Paul Ganssle @pganssle@qoto.org

In the long run I need to find a different way to power the blinkers anyway — either pulling power directly from the ebike battery (if I can get a line in there) or switch to using like a drill battery or something.

I'm thinking that in the short run I'll just plug in a second circuit that just burns the minimum amount of power to keep it awake, and unplug that circuit when I'm not actively riding the bike.

Anyone know if it's possible to wake up a USB battery pack that has gone to sleep?

I'm using a battery pack to power a blinker circuit, but the pack goes to sleep like right away. I was hoping that the blinker circuit drawing power would be enough to wake it up, but apparently not.

Most of what I'm finding when I search for this are ways to keep the battery awake all the time (for powering low-power circuits), but I really just want to wake it up when I'm actively using the blinkers, and let it sleep otherwise.

#electronics

@christmastree @nedbat This is what I came up with (which basically uses your #2): https://gist.github.com/pganssle/d8496bf6553c6f74af97e7f65760defd

@danzin @nedbat It is asking you to delete a file called `password.txt` in the current directory.

Though TBH I am kind of shocked that there are quality variations (sometimes the sound comes out tinny, sometimes it crackles, etc). I would think that it would basically just be doing the exact same math and outputting the same waveforms, so I don't really get why it' varies at all.

Maybe it uses some sort of compression or heuristics based on the output, and I can tell Tone.js "Take your time and give me the highest quality version of this" (possibly I could even write this to a cache...)

Does anyone know if there's a mature Python or Rust or something version of this? https://tonejs.github.io/

I mainly want the feature where you can take samples and turn them into a synthesizer so that I can give it a bunch of recorded piano notes, then feed it something like `(["C4", "F4", "A4"], 2)` and have it play that chord for 2 seconds (then presumably output that to a file).

Right now Tone.js is working really well for me in most cases, but I'm getting inconsistent results depending on the browser and whether or not you've got headphones plugged in, which is... not great.

My needs are pretty limited, so I think I can just generate all the sounds I'm going to want ahead of time and serve static files to improve consistency and quality.

@hynek Reminds me of "[Ideological Turning Tests] (https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/ideological-turing-tests)"

Lol, seems like Vanguard changed their password rules to max out at 20 characters, and now my password is too strong to let me log in. Great job guys.

@jankatins The only problem is it's Minecraft and I think my son may have already played a bunch, not sure if he'll lose his world...

@jankatins I did buy it with the family credit card. I am thinking I might try to return it and buy it with my main account.

OK, I purchased something on Google Play on my son's tablet before setting up Family Library. I'd like to add it to Family Library so we can use it on other devices, so I set up Family Library. There seems to be no option to add the app to family library on his device, is this because he's a "supervised" account?

I can't even change his age to be above 13 through Family Link...

#googleplay

@glyph @simon @jay FWIW, when i tried using ChatGPT to ask it about Python stuff I was like, "This is all nonsense!" but when I had projects using stuff like JS / HTML / CSS / SQL, I've found it surprisingly useful, because the gaps in my knowledge are basic enough that I am mainly trying to get it to tell me the broad concepts I should be looking into.

In general, when you get into the making mind-set, all your problems become projects. It’s very empowering.

This goes for all kinds of making skills. My cargo bike doesn’t have blinkers, but it’s my main way of getting around. The cheap wireless blinkers you can get off of Amazon have all kinds of annoying problems (including silently running out of batteries so you don’t realize your blinkers don’t work!), so I got together a bunch of parts and wired up a full blinker system¹.

When some random part of a door in my house broke, I just designed a replacement with my 3D printer.

I’d also really like to be able to make or modify my own clothes, since I often have an idea for something I’d like to wear, but can’t find exactly the right thing anywhere.

As an aside, the fact that I saw the paper on perfect pitch acquisition and turned it into a usable app within a few days is one of the things I love most about being a programmer. When a tool doesn't exist, you can just make it, and make it how you want it to be!

@marcogorelli I think for adults there are established techniques for improved ear training. I am not sure if simply doing those as often as we do the chord identification method trainer would give a similar probability of attaining perfect pitch. It seems like kids with early exposure to music are pretty significantly more likely to get perfect pitch and have the kind of intuitive relationship to music that a lot of musicians have, so it might be that pretty much any sort of ear training will work when you start this young.

@marcogorelli To be clear this is for teaching children to have perfect pitch. I think there are some implied claims there about a critical period for learning perfect pitch. l am also mildly skeptical of the somewhat grandiose claims in the paper (100% success rate for all children who completed the program), but I have always been very interested in things that alter your perception of the world, and if there is a critical period I wanted to make sure I got in there.

My son is getting really good at it at this point, and there's at least one other person actively using the app who is a bit ahead of him who can get perfect scores on at least the first 9 levels.