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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Fun fact, the Figaro has the most ridiculously non-linear fuel gauge I've ever encountered. Not only is the quarter tank tick barely above empty, but when the needle is on it you really have half a tank left. It constantly looks like you're running on empty!

The speedometer, odometer, fuel gauge, and temperature gauge of a Nissan Figaro. They are styled like vintage dial pointers, and the fuel gauge is barely off of the empty mark because the quarter tank mark is barely above empty

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This is what the high-speed charging situation looks like today in Texas. Note that I've excluded Tesla Superchargers. This is everything that isn't Tesla. I would really encourage you to play around with the filters on PlugShare and see what's around you today. plugshare.com

A map of Texas littered with high speed charger pips. There are huge clusters around Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Auston and San Antonio with the highway routes between cities dotted with chargers at regular intervals.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Here's an update on the ducting situation for my 120V plug-in heat pump water heater and my very me-coded method of controlling my HVAC fan with a second thermostat.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Just posting this video for the non-sickos who don't obsess over new high-speed electric car charger installations

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

And look at that, it's the same damn car but the Trax is a few inches higher off the ground. Which to be clear, I have concerns about! Pedestrian safety is much worse with these designs. But I wish people had a better eye for car size and how meaningless the term "crossover" is.

A screenshot from the Car Sized website showing a Honda Civic hatchback next to a Chevy Trax.

The two vehicles are remarkably similar in size but the bottom of the Trax body is higher off the ground than the Civic

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

In the wonders of Chicagoland wiring standards, I present to you something which most of you have probably only heard of in code books: the elusive grey neutral wire. Context below:

An electrical box with a fitting connector attached on the wall and two wires coming out. One wire is yellow and the other is grey

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

It took me a bit to figure out, but at this angle you can see there is now a transparent cone sticking way out into the shroud. Head-on the lights look normal, but this cone combined with wind channels in the shroud is designed to keep snow off the lights! First heard of this in Japan, cool to see

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Following up to a very old video of mine (LED traffic lights and the problem of "but sometimes!") I noticed the shrouds for the red lights at this intersection were suddenly larger than the others.

A cross arm with four three light signal heads on them. Each signal has the top red light shrouded with a larger and longer shroud than the other two lights

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

You can have the full image. I was mainly fixing the wrong their because I was using speech to text and didn't catch it

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Foolish old me thought I was just buying a weird kind of sparkling water that their purchasing department found a good deal on. There's a good bit of Big Lots DNA in Menards. But then I noticed this. 3g of fiber! I don't know what exactly this is, but it tastes pretty good and I'll call that a win

A close up of the back of the can which shows various benefits to this product. This claims it is a good source of fiber.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Y'all know I talk about Menards a lot. Here is a perfect example of why. So you're going into a hardware store, right? You need a bolt that's a little bit longer than the one you have. But Menards has a grocery section, and if you walk through it, you'll find weird stuff like this.

A refrigerator shelf with red cans on the left and yellow cans on the right. They are branded "Plezi Fizz" and one flavor is cherry limeade and the other is strawberry lemonade.

The artwork is strange, with an alligator wearing headphones on one and a lion wearing sunglasses on the other

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Nothing will beat our prestigious ham radio plate, though, where you can put your callsign on your car if you really want

An otherwise normal-looking Illinois license plate with the characters K9GHX but squeezed into the left-hand side of the plate are the words "HAM RADIO" written vertically in two columns of tiny letters

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

On this note, if you see this Illinois plate it's probably a rental. FP is our fleet plate and the text is green rather than blue.

An Illinois Fleet Permanent license plate reading FP 256328

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

There are things I'm learning I don't love about its behavior (mainly it seems to love switching on and off several times during a heating call - I'm guessing there's some leakage in the ducting inside that closet) but it's doing the thing it's supposed to be doing and can't really ask for more.

The humidistat showing current relative humidity of 36% but it is not running.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Here's what the bottom of my machine looks like. If anything is small enough to get through the holes in that guard, then the pump is just going to chew it up. It turns everything into a pulp and then there's nothing to clean.

The bottom of a dishwasher with a square heating element (covered in some mineral buildup) surrounding a rectangular plastic piece with slots and in the center is a depression with a removable vaguely triangular piece with large-ish holes.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Runza, for the uninitiated, is some sort of burrito? But like, it kind of tastes like White Castle? Pretty good, really. But I got to say, this logo does not parse to me as a restaurant. I thought I was getting gas here.

The menu board at Runza. The first three combos are the weird burrito things, and they also have fairly typical cheeseburgers and chicken strips and other fast food fair

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

I have now had Runza at the insistence of @agingwheels.bsky.social. I believe I now have a much richer understanding of the spirit of Nebraska.

The exterior of a Runza restaurant. Awnings advertise that it has "frings" (a mix of french fries and rather terrible onion rings), runza sandwiches, famous french fries, legendary burgers.

The marquee sign out front says "Philly runs a we meat again"

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

But overall, while they're quite pricey and don't have the best tread life, the fact that these are a "normal" all-season tire which can be left on all year but just so happen to be winter rated makes them an excellent choice and I am quite pleased The car got out of this like it wasn't even there!

A Hyundai Ioniq 5 stopped in roughly 8 inches of snow. The snow is nearly up to the bottom of the open door, and the front fascia of the car is touching the snow

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

This could be down to Hyundai's ABS implementation, but it seemed like the car had much better grip when accelerating than it did slowing down. I think that might be due to the directionality of the tire's tread pattern. Getting going, though - that was a piece of cake!

A view of the tread on the car's back left tire. The treads converge in the shape of a v, with the v shapes forming arrows pointing towards the rear of the car

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

I have now had a chance to test out the Michelin CrossClimate 2 tires in some heavy snow. Here's a short thread on my thoughts. Overall extremely pleased with a few minor surprises.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

That's just camera angles. They stack together.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Lucky for you my lazy ass also kept the scoops and they're different in several suspicious ways.

The plastic scoots included with two boxes of the same detergent product. Both have five arbitrary fill lines, but the scoop on the left has a much sharper drop between 4, 3, 2, and 1 than the other

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

You're probably sick of hearing about dishwasher powder... so let's talk about laundry detergent. I'm a lazy ass who can't be bothered to throw away old boxes sometimes but look what that laziness hath wrought. just why exactly is one box good for 80 loads but the other does 89, hmm?

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Here's a video of the Tetris watch face I first showed you. When the time updates the digit(s) getting replaced blinks out and then is rebuilt. I am so pleased to be wearing one of these once more!

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

It can do those too! In practically unlimited ways!

A pebble smartwatch with the screen illuminated. It shows a large numeral and inverted within the eight is the angle of a clock face to show 35 minutes past

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Not if you have wheels. Here's a five-year-old pic of the Bolt with its winter wheels on. It was cheaper to go with 16" wheels and tires for the winters. Honestly I'm shocked how good those cheap Vision wheels look on the car.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

I'm actually quite impressed it took nearly 4 years for this to happen, especially since the second key almost never gets used

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

That depends on what you mean by dedicated! My home is modern enough that it was built with a dishwasher. And the only difference is that there are two taps from the hot water line rather than one. Lots of older installations would simply install a T on a single valve.

An image of pipes underneath a kitchen sink. The leftmost pipe has two hoses attached to individual valves, one hose goes to the right towards dishwasher and the other goes straight up towards the faucet

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

I had never seen nor heard this 1960's Looney Tunes title card until just now (excuse the lazy recording)

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Okay fine I took the glass off to rack up points so you could see the high score light show (Lots of flashing lights here!)

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

This is the jackpot music which also plays at the end if you get a high score with a great in-time light show, to boot (and yes I'm editing these so they loop correctly)

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

The test menu is cool because it lets you hear the music in this game by itself, and this game's got some jams

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

I've (or I guess you've) set a new record for least-noticed visual gag in my latest video. Only 10 comments about it so far! Something about visiting websites across the pond...

A screenshot for an Amazon.co.uk page comparing dehumidifiers

The image cropped in to show detail. The webpage is asking you to select your biscuit preferences and explains the ways Amazon uses biscuits and similar technologies

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

I like these "octane" stickers on the chargers at the Flying J

An EV-go DC fast charger with a yellow and black sticker (close-up in second image)

The sticker reads
"electricity 350 kW 950V dc/540A dc conductive"

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

oh look, it's the exact thing I was talking about (and thankfully someone pushing back a bit)

A YouTube comment with 303 likes:
"The fact that Pennsylvania has two great urban cities that are ridiculously affordable compared to others in their class is commendable. If I lived in PA you would never catch me living within a mile of a suburb"

To which someone replies
"Agreed, but don't define "suburb" as "not within city limits". There is a lot of urban amenity in inner suburbs like Etna and Dormont, for example. Don't limit yourself to where a bunch of white guys drew lines on a map a couple hundred years ago."

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Here's from Key West for good measure. This is with my three-year-old Hyundai. It does charge exceptionally quickly, but something tells me you've not been keeping up with progress on either the cars or the charging stations. I did Chicago to Orlando with 81 minutes of charging at 6 stops each way

The ABRP estimated trip from Key West, FL to Valdosta, this time showing 10 hours and 42 minutes of driving with three charging stops.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

For your benefit, this is what you find if you pull an outlet or switch out of the wall. Every box in my home is like this. Just using the tabs of the receptacle and the screws holding it to the box as the bond. It's the main reason I don't like getting into code stuff. Chicagoland is an outlier

A red and white wire coming out of a junction box in a wall

Me holding a receptacle showing that there is no bond wire attached to the green ground lug

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