Really hoping I can make it back to the PNW this summer. Still have to see Seattle, and I definitely want to visit Portland more. Had a great time there, other than the 116 degree weather 
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Thatās a good one too, Iāve actually got some in a decanter unlabeled most likely 
Thereās no shame, I will mix literally any strong alcohol with coke and have zero remorse
You will
Speaking of this, did you have to do anything special to get all those stops or was it just a promotion they were running? Iāve got an amtrack not far from me (relatively) and would love to do some traveling as well but holy shit sometimes theyāre expensive
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It was the USA rail pass. They had a deal going on for $299 when I got mine, but that was a special.
They still sell the USA rail pass for $500, and if youāre okay with doing coach, itās still a great deal.
https://www.amtrak.com/tickets/departure-rail-pass.html
You get 30 days to spend 10 segments. Each segment ends when you make a transfer. So, my Amtrak bus from Indianapolis to Galesburg, Illinois was one segment, but my train (the California Zephyr) from Galesburg to San Francisco was only one segment as well (despite being 2.5 days long).
If you plan your segments well, you can get a whole lot out of it. For instance, technically my train took me from Galesburg Illinois to Emeryville CA, which is just across the bay from San Francisco. They wanted me to use a segment to take a bus from Emeryville to San Francisco. Instead, I walked two blocks to a bus stop, and took a normal bus across for like $5, rather than using a whole segment on it (which is in-theory worth ~$50).
You have 120 days total from when you buy it, and your 30 days begins when you hop on your first segment.
Between all of the long haul trains available, you could easily travel the entire country with only the 10 segments of a single rail pass.
The worst part of it is sleeping in coach. It sucks, but if you can sleep in a recliner, you can manage it here. Melatonin helps a lot. Baby wipes are decent enough for a shower, you arenāt moving around really after all.
Iām considering doing it again this summer, albeit with slightly better prep (and having more funds ready). Food was more expensive than I anticipated. I bought a ton of protein bars and planned to have those for half of my meals, but that just wasnāt doable after 3-4 days.
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You must be the first person Iāve met who managed to paint an Amtrak offering attractive enough for me to want to use it. Shame Iām not in the US no more.
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Interesting RFID padlock from Assa Abloy: the SMARTair i-gate Electronic Padlock:
The interesting bits are in the datasheet:
The Mifare Classic / Ultralight / HID Class / DESFire compatibility claim I think means it does dumb UID-based authentication, like all the other locks that claim a wide range of NFC technologies coverage. However, itās very possible that it does more interesting things, like rolling keys, on compatible technologies like Mifare Classic, because it does say ā13.56 MHz read & writeā.
Anyway, the point is, Iām 99% sure itās compatible with dumb implants.
The other interesting thing is the Skidata bit: that screams ISO15693 compatibility. Now that would be novel.
Has anybody tried it before I stupidly open my wallet again?
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I donāt recall seeing it mentioned here before.
Good find though.
Form-factor looks good, although If tolerances allow, it appears shimmable. ( disappointing for Assa Abloy )
Seems to be East European that link, Iāll see if I can find one in Australasia
Iām looking forward to you opening your wallet 
I missed that bit, like the QuickLock.
I wonder if it will work with a Sparkā¦ mine works really well and has done on my phones
Assa Abloy has this habit of registering helpful, almost identical sites in a million TLDs, and none in .com thatās worth looking at.
Yeah well, getting specialized Assa hardware can be surprisingly complicated for one thing. Iāll ask my local locksmithing supply store if they can order it. And then depending on the price, I may or may not skip it: I have WAY too much money invested in NFC / RFID locks of every kinds, and the last thing I need is yet another NFC padlock if Iām honest 
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Iāve found that the little ball bearings used in the swivel only last so long before you go to glide your chair across the room and the wheel needs to change directions, and the force ejects one of those bearings across the room with a āping!ā ā¦ this has happened to me on many wheel sets over many different brandsā¦ itās so irritating. I get between 6 - 12 months out of a set of these wheelsā¦ but when new, they are by far the best chair gliding experience ever.
There are some that have a plastic frame and the bearings are fully contained.
Ie: this style:
I used to have the same ones as Amal and had a problem where the bearings would drop pieces of dry grease on to the floor and create gray markings all over the placeā¦
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I found a set that looks like I can disassemble it
If it lasts 6 months Iāll be happy
For working with optics and as clean as we worry about parts and glass, our floors are horrific
Also, the number of little springs and clips and orings that get sucked into the provided chairsā¦ our chairs donāt last longā¦ Iād seriously suggest they just start replacing casters instead of chairsā¦ but they let us snag them instead of chucking them when they get retired every half year or so
So one of the most glorious things I didnāt expect or planā¦ we use qtips to a absurd level, and there are always ones that miss the binā¦ itās pretty funny when someone wants to roll and hits ones with the regular castersā¦
literally makes the screeching brakes noise and immediately stopsā¦ but it gets annoying eventually
The new rollerblade casters almost donāt even react
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Hell yeah! Looked and just found these guysā¦
Specifically addresses the weak ass posts. These aught to be good. Iām ordering now.
Better bearing design
I had to go to a couple of ānearbyā cities today, and on the way home I stopped in at the Spirit Mountain Casino to use their restroom.
On entering the building I saw this sign.
When I showed the photo to my wife she misread the main paragraph (as I suspect most people do if they even bother to glance at it)
This is what it says āWe continue to monitor all temperatures with our thermal imagining camerasā
I want an imagining camera. I assume you point it at a scene and it shows you what you might imagine it to be like.
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I had a friend who worked in the sign printing industry. He told me to watch out for store fronts and companies that display misprinted signs, for the following reasons:
-
Apparently when a cheap, pissy or generally unpleasant customer approaches a printer and asks them to print a sign with an error in it, more often than not, the printer wonāt point out the error and will print it as requested, as a form of payback.
-
If the company insists on displaying the sign with the error anyway, it means they really are so damn cheap they donāt even feel the shame.
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Yeaā¦ I totally trust that they actually have a single let alone fleet of cameras with enough accuracy to be able to differentiate anythingā¦
I also totally trust they have someone skilled and trained enough to understand how both such a system and human anatomy and biology works in order to use said system accurately
My workplace bought a fleet of temperature kiosksā¦ I looked up the part number and Jesus they paid a pretty pennyā¦
ā¦ I found the accuracy or +- 1Ā° pretty much a joke
Iāve seen harbor freight hand helds with that accuracy for 20$
Also, letās do the math of how much cooler your skin is, factor in the accuracy +/1 a degree, add in that many people run a bit cooler than 98.6ā¦ and the system wonāt alert until you hit 100Ā°
Also itās the first thing you do when you walk in the doorā¦ and itās currently 20Ā°F outsideā¦
Youād probably need to be running a massive temperature for it to registerā¦
I swear Iām not against covid safety stuff, I just wish people would think things through instead of treating things like magic talismans
I wondered about that: my first girlfriend was ginger, and she was cold in bed - quite literally: her skin was rather a lot colder than mine. I could confirm that it wasnāt just her later on, and my doc told me ginger people are known to have a colder body temperature.
So I assume a ginger person having a fever - COVID or some other reason - might not register all that well on a thermal scan.
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The first time I recall seeing actual Thermal cameras being used ( in the Tropics ) for something like that rather than imagined ones, was on the Singapore Causeway between Singapore and Malaysia during the SARS outbreak in ~2003.
I did some shoulder surfing of the operator, and they were pretty good, and the pulled some people aside for further interactionā¦
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Itās like the mask thingā¦
Depending on whether you believe the mask is filtering virus coming in, or going outā¦ depending on whatever the cdcs current stance is
You should treat the mask like it has covid on itā¦
And yet people let it touch anything and everything around them like itās sterile and they arenāt defeating the purpose to itā¦
Sigh,
(Yes viral load size yada yadaā¦ but itās like taking contaminated gloves off the wrong way and Spreading it on your skinā¦)
I wonder if there are any Gingers on this here forum that could confirm?
@ODaily , do you know of any?
Hmm thatās pretty surprisingā¦ Iād still be interested to see actual specs on temperature accuracyā¦ my experience with the electro optics we make is limited, but I understand there to be a lot of variance
In addition itās usually much harder to interpret the data in such a granular way
My main point though was companies are cheap tight wadsā¦ yea thatās a casino being referencedā¦ who are known to spend a lot of money on camerasā¦ but thatās loss prevention with large amounts of money on the lineā¦ Iād expect them to cheap out on this
Also thermal cameras cost uncomfortable amounts of money lol
Just looked up the actual CDC documentation on thermal imaging, they say itās not effective with multiple people at the same time,
Also the whole things is pointless because nobody follows the protocols lol
ā Has waited at least 15 minutes in the measurement roomā