• 12 Posts
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 7th, 2023

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  • I’ve lived in a place with a fire alarm system like that, but the beep is because the backup battery is flat or the unit needs to be replaced.

    Most smoke detectors are essentially a small radioactive lump with a Geiger counter next to it; if smoke gets in between it blocks the radiation and if the number of radiation “hits” falls below a threshold in a set time period the alarm goes off. So, as radioactive things have a half life, there’s a point where the radiation emitted falls below the original threshold and you need to replace it. We fucked around with the batteries in ours for ages assuming one of them was low, but eventually replaced the detector itself and the beeping stopped.





  • Agree with this, I have both Element and Fluffychat on android.

    Fluffychat is nicer than Element in some ways, but it has some quirks around sharing files - I can’t get it to share multiple files from a gallery, and sometimes if it hasn’t been open recently the share action starts it up but nothing actually gets shared, and you have to repeat the action. It also tends to glitch if rotated to landscape and back again.

    I keep Element on the device but disabled so I don’t have both running, but enable it any time I need to do something that fluffychat can’t manage.

    They are both being actively developed so things are constantly improving.


  • I know I’m late to the discussion, but I was experimenting with this recently so wanted to add my experience in the UK.

    I’m on a gravel bike and I’m a beginner cyclist although I’ve done lots of walking/hiking in the past so I’m used to being out and about. It’s currently autumn so relatively wet.

    With the default option (balanced), I get sent down a mix of minor country roads (good) and some paths that are in theory bridleways but in practice they are extremely rutted footpaths 1m wide with 35cm of brambles on either side. When I say “rutted” I mean 0.5m deep (and steep) holes that are full of mud/water. Absolutely impossible to ride down on a gravel bike as the holes are the full width of the path, and I’d be amazed if anyone managed it even on a mountain bike.

    With “prefer byways” I get minor roads, which in my area means paved (asphalt) minor roads and country lanes, plus firm(ish) cycle routes. The routing engine doesn’t refuse to use a non-paved roads, but it avoids it where possible.

    Basically, “prefer byways” is a good option generally for me. “Balanced” would probably be OK in summer except where the paths are overgrown (although a machete would be required as mentioned by someone else!).