Posts by artandtechnic@digipres.club
 (DIR) Post #AUar7654LPTEFiDZCK by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-13T01:10:31Z
       
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       @nkizz An audio company I came across a few years back wrote some really laugh out loud, funny manuals. ( And informative! ) What a refreshing change they were.
       
 (DIR) Post #AUurislBKwwS3ScPh2 by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-22T16:51:33Z
       
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       @nkizz Your dream, my reality 😂. Are these from the later seasons?Tele/Videotext in the U.S. was frequently declared as “the future,” while simultaneously completely undermined by everyone trying to get a piece of the action $$$-wise. It also completely ignored the fact that in the U.S., people could and did actually buy computers in the 80s, as opposed to 70s U.K., where they didn’t.
       
 (DIR) Post #AV3gWL7NF0wxASSFl2 by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-26T17:32:00Z
       
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       eBay is probably the most dysfunctional “market” on Planet Earth.Which has a lot to do with the fact that the vast majority of the people there don’t seem to know anything about the economics of markets, and how they work. Or for that matter, scarcity and value. All they know is “markup market” - profiteering that is at once insane and obscene: buying for pennies in local markets, and selling for tens and hundreds of dollars online.
       
 (DIR) Post #AV3gWLsAR2NdVaLch6 by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-26T17:36:55Z
       
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       The easiest to grasp example is the lowly VHS tape, mass produced in quantities that are somewhere in the millions.Those who go to their local thrift and second-hand stores (which are not named Goodwill or Salvation Army*), will discover that the going rate is somewhere between 20¢ and $1 each. High end tops out at $2.On eBay, that range is $5 - $10 (before shipping!), with the high end around $30,000.—* These chains have deliberately been purging themselves of these holdings nationwide.
       
 (DIR) Post #AV3gWMRyHv1JId6DVA by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-26T17:51:29Z
       
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       The problem is at once significantly worse and significantly clearer when one looks at specialty / niche (consumer) electronics (i.e. things that were readily acquirable 30-40 years ago, but less so today).With a straight face and significant indignation, you will have sellers demanding stratospheric prices for items… sometimes visibly damaged… that they don’t know if it works or not, refuse to make the effort to even do “power testing,” which have missing items, and refuse to take returns.
       
 (DIR) Post #AV3gWN9veUBLUxfK1A by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-26T17:57:30Z
       
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       While not every seller has a bevy of test kit, I do expect you to know your merchandise, and it’s value.Value is in part determined by whether or not “it works.”Value is in part determined by whether or not it’s worth testing.Value is in part determined by whether or not it’s worth more to have the buyer test it.Value is in part determined by whether or not returns are accepted.Value is determined by how much profit you expect from markup & inflated shipping prices.
       
 (DIR) Post #AV3gWNnzFYDzVCPJSK by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-26T18:01:57Z
       
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       Markets in which people expect every item to be their ticket to retirement are not markets. They are, instead, people trying to turn everything into a collectible: Beanie Baby fantasies.The value of items which a seller has “discovered” is significantly diminished if they refuse to do the bare minimum to establish actual value for the buyer.
       
 (DIR) Post #AV3gWOtLD86Ms5v6RM by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-26T18:02:08Z
       
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       -FIN- 😂
       
 (DIR) Post #AV3hgGEeLjEIsH9WfA by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-04-26T23:11:26Z
       
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       @nkizz Good points. :) I would say that the collective actions of both those in & seeking to be in the market, are essentially attempting to redefine the market as a collectibles market. Naturally, a collectibles market doesn’t work unless values are perceived to have a high “floor.”  Which is the situation I encounter frequently when attempting to do research work.Much of the former market - i.e. big thrift - thought the value was in clamshell cases. Well, they got stuck with tons of them.
       
 (DIR) Post #AVJepOKUQxKRFcuBou by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-05-04T15:54:47Z
       
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       @misty Was slightly surprised to see that this morning
       
 (DIR) Post #AVJvfTxMMAdX1lwm6C by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-05-04T19:01:23Z
       
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       @misty Hoping you find a new position soon!
       
 (DIR) Post #AYKoh7j2H9pn4DRozw by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-08-02T19:30:56Z
       
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       WaPo: “Nose picking linked to higher risk of covid, study shows”‘Health-care workers who said they picked their nose contracted the coronavirus at a much higher rate than those who said they did not pick their nose’ (!?!?!?!?!!!)https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/08/02/nose-picking-covid-research/
       
 (DIR) Post #AYT535wVVqLXE1IFkW by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-08-06T22:24:51Z
       
       1 likes, 0 repeats
       
       After making the video of the ADS-B data last night, I proceeded to create 2D “overhead” and “side” views of the airplane reception data, which is somewhat more helpful than the flight level slices / video.I didn’t expect them to be pretty… or look like the poster art for “The Thing” (1982).The striations in the lateral views are what are known as “flight levels” in the aviation business - altitudes that airplanes commonly fly at.[ Underlying data for visualizations are the same. ]...
       
 (DIR) Post #Ac0whyXXe9oGqr9PbU by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-11-20T22:07:59Z
       
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       New Blog: “DVD Recorders... for Preserving Captions”‘In this essay, we describe how 'citizen preservationists,' who are digitizing & uploading vintage broadcast recordings, can preserve the Closed Captioning Data on those videotapes... with set-top DVD Recorders. We illustrate how effective a set-top DVD Recorder can be, by providing a link to a special Captioning Demo DVD, which demonstrates several facets of the original Closed Captioning System.’https://blog.artandtechnic.com/
       
 (DIR) Post #Ac0wi0K90wHWNstk00 by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-11-20T22:12:57Z
       
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       BTW, the credentials are found at the top of the page (the best way of keeping the info free, and the AI thieves out).This isn’t a technical piece - it’s a how-to guide. So, if you’d like to know how DVDs store two fields of Closed Captioning Data, then I’d suggest checking out “Notes on Closed Captioned Digital Videodiscs of the 1990s,” on our Closed Captioning Page.https://cc.artandtechnic.com/
       
 (DIR) Post #Ac0wi1sDFl7xBpqSjw by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-11-20T22:24:50Z
       
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       The link to the demo DVD can be found in the essay, along with links to HTML disassemblies of the caption data present in both fields.
       
 (DIR) Post #AcODJnwtXWZQuV9F8i by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-12-01T20:44:11Z
       
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       At the local ER... again. It’s busy. Everybody seems to be coughing. The entire family on the other side of the partition in this ‘room’ are badly congested, getting swabbed for Flu/RSV/COVID.Ahhh, that’s right... Thanksgiving was 7 days ago.
       
 (DIR) Post #AcODJpMSHybvI47AcS by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-12-01T20:47:21Z
       
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       @artandtechnic The nurse brought us masks ASAP once the neighbors came in. Forgetting that we came in with N95s. I appreciated it nonetheless. But, since none of the ER staff are wearing masks....
       
 (DIR) Post #AcODJquWWnSM613tMO by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2023-12-01T22:25:51Z
       
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       @artandtechnic Yeah, so... they’re all masking NOW. While the above mentioned neighbors all tested negative for the trifecta, the dude who just rolled in is classically presenting.Nurse thankfully was able to move us to a room that opened up.
       
 (DIR) Post #AnleQXWQJFHPHGlrSy by artandtechnic@digipres.club
       2024-04-01T20:38:14Z
       
       3 likes, 3 repeats
       
       "No matter how completely technics relies upon the objective procedures of the sciences, it does not form an independent system, like the universe: it exists as an element in human culture and it promises well or ill as the social groups that exploit it promise well or ill. The machine itself makes no demands and holds no promises; it is the human spirit that makes demands and keeps promises."- Lewis MumfordTechnics and Civilization (1934)