Dumb things being crowdfunded.
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Ho Ho Ho: Got interested in "water extraction from air". Stopped research when I cognized that water extracted by dehumidifying methods is not generally considered suitable for consumption.
Thought I would share that here.
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@sloosecannon said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Indeed.
Like, maybe if you had a field full of solar panels or something, it would work.Use them to power a well pump.
The whole idea is a portable water supply from air. Once you have a field of solar panels, it is no longer portable. Once it is no longer portable, there are better ways to do it.
Well yeah obviously. I never implied it was a good idea :)
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@loose said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Ho Ho Ho: Got interested in "water extraction from air". Stopped research when I cognized that water extracted by dehumidifying methods is not generally considered suitable for consumption.
Thought I would share that here.
That is mostly because dehumidifiers that weren't designed with potable water in mind were probably built with metals you don't want in your drinking water, and then the water gets to sit stagnant for a while in a basin that's never cleaned properly, which gives plenty of opportunity for biological nasties to grow in it.
Oh, and the part of the machine that the water goes through never gets cleaned properly either, because the machine wasn't designed to be able to be taken apart and cleaned thoroughly, so you're almost guaranteed to have some biofilm built up inside the tubing and on surfaces you couldn't get to, even if you wanted to.
None of that should apply to a device that's designed to generate potable water by air dehumidification; the page I found even said this:
If you're really intent on drinking water made from the air in your home, you can get a potable water device, designed specifically for that purpose.
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@loose said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
The product is smart toilet paper.
You forgot the tiny asterisk with the words 'used paper cannot be flushed. Please save it and take it to your local recycling plant'.
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@blek said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Here's a 19 dollar notebook.
To be fair, it is a nice notebook. I'd totally buy a bunch if I saw them at my store. But nineteen fucking dollars for anything less than a pack of 10?
Also
A beautiful, unique, custom marbled cover pattern, (...) with every shape in the pattern individually placed for a unified look throughout.
Yeah, right, as if I'm going to believe you've sat over this cover:
and put every single dot on it by yourself.
For the record, here's a fine comp notebook (TIL it's a thing, by the way) for ten times less.
@Yamikuronue said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
really cool notebook made of crushed rocks
@Yamikuronue said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
mostly calcium carbonate
So, like... magazine paper?
@dcon said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Kapture: the audio-recording wristband
This is actually kind of nice, although I'd rather have it be a little more discreet - 99% of the time, when you're not coming up with brilliant ideas, you're just a dork with a watch that can't tell time.
But the idea of cached recording is pretty sensible. I could totally see it in a smartwatch (although that would probably drain the battery way too quick to be viable).
@anotherusername said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
The latent heat that would need to be removed (it doesn't matter whether you're adding or removing it if you're using a peltier device) to condense 1 L of liquid water from vapor would be 2264.76 kJ, which is about 541 kcal.
Feed it a Big Mac and it will work!
@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
hang on-- I'm being told I just reinvented firewood.
New idea: a series of Kickstarters which are actually for common household products, but described in a way that makes them look like they're taken out of a sci-fi movie.
"This innovative liquid container uses polyethylene - one of the most versatile compounds ever invented. The surface is ridged by a multi-step process, ensuring a firm grip on the container, and the top is finished by a precise two-part system intended to prevent any sort of leakage. And on top of that, all our containers are made from 100% recycled materials."
*proceeds to send a million of empty Pepsi bottles, $20 a pop*
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Well this is a thing that may happen:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/703752115/kickstarted-in-the-butt-a-chuck-tingle-digital-adv
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@MathNerdCNU said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Digital Adventure
I haven't watched the video yet, but I imagine him vlogging himself browsing the Internet, Hunter S. Thompson style.
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@loose Really? Why?
Edit: apparently I should finish reading the thread. Thanks @anotherusername
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ITT: Onebox DOSes indiegogo and now I'm banned so I don't really have any idea what you lot are talking about.
Maybe it's something to do with no cookies? In which case, fuck indiegogo.
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@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Onebox DOSes indiegogo and now I'm banned
Email support to unban you, otherwise you can't contribute to my campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fuck-you-give-me-money-3
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@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Email support to unban you
Waiting a while seems to have done the trick on the ban.
@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
otherwise you can't contribute to my campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fuck-you-give-me-money-3
But I still can't see any meaningful content. Just a black bar full of stuff that looks like page footer. I suspect it's because no cookies so fuck indiegogo. Sorry you get caught in the crossfire.
The onebox shows a kid eating its own finger. I assume yours? Congratulations on the sex, hope you enjoyed it because you're not getting much more for a while.
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@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Just a black bar full of stuff that looks like page footer. I suspect it's because no cookies so fuck indiegogo.
"Hide all the content until it's finished loading. That way users don't see a half-loaded page. Except we'll fuck it up, and users will be staring at a half-loaded page while the content loads. Web 3.0: Reinventing Everything. Poorly."
@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
The onebox shows a kid eating its own finger. I assume yours? Congratulations on the sex, hope you enjoyed it because you're not getting much more for a while.
She's attempting to eat her own finger, but flipping off the viewer instead. It's a metaphor.
And yes, Molly's mine. She's six months old now. Why haven't you read every single thread and kept meticulous track of the personal lives of every forum user?!?
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Hey, how about a self-filling water bottle that cannot possibly work without violating lots of laws of physics? Indiegogo has you covered!
Well, think it's a mini-dehumidifier that works on power provided by solar battery mat.
I think I've seen some mini-dehumidifier that works on rechargable AA batteries and claims could last for 3 days before recharge is needed. The power needed by the condensing part could be quite low.
Given they don't tell you how much time is needed to fill a bottle, it could actually be workable if the condensing part is properly heat-insulated. (I remember that 1㎥ of room air at 20℃ can carry about 17mL of water when reading about using super dry air to remove water in pipelines)
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fontus-the-self-filling-water-bottles-sport-camping#/
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@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Why haven't you read every single thread and kept meticulous track of the personal lives of every forum user?!?
I can't even keep up with the low-volume threads let alone the status thread, the likes thread and the mulitple simultaneous ongoing flamewars. This is supposed to be a forum for professional programmers to complain about the amateurs but I suspect I'm the only one here who's actually got a job!
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Solar Freakin' Roadways.
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@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Why haven't you read every single thread and kept meticulous track of the personal lives of every forum user?!?
I'd reply, but someone blew up at me last time I displayed my ignorance.
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@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
I can't even keep up with the low-volume threads let alone the status thread, the likes thread and the mulitple simultaneous ongoing flamewars. This is supposed to be a forum for professional programmers to complain about the amateurs but I suspect I'm the only one here who's actually got a job!
QFT.
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@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
I suspect I'm the only one here who's actually got a job!
I think many s here even post while at work. Only @boomzilla will never post at work because that would be of course more work!
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@dse said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
I think many s here even post while at work.
Well, so do I, but in between all that I have to get actual work done. Everybody else here seems to have so much time they're either unemployed or goofing off so much their productivity must be zero. And in either case, childless and unmarried.
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@Yamikuronue said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Do people still write novels and stories in notebooks?? Is that still a thing?
Yeah. Laptops can be too tempting for some people; knowing facebook is a click away, they can't help themselves. So they grab a notebook, head to a coffee shop, write for three hours, then come home and digitize it during the revision process.
Why not get an AlphaSmart or whatever those green keyboard things were that we plugged into Mac OS 9 computers at my middle school? They only make 70% more typos than typing directly into the computer, and you wouldn't have to write everything twice and risk missing a line or something.
Hell, you could take your laptop to a coffee shop without free Wi-Fi and Google Docs would still work in offline mode. No need to kill trees and your hands!
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@Lorne-Kates said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Why haven't you read every single thread and kept meticulous track of the personal lives of every forum user?!?
I tried that for a while. But when I got to Blakeyrat I nearly committed suicide.
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@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Well, so do I, but in between all that I have to get actual work done.
You can probably track what I'm working on based on forum activity. When I'm more active in general, it's the C++ service part and I'm waiting for shit to compile. When I'm swearing in the status thread all the time, it's the Asterisk bits. If you're on IRC you can also see me swearing there, that's JavaScript time :P
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@Maciejasjmj said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
But the idea of cached recording is pretty sensible. I could totally see it in a smartwatch (although that would probably drain the battery way too quick to be viable).
Compared to the rate at which these drain their batteries already, you mean?
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@another_sam said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Everybody else here seems to have so much time they're either unemployed or goofing off so much their productivity must be zero.
I think Hobbes said it best:
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@Gurth I don't know, I consider 7-8 days a pretty usable uptime. Of course, my "normal" wristwatch lasts basically forever (solar charging) but I find a smartwatch that I only have to charge over night once a week definitely good enough.
It was a crowdfunded device too, actually (pebble time steel), but not dumb (to me, anyway)
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@mott555 said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
And if Canonical makes one, you'll be doing stuff like sudo apt-get install lib-shoelace-3 shoelace-3 shoelace3-dev shoelace3-cli-tools
False. libshoelace was forked and renamed to libfootthread in the Debian repository due to licencing disagreements, so when you install libshoelace it actually installs libfootthread. Here, add this PPA
Filed under: yes, I have been bitten by the ffmpeg kerfuffle
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Yamikuronue said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Fox Let's just be honest here, we could have an entire category for dumb kickstarters.
Most kickstarters are dumb. If they weren't, they could easily get funding elsewhere.
The ones that aren't dumb are scams.
There is also a high proportion of expensive hipster crap.
The rest are people gauging interest in creative works (which seems to be a good usage of the platforms), and established businesses using them as presales to further fund their business and production (which is generally another good usage of it).
the trick is telling which ones are which.
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@accalia It is easier to just assume it is all utter crap. It is close enough to 100% accurate to just operate under that assumption.
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@accalia It is easier to just assume it is all utter crap. It is close enough to 100% accurate to just operate under that assumption.
meh. i like being more optimistic than pessimistic.
plus it's fun to deconstruct the kickstartes and find how the scammers are lying to you.
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@Akko said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Gurth I don't know, I consider 7-8 days a pretty usable uptime.
My disclaimer is that I’ve not really looked into smartwatches, but was going on reports that you pretty much have to charge them every night.
Which reminds me once again that I need to put a new CR2032 into my watch so I’ll be able to read the display again for the next three or four years without having to look at it from a low angle.
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@Gurth said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Which reminds me once again that I need to put a new CR2032 into my watch so I’ll be able to read the display again for the next three or four years without having to look at it from a low angle.
Mine's getting there, but it's a watch with a broken wristband that I solely use as an alarm clock. For the time and money spent finding and replacing the battery, I suppose I could just buy an actual alarm clock...
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@mott555 said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Mine's getting there, but it's a watch with a broken wristband that I solely use as an alarm clock. For the time and money spent finding and replacing the battery, I suppose I could just buy an actual alarm clock...
... or use your phone
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@TimeBandit said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@mott555 said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Mine's getting there, but it's a watch with a broken wristband that I solely use as an alarm clock. For the time and money spent finding and replacing the battery, I suppose I could just buy an actual alarm clock...
... or use your phone
@boomzilla, can I borrow your lawn? I don't have my own to tell @TimeBandit to get off it.
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@Gurth said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
My disclaimer is that I’ve not really looked into smartwatches, but was going on reports that you pretty much have to charge them every night.
That is if you're an idiot and decided to get anything else than a Pebble.
Which, BTW, will even go into "low battery mode" when the battery power is too low, which means it'll still display the time for a few hours before shutting down completely.
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@Gurth Batteries, you say? How - quaint.
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
No list would be complete without Solar Freakin' Roadways.
They cut greenhouse gasses by 75%. Not just emissions, but the gasses already in the air.
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@xaade said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
They cut greenhouse gasses by 75%. Not just emissions, but the gasses already in the air.
Yeah...you're looking for AirCarbon.
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@xaade said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
They cut greenhouse gasses by 75%. Not just emissions, but the gasses already in the air.
Y'know...it has been a bit colder the last few days.
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@boomzilla said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@xaade said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
They cut greenhouse gasses by 75%. Not just emissions, but the gasses already in the air.
Y'know...it has been a bit colder the last few days.
Let's turn those solar panels off then so I can put my ice scraper away.
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@mott555 said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@boomzilla said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@xaade said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
They cut greenhouse gasses by 75%. Not just emissions, but the gasses already in the air.
Y'know...it has been a bit colder the last few days.
Let's turn those solar panels off then so I can put my ice scraper away.
Russia seems to be half serious when it says that global warming will do it a favor.
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Then, here's an actual solar freakin roadway that can give you ALL of the benefits of "solar freakin roadways" in a form that actually works. Led signs warning of obstructions, blocks snow from the road, blocks rain from the road, etc.
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@xaade said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Then, here's an actual solar freakin roadway that can give you ALL of the benefits of "solar freakin roadways" in a form that actually works. Led signs warning of obstructions, blocks snow from the road, blocks rain from the road, etc.
That's pretty much what Dave Jones has been saying all along also. He did the calculations and compared it to actual solar roadway test deployments and they are getting 1/2 the energy production of rooftop solar. When you factor in maintenance, increased construction costs, etc., there is no comparison.
Currently, the ROI on rooftop solar (of which your photos of solar farms on scaffold over roadways would be comparable to) is ~6 years. Our next house will have a loose requirement that we are able to retrofit it with solar. Right now we cannot do it due to our southeastern neighbor having some 150'+ tall trees right on the property line or we would already have done it. It is down in to no-brainer territory on cost and ROI. (depending on your local power utility...)
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@xaade said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
They cut greenhouse gasses by 75%. Not just emissions, but the gasses already in the air.
They said nothing about gasses. You see, gases are much easier to manage than gasses. It's the only thing keeping these brillant people from winning the Nobel prize.
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@Polygeekery said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@xaade said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
They cut greenhouse gasses by 75%. Not just emissions, but the gasses already in the air.
Yeah...you're looking for AirCarbon.
I was on mobile earlier so I could not elaborate. For those not familiar with this bit of quackery, it is a company that claims they produce plastic purely from carbon in the air. They did a demo of how they make the plastic for the packaging of Dell computers and they showed a suction tube running up to the atmosphere that supposedly provided all the carbon they needed to produce their plastics.
What they did not say at the time was, they used that air to fuel a catalytic reaction of methane which only occurs at around 1ppm in the atmosphere naturally and they were getting the methane from bioreactors that produced it. Which, while it is a noble idea and very intriguing, is much different than leading people to think that you are feeding atmospheric air in to your machine and spitting out plastic pellets on the other side.
They make their claim that everything you see that is green is made from carbon pulled from the air in the plants. Yeah...that is true...but those plants are solar powered. I am pretty sure they are just pulling their power from the grid, where it is coming from a conventional power plant, that is probably fueled by coal or natural gas.
Oh, and the super funny thing: They could get that methane from the petrochemical industry much more cheaply than via bioreactors. But if they did that...they would not be seen as green.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@r10pez10 said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
Bookmarked.
Seems really bad for a few reasons.
- Homophones become entirely reliant on context. Not really a bad thing on it's own, but not really great, either
- Doesn't take into account the fact that pronunciations may vary based on regions or dialects. As such, this system would end up with different "spellings" for every region or dialect. Even with mostly standardized spelling (en-us v. en-gb, anyone?) We'd be looking at further regionalized spelling: en-us-nw, en-us-s, en-us-mw, ...
- The similar "characters" are definitely going to cause problems. For example, how well would you be able to tell the difference between "tan", "Dan", and "dam"? And that isn't even taking into account how similar other letters will get as people get sloppy. k, g, p, b, kh, and tn? Who would be able to tell the difference? Making sure that the difference was clear every time would slow you down, defeating one of the main points of the writing style: speed.
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@tufty said in Dumb things being crowdfunded.:
@Gurth Batteries, you say? How - quaint.
I prefer digital watches, and occasionally need functions like a countdown timer. I’m sure there are wind-up types that can do those things, but I doubt for a price I’d be willing to pay for one.