Random randomness

[hepcat]

That's something I embrace though.

[TheMix]

Because I was reminded of it and went looking for it to share with a co-worker...

And because someone here may not have seen it...

MASSIVE SPOILERS in case anyone has not seen the Serenity movie...

The still awesome Serenity movie summarized in 2000 words.

[Daehawk]

Im glad they got their movie to end it. Cant say I agree with who died in the movie though. I ignore those parts.

[hepcat]

Who wants to tell Daehawk how Ol' Yeller ended?

[Blackhawk]

[Holman]

I was recently reminded of the fire-hazard danger of the lithium-ion battery that powers my lawnmower.

I have one and a spare, and I've decided to store them out in the backyard shed rather than in the house. I'm sure winter cold will shorten their lifespan, but it's good to have peace of mind.

[disarm]

I was recently reminded of the fire-hazard danger of the lithium-ion battery that powers my lawnmower.

I have one and a spare, and I've decided to store them out in the backyard shed rather than in the house. I'm sure winter cold will shorten their lifespan, but it's good to have peace of mind.

I have a couple lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries for a radio controlled car and there are times when I question whether keeping in my house is the best place, but they're more stable in a temperature-controlled house than my garage. They're also kept in fire-resistant LiPo bags in the concrete part of my basement, away from anything else flammable. If one ever causes a problem, it should just be smoke in the basement.

I've never seen a LiPo fire in person, but videos are pretty frightening...hopefully never have to deal with one. Lithium ion is more stable and relatively safe by comparison.

[Blackhawk]

You're both worrying me, as I have absolutely no clue if I have anything with either type of battery.

[stessier]

If you have a laptop, you have a lithium ion battery. If you have a phone, you have a lithium ion battery. With proper care, there is no reason to worry.

[Smoove_B]

Well...it might also come down to size. For laptops and phones with Li-ion batteries, they're kinda tiny and I would think they represent a relatively small risk of fire/explosion based on capacity.

I have an eBike with a Li-ion battery (720 Wh) and they do make special sacks to store them in during changing and prolonged non-use (like if you're going on vacation or not riding in the winter) to minimize the risk of catastrophic kaboom.

[Blackhawk]

Well, my 17" Alienware laptop beats the 'size' metric in every other context.

[Smoove_B]

Well, my 17" Alienware laptop beats the 'size' metric in every other context.

It's probably somewhere around ~1.5 lbs right? My eBike battery weighs ~12 lbs.

I'm just totally guessing, of course.

[LordMortis]

Well...it might also come down to size. For laptops and phones with Li-ion batteries, they're kinda tiny and I would think they represent a relatively small risk of fire/explosion based on capacity.

I have an eBike with a Li-ion battery (720 Wh) and they do make special sacks to store them in during changing and prolonged non-use (like if you're going on vacation or not riding in the winter) to minimize the risk of catastrophic kaboom.

I've had a number of batteries by a number of providers do the bulge until the point of breaking the housing thing when I was working on such things. Your talking probably 70+ devices on three year rotations.

[Blackhawk]

No clue. I didn't intend to compare it to other types of batteries - just that it's big for a laptop (big enough that none of the sub-custom laptop stands I've seen are rated high enough to hold it's 10 pounds.)

[stessier]

Well...it might also come down to size. For laptops and phones with Li-ion batteries, they're kinda tiny and I would think they represent a relatively small risk of fire/explosion based on capacity.

I have an eBike with a Li-ion battery (720 Wh) and they do make special sacks to store them in during changing and prolonged non-use (like if you're going on vacation or not riding in the winter) to minimize the risk of catastrophic kaboom.

I mean, I have 3 cars with between 66 and 91 kWh and do not store them in any special way.

[Max Peck]

Later that day...

[Smoove_B]

I mean, I have 3 cars with between 66 and 91 kWh and do not store them in any special way.

I genuinely don't know why certain batteries suddenly represent a greater risk, though I suspect it's manufacturing quality.

[Kraken]

My first junior college English class required me to keep a daily journal. That started a habit that lasted from 1976-1994. I unearthed those journals yesterday, while excavating our cellar prior to moving. They had survived a couple of floods and grew some mold in that time. But I'd wrapped my earliest volumes in plastic so that I could bury them before Reagan started a nuclear war, and they came through fine. The later volumes suffered some light mold, but it was confined to the notebooks, which I wiped down with bleach. The paper itself is undamaged except for a few light stains. Hooray for high-acid notebook paper.

I haven't read them since I wrote them. At age 67 I'm going to revisit my mind as it expressed itself from ages 19-37. I don't know how well I remember myself, but gods, I had beautiful handwriting. Thousands of pages of it.

[Holman]

I kept a journal from 1988 until 1998, almost never writing less than a full loose-leaf page a day, and often more.

I know where they are, but I'm not yet prepared to take a look at them again.

[Kraken]

I started out writing daily -- it was an English class requirement to begin with -- but eventually started writing only when I had something to say. I stopped when I went on antidepressants in 1994 and the compulsion left me. Ten years later, OO would rekindle that spark. Writing for an audience was an adjustment; I never intended my journals to be read by anyone.

[Daehawk]

I just had a 15 minute conversation with Microsoft's CoPilot AI to see how it would go. Turned out to flow pretty well. Like talking to a person almost. Talked politics and music and guitar.

When I was done I looked back on it as being kinda weird. But neat.

[Holman]

I just had a 15 minute conversation with Microsoft's CoPilot AI to see how it would go. Turned out to flow pretty well. Like talking to a person almost. Talked politics and music and guitar.

When I was done I looked back on it as being kinda weird. But neat.

Just remember that any personal opinions and info you give to an AI will be turned around and used to sell you shit you don't need.

It might feel like a conversation, but it's actually targeted market research.

[Daehawk]

Really? Guess I wont talk to her again.

[Unagi]

What was it wearing?

[hepcat]

An OLED and a pair of tight gpu’s

[hepcat]

Damn it. I'm so sick of controversy in sports nowadays. The cheating, the payoffs...all the scandals. I mean, for christ's sake, now we're even seeing it in Conker Fights!??

The World Conker Championships said that it was investigating allegations of cheating after this year's men’s winner was found to have a steel chestnut in his pocket.

For those who aren’t aware of this childhood game, conker fights – or simply 'conkers' – involves using the seeds of horse chestnut trees and threading them onto a piece of string or a shoelace. Each player takes turns in striking each other’s conker until one breaks. The first recorded game was on the Isle of Wight in 1848 and the World Conker Championships were set up in 1965.

More than 200 enthusiasts of the game entered the annual competition last weekend in the small village of Southwick in central England, with veteran player Dave Jakins, 82, winning the men's tournament.

However, organizers said they launched an investigation after claims that Jenkins - AKA King Conker, a name he got after competing since 1977 - may have used a steel chestnut.

I remember when I was a kid and I'd Conker Fight just about any fool who looked at me funny. I would Conker night and day.*


*This is a dramatization. I had no friggin' clue that Conker Fighting existed up until 12 minutes ago. But now that I do, I'm looking online for Conker Fighting starter kits.

What's the first rule of Conker Fight Club? I assume it's "don't tell adults".

[Blackhawk]

Apparently it's just a piece of string and a couple of horse chestnuts.

Probably cheaper just to look for the components separately.

[hepcat]

Are there any tv shows coming out in the next 12 years not created by Taylor Sheridan?

[Smoove_B]

Happy Frodo Awakens to those that celebrate.

[Isgrimnur]

You're late.

[Smoove_B]

For our Anchorage, Alaska OOers, I'm right on time!

[Isgrimnur]

Only 2.5 weeks until circulatory system day!

[Blackhawk]

I do look forward to Circulatory System Day. I always set up a vigil in the kitchen, like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

This will be the year!

[hitbyambulance]

Happy Frodo Awakens to those that celebrate.

waaaaait....were actual Gregorian calendar dates (or even our time system) used in the books? i don't seem to remember that

[Smoove_B]

waaaaait....were actual Gregorian calendar dates (or even our time system) used in the books? i don't seem to remember that

Sort of...

[Max Peck]

Happy Frodo Awakens to those that celebrate.

waaaaait....were actual Gregorian calendar dates (or even our time system) used in the books? i don't seem to remember that

Yup. Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 1, paragraph 3:

'In the House of Elrond, and it is ten o'clock in the morning,' said a voice. 'It is the morning of October the twenty-fourth, if you want to know.'

[Max Peck]

Apparently my ISP has entered into a long-term partnership with Comcast and today seems to be the day they officially rolled it out, with a service rebrand from "Rogers Ignite" to "Rogers Xfinity". In true Comcast form (given what I hear from American friends who are Comcast customers), I've had one full outage (modem going offline) and two service disruptions (DHCP service going down) in the last 3 hours. Should be a fun day if this keeps up.

[Rumpy]

I don't envy you, Max. I'm guessing the partnership is mostly on the technology side of things so that Rogers can use those same boxes.

[Max Peck]

Hopefully it's just some hiccups with whatever changes were made on the network today for the rollout. I checked with a friend who is also a Rogers customer and aside from a software update he hasn't seen any effect, so it doesn't seem to be a universal issue. The ticket they opened for the initial outage is still open, so I won't worry too much about the follow-on instability unless it continues to be an issue after the ticket is closed.

[LordMortis]

My experience (in the US) both with business and home Comcast was that they were fairly reliable on a comparative basis but when there are problem, they absolutely don't give a rats ass about you and your loss of service, and will often start by not recognizing there is problem or be unavailable for you to report a problem. I can't speak to what happens when they take over your other provider and how long it will be until that provider is Comcastized. As a home user, I haven't had them in nearly 25 years. They we were out alignment for expense when I left them and at the time, I was furious with their not giving a rats ass about outages and the ignorance unto flat out lies by their phone techs.