#carbon monoxide sensor

[zeroloop]

Recensione: Rivelatore di Monossido di Carbonio Tadeto

Tadeto Rivelatore portatile di Monossido di Carbonio, Ampio Schermo Retroilluminato da 2,4 Pollici con Allarmi Acustici e Visivi, 0-1000PPM, Per la Casa, L’industria, L’auto, il Campeggio e i ViaggiP Il monossido di carbonio è un nemico invisibile che può essere estremamente pericoloso per la nostra salute. Fortunatamente, dispositivi come il Rivelatore Tadeto di Monossido di Carbonio offrono…

[bomberqueen17]

inspections

in terms of the kitchen remodel we are still waiting on like five pieces of trim and the door of one cabinet. so we're to the final details phase. which means the electrical and plumbing inspectors from the town have to come by.

the plumbing inspector came by and was super friendly and funny and was like "i guess i gotta run some water, i'll feel silly if i don't and there was a problem, but mostly i mean, if there was a problem you'd probably have noticed right?" and i was like yeah fair enough, wanna look at the gas lines they moved? and he was like oh i guess i will, sure. Super low-key.

The electrical inspector was similarly chill but he looked grimly up at the smoke detector they'd put up in not the place I'd expected them to, and said "that's. not where that goes." I said "it goes off all the time" and he was like "yeah it's way too close to the stove, I would not have put it there. But the problem is, you need there to be a carbon monoxide sensor within fifteen feet of your bedrooms, and the closer bedroom is seventeen feet that way."

Sure enough. It's the right kind of smoke detector but it's in the wrong place.

I looked up the manufacturer's instructions and they say to put it 20 feet from the main cooking appliance. Ten if that's not possible, but preferably 20. I measured, and it's eight feet from the stove. I can't get emojis to insert but this is the upside-down smiley, right here.

So the hallway location would have been completely fine for that, and in fact better. And that's where I had pointed out that they should put it, and that's where Jim had said they'd put it, and it's where I fully believed they were putting it until they finished the job.

So I'm displeased and have to psych myself up to call Jim and break the news to him, that it's not just that I could put another sensor up and be good-- the one they put in is just plain in the wrong place. I don't know if they can properly move it, they hard-wired the communication wire to the basement alarm, and I don't know if they can fish that through the ceiling that direction. (They can't, I'm one thousand percent sure the joists go the other way.)

But the alarm they installed, which cost me extra outside of the five figures of work done on the kitchen, is incorrectly located, and meets neither the manufacturer's guidelines nor town building codes. So I gotta put my big girl panties on and complain about that. I'd been preparing myself to just suck it up and set the smoke detector off every time I cooked but realizing that it's absolutely not supposed to be there has removed my last shred of putting up with that shit.

Hell fucking no. Now, how to say that nicely???? *deep breath* I can do it. Polite but firm.

On another note-- I went out of town for the weekend and got stuck there because of the snow, and finally made it back Monday morning, and when I texted the family groupchat that I'd made it home my mom was like "great!" and then literally one minute later was like "so what color are you painting your kitchen" so understand that y'all are not the only ones waiting to find out.

LOL any color would workkkkkk so I gotta pick one and do it. But probably not this week, as today's the last break in the weather and then we're supposed to get absolutely slammed with snow.

[regionalpancake]

For the “send me a sentence” ask game: “The cigar was perched on the side of the ashtray, a thin wisp of smoke rising, rising, rising, until it twirled into invisibility.”

“Explain.” Steward said, pointing at the offending item on the mess table.

“Cleansing the dining area of Bolian mites?” Enoch said, arranging his features into something approaching nonchalance. “The smoke kills them off.”

Steward was already halfway through pulling up a ship-wide bio scan before Enoch could finish.

“Are you accusing me of allowing an infestation? And in a recreational area of the ship, at that?”

Enoch rotated the cigar so that it smouldered evenly in the ashtray. He sighed.

“Y’know you could at least pretend to believe me.”

Steward bristled.

“Not at the expense of my hospitality protocols! An infestation! Just the thought of it!” He shuddered theatrically.

Enoch folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on them, watching the smoke coil almost imperceptibly in the still air.

“I miss how the ship used to smell.”

“You can’t smell,” Steward closed his folio.

“Fine. I miss how the ships internal atmospheric sensor data used to intermittently spike with nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and benzene.”

“You miss the benzene?”

“I miss him.”

Steward reached out, paused a second to overthink, and then patted Enoch on the back. Twice. The ‘there there’ was implied in the tempo.

“Well, we’re still working on it, aren’t we?” The hospitality hologram tried to sound hopeful. “Come on, Emil’s in the holosuite, he thinks he might have made a breakthrough…”

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Measuring moon dust to fight air pollution

Moon dust, or regolith, isn't like the particles on Earth that collect on bookshelves or tabletops—it's abrasive and it clings to everything. Throughout NASA's Apollo missions to the moon, regolith posed a challenge to astronauts and valuable space hardware.

During the Apollo 17 mission, astronaut Harrison Schmitt described his reaction to breathing in the dust as "lunar hay fever," experiencing sneezing, watery eyes, and a sore throat. The symptoms went away, but concern for human health is a driving force behind NASA's extensive research into all forms of lunar soil.

The need to manage the dust to protect astronaut health and critical technology is already beneficial on Earth in the fight against air pollution.

Working as a contributor on a habitat for NASA's Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program, Lunar Outpost Inc. developed an air-quality sensor system to detect and measure the amount of lunar soil in the air that also detects pollutants on Earth.

Originally based in Denver, the Golden, Colorado-based company developed an air-quality sensor called the Space Canary and offered the sensor to Lockheed Martin Space for its NextSTEP lunar orbit habitat prototype. After the device was integrated into the habitat's environmental control system, it provided distinct advantages over traditional equipment.

Rebranded as Canary-S (Solar), the sensor is now meeting a need for low-cost, wireless air-quality and meteorological monitoring on Earth. The self-contained unit, powered by solar energy and a battery, transmits data using cellular technology.

It can measure a variety of pollutants, including particulate matter, carbon monoxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds, among others. The device sends a message up to a secure cloud every minute, where it's routed to either Lunar Outpost's web-based dashboard or a customer's database for viewing and analysis.

The oil and gas industry uses the Canary-S sensors to provide continuous, real-time monitoring of fugitive gas emissions, and the U.S. Forest Service uses them to monitor forest-fire emissions.

"Firefighters have been exhibiting symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning for decades. They thought it was just part of the job," explained Julian Cyrus, chief operating officer of Lunar Outpost. "But the sensors revealed where and when carbon monoxide levels were sky high, making it possible to issue warnings for firefighters to take precautions."

The Canary-S sensors exemplify the life-saving technologies that can come from the collaboration of NASA and industry innovations.

IMAGE: While astronaut Gene Cernan was on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission, his spacesuit collected loads of lunar dust. The gray, powdery substance stuck to the fabric and entered the capsule causing eye, nose, and throat irritation dubbed "lunar hay fever." Credit: NASA

[trombonechurchill]

@theupstairskid👀😈

The loft had always felt open, spacious even, to Buck, large windows and an open plan that left no space for hiding. He’d always told himself that he liked the high ceilings and empty spaces; it was bright and airy and it wasn’t like he really had much need for privacy.  The first day after Taylor moves out, the loft feels positively cavernous.  Buck presses his forehead against the closed front door, the echo of it shutting still ringing soundly in his ears, deafening in the silence after a long shift in a way that makes his stomach feel cold and wrung out. He makes a beeline for the fridge, ignoring the phantom image of Bobby frowning at him in the back of his mind as he paws at the door before grabbing the remains of a six-pack of beer and cradling it in his arms as he trudges over to the couch.

I'm actually really struggling on the ghost au send help I love this idea why are they always the problem child 👻(most of this is cleaned up rewrites weh)

“So where would you say is the most activity? Chim wasn’t super clear on the details other than something about some weird dreams?” Buck asked absently over his shoulder, making a note to wave the sensor near the A/C vents. At least he knew a bit of what he was doing, Eddie thought with begrudging respect. “Uh, yeah I guess it’s probably in my son’s room? But I’ve seen… Stuff. Pretty much everywhere,” Eddie admitted hesitantly. It was one thing to complain about the lack of sleep and funny noises at the firehouse, no one there would seriously think Eddie believed he had a ghost. It was another thing entirely to tell Buck, an apparently real life ghost hunter, that he’d be seeing stuff move in the night. The idea that Buck might actually believe him more terrifying than the thought of his coworkers laughing at him.  “Stuff?” Buck asked, seemingly content that Eddie’s carbon monoxide detectors had in fact been doing their job and setting his back down on the table. “What kind of stuff?” “Yeah, you know, stuff.” Eddie tried not to flush when Buck’s eyes landed on him, eyebrow raised, gritting his teeth to force himself to continue.

Make me write!

[literarynerd]

The most ridiculous thing happened to me last night. I was sitting watching a passable Christmas romcom when suddenly the fire alarms started going off. I live in a town house, and I have two that are linked and they talk, because they also do carbon monoxide detection.

So it started saying “FIRE FEU” [bilingual due to being Canadian] while the alarm was going off. So my mom and I jump up and run around to see where the fire is and we can’t find anything, we also can’t smell anything, and it eventually stopped. But then it goes off again and we wonder if the backup batteries are dying and that is why it’s going off. So I frantically change the batteries while my eardrums are being tortured with shrieking and “FIRE FEU”. And they stop going off and I think that it solved the problem. But then the alarm upstairs starts saying “BATTERY BATTERY BATTERY” and I have put that one in backwards. So I fix it.

Then it dawns on me that if it was the battery issue it would have been yelling “BATTERY BATTERY BATTERY” at me. And it starts going off again, this time I try just pressing the test button and the only difference is that it starts screaming “CARBON MONOXIDE CARBON MONOXIDE” and then I’m again freaking out because you can’t smell carbon monoxide. So we open some doors.

Then I decide to try looking outside to see if my neighbours have a fire and somehow our alarm is noticing it before we are, and there is nothing but the alarm has also stopped.

So I look up “fire alarm going off for no reason” and I find out that they can get dusty so I decide to vacuum them, while still attached to the ceiling, and every time I try something new I have to lug the ladder up and down the stairs, just to paint an accurate picture.

The alarm seems to have stopped and it is quiet for about twenty minutes, and I have been lulled into a false sense of security. It goes off again and I am just about at the end of my rope, and I find an article suggesting using canned air, like the kind you use to clean a keyboard. And thankfully we do have some.

So I get back on the damn ladder and spray the shit out both alarms and I notice that one has a solid green light but one has an intermittently blinking green light. More internet searching tells me that means that is the alarm that is detecting the mystery smoke. And I need to reset it, which sets the alarm off again to do the test. My eardrums are crying, I am pissed, but I think I solved the problem.

I go back downstairs, have another twenty minutes of peace and then “FIRE FEU FIRE FEU” and I am furiously swearing at the smoke detector, I drag the ladder back upstairs, I remove it from the ceiling and unplug the main power line. I am going to get the dust out of the smoke detector or I am going to burn the house down, if it wants smoke, it will get smoke.

I take the can of air, my mom is standing in solidarity with me and the can, and I spray it from every angle possible. And then. With the last puff, out pops a very small white spider, we all gasp (probably including the spider, who’s reign of terror is as about to end) and he falls on the floor, and is immediately crushed by a Birkenstock sandal.

And the ordeal is not over because getting that fucking alarm back on the ceiling took me seventeen tries, but no more “FIRE” no more “FEU”, no more “CARBON MONOXIDE” and no more fire alarm.

So if your fire alarm even goes off for seemingly no reason, it could be that the spirit of Puck has possessed a small spider and he is trying to build a web right in front of the smoke sensor.

[macgyvermedical]

Hi! There’s a scene in one of the Little House books where Pa and another guy are digging a well. They put a candle down before they go to make sure there’s good air, and the one time they don’t the other guy passes out and Pa has to rescue him. What actually happened there (like what kind of gas would do that, etc)? Howdid they deal with that kind of thing in mines back then, if it was an issue? How would you deal with that if you were digging a well today? Did they do the first aid right? Do you have any whumpy ideas based on this scenario?

My best guess here is that there was a buildup of carbon dioxide in the bottom of the well.

Carbon dioxide is heavier than air, so it tends to displace the normal mix of oxygen and nitrogen that we breathe. We also breathe it out as a normal part of our metabolism, so when Pa and his friend were working in the well, they were adding more and more carbon dioxide. As the well got deeper, less and less of it was able to escape, and it pushed the oxygen and nitrogen up the well shaft.

A candle (and any fire) needs oxygen to burn, so if it is in an environment of low oxygen (because carbon dioxide displaced it all), it will go out. Humans also need oxygen, or we will pass out and eventually die.

I did a post on this here.

If you were digging a well similar to Pa's today, you'd at least want to point a fan down into it to move fresh air to the bottom and flush out the higher carbon dioxide air that was collecting at the bottom. This wouldn't be foolproof, especially for a very deep well, but it's better than just winging it.

As for first aid, there's not a lot to do- essentially just move the person to fresh air. If they weren't breathing, providing rescue breathes (or CPR if the person didn't have a pulse) until they started breathing on their own would be all one could really do.

Now, carbon dioxide isn't the only gas that can displace oxygen, and it's not the only poison gas that can build up in confined spaces like mines, wells, septic tanks, cisterns, etc... For that matter, it's not the only poison gas that humans interact with.

Many mines, especially coal mines, run the risk of filling with natural gas if a pocket of gas is opened in the mining process. Natural gas is largely made of methane- a colorless, odorless gas that can both displace oxygen and explode if exposed to a flame or spark.

Since the industrial revolution, steam engines (and later internal combustion engines) have been used to make the mining process more efficient. This has made much deeper mines possible, but it also causes a buildup of carbon monoxide- again, a colorless, odorless gas that poisons people by displacing oxygen in people's bodied. These engines also off-gas carbon dioxide, which, as stated above, tends to displace oxygen in the environment.

In mines most of this buildup of poison gas is (and pretty much always has been) mitigated through ventilation systems of varying complexity. Back around the turn of the century this was as simple as having 2 entrances to a mine and putting a fan facing outward at one of the entrances. But ventilation can only do so much, and there could always be pockets of gasses that aren't flushed out by a ventilation system that could do real harm to human miners.

And since all of these gasses are nearly impossible for humans to detect until it is too late, something other than a human needs to be used.

Today, this is often done via gas-detecting computerized sensors. From about 1850 to the 1990's however, the detectors were birds. Birds have a high metabolism, so are overcome much more quickly by a drop in oxygen levels than humans are. If a bird fell off it's perch, a miner would know to get to a better ventilated section of the mine ASAP. Contrary to popular belief, the birds didn't frequently die, and were often treated as pets when they weren't in the mines.

Birds were also used to detect poison gasses during both World Wars and the Gulf war, since well into the 1990's computers that could detect poison gasses or changes in oxygen concentration in real time were prohibitively expensive.

[stevebattle]

KATE (Kids Avatar Teacher and Entertainer) by Dan Mathias (2012), FutureBots, West Palm Beach, Florida. “Kids, meet Kate the robot. She wants to play with you, help you do your homework, or just give you a big metallic hug while Mom or Dad are deployed overseas. She can't replace your parent, but with her smiling ET-ish visage and gift for gab, she might be able to ease the distance a bit. Dan Mathias of the Florida-based one-man FutureBots Lab thought up the humanoid telepresence robot specifically as a companion and communication device for kids of remote military service members. He also thinks Kate (Kids Avatar Teacher and Entertainer) could, like Kaspar the friendly robot, help autistic children improve their social and communication skills or maybe be used in nursing homes to assist Alzheimer's patients. Standing 45 inches tall and weighing 70 pounds, Kate's certainly pleasant-looking as two-armed wheeled robots go. But she's more than just a pretty face with a fully articulated mouth. She has a total of 22 degrees of freedom; a Microsoft Kinect sensor for motion detection; and a touch-screen Android tablet chest for teleconferencing. She can even sense carbon monoxide and other hazardous gases and smell smoke to keep companions safe. Mathias built the Windows XP- and Intel Atom processor-driven Kate in three months and says he plans to add solar panels so she can play outside. He does not currently have the backing of companies or universities but is definitely in the market for support.” – Kate the humanoid robot: Kids, let's talk, by Leslie Katz, CNET.

[anumacy]

Carbon monoxide smells horrible. Like egg. No sensor either. Ooof.

[spacenutspod]

A new, higher-resolution infrared camera outfitted with a variety of lightweight filters could probe sunlight reflected off Earth’s upper atmosphere and surface, improve forest fire warnings, and reveal the molecular composition of other planets. The cameras use sensitive, high-resolution strained-layer superlattice sensors, initially developed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, using IRAD, Internal Research and Development funding. Their compact construction, low mass, and adaptability enable engineers like Tilak Hewagama to adapt them to the needs of a variety of sciences. Goddard engineer Murzy Jhabvala holds the heart of his Compact Thermal Imager camera technology – a high-resolution, high-spectral range infrared sensor suitable for small satellites and missions to other solar-system objects. “Attaching filters directly to the detector eliminates the substantial mass of traditional lens and filter systems,” Hewagama said. “This allows a low-mass instrument with a compact focal plane which can now be chilled for infrared detection using smaller, more efficient coolers. Smaller satellites and missions can benefit from their resolution and accuracy.” Engineer Murzy Jhabvala led the initial sensor development at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as well as leading today’s filter integration efforts. Jhabvala also led the Compact Thermal Imager experiment on the International Space Station that demonstrated how the new sensor technology could survive in space while proving a major success for Earth science. More than 15 million images captured in two infrared bands earned inventors, Jhabvala, and NASA Goddard colleagues Don Jennings and Compton Tucker an agency Invention of the Year award for 2021. The Compact Thermal Imager captured unusually severe fires in Australia from its perch on the International Space Station in 2019 and 2020. With its high resolution, detected the shape and location of fire fronts and how far they were from settled areas — information critically important to first responders. Credit: NASA Data from the test provided detailed information about wildfires, better understanding of the vertical structure of Earth’s clouds and atmosphere, and captured an updraft caused by wind lifting off Earth’s land features called a gravity wave. The groundbreaking infrared sensors use layers of repeating molecular structures to interact with individual photons, or units of light. The sensors resolve more wavelengths of infrared at a higher resolution: 260 feet (80 meters) per pixel from orbit compared to 1,000 to 3,000 feet (375 to 1,000 meters) possible with current thermal cameras. The success of these heat-measuring cameras has drawn investments from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), Small Business Innovation and Research, and other programs to further customize their reach and applications. Jhabvala and NASA’s Advanced Land Imaging Thermal IR Sensor (ALTIRS) team are developing a six-band version for this year’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral, & Thermal Imager (G-LiHT) airborne project. This first-of-its-kind camera will measure surface heat and enable pollution monitoring and fire observations at high frame rates, he said. NASA Goddard Earth scientist Doug Morton leads an ESTO project developing a Compact Fire Imager for wildfire detection and prediction. “We’re not going to see fewer fires, so we’re trying to understand how fires release energy over their life cycle,” Morton said. “This will help us better understand the new nature of fires in an increasingly flammable world.” CFI will monitor both the hottest fires which release more greenhouse gases and cooler, smoldering coals and ashes which produce more carbon monoxide and airborne particles like smoke and ash. “Those are key ingredients when it comes to safety and understanding the greenhouse gases released by burning,” Morton said. After they test the fire imager on airborne campaigns, Morton’s team envisions outfitting a fleet of 10 small satellites to provide global information about fires with more images per day. Combined with next generation computer models, he said, “this information can help the forest service and other firefighting agencies prevent fires, improve safety for firefighters on the front lines, and protect the life and property of those living in the path of fires.” Probing Clouds on Earth and Beyond Outfitted with polarization filters, the sensor could measure how ice particles in Earth’s upper atmosphere clouds scatter and polarize light, NASA Goddard Earth scientist Dong Wu said. This applications would complement NASA’s PACE — Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem — mission, Wu said, which revealed its first light images earlier this month. Both measure the polarization of light wave’s orientation in relation to the direction of travel from different parts of the infrared spectrum. “The PACE polarimeters monitor visible and shortwave-infrared light,” he explained. “The mission will focus on aerosol and ocean color sciences from daytime observations. At mid- and long-infrared wavelengths, the new Infrared polarimeter would capture cloud and surface properties from both day and night observations.” In another effort, Hewagama is working Jhabvala and Jennings to incorporate linear variable filters which provide even greater detail within the infrared spectrum. The filters reveal atmospheric molecules’ rotation and vibration as well as Earth’s surface composition. That technology could also benefit missions to rocky planets, comets, and asteroids, planetary scientist Carrie Anderson said. She said they could identify ice and volatile compounds emitted in enormous plumes from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. “They are essentially geysers of ice,” she said, “which of course are cold, but emit light within the new infrared sensor’s detection limits. Looking at the plumes against the backdrop of the Sun would allow us to identify their composition and vertical distribution very clearly.” By Karl B. Hille NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated May 22, 2024 Related TermsGoddard TechnologyGoddard Space Flight CenterTechnology Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Goddard Technology Innovations Goddard's Office of the Chief Technologist oversees the center's technology research and development efforts and provides updates on the latest… Goddard’s Internal Research & Development Program (IRAD) Information and links for Goddard's IRAD and CIF technology research and development programs and other NASA tech development sources. Technology Goddard Office of the Chief Technologist Staff page for the Goddard Office of the Chief Technologist with portraits and short bios

[corvodumpy]

Everyone wants a robotgirl until your carbon monoxide sensors keep going off

[deramin2]

Yay Betty the 1954 Stove had been fixed!

Part of the problem is that the oven temperature gages you can buy for home use are apparently garbage and mine was off by 30 degrees. So the actual oven thermometer was only off by 20 degrees.

Ol' Darryll has been in the business just long enough to know that back in the day there used to be adjusters for the thermostats so you could retune them as they aged instead of just replacing them.

Here's mine under the oven knob.

ID: A white porcelain stove edge with a chrome circular dial holder. In the center are three small flathead screws the center one has a thin metal triangular hand pointed up. End ID.

So what you do is loosen the two outer screws (do not remove) and that lets you adjust the center one colder or hotter.

Now this era of mechanical temperature sensors have an accuracy range of about 10 degrees up or down and are really sensitive. So he got it about 12 degrees under the dial temp and said if he adjusted it more it would probably end up too hot. So just nudge the dial a little over the line and it'll be fine. She'll never be as accurate as a modern digital thermometer but I'm also not a baker so it's fine for me. Mostly she's on tater tot duty.

This is such good news because a new temperature sensor is likely to be a hard to find antique part and this stove is before his time so he's not super familiar. Also the model and serial number have worn off for an extra part identifying challenge. (The temperature gauge itself might have a model number on it.)

Anyway, she's back plodding away after 69 years of continuous use. Not gonna get that kind of longevity out of a modern stove. (Just keep three carbon monoxide sensor in operation close by in case something goes wrong so she doesn't kill us all. She's also not as efficient as a modern stove (pilot lights and the oven takes a while to heat up). But she represents where we were as a society before corporate capitalism's enshitification of everything took hold. There's no reason we can't build appliances today that last at least 30 years, let alone 70.

I love her.

ID: Betty, a white and chrome 1952-1954 O'Keefe and Merritt range with 4 burners, a griddle, three crumb catcher trays, a regular oven with a window, a broiler oven with a solid door, a pan drawer, and a service door. She has a tall back with a cover that can be folded up like a half shelf or folded out to cover the burners. The top has a (broken) timer, a baking temperature guide, salt and pepper shakers, a long narrow light, an electrical plug and a sculptural top design. On top of it is a pie bird, a fancy salt shaker, and an herb jar. Over it is a huge white and chrome hood that has a red mechanical timer and magnetic red spice jars stuck to it. There are white subway tiles behind it. With a black accent line. The surrounding cabinets are mint green with butcher block tops. A microwave, antique toaster, copper kettle, cooking utensils jar, and various other useful things are in the counter or in shelves. End ID.

[captainzigo]

As context, i have made a scifi ttrpg campaign that i actively add too, and would like to develop into a story in a different format

on the topic of humans in interstellar and space-fairing environments

Humans have to wear refrigeration suits because the interstellar standard for environmental conditions is uncomfortably hot. there are probably some that just tough it out or don’t leave their room tho. they also wear respirators because the interstellar standard air composition is too rich in toxic gases like carbon monoxide/dioxide, and does not have enough nitrogen. it is also common for humans to supplement their relative lack of senses. their visible spectrum is small, they have only passive senses as opposed to active ones, and their hearing range is laughable.

humans end up looking to the interstellar community like those aliens that are never seen without some particular worn apparatus. like the breen from star trek. especially as the majority of aliens do not casually wear clothing that covers the majority of their body. the typical human is in a puffy suit that hums faintly if you listen. they have masks over their mouths (although many are unobstructive so that they can use their expressive faces) and they are often wearing goggles and/or headphones with various sensors on them. it would not be too silly for a child(ish) or uninformed alien to assume that they just look like that.

obviously there are humans that overcome these various disabilities with cybernetics, but it would be a lot fewer than one might think. redesigning yourself to suit someone else’s comfortable climate is not reasonable.

there are advantages humans have when it comes to surviving and thriving in interstellar communities. for example their biochemistry is relatively fairly rugged. their simple and small DNA is less susceptible to cancers and such, and their particularly aggressive immune system combined with their generally being nutritionally unappetizing makes them better at fending off interstellar diseases. also their ability to adapt to unfamiliar climates and terrains is at least passable. however this does mean that they can often be carriers for innactive diseases. like space rats.

noteworthy when talking about humans in the interstellar community, is that they are generally considered cute. that is a bit of a double edged sword however. elaboration to follow in a future post.

[quartz-components]

The MQ9 Gas Sensor is a member of the MQ Gas Sensors family. It operates as a Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) gas sensor primarily designed to identify Carbon Monoxide, Methane, and Propane. It is capable of detecting concentrations of LPG, Propane, Hydrogen, Carbon Monoxide, and Methane gases. The sensor contains a sensitive element, primarily composed of aluminum-oxide-based ceramic coated with Tin dioxide (SnO2), enclosed within a stainless-steel mesh. When gases come into contact with this element, it causes a change in its electrical resistance. This alteration is then measured to determine the concentration of the gases. The sensor features a small heating element that preheats the sensor to bring it into the operational range.

It is widely used in applications involving the detection of gas leaks in pipelines and alarms for home safety.

[error84]

Have you checked your carbon monoxide sensor lately

😭

[thesaltyace]

lollll

okay so we have a very.... arms-length relationship with the spouse's grandmother

but she texts me fairly frequently and I usually reply back until she's done with the conversation because she's older and at home a lot and probably looking for things do so so she texts me for connection

so, sure, I'm happy to chat when I can

anyway

I strongly suspect she's also a trumper (she watches Fox News 24/7 so it's a safe bet) but she knows we don't agree politically so she won't talk with us about most "political" things, much to our relief

however, today I messaged her to tell her we were enjoying the pecans and dried cranberries she gifted us for Christmas and she abruptly asked if I'd heard about them banning gas stoves

so I was like... I've heard that there are talks of it, but nothing has been even attempted at this point and I don't know what the finer points of such legislation would be.

Then I explained that I was also aware that there is a lot of evidence that using natural gas in your home can expose you to harmful gases. Even if it's not enough to trigger carbon monoxide sensors, it's long term low-level exposure. And that when we lived in a home with a gas stove, the pilot light went out once (thankfully while we were at work instead of, for instance, asleep) so I'm very comfortable sticking with electric now.

she then pulls the "I've lived in a home with natural gas my whole life and it's never caused me any problems" blah blah blah okay sure thanks for that, after I just told her of the risks I'm aware of and my scary personal experience with natural gas, yep, cool, thanks

and she finishes with something about the "zero emissions agenda" which makes my eyes roll so far back in my head I was afraid for a moment I'd lost them entirely

so I ignore that rant of a text message and hit her with "We've actually been considering getting an induction range because it's so much more efficient. Apparently you can boil water in half the time or less, which we think would be great since we make pasta and cook potatoes so often. Plus the stovetop doesn't get hot enough to burn, and it's easier to clean.... we'd be so excited to make the switch!"

Ya know, just express excitement about something she clearly thinks is part of some liberal agenda. Because then she has to choose between looking like a jerk for shitting on something I'm excited about, or just accept that I don't agree with her.

Now, between you and me, there's no way we're getting an induction stove anytime soon. I am genuinely looking at them, sure, because apparently we would be eligible for a $840 rebate under some new legislation, but it would have to be combined with a VERY deep sale for that to work out for us. Like, $840 doesn't cover even half of the cost of an induction range. Since we rent, we can only get the combined cooktop/oven which costs substantially more than if we could get just the cooktop. Blegh. So yeah, not likely to happen anytime soon.

But she doesn't need to know that! As far as she knows, we're looking to buy one any day now!

In any case, she immediately changed the topic to the sewing machine she gave me at the end of last year, so I think that was a successful way to deal with that nonsense. 😂