Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.
Our medical practice has been Borged by Optum, which is, through a number of corporate cutout layers, owned by UnitedHealth Group, so (despite claims to the contrary) our doctors effectively work for a health insurance company. No, they may not be paid by UHG, but following the money in reverse shows the flow of influence.
Apparently this has slightly affected the original practice’s reliance on Phreesia for pre-visit sign-in information collection although, as before, Phreesia still really wants to scatter your precious personal bits to the far corners of the InterWebs:
Phreesia optional authorization – 2024 version
The wall o’ text is a bit shorter then the earlier version and cannot be scrolled or printed. It still admits:
There is the potential for my health information … to be subject to redisclosure and to no longer be protected by the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
Yes, I understand that’s the whole point of getting me to agree to release my private bits to Phreesia, so they can make money by selling it to the highest bidder(s).
What’s new is the previous page in the sequence, of which I do not have a screenshot, presumably coming from Optum, emphasizing in bold type that I do not have to authorize Phreesia’s data collection.
I infer this means two things:
Optum / UHG has had their awareness raised about this nonsense
Phreesia contractually requires that dark-pattern page
Yes, I understand that I have no privacy and should get over it, but somehow this sort of behavior rankles …
A pair of frost-free sillcock faucets arrived to replace the house’s leaky and un-repairable hose bibs. The faucet must be mounted at a 5° angle to let the water drain out when it’s closed:
Sillcock faucet alignment wedge – GIMP color selection
After a little manual cleanup in Quick Mask mode, apply a 1 mm inset to ensure it snaps around the pipe, convert the selection to a path, export it as an SVG image, and import it into OpenSCAD to cut the angle:
And comes off the printer looking just about like you’d expect:
Sillcock faucet alignment wedge – OEM vs printed
The far side of both wedges are 5 mm tall, but you can see the difference four more degrees makes in the front.
It’s even more obvious from the edge:
Sillcock faucet alignment wedge – on pipe
The wood siding where these will fit is perfectly vertical, so getting the wedge angle right isn’t really optional.
I must drill the existing hole in the sill plate out to 1-1/8 inch to clear the pipe fittings, plus the wood around the screws holding the current bibs to the wall will surely need some buttressing, but all that’s in the nature of fine tuning.
FWIW, this was the first 3D print after the move and I’m happy to say the M2 had no any need of adjustments.
The WordPress AI image generator apparently ignored the post text and produced a stylin’ picture of an arched bathroom faucet over a rimless sink, which I shall leave to your imagination.
A recent Manjaro update killed whatever magic held the passwords used for public-key ssh access from my desktop box, requiring me to remember the passords and type them correctly.
After considerable thrashing around doing what I thought I knew about ssh_agent (which, yes, was being autostarted to no avail), it seems that thread applies and the fix now requires creating /etc/profile.d/gcr-keyring.sh with this burst of line noise:
Whereupon, after a reboot presumably causing systemd to make the right thing perform the right act at the right time, It Just Worked™.
I used to have some mild sysadmin mojo, but obviously if you don’t do it all the time, everything you think you know becomes wrong.
The WordPress AI did generate an image based on the above text and the prompt linux overlapping windows on monitor:
WP AI Image – linux overlapping windows on monitor
Which looks a lot like those stock photos filling otherwise empty space in spammy web pages, doesn’t it? In point of fact, the AI Feedback on Post had this to say:
While the AI-generated image may align with the content, consider using original or more contextually relevant visuals to maintain the professional look of the website.
Couldn’t have put it better myself. Thank you, AI image & text generators, for your help.
What I do not understand is the lack of a license plate on that front bumper, here in New York State where front license plates are mandatory. I’ve noticed several Tesla vehicles (in their S3XY automotive series, among which I cannot distinguish) without front plates, so it must be a Tesla owner thing.
The WordPress AI image for this post gets the angular aspect right, along with the missing plate:
The Samsung over-the-range microwave (ME18H704SFS, should you care) that Came With The House™ coughed up a C-11 error code resolving to “replace the gas / humidity sensor”. Replacement DE32-60013A sensors are readily available, although if you’re expecting a Genuine Samsung Part from Amazon, that is not the universe I live in.
You can remove the upper front bezel from the microwave to reveal the slotted front cover of the compartment containing the sensor, but you cannot replace the sensor without extracting the microwave from above the stove and removing its shell. The bottom of the microwave sits about 18 inches above the stove, so I put a 16 inch cubical moving box (of which we have a near-infinite supply) on the stove to reduce the risk of dropping the mumble thing while removing it.
A total of 20 screws, here laid out in roughly geographic order, hold the shell to the inner frame:
Samsung microwave – cabinet screws
With all the screws out, slide the shell toward the rear by more than you might think to clear the latches along both sides. The latches along the front of the right side look like this:
Samsung microwave – shell side latches
With the shell off, the sensor compartment on the top of the microwave enclosure is revealed:
Samsung microwave – TGS880 enclosure
Although you might think removing those two screws would grant access to the sensor compartment and let you replace the sensor (if you have very long fingers), that is not the case: the small tab toward the left side of the louvered front plate prevents you from sliding it and the plate is not hinged along its left side.
The sensor is held into the socket by a clip snapping into the arms that, in turn, hold the socket into the side wall:
Samsung microwave – TGS880 mount detail
A small screwdriver will assist in releasing the latches on the clip arms; squeezing them in the obvious way didn’t get the job done.
The old sensor then unplugs and the new one plugs in the obvious manner; it is not polarized and either orientation works.
For completeness, the top of the electronics bay:
Samsung microwave – top interior
The magnetron and HV transformer live on the right side:
Samsung microwave – left interior
Then you reassemble in reverse order, heave the microwave atop the 16 inch cubical box, hoist it onto the rail along the back, and install the two loooong screws from the top while holding the front upward with one knee. I took the liberty of replacing the janky steel plates pretending to be washers with actual fender washers:
Samsung microwave – mounting screw
And now it works the way it should.
Of course, the microwave’s “beverage” mode assumes you’re drinking a piddly 8 ounces, rather than sipping from a manly 20 ounce mug:
Magnetic stirrer – vinyl surface
It heats 9 ounces of milk + cocoa just fine, but those 18 ounces of water for tea become just barely tepid.
WordPress has gone full-frontal AI and suggested I use this AI creation as the Featured Image:
The WordPress AI generated this evaluation of my writing:
The content provides a detailed guide on replacing the gas/humidity sensor in a Samsung over-the-range microwave. Consider adding subheadings to break down the process for easier reading. Additionally, including a brief introduction and a conclusion summarizing the key points would enhance the post. The technical details and images greatly support the instructions. Great job!
A solar yard / walkway light appeared in the far back reaches of the yard while mowing:
Solar yard light – bubble
Yes, that’s an air bubble in the middle, so you know the light hasn’t been staying in its Happy Place™.
As the djinn in the bottle put it, “Pop the top and let’s get started”:
Solar yard light – cover off
Those light emitting diodes around the photovoltaic cell in the middle can’t light up any more.
A little more effort with the Designated Prydriver reveals the guts:
Solar yard light – components
That’s an NiMH cell, so the light has been abandoned out there for quite a few years.
The photovoltaic element still worked, but the LEDs were defunct. The corpse will be a guest of honor at the next electronics recycling event down the road from here.
Someday, our great-to-the-nth grandchildren will curse our ways …
Our new-to-us house included a heavy-duty basement dehumidifier with a blower motor calling for a few drops of SAE 20 oil twice a year. Some searching turned up a specialized flavor of 3-In-One Oil for motors.
It arrived with free inclusions:
3-in-One Motor Oil – top inclusion
Backlighting makes them more obvious:
3-in-One Motor Oil – top inclusion – backlit
There’s also a free-floating jellyfish slightly denser than the oil:
3-in-One Motor Oil – bottom inclusion – backlit
As is now the typical case with Amazon purchases, the only choices are to return / exchange the item, as the seller cannot be contacted directly. I tried sending 3-In-One a question through their website, en passant discovering they’ve been Borged by The WD-40 Company, only to be rejected by the site’s Captcha without ever seeing the test images.
AFAICT, it’s oil and the motor will just have to get used to it.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 