101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers

~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

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rustingbridges:

ime one of the upsides of gas is that as long as you have gas or electric your home has heat and cooking capability

also I’ve never had a gas outage. presumably they run those underground? whereas I’ve lived in places where you were, at some point, definitely going to have the electric out for hours

 

brin-bellway:

…how is your heat set up? Is that from having a gas stove?

I have an electric stove and a gas furnace (also a gas dryer and water heater), and I would have said the exact opposite: one of the *downsides* of gas is that your heat needs *both* gas and electricity to work, and fails if either is missing.

(Not that gas has ever been missing, true, but “works when electricity is out” is like the *one* major advantage combustion-based heating can have, and it can’t even fucking do *that*. It had one job! What am I paying all this carbon for, if not that?!)

(I can*not* fucking wait to get a heat pump and some hybrid solar.)

 

rustingbridges:

huh, TIL. has this always been the case? most of my lengthy power outage memories occur the late 90s / early 00s and the furnace might have been old at the time.

maybe the kerosene space heater people are right after all

What am I paying all this carbon for, if not that?!

my understanding is that vs resistive heating you’re not paying carbon, since gas furnaces are extremely efficient. heat pumps can change this equation, yeah

 

brin-bellway:

My furnace is from 1990. I doubt it’s very efficient; it should, however, give pretty accurate results regarding “what things were like in the late 90s”.

We had a 16-hour power outage in late December a few years back, and it got pretty cold in the house. (Though the downward slope over time was shallower than I would have expected: I guess our insulation is better than I thought.)

I’m not sure what you mean about not paying carbon relative to–oh, are you assuming the electricity is *also* produced by burning gas? We’re mostly nuclear and hydro around here, though with a minority of natural gas.

—

>>maybe the kerosene space heater people are right after all

I’ve thought about it, but I’d rather not risk it. My current plan for extended cold-weather power outages is to set up a family-sized tent in my kitchen (the only large enough open space for it) and pile on the insulation.

 

rustingbridges:

My furnace is from 1990. I doubt it’s very efficient; it should, however, give pretty accurate results regarding “what things were like in the late 90s”.

right, given that furnaces are often quite old it’s possible the furnace in question was from 1970 or something like that.

but also maybe it just never got that cold, the longest outages I can remember were in the summer. there were some fall / winter ones but as I remember it they were less than a day.

are you assuming the electricity is *also* produced by burning gas

not gas necessarily, but yeah that was assuming fossil fuels. typical furnaces are very efficient at turning fuel into heat, as heat is normally the waste product of energy generation and the only trick is to extract as much heat as possible from waste gases that you want to pipe out of the house. whereas with electric heat the waste heat at the power plant is, well, wasted.

but yeah if you have hydro that’s not at all the case.

I’ve thought about it, but I’d rather not risk it

yeah this was mostly a joke. I’ve been around a few kerosene space heaters and they smelled, which I took as a bad sign in addition to fire risk. I don’t think I’d buy one if I had the option of using an electric one.

as an emergency survival plan I’m willing to consign myself to living in cold weather clothes for a while, which I have anyway for cold weather activities

>>given that furnaces are often quite old it’s possible the furnace in question was from 1970 or something like that

I’d heard that furnaces tend to fail after about 15 years, suggesting our 31.5-year-old furnace is staggeringly ancient. I figured a 1990 furnace would give a decent sense of the state of things circa 1997, since it was halfway through its life expectancy then.

—

>>#I don’t actually own a tent at present but yes if you have one even a tent not meant for cold weather stuff will do a lot

I didn’t actually *know* we owned a tent during the 16-hour outage, and Mom apparently didn’t think of it. Shit like this is why I want to inventory the basement and attic.

(she says she inherited it from a retiring Girl Scout leader, and never got a good opportunity to use it for our own troop)

Tags:

#reply via reblog #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #domesticity

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spacefroggity:

Weird peeve time. Calling lab grown gemstones “fake” is stupid because it’s the same shit just not formed naturally. An artificially grown diamond is the same shit as a natural diamond it is the exact same material bro it’s all fuckign carbon

spacefroggity:

It’s carbon it’s pretty and it didn’t involve slave labor what’s not to love??? Hi I’m having geology opinions tonight apparently. And I’m right

spacefroggity:

There is so much bullshit in the diamonds industry to be mad about tbh. It also ties into the bullshit of the wedding industry as a whole but we don’t have the time to unpack all that

val-ritz:

not even going to lie, the day i learned i could get like 15 lab grown rubies the size of dimes for $20 is the day i spent $20 on rubies, and i have never once said to myself “man, i wish this cost $1,600 and the lives of eight children to produce”

fuckyeahmineralogy:

We are a pro-lab-grown mineral blog here, not only is it massively cheaper but massively more ethical as well in many cases.

thegreenpea:

another very cool lab grown gem is Moissanite. It has a 9.25 on the mohs hardness scale where diamond is a 10. Moissanote also has a 2.69 refractive index in comparison to diamond’s 2.419 and here is the difference

64b3a4b65cafef74eed5b0f35f0c3a8a5fea4550

and the best thing about moissanite? It is all lab grown and it costs only a fraction of what diamond costs. So fuck the diamond indsutry and buy lab grown gems which cost significantly less

rubixpsyche:

Also it’s just cool to think of some mad scientist lookin person doing shit against the law of the universe and making pretty gems for you. Like cmon. This shouldnt be allowed probably. But humans really be like on gOD i want some shiny an just started MAKIN em

dadzathechaosgod:

for years people wanted alchemy, well now we have alchemy and we’re making gemstones out of it and suddenly “it doesn’t count” anymore

Tags:

#…there’s something interesting here about the clash between gems-as-decorative-shinies and gems-as-store-of-value #if you were wearing jewellery because it was beautiful then increased availability is an improvement #but if you were wearing jewellery to display wealth‚ and jewellery becomes cheap‚ then it ceases to fulfil its function #more sympathetically‚ if you used to take comfort in the idea that if you ever hit financial rock bottom #–(and‚ especially‚ if you were ever cut off from access to the local financial system)– #you’d be able to get by through pawning your jewellery‚ and jewellery becomes cheap‚ you’ve lost that safety net #(a safety net your ancestors and/or past selves paid good money for‚ money now wasted) #((a few months back I had my mom help me go through the jewellery I’ve accumulated as gifts over the decades #and figure out which ones are valuable and which ones are costume)) #((I store the valuable ones separately from the others so that I can grab the container and run)) #((because silver is a better trade good than steel even if they’re equally shiny)) #((the world is full of stories of refugees who got the starting funds for a new life by selling the jewellery they wore when they escaped)) #I know a whole lot of people place a whole lot more value on decoration than I do #so I expect cheap gemstones are still *net* good #but I see the downsides here #tag rambles #jewellery #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #adventures in human capitalism #proud citizen of The Future #disappointed permanent resident of The Future #is the blue I see the same as the blue you see #death tw? #this probably deserves some other warning tag but I am not sure what

~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

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rustingbridges:

ime one of the upsides of gas is that as long as you have gas or electric your home has heat and cooking capability

also I’ve never had a gas outage. presumably they run those underground? whereas I’ve lived in places where you were, at some point, definitely going to have the electric out for hours

 

brin-bellway:

…how is your heat set up? Is that from having a gas stove?

I have an electric stove and a gas furnace (also a gas dryer and water heater), and I would have said the exact opposite: one of the *downsides* of gas is that your heat needs *both* gas and electricity to work, and fails if either is missing.

(Not that gas has ever been missing, true, but “works when electricity is out” is like the *one* major advantage combustion-based heating can have, and it can’t even fucking do *that*. It had one job! What am I paying all this carbon for, if not that?!)

(I can*not* fucking wait to get a heat pump and some hybrid solar.)

 

rustingbridges:

huh, TIL. has this always been the case? most of my lengthy power outage memories occur the late 90s / early 00s and the furnace might have been old at the time.

maybe the kerosene space heater people are right after all

What am I paying all this carbon for, if not that?!

my understanding is that vs resistive heating you’re not paying carbon, since gas furnaces are extremely efficient. heat pumps can change this equation, yeah

My furnace is from 1990. I doubt it’s very efficient; it should, however, give pretty accurate results regarding “what things were like in the late 90s”.

We had a 16-hour power outage in late December a few years back, and it got pretty cold in the house. (Though the downward slope over time was shallower than I would have expected: I guess our insulation is better than I thought.)

I’m not sure what you mean about not paying carbon relative to–oh, are you assuming the electricity is *also* produced by burning gas? We’re mostly nuclear and hydro around here, though with a minority of natural gas.

—

>>maybe the kerosene space heater people are right after all

I’ve thought about it, but I’d rather not risk it. My current plan for extended cold-weather power outages is to set up a family-sized tent in my kitchen (the only large enough open space for it) and pile on the insulation.

Tags:

#reply via reblog #domesticity #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers

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~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

rustingbridges:

ime one of the upsides of gas is that as long as you have gas or electric your home has heat and cooking capability

also I’ve never had a gas outage. presumably they run those underground? whereas I’ve lived in places where you were, at some point, definitely going to have the electric out for hours

…how is your heat set up? Is that from having a gas stove?

I have an electric stove and a gas furnace (also a gas dryer and water heater), and I would have said the exact opposite: one of the *downsides* of gas is that your heat needs *both* gas and electricity to work, and fails if either is missing.

(Not that gas has ever been missing, true, but “works when electricity is out” is like the *one* major advantage combustion-based heating can have, and it can’t even fucking do *that*. It had one job! What am I paying all this carbon for, if not that?!)

(I can*not* fucking wait to get a heat pump and some hybrid solar.)

Tags:

#disappointed permanent resident of The Future #reply via reblog #domesticity #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers

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~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

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jaubaius:

Found in a 120 year old time capsule.

Full VDO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoDj4mXdqmc

 

justanotherweirdarchaeologist:

Worth it.

 

whitebookposts:

I’m sorry I might sound like a madwoman for going on a rant about this but man, it’s…
I don’t know how to express it but just the thought of some person, 120 years ago, taking a photo of their cat, which back then wasn’t easy – they didn’t have phones with cameras, each photo required a lot of time and dedication, so not only the person “wasted” a whole photo on their cat, they also did their fricking best to save this photo and carefully put it into an envelope to preserve it so that people in the future will know that there was this cat and it looked like this and it’s owner thought the cat looked lovely that day so much that they decided to take a photo of it and then they loved the photo so much that they went out of their way to preserve it for future generations like “hello people from the future! this is what my cat loos like!” because they loved their cat so much they wanted people from the future to know about it is… crazy to me… and here we are, 120 years later, long after the cat and it’s owners passed away, looking at an old photo of a cat and gushing about it. The cat died so long ago and wouldn’t even know it existed if not for the owner that loved their cat so much that they decided this photo was worth preserving and put it into a time capsule. and seeing now how people dedicate whole blogs to their cats and take countless pictures of them just to show to other people really hits because you realize that in the end, people from today aren’t that much different from people that were 120 years ago. We all just love our cats and want people to look at them.

 

null-the-feral-moff:

I bet this woman was imagining the photo may be seen by like… a family some day. But no. It survived till the age of the internet. It has now transcended the original media. It is now being seen by far more eyes in far more places than the media she chose would normally allow.

I hope the taker of this 120 year old photo is PROUD.

 

prokopetz:

I feel it’s worth pointing out that the thing in the time capsule isn’t a photograph – it’s a glass-plate negative.

For those unfamiliar with non-digital photography, how it works is when you take a photo, what you’re doing is exposing a transparent medium that’s been treated with a light-sensitive chemical that darkens when exposed to light. This results in a negative image of whatever you’re photographing: dark where the light was bright, and transparent where the light was dim. The negative is then treated with a fixative chemical that renders it insensitive to further light exposure, and the actual photograph is produced by shining a bright light through the fixed negative and onto a sheet of paper treated with the same light-sensitive chemical. In this way, a single negative can be used to produce many copies of the same photograph. This is the process shown in the video.

In other words, the person who stored the time capsule away didn’t preserve a photo of their cat: they preserved the tools necessary to mass produce photos of their cat. It’s not unreasonable to suppose they did, in fact, hope that many copies of it would be made – though they probably did not anticipate exactly how many there would be!

Tags:

#cats #history #death tw #amnesia cw? #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #photography

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

quasi-normalcy:

You go onto Tumblr

You see a post from @posts-from-a-darker-timeline

You’re momentarily confused because it sounds like a thing that you just read on a news site

You go onto their blog; every single thing that you read, as far back as you can scroll, is just things that have actually happened. There’s posts about vaccine protesters; posts about NFTs; posts about January 6th; posts about the pandemic; about Trump; about Brexit; about fucking Harambe for God’s sake

You look at the notes on each post; a few of them are people panicking like this is news to them; most of them are variants on “Oh shit, I need to look at the blog name!”

You select a random reblogger, and look at their Tumblr; it’s full of happy, well-adjusted people, but you just can’t seem to reblog any of their posts; every time you try, you get a message that you’ve never seen before:

“You are not authorized to share in this content”

You hit the back button, but it takes you back to the top of posts-from-a-darker-timeline

In mounting trepidation, you check to see if there are any new posts

There’s one: a fake(?) tweet from the leader of your country, lamenting the massive loss of life in the freak storm that just hit your city

You put your phone down

You look out the window

In the distance, you hear the wind starting to blow

Tags:

#storytime #death tw #unreality cw #apocalypse cw #…so what you’re saying is that I get minutes-to-hours-scale advance notice of disasters #(mixed in with some noise about changes to Tumblr’s formatting and other such minor issues‚ but still) #that’s often not enough‚ and it #might turn out not to be enough *this* time in which case I will have no further opportunities to make use of it‚ but… #…like‚ I stand a much better chance of surviving the freak storm now than I would have if I hadn’t read the tweet‚ right? #I don’t have time to evacuate but I’ll get a head start on bunkering down #in the future (if I survive that long)‚ I’ll set up my phone to react to a new posts-from-a-darker-timeline post in a manner #approximating the way it would react to an emergency broadcast #get as many other people as possible to do the same #(the exact details depend on what circumstances allow one to view primeverse Tumblr) #(if we can only get my phone to do it‚ that requires different implementation than if anyone can just point any device at a particular URL) #in fact‚ I should at least dash off a quick post about this immediately‚ in case I *don’t* survive the storm #leave some breadcrumbs for others to investigate #(”you can view primeverse posts but not reblog them” sounds like a job for the fundamental theorem of software engineering) #(can I screenshot them? point a camera at the screen and take a photograph?) #((…honestly‚ ”a friend posts a screenshot of a tweet that hasn’t been written yet and then #immediately dies in the disaster the tweet describes” sounds like a thriller-novel plot hook in itself)) #((maybe I’m just the prologue to *that* story)) #tag rambles #fun with loopholes #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #story ideas I will never write

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

dankmemeuniversity:

8ea4e3c2106b16262c9a566690d384a1315a8292

(Shoutout to @another-normal-anomaly​ for writing a character who, upon being dropped into an alien universe, pretty much immediately goes “oh shit, there could be alien pathogens, better conjure some PPE” [link]. I loved that bit.)

Tags:

#~8th-grade chemistry was primarily a class in how to clean things very carefully and track levels and types of contamination #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #recs #glowfic #reply via reblog #those of y’all who have watched sci-fi with me have heard me yelling about the spacesuit issue

~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

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brin-bellway:

https://brin-bellway.dreamwidth.org/106766.html

@rustingbridges​ replied: “how expired are expired filters anyway. what causes them to go bad”

I’m not sure.

[…]

Some googling *suggests* that shelf lives for particulate filters are mostly a legal fiction, with a side of “the longer it sits around, the more opportunities for it to get physically damaged without you noticing”. Gas filters have a finite capacity to absorb gas which is eventually used up even just with normal traces of stuff in the air (I’ve noticed that the added nuisance-vapour filtration in my P100s stops working after 3 – 4 months of use), which vastly broadens the scope of possible “physical damage you didn’t notice” (a pinhole in the formerly-airtight packaging might do it). (Also gas filters fail open, so using a gas filter you falsely believed to have capacity left in it could severely fuck you over depending on how toxic the gas is.)

I wouldn’t want to bet my health on it, especially since 20 USD for [a primary set + a spare set] every few years is pretty cheap. But I think I’d take a ten-year-old P100 over a cloth mask, if those were my options.

—

For disposables, the main problem seems to be the nosepiece and edging, which break down and deform over time and make it harder to seal the respirator properly.

—

(For the record, I’ve been replacing my filters every four months or so when I can smell the ethylene or whatever the fuck it is stinking up the walk-in refrigerator at work (I assume nobody else has noticed it because for them it’s being drowned out by the particulate scents), but keeping all of the old filters in their original boxes (which have opening dates Sharpied on them) on a shelf in my bedroom. *Germs* don’t clog filters, but *smoke* does: if–and I would not be remotely surprised if this happens, with the way the world’s been going [link]–I find myself dealing with smoky air on a scale of months with a rickety-at-best supply chain, I may be glad to have those filters on hand.))

Tags:

#replies #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #illness tw? #poison cw? #apocalypse cw?

~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

nuclearspaceheater:

nuclearspaceheater:

argumate:

argumate:

although I guess it would be funny to take the flesh-eating bacteria thing as an excuse to start slut-shaming gardeners for wearing short sleeves, the hussies.

if they just stopped living their deviant lifestyle maybe they wouldn’t keep coming down with disgusting incurable diseases, there’s nothing natural about sticking your hands in the mud

tumblr_inline_pqtm7bgdv71rp4qx2_500

(Image: Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, saying “Am I finally getting through?”)

This is part of why it’s bad that religious modesty types tend to dominate the discourse on not wearing revealing, tight-fitting clothes*. Or worse, covering your face, which distracts from the REAL reason why you should cover your face in public, which is to wear protection from the contagion risk of promiscuously inhaling every gas, particle, and droplet that happens to waft under your air-slut nose. Alas, that still includes me, so I can’t get too mad about it.

Yet.

*Mosquitoes can bite thru many forms of tight clothing, including jeans.

Posted: 2019-05-01

This aged well.

Tags:

#illness tw #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #now that I have adopted a policy of reblogging posts that stick with me I will be tagging them #that one post with the thing #(I *would* say ”why are we calling people ‘maskholes’ when we could be calling them ‘air-sluts”’‚ but I know why) #our roads may be golden or broken or lost

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