Eh? I have definitely gone around topless in NY a couple times and wasn’t bothered over it. To be fair, it was Pride. To be extra fair, it was almost 100 and everybody was dying. I do remember a couple times on the news where they would have to remind the police in NYS that it is legal on a couple roasting summers. I am definitely not the best at keeping the bits well covered in general. Still far better up here than when I used to live in Texas.

It was the SCADA view right? A lot of SCADA software is basically running on top of windows, though you typically would never see the desktop. Ignition at least is cross platform, but that is because the server is Java and Jython. A big part of why things are running on windows is due to OPC, which was traditionally all DOM and .NET. It is basically a standard communications protocol and is what allows your HMI/SCADA to communicate with PLCs. Otherwise, you use proprietary drivers and native PLC specific protocols.

SCADA programming/design is kind of an art and is usually written by an either an overworked engineer or someone who had far too much time on their hands. You basically build screens using specialized software, hook up buttons and UI elements to PLC signals, and pass some signals from the UI to the PLC. They are all heading in the Edge/iot/cloud/web based/techno-babble direction these days…

Ignition, programming software is free!: https://inductiveautomation.com

Some other random ones I have seen or used in the past: https://www.siemens.com/global/en/products/automation/simatic-hmi/wincc-unified.html https://www.aveva.com/en/products/intouch-hmi/ https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-us/products/software/factorytalk/operationsuite/view.html

Thank you for answering the question! I am genuinely both trying to make a point and still be open to try new things. To me, there seems to be a real downward turn on UI/UX in a lot of applications these days, corporate included. When they mentioned the bit about supporting corporate, I have a hard time believing they will get very far with that customer group right now.

I really wish software, especially FOSS, would stop making the UI the afterthought. I try to keep a holistic view when designing things and everyone has a seat at the table. I wonder if projects are boxing themselves in and making it harder for the UI teams to properly integrate, and vice versa? I will happily take criticism and ideas from pretty much anyone, especially outside my immediate teams.

I am pretty out of the game on that as I spent quite a few years doing controls engineering instead. I am back in Software now and I feel old and a little lost. I graduated back in 2012 and we didn’t have all of these crazy developer roles and more specialized degrees. They were trying to get a Game Design program started when I graduated, and it was supposedly a mess for a few years.

But my question is about the user experience and UI. I can run a docker script, but I care about the thing I can see and interact with.

All I read is Marketing Tech Speak that sounds no different than anything else that gets advertised in my face. At work, we use Teams. It is a pain sometimes when it gets a little buggy, but integrates into SharePoint/OneDrive and the noise suppression in meetings is pretty awesome. At home I use discord or GChat because that is where all my friends are. I don’t assume I have privacy on any of these platforms and they all work on my phone and computer.

How is the user experience? Ultimately, give me privacy, but if the user experience and UI don’t give any improvements over the corporate ones, I will have to try it some other time.

I am sorry, but PSL is damn delicious. It didn’t taste right last year and there were even some comments on Twitter about it. Starbucks swore they didn’t change the recipe, but I am convinced they were lying. This year, it tastes like it used to. No more sort of burnt caramel taste. Yay tasty beverage!

Now, go have one! It is ok to like the “trendy” thing. Maybe have them tone down the sweetness. Or find a non-Starbucks version at a local cafe. Or don’t. More for me!

That is some definite bullshit. I am both a software developer and a controls engineer. That stuff irritates me to no end, but I also understand how these systems can fail. They will always protect themselves over the user/customer, so thus we suffer. Hell, I used to do Amazon projects on the controls/industrial side. Amazon had their own software systems that they built/stole running things overall, so thankfully I didn’t have to deal with trying to make them happy on the software side too. I much prefer programming the machinery.

Wtf. They must have screwed something up with a software update. Worst case you charge back, but that might get your account banned…

I always take it to my UPS store down the road instead of boxing it up and sending it out. You don’t package the item up at all. They scan the barcode on my phone and take the item. Done, return processed. If they steal it afterwards, not my problem since the code was scanned and you get a notification/receipt. They have a lot of strange locations you can take it to, including random big box stores.

Description, GIF of a giant pile of tires on fire in a field with lots of black smoke.

Yes. Even if you get bitched at. Decent people will just ask more questions until they get what they need from you. Better to give more information than none. Try your best.

Actually, sometimes going through every single step on how you ended up with the issue solves it… Done that a few times.

Ok. Let’s do this! If you have a 4 cup pyrex/microwavable measuring cup, it is much easier.

• Sauce pan with a lid. Nonstick is fine.
• 2 cups of rice using dry measuring cup
• 3 cups of water
• Salt if using unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons of butter

1. Put empty pan on stove and set heat to medium-high. If these are steel pans, stick to medium. Go towards high if nonstick as it takes a bit to heat up.
2. Put water and butter in microwavable cup and throw it in the microwave until it starts to simmer, maybe 3 minutes? Depends on microwave and dish.
3. While you are waiting on microwave, put dry rice in pan and gently stir/fold. They will start to turn white, but don’t let them burn. If you need to take the pan off and turn the heat down, do it. We are just preheating the rice and pan up. Add salt if needed.
4. Get ready. As soon as that water is hot enough to boil or close to, take it out, pour it in the pan. It will be violent.
5. Do a quick stir, throw the lid on, and turn the heat down to the lowest setting. The water should fully cover the rice.
6. Walk away. The bottom might toast a little, but that is fine as long as it doesn’t full on burn.

After 20 minutes or so, you can do a real quick check and if it looks kind of wet, throw the lid back on and wait.

At this point, you should have perfectly acceptable rice. Take the lid off, stir the rice with a more folding motion to let it steam any additional moisture out.

Long tangent, but I got the Edge or whatever stupid expensive version they have for the extra triggers/levers underneath. I have really small/short palms and don’t have the reach to push all the buttons properly. I wouldn’t be able to play Elden Ring at all without them. I roll and use potions with the levers instead. Even then, it is still painful after a while and some of the contortions I have to do at times can be annoying.

I have the issue of barely having enough “wrap” with my palm and pinky to grip around the hand things that are angled down a little too much. I absolutely despise that the dpad is one of those rocker pieces underneath instead of individual buttons. I will accidentally do a direction I didn’t intend because I rocked the down button too far to the right. It is because the controller still isn’t straight when I hold it. lt is partially rotated in my hand so I can get a little more reach upwards and it makes the dpad usable. Having to compensate the direction of joysticks is super fun. I basically have to death grip the controller with my right pinky and tightly squeezed palm to keep it stable.

When that accessible controller came out for the Xbox I was super bummed it wasn’t for all platforms yet. Doesn’t help I would need to have 2 kits to be able to have separate sides like joycons. Joycons have been my favorite controller of all time as I can comfortably hold them. I tried making a proof of concept sort of gel/shredded memory foam cover, which did help, but it didn’t solve the severe pain in my palm, especially the area under my pinky that I use to death grip the controller. After seeing the glove Martina made after she cut off her pinky, I want to try and make a glove next to take the pressure off, improve grip, and sort of brace/support the part of my hand that I keep hurting.

It sucks that accessories keep getting more expensive. I haven’t had any issues my my edge, but you bet I would be utterly infuriated if it didn’t last when it is almost half the price of the console itself. I have some mechanical keyboards and those things can really get up there in price too. Ergonomic mice are not exactly cheap either. I hate having to use a trackball but so far the only comfortable one is that Logitech one and I have to use the extra angled base it comes with. I game with it.

That blows. I never had a ps4, so I don’t know the whole deal about modding/rooting it. It is crazy that some of these devices have “fuses” that can brick your device if tampered with. It is my device dammit.

I have been shopping this way ever since the start of covid and only use self check out. It is a lot easier to get around the store. If I need to buy a bunch of heavy stuff or there is a sign asking me not to, I will of course use a small cart or hand basket. I am not going to piss off the Trader Joe gods when I visit it occasionally, who have a sign about it.

I have never been stopped, asked not to, or have been given any looks from the staff for doing it at my main grocery store.

If you want an actual good reason? Car damage. I have seen them roll away into someone else’s car, and even a person. They can also block parking spots and it really sucks when people in the handicap section do it as those then roll in to other spots needed for accessibility. Thankfully my store has tons of cart returns so it isn’t even remotely inconvenient. The employees stay on top of the rest, especially if the handicap section right by the doors gets gnarly. The only time I see some true cart carnage is at Walmart. Those parking lots are terrible.

I can’t make decisions for you, but I will politely ask you to put the cart away the next time you are at the store. Please and thank you.

Most people don’t have a passport. It is expensive and a pain to get one. If you don’t ever leave the country, most see no reason to. We don’t have national IDs, but we do have state. Technically, they rolled out this new RealID crap that is probably closer to a national id, but you have to pay extra and it is still done through the state. Neither of these are required. If you drive, your drivers license is your ID. Otherwise, you can get a state id so you can get alcohol, weed, cigarettes, and other dumb shit. When you get your ID, you can register to vote right there if you qualify and I think you can get a paper card. There is no reason to go through any extra hoops once you register to vote. You are in the system as a registered voter.

I assure you, you get icy roads and snow at 28-30f. Upstate NY gets tons of snow and most of that is above 25f. I don’t see it get in the teens too much. Single digits or colder is pretty rare. All depends on the region up here. Due to the lakes, it is all over the place.

I think the highest speed limit I have seen in America is 85mph, which is around 135km/h. Typical highway speed limits though are 65mph, but everyone goes 5-10 over (105-120km/h).

The nice thing about mph is the whole mile a minute at 60mph. Makes it easy to mentally estimate time of arrival.

Not sure I understand what you are saying. I do a real big twist and then a slip knot. The twist doesn’t come undone. I am out of bread or I would take a picture.