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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: October 3rd, 2023

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  • Thanks for the recommendation!

    I like the fold concept in theory, though it’s a bit exhausting protecting the screen all the time.

    Being able to set the phone anywhere at an angle to take a picture has come in handy super frequently.

    If this phone was full price though I think I’d be mad. I baby this screen line no tomorrow, and I’m diligent about keeping my pocket free of any dust and lint, let alone dirt or bits.

    I’ve got a tiny scratch in the middle of the fold, and the entire fold area has long tiny cracks forming from folding. I’ve only had this phone for like 7 or 8 months.

    My buddies broke in 30 days of buying it, and he had to fight to get it replaced.

    Again, I like the idea, and I enjoy using it. But there’s still too many pain spots for me to make the jump. It’ll have to get a lot cheaper or a lot more sturdy before I’ll get another.



  • As I understand it, there’s a range of sizes that are problematic, from small to micro to nano and beyond.

    The problem is the more plastic we make, and the smaller it starts, the easier it is for it to get worn down into smaller and smaller bits that become more problematic for us.

    One of the problems with all the macro plastics in the ocean is that that as they get churned up and baked in the UV from the sun, smaller and smaller bits break off and become part of the… Everything.

    Micro plastics are so prevalent that they can’t even do proper studies on how harmful it might be to us, because there are no control groups that have no plastics inside their bodies to compare against. Even babies in the womb have plastic in them. You have plastic in you right now, almost a 100% guarantee.

    There’s probably more to it than that even, but that’s my understanding of it.


  • I used to like the a400, had a few of them in service, but a few years ago I tried another one and it was terrible. Just… Slow… like an HDD. I did some research and apparently they changed something with the nand somewhere along the line. Did a bait and switch. I don’t remember the details but it annoyed me.

    I actually needed to buy a budget SSD just today, and I got a BX500. We’ll see how it goes. I know not to expect much from a drive without DRAM, but at least I know that going in.







  • Those other two are so frequently used for scams that my bank has a heart attack every time I try to use them. No matter how many times I call them and tell them to unblock my card, because it was definitely me sending that money, they’ll block it the very next time. I literally bought a checkbook (you have to buy those dumb things now?!) so I could more easily give people money… In 2023…

    Google pay worked for me reasonably well for small transactions between friends and family. That’s literally what I use it for 90% of the time. I’m super annoyed that they don’t have a replacement for it.

    Google strikes again, killing something I love.







  • I have a 600w ham radio amplifier from the 60s. It’s a Heathkit SB-200

    I’m very proud of it because I bought it in rough condition, and repaired it myself. Replaced all the leaky capacitors and did some other work in there. Now it runs like a dream! It was my first time working with tube gear. The voltages in these things is 2500 volts, that’ll kill you dead before you know what happened.

    I also have an SB-220 that I got broken. I fixed it up but didn’t do a full rebuild on it. It’ll do 1200 watts, but I don’t need that much power so I haven’t used it much. It’s in storage. That one is from the late 60s early 70s.

    My next oldest device is also ham radio gear, a Kenwood TS-530S from the 80s. There’s a lot of solid state stuff inside, plenty of transistors doing all the work. But the final output stage is still a good ole pair of tubes. I bought this in non working condition, and fixed it myself as well. Good fun!



  • Open it up and see if any of the capacitors are leaking! Soldering is a great skill to learn and you can fix it yourself.

    The biggest problem people have is buying a bad soldering iron that gets way too hot. You can get an excellent iron for only 10 or 20 dollars more than the garbage out there. I used to recommend the TS-100, because that’s what I use and love, and they used to be way cheaper. The TS-80 was an upgrade to that, which was also nice but I never liked. If you’ve got the money, I still recommend them. However for the budget minded, the pinecil is almost the exact same thing, it’s well made, and it’s still like $30-40 bucks. In fact some people prefer it over the others. You can power it with a beefy USB-C charger if you have one, or an old laptop charger if you want to cut up the end and put a barrel jack on it. The thing pulls about 90 watts at full tilt, but only for brief periods.

    Next you want to buy yourself some practice boards, you can get soldering kits from AliExpress that will let you build little flashing trees and hearts and stuff. Or even small handheld games if you’re getting better at soldering.

    Then you watch YouTube tutorials, find several. You want to focus on quick work, at low ish temps like 280C, keep the tip clean, and flux is your friend. The very tippy tip of your iron should always be shiny, if it starts turning black, it’s building oxides from being too hot and not enough flux. Clean that thing with flux. If you leave it that way too long you’ll ruin it, that’s why most people struggle to solder.

    Then once you’ve learned, and you’re ready to go. Watch YouTube videos on fixing the Xbox, buy the caps, crack that thing open and have fun. Caps aren’t that hard to replace, compared to other soldering projects. You’ll do fine 👍