought to the next election, assuming there is one.

Hmmm that is really odd. Since I addressed the interference issue, the only major issue I've had with any Aqara device (including door sensors, temperature sensors, one vibration sensor, one water presence sensor, and a few wall switches) is the vibration sensor, which I damaged the battery cover, so it doesn't close properly and keep the battery in place correctly. So that one is my fault. I have had a door sensor and water presence sensor drop off the network occasionally, but that's rare.

Heck I even have a second network set up in my RV (sensors only) and it seems to be reliable as well. But the metal shell keeps much of the signal contained, I'm sure.

I wonder if there's something else in your area that's interfering with it.

The way you wrote this, I thought you meant that if it required a cloud service you would turn it off. But now I think you're just saying you wouldn't use this feature.

I share the confusion over your definition of "active". You got all defensive when someone asked, so now no one really knows what you meant.

Where was I refusing to understand its quirks? After several years of using snap-based Firefox, I came to the conclusion that I didn't like the snap based installation of firefox. So, I followed the directions to go back to a deb-based Firefox installation. But Kubuntu "helpfully" reverted it a few months later, and that cycle repeated a few times.

I specifically requested the deb-based installation and it ignored my wishes. I know what operating system that reminds me of, and it isn't Linux.

I'm sure someone will tell me I'm wrong for wanting a .deb-based Firefox and that snaps are better anyway. Even if that's true (I don't care to argue), I chose a path and Kubuntu overrode my choice. Silently, too.

I'll also note that I started using Kubuntu back in 2008 or so, and stopped last year. I used it on both my desktop and laptop machines. So, it wasn't like I just tried it for a few hours and got upset; I was a long time user that was quite familiar with how it worked. For most of that time, I was really happy with Kubuntu, but having it override my explicit configuration was extremely frustrating.

Others can continue to use it, that's fine with me. This isn't a personal attack on anyone's choices.

What am I supposed to do?

Yeah it sucks for everyone affected, but I voted against the idiot that wanted to do it. However, quite a few others voted for him - against their own interests - and won't listen to reason. Medicaid is usually considered part of that "third rail" of politics - touch it and you get electrocuted politically, but here we are.

I would like to hear what you think we should do.

I've followed those directions, only to find snap firefox was reinstalled a few months later.

Switched to Debian, much happier.

And guess who likes McDonalds?

Not quite that. But one of our cats would show up at night and demand to be let under the cover. I'd lift it up, and she'd curl up against me for 20-30 minutes, then leave. I miss her!

Another one we have now likes to curl up on or next to my feet, but on top of the covers, not under them. Sometimes he'll come up to my head to get scratches, but he generally only does that when I'm already awake.

I just ordered one of those MHCOZY relays, hoping to use it in my RV to control the furnace (via the thermostat connection). Glad to hear they are reliable!

Either that, or you have wifi interference.

I had all kinds of issues with my zigbee network until I switched my wifi to use channels 1 and 6, and Zigbee to use 24 or something like that. Since then, it has been rock solid.

We need to get Admiral Cloudberg to join!

Thanks. We really miss her - small cat, 7 lbs, but a HUGE personality. We have two other cats, a dog, and a third cat we adopted after she passed, and the house STILL seems super quiet without her, 4.5 years later.

We always knew where she was because she would enter a room and announce herself. Her meow meant, "The Queen is here!" The dog barks louder, but doesn't bark often, so the cat somehow felt louder.

I miss that cat so much.

I can confirm their light switches and door/window sensors work as well.

We had one that did that. Apparently it can happen after they've had a trauma, which she had (some sort of infection that put her in the hospital for a few days). We woke up one morning to blood all over the house. All. Over. The. House. My wife took her to the animal hospital while I cleaned the mess.

The vets weren't able to get the wound to heal, and she ended up losing part of her tail.

Contrary to what I'd always heard, it didn't affect her ability to jump, or anything else that I could see.

(When I told this story on reddit, someone claimed, "That never happened!" So I posted a picture of her tail bandaged up. No apology, of course. I have no idea what someone would think I would have to gain by making up such a story.)

She passed away four years later from a long list of medical issues. To this day, when we see pictures of her before her tail was docked, we say, "It's the long-tailed tabby!"

Pretty much! He even survived being in a car crash later in his life. Just went back to sleep.