Ugh. Contractors. Had a communications error on my thermostat (system was installed in 2022, has a 10 year warranty on parts and labor). Called up the same company that installed it, told them that resetting it from the stat fixes it for about 30 seconds, powering off the HVAC at the breaker fixes ot for a few days. Said I thought it was probably the HVAC side, but just wanted them to come out and take a look. They come out and say the electric heat walire shouldn't be connected. (Context: it uses modbus, not the traditional relay system, ajd it has been wired that way since it was installed and worked fine the whole time). OK. They flipped the breaker to change the wires, so we couldn't tell if the fix really worked, but the tech seemed confident. Next day: comm error again. Call them back, they come out and replace the stat. Also flashed the firmware on both HVAC boards Again, since they flipped the breaker, we can't really tell if it worked, but the same tech was confident this would do it and if not said the next step would be to replace thr HVAC board. Next day: I get a bill for $260 for that first call. Call them up and ask if it's covered under warranty. It's covered, but the charged me more for labor than is covered because they have to drive an hour each way. OK, I pay the $130 that wasn't covered. Evening that same day: comm error again. It was after hours, so I emailed a photo of the error in to them explaining that the new stat didn't fix the issue, I understand the board will need to be replaced and that might take time to get the parts in. No worries, I can manage with flipping the breaker every few days. Also, I'd be happy to just have you come deal with this next time you are in town to save you the travel time, and me the money. They reply: the tech thinks the stat wire might be getting interference from the power line that's run next to it. I take about 35 minutes crafting as polite of an email as I can explaining that it's been wired like this from the start and nothing has changed, that I realize I'm not the HVAC expert, but I was skeptical about the first two resolutions and neither of them worked. I explain that I am frustrated that it's taking 3+ trips to resolve this issue. I ask if we can just replace the board instead. They give me a one-sentence reply. WaterFurnace said we should re-run the stat wire, so that's what we're goi g to do. I simply ask if it'll be partially or fully recovered by warranty. It's been 5 days and they haven't answered, or even ackowledged my question. So yeah. I'm frustrated. Just venting (haha). No need for trying to solve the problem. But I will say that I'd prefer a permissionless system for warranty repairs instead of this "authorized repairpersons only" approach.

This is what prototyping looks like in 3D printing land That battery is a 26700, and the cube on top is the perfect size to hold a tiny #meshtastic node. Those have substancially more energy than the 18650s. Battery has lasted over a week (and counting) of 24/7 usage without a charge. Antenna is in a sleve, which is just barely visible on the right hand side of the 4th case from the left.

I managed to write a #meshtastic simple bot in a night. It is Python code that runs on a computer and uses a Meshtastic node connected via serial. DM it commands and it'll DM you responses. Currently the only real command is /wiki TOPIC which will search wikipedia for TOPIC, and give you the first 200 bytes of the wikipedia page that is the closest match. Allows a tiny research if you're out and about with a meshtastic mode but without a cellphone (or at least cell data service). I plan on briding it to my self-hosted Matrix server next. And someday, I'd like to have a local copy of wikipedia so that will also work without the internet. The sky is the limit, as long as we don't want to send much data. LOL

My mind is completely shot today. No clear reason. Got a reasonable night's sleep. Not undue stress. Just woke up unable to concentrate. Guess I'll do some painting today, and other physical projects that don't require any thought. Better luck tomorrow.

Tonight was our most successful Repair Café to date! We had a good nine of mentors, a line out the door, people waiting in the lounge for a mentor to become available, and nobody bright in things we couldn't fix. Some required parts we didn't have on hand, but they're going to come back next time with the parts in hand. I think the coolest thing this month was that we fixed a Toyota product (BTW, our Repair Café is in the basement). It was the battery pack out of a Prius which had some bad cells. I wasn't directly involved in that one, but I was told it was successful, including rebalancing the cells.

To the two people on #nostr who are within a reasonable distance: Repair Cafe Urbana is tomorrow (Thursday) night at the Makerspace. Come hang out and socialize. Help people fix some stuff if you're interested. Bring something to fix if you got it.

How much should people pay to be on social media? What would you say is a fair price for the benefits it brings? What are those benefits? #AskNostr The money could go to relay operators, software devs, centralized companies, people who run a federated server... whomever you want. I'm just asking for your opinion on the value/price.

I made the mistake of checking the national and international news. Time to go touch grass.

Someone on the internet told me BTCPay server can act as a store. The docs say it can be connected to **another** store, but says nothing about listing products for sale directly in @BTCPay Server Did I get duped? #AskNostr

(4) What's Next? | BTCPay Server

BTCPay Server Official Documentation

Satoshi Nakamoto's PGP key appears in the talk posted at gpg.fail If you just want the punchline, skip to 40 minutes in. If you want to see all the vulnerabilities they found, watch thr whole thing. The first 3 minutes is 🔥

Loud, obnoxious assholes on the internet have set Bitcoin back more than any government or big news story. It's sas.

Oh man. I just found out an e2ee comms server is likely going away. 😞 If that happens it'll be a sad day. They allow public registration, for free, without providing a name, phone number, or even an email address. A real cypherpunk gem. A reminder of what the internet was like for people back in the 90s. Their concerns are personal and technical attacks, running the services not being fun anymore, multiple risks (including legal), and funding. I'm offering to step up and help if my skills would be of service. I'll post back if there's a way people can help. #FreedomTech Unless there's something the community can actually do to help, I'm not going to call them out by name. It sounds like they're going through hard enough times as it is, I don't want to have an army of people adding pressure to keep going. As much as I'd like to see #privacy respecting services like this start around, these admins don't need any more stress.

OK #nostr, it's time for some #FunnelTalk I think it's impprtant to have a wide variety. What do you think?

My hydroponics plants have sprouted. Of course, it's been long enough now that I'm not entirely sure what I planted. Stevia and a bunch of greek oregano, I think? I'll find out when it gets a bit bigger...

Any one in Chicagoland want a free Tivo Series 2 with a lifetime subscription? Up to five available. Only catch is you pick it up and put it to good use. Just don't want them to tgo to eWaste.