Spyke

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asklemmy·Ask Lemmybydohpaz42

Question about mystery spots

First, I want to say that I will be talking to a vet about this as soon as I can. In the meantime, I am hoping someone here might have experience and could help ease my mind. These spots all of a sudden showed up on my dog under her front-right leg. It does not appear to bother her when I press on it, and has not grown in size. She is less than 5 years old, and spends most of her time inside. There do not appear to be any indications of a bite mark or other laceration. As far as I know, she has not been exposed to any chemicals. I bathed her two weeks ago.

Any ideas?

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mildlyinfuriating·Mildly Infuriatingbydohpaz42

To “tent with aluminum foil”…

So I have a recipe that ended with “tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 minutes.” I never heard this phrase before, so I looked it up. There were multiple lengthy articles (for example) and it all comes down to: cover your food in aluminum foil to keep moisture from evaporating.

😡

That’s 5 minutes I will never get back.

One article went so far as to suggest using broom handles or sticks. That one was kinda funny. 😂

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theydidthemath·They Did The Mathbydohpaz42

Using Mirrors in Space to Power Solar at Night

I jokingly mentioned using space mirrors recently approved by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).

@[email protected] was kind enough to jump headfirst down the rabbit hole and provide some back of the napkin numbers for cost, return on investment, and other numbers. Truly “doing the Lord’s work” and very deserved of credit and aww.

Original comment.

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asklemmy·Ask Lemmybydohpaz42

How does someone initiate a class-action lawsuit against a state employer?

My state is actively ruining employees’ lives by reducing taxes for businesses (less revenue), which is making it so that the state cannot afford raises and are constantly increasing healthcare costs for employees.

I would love to do something, and the only thing I can think of that would have any meaningful impact would be to sue the state. But I have no idea what that process would take, nor do I personally have funds to hire a lawyer.

I hear about class-action lawsuits all the time, and would be interested in understanding their process better.

  1. How would I find a lawyer/firm that would be interested in taking the case?
  2. Can you even sue a state for this sort of thing?
  3. Aside of maintaining my anonymity to avoid retaliation, what else should I be aware of in case this process gets off the ground?

Edit: Clarity

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selfhosted·Selfhostedbydohpaz42

Xbox One X to Linux Questions

I have an old Xbox One X (the 1tb model) that I would love to turn into a Linux box to do self hosting. While I do my best to find tutorials online for installing Linux, I was hoping I could pick y’all’s brains on your experiences for upgrading:

  1. Best hard drives to use (internal and/or USB3)?
  2. Can the RAM be upgraded?
  3. Can the Bluray be replaced with a hard drive?
  4. Anything else I’m missing and don’t know to ask about?

Thanks!

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Recommendations for 3D Modeling Software for Floor Plans and Decorating

I have looked at software like Sweet Home 3D, OpenPlan3D, and various cloud-based services that cost money. As nice as they look, they each have severe limitations -- main the inability to create accurate measurements for walls. For example, Sweet Home 3D doesn't give enough precision to create a wall with a 9/16 fraction. OpenPlan3D the field is disabled.

I would like to be able to build a 2D floor plan, but also be able to convert it into a 3D model that I can then add furniture to for interior decorating. I would prefer open source, but would settle for simply free to use.

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librewolf·LibreWolf bydohpaz42

Disable Blocking of Bonjour (.local) Websites

I am trying to connect to a .local website, and LibreWolf says it can't connect to server (one of the worst UX error pages I've seen). Google and DDG are of no help, and I do not want to resort to using another browser for something that should be simple to disable.

I have added my domain to network.dns.localDomains and that did not appear to work. I have "DNS over HTTPS" disabled completely. I do not know what else to try.

Please help.

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comicstrips·Comic Stripsbydohpaz42

[Meta] Friends, Comic Strippers... Lend Me Your Eyes

You all have spoken, and we have listened. The team and I, as well as Lemmy.world Admins, have come to an agreement that any artist/comic that is deemed to be transphobic, racist, or in any other way demonstrates bigotry toward any group or minority will be removed from circulation. We will keep a list of banned artists in the sidebar and update it as new artists are uncovered.

Now, let's discuss details:

  1. You the reporter have the burden of proof for why an artist or comic breaks this rule; ¸ "they're fascist/racist/sexist/it's Tuesday" is not sufficient
  2. Repeated posting of banned artists will result in progressive punishment/moderated actions, up to being permanently banned
  3. Think Paradox of Tolerance when determining what bigotry means; e.g.,
    • Demeaning conservatives or other politicians (e.g., Devil's Panties) is not rule breaking
    • Demeaning women, the LGBTQ+ community, etc is rule breaking
    • Anything we consider to be a bad faith post, or trying to skirt the rules because of some perceived loophole

The current list of banned artists include:

  1. Jago
  2. Stonetoss

This is not an all-encompassing list, and are subject to moderator's (and admin's) final decisions. Questions, feedback, and playful banter are always welcome.

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comicstrips·Comic Stripsbydohpaz42

[Meta] New Rules, and New Future

Well hello again everybody! This has been a wonderful past couple of days. I want to give a huge thank you to everybody who participated in my Under New Management post from Thursday. There was a lot of great feedback, and it will go a long way to helping me better understand all of your wants and needs for this community. Yay!

Yes, this will be wordy. Read it anyway. I will try to be concise.

I spent the entirety of Thursday afternoon and evening working through the over 600 reports that existed for the community. There are still a little less than 200 more left to work through. To be fully transparent, I was given the option of simply mass clearing all of the reports so that I could start with a clean slate. Halfway through, it was very tempting to take the powers-that-be (PtB) up on their generous offer. 😅 But, I wanted to see the reports and see what was being reported (and also by whom). Again, this is my way of learning about this community and its members.

The first thing I want to say is this: for the time being, I have decided that @[email protected] is allowed to stay – with conditions. I have reached out privately to them about their past behavior, and they conveyed that they will respect the rules going forward. I have conveyed back to them that their continued use of the community is contingent on their ability to not break the rules going forward (especially with the alteration of comics). With this said, I fully expect this to ruffle quite a few of those proverbial feathers. But, for better or for worse, the decision is made. Please do not report their posts/comments merely because of who they are. If you do report them for anything, do it because it actually breaks the rules (be sure to be specific about what rules).

With this out of the way, I also want to take a moment to welcome the following people to our moderation team:

They have each reached out in some capacity to ask for this job, and I see no reason to not bring them aboard to help out. I expect that they will do their very best to ensure that this community, and its visitors, are treated fairly and with the upmost respect they deserve. Let's be sure that they get the same in return. Everyone made it a strong point that we are all adults here, so let's be sure to act like it.

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comicstrips·Comic Stripsbydohpaz42

[Meta] 🚧 Under New Management 🚧

Update 1: I edited the 📽️ Credit Where Credit is Due rule to be more clear about attributions, watermarks, and cropping of comics. Also I fixed some spelling mistakes.

Update 2: I edited the 🧬 Keep it Real rule for clarity. Keep it coming!

Update 3:
I edited the 🏘️ Community Standards based on user feedback.
Updated the formatting of the rules to remove spoiler tags.
Be more concise with some rules.

Good day/evening folks!

Note: Please read until the end; there is a lot here, so if you want to skip straight to business you can search for "Call to Action" and "New Rules" to get right to it. I won't be terribly offended. 🥹

Last night (2026-04-08 America/New_York time) I was approached and asked to moderate this community. It seems our esteemed @[email protected] has found themselves otherwise occupied and unable to commit time necessary to maintaining the community. Whatever their reasons, we thank them for their service and wish them well in whatever they are doing now.

My name is @[email protected]. You may call me dohpaz42, dohpaz, doh!, jerkface (with love!), or whatever; just don't call me late for dinner. I have been a Lemmy user since July 2023, and it's been a wild ride. Love me or hate me, know that I took this post with the intention to be a fair and impartial mod. I do understand that I may will make mistakes, but I promise that if you come at me respectfully, I will listen. I may not agree with you, but I will listen. I only ask that you do the same for me and my (eventual) team.

A little about moi:
  • I am a divorced father of two young boys
  • I am a web developer who dabbles in devops
  • I am not an arch user (sorry, not sorry 😏)
  • I enjoy hobbies like: 3d-printing, household DIY, video games, woodworking
  • I like to watch Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror (Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, Star Trek (TNG, DS9, etc), Night/Dawn/Day of the Living Dead, Paranormal Activity, etc)
  • Cooking (Send me gluten-free recipes!)

Call to Action

If you are interested in helping to moderate this community, please let me know by DM. I will evaluate each request on the merits of the person making the request. This will mostly involve a user's post/comment history and modlog history.

Note: Having a modlog history does not automatically exclude you from being a moderator, but I do want to make sure that whomever helps helms this community can do so in a respectful and positive manner. Mods will be held to a higher standard than regular users.

I also have a modlog history. Some of it was (in my opinion) unwarranted, and some of it (upon reflection) was very much warranted. I believe in second (and possibly third) chances. I've been there too, and I've still been given this opportunity. So to honor that opportunity, I am willing to give (almost) anybody a chance.

New Rules

I have decided to start out with a rewrite of the rules. Nothing dramatic, but I feel there are a couple of things that can be refined and improved upon. Before I make it official and update the sidebar, I am open to your feedback first (see below). Once the feedback is given, and any revisions made, I will post the new rules to the sidebar. I will accept feedback (comments in this post) until Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 3PM EDT (19:00 UTC).

Note: If you moderate a similar community, and wish to be linked in our sidebar, please leave a comment and I would be happy to add it to the list.

And without further ado, here are the new rules:

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

Rules
  1. 😇 Be Nice!

    • Treat others with respect and dignity. Friendly banter is okay, as long as it is mutual; keyword: friendly.
  2. 🏘️ Community Standards

    • Comics should be a full story, from start to finish, in one post.
    • Posts should be safe and enjoyable by the majority of community members, both here on lemmy.world and other instances.
    • Any comic that would qualify as raunchy, lewd, or otherwise draw unwanted attention by nosy coworkers, spouses, or family members should be tagged as NSFW.
    • Moderators have final say on what and what does not qualify as appropriate. Use common sense, and if need be, err on the side of caution.
  3. 🧬 Keep it Real

    • Comics should be made and posted by real human beans, not by automated means like bots or AI. This is not the community for that sort of thing.
  4. 📽️ Credit Where Credit is Due

    • Comics should include the original attribution to the artist(s) involved, and be unmodified. Bonus points if you include a link back to their website. When in doubt, use a reverse image search to try to find the original version. Repeat offenders will have their posts removed, be temporarily banned from posting, or if all else fails, be permanently banned from posting.
    • Attributions include, but are not limited to, watermarks, links, or other text or imagery that artists add to their comics to use for identification purposes. If you find a comic without any such markings, it would be a good idea to see if you can find an original version. If one cannot be found, say so and ask the community for help!
  5. 📋 Post Formatting

    • Post an image, gallery, or link to a specific comic hosted on another site; e.g., the author's website.
    • Meta posts about the community should be tagged with [Meta] either at the beginning or the end of the post title.
    • When linking to a comic hosted on another site, ensure the link is to the comic itself and not just to the website; e.g.,
      ✅ Correct: https://xkcd.com/386/
      ❌ Incorrect: https://xkcd.com/
  6. 📬 Post Frequency/SPAM

    • Each user (regardless of instance) may post up to five (5 🖐) comics a day. This can be any combination of personal comics you have written yourself, or other author's comics. Any comics exceeding five (5 🖐) will be removed.
  7. 🏴‍☠️ Internationalization (i18n)

    • Non-English posts are welcome. Please tag the post title with the original language, and include an English translation in the body of the post; e.g.,
      Sí, por favor [Spanish/Español]
  8. 🍿 Moderation

    • We are human, just like most everybody else on Lemmy. If you feel a moderation decision was made in error, you are welcome to reach out to anybody on the moderation team for clarification. Keep in mind that moderation decisions may be final.
    • When reporting posts and/or comments, quote which rule is being broken, and why you feel it broke the rules.
Web of Links
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I cleaned my shoes

Tools:

  1. Toothbrush
  2. Old rag I don’t care about
  3. Bleach
  4. Stain remover
  5. Borax
  6. Containers
  7. Rubber gloves
  8. Paper towels
  9. Dish towels

I mixed bleach with water 3:1 (water:bleach), and I mixed dawn with water (no ratio used).using the toothbrush, I would wet the head with stain remover and scrub the rubber bands around the shoe to remove excess dirt and grime. Then i would rinse the toothbrush and use that to wipe away most of the stain remover. I would use a wet paper towel to get any left over remover off.

Using the old rag, I would dab it into the bleach water, and gently rub out any persistent stains while being very careful not to get the canvas or leather parts wet. I would dip the toothbrush in bleach water and use it on the toe area because of a criss-cross pattern in the rubber. I would be very careful to swipe the brush downward and away from the canvas to avoid splatter. I would also use a wet paper towel to wash away residual bleach. And finally, I would thoroughly wash the brush of any bleach.

For the canvas and leather areas, I added borax to the dawn water and then I would scrub everything using the toothbrush and borax solution. I would then rinse the shoe in water (avoiding getting water inside the shoe), and then use the clean dish rags to stuff the inside pf the toe area so it dries in shape.

It took maybe 2 hours. I also bleached my shoelaces.

Before:

After:

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electricians·Electriciansbydohpaz42

Question About Power Supply Rating vs. Multimeter Reading (Solved)

Back story:

For the past year I have a set of LEDs in my kitchen, and recently they started turning off, changing brightness, switching to different modes all by themselves. I thought maybe the controller went bad and was failing, so I replaced it a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday they started exhibiting similar behaviors again.

So I’m wondering now if the power supply is failing and it’s causing the controller to do weird things.

I grabbed my multimeter to see what kind of voltage the power supply is putting out, and it’s giving me 52V. The power supply is supposed to give 24V output (see screenshot below), so I’m confused and was hoping someone could help me understand why I’m getting over 2x the voltage?

I do apologize if this is not the right place. I saw an askelectronics community, but their rules say no electrical, and at this juncture I believe my question is electrical. If there is a better place for this kind of question, I would appreciate a pointer to the better place.

Edit:

I am a dummy. Less so as of right now, but yeah, it was user error. So I learned today that the multimeter can read both DC and AC voltages, and my power supply is 24V in DC, while I was reading it in AC. 🤦‍♂️ Once I switched to using DC, the power supply read 24V (in multiple outlets).

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til·Today I Learnedbydohpaz42

TIL Howling Mad Murdock from the A-Team (1983) is also Lt. Barclay from Star Trek: TNG

Actor: Dwight Schultz

I was watching the 2010 version of the A-Team (great movie imo), and I wanted to know what cameos there were (because I suck at recognizing actors). Lo and behold, to my delight, the cross-over of all cross-overs: Star Trek and A-Team.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Edit: This just keeps getting better!!!! 53:58 on Netflix.

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til·Today I Learnedbydohpaz42

TIL Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) Can Cause Dizziness, Fatigue, and Shortness of Breath

For so many years, I've struggled with a myriad of symptoms that have (at times) severely affected my quality of life: dizziness/fainting, fatigue (both physical and mental), shortness of breath, tension headaches, and lack of motivation. I have seen many doctors about these symptoms for many years, and I have been given a myriad of suggestions:

  1. It’s just obstructive sleep apnea
  2. Use a regular sleep schedule
  3. Reduce caffeine intake
  4. Exercise regularly
  5. Maybe you’re depressed
  6. It’s all in your head

I have dealt with each of those suggestions (for that last one, I fired that doctor immediately; problem solved!), and I still have problems to varying degrees. To be fair, some of those have gotten better, but have not completely gone away. So I resigned myself to just living with it.

I recently made an appointment to have a colonocopy, and I was reading through my clinical summary, when I fell upon my blood pressure (120/86). The doc wrote "Your blood pressure reading was elevated at your visit today. It is suggested that you visit your primary care for further evaluation." He never actually mentioned this to me. Not even the nurse who took my blood pressure, nor the PA. So I got curious, and I looked up what my blood pressure should be for my age (120/80 and below for the curious).

I found this neat little chart that tells about blood pressures, and what is considered elevated, and stage 1/2 hypertension. According to that chart, my blood pressure is not elevated (because my bottom number is not less than 80). My blood pressure is stage 1 hypertension! Never once had any doctor I had ever seen ever muttered the words "stage", "one", or "hypertension" in the same sentence. Ever.

Anyway, I am just a lowly pleb who knows nothing (i.e., "I am not a medical professional"). But, because I feel that my doctors failed at doing their jobs at the most basic level, I felt compelled to tell you all my story so that you all can check your vitals and decide whether or not you should have a conversation with your medical professionals. Be safe!

https://www.verywellhealth.com/symptoms-of-hypertension-1763965Open linkView original on lemmy.world
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selfhosted·Selfhostedbydohpaz42

Home Assistant vs. HomeKit Questions

Hi, my name is @[email protected] and I am a HomeKit user.

My draw to HomeKit is the ecosystem, and its ease of use for me and for my kids (we are all iOS users).

I have been reading about the differences between both Home Assistant (HA) and HomeKit (HK), and I do like the idea of having more control over everything, and exponentially more devices available to me through HA.

In fact, what inspired my research is to look for an alternative to myQ for my garage door opener. And while I have found ratgdo that can do everything myQ can do, and more, it’s my basic understanding that HK support is not as great as HA.

I do understand that to use HA, I will need something to use as a dedicated hub; I have a few Pis running in my house already that I could easily make into a dedicated hub. So that’s not an issue.

I am also tech savvy, but I do not wish to spend all of my waking hours tweaking things. More importantly, I want to know if my kids can easily use HA devices without them having to be tech savvy.

Can HA be set up in a way that my kids can just point and click using apps on their devices? Can anybody help show me (screenshots, videos) what that might look like?

Thank you in advance.

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mildlyinfuriating·Mildly Infuriatingbydohpaz42

Apropos the American Standard

A few months ago, I bought an American Standard brand toilet seat that soft closes. It was nice. But apparently after about 6 mo of normal use, the plastic piece for the lid broke; a week later, the seat ripped apart from the hinge. That’s the American Standard for you I guess. /s

So today, I go get a different toilet seat, and as I’m trying to adjust it to fit on the toilet, I notice that they gave me two left brackets.

So now I have to go back to the store and hope they will open boxes until we find me the correct right bracket. And before anyone suggests flipping the left bracket over: you can’t. Each bracket has grooves cut into one side that fit in the specific side of the mounting bracket that attaches to the toilet.

I hope y’all’s day is going better than my week! 🤣

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