I hate that every toy that requires batteries nowadays has an annoying screw locking down the battery cover. Even if the battery cover has a latching or hinge that will keep the battery in place, they add a screw to the door. So every time I have to replace the battery, I have to remove the screw or (as most of you probably do) leave off the screw entirely.
I only see these on kids’ toys or mostly on kids’ toys or devices. So I assume it’s a regulation to keep kids from getting into the batteries. I’ve searched the interwebs and have only found a regulation requiring a child protection mechanism for devices that use ‘button’ batteries; not the AA/AAA cells that power most kids’ toys.
I created this video to rant about this issue and hope that somebody can share a link to a specific US consumer product regulation.
If you were thinking of using one of these to recharge your devices while traveling off the grid, it takes longer than I expected. I’m going to continue testing this and post periodic videos until I find out.
I own a suite of backup power storage at home and emergency solar and gas-powered generators, so that’s not what this is for. This is more for EDC. I occasionally need to quickly recharge my phone when I forgot to charge it overnight or have a lot of apps use for work, games, etc. These power banks are handy.
Some folks leave these solar power banks on their car dashboard to recharge (I don’t because I live in San Francisco where they’ll break into your car to steal sunglasses). I wanted to see just how long it takes to recharge one of these if left in a window?
I knew it would take more than a few days because the built-in solar panel isn’t that large. But it took even longer than I expected (I wouldn’t have been surprised if I did some more math on the square inches of the panel and the capacity of the battery, whatever).
Despite this, I’m not going to nock this power bank. It works as advertised, offers a pair of LED flashlight heads (“two is one” right?), has a good variety of charging ports, and offers wireless charging so you don’t even need to worry about a cable (provided your phone or device does wireless charging).
Comsoon J25 Bluetooth Receiver allows you to add Bluetooth audio to your old wired headphones or earbuds or your car through its AUX audio port for less than $20. PRODUCT LINK: https://amzn.to/3k6wWWJ
This is for real, not photoshop. this is the statement from the VP who was a candidate to be the President of the United States. On the eve of Memorial Day, a holiday created to remember the millions of war dead of the Civil War that ended slavery, the thousands of war dead who died to end fascism in World War II, and the thousands who gave their lives serving in Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and countless other conflicts with less clear goals and success. I will not be at all surprised if there is a follow-up tweet “…oh and don’t forget to thank a soldier for their service.” https://twitter.com/VP/status/1398717990376546304
I am a product of the LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) in the 70’s-80’s. A survivor of the largest and possibly the most wasteful public school system in the country. I succeeded despite it.
I owe much of my success to being identified as a “Gifted” student in public school and channeled into “Enrichment” programs which allowed me to get into a Computer Science Magnet School in Jr. High. But I chose to attend my local high-school with it’s middling academic record because I grew tired of 1hr bus rides to and from school.
If I am reading this article correctly, the new framework is riddled with woke-isms rather than performance improvements and will deliver equality through equality of mediocrity.
We’ve all heard the political phrase “Follow the Science” and this is an example of why that has lost all credibility. On April 5, 2021 the CDC released official recognition that the risk of COVID-19 transmission is rare to non-existent. Just to be clear, I’m not anti-science. I’m anti-using the word, “science” as cover for bad policy and political virtue signaling.
For over a year, since the COVID-19 Emergency was announced in March 2020, the official and non-official guidance from the WHO and CDC is that there was a significant risk of COVID-19 transmission from fomites of coronavirus left on surfaces (such as tables, desks, doors, etc.). This risk was cited as a reason for State Health Departments to shut down schools, small businesses, and restaurants, as well as mandate extensive use of disinfectants.
Yet scientific studies previously published, virologists, and infectious disease experts pointed out as early as March 2020, that the risk was low. So low that there was practically no evidence of a single COVID-19 infection transmitted from surface contact. Let me repeat that, there was not a single credible case of a COVID-19 infection transmitted from surface contact. This fact was reported by the WHO as early as June 2020 but they officially advise that there was a credible risk.
State and Federal governments have instituted policies at odds with the Scientific Data, whilst claiming to “Follow the science”. They did the same with discouraging mask use until turning 180ยบ and mandating mask use. It is no wonder that trust in the government is at an all-time low. And in the absence of a trustworthy government, it is all the more important to ignore the popular Narrative and Offical Guidance and read the information yourself.
The inexplicable aspect of this shameful episode is that the scientific articles and studies that have been posted and linked to specifically state the ‘low-risk’ of surface transmission. It is there for the world and anybody with an ounce of critical thinking to read. Yet the politicians and health officials cynically ignore or re-interpret the evidence to support their misguided policies.
COVID-19 exploited the blind spots of our immune system to damage and kill us. Our politicians the information-blind electorate to exploit the pandemic to damage and kill small-businesses and our ability to act for our own best health interests.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a year to the day that I started a daily blog to cover the COVID-19 Pandemic, an exercise which ended with the D.C. BLM Demonstrations and nationwide riots, lets reflect on the dumpster fire of a year and the ash heap that looks to be 2021.
The Trump Administration did a terrible job handling the crisis. But that should come as no surprise to any honest critic of Donald Trumps abilities as a leader. But as it turns, every Governor of every major state (New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, etc.) failed just as miserably. Save for much deserved condemnation of NYC Mayor Di Blasio and President Trump, the nations News Media’s excused the failures of these leaders exposes their bias. Their fawning of Governor Cuomo is most glaring and egregious.
Short of a China style lock-down where all residents are ordered to stay at home for 30 days and armed police and soldiers shoot violators in the street, I don’t believe any national “lockdown” policy would have made any difference.
20/20 hindsight reveals that large states with “hard” lockdowns like New York and California, did no better in terms of COVID deaths or cases per capita than states which had “soft” business closures such as Florida and Texas. Which bares the uncomfortable realization that closing and destroying the small businesses in those states was unnecessary. That closing the schools for over a year was unnecessary.
It remains to be seen if future generations will be able to fairly and honestly look at these uncomfortable facts and learn lessons for the future. But like the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic, our generation conducted similar cover-ups and manipulations of the truth. The only difference was that there was actually a Federal Bureau in charge of that propaganda. Today we have Google, CNN, and the New York Times doing it voluntarily.
