Browsed by
Category: Interesting or Cool

Oregon keeps losing population

Oregon keeps losing population

Comments 0 Comment

While other states are recovering from all the things that happened during Covid, Oregon went from being one of the #1 places to move to now one of the 8 states that is now losing population as people move away.

The picture is even a little worse than a one-year metric because this isn’t a one time thing. Oregon, and the city of Portland, has lost population for 3 years running. The state demographers have been using their own numbers and ignoring US Census data; and have been wrong (3 years in a row) saying these were only blips and incorrectly predicting quick rebounds.
Demographers are now starting to sounding economic impact alarm bells and the state faces the possibility of losing a seat in congress. Some have pointed out that this is exactly how rust belts formed in the NE.

Oregon now has the dubious distinction of ending up on a recent Visual Capitalist chart.

MelGeek MojoPad Numpad

MelGeek MojoPad Numpad

Comments 0 Comment

 MelGeek has created this beautiful numpad that reminds me of some of the cool, clean designs coming from Teenage Engineering.

It looks like it would pairs with their Mojo68 and Mojo84 mechanical keyboards really well.

I’m glad we’re still seeing some beautiful industrial design going on. While Apple has done a good job elevating computing devices, I think we have a TON of room yet to go. I think some of the older pc’s from the 50’s and 60’s were things of beauty we still haven’t reached.

Shifting a John Deere 4020

Shifting a John Deere 4020

Comments 0 Comment

When I was learning to drive tractors, I first learned on a John Deere 720, then on a John Deere 4020

The 4020’s had a synchro-shift transmission that I liked to think had 3 ‘zones’ that consisted of a high/low forward and a reverse. As you moved down the tree, those high/low/reverse combos got faster and faster.

Did you ever drive one? How did you work it out in your head?

Reconnecting SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7

Reconnecting SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7

Comments 0 Comment

How to reconnect your Steelseries headset after swapping it between systems.

Even though this headset is supposed to work without their Nova 7 Bluetooth dongle, I found you had to connect to the system with the dongle first. The buttons you press are also not intuitive so this was very helpful.

  1. Press and hold the power button 4 seconds on the Nova 7 dongle until it fast blinks
  2. Press and hold the power button 4 seconds on the headset until it blinks and then connects
Breathalyzers to become standard equipment on all cars after 2025?

Breathalyzers to become standard equipment on all cars after 2025?

Comments 0 Comment

The $1 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (text) passed by President Biden in Nov 2021 included a little clause that I think might surprise everyone.

ALL cars sold from 2026 onwards must include a drunk driving detection system in order to use the vehicle. It might mean a passive system of some sort that analyzes your driving – or could include something as invasive as a breathalyzer. There’s increasing evidence this may not be possible by 2026, but it’s something to keep in mind.

SEC. 24220
            (1) Advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention 
        technology.--The term ``advanced drunk and impaired driving 
        prevention technology'' means a system that--
                    (A) can--
                          (i) passively monitor the performance of a 
                      driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify 
                      whether that driver may be impaired; and
                          (ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation 
                      if an impairment is detected;
                    (B) can--

[[Page 135 STAT. 832]]

                          (i) passively and accurately detect whether 
                      the blood alcohol concentration of a driver of a 
                      motor vehicle is equal to or greater than the 
                      blood alcohol concentration described in section 
                      163(a) of title 23, United States Code; and
                          (ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation 
                      if a blood alcohol concentration above the legal 
                      limit is detected; or
                    (C) is a combination of systems described in 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B).
The Importance of Genre to game success

The Importance of Genre to game success

Comments 0 Comment

Someone always wins the lottery every day – but the reality is when you decide what kind of game you’re going to make you’ve already decided how much money you’re going to make.

I love how Chris Zukowski from ‘How to Market Your Game‘ gives very realistic and honest evaluations of the game industry using data.

Regardless of the effect of marketing, in this video he shows that the financial success of your game is dependent on a bunch of different factors that are determined LONG before you even write the first line of code.

Other articles:

Live and let live is not good public policy

Live and let live is not good public policy

Comments 0 Comment

“I don’t care what others do so long as they’re not hurting anyone else”

Obviously directly hurting others is bad and most would agree with that. But what about things that ‘only’ affect that person? People can hurt themselves psychologically (self-imposed isolation, addictions to porn/drugs/social media/etc), physically (drugs, dangerous driving, overly dangerous risk taking, overeating, bulimia, etc), and emotionally (codependent behaviors, addictions, etc).

The reality is that behavior you claim is only hurting yourself is never just bad for you. It is also bad for others. Others must deal with the consequences of you hurting yourself. Alcoholics and drug addicts very often say they don’t hurt others – but anyone who has a family member or loved one that is an addict would disagree.

Communities are often losing a valuable person with unique talents and things to offer. They aren’t able to live full lives or contribute their talents. Those are all losses to the person and to the world. In worse situations, it results in life-long health issues and more medical treatments that put stress on medical and emergency services. Destruction of property can lead to higher costs for things and higher insurance rates.

“I don’t care what others do as long as they’re not telling others what to do.”

It’s nice in thought, but the fact we live in a democracy with voting means we DO tell each other what to do in the public sphere by how and who they vote into office. That is why the truth about human worth and understanding what makes just laws and just governance matters more than feel-good measures.