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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • Musk thinks everything should be electric because it’s cool.

    I strongly disagree. Things are getting more and more electric across all manufacturing because it is cheap. A single touch screen that drops in place under a snap on bezel with a premade cable harness and some programming time is so much faster and cheaper than designing, installing, wiring, coding, and testing physical buttons or mechanical linkages. PCBs can be tested in a negligible amount of time.

    Mechanical door locks would have been cheaper.

    No. Sorry, but no. The locks were going to be electrically operated no matter what. But the inclusion of standard mechanical components would increase the cost significantly.

    very common, cheap technology

    Yes, but that would be electrical components. It’s not very intuitive, I agree. But cost is the sole reason things are becoming more “electronic”. Electronics are extremely cheap compared to their analog ancestors. And not only that, but since very few mfrs are using off the shelf mechanical components, they are now less supplied and harder to get. So their cost is going up. Electronics are going down.

    I don’t know the engineering endeavors that he may or may not have been directly involved with. I’m not entirely sure what “from on high” means, but I would presume you are referring to his net value and authority. In that case, I would say he is no different than literally any other CEO. He made decisions that made him a profit. That’s what they do. GE is a great test case for this. Nearly destroyed the company in the long term so that board members see a small financial gain in the short term, then dump the carcass on the next guy. It’s just money. That’s all.


  • engineered these crazy locks

    I would joke that since they don’t work then I doubt any engineering went into them at all. But I know that isn’t true.

    So I wonder if you could elaborate on what you mean by “crazy locks”? I did a lot of work investigating the manufacturing equipment and their use, so I remember a bit about their components, design, and assembly; but I did not work with those directly so I could be missing something entirely. I don’t remember there being anything groundbreaking about the mechanics of the door locks. But the general build always felt… “thinner”. Most manufacturers stay away from minimum standards by at least the standard deviation or two, so if the required gauge was 18 ± 1, a typical mfr would use 20+. Tesla would use 18. On the nose. That was a lot more common in automotive but even hyundai/kia used wide margins for safety. All that to say, I have a hard time believing the door locks were so complex that a sizable investment would be anything other than reinventing the wheel, but even moreso that it was even worth the superfluous cost.

    One of the last jobs I had there was a machine that they picked up third hand and cobbled together with some very sketchy safety systems that wildly failed requirements. I was there for days and it was one of the more extensive reports I’ve ever made on a single installation. The control system was designed by the onsite engineers and passed flawlessly. But they had a lot to do to get the equipment usable.







  • Unfortunately the “horror” that is windows persists almost as much as the horror of Linux. Which is a bunch of fanbois crowing about their distro without any explanation at all. But why do they do this? Because that’s how they got into it, and that’s how the people that got them into it got into it.

    Which fucking distro should I use?
    - Well, really it’s just preference.

    Then I choose arch.
    - Uh, wrong try again lol.

    Fair enough, Which fucking distro should I use?
    - Well, really it’s whatever works for you.

    Okay, I didn’t like the feel of that one.
    - Well, you were using the wrong desktop environment.

    😐😑😤😠… …Which fucking desktop environment should I use?
    - Well, really it’s just preference.

    🤬. 🤬🤬, 🤬. 🤬.
    - Look clearly you don’t know what you’re doing just use Ubuntu, or Kubuntu, or Lubuntu, or Xubuntu, or Fubuntu, or Poobuntu, or Schmubuntu. And with cinnamon obvi.

    Well how do I know? The site for each one uses the exact same bloviated claims. They’re all feature rich, and lightweight, and extended support, etc. Do I have to install them all to find out?
    - Yes but that’s impossible. So just use mine, it works.

    Until it doesn’t. Then you need to hit up Linux self help forums, to get help from Linux bros, who are the most detestable group of unhelpful, impatient, and pretentious neckbeards imaginable. “Did you try searching first?” “Just use our discord!” “Just use [my fucking distro!]”

    😖🤯👺

    FML





  • Lamps were “total disasters” until they weren’t. Crosswalks even. Toilets in Seattle.

    There are lots of things that were “total disasters” at one point but were developed into safe reliable things. That’s not a reason to abandon an endeavor entirely, but a great reason to redirect or refine it.

    Also, headlines are not news, and most non-electrical engineers, let alone journalists, know jack fucking shit about electrical engineering. EEVBlog did a great few videos about solar roadways and their flaws.


  • I wrote in another comment, but if you examine his life, he was NOT a conformist. My favorite thing about his unconventional style was that he knew he needed a radical music program but had enough humility to know he needed someone else to direct it (he was a very talented musician). So he found the local and famous jazz club pianist and directed him to play whatever sort of music he desired. Johnny Costa, one of my personal icons, was very confused at first because he thought his music would be far too advanced or technical for a children’s show. And if you watch the show, you will notice that he plays every single song in a unique way, every single time. Can you imagine that? Playing the same music for 30 years and almost never playing the same thing. He was an absolute master of not hitting the note that your brain expected him to play, yet still playing enough to resolve and release the tension of the melody. It really is beautiful music.

    Whoa, tangent. But seriously, MR was a rebel and the highest calibre of person that Pittsburgh has to offer.


  • ZMonster@lemmy.worldtomemes@lemmy.worldOddly accurate...
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    10 months ago

    I don’t think he remotely fits the “overly wholesome” aspect of this meme at all. He’s far more relatable to creator #1. He made shows about things that are difficult to talk about with kids. He frequently negotiated topics that others advised against. He was incredibly articulate and relatable when it came to even angry letters from ignorant parents. He communicated with children the same way he would with adults. He literally hired a working jazz club pianist to do the music and when asked what kids songs he was going to be playing, homie’s basically like, “Uh, you do you fam. YOU are the music program.” He even made episodes of his show that were FOR adults. He cared deeply about emotional health and knew how detrimental it is to your development at all stages in life. And he did this for decades as a devout and committed spiritual leader and never mentions God a single time. He knows how to be an example and I would be amazed if he were capable of hiding a sordid and deplorable existence.

    He was also an incredible debater and speaker. He does use simpler language on the show but he is very capable. Just adding that because I’m obviously biased. I met him once and my mom wrote him an angry letter. She’s always been a piece of trash but I will never forget his kindness and joy.