mat's recent activity
-
Comment on Automotive repair costs on modern vehicles. Any horror stories? in ~transport
-
Comment on Universe's expansion 'is now slowing, not speeding up' in ~space
mat Link ParentI've heard you only need to measure once, right? You can always cut twice if you need to. I make jewellery, and regularly work to tenths or sometimes hundreths of a mm accuracy and before any...I've heard you only need to measure once, right? You can always cut twice if you need to.
I make jewellery, and regularly work to tenths or sometimes hundreths of a mm accuracy and before any machinists come along and have Opinions about that, I do so almost exclusively using hand tools.
-
Comment on Automotive repair costs on modern vehicles. Any horror stories? in ~transport
mat LinkThe main control/power unit in my 2017 Hyundai Ioniq blew up (ok, technically it shut down before blowing up, but the electronics were running at over 240C at last logging point!). Cost me £7500...The main control/power unit in my 2017 Hyundai Ioniq blew up (ok, technically it shut down before blowing up, but the electronics were running at over 240C at last logging point!). Cost me £7500 to have it replaced. Barely cheaper than scrapping the car and buying a new one. Wasn't even covered by my insurance because fuck me if I ever wanted to get any of the thousands I've paid those bastards over the years back.
To be fair this unit contains the ECU, the main and secondary inverters and a bunch of other critical stuff - basically everything is in this unit except the traction motor and batteries. It was also such a rare failure than Hyundai don't even keep the part in the country, we had to wait for one to be shipped from Korea. My garage did their best to find a used one but they don't fail so there's no used market for the things. Their techs had never seen or heard of this problem ever happening. Just unlucky, really. Sometimes parts break.
Most of the other work I've had done on modern cars hasn't been so bad. Modern diagnostics are usually good at pinning down the problem so you don't have to have exploratory work done so much, and you often find out about problems while they are still minor (and cheaper!) due to having more sensors everywhere. I had a wheel bearing start to fail which I was notified about when the car noticed weird readings from the ABS sensor which is built into the bearing - and it was a quick trip to the garage for a £300 bearing replacement, took a few hours, no other problems (most of that bill was labour, it's a fairly long job). If I hadn't known about this I could have driven along on it to the point of catastrophic failure which could easily have ended up in a write-off (or worse, injury!) if the bearing broke while driving.
I've had a whole range of ages of cars over the years and while the vintage ones I can strip and rebuild in a weekend with nothing more than a few tools and a grimy Haynes manual were great fun, I'll take a modern car every. single. time. Preferably an EV, far less stuff to break or replace.
it had to be aligned and linked to the computer in the car, which could only be done at the Honda dealership.
btw this isn't usually true and I'm pretty sure it's illegal on the part of Honda to require that. What you need to do this kind of job is a Honda (or whoever) approved and chipped interface and while out of the price range of a casual DIYer, they're not that expensive in the grand scheme of running a buisness. My local garage, whom I trust and have used for years (and who did the above mentioned Hyundai job which also required chip id registration/matching stuff), can do this kind of job because they have the certified cables. They're a single-site non-dealer-aligned small business.
-
Comment on Timasomo 2025: The Showcase in ~creative.timasomo
mat LinkI was making a fairly large (2.4x2.4m) set of built-in bookshelves, to replace some aging and saggy Ikea Billy units. I only had three weeks because half-term holidays happen in October so I need...I was making a fairly large (2.4x2.4m) set of built-in bookshelves, to replace some aging and saggy Ikea Billy units. I only had three weeks because half-term holidays happen in October so I need to be doing childcare. However, I did it!
It didn't go entirely smoothly but it did go pretty well. Build updates: one, two, three
Last week, after a few hours of shelving shelving shelving (my wife works in the library service, she greatly enjoyed this bit), we have a bookshelf mostly full of books. Bigger view
We also have much better access to the side of the bed, which is very helpful given how overbuilt that thing is (it was my 2024 timasomo project).
I am very pleased with how well the recessed shelf supports vanish once the shelves are full. My parents even asked how I managed to span 2.4m without the shelves sagging. We also have a dinosaur nook, which is nice. And there's even a tiny bit of space spare - note that the picture books along the bottom were not shelved on that wall originally, we've already got way more storage than before.
Now I just need to do the same with shelving the other two walls in that room, repaint the remaining visible bits of wall and it'll be done... at least for the next decade.
As always, hats off to @kfwyre for their enthusiasm, hard work and to everyone involved for their support of each other. It's so cool to see the things everyone gets up to. If this goes on long enough I'll redecorate my entire house... :)
-
Comment on Timasomo 2025: Final Updates in ~creative.timasomo
mat LinkNot much to report right now as I ran out of time to do anything more on timasomo this year so needed to finish not long after last week's update. However, a little teaser before the showcase next...Not much to report right now as I ran out of time to do anything more on timasomo this year so needed to finish not long after last week's update.
However, a little teaser before the showcase next week.
-
Comment on Supermarket rewards card- yes or no? in ~finance
mat Link ParentThey're not doing that in the UK. Some supermarkets claimed they never did that kind of tracking anyway but I didn't believe them. But it's against the law now. Thanks GDPR!They're not doing that in the UK. Some supermarkets claimed they never did that kind of tracking anyway but I didn't believe them. But it's against the law now. Thanks GDPR!
-
Comment on Supermarket rewards card- yes or no? in ~finance
mat Link ParentI did this with a UK Nectar reward card account and now my account with them is effectively bricked because it won't let me in without sending a verification text to a number I gave them which...I did this with a UK Nectar reward card account and now my account with them is effectively bricked because it won't let me in without sending a verification text to a number I gave them which isn't a number (their input validation was non-existent, I literally just mashed the keyboard for a few seconds). I can't register another card/create a new account using the same physical address, which is odd because more than one person could live there or I could have moved.
Admittedly I have put slightly more effort into writing this comment than I have into fixing a 'problem' which I do not care about, so it's probably solvable. My reward card still gets me discounts in store, I don't get the digital coupons but given in the past they were always utterly useless I don't think I'm missing much. "Oh, this guy has never bought peanut butter, maybe 50p off a jar will tempt him?" No you stupid fucks I just don't like the stuff. "Hmm, he's never bought pet food so maybe 15% off pet insurance is a great personal offer"
-
Comment on Supermarket rewards card- yes or no? in ~finance
mat LinkIn the case of Nectar, you can just pick up a card in the shop and start using it. You don't need to give them any of your information. I regularly do this when I've forgotten mine. I must have...In the case of Nectar, you can just pick up a card in the shop and start using it. You don't need to give them any of your information.
I regularly do this when I've forgotten mine. I must have five or six of them at this point, and that's only the ones I haven't lost.
It does mean you don't get the cashback part of the 'deal' but given that's something like 0.25p per pound spent I'm not losing any sleep over it. Especially because I'm so bad at using the Self-scan machines they never trained me on how to use. Stuff is always getting scanned badly. I'm so careless oh no.
-
Comment on Timasomo 2025: Week 3 Updates in ~creative.timasomo
mat LinkMajor progress this week. But since @kfwyre mentioned detail, I have some detail first. Here's the jig I made to mark up shelf support layout. It's aligned on the shelf, given a little tappy tap...Major progress this week. But since @kfwyre mentioned detail, I have some detail first.
Here's the jig I made to mark up shelf support layout. It's aligned on the shelf, given a little tappy tap with a hammer to transfer the marks to the board, I then use a square to (a) mark for a screw hole and (b) sanity check the dowel marks are straight. Use the same jig to mark the shelf spacer edge, drill some holes, add dowels and glue, then drive in a screw from underneath (making sure everything is square, of course)
These parts can easily be stacked up to make a whole bookshelf. I know what you're thinking, you're thinking "surely @mat, you measured to make sure you can get your drill/driver into the gap between the shelves otherwise it would be a nightmare to assemble" well the answer to that is that no, no I did not (but I did get lucky!). Here's the final assembly
However, all my careful measuring and cutting square of everything was all for naught because the flippin' wall isn't straight (not pictured, me chiselling lumps of plaster off the wall at it's most wobbly places in order to get the shelves to sit even this not-straight). I wondered if I could live with these visible gaps and decided that for the sake of £10's worth of caulk and a few hours of effort, I didn't have to. I'm very glad I did that because it looks so much better, although a coat of primer also helps.
I have the topcoat paint and a nice set of rollers to apply it (I strongly recommend both these products, neither are cheap but the finish you get is so good and the paint is tough as hell), I just need to get it done asap. I have only this week to finish up because Kid is off school as of friday afternoon, and we have visitors coming next week so I need to get all those books off the guest bed!
-
Comment on Jenny Chase 2025 “opinions about solar” thread in ~enviro
mat Link ParentI don't disagree that we need to do more and faster but there is some real progress being made.It would be wrong to assume that this reduction in emissions in rich countries was only achieved by offshoring production overseas – by transferring emissions to manufacturing economies such as China and India. In the chart we see that consumption-based emissions – which adjust for emissions from goods that are imported or exported – have also fallen. Some emissions have been exported overseas, but this is not the only driver of this decline
I don't disagree that we need to do more and faster but there is some real progress being made.
-
Comment on Jenny Chase 2025 “opinions about solar” thread in ~enviro
mat Link ParentI also likedI also liked
- Ordinary people have no idea how much progress we’ve made. Tell people at parties that UK carbon emissions in 2023 were at their lowest level since 1879, for example. Most developed economies are now reducing carbon emissions without lowering quality of life.
-
Comment on Tips/guides to turn my home into a smart home? in ~tech
mat LinkHome Assistant is amazing. Grab an old PC or a Raspberry Pi, put HA on it and then just check that each device you buy works with Home Assistant. Most do. I had no plan when Smarting my home and...Home Assistant is amazing. Grab an old PC or a Raspberry Pi, put HA on it and then just check that each device you buy works with Home Assistant. Most do.
I had no plan when Smarting my home and have just vaguely been getting more and more smart devices as and when. I'm 95% sure my smart heating system (per-room radiator control/scheduling) has saved me more than it cost to buy. I know scripting my various power-hungry devices to run at cheap power times has.
-
Comment on Tips/guides to turn my home into a smart home? in ~tech
mat Link Parentmm-wave radar presence sensors are well worth the few extra dollarpounds over IR motion sensors for this. My wife's office powers itself down if she's not in there for any amount of time, and IR...The only two types of add-on I'm at all interested in currently are motion sensors for the bathrooms
mm-wave radar presence sensors are well worth the few extra dollarpounds over IR motion sensors for this. My wife's office powers itself down if she's not in there for any amount of time, and IR was getting confused by her sitting still or by leaves outside the window. The mm-wave sensor I have now can detect the motion of breathing and can also be range-constrained so it won't look out of the windows.
I'm thinking of getting one for my workshop to turn on tool lights when I stand near a particular tool for more than a few seconds.
-
Comment on Timasomo 2025: Week 2 Updates in ~creative.timasomo
mat Link ParentOoooh, they are nice. It's going to look amazing!Ooooh, they are nice. It's going to look amazing!
-
Comment on Timasomo 2025: Week 2 Updates in ~creative.timasomo
mat LinkI got a decent amount of stuff done. Lots of it wasn't the stuff I was planning to do, but still. Stuff done. I set up a jig and cut up a load of shelf supports (all but 4 are the same size so...I got a decent amount of stuff done. Lots of it wasn't the stuff I was planning to do, but still. Stuff done.
I set up a jig and cut up a load of shelf supports (all but 4 are the same size so easily jig-able). I started assembly before remembering that while MDF generally takes paint very well, it needs attention if you're painting the edges. Which I am. A lot. And they're going to be very visible. So I sanded and sealed all the edges. Two coats of dilute PVA with sanding before, in between and after means I now have lovely smooth edges which won't soak up paint and puff up like a sponge. Threw on a quick coat of primer so I wouldn't forget which sides I'd done. Then I did all the shelves and end pieces as well.
Then I thought "I'll just pop the skirting board off so I can fit them nice and snug" and start installing the actual shelves in place but this happened so I'm waiting for a lot (a LOT) of filler to dry before I can access that area. I did assemble the bottom two shelves though. Although I'm still figuring out the exact order of operations for how they go together, but it might just be wing it until it's done..
Then I found out that the supposedly 2440mm long (aka almost 8ft, I hate that's how sheet sizes are) boards I bought were not all 2440mm long. Given that accurate length is important for not having wonky shelves, I had to cut and glue some 2mm shims onto four shelves (out of nine total). Which was annoying and the shims are a fraction over size so each one needs a little hand sanding before use.
Yesterday I did assemble two more shelves and I'm hoping to get those into place today. I think "make shelf plus supports, then stack up and join together" is probably the best way to do this. I'm using dowels and glue and a clamping screw to hold it together, which feels like overkill but overkill is the best kind of kill so that's probably OK. I still don't quite know how the top two shelves work because there is a fit issue with the curved ceiling in that room but I'll figure that out later. Once it's all assembled I have a bunch of screw holes to fill, fixing it to the wall then painting. A lot of very fiddly painting.
Oh, and Kid is off school for the last week of October so I really only have this week and next to get it all done.
-
Comment on Do other people who grew up with an anonymous internet feel a bit hopeless at the moment? in ~society
mat Link ParentI'm not saying you're wrong to care about this because that's how you feel and it's perfectly legit - but I don't understand why I should? If someone is doing something in public it's just that.....Cause they're not just tracking which shops. They're tracking who you visit. Everything you purchase, how often you purchase it. How often you go to the doctor and visit your grandma.
I'm not saying you're wrong to care about this because that's how you feel and it's perfectly legit - but I don't understand why I should?
If someone is doing something in public it's just that.. public. When I go to places in public and do or buy things in plain sight it isn't private information. You might see me go into my grandma's house every sunday but you're not privy to what we're talking about in there. That bit I'd expect to be private and it still is. Meta know I message my mum every few days and at what sort of times but they don't know what we're talking about. It's probably very boring.
It has no impact on me that Metoogle/etc are collecting this information from what is effectively a public space. Amazon is no different to a shopping centre in terms of privacy. I know why they're doing it and it doesn't matter to me.
For the record if an actual person was following me - and only me - around irl then I probably would take some kind of action because that is a bit weird. But that is slightly different, it was just an analogy after all. Someone doing a marketing study where they note the time me and everyone else is going in and out of their shop would be a more accurate comparison and that's not weird at all.
Also to be clear, would I rather this all wasn't happening? Yeah, probably. It seems like a waste of a lot of resources to just sell people things marginally more effectively (and it is marginal - a long standing open secret in the industry is that targetted ads are nowhere like effective as the ad networks like to claim they are). But given all the other things to worry about in the world, this one doesn't even move the give-a -hit gauge. If we'd sorted out the climate and fixed the rise of fascism, dealt with inequality and and and, then I might care some more. But even then probably not much. I don't have the energy.
-
Comment on Do other people who grew up with an anonymous internet feel a bit hopeless at the moment? in ~society
mat Link ParentYeah, I've heard that story about the pregnant girl. I did used to work in marketing, I've seen this stuff from the inside. The thing is, if I'm not aware of something, how could a machine...Yeah, I've heard that story about the pregnant girl. I did used to work in marketing, I've seen this stuff from the inside. The thing is, if I'm not aware of something, how could a machine somewhere putting a particular flag on my line in a database be considered an invasion of my privacy? I still don't have the time or energy to care about something which clearly doesn't affect me enough for me to notice.
Also it's worth remembering that it's not a person sitting there looking at this data and giggling about all the things they've secretly found out about me. It's just an algorithm which is pointing a certain kind of ads in a certain direction after processing billions of datapoints. I'm nothing to nobody, and I'm fine with that.
Facebook will direct particular kind of advertising to teenage girls who have recently deleted a selfie, because that indicates they are suffering from a bout of lowered self-esteem
This one might have been true once but is actually something Meta take pretty seriously and they have been putting a lot of effort into handling stuff like this better. Source: very old and trustworthy friend who works at Meta. Any kind of ethics aside, it's just bad business for your social media platform to make people feel bad. They won't come back and see more ads!
-
Comment on Do other people who grew up with an anonymous internet feel a bit hopeless at the moment? in ~society
mat LinkI dunno. I just don't care that much. Does Meta know some very limited stuff about the surface appearance of the person who is me? I guess. The facets I present to their services are just a tiny...I dunno. I just don't care that much. Does Meta know some very limited stuff about the surface appearance of the person who is me? I guess. The facets I present to their services are just a tiny aspect of who I am though. The fact that the ads they show me are utter shite really highlights how little they know about me despite all the data they've supposedly harvested.
It's like if someone walked around behind me marking down which shops I went into while I was wandering around the city. It's all stuff I'm doing in public and I suppose if someone wants to put that work in just to show me some adverts I'm marginally more likely to click on then.. go for it, I suppose? I don't really care. It has never felt like an invasion of my privacy because it's just me wandering around the internet. My head remains private. My house remains private. The things I care about not showing to other people remain unshown. And just like going out into the physical world, if I do particularly want to keep something quiet, it's not that hard to do. There are parts of my life I don't want Google et al knowing about so I just... don't let them know about those things. If I were feeling particularly paranoid I might suggest that I'm creating a lot of noise in which I could, should I want or need to, hide a signal.
I am aware this is something of a privileged position. I am fortunate to not live in a place where I need to keep my sexuality or political preferences or whatever under wraps for my physical safety. I am not concerned about slippery slopes because there are people who have been warning me that that sky is falling for over two decades now with zero evidence it is. I think if I reach a point where the state I live in is so corrupt they're locking people up for internet searches then it doesn't really matter what's true or not, they'll just make something up if they want me. As someone else said, if you're a target of a state-level actor they have you whatever you're doing (or not doing).
-
Comment on What are some good influences for kids today, both online and offline? in ~life
mat LinkBBC Children's TV is awesome. I don't feel the need to supervise my kid when they watch BBC, although I usually end up sitting and watching with them anyway because it's just so good. My kid is...BBC Children's TV is awesome. I don't feel the need to supervise my kid when they watch BBC, although I usually end up sitting and watching with them anyway because it's just so good.
My kid is very physically active and one of the best influences on them is Sam Pilgrim (ex world freeride MTB champion) who does crazy stuff but does it safely, and (mostly) legally, unlike some of the other Youtube bike/scooter people. Pilgrim's attitude of "That looks scary, let's do it! Yikes, it was scary, let's do it again but better this time!" has helped my kid in quite a lot of situations, not all of which are at the top of large drops on their bike (but some are)
Youtube can be good with a guiding hand. Google have mostly, as far as I can tell, dealt with the weird "kids" videos of a few years ago, but there's still a lot of brainrot which is just... stupid stuff. My kid has their own account which I manage through Family Link, which mostly means going through every so often and blocking all the inane bullshit accounts. There's still plenty of goodness out there though. Today we watched a great video in which a guy built a series of increasingly detailed lego "hideouts" which prompted Kid to get their lego out and build some stuff too. We also had an imaginative discussion about where we could make secret lego bases in our world, which was fun.
Books. Obviously. Some books are better than others but books books books. We go to the library at least once a week and Kid chooses books for them to read and for me to read with them. Last week we had one about "How to be a Real Man" which was awesome because it was "fuck gender roles, just be nice and do what makes you happy" but really fun with it and without being boring and preachy.
Mostly though, at the age I've been dealing with (kid was 7 last week), the main influencers are us - their parents. So we try to be everything we want them to be. Kind, compassionate, gentle, thoughtful, enthusiastic, silly, polite, curious and so on. I know this won't be the case forever and later in life I can only hope kid finds good friends who will take them further along that path. The friends they have now are mostly decent kids and they all look out for each other and call out bullying and unkindness when they see it. I actually have a lot of hope for The Kids as a group, I live near several schools and I on the school walk I overhear so much thoughtfulness and compassion among kids of all ages, even the teenagers (who were utter dicks when I was one of them). The number of times my kid does a tiny jump on their scooter or micro-wheelie on their bike and a bunch of big kids unironically cheer for them makes me really happy.
-
Comment on What happens when the internet goes out at your work? in ~tech
mat LinkI probably wouldn't notice. I might need to check a message from a customer or look up a size conversion or something, possibly check stock at a local supplier before heading out of the house. All...I probably wouldn't notice. I might need to check a message from a customer or look up a size conversion or something, possibly check stock at a local supplier before heading out of the house. All of which I generally do on my phone anyway because my workshop would kill a laptop in fairly short order (and I have no need for one in there), and my phone will fall back to 5G data without even telling me if the local wifi stops providing internet connectivity.
First question: Yes, plenty. Modern cars are more reliable than ever. One useful shortcut is to look for whatever taxi drivers in your area use at the time you're looking to buy. Most of the cabs near my are Hyundai Ioniqs, so that's what I drive and I don't regret that choice. Or ask your local garage if you have a good relationship with them - "what don't you see a lot of? What would you buy?" (that's how I bought my current van)
Second question: depends. Some problems set flags in the ODB system (On Board Diagnostics) and for very valid safety reasons, you can't disable a certain class of error messages with a home ODB2 dongle. An example - I fitted an aftermarket stereo unit to my 2014 Skoda a few years back. This meant unplugging the passenger's airbag warning light because it was part of the trim I needed to remove to get to the stereo harness. HOWEVER, when I powered up the system to check the stereo (before replacing all of the trim), this lack of warning light tripped an error. Which is fair enough, it's an important warning light - you need to know if it's not working! But then I had to go and pay my garage £45 to clear the error once I'd reassembled the dashboard, because they have the certified devices to do such things with. It's annoying but it also makes sense - otherwise that used car you're looking at could have all sorts of faults the owner had cleared with a £5 dongle and a phone app.
I can and still do plenty of routine maintenance jobs on my vehicles - changing bulbs, washer pumps, batteries (12V, not 400V!), fitting cameras, changing fuses, wiring in chargers and fixing hinges are all jobs I've done recently - but anything involved in a safety system I can't really touch. Which is, again, fairly reasonable.