Using a color scale to visualize output makes it easy to understand data, and see patterns that aren’t intuitive.
A simple 1 or 2-color scale is really simple to implement, but what if you want to use the whole spectrum?
Using a color scale to visualize output makes it easy to understand data, and see patterns that aren’t intuitive.
A simple 1 or 2-color scale is really simple to implement, but what if you want to use the whole spectrum?
We’ve all done this 1,000 times…
You purchase a piece of wood, or worse, a piece of fruit, peel the sticker, and it completely self-destructs, leaving bits of sticker, and a sticky residue.
They COULD protect your data… they CHOOSE not to…
[Updated 2022-08-03 – Master Cable Break-Out]
[Updated 2019-06-12 – Additional Pictures and To-Do]
[Original 2019-06-09]
We just completed a big move from east of Dallas to south of Fort Worth. This is a big move for us, not just in terms of distance (about 70 miles), but in terms of house and property as well. The old house was a 1,900 sq ft 3-bedroom on a tiny lot, around 1/4 acre, and the new house is just over 5,000 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, on about 1.5 acres.
The front fence is about 300 feet from the house, and there is a big, steel gate at the front, operated by a Mighty Mule gate opener.
The gate controller uses coded remotes that have a very short range – only about 20 feet with a clear line of sight, which is not very convenient.
Which brings us to…
Using a highly-specialized set of rules and calculations, it’s possible to approximate the flow of gas from high-pressure to low-pressure, using cellular automation.
Table of Contents
Freezer burn occurs in meat and other frozen items (especially meat), where the water sublimates (goes from a solid to a gas) and then condenses as ice crystals. This leaves the food severely dehydrated, with a stiff, stringy texture that most people consider to be quite disgusting.
Especially in a zip-top bag, once the bag is frozen, the plastic becomes stiff and unpliable. Although the moisture content within the bag would normally be in constant equilibrium, once you start shuffling through the freezer, plastic zip-top bags can fracture and create tiny holes that allow dry air in, and moisture out. This is also the reason why most freezer bags leak once you pull them out of the freezer.
Once the zip-top bag has a few nicks and dents, freezer burn will quickly form in the vicinity of any holes in the bag, as moisture is allowed to sublimate and simply leave the bag through the tiny holes, to form ice crystals on the inside wall of your freezer!
As the moisture leaves, the food left behind is destroyed on the cellular level, making it tough, stringy, and unpalatable.
Typically, you either need to cut off freezer-burned portions, or throw away food that has become severely freezer burned.
Freezer burn can start to form in as little as 3 months, and by 12 months, the food in question is probably ruined.
If you vacuum seal your food, this removes air, reducing air pressure and preventing sublimation. The plastic liner used for vacuum sealing is much thicker and tougher than a freezer bag, and thus, the food will last a lot longer.
Vacuum-sealed food lasts much longer – up to 2 years.
Freezer burn forms when food is exposed to air inside the freezer, which allows the moisture in the air to sublimate and then migrate elsewhere, leaving behind stringy, nasty food.
This is one of the main reasons that the grocery store packaging for most meat products is not your friend. It’ s better to re-package them in a zip-top or vacuum-sealed bag before freezing.
The trick is to pack your food, especially meat, in fat or liquid before it freezes.
This eliminates contact with the air, preventing sublimation.
Notes:
There are a few simple things we all do, every day, that can be very expensive over time.
Read on…
11/20/2018: Reminder! Black Friday starts on FRIDAY. BOYCOTT STORES THAT DISRESPECT THE AMERICAN TRADITION OF THANKSGIVING, by having Black Friday deals that start on THANKSGIVING.
WALL OF SHAME, 2018:
There are No Tech Deals on Black Friday
Watch out for Personal Computing “Door Busters”
Instead of leaving the comfort of your home on Thanksgiving day, boycott the stores above, and hit the retailers online on Cyber-Monday. You’ll get the same deals, or better, and you can shop from home. Don’t be like the stores above. Don’t use the promise of cheap crap to lure people away from their families on Thanksgiving.
It’s not the driver’s fault, obviously, but to show up at someone’s door an hour and a half late, and over 3 hours after I placed my order, with no call back, and no confirmation is completely unprofessional.
The driver alluded to the fact that the manager completely botched things up, but at this point, after multiple calls to the store, and multiple calls to their call center, I really don’t care.
Bad things happen.
Things can go from “OK” to underwater very quickly, but as the manager, you have to think about what outcome you want, and what swift action you must take to achieve that outcome.
Aside from being frustrated, I just wanted to get the food that I ordered.
After waiting 3 hours, which was an hour and a half PAST the delivery time, I had no idea if it was still on the way or if the order was cancelled, or if the store was on fire.
This is the point where some kind of escalation should have occurred, but there was no one to whom I could escalate.
After being hung up on, multiple times, and being told that the ONLY way to cancel my order is to call the store (and be hung up on), is extremely frustrating. There is no valid situation, save for life-and-death, that it’s acceptable to hang up on a customer.
I turned off my lights, locked my door, and the delivery driver STILL knocked on my door, over an hour later! How about a phone call?
The offer of getting the pizza for free was the right thing to do, but if things are going so poorly that you’re OVER AN HOUR AND A HALF LATE, how do I even know what’s in that box? I don’t want some half-cooked crap with the wrong toppings.
At this point, as a customer, this seems like a breach of trust.
From my perspective, I can’t trust your service, which means that I also can’t trust your product.
All it would have taken is someone in authority who was empowered to fix the problem, to change that perception.
Kudos to the driver, who at least tried to take care of the situation, but it’s the manager who miserably failed, and with a fairly severe technology deficit, there was no way that anyone could help me, except the manager, who was too busy hanging up on people.
I’m happy to have you hire me to fix these problems for you. I have a long track record of taking a complete train wreck like yours, and building a success story.
Short of that, I will no longer be a Pizza Hut customer.
Dear Pizza Hut:
WHEN IS IT OK TO LIE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS?
WHEN IS IT OK TO ISSUE A HALF-HEARTED APOLOGY ONLY AFTER I INITIATE A COMPLAINT WITH THE BBB???
I can fix this for you…. you need to hire me in an executive position, so that I can fire everyone in customer service, and everyone in technology, and rebuild both departments.
Oh, and ONE MORE THING. Let’s look at the tail end of that e-mail…
Disclaimer: This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual
and purpose, and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message. Any disclosure,
copying, or distribution of this message, or taking any action based on it is strictly prohibited.
This is tacked on for the sole purpose of allowing Pizza Hut to bully me in to taking down any copy of this e-mail I may choose to post.
Well…. LET ME EDUCATE YOU.
As I’ve previously written, I had high hopes for the 2016 MacGyver reboot.
Unfortunately, where the original show was clever and somewhat educational, the new show simply condenses most of the “MacGyverisms” in to MacGuffinisms, omitting the science, process, and sometimes, even the basic concepts involved.
I’ve been meaning to write an analysis of how poorly the show depicts science and technology, especially computers and computing, and about how half of the crap he builds, simply wouldn’t work.
However, when I watched S3:E9 “Specimen 234 + PAPR + Outbreak”, I saw something so egregious that I couldn’t let it pass without comment.
Having written about bomb myths and cliches, it was difficult to see past the flaws in the opening scene of this episode.
Setup: Mac and Jack are in a steel cage, locked with a lever padlock, to which THIS abomination was affixed (no pun intended):
Mac makes the statement that it would be too difficult to pick the lock without triggering the bomb.
Since MacGyver can’t seem to figure this out, I’ll give him some help.
Here are several ways that he could disarm this device (in order of difficulty):
Not that he couldn’t easily pick a lever lock in short-order using found tools, but…
Once the bomb is disarmed, the blasting cap could be used to blow up the lock.
Or, they could burn some of the explosive to melt the chain in order to get free, and then rig the rest of the bomb with a tripwire, set to actuate when their captor returns.