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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: November 27th, 2023

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  • Not entirely and with absolute certainty, but more than any proprietary software in general. The more eyes on it the better.

    At the end of the day, you have to trust someone and a few black boxes in between as soon as you connect to the internet. So if there’s something I’d really rather not let out into the world, it’s either on an airgapped encrypted system or a piece of paper hidden where my keys get lost.





  • Only good if the laptop has a proper tablet mode for note-taking/drawing with a pen stored inside a chassis slot. I’ve a non-convertible Thinkpad that for whatever reason has a touchscreen and I end up activating it by accident more than on purpose. It also seems that the additional electric fields associated with the touch functionality makes the screen attract far more dust than any non-touch laptop.


  • Have used both and Philips felt much more satisfying. Check-ups at the dentist turned out fine either way though. Problem with Oral-B are the hollow brush stems with a hole in the middle. The gunk I find built up inside when it comes time to replace the head has me paranoid.

    The cheapest “One by Sonicare” model felt too weak IMO but also unless you need the fancy health tracking features, there’s not too much to be gained going beyond the 4100. Brush head replacement prices aren’t too bad online.

    If you do go for Oral-B, be wary of aftermarket brush heads since there are moving parts inside and the mechanism in the cheap ones will break within a month, so the brushes stop actually spinning.

    Either way, go with the rechargeable models. On the AA/AAA-powered ones, the drop in brushing power isn’t too noticeable day-to-day. But the moment you replace the batteries, you realize how much you’ve missed out while the motor was gradually starved of voltage.



  • Several times in my own electronics and many times in secondhand items. The potassium hydroxide electrolyte never quite evaporates and seeps under the crevices, requiring a full disassembly to prevent further corrosion.

    Worst offenders are the pesky little alkaline button cells. Every alkaline cell inevitably evolves hydrogen gas as the electrochemical reaction proceeds and in those tiny canisters, the gas very quickly has nowhere to go but out along with the cell’s guts. The secret is to get the silver oxide versions, same voltage, a bit pricier, but far less leakage.

    I guess the silver lining to the declining popularity of AA and AAA powered devices is that I can finally afford to use only Ni-MH or primary lithium cells in all of my devices. Those chemistries are mostly immune to leaking.