Miscellaneous, distracted, various, and inimitable

[patric]

Is the current statewide beer shortage retaliation by liquor distributors?

http://www.newson6.com/story/38420188/retailers-blame-statewide-beer-shortage-on-new-liquor-law

...and does 6-point make your pee glow under black light?  Things we want to know.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Is the current statewide beer shortage retaliation by liquor distributors?

http://www.newson6.com/story/38420188/retailers-blame-statewide-beer-shortage-on-new-liquor-law

...and does 6-point make your pee glow under black light?  Things we want to know.

Why, yes...yes, it does!

[heironymouspasparagus]

You're welcome!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-ivig_aVDY

[patric]

DETROIT – Given that the best way to store your car keys at night is by putting them in a coffee can, what's an ex-FBI agent's advice to protect cars from theft during the day?  Wrap car fobs in aluminum foil.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/07/08/wrap-car-key-fob-foil/762338002/

The story implies that thieves can copy the radio signal coming from your car key fob, but doesnt mention that the signal is only transmitted when you manually push the buttons on the fob.
Nor does it mention that a coffee can with an open (or plastic) top doesnt really block radio signals.

As for putting credit cards in foil sleeves, that went out when credit cards went to chips.

Modern car keys, however, have RFIDs that work like a pet microchip where you can send it a radio signal and it will answer back with an ID number, but the range is inches and without the physical key to open the door, pretty useless.

Geek out.

[Ed W]

Of course, the OTHER anti-theft device is something called a manual transmission.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Of course, the OTHER anti-theft device is something called a manual transmission.

Have seen pics of signs on cars with that.  One of the kids put it on her drivers window, too. 

[heironymouspasparagus]

Just got off the phone with Windstream concerning internet service for a friend.  They advertise 3, 6, and 12 mbps speeds.  But when I actually got a little further into the discussion, they told me they can only guarantee 65% of the advertised speed.  So, when I challenged them about telling stories about the true speed (65% of 12 is actually about 7.8 - the speed seen at the site), they took umbrage that I would imply they were not telling me the real values.

And then they hung up on me.

This was Customer Lack Of Service - not tech support!  Tech support was very helpful and actually told me the truth. 

Almost 10 full years, and the old folks that have to deal with Windstream continue to have EXACTLY the same problem as always - yesterday was the most recent outage and I called for them.  Phone does not work at all.  Internet is intermittently on about 5-10% of the time.  Also last Dec., 2021.  April, 2021.  Twice in 2020.  Once, IIRC, in 2019.  Repeatedly since this post.  About every 6-8 months since way before this post. 

Worst phone service in this country!   (Family that is WAY out in the boonies - miles from town - in Tennessee gets better service than Broken Arrow!  They even had fiber installed about 3 years ago!)

There is a 12 year old tree growing through the box where the neighborhood connections spread from that has broken the pedestal allowing anything to get in, from rain, snow, small animals looking for nesting places.  And Windstream knows about and ignores this continuously!   The fix is very straightforward, such that if I was running the 3 man/woman crew needed to fix it, we would have it done in about 2 to 2.5 hours! 

And as always, the problem is NEVER the workers doing the job - the techs and customer service people have always been very good and tried hard to be as helpful as possible.  This is a direct failure of the same management structure that put that company into bankruptcy a few years ago.  Of course.  And now doing all their blathering about how 'Kinetic' is such a great thing!   It is not.  It is the same ole half-baked corporate BS propaganda machine from 20 years ago with new logos.

This time, I called the OK Corporation Commission and was told that although Windstream is required by law to provide that land line service, there is not much they can really do other than call them and tell them to clean up their act.  Another fail of the Oklahoma Legislature in letting these failures have the monopoly but not requiring them to work to even a minimal level standard of performance!   OCC did let it be known that they do get a lot of calls about Windstream.   I asked them about my soon to be phone company, Totah Communications (who already has fiber in their boonies areas, since last summer!), and they said it is generally known to be ok.  None of this messaging was outright words, just getting the info across without literally saying it. 

I have told these people it is way past time to sell that place and move somewhere that has real phone service!  (They insist on having landline - illusion of safety for 911 calls.  And phone availability when cell doesn't work.)   They may follow us up to the land of Totah...


Bottom line - if you are thinking about moving to Broken Arrow, and you place great, or any value on land line phone service, look elsewhere!   It ain't gonna happen there!

[Red Arrow]

Almost 10 full years, and the old folks that have to deal with Windstream continue to have EXACTLY the same problem as always - yesterday was the most recent outage and I called for them.  Phone does not work at all.  Internet is intermittently on about 5-10% of the time.  Also last Dec., 2021.  April, 2021.  Twice in 2020.  Once, IIRC, in 2019.  Repeatedly since this post.  About every 6-8 months since way before this post. 


And as always, the problem is NEVER the workers doing the job - the techs and customer service people have always been very good and tried hard to be as helpful as possible. 

I have had similar problems with BTC (formerly Bixby Telephone Company).  Several times a year the land line phone and/or internet is inop.  There is almost always static on the land line phone.  Last July when the phone went out, the field tech said the lines in my area are terrible but there is no plan to replace them in the near future due to cost.  Probably has something to do with 1+ acre lot size.  A few blocks south of me, the lots are about 1/2 acre and fibre is available.  Yesterday (Thursday) the internet was inop and for a while the phone was inop too.Tech Support was nice but couldn't guarantee anything.  My only beef with tech support is the protocol to try and establish that the problem is within my house (so they can charge a service fee).  It has never been. The copper around here is 50+ years old.   Tech Support asks questions about the cable routing from the DSL to the router to the computer that has worked for for quite a while.  I did have a problematic router that the field tech replaced July in spite of higher up policy that the existing (junk) router was OK.  Worked a lot better from last July until yesterday when "emergency maintenance" was required.  I am not happy with BTC but COX is even worse from reports of neighbors.  I want to keep the land line (number) since all of the friends and relatives have known it for 50+years. I know I could transfer it to a cell but I never have to charge the battery on the land line and (false or not) I believe the 911 service for an old guy living alone is better with a land line than a cell phone that isn't always on.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

The slow death of traditional phone companies. I remember when BA was GTE, Tulsa was SW Bell, Bixby was their own, and I think Owasso was someone else. If you were in BA you could call Tulsa with no charge, but if you called Owasso it was a $0.50 charge. Tulsa to Skiatook was a $0.50 charge call.

From what I remember, BA with GTE went to AlTel, which was bought up by Verizon and then spun off to Windstar.

When I moved to AZ, it was US West, which had been Mountain Bell prior to and for a few years after the Ma Bell break up, and then it became Qwest and is now Century Link.

The cable companies were the first big blow to the phone companies because they were building all new infrastructure and constantly upgrading while all the phone companies sat on their collective asses. Digital and VoIP from the cable companies was the next, and then with the advancements in cell phones and networks going digital is probably one of the last nails.

As for 911 services, when the first home VoIP services came out in the mid 2000's they didn't transmit any address information because their were using internet services and it wasn't required and cell phones couldn't because they were in the infancy of digital.

Now with software from cellphone providers and GPS locating in phones, if you call 911 they can get your location using tower info and GPS and get within 50 feet or less of your location regardless of your phone number and provider.

The traditional phone providers just don't have the users to pay for the personnel to maintain their infrastructure, and even with all the money coming for DC in the infrastructure bill, traditional phone providers are getting very little money.

Cable companies practically give away phone service because they make more off of other services. And with the cable companies now providing VoIP and voice mail to small and large business even companies like AVAYA, Siemens, and other traditional PBX phone systems and T1 type connections provided by phone companies are dying off as well. You don't need a dedicated digital connection like a T1 to connect business with multiple office locations regardless of physical locations are being phased out. Add in dual mode smart phones and even the desk phone is in danger of going away. You can put an app on a smart phone that allows someone to have both their personal and business number on the same phone.

Going back to the home use and rural areas for phone/internet/TV services, I think the next leap is going to be Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service.
Here is a link to site that show real time Starlink/One Web/GPS satellite coverage. https://satellitemap.space/?constellation=starlink

The cable companies are even making their way into 911 dispatch centers. When I left working as a Telecom Admin with the Town Of Gilbert I handed off a proposal from Cox Communications to take over all of the phone service for the town which included all of the phone numbers for the town which was at the time two blocks of 1000 phone numbers each for the town and included a proposal for transferring 911 service from Century Link to Cox.

I think in a few years, all the thousands of miles of phone company lines underground and on poles will be relegated to just sitting there like the old Western Union Telegraph lines that paralleled the BA Expressway until they are finally taken down.

ETA: With the roll out of 5G cellular and the deactivation of 2G and now 3G, the frequencies that 2G & 3G used will be reallocated for other wireless communication services. 5G is using a portion of the spectrum that was used by the old C-Band satellite services like the old giant satellite TV dishes, and I understand the issues that the FAA had with 5G because of the close proximity to ILS/Approach Radar systems for aircraft, but the FAA moves at glacial speed in some areas, and yes I know there was a cost to the airlines to modify their equipment, but the announcement of 5G was in 2015 or 2016 IIRC so there was a lot of time for the FAA to work out the issues. Just my $0.10 ($0.02 adjusted for inflation  )

[heironymouspasparagus]

I have a question for any mechanical types who might have leanings toward aerodynamics...

Ran across this a few years ago while in OKC area a lot and it really looks interesting.  Drove by their place a couple times and saw the crew version sitting on the lot.

Question;  their premise sounds reasonable and I know those things weigh enough they could almost handle the winds as is, BUT is the vacuum theory plausible?   Would the be enough downward lift to actually hold it tighter the faster the wind??

Their trailer version looks promising, too.  Could make that to look a lot like an Airstream and have a great RV!!


https://www.reddogshelters.com/models.html#towdog


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4OPfBvq87Y

[dbacksfan 2.0]

I have a question for any mechanical types who might have leanings toward aerodynamics...

Ran across this a few years ago while in OKC area a lot and it really looks interesting.  Drove by their place a couple times and saw the crew version sitting on the lot.

Question;  their premise sounds reasonable and I know those things weigh enough they could almost handle the winds as is, BUT is the vacuum theory plausible?   Would the be enough downward lift to actually hold it tighter the faster the wind??

Their trailer version looks promising, too.  Could make that to look a lot like an Airstream and have a great RV!!


https://www.reddogshelters.com/models.html#towdog


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4OPfBvq87Y

The theory is sound, an inverted wing shape/ground effect has been used in racing for many years in Formula One and Indy Car racing very effectively.

The vacuum tube idea works as well. After Hurricane Andrew there were a lot of videos that showed where the wind speed over the top of plumbing vent pipes was enough to draw the water out of a toilet bowl and if you held a tissue over the bowl and let go of it, it would get sucked through the vent pipe.

However, I think that at some point the wind against the side of the trailer could exceed the aerodynamics of the design..

Need to take one and place it in the exhaust stream of a 737/757/767 and run the throttle up to simulate the straight line windspeed to see how stable it is.

[buffalodan]

But what happens when something major hits the side and causes that air pressure to equalize. Like as long as that thing is sucked to the ground, it becomes really hard to tip. But throw a tree and knock it loose and I feel like you may have some really weird pressure effects.

It does sound interesting. I've sent it along to aero friends and will let people know if anybody has anything more than "seems interesting"

[dbacksfan 2.0]

But what happens when something major hits the side and causes that air pressure to equalize. Like as long as that thing is sucked to the ground, it becomes really hard to tip. But throw a tree and knock it loose and I feel like you may have some really weird pressure effects.

It does sound interesting. I've sent it along to aero friends and will let people know if anybody has anything more than "seems interesting"

On the towable one that is my thought. If something hits it on the leading edge side (the side the wind is coming from) with enough force to tip it slightly air would get underneath it and roll it over. It will never create enough of a vacuum/low pressure to keep it sucked to the ground, and it would need fairly level smooth ground to sit on to begin with.

I would guess that just outside the tornados path it would work quite well, but we have all seen the actual debris that takes flight in one. It would increase your chance of survival.

I remember this photo from the Easter 1981 tornado that hit near 51st and Mingo. That is a moving company trailer that was fully loaded on top of the building.

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/history/throwback-tulsa-sky-lit-up-green-as-bixby-tornado-killed-5-in-1981/article_37b16a2c-766c-58ba-acdb-925787bdc8d0.html

[Red Arrow]

dbacksfan has covered most of my thoughts.  Results in the "lab" often differ from real world.  Sealing the bottom of the unit to the ground would be a big issue on most constructions sites.  Wind direction is a possible concern.  The big unit would probably be OK with a wind from the end but flow over the top would probably not do much to help create vacuum.  I'm not so sure about the little one.  Flow separation could be an issue in creating enough vacuum through the vacuum tube (mechanical tube, not electronic vacuum tube.) shown.  Maybe if they dimpled then top like a golf ball it would have a better chance to create some vacuum.  The round top is better for not tipping over than a flat top.  Both units would be better than the average construction site tin trailer.  I agree that weight alone for something strong enough to take impacts is probably enough to remain standing for some pretty strong winds.

Let's see if buffalo dan's aero friends have any thoughts.

[heironymouspasparagus]

They mention a 1,000 lb drill string section of pipe landing on it from 100 ft up.  Prediction is that it could move 5".  Am guessing they tested it...??  That's why they said do not sit on the bench, but stand up and hold the grab rail.

It is intriguing.  The 500lb explosive blast 75' away was pretty massive, too.


We had friends in that 51st Mingo area.  Got to help with some debris removal, cleanup.  Gawd awful mess!