Category: Uncategorized

it paid for itself

I got one of those battery extenders the other week and have been working through several years worth of “dead” batteries.
Cooltools Archives Xtender
These have been recharged.
Svi 0015

At $40 for the device, if these all get used just once more, it paid for itself. And I assume I can get more than one re-use out of each one. Admittedly, each additional use cycle will be shorter, but if offered a 90¢ return on each dollar, then 75¢, then 60¢, then 50¢ etc. who wouldn’t take it?

This might be something that green-leaning city councils should consider underwriting for their citizens, as it will keep hazardous waste down while possibly increasing the awareness of improved electricity storage.

As for the risks of using this, I haven’t seen any issues so far. There is a chance that a battery could burst but other than a mess to clean up, I don’t see a huge issue there. And it’s not 100%: I have a dozen or so batteries that wouldn’t charge (the device signals if it has an unrecoverable battery loaded). But to cut down the amount of hazardous waste by 80% or so is still a clear win.

The Google has a bunch of stuff on this topic.

links for 2007-08-09

quote of the day, perhaps of the year

I watch debates — so you don’t have to:

Steve Skvara, a retired steel worker from Indiana, with tears in his eyes, asked a poignant, powerful question. (TP has a clip)
“After 34 years with LTV Steel, I was forced to retire because of a disability. Two years later, LTV filed bankruptcy. I lost a third of my pension, and my family lost their health care.
“Every day of my life I sit at the kitchen table across from the woman who devoted 36 years of her life to my family, and I can’t afford to pay for her health care. What’s wrong with America, and what will you do to change it?”

hardware or software?

Having some trouble with an iMac G5 dropping off the network, so I found this thread: Poor Signal Level Airport Problem in iMac G5. – MacNN Forums

At first, it looked like a signal strength issue. Strange if true, since that system never moves, relative to the access point.

But before I cracked open the case, I thought I would look at any log data I could find.

Aug 8 17:19:18 kitchen kernel[0]: AirPort: Link DOWN (out-of-range 0)Aug 8 17:19:18 kitchen configd[54]: AppleTalk startupAug 8 17:19:18 kitchen kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Active: “Thistle Dew Two” – 0014bf295d49 – chan 6Aug 8 17:19:18 kitchen configd[54]: SecKeychainFindGenericPassword err= -25308 ( =0xffff9d24, secErrStr=User interaction is not allowed. ) (current= Thistle Dew Two)Aug 8 17:19:19 kitchen launchd: Server 3fb3 in bootstrap 1103 uid 0: “/usr/sbin/lookupd”[359]: exited abnormally: HangupAug 8 17:19:19 kitchen configd[54]: posting notification com.apple.system.config.network_changeAug 8 17:19:19 kitchen lookupd[367]: lookupd (version 369.5) starting – Wed Aug 8 17:19:19 2007

Huh? What’s with the SecKeychainFindGenericPassword errors? It looks like the authentication mechanism is losing its mind periodically, and dropping the connection with frustrating frequency.

A little poking around in Keychain Access: I allowed access to that keychain from any application, and the problem seems to be resolved. But I’ll wait till tomorrow this time before I do a happy dance.

[update, Sept 6] This is still acting up. But it resolves itself quite quickly. Starting to suspect some issues with the base station itself (a Linksys WRT54G, running dd-wrt).

links for 2007-08-08