Top products from r/Austin

> My point is that I asked for the things preventing BPL from being hacked and spoofed.

I'm not really sure why you even asked for that. You claimed that the meter was probably using the cell phone network, and I pointed out that it was probably using BPL and provided some evidence. I wasn't talking about BPL being more or less secure than the cell phone network, simply saying that it probably wasn't using the cell phone network. (So grabbing the sim and abusing it for free Internet isn't going to happen either.)

(Side note: If you want to use a sim card for free access, get a Kindle 3g and pull it's sim card and modem -- that seems a much more likely method.)

All that said, while I don't know anything about the CoA system specifically, BPL is usually protected by encryption just like everything else (including the cell phone network.) As for how strong this encryption is, that depends on the specific implementation -- but it's unlikely that one person not unusually skilled in the art is going to crack it on their own.

(Now, if it's been cracked somewhere else and the crack published, that might be usable, but simply getting access to the BPL signal might be difficult.)

If the CoA was serious about letting people get access to this data, they'd create an Internet portal and provide access. So far they aren't.

Really, if somebody wants to track their own electric usage, they have a number of alternatives. The best alternatives include a sensor you put around the wires going into the house and they can measure the magnetic field generated by it and determine how much energy your house is using, and then the device sits on your network and you can poll it with whatever software you want, and usually they come with some to start with. This is going to give you a whole lot better data (with data measured every second or minute) than the CoA who may not even bother to poll their consumer electric meters more than once a month.

As for how to do it yourself, on the very low end (with few features) you can get something like this -- http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4400-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU -- to measure one item. To measure your entire house with a lot more features, something like this -- http://www.powermeterstore.com/p7774/ted_5000.php

Yes it's entirely possible! I think that's also what /u/jbjjbjbb was saying. I agree the perspective with the Driskill is strange. Perhaps it could be an artifact of the camera technology of the time? I can't answer for sure. Thanks kindly for the high praise! If you are interested in that time period in Austin and haven't ever heard of it, I highly recommend the book Guy Town by Gaslight by Richard Zelade. It's available down at the big new library, too!

Upvote. Thanks for the link. Rob Walsh is one of the best food writers Texas has ever produced. Used to write for the Chron way back in the day, then was food editor for the Houston Chron later on. Always a great read.

His book on the history of Tex-Mex food should be required reading. He also is part owner of one of the best Tex-Mex restaurants in the state.

He's got a great blog, too. Covers many aspects of Texas food and food happenings in Texas. Goes way beyond Tex-Mex.

Honestly, I am weary to post this in that many of you may say this in inhumane, but I think it is an immediate solution.

My family has 4 chihuahas who act very much like the dogs you've described(one barks, they all bark). We bought one of these bark boxes that emits a high pitch sound inaudible to humans when it senses the dogs bark. This sound distracts the dog so that they stop barking. We only had to actually turn it on a handful of times before they got the message that it wasn't cool to bark when it was night time. It was incredibly effective, much to my surprise. I would think if you set one of these on your side of the fence and turned it on for a few nights at 10PM, the dogs would learn not to bark, at which point you could just return the box and sleep in peace.

https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Outdoor-Ultrasonic-Bark-Deterrent/dp/B000UZNLGA

They probably also sell these at pet stores.

started seeing some results with boric acid - the little ones are starting to die off. i was skeptical at first but it seems to be taking foot. i'm gonna pick up a can of this stuff after work as well https://www.amazon.com/BENGAL-CHEMICAL-Roach-Spray-92464/dp/B0015I3ESG this has some of the best reviews i've seen on a roach killer so i've got high hopes.

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good luck fellow roach fighter!

I searched for a while then ended up getting this and never looked again. They're so easy to make at home and you can tweak the recipe to match it just the way you want it.

One of my favorite things to do is to make the dough a little more crepe like, pour a half portion into the iron, then flip the iron really fast instead of waiting the normal 30 seconds or so. Cook for the same amount of time and carefully pull the thing out. The dough goes through all the troughs, but doesn fill out the entire volume. The result is a cubed grid-like pattern thing (looks like a belgian waffle skeleton). This makes the most amazing, crispy breakfast crepe funnel-cake.

Aaron Franklin's book has excellent instructions and descriptions of the entire process. Helped me produce some really good ones recently as a smoking noob. Keep at it and you'll get better and better!

I'd suggest Josh Long's Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas. It's not a hard read but fairly informative.

Also Jason Mellard's Progressive Country: How the 1970s Transformed the Texan in Popular Culture will be of great use to you.

Finally, check out The End of Austin for both contemporary and historic shorter pieces about Austin's "weird" identity. Provocative name but the actual content of the site is much more concerned with exploring Austin's changing identity, not presupposing that it's over.

That's pretty cool.

I've had one for years, and love it. I have analyzed all my electronic equipment and evaluated costs of keeping things powered. Needless to say, I turn almost everything off now, and even got rid of things like alarm clocks.

For anyone wanting to purchase, they're usually $20 or less, and worth every cent!

http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414784458&sr=8-1&keywords=kill+a+watt

Can there be just one single day where I don't have to read ignorant white fuckery? Since you obviously don't read books or know how Austin works, I'll tell you.

Nobody let their neighborhood "go to shit". Blacks literally were not allowed to buy housing except for redlined areas. White housing was subsidized via the GI Bill (which Blacks were not eligible for), and low/zero down payment FHA loans. Neither the FHA or VA would back loans for blacks in general or in any redlined area. (Almost the entire Crestview/Rosedale/Allandale neighborhoods were built for returning GI's, which essentially built the white middle class.) Blacks could only buy in areas where private lenders made loans at higher interest rates and bigger down payments which caused defaults and created a renter class, especially since many cities had more black residents than available redline zoned property.

Whites would buy property in the redlined areas and let the properties go to shit. Blacks couldn't bring suit against whites and white attorneys wouldn't represent blacks in court so there was no recourse. Then cities used zoning laws to zone all of the failure in black neighborhoods, e.g. liquor stores, the goddamn east side landfill, etc. This was literally the law and happened in virtually every city in the country.

Flash forward until today. Some blacks were able to own their homes and get decent terms starting in the 70's. Now some of these people have paid off their mortgages but now have to compete with millennials with Mommy and Daddy's money they got from their subsidized housing that has now appreciated. Then they have to deal with racist white attitudes like "don't let your neighborhood go to shit" and entitled whites acting like they are doing everyone a favor by forcing longtime residents out. Sometimes people don't want to cash out, they want to keep the asset to pass to their heirs like whites were able to.

Here, read this book. Parking costs $$$ to provide the ~325 sq ft of space (~550 sq ft when including the driving space), especially opportunity costs (i.e. residences, businesses, etc that would actually be productive places). Mandating its inclusion and having it be of no cost to the user does soooo much to promote a cycle of automobile dependency, to the point where expecting free parking in a large city creates the very problem it was meant to solve.

Guy Town by Gaslight: A History of Vice in Austin's First Ward by Richard Zelade came out earlier this year and looks like a great read.

you can order it on Amazon, though it is expensive and you have to get 6-5lb blocks at once. FYI, 5lbs of easy melt makes a ton of queso, just enough for one sitting! :-)

Amazon

From Alamo's website:

> TOGARASHI POPCORN
Fresh, hot buttered corn with a kick of Japanese spice. Vegetarian.

“Being a movie theater, I really wanted to blend some great Japanese flavors with our most popular snack. I landed on togarashi — a blend of red chili and other spices and common Japanese condiment — as the flavor driver for our ISLE OF DOGS popcorn special. Not only does the popcorn itself get tossed in this flavorful seasoning, but we infuse the butter as well.”

"...considering how old it is"? You don't need to go back all that far to find a time when restrictive covenents were still stipulated and enforced. If you'd like a pretty in-depth treatment of the subject, check out the book, The Color of Law.

For a concrete example:

One study written about in this amazing book found evidence that the minimum parking requirements in one area of LA increased the cost of housing by 26%

I'm pretty sure it comes in different grades. There is food grade DE that you can buy.

http://www.amazon.com/Diatomaceous-Earth-Food-Grade-10/dp/B00025H2PY

I had directv previously. went up to the roof, took the dish off. put this guy (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0024R4B5C) on the mast and reused the wiring directv conveniently dropped throughout my house. works perfectly, get all the channels on all the tvs without an amplifier. I live in cedar park.

Parking is expensive. This book is a great read on that: http://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Free-Parking-Updated/dp/193236496X

Posted this the other day. I swear by it.

It's off-brand Zyrtec and it's fucking amazing.

It's available on Amazon, but with an added $40 for shipping:

https://www.amazon.com/Land-Lakes-American-Yellow-Process/dp/B00B04ADCU/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1468723745&sr=8-2&keywords=Land+O+Lakes+American+Extra+Melt

We may just have to do that and split the costs. ha

Just the kindle edition & I'll even save you the multiple link clicks too.

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https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Barbecue-Meat-Smoking-Manifesto-Aaron/dp/1607747200/

Get yourself a belgian waffle maker and do it yourself. Just using one of those and straight-up HEB Pancake/Waffle mix I've made some dynamite waffles, fresh as can be. One of these and you're all set: https://www.amazon.com/Presto-FlipSide-Belgian-Waffle-7-inch/dp/B000TYBWIG

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Link: Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas

• UK: amazon.co.uk
  
• Spain: amazon.es
  
• France: amazon.fr
  
• Germany: amazon.de
  
• Japan: amazon.co.jp
  
• Canada: amazon.ca
  
• Italy: amazon.it
  
• China: amazon.cn
  
  
  This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).

This is what you are looking for . It's a good read for the history and the recipes are spot on.

Huh. Never knew they were called that. Interesting. Here is a link for anyone else interested.

I cover my yard in Mosquito Bits. Seems to help.

Those in combination with this spray will clear out that infestation, at least in your unit.

Buy an outdoor antenna. We use this and get like 25 channels:

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-Compact-Outdoor-Yagi-Antenna/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462466424&sr=8-1&keywords=rca+outdoor+antenna

Like /u/nuovo_donna mentions, there's not a lot a doctor can do for allergies aside from immunotherapy, aka "allergy shots". Nasacort + Zyrtec is actually quite effective, and fairly inexpensive. HEB has cheap generic Zyrtec (Cetirizine HCL), although you can find it even cheaper on amazon. There is no generic for Nasacort yet. The effectiveness of these drugs is significantly higher if you start them before you react to the pollen. Some doctors will prescribe a short dose of prednisone or a cortisone shot if you are having a serious reaction (to the point your reduced lung function is causing reduced blood oxygen or significantly low spirometry numbers), but those treatments are not something you can or should do every allergy season.

I started shots last year, in terms of cost, here's what was billed to my insurance between the first visit and reaching maintenance dose:

• Initial visit with allergist: $165
  
  
• Skin testing: $450 (pinprick tests on back) + $264 (additional intradermal tests on upper arms)
  
  
• Followup visit to discuss skin test results / treatment plan with allergist: $120
  
  
• Serum formulation (6 5cc vials for buildup + 2 10cc maintenance dose vials, IIRC), lung function tests, and initial cluster injection visit: $1775
  
  
• Followup visit after completing 1:2000 and 1:200 dilution , before starting 1:20 dilution: $120
  
  
• 28 injection visits @ $40/ea: $1120
  
  Total: $4014 -- Note these are the billed costs as reported by my insurance company's website, not the insurance plan discount costs, and I honestly have no idea how providers handle self-pay patients. I did not select my provider based on cost, but rather insurance acceptance and proximity to my workplace (so I could get shots at lunch) -- so you may be able to find lower costs if you shop around.
  
  I am allergic to a boatload of stuff, so I get two shots per visit, one in each arm, due to the sheer number of things I am allergic to. So that means $40 per injection visit instead of $30, and twice the quantity of serum vials.
  
  My insurance covered this except for the $50 copay on each of the 3 doctors visits.
  

Amazon sells bags.
http://www.amazon.com/T-Shirt-Carryout-Bags--Thank-Gracias/dp/B0025W9ALG

For the interested, the G1W is a good entry level, affordable dashcam. I've had mine for a couple of months and have no complaints.

I got this one. It's a great, relatively cheap entry level dash cam.

No complaints yet and I've had it for a year. But judging from the reviews your mileage may vary.

https://www.amazon.com/House-Shichimi-Togarashi-Japanese-Pepper/dp/B0002YGSJQ

This will last you forever.

I put it in one of those smaller Simply Orange juice bottles. I drilled some holes in the cap so you can just squeeze it a bit and it shoots out.

Here ya go :)

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Box-Original-Dashboard-Dash/dp/B00FONBG1A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459362045&sr=8-1&keywords=G1w

I see this one recommended the most here on Reddit.

Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade 10 Lb https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00025H2PY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_3uhozb22H9WSE

Here is the mobile version of your link

For anything related to Tex-Mex, get your hands on some GOYA Adobo seasoning. I learned very early on that we used Adobo (and this brand, specifically), in just about every recipe.

Box O' Freedom for Austinites.

Depending on how far away the dogs are from your property, you could try one of those ultrasonic anti-barking devices: http://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Outdoor-Ultrasonic-Bark-Deterrent/dp/B000UZNLGA

When you get back to the land down under, you can also order this [book] (http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Barbecue-Meat-Smoking-Manifesto-Aaron/dp/1607747200/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427109580&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Franklyn+BBQ) that's coming out soon.

I'm in the same area too, I have this antenna. I tried adding an amplifier I had from another antenna but that still didn't work. I have the antenna in the attic, pointed south, southwest.

You are undoubtedly and unpopularly correct.

https://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Free-Parking-Updated/dp/193236496X

https://www.amazon.com/Land-Lakes-American-Yellow-Process/dp/B00B04ADCU

Although I'm not sure it ever expires, 5 lb is a whole lotta cheese!

Despite the attractive price, don't get this one.

It was my first dash cam, and it worked fine for a while. I'm not sure when it stopped working, but once I crashed and went to recover the video, I found it had been skipping video recording at random intervals. One of those times it decided not to record was when I got into a crash.

Might be this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FONBG1A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

I got one a few weeks ago after a very close call with a very angry and irrational driver.

I had a roach problem recently, would see at least two a night scurry across the floor. Did some googling and folks swear by Advion roach gel. So I bought some on Amazon:

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https://www.amazon.com/advion-Plungers-Cockroach-Insecticide-Australian/dp/B00730QW70/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia?gclid=Cj0KCQjwl8XtBRDAARIsAKfwtxDGxAtO9eq368oI_q84pMgjc5BZ3o6DSTDux1jFDtMxi-54_QgT1AMaAiNUEALw_wcB&hvadid=174250762539&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9028279&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13904204731268889902&hvtargid=kwd-10507852639&hydadcr=15252_9600101&keywords=advion+roach+gel&pd_rd_i=B00730QW70&pd_rd_r=3a9ad86b-356c-457d-bc36-099e482dc7b0&pd_rd_w=h7mjO&pd_rd_wg=lvOjp&pf_rd_p=a5491838-6a74-484e-8787-eb44c8f3b7ff&pf_rd_r=3FERGZYCA6RTYT0VXVN1&psc=1&qid=1571927326

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Just put a tiny dollop on the baseboard or in a crack around the walls all around the house. It solved my roach problem within a day. I have seen maybe two since, and they are always spazzing out on their way to death, poisoned by the bait. Very satisfied with this stuff.

Buy mosquito dunks/pellets.

https://smile.amazon.com/Summit-Responsible-Solutions-Mosquito-Bits/dp/B0001AUF8G

Place in sitting water around house (including gutters that hold sitting water).

Kill those fuckers.

you want diatomaceous earth rather than poisons - the poisons won't work very well in my experience. Just leave the DE on the ground, under couches, etc, for a few weeks (long enough for all of the eggs that have been laid to hatch) and no more fleas.

A great way to kill pests is Diatomaceous Earth is basically bug-sized shards of glass. ( Microscopic view ) Some home builders sprinkle the stuff inside walls and under floorboards to help prevent bug problems.

Safe for humans and pets, can be eaten (some people use it as a diet aid), but when roaches, ants, and other shell-based insects crawl on it, they die. Here's one of many videos show how the stuff gets inside their shells, killing them without risk to you.