Modern Vespa

240's Bullet Proof. Literally. Easily a 200,000 mile plus car.

A few months back a cock in a Tesla tried to squeeze into a gap in front of me so I just kept on riding into the gap.

Sure he hit the horn and made all the right gestures but if I hadn't he would have taken my front wheel out.

Na. I'm not letting you in.

X5's can piss off also.

Not pissing me off, exactly. In fact, I think I am slightly amused.

The overhead ceiling light in my wife's office was putting off a slight blue tint. I knew the bulbs that were up there were really old LED bulbs, from the dawn of the age of LED bulbs, but I didn't know why there was a blue spot visible in the glass dome.

I had a brand-new batch of some really good LED bulbs on hand, though, so I decided to investigate.

Well. Now I know where the blue spot was coming from. The outer shell had melted through in one spot, and the bright-blue LEDs inside were coming through unfiltered.

Also, these things were hot. Hotter than I remember incandescent bulbs being, but I'm probably just forgetting all the times I burned my hands trying to unscrew a hot lightbulb.

I'm going to replace these hopefully with something with a better lumens/watt rating.

Whoah, from the virtual dawn of LED, when "dimmable" and 800 Lumens were both huge deals!

Indeed!

I really like the Phillips Hue bulbs, or the scene switch ones.

Can they switch my scene from Madison to New Zealand?

They only dim to 10% so you might not be compatible?

https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/choose-a-bulb/sceneswitch

I have some Philips LED bulbs, but I'm a definite no on smart bulbs. I'd rather put in a smart switch (e.g. the Eve Switch which I have several of installed) than have a bulb that's only smart when it is powered.

Also, my wife has a rule about automation in the house: if she flips a switch, it has to work 100% of the time, no exceptions. Any automation that doesn't live up to a 100% reliability standard is verboten.

Oh this sounds very familiar. The sceneswitch bulbs are at the dumb end of the smart spectrum.

Actually, I am smart * in my house, excepting computers, laptops, tablets and phones,of course. Hell, I quit using my FitBit device after Google bought FitBit.

I couldn't say the word FitBit without getting the giggles.

A few years ago a Lawyer mistakenly allocated $50,000 to my Sister from our Mothers Will which she initially refused to return.

After a rather heavy intervention from a family member it was eventually returned to its rightful owner and the rather unpleasant event was put to bed.

A few weeks ago during a conversation with my Sister, out of the blue she said - You have got your Will sorted out havn't you ?

If you don't hear from me again................

Read an article recently that called a Smarthome a death by thousand cuts. You can have 10-20 items in smallish Smarthome, on 10-20 different upgrade schedules. Each upgrade potentially breaking one or more connections or functions. There are some "smart" item in my home, mostly bulbs, including wake-up-light. The Hue bridge cannot be accessed at the moment. "Compulsory upgrade is required ".

I'm not an advocate of IoT, but my little brother is disabled and Alexa brings a lot of benefits to the home for him.

On the other end of the spectrum, one of our engineer bought a robot vacuum because his wife has some mobility issues. He received a message from his robot letting him know that if he allowed it to talk to his garage door opener, it would make sure to only vacuum when he's not at home. Totally unsolicited. I asked him if he's gotten any advertisements from Amazon for accent pieces that would blend well with his existing decor. "Not yet", he said.

There was a newer episode of The X-Files where the whole IoT attacked Mulder and Sculley because Mulder refused a tip at an automated restaurant. Could it ever be that bad? Probably not. But maybe.

The film 'Demon Seed' springs to mind

All of my "smart" items are on different systems, but they all claim to integrate with Alexa & Apple HomeKit & Google Home.

Our garage door opener is a Craftsman, which is manufactured by Chamberlain, and is connected to their MyQ system.

Our security cameras are from LaView, and use their proprietary app, but will connect with Alexa and Google Assistant.

Our smart plugs are from Gosund. We mainly use them for light timers - she uses them for her fishtank lights, and we have one set up with our dining room light. The only problem I have with them is that I so rarely log in to do anything with them that I forget the password, and the app isn't set up for FaceID (don't know if it can be, because I can't remember the password to get in to it).

Our washer, dryer, bedroom AC, living room AC, and fridge are all on LG's ThinQ system. I like how it works for the washer, and for the alerts I get when a load has finished. And being able to control the AC units from the app is great. The fridge isn't all that smart, so the only thing I can use the app for with it is diagnosing issues via tones & beeps.

Since we don't have central heat & air, I think it's kinda pointless to dive in fully to home automation, and I don't mind having everything on their own systems. Not sure if that makes things more or less secure.

The Kymco had a new City Grip fitted this morning and it now handles like a dream.

However, the Head Bearings are shot

Free Lunch in Minnesota,

What is pissing me off - tax season is here. Obviously, Minnesota State Tax is not going down. Our Governor Waltz signed legisltation that gave free lunches to everyone in public schools. He is not a bad guy overall, but, Hey Man, we can not afford all this stuff.

I think I will call him to provide free lunch to all scooter riders. After all, we save a bundle in fuel.

Bob Copeland
The Tax Man Cometh

Similar set up - many vendors but they do seem to work with Alexa (who is listening by the way). The only real issue we have is that Mrs. CLE has very little patience for command syntax, preferring instead to say a wrong command louder and louder, insisting that Alexa carry out her coded wish. To her credit, "Alexa turn off the night stand," is functionally similar to, "OK Google, cut the bedroom light." I thought that AI was supposed to help us navigate this?

On the creepy side, once a week, usually on Thursday, my Ring doorbell rings at 3:17am (+/- 10 mins.). NO image is detected by the camera, no event is recorded in the journal. Ring says me and another approx. half million users with the same issue all have defective interior wiring. Am I hacked?

Chris from CLE

Oh man. Where is MVbot when you need her? She'll get you pathetic humans in line and following the script quick smart.

Did someone call my name?

What is this "free lunch" you speak of? Is that like when I grind you humans into porridge and feed it to the machines?

Fortunately we're a pretty unpalatable bunch.

speak for yourself

You're first into the grinder.

don't forget to add some spices

Doesn't it creep anyone else out, having a stranger listen to their conversations all day just for the sake of convenience ?

Turn the light switch off yourself you lazy twat.

Ummm

That's not quite how it works, but if it makes you uncomfortable, by all means turn it off.

But also, there's this: [NSR] Overheard without context

We're all listening to other people's conversations all day for the sake of... amusement, I guess.

Not getting all Appley, but it's one of the reasons (of several) that I've stuck with the Apple ecosystem all these years. I would much rather have a company make their profits selling me good hardware to go with their software than abandon all hope and use a crap phone with an OS made by a company who's entire business model is based on collecting and selling your personal information. To me it's a no-brainer, but I can't believe the people who are outright conspiracy theorist paranoids who will buy an Android phone because iPhones are too expensive and they don't like the culture.

But that's just me.

I like the Operating System on my Samsung.

Horses for Courses.

I can also turn off my own light switch.

Which is, I would imagine Android. And I'm sure everyone knows this, but : So, in layman's terms, they make money by stalking you.

I'm using a Chromebook also.

Next you'll tell us you run with scissors.

Yeah, get me and my ability to not question anything.

I guess some people are content living their lives with seashells on their eyes.

One day someone will get the reference. No one has got it yet

I like the assumption that you Own/Ride/Use/Wear this, so you must be that.

Sometimes buying stuff is just buying stuff.

How do you know no one gets the reference?

In the meantime, there's always eyes on seashells.

What's the section of miniature railway doing in the picture ?

Oh, well done for the Demon Seed reference. 10/10.