[Update 2/6/17: Don't know if Amazon Music just hit a eureka moment with my data, or the engineers at Amazon made improvements... but stations are noticeably improved in their variety and depth since I first wrote this post. I'm hearing new bands I've never heard before, and not a single Hardwired song hit in days. Good job, Amazon!]
I've been an adherent of Microsoft's music service (no, I never owned a Zune) pretty much from the earliest days of Zune Music on the PC. I've lived through the resulting brands - Xbox Music, and now Groove Music. I saw the birth and death of download song credits, the switch from WMA to MP3, and the embrace of mobile devices. Finally, in 2016, I gave up on the Microsoft music ecosystem.
It was a good service. It had most of the music I wanted to listen to for streaming, and built-in OneDrive coordination in their clients for anything they were missing. "Radio" for continuous streams seeded on a band name. Decent clients for all the major platforms.
There was really only one problem, that I couldn't get over: too often, I would press "Play" and music wouldn't start. Network issue? Backend congestion? Client bugs? OS faults? Who knows. Probably a combination of these over the years. But it's a fatal issue. This is a clear "bullshit test" - the basic proof of the most important base scenario in a system. It should never fail.
Should I blame Groove? Yes! Because another app has a great bullshit test - Netflix. When I push play on Netflix, video shows up. Every time, on every device, consistently fast. Streaming video is indisputably a much harder problem. If Netflix can stream video, Groove music should be child's play in comparison.
So when Amazon released their unlimited streaming family plan, I jumped on the opportunity. For $5 more a month than Groove, my entire family could jump on the service? Sold! Microsoft never offered a family plan (and we all asked... a lot!). Maybe this service would work better.
A few months in.... how do I feel?
Eh. Not bad. A bit better than Groove.
Amazon Music does everything it needs to. Clients on major platforms - notably a Win32 client, and an Android app. A collection to stream that seems (at least in the metal world) to be even richer than Groove. "Stations" to keep a constant stream of music going. An affordable family plan!
Most importantly, it works! I can play music quite reliably. I can make playlists. Download music to my devices. My most important feature - I can start a station and have music play all day while I work and/or travel.
But it's not perfect.
The clients are not yet mature. I like the clients. They look and feel nice for the most part. However, it's still pretty easy to find bugs in main flows (eg. adding music to collection). I also expect navigation will change as they discover how their apps are used. Finally - yes, occasionally I won't get music when I expect to. But it's rare, and more importantly it's recoverable. The client knows its having trouble, indicates it clearly, and lets you retry as needed.
Stations are not very creative yet. Unlike Groove, there is only a subset of artists for which you can start a station, and there's no good way to predict which artists will be covered. Once you choose a station, the song selection is appropriate but bland much like a physical radio station. A "greatest hits" feel - you'll like what you hear, but probably never hear anything new.
Stations are obsessed with Metallica. Specifically "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct". Sure, this album is popular, but EVERY rock station I generate will disproportionately select songs from this particular album. Never once any other Metallica album. Nor have I seen this treatment with any other album. This seems to be immune to the Thumbs Down. This is so pervasive in the rock genre, that I cannot possibly believe it's an accident.
No social. I have a family plan. Put my family's playlists somewhere, for those rare cases where I let my daughter choose the music in the car.
Saturday, January 07, 2017
Thursday, October 27, 2016
US Decision 2016
MY FIRST UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION! YEAH!
I admittedly feel a little cheated - a choice between a rich lawyer career politician that is the very definition of "business as usual", or a bumbling psychopath, or a bunch of throwaway candidates. Seriously, I get to spectate on Obama vs McCain, then my first election is on this bunch of jokers?
Still, just in case it's not obvious, vote Clinton. For the love of all that is good in this country, vote Clinton. She may not be perfect, but she's got a proven track record in both the legislature and executive, and is most importantly NOT A PSYCHOPATH!
Moving on. The interesting votes here were the initiatives, and there's a lot to cover.
To clear up one misconception I've heard repeated lately, you DON'T have to vote on every issue. I've used that right, for minor races that I'm neither qualified nor interested in participating in. There's a lot of them.
Increment the minimum wage from $9.47/hr incrementally to $13.50 by 2020, then return to our inflation-indexed system after that. Requires paid sick leave at 1hr/week worked.
Largely inspired by the success of a similar initiative in Seattle. However, Seattle is not particularly representative of the cost of living east of the Cascades. CNN's Cost of Living Calculator suggests housing prices in Spokane are 50% lower than Seattle, and other costs are lower across the board.
But on the other hand, can an individual really live on less than $20k a year, even in Spokane? According to the MIT living wage calculator... well maybe if you're single, but no, not even close for a family (even with two working parents). Vague threats of the doom of small businesses have very little evidence that stands up to scrutiny. On the other hand, more income in people's pockets translate directly to more sales tax for government, and more spending for all businesses. Sounds like a win.
YES
I-1464 - Voter-financing of Elections
Offers 3 x $50 credits per voter to finance state legislative races, financed by eliminating the out-of-state sales tax exemption. Places further limits on lobbyists.
A short KING5 debate for those who want the TL;DR of both sides.
In an executive summary, it sound great! Cut back corporate money in elections, and instead fund campaigns based on the will of the people. It's what we've all wanted since Citizens United. Sure, that tax exemption might impact some of the border towns with Oregon, but meh, let them pay their share for my Puget Sound sensibilities. ;)
But there was one huge flaw that I just could not get over. This puts significant limits on lobbyists, and increases transparency on "gray money" from nested PACs. However, it explicitly excluded anything to do with "dark money" - contributions from non-profits. This notably includes unions, which are a huge force in Washington. The theory is that specific dark money contributors threatened to use said money to torpedo the initiative.
I sympathize with the problematic position the bill's sponsors are in, but creating a further imbalance in campaign finance is going to make things worse.
NO
I-1491 - Extreme Risk Firearm Ban
Allow household members to petition court to issue 1 year firearm purchase ban against someone at risk to commit violence.
Will it be effective? Probably not, unless the many other loopholes allowing easy acquisition of guns are closed. But that could well happen (Clinton is big proponent). Anyways, the fact that it goes through the judicial system means the system is about as fair as it could hope to be, and if it prevents even a few gun crimes, it's a win.
YES
I-1501 - Identity Theft for Seniors
It's a scam! It's been widely reported that this has nothing to do with identity theft, and everything to do with a powerful union trying to hide it's list of government employee records from its political opponents.
Whether you support the Service Employees International Union or not, the level of deception in play in this initiative is horrifying and should not be rewarded.
NO
I-732 Carbon Taxes
Implement a carbon tax system on polluters. Offset predicted price increases for consumers with a 1% reduction in sales tax plus an additional credit for low income families.
Carbon taxes are one of the popular ways at the moment to try and artificially increase the cost of fossil fuels in comparison to clean energy. If it works, we reduce our impact on the environment! Hey, I like the environment! But it comes with a price: predicted 5-15% increases in utility bills, and $0.25/gal for gas. That's where the sales tax reduction comes in to try and offset that cost. In theory they should exactly offset. Some opponents suggest that, even with the additional credits, it won't entirely offset for low-income families.
The other key opposition is that the money could be better spent supporting clean energy, rather than making it revenue neutral for Washingtonians, and that the impact for environmental protection may be limited.
But really - lower sales tax AND a potential environmental benefit? Sounds like a win-win to me!
YES
I-735 - Overturn Citizens United
Citizens United is the well-known Supreme Court decision that essentially says that corporations spending to independently influence elections is "free speech". Since that's protected by the Bill of Rights, it's impossible to pass laws interfering with it. This then opened the floodgates for the "super PACs" to influence elections through rich donors.
Fixing this requires a constitutional amendment. That requires the states to be on board.
Voting for this just requests that the State back an amendment. So it doesn't really do anything, but on the other hand it's almost free (just a couple hundred dollars in mailing letters). Anything that can make it more likely, no matter how unlikely, to overturn Citizens United, is worth the effort.
YES
Sound Transit Proposition 1 - "ST3" Light Rail
Sound Transit asks for $54B to build a crapton of light rail, and add more express bus routes.
Transit is good. Our highways, as great as they are, are full during rush hour. All the tolling in the world won't change that - there's only so much space for car lanes, and it simply doesn't scale with our population. Transit of some sort is the only way to scale.
It doesn't hurt that the routes they're proposing basically go from my front doorstep to anywhere I would conceivably want to go in Puget Sound.
On the other hand, it's a lot of money for a long-term payout. Proponents predict $169/pp*yr, which is a lot of money. For a family like mine (long in real property and harboring an problematic Amazon addiction), that's on the low end of the price tag. And it's not planned to be done until 2040 - I'll be old and gray before I get to use the full system.
This was a hard one for me. But in the end, I have to look at the fact that I see a lot of recent progress both moving the light rail North, and the initial forays into the Eastside line. This is the right direction for our region, so I have to suck it up and pay my share.
YES
Senate Resolution 8210 - Redistricting Schedule
Move the redistricting deadline to November 15th.
Requires a State Constitutional amendment, but it's pretty simple. Computers make redistricting easier, so they'd prefer to do it a bit earlier, before the Spring election season. Nobody opposed this.
APPROVED
I admittedly feel a little cheated - a choice between a rich lawyer career politician that is the very definition of "business as usual", or a bumbling psychopath, or a bunch of throwaway candidates. Seriously, I get to spectate on Obama vs McCain, then my first election is on this bunch of jokers?
Still, just in case it's not obvious, vote Clinton. For the love of all that is good in this country, vote Clinton. She may not be perfect, but she's got a proven track record in both the legislature and executive, and is most importantly NOT A PSYCHOPATH!
Moving on. The interesting votes here were the initiatives, and there's a lot to cover.
To clear up one misconception I've heard repeated lately, you DON'T have to vote on every issue. I've used that right, for minor races that I'm neither qualified nor interested in participating in. There's a lot of them.
Will my ballot count if I choose not to vote on certain issues or candidates?Yes, it will. You can choose to skip any measures or offices you don't wish to vote in. All the votes you cast will be counted.
From <https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/faq_vote_by_mail.aspx>
Initiatives and Propositions
I-1433 - Minimum WageIncrement the minimum wage from $9.47/hr incrementally to $13.50 by 2020, then return to our inflation-indexed system after that. Requires paid sick leave at 1hr/week worked.
Largely inspired by the success of a similar initiative in Seattle. However, Seattle is not particularly representative of the cost of living east of the Cascades. CNN's Cost of Living Calculator suggests housing prices in Spokane are 50% lower than Seattle, and other costs are lower across the board.
But on the other hand, can an individual really live on less than $20k a year, even in Spokane? According to the MIT living wage calculator... well maybe if you're single, but no, not even close for a family (even with two working parents). Vague threats of the doom of small businesses have very little evidence that stands up to scrutiny. On the other hand, more income in people's pockets translate directly to more sales tax for government, and more spending for all businesses. Sounds like a win.
YES
I-1464 - Voter-financing of Elections
Offers 3 x $50 credits per voter to finance state legislative races, financed by eliminating the out-of-state sales tax exemption. Places further limits on lobbyists.
A short KING5 debate for those who want the TL;DR of both sides.
In an executive summary, it sound great! Cut back corporate money in elections, and instead fund campaigns based on the will of the people. It's what we've all wanted since Citizens United. Sure, that tax exemption might impact some of the border towns with Oregon, but meh, let them pay their share for my Puget Sound sensibilities. ;)
But there was one huge flaw that I just could not get over. This puts significant limits on lobbyists, and increases transparency on "gray money" from nested PACs. However, it explicitly excluded anything to do with "dark money" - contributions from non-profits. This notably includes unions, which are a huge force in Washington. The theory is that specific dark money contributors threatened to use said money to torpedo the initiative.
I sympathize with the problematic position the bill's sponsors are in, but creating a further imbalance in campaign finance is going to make things worse.
NO
I-1491 - Extreme Risk Firearm Ban
Allow household members to petition court to issue 1 year firearm purchase ban against someone at risk to commit violence.
Will it be effective? Probably not, unless the many other loopholes allowing easy acquisition of guns are closed. But that could well happen (Clinton is big proponent). Anyways, the fact that it goes through the judicial system means the system is about as fair as it could hope to be, and if it prevents even a few gun crimes, it's a win.
YES
I-1501 - Identity Theft for Seniors
It's a scam! It's been widely reported that this has nothing to do with identity theft, and everything to do with a powerful union trying to hide it's list of government employee records from its political opponents.
Whether you support the Service Employees International Union or not, the level of deception in play in this initiative is horrifying and should not be rewarded.
NO
I-732 Carbon Taxes
Implement a carbon tax system on polluters. Offset predicted price increases for consumers with a 1% reduction in sales tax plus an additional credit for low income families.
Carbon taxes are one of the popular ways at the moment to try and artificially increase the cost of fossil fuels in comparison to clean energy. If it works, we reduce our impact on the environment! Hey, I like the environment! But it comes with a price: predicted 5-15% increases in utility bills, and $0.25/gal for gas. That's where the sales tax reduction comes in to try and offset that cost. In theory they should exactly offset. Some opponents suggest that, even with the additional credits, it won't entirely offset for low-income families.
The other key opposition is that the money could be better spent supporting clean energy, rather than making it revenue neutral for Washingtonians, and that the impact for environmental protection may be limited.
But really - lower sales tax AND a potential environmental benefit? Sounds like a win-win to me!
YES
I-735 - Overturn Citizens United
Citizens United is the well-known Supreme Court decision that essentially says that corporations spending to independently influence elections is "free speech". Since that's protected by the Bill of Rights, it's impossible to pass laws interfering with it. This then opened the floodgates for the "super PACs" to influence elections through rich donors.
Fixing this requires a constitutional amendment. That requires the states to be on board.
Voting for this just requests that the State back an amendment. So it doesn't really do anything, but on the other hand it's almost free (just a couple hundred dollars in mailing letters). Anything that can make it more likely, no matter how unlikely, to overturn Citizens United, is worth the effort.
YES
Sound Transit Proposition 1 - "ST3" Light Rail
Sound Transit asks for $54B to build a crapton of light rail, and add more express bus routes.
Transit is good. Our highways, as great as they are, are full during rush hour. All the tolling in the world won't change that - there's only so much space for car lanes, and it simply doesn't scale with our population. Transit of some sort is the only way to scale.
It doesn't hurt that the routes they're proposing basically go from my front doorstep to anywhere I would conceivably want to go in Puget Sound.
On the other hand, it's a lot of money for a long-term payout. Proponents predict $169/pp*yr, which is a lot of money. For a family like mine (long in real property and harboring an problematic Amazon addiction), that's on the low end of the price tag. And it's not planned to be done until 2040 - I'll be old and gray before I get to use the full system.
This was a hard one for me. But in the end, I have to look at the fact that I see a lot of recent progress both moving the light rail North, and the initial forays into the Eastside line. This is the right direction for our region, so I have to suck it up and pay my share.
YES
Senate Resolution 8210 - Redistricting Schedule
Move the redistricting deadline to November 15th.
Requires a State Constitutional amendment, but it's pretty simple. Computers make redistricting easier, so they'd prefer to do it a bit earlier, before the Spring election season. Nobody opposed this.
APPROVED
Significant Candidates
United States Senator
Patty Murray (D) the incumbent vs Chris Vance (R).
Patty Murray's been there forever (four terms so far), and has had a great deal of success in politics. Points to her for ending No Child Left Behind. Negative points for supporting TPP fasttrack.
What surprised me was Chris Vance. His website emphasizes his positions that are distinct from what we generally consider Republican values these days. He has a concrete plan to repair Obamacare with a public payer option! Agrees not to contradict the will of Washingtonians on our liberal social issues. Acknowledges climate change (though not a fan of carbon taxes). A solid and positive immigration reform plan.
.. and he immediately denounced Trump.
Realistically, Democrats need the Senate and there's really nothing wrong with Murray, so she has to get the vote. But I felt a bad that there wasn't some way to reward Vance for acting like a Republican that I could have (in another time) supported. Maybe if I get "democracy credits" from I-1464, I'll send one his way. ;)
Patty Murray
United States Representative - District 2
Rick Larsen (D) the incumbant vs Marc Hennemann (R).
I've been a fan of Rick Larsen since I've been able to vote. He's a key player in campaign finance reform, and overall supports a lot of the social issues that are important to me (eg. Planned Parenthood). Also incumbent since forever (eight terms so far), so he must be doing something right.
Hennemann has no notable qualifications, experience, or positions.
Rick Larsen
State Governor
Jay Inslee (D) incumbent vs Bill Bryant (R).
This is where I started to get a bit bored, which is not a good thing when considering a State Governor. Pretty much partisan positions and attack ads from both sides make me uninterested in this race. Bill Bryant hasn't done much to impress, but has avoided some key pitfalls, like finally rejecting Trump.He opposes minimum the minimum wage increase, but only to do a regional system. Still, Inslee did manage a historic college tuition drop, handled the Skagit Bridge collapse well.
Jay Inslee
Lieutenant Governor
Cyrus Habib (D) vs Marty McClendon (R)
A blind laywer, I'm mostly certain Habib is actually Daredevil. He was sharply criticized by the outgoing Lieutenant Governor for several statements made during the primaries, including the assertion that he'd use the position in far more of a partisan activist manner than it is intended.
On the other hand, McClendon is boring and follows the traditional fiscal conservative lines - no new regulation, cut government costs, etc, and his platform talks more about his personal values than his qualifications.
Cyrus Habib
Secretary of State
Kim Wyman (R) incumbent vs Tina Podlodowski (D)
I can't complain about Washington's elections, nor business registration. Vote by mail continues to be epic. It's easy to set up a small business - the websites aren't pretty, but they get the job done.
On the other hand, there are accusations that Wyman is standing in the way of voter registration for minorities, whereas Podlodowski is running on a platform of making voting easier for everyone, including free postage.
Tina Podlodowski
The boring stuff
Advisory votes are dumb.
Snohomish County had several charter propositions, but they were mostly boring, along the lines of "lets take this already working system, and codify it directly in the charter so it can never evolve". I think they are mistaking rewriting fundamental governmental documents with just everyday county management.
From 1 to 7: R, R, A, A, R, A, R. If anyone ACTUALLY cares, I can explain why.
State Reps are seriously boring for my district. Even in the primaries, it was pretty clear that incumbents already had the 21st district locked up and there weren't really credible contenders. I voted, but it's clear the decision was made years ago.
Voting on secondary executive and judicial positions is ridiculous. I mostly skipped these.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Compy 2016 - Rifter.
It's been five and a half years since I last built a PC for myself, constructing "CORVETTE" on Bloomfield-generation technology. Now, motivated by an overwhelming need to embrace virtual reality, I've built myself a new PC. I've named it "RIFTER", an homage to my favorite Minmatar frigate in EVE, plus a reference to the Oculus Rift headset I hope to own soon.
Specs are:
As installed, 100MHz x 36 --> 3600MHz on CPU, maxes CPU at about 52'C on a Prime95 Torture Test. RAM at 1066 MHZ.
3DMark:
Also, some good news.
This is in stock configuration on a cleared CMOS. This system, it is not made for stock. I haven't enabled the XMP profile in my RAM. I haven't touched the CPU multiplier. Vcore is untouched. This system is designed to go faster, and with some very simple tweaks in the BIOS, this thing is going to fly. But that is for the next post...
In the meantime, some build pictures.
Preparing motherboard; CPU, cooler, RAM.
Specs are:
- Intel Core I5-6600K + Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
- G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000)
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC GAMING ACX 3.0, 8GB GDDR5
- Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX DDR4 Motherboards GA-Z170X-Gaming 3
- Samsung 950 PRO Series - 512GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD
- WD Black 1TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch
- EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS, 80+ GOLD 650W
- NZXT Phantom 410 Mid Tower USB 3.0 Gaming Case - Gunmetal with Black Trim
- Middle drive bays are fully removable, increasing airflow and space for the video card, while still leaving a few full drive bays available.
- The 3.5" mounting brackets are hokey trash. Cheap plastic with some cheaper tool-free mounting bolts. I got it in, but it was frustrating.
- Some grommeted paths to backside of the case was a clever addition. However, they're not attached well. And all the inbox cables are zapped to the middle grommet.
- A pet peeve of mine - the thumbscrews to remove the case sides don't thread all that well.
- Occasionally a buzzing sound, not sure from where. But you can Fonz
As installed, 100MHz x 36 --> 3600MHz on CPU, maxes CPU at about 52'C on a Prime95 Torture Test. RAM at 1066 MHZ.
3DMark:
Also, some good news.
This is in stock configuration on a cleared CMOS. This system, it is not made for stock. I haven't enabled the XMP profile in my RAM. I haven't touched the CPU multiplier. Vcore is untouched. This system is designed to go faster, and with some very simple tweaks in the BIOS, this thing is going to fly. But that is for the next post...
In the meantime, some build pictures.
Preparing motherboard; CPU, cooler, RAM.
It runs! Note the red highlights throughout the case. The GPU glows too.
My case. Looks a bit like a Cylon.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Washington Primary 2016
The first time was exciting, even if largely meaningless. This time around, a mixed bag. On one hand, an extraordinary 17 Federal Senator candidates, and an amazingly diverse Lieutenant Governor's race. On the other, State Representative races were downright sparse, practically abandoned to incumbents. Then the standard assortment of non-partisan minor offices that who could possibly care about.
Patty Murray: the quintessential D.C. Democrat insider (as much as anyone from Washington State can be anyways), and practically guaranteed a Federal Senate position for the billionth time. But she voted for Trade Promotion Authority - a step towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Pretty much every other candidate, no matter their position on trade, gets to blast her on TPP. With so many independents in the race, there are options, at least at the primary stage.
Rick Larsen: incumbent since forever. Notable in that he continues to be a key driver in efforts to reform US campaign finance and overturning Citizens United. This is good.
The Lieutenant Governor's race is very diverse and contested for an essentially bureaucratic role. I'm about 95% sure that Cyrus Habib is actually Daredevil. Unfortunately, also lambasted by the previous long-time incumbent.
Perennial candidate Mike the Mover (now "Uncle Mover") is going for Federal Senate this time, and GoodSpaceGuy wants to be State Governor. Strangely, GoodSpaceGuy's statement no longer mentioning space exploration, but now focused on abolishing the minimum wage. Uncle Mover... well something to do with family values... just read it.
Patty Murray: the quintessential D.C. Democrat insider (as much as anyone from Washington State can be anyways), and practically guaranteed a Federal Senate position for the billionth time. But she voted for Trade Promotion Authority - a step towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Pretty much every other candidate, no matter their position on trade, gets to blast her on TPP. With so many independents in the race, there are options, at least at the primary stage.
Rick Larsen: incumbent since forever. Notable in that he continues to be a key driver in efforts to reform US campaign finance and overturning Citizens United. This is good.
The Lieutenant Governor's race is very diverse and contested for an essentially bureaucratic role. I'm about 95% sure that Cyrus Habib is actually Daredevil. Unfortunately, also lambasted by the previous long-time incumbent.
Perennial candidate Mike the Mover (now "Uncle Mover") is going for Federal Senate this time, and GoodSpaceGuy wants to be State Governor. Strangely, GoodSpaceGuy's statement no longer mentioning space exploration, but now focused on abolishing the minimum wage. Uncle Mover... well something to do with family values... just read it.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Kerbal Space Program
It's been a long time since I've been genuinely addicted to a game. Sure, I've burned a couple of weeks each revisiting some old GOG favorites (Lands of Lore, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Tie Fighter just to name a few), and even ground a League of Legends character to level cap. Still, nothing quite had that enduring quality like those early years poured into World of Warcraft.
Now, I'm looking at 234 hours invested in Kerbal Space Program, and wondering how my next game addiction after WoW ended up as a single-player indie game.
Kerbal Space Program is available on Steam, GOG, their own store and soon on Xbox One. It combines the aspects of a flight simulator with a detailed orbital mechanics simulator. A beautiful planetscape is rendered below you, a starfield above... but you're staring at your calculator in your lap deciding if you have enough delta-V to get back into the atmosphere.
The best way to describe it:
Kerbal Space Program is to Newtonian physics what EVE Online is to macroeconomics.
The primary objective is, as you'd expect, to build a space program. But it's hardly all you can do. Atmospheric planes are first-class citizens, and you can fly around as well as any flight simulator. With some creativity you can get seaplanes built, jetboats, or even submarines. Quadcopters. Even basic vehicles can rove around the landscape.
But it's addictive. Mostly due to the inevitable descent into "Kerbal Engineering". You can piece together some pretty crazy rockets, and they'll mostly fly. Manned. And then invariably they'll get stuck, and you'll need an even crazier approach to rescue your people. With each success, you get more ambitious, build crazier contraptions, get them even more stuck, and the cycle repeats.
Kerbal Space Program is available on Steam, GOG, their own store and soon on Xbox One. It combines the aspects of a flight simulator with a detailed orbital mechanics simulator. A beautiful planetscape is rendered below you, a starfield above... but you're staring at your calculator in your lap deciding if you have enough delta-V to get back into the atmosphere.
The best way to describe it:
Kerbal Space Program is to Newtonian physics what EVE Online is to macroeconomics.
The primary objective is, as you'd expect, to build a space program. But it's hardly all you can do. Atmospheric planes are first-class citizens, and you can fly around as well as any flight simulator. With some creativity you can get seaplanes built, jetboats, or even submarines. Quadcopters. Even basic vehicles can rove around the landscape.
But it's addictive. Mostly due to the inevitable descent into "Kerbal Engineering". You can piece together some pretty crazy rockets, and they'll mostly fly. Manned. And then invariably they'll get stuck, and you'll need an even crazier approach to rescue your people. With each success, you get more ambitious, build crazier contraptions, get them even more stuck, and the cycle repeats.
The quadricopter. 4 jet engines on a small remote control frame.
Easy to fly. Surprisingly difficult to land.
Seaplane landing near the old hangar.
Capable of landing and taking off again effectively from land or sea.
Assembling an interplanetary mission in space.
A small space station, a lander, and of course tons of gas.
Saturday, December 19, 2015
ThinkServer
Lownewulf receives [Lenovo ThinkServer TS140]!
For a long time, I've wanted a NAS, or really, anything that could attach storage that doesn't require my aging gaming rig running Windows insider builds to be the storage hub of my home. But NAS is stupidly expensive (hundreds of dollars, plus disks). So when Corndart told me a whisper-quiet server-grade PC could be had for less than $300, I was skeptical.
Well, one Newegg eBay pre-Black-Friday special and $279.99 later, my server was on its way.
It's a very simple piece of hardware. Single 4GB DIMM, single 500GB 7200RPM HDD. Single onboard NIC, onboard VGA port, and a bunch of USB ports.
My strategy is simple:
For a long time, I've wanted a NAS, or really, anything that could attach storage that doesn't require my aging gaming rig running Windows insider builds to be the storage hub of my home. But NAS is stupidly expensive (hundreds of dollars, plus disks). So when Corndart told me a whisper-quiet server-grade PC could be had for less than $300, I was skeptical.
Well, one Newegg eBay pre-Black-Friday special and $279.99 later, my server was on its way.
It's a very simple piece of hardware. Single 4GB DIMM, single 500GB 7200RPM HDD. Single onboard NIC, onboard VGA port, and a bunch of USB ports.
My strategy is simple:
- Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2.
It's free, it'll run VMs, and I can manage it all from my computer using our glorious overlord's clicky UIs. - VM: Ubuntu Server - Wily Werewolf.
It's also free, boots in seconds, can run just about anything with practically no resource overhead, and I can connect with PuTTY anywhere anytime. - Install Tor, BOINC, Plex, Samba, Transmission.
- Though you'd think OEMs would have caught up by now. The BIOS was set up with everything off: virtualization, TCG, and secure boot to start. I understand why (prevent security or compatibility issues during install), but nothing stings quite like having everything set up for remote desktop then having to get down and plug all the wires back in to launch the BIOS.
- While 2012 R2 uses Generation 2 VMs, the configuration format for Windows 10 is different, so no export from my desktop. Though, even just pulling the VHD directly, it wouldn't boot, suggesting something is fundamentally different with the guest environment on Windows 10. Thankfully Ubuntu is pretty easy to install.
- Managing the OS is pretty easy. A physical login --> cmdline manager command to enable Remote Desktop --> Powershell: Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup "Remote Desktop" --> I can pull the VGA cable. Same command with "File and Printer Sharing" and I'm able to share
- In contrast, the absolute hardest thing to get working was remote Hyper-V management. I do this regularly in my day job, so I know it works, but it's nearly impossible to get security right without a domain backing the credentials. In the end, I couldn't figure it out myself; it took a mixture of mystery cmdkey commands and an outdated Hyper-V remote configuration tool, both on the server and my local client, but it now works.
The TS140 is old (I think officially past end of life), and even the several years newer Xeon E3-1225 has trouble keeping up with my desktop workhorse (an i7 920). But it's still plenty powerful as a home server. Even committing two out of four cores full time to BOINC, the thing can serve up .m4v files in Plex while barely pushing the needle on the CPU graph.
Side note - two cores of BOINC costs approximately 32W.
Sunday, November 02, 2014
First REAL Vote
On one hand, the two-party system has made electing representatives boring, compared to my first primary. The resulting two candidates were exclusively the pair of vetted Republican and Democrat candidates. In most cases, the GOP candidates that made it through are so far off the rails of sanity (FairTax, anti-net-neutrality, anti-healthcare) that there's not a lot to talk about. However, that is offset by the initiative process, where Washington residents can throw up for a vote just about any idea for which they can collect a few petition signatures. Lots to engage with there!
Initiative 1351
Mandate reduced class sizes in K-12 though hiring 25k employees, at a price tag of $5B in the first four years, and $2B a year after that. No specific guidance where to come up with the money, though this would authorize the school districts to raise property taxes to collect a subset of this (roughly half?).
My biggest question here was: how big (in context) is $4.7B? For this, we can refer to the FY13 Operating Budget, which operates on a two-year cycle. The total pie is ~$60B, though the "Near General Fund-State" (NGFS) portion is only half that at ~$31B. K-12 education is by far the biggest piece of this historically at about $13.6B. The impact in the first four years would be $2.35B per budget, or a 17% increase to K-12 spending, or a 7.6% overall increase in NGFS spending.
Assuming Democrats will never cut anything ever, call it a 7.6% tax increase spent in education. That's a lot of money, but if it dramatically improves school quality in Washington (which has a poor reputation), the money might be worth it. If nothing else, the increased tax bill would be far less than sending my two kids to private schools.
So the real question is, will this dramatically improve school quality?
Well, the real telling factoid I saw was this: of 25,000 new employees, only 7,400 will be teachers.
Clearly something other than class size is driving this proposal, given that most of the employees are not teachers, and that non-employee issues of class size (notably physical space) are largely ignored.
Initiative 591
Why even describe it? It's a one-page proposal, and only a few lines worth of meaningful directive.
Initiative 594
A much longer bill, which prevents the sale or transfer of guns between non-dealers without a background check; the proposed mechanism being that a licensed dealer acts as an intermediary between private parties.
Yes, this law would be illegal under Initiative 591. If both pass, hilarity ensues.
The crux is that there are currently several (legal) means by which you can buy a gun privately without being vetted, and this law intends to close them all. Opponents are concerned that this criminalizes (what they consider) normal behavior, such as lending their guns to friends.
Most of this concern is around "temporary transfers" (ie. lending a gun). The proposal includes exceptions for this category including: spouses, parent-child, anything at a licensed gun range, anything at a shooting event, and hunting.
Advisory: Senate Bill 6505
Advisory = the law already passed, and they ask if you want to maintain or repeal it. The results are completely ignored either way, but they make interesting reading at least.
This prevented the marijuana industry from being counted as agriculture, which apparently gets significant tax breaks. The argument against this is that the end result of being taxed at every stage brings a roughly 44% government tax on marijuana products by the time it reaches the consumer.
Welcome to Washington. We have no income tax. So we sales tax ALL OF THE THINGS!
Advisory: House Bill 1287
Shifts some tax burden away from off-reservation tribal holdings (a notable example often given was Salish Lodge), similar to the benefits that would be given for a local government. Presumably, this tax burden shifts onto the non-tribal land owners in the community, though there isn't an explicit requirement for this.
Tribes are for this because they avoid taxes, though it's phrased as avoiding discrimination compared to a city government. Impacted cities are against this because they lose a significant revenue stream.
Initiative 1351
Mandate reduced class sizes in K-12 though hiring 25k employees, at a price tag of $5B in the first four years, and $2B a year after that. No specific guidance where to come up with the money, though this would authorize the school districts to raise property taxes to collect a subset of this (roughly half?).
My biggest question here was: how big (in context) is $4.7B? For this, we can refer to the FY13 Operating Budget, which operates on a two-year cycle. The total pie is ~$60B, though the "Near General Fund-State" (NGFS) portion is only half that at ~$31B. K-12 education is by far the biggest piece of this historically at about $13.6B. The impact in the first four years would be $2.35B per budget, or a 17% increase to K-12 spending, or a 7.6% overall increase in NGFS spending.
Assuming Democrats will never cut anything ever, call it a 7.6% tax increase spent in education. That's a lot of money, but if it dramatically improves school quality in Washington (which has a poor reputation), the money might be worth it. If nothing else, the increased tax bill would be far less than sending my two kids to private schools.
So the real question is, will this dramatically improve school quality?
Well, the real telling factoid I saw was this: of 25,000 new employees, only 7,400 will be teachers.
Clearly something other than class size is driving this proposal, given that most of the employees are not teachers, and that non-employee issues of class size (notably physical space) are largely ignored.
Initiative 591
Why even describe it? It's a one-page proposal, and only a few lines worth of meaningful directive.
- It is unlawful for any government agency to confiscate guns or other firearms from citizens without due process.
- It is unlawful for any government agency to require background checks on the recipient of a firearm unless a uniform national standard is required.
Initiative 594
A much longer bill, which prevents the sale or transfer of guns between non-dealers without a background check; the proposed mechanism being that a licensed dealer acts as an intermediary between private parties.
Yes, this law would be illegal under Initiative 591. If both pass, hilarity ensues.
The crux is that there are currently several (legal) means by which you can buy a gun privately without being vetted, and this law intends to close them all. Opponents are concerned that this criminalizes (what they consider) normal behavior, such as lending their guns to friends.
Most of this concern is around "temporary transfers" (ie. lending a gun). The proposal includes exceptions for this category including: spouses, parent-child, anything at a licensed gun range, anything at a shooting event, and hunting.
Advisory: Senate Bill 6505
Advisory = the law already passed, and they ask if you want to maintain or repeal it. The results are completely ignored either way, but they make interesting reading at least.
This prevented the marijuana industry from being counted as agriculture, which apparently gets significant tax breaks. The argument against this is that the end result of being taxed at every stage brings a roughly 44% government tax on marijuana products by the time it reaches the consumer.
Welcome to Washington. We have no income tax. So we sales tax ALL OF THE THINGS!
Advisory: House Bill 1287
Shifts some tax burden away from off-reservation tribal holdings (a notable example often given was Salish Lodge), similar to the benefits that would be given for a local government. Presumably, this tax burden shifts onto the non-tribal land owners in the community, though there isn't an explicit requirement for this.
Tribes are for this because they avoid taxes, though it's phrased as avoiding discrimination compared to a city government. Impacted cities are against this because they lose a significant revenue stream.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
My First US Vote!
... okay, so it's just a primary... for midterm elections... and neither senator is up... but still, DEMOCRACY IS HAPPENING! Don't spoil this for me.
Washington is all vote-by-mail, which takes away a bit of the excitement of going to a polling station. Still, can't argue with the convenience. It is also a top-two open primary state - the process chooses two candidates to go into the general election without any regard for party affiliation.
So far, I have on my plate: Federal Representative, State Representative x 2, State Senator, County Executive, and County Prosecuting Attorney.
From what I can tell, US elections are both more fun and less fun than their Canadian counterparts. The US is a two-party system, while some Canadian federal elections have had as many as five meaningfully represented parties. However, despite the polarization of US politics, I'd argue it's actually less partisan. The legislative process is much more complex here, so legislation can initiate from many sources, and legislators can and do vote against party lines - so one party member is not the equivalent of another.
For now, I'm still building my list of resources. Also, learning about Washington State - my studying for the naturalization test (and TV) helped build my knowledge of Federal civics, but left me clueless when it comes to non-partisan primaries, multi-seat legislative districts, and all the other fun quirks of Washington state government.
My best resource so far has been Project Vote Smart. What differentiated it from others (notably govtrack.us and opencongress.org) was the details on non-incumbents, and the details at all level of government including State level. Other sites do very well at tracking current Federal congressmen, but it's hard to judge an incumbent when the challengers are unknowns.
So, I'm taking a lot of notes, and hopefully figure out some sane decisions before the baby comes. In two years, I should have plenty of practice and be ready for the serious elections for President and others.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
My Journey to America
Today, I am an American citizen. It's been a long road to get there.
01/2006 - TN visa.
10/2006 - H-1B visa.
04/2007 - Priority Date - EB3 ROW.
07/2007 - Applied for Employment-based green card. I-140 / I-485, per the July 2007 visa bulletin fiasco.
08/2009 - H-1B visa extension.
10/2009 - Forced switch to EAD/AP.
09/2010 - Switched to Family-based green card application. I-130 / I-485, IR.
12/2010 - Green card, CR6.
09/2012 - Applied to remove conditions. I-751.
06/2013 - Green card, IR6.
10/2013 - Applied N-400.
02/2014 - Naturalization interview.
02/2014 - Naturalization oath.
It's hard to express to someone who's not been through this process how nerve-wracking it can be. Even while fully within the bounds of the law, my status at times has been backed by nothing more than a payment receipt from USCIS and copies of internal memos describing their significance. No matter how well-documented, I was still at the mercy of border guards to interpret my fate (per 10/2009, they can make some pretty serious mistakes). My status could process in weeks or decades, based on dates that moved largely at random both forwards and backwards. All the while, filing dozens of pages of paperwork and spending thousands of dollars (okay... maybe it was Microsoft spending the money) every single year to keep a myriad of documents and redundant statuses in sync. Waiting in countless beige USCIS waiting rooms for hours for processing. And in the end, the knowledge that even if I survived all this, that a single misstep could undo and see me deported back to the wilds of Canada.
... though what I think scares me even more, is that I had it better by far than most other immigrants.
Today, that ends. I'm an American now. It's exciting: I finally have a fundamental right to live in the place where my family, my home, and my job reside. I will soon have personal representation for all those US taxes I've been paying for the past twelve years.
I'm very excited for the ability to vote, and the implied rights of political engagement this permits (eg. signing petitions). Politics in the US are always exciting, and my background makes for some interesting perspectives - for example on immigration... and of course health care.
Some interesting FAQs:
01/2006 - TN visa.
10/2006 - H-1B visa.
04/2007 - Priority Date - EB3 ROW.
07/2007 - Applied for Employment-based green card. I-140 / I-485, per the July 2007 visa bulletin fiasco.
08/2009 - H-1B visa extension.
10/2009 - Forced switch to EAD/AP.
09/2010 - Switched to Family-based green card application. I-130 / I-485, IR.
12/2010 - Green card, CR6.
09/2012 - Applied to remove conditions. I-751.
06/2013 - Green card, IR6.
10/2013 - Applied N-400.
02/2014 - Naturalization interview.
02/2014 - Naturalization oath.
It's hard to express to someone who's not been through this process how nerve-wracking it can be. Even while fully within the bounds of the law, my status at times has been backed by nothing more than a payment receipt from USCIS and copies of internal memos describing their significance. No matter how well-documented, I was still at the mercy of border guards to interpret my fate (per 10/2009, they can make some pretty serious mistakes). My status could process in weeks or decades, based on dates that moved largely at random both forwards and backwards. All the while, filing dozens of pages of paperwork and spending thousands of dollars (okay... maybe it was Microsoft spending the money) every single year to keep a myriad of documents and redundant statuses in sync. Waiting in countless beige USCIS waiting rooms for hours for processing. And in the end, the knowledge that even if I survived all this, that a single misstep could undo and see me deported back to the wilds of Canada.
... though what I think scares me even more, is that I had it better by far than most other immigrants.
Today, that ends. I'm an American now. It's exciting: I finally have a fundamental right to live in the place where my family, my home, and my job reside. I will soon have personal representation for all those US taxes I've been paying for the past twelve years.
I'm very excited for the ability to vote, and the implied rights of political engagement this permits (eg. signing petitions). Politics in the US are always exciting, and my background makes for some interesting perspectives - for example on immigration... and of course health care.
Some interesting FAQs:
- This makes me a triple citizen: Canada, UK, USA. Yes, this is permitted by all three countries.
- I will be able to vote in US Elections at all levels, and intend to do so at every opportunity.
- I cannot currently vote in Canadian or UK elections. The former would appear to directly contradict the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
- I'll still be cheering for Team Canada for hockey. Sorry, I can't help it, I was born this way.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
US Naturalization interview
I was scared of the naturalization interview. Not because of the civics test, but because of what other random things they could want to know about my life and habits. The long list of documents (originals AND copies, of course) they say are required can't help but drive a little paranoia.
But, for me, it was quick and painless. I will describe my own experience, so that others will have a better idea what to expect. Keep in mind, each case is different, and your experience may vary significantly. I generally have an easy time with USCIS, so maybe I just got off easy.
First off the documents. What they DID need to see:
The first step was a review of my application (the N-400). This part is no joke! They will go through every page, testing your knowledge, the accuracy, and filling in details. The hardest part was when I was expected to recite my anniversary, my wife's birthday, and my daughter's birthday in short succession (they're close together and easy to mix up).
One specific step that worries some people are the list of trips outside the country. They certainly did ask me about these, but my perception was that they weren't looking to trip me up on technicalities at the interview stage. They asked me to briefly talk about a couple of my trips (notably the ones not to Canada), but didn't really have any clarifying questions. Notably, they never asked me about specific date ranges or to account for my totals for number of days outside the country.
English was trivial. Read "Who can vote?". Told to write the answer "Citizens can vote." Six words. I was disappointed that they do not automatically make every Canadian write a sentence with the word 'color' in it.
Civics and History test - well it's exactly what they tell you it is. You already know the possible questions and answers. Study and it will be fine. 6/6 for me.
After the interview is finished, they give you a form N-652, documenting whether you passed/failed and the disposition of your application. For me, they recommended approval on the spot, which from looking around the lobby crowd seemed to be a common outcome. What I didn't expect is that they handed me my notice for the naturalization ceremony right there at the interview. The bigger surprise - they scheduled my naturalization ceremony for THE SAME DAY! My interview was at 8:20am, my ceremony at 11:40am. This did not seem to be a coincidence, as I recognized several people at the oath ceremony (total ceremony was about 60 people) who had been in the testing waiting area that morning.
So yes, I left to Tukwika expecting a morning at the central bureaucracy, and left a citizen.
But, for me, it was quick and painless. I will describe my own experience, so that others will have a better idea what to expect. Keep in mind, each case is different, and your experience may vary significantly. I generally have an easy time with USCIS, so maybe I just got off easy.
First off the documents. What they DID need to see:
- Green card (for naturalization eligibility).
- Washington State photo ID (to establish residence/jurisdiction).
- Passports from all my claimed nationalities.
- Originals of any documents I submitted copies of with my N-400. This includes documentation on spouse's status, children, evidence of bona-fide marriage, of current address, etc.
- Tax returns or transcript.
- Photos. In fact, they had my originals on-hand (which I had to sign), plus digital copies.
- ANY copies of anything. I did not leave a single piece of paper with them.
The first step was a review of my application (the N-400). This part is no joke! They will go through every page, testing your knowledge, the accuracy, and filling in details. The hardest part was when I was expected to recite my anniversary, my wife's birthday, and my daughter's birthday in short succession (they're close together and easy to mix up).
One specific step that worries some people are the list of trips outside the country. They certainly did ask me about these, but my perception was that they weren't looking to trip me up on technicalities at the interview stage. They asked me to briefly talk about a couple of my trips (notably the ones not to Canada), but didn't really have any clarifying questions. Notably, they never asked me about specific date ranges or to account for my totals for number of days outside the country.
English was trivial. Read "Who can vote?". Told to write the answer "Citizens can vote." Six words. I was disappointed that they do not automatically make every Canadian write a sentence with the word 'color' in it.
Civics and History test - well it's exactly what they tell you it is. You already know the possible questions and answers. Study and it will be fine. 6/6 for me.
After the interview is finished, they give you a form N-652, documenting whether you passed/failed and the disposition of your application. For me, they recommended approval on the spot, which from looking around the lobby crowd seemed to be a common outcome. What I didn't expect is that they handed me my notice for the naturalization ceremony right there at the interview. The bigger surprise - they scheduled my naturalization ceremony for THE SAME DAY! My interview was at 8:20am, my ceremony at 11:40am. This did not seem to be a coincidence, as I recognized several people at the oath ceremony (total ceremony was about 60 people) who had been in the testing waiting area that morning.
So yes, I left to Tukwika expecting a morning at the central bureaucracy, and left a citizen.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Baseboard covers for child safety
[Revised: 3/8/2014, revised in response to some feedback about overall child safety, and to post manufacturer's response]
We own a fifty year old house. It has electric baseboard heaters. Like these.
As a heat source, they're impressive. Quiet, fast, and powerful, with room-by-room control of your heat.
The problem is that kids can get at this.
Sharp scalding-hot metal fins, exposed by a gap that is the ideal size to trap child toys or even hands and feet. This can result in severe burns, requiring emergency room treatment*. Even if the child makes it out unscathed, a toy shoved in that gap could easily catch fire** (and by extension, your home).
[* This is not a theoretical problem. A (defective) electric baseboard heater sent a friend's child to the emergency room with severe burns last Christmas. ]
[** Also not theoretical; at least one mother I spoke with had an issue with a toy catching fire inside the heater. Thankfully caught before significant house damage resulted. ]
But the truly scary part: it's a completely unsolved problem. From child safety websites, to handymen we've worked with, and even the websites of companies that make protective covers for baseboards, the recommendation is the same: the only real solution is to rip out your baseboards and install something else. Unfortunately, it seems in most families that having thousands of dollars in spare cash is mutually exclusive with having children, so there needs to be a better way.
We installed Baseboarders, paying about $1000 for five covers. They are steel covers which can, among other things, be mounted over top of an existing baseboard heater. Most importantly, they entirely cover that front opening, preventing anything from getting inside the heater itself. They are installed by screwing mounting brackets above the heater, which leave a small gap to slide the cover down on top of. Endcaps simply slide onto each end. And then you get this.
On the plus side, it looks much better! But does it work?
... kinda.
The important thing is that the heating element is not directly accessible; in that regard the cover is brilliant. This brilliantly mitigates the risks around the exposed heating element. However that doesn't mean a child will not get burned. The cover is solid steel, and it conducts heat extremely well. Most of it stays cool, but that top surface gets VERY HOT, VERY FAST. While warming up, it's uncomfortable to touch, and at the hottest I've seen, I can't hold my hand to the metal. On the plus side, it also cools down very quickly once the heat is off.
The wall mount is at the very top back edge, and there are no additional mounts on the endcaps. This means only gravity and 1.5cm of steel prevents the cover from being torqued from below. I don't think a toddler could effectively lift the cover enough to get at the heater, but with a bit of motivation might damage the drywall. The endcaps don't actually have anything securing them to the cover except tension from a clip, so with enough wiggling, they could be pulled off entirely.
There were a few other metal covers out there, but most were twice the price for a manufacturer with half the reputation, and the same heat problems. The only alternative material was wood, which almost exclusively meant custom fabrication, at prices that would actually make a full heating system replacement look competitive. At which point, I'd just indulge myself.
We own a fifty year old house. It has electric baseboard heaters. Like these.
As a heat source, they're impressive. Quiet, fast, and powerful, with room-by-room control of your heat.
The problem is that kids can get at this.
Sharp scalding-hot metal fins, exposed by a gap that is the ideal size to trap child toys or even hands and feet. This can result in severe burns, requiring emergency room treatment*. Even if the child makes it out unscathed, a toy shoved in that gap could easily catch fire** (and by extension, your home).
[* This is not a theoretical problem. A (defective) electric baseboard heater sent a friend's child to the emergency room with severe burns last Christmas. ]
[** Also not theoretical; at least one mother I spoke with had an issue with a toy catching fire inside the heater. Thankfully caught before significant house damage resulted. ]
But the truly scary part: it's a completely unsolved problem. From child safety websites, to handymen we've worked with, and even the websites of companies that make protective covers for baseboards, the recommendation is the same: the only real solution is to rip out your baseboards and install something else. Unfortunately, it seems in most families that having thousands of dollars in spare cash is mutually exclusive with having children, so there needs to be a better way.
We installed Baseboarders, paying about $1000 for five covers. They are steel covers which can, among other things, be mounted over top of an existing baseboard heater. Most importantly, they entirely cover that front opening, preventing anything from getting inside the heater itself. They are installed by screwing mounting brackets above the heater, which leave a small gap to slide the cover down on top of. Endcaps simply slide onto each end. And then you get this.
On the plus side, it looks much better! But does it work?
... kinda.
The important thing is that the heating element is not directly accessible; in that regard the cover is brilliant. This brilliantly mitigates the risks around the exposed heating element. However that doesn't mean a child will not get burned. The cover is solid steel, and it conducts heat extremely well. Most of it stays cool, but that top surface gets VERY HOT, VERY FAST. While warming up, it's uncomfortable to touch, and at the hottest I've seen, I can't hold my hand to the metal. On the plus side, it also cools down very quickly once the heat is off.
The wall mount is at the very top back edge, and there are no additional mounts on the endcaps. This means only gravity and 1.5cm of steel prevents the cover from being torqued from below. I don't think a toddler could effectively lift the cover enough to get at the heater, but with a bit of motivation might damage the drywall. The endcaps don't actually have anything securing them to the cover except tension from a clip, so with enough wiggling, they could be pulled off entirely.
There were a few other metal covers out there, but most were twice the price for a manufacturer with half the reputation, and the same heat problems. The only alternative material was wood, which almost exclusively meant custom fabrication, at prices that would actually make a full heating system replacement look competitive. At which point, I'd just indulge myself.
Elora verifies my work.
Update 2/1/2014:
I picked up a fun new toy: a Ryobi laser thermometer. On my latest Baseboarder install, I checked the temperature. So far, the hottest I have measured is 200°F. Is that too hot? Definitely. WAY too hot.
Measuring the safety of a hot surface is a complex scientific process. However, the generally accepted standard seems to be that surfaces hotter than 140°F (60°C) need to be insulated to prevent accidental burns. Above 160°F, you start to risk immediate injuries on contact.
We're investigating a few new options now. We are hoping to find some sort of silicone mat which will serve as a protective cover. Will update if we do any new experiments.
Update 3/8/2014:
The company that produces Baseboarders saw my post!
Their official response below:
Baseboarders have never been marketed as a product that can bring down the touch temperature of baseboard heaters. They will get just as hot as the original covers. However, Baseboarders feature a clean one piece design, and this produces child safety benefits. These benefits are strictly limited to the absence of exposed sharp metal edges and a restriction of access to the heating element by way of the hot air out gap that runs the length of the heater. This gap is often used as an opening to push toys into the enclosure and on to the heating element; creating a potential fire hazard.
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
Great game. Buy it. Buy it now. Looks absolutely gorgeous on the Xbox One, but I'm sure it's nice on other platforms too.
They've addressed my primary complaint of the previous games using a startlingly simple strategy: by NOT adding a bunch of random crap, and instead dumping all that effort into primary gameplay. Sure, there's the modern world stuff with a few silly hacking games (though kudos to whomever snuck in prime factorization), but it's at best a brief distraction. There's days and days worth of looting, brawling, pirating, and assassinations to be had throughout the game. There are still side activities in game (eg. whaling, diving), but they are sufficiently tied to the core game mechanics that it doesn't break immersion (eg. spinner puzzles).
When they say that ship-to-ship combat is a core mechanic, they are not kidding. Sailing is very much an equal partner to the classic assassin gameplay, and there many sea missions in the core storyline. It's not quite as polished as the Assassin play, but satisfyingly fun.
The game is LONG! 22 hours in and it feels like I have quite a ways to go. It's hard to compare the main storylines because Black Flag draws you in so deeply into side activities. To some extent, it's required - ship missions will start getting unreasonably hard unless you upgrade your ship. Upgrades means materials and money and blueprints, which means going pirating on the high seas. But also, because there are so many small islands to visit, you can reasonably "complete" many zones in a short period of time, and thus are more motivated to do so. It was harder to get excited about finding animus fragment 112 of 250 in Rome.
The difficulty curve seems well-settled now. Particularly in open combat, you can't just counterstrike your way through fifty guards anymore, with riflemen sniping and brutes decking you with axes, and soldiers not lining up single file to die. Guns are powerful but fair. Ship combat is actually a bit hard sometimes, but this is more a symptom of the lack of a quick way to look around.
Finally, ways to die..
They've addressed my primary complaint of the previous games using a startlingly simple strategy: by NOT adding a bunch of random crap, and instead dumping all that effort into primary gameplay. Sure, there's the modern world stuff with a few silly hacking games (though kudos to whomever snuck in prime factorization), but it's at best a brief distraction. There's days and days worth of looting, brawling, pirating, and assassinations to be had throughout the game. There are still side activities in game (eg. whaling, diving), but they are sufficiently tied to the core game mechanics that it doesn't break immersion (eg. spinner puzzles).
When they say that ship-to-ship combat is a core mechanic, they are not kidding. Sailing is very much an equal partner to the classic assassin gameplay, and there many sea missions in the core storyline. It's not quite as polished as the Assassin play, but satisfyingly fun.
The game is LONG! 22 hours in and it feels like I have quite a ways to go. It's hard to compare the main storylines because Black Flag draws you in so deeply into side activities. To some extent, it's required - ship missions will start getting unreasonably hard unless you upgrade your ship. Upgrades means materials and money and blueprints, which means going pirating on the high seas. But also, because there are so many small islands to visit, you can reasonably "complete" many zones in a short period of time, and thus are more motivated to do so. It was harder to get excited about finding animus fragment 112 of 250 in Rome.
The difficulty curve seems well-settled now. Particularly in open combat, you can't just counterstrike your way through fifty guards anymore, with riflemen sniping and brutes decking you with axes, and soldiers not lining up single file to die. Guns are powerful but fair. Ship combat is actually a bit hard sometimes, but this is more a symptom of the lack of a quick way to look around.
Finally, ways to die..
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Surface - the RT and the Pro
Microsoft recently gave most of their employees the new Surface RT tablet, in part to encourage us to all to advocate for this new tablet. It certainly is an effective strategy - the tablet gets noticed, and people I know are starting to buy them. Even beyond my very obvious bias, I do love the Surface RT, and I think it does a good job of selling itself. It's not for everyone, but for many people I recommend it over both Apple and Android tablets.
Recently, Microsoft also provided me a Surface Pro (though this one is very much a work asset). Comparing the two, what I realized is that the raw specifications really don't convey the real-world experiential differences between these two devices. So, I figured I'd share what I've observed so far.
The Pro is noticeably thicker and heavier - you can tell the difference, especially after using both in succession, but in practical terms, neither is heavy enough for the weight to really matter. Both Surface models are at their best on a table where you can leverage the keyboard and kickstand anyways.
Unlike the RT, there is a small gap along the whole back edge of the Pro, presumably for the active cooling. It's not really a problem, but it's unusual enough to attract attention.
The RT may warm up slightly if you use it heavily. By comparison, the Pro is cool when idle, but can get quite hot when it's under intensive use, particularly for games. It seems that the Pro also has some active cooling when it's running hot, and it can be surprising when one hears a fan whir up on a tablet.
Sleep is a bit different between the two devices. The RT is "Instant On"; you push the button, and you light up immediately. The Pro is the same when it has power, but if you leave it idle on battery for awhile it goes into a more traditional laptop-style sleep mode. This just means you get the Surface logo and it takes about five seconds to wake up. I assume, much like a normal laptop, the settings for sleep are configurable.
One thing to note - though they are the same plug (and presumably "compatible"), the RT and the Pro's chargers are different. I'm told the Pro's is much beefier, to meet the Microsoft guidelines for device charging times on the bigger battery.
The pen attaches magnetically to the power socket so you can carry it around. While this seemed brilliant when I first heard about it, it's actually quite annoying because when you connect to power, you end up having to just leave the pen loose. Then the cat knocks it off your desk.
The Pro is like any other computer - if it's USB, it'll work. Period.
The RT and the Pro both have video out; micro HDMI for the RT, and Mini DisplayPort for the Pro. I have yet to try the Pro, but the RT can drive some devices to high resolution (more than the device itself). Don't buy the expensive adaptors from Microsoft; generic adaptors can be had on Amazon for a few dollars that will work just as well.
Aside: Type vs Touch
The debate rages on. The touch keyboards are thinner, quieter, and come in several colors. You can certainly type faster than an on-screen keyboard, but it'd still be a bit awkward if you're a proficient touch typist and need to write an essay. The type keyboards are black, thick, and undeniably click-y. Click-y is good.
After using both; the choice is obvious. If you're doing a lot of typing, get the type keyboard.
The touch keyboard is good as a cover, and still a big improvement over an on-screen keyboard if you occasionally need to poke more than a text message out.
Recently, Microsoft also provided me a Surface Pro (though this one is very much a work asset). Comparing the two, what I realized is that the raw specifications really don't convey the real-world experiential differences between these two devices. So, I figured I'd share what I've observed so far.
Form Factor
The RT is a slim device. It's not 'light', but the aluminum chassis feels right - solid and rugged without being uncomfortable to use. I've used lighter tablets, and they feel cheap and plastic-y and scream in protest at the slightest torsion.The Pro is noticeably thicker and heavier - you can tell the difference, especially after using both in succession, but in practical terms, neither is heavy enough for the weight to really matter. Both Surface models are at their best on a table where you can leverage the keyboard and kickstand anyways.
Unlike the RT, there is a small gap along the whole back edge of the Pro, presumably for the active cooling. It's not really a problem, but it's unusual enough to attract attention.
Power
The RT runs forever. It'll go several days without a charge, and even with heavy use, it'll make it to the charger at the end of the day with power to spare. While the Pro's battery life has been often maligned, it's not horrible for casual use. I haven't tried watching movies yet, but I can check mail and take notes throughout the day at work and still have (a sliver) of battery left when I leave the office. Unlike every laptop I've ever used, I haven't had to compulsively hunt for power everywhere I go.The RT may warm up slightly if you use it heavily. By comparison, the Pro is cool when idle, but can get quite hot when it's under intensive use, particularly for games. It seems that the Pro also has some active cooling when it's running hot, and it can be surprising when one hears a fan whir up on a tablet.
Sleep is a bit different between the two devices. The RT is "Instant On"; you push the button, and you light up immediately. The Pro is the same when it has power, but if you leave it idle on battery for awhile it goes into a more traditional laptop-style sleep mode. This just means you get the Surface logo and it takes about five seconds to wake up. I assume, much like a normal laptop, the settings for sleep are configurable.
One thing to note - though they are the same plug (and presumably "compatible"), the RT and the Pro's chargers are different. I'm told the Pro's is much beefier, to meet the Microsoft guidelines for device charging times on the bigger battery.
Pen Input
One obvious bonus to the Surface Pro - a full tablet stylus. This isn't a glorified pointy stick that just replaces one of your smudgy fingers, but rather makes the Surface Pro a full drawing tablet with pressure sensitivity, hover, eraser, and pixel-precise resolution. Gabe speaks at length as to the quality of the stylus for drawing purposes. For the non-artistic population, honestly you won't use it much - apps are designed for finger-poking so the precision of the pen is redundant. However, there's one killer feature for the pen - digitally signing documents. The built-in PDF reader will allow you to draw and save, which means you can sign emailed documents without them ever hitting paper.The pen attaches magnetically to the power socket so you can carry it around. While this seemed brilliant when I first heard about it, it's actually quite annoying because when you connect to power, you end up having to just leave the pen loose. Then the cat knocks it off your desk.
Device Support
Both the RT and the Pro have a USB port, putting both devices miles beyond Apple-like tablets with their device-specific plugs. The RT in theory only supports a small set of devices designed for it, but it's actually surprising how many USB devices work automatically. I've tried with a few USB keys, a camera, and even my smartcard reader, and they all work! I've heard that most mice and keyboards work magically too.The Pro is like any other computer - if it's USB, it'll work. Period.
The RT and the Pro both have video out; micro HDMI for the RT, and Mini DisplayPort for the Pro. I have yet to try the Pro, but the RT can drive some devices to high resolution (more than the device itself). Don't buy the expensive adaptors from Microsoft; generic adaptors can be had on Amazon for a few dollars that will work just as well.
Aside: Type vs Touch
The debate rages on. The touch keyboards are thinner, quieter, and come in several colors. You can certainly type faster than an on-screen keyboard, but it'd still be a bit awkward if you're a proficient touch typist and need to write an essay. The type keyboards are black, thick, and undeniably click-y. Click-y is good.
After using both; the choice is obvious. If you're doing a lot of typing, get the type keyboard.
The touch keyboard is good as a cover, and still a big improvement over an on-screen keyboard if you occasionally need to poke more than a text message out.
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