So many toddler toys and sporting goods on the curb in front of our house! Got my now college age kid to help.

We put up a huge “free” sign, and at least some things found a new home. Three bicycles, two portable soccer nets, and a pair of roller blades definitely gone but there’s just so much stuff that I really couldn’t say what’s no longer there

I’m disappointed the snow blower didn’t go. Yeah it’s older and needs service but it’s a nice two stage, self-propelled, auto-start model where bringing it back to life would be a fraction of the cost of buying something like that

This morning I made pancakes for my little one (ok, he’s a high school senior, and it was an egg, cantaloupe and some pancakes). His favorite is chocolate chip: I can do that!

As I was making them I realized I didn’t have enough chocolate chips. But I could still be the hero, I had mini-chips to make energy bites!

I don’t know if this counts as science, but I discovered the minis sink right to the bottom while full sized are easier to keep in suspension. The minis made it a lot harder to give each a consistent chocolate taste

The last several months, I’ve started watching YouTube.

I tried looking at what I’ve been watching:

• lawn mowing
• drain clearing
• dog grooming

For those of us still impatiently waiting, what is your experience so far with “Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition”?

—- I ordered just 2 hours in but the vendor I used sold out in 21 minutes. I just found out I also missed the restock, so hopefully some time next month.

I generally use Lemmy through my phone browser: safari on iPhone. Starting a few weeks ago. I can no longer get to the primary url. When I try, the progress bar stops partway through, I get a long delay and eventually see “a problem repeatedly occurred on https://lemmy.world”.

I assumed there was some sort of update and was patient but it doesn’t appear to be getting fixed

As a workaround, I’ve been using https://old.lemmy.world

Is this a known problem or can someone help look into this?

Does anyone know the current state for re-flashing Inovelli Blue switches to Thread? I haven’t been paying attention the last year so I don’t know if they released that or if it works reliably. I did try looking through the community pages without finding anything definite (plus that might not include any actual experience trying it)

I recently saw a couple new Thread devices, so maybe it’s time to start using that. My entire Zigbee network was intended to be flashable to Thread: all I have is SkyConnect and some Inovelli Blue switches. More importantly, that should be a good foundation for a strong mesh to support other devices (and I don’t have a reason for a strong Zigbee mesh). I know SkyConnect multi-protocol didn’t work out but I believe reflashing to Thread is fine. I know Inovelli Blue can’t be reflashed over the air, but that’s ok. Is there Thread firmware and what are your experiences with it?

Throwing this out there in case someone has advice …..

I got a smoker this summer and have been having a great time cooking new (large) meals. But my kids are back at college and I can’t depend on my ex. How do you find people to eat your meals?

It’s a weird situation where it’s a huge pellet grill and smoking tends to focus on large pieces of meat, but not everything freezes well. I want to go gangbusters with feasts, just when I no longer have anyone to appreciate it. Anyone know if there is such a thing as cooking clubs, or something? How do you find one or how do you break into one as a single guy?

Fwiw

• kids are back from college today, ex is coming over and ex-FiL
• smoked duck with orange maple glaze
• chicken for those not willing to try duck
• rice pilaf
• arugula salad with toasted pine nuts
• I plan to throw chocolate chip cookie dough in a cast iron skillet for brownies and top with ice cream

I just got back from a 1,200+ mile road trip and Superchargers, especially with the trip planning, made it easy!

However non-Tesla chargers seem to be more common in Connecticut. I went to try one and discovered I don’t have as complete a set of adapters as I thought. What if I need to charge at a CCS charger?

I looked online and the price range is huge. I see a $64 and one close to $300, and several in between. Do you know what the difference is or what I should be looking for? Is there one you’d recommend? Is it even worth it, since Superchargers are everywhere, plus I charge at home, and CCS is likely to go away in a couple years?

I just got back from my first real road trip in an EV: over 1,200 miles in nine days! I stayed with my brother most of it, but did not even ask to plug-in. I saw many destination chargers, but filtered them out.

I charged only at Tesla superchargers. There was always one close to on my way, and I never felt too delayed. My first charging stop was at the Meadowlands, which is apparently a huge mall when they’re not playing football. It was a huge surprise to see the pop up to continue the trip before we were able to find the food court. I did follow the pattern from trip planning, to charge up frequently for short periods of 10-20 minutes, rather than wait for a full charge, and it worked very well. Basically each stop was to grab a soda, maybe use the bathroom, and go, and I always had a couple hundred miles of charge available

There was only one spot where I was worried. After sitting in traffic over an hour with the AC running, I was getting worried about reaching the pla

Insufficient tinting, but lens flair got the image at 95%

I hope this is ok to post: cast iron adjacent and has not better home on Lemmy ….

Seafood feast I made for the kids last night. That fried rice started as 2c dry rice and would have been tough to make without the space of this griddle top! Or maybe it’s just me, I can’t seem to make it without spreading out and making a mess

It’s all an experiment

• only the second time cooking tuna steak
• only a few times trying to sear shrimp
• fried rice - ok, hot sesame oil was new, gave it a nice kick without being hot

Probably use it for a massive number of pancakes tomorrow

So this is also a cry for help: what can I replace this with?

• I’m getting an induction glass top, which doesn’t support griddles of any kind
• I don’t want to go back to Teflon, that all stand-alone electric griddles seem to be
• I don’t know how big to consider: during the week it’s just me and a skillet is sufficient, but kids do come home from college
• I considered getting a Blackstone or similar, but the weath

I use extra virgin olive oil for some cooking - where taste matters, but never knew what to look for.

Several years back, we did a taste test of brands and styles found in my grocery, and settled on one that was good, but they no longer stock it. Now I need to look for a new one but still have no idea what to look for, so what do you look for?

I used “Philipo Berio” brand robusto. I don’t know if that’s considered good but it tastes good to me and has a reasonable price. My grocery still carries the brand but not robusto and the other styles don’t have as much flavor.

Apparently robusto is not a thing, since no other brand uses that nomenclature, so what can I look for to find one with a strong flavor? How can I find a “good” brand without spending a lot? Is there a price sweet spot, like with wine?

I can talk the talk, but this is really going to test that ……

I live in a fairly walkable town outside one of the most walking and transit oriented cities in the US. I’ve always been a transit and walkable communities advocate.

My town is centered on a train station/bus/taxi/scooter/bicycle hub and we have a traditional walkable “Main Street” with shops and restaurants that we pedestrianize for the summer. We have a new rail trail that will eventually connect to a statewide network, a riverwalk and even kayak rentals in the middle of downtown

Higher density housing is centered on the downtown, dominated by 4-6 story apartment/condos, including residential over commercial. Works great. Surrounding that is a belt of 2-3 story multifamily houses, townhouses, and small apartments. I’m the first street zoned for single family, but I can still walk to the town center, and take the train into the nearby major city.

I even spoke up in favor of new statewide zoning, requiring “as of rig

After all this online drama over something as silly as green bubbles, I just discovered their power. I had a brief power outage and apparently my cell provider had degraded service, so I had no data and text messages didn’t go through. Then I tried a green bubble conversation and it worked.

SMS worked, when data and iMessage did not. So how can I do that on purpose? I don’t know if this is a normal occurrence but the next time I have degraded service with no data, does anyone know if there is a way to SMS to fellow iPhone users?

The SkyConnect dongle was sold as Zigbee but with the promise of also supporting Thread. This is available in HA as experimental. Does anyone have experience with how stable it is? Is it close to ready?

In the US a decade or two ago, we enacted regulations to increase the efficiency of passenger vehicles. However larger vehicles typically needed for commercial and farming uses were exempt. Now we see the results of that as reverse incentive, where trucks became more common, even for simple commuting

Will the same happen with BEVs, a reverse incentive that increases the use of trucks?

I just read an opinion piece (lost just as quickly, sorry) that discussed issues with sales of EV pickups at GM and Ford. They made a compelling argument that EVs still have weaknesses as work trucks and point to the success of Rivian as a recreational truck. Certainly arguments against EV pickups do center on those weaknesses, even for scenarios where it wouldn’t apply (how many truck owners actually tow regularly?). So, as BEVs rapidly take over the car and crossover markets, and the holdouts have fewer choices of ICE cars, will they increasingly turn to trucks?

Is there a difference, and what?

I’ve been reading about the “15 minute city” idea, and it is both fascinating and brings back good memories. I’ve lived in a few neighborhoods of Boston, where my biggest use of a car is finding some place to stash one long term. I had all my daily needs in a short walk, as was a subway station. Combine that with a monthly pass and the freedom to go anywhere was fantastic. I know people in NYC with similar experiences, including several who never had a reason to learn to drive. My oldest is at college and on experiencing campus life, commented similarly. I hope y’all get to experience this some day

However the Boston area has focussed on” transit oriented development “ for the last few decades. They use zoning and other development tools to encourage mixed neighborhoods with more housing, more retail, and even more office space focussed on transit hubs. It’s not just a train station but each is a “hub”, centering other options including bus ro

Has anyone else seen problems using a portable charger (USB-A) with their new phone?

I plugged the phone into my portable charger and saw all four status LEDs, indicating the charger saw the phone and had a full charge available. However my phone never started charging, and the status lights on the charger eventually went off as it gave up.

At first I thought it was the new cables, but I used the same cable with an old Apple charger, no problem. Unfortunately I don’t have another usb-c device I can try with that cable and portable charger.

The portable charger charges older (Lightning) phones, so that is not the problem.

So all three of my new iPhone, portable charger, and new cable work in other scenarios but not this specific combination.

Edit to add: rebooting worked. Thanks @[email protected]

Now that we see the iPhone 15 with the new usb-c port, what’s your first impression?

—-

For me it’s not too big a deal, functionally identical. I have the pro, so could use high speed data, but I never have used the charging cable for data and am not likely to start now. I appreciate faster charging but realistically charge overnight, so no change

I understand and support the goal of one set of chargers and cables for everything, but in the immediate term, it does mean buying new cables and chargers, and it means all the existing ones going to waste.

-- so far, I’ve had to buy two cables, a charger, and two new power strips with USB-C, and there will be more to come

-- My teens still have Lightning iPhones and they’re hard on cables, so my old cables won’t go to waste.

-- admittedly, I’m trying to jump past the next transition by moving to usb-c chargers somewhat rather than buy new usb-a to usb-c cables for old chargers

-- I bought a usb-c watch cable but am not counting tha