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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • I still retain a Windows install for games, and eventually things stop working easily. I kept running Windows 7 up until around when I built my current PC (2020) and that upgrade was due to some compatibility issue - I can’t remember whether it was hardware compatibility with the new setup or a game/launcher requiring Windows 10 before I upgraded. I expect that I will eventually get something that wants 11 to work.

    Mind you I spend a lot less time on games these days and I will probably get a few more years out of that computer - it might be a good while before compatibility/security becomes an issue and I’m required to consider moving on.







  • I ended up getting a Fenix 6s about a year and a half ago and I think it’s about as close to a Pebble successor as things get these days. I get a comfortable week out of the battery, and a responsive e-ink screen with the basics covered plus a few more fitness related things (and a party trick of topo maps) the Pebble didn’t have. I don’t feel like it has quite the community support that Pebble had in terms of software (or the enabling thereof from Garmin), so it’s not 100% the same but it’s been working well for me so far.


  • Fossil didn’t particularly impress me with their smartwatches, so a sales decrease doesn’t surprise me. I had a Skagen Falster 2 (a Fossil by another name) for a bit and it was annoyingly slow with not enough battery to leave the screen on, and eventually did the Fossil thing of the time where the back falls off the watch. I replaced that with a Fossil hybrid HR as I was chasing something more like the Pebble Time Round I liked before its battery lost usable capacity. I liked the concept and battery life of the hybrid but it had a horribly slow interface (galling to me since Pebble had shown you could do much better with e-ink), the e-ink screen ended up fading, it kept getting moisture inside the face, and as a last straw Fossil decided to be a dick and remove the left handed button mode.







  • The majority of cars don’t have a warning for low oil levels, the sensor for that has historically been the owner checking the dipstick. Oil level sensors are becoming more common now as more models appear with them but are still not ubiquitous even in brand new cars.

    The oil warning light in most cars is for low oil pressure, and if that one comes on it’s time to pull over immediately and hope you managed to turn the engine off in time to save the bearings.







  • There’s no way to drive safely above the speed limit on a public road.

    If you’re driving a well maintained regular car in good conditions you absolutely can drive safely above many speed limits. If the speed limit was set at the true limit of safety nothing but the best handling vehicles in the best of conditions could drive at said limit safely, and this is clearly not the case for the vast majority of speed limits. Instead most traffic can travel safely at the set speed limit in less than ideal vehicles and in less than ideal conditions, so logically there are going to be situations where it would be safe to drive above said limit.

    Consider too speed limit changes. In my area there have been a few roads recently which have been lowered from 100km/h limits to 80km/h. Nothing changed about these roads except the speed limit signs. Why was it possible to drive safely at the 100km/h limit one day but not possible to drive safely at the same speed on the next day? Another road several years back had its speed limit changed from 80km/h to 90km/h. Again only the signs changed, so why would it be unsafe to drive 90km/h there one day when that would be the speed limit the following day?