If "The vibrations can be heard in the entire home" then it's still wrong. It maybe the wrong type somehow, but I'm thinking it's probably way oversized and so working too hard to push way too much water through the pipes. If the run is really 300ft (you must live in a huge house...) then maybe the pipe itself is undersized or so poorly insulated they need to keep the flow unreasonably high. in any case, sorry for your situation but it ain't right.

Standard controls for domestic recirc is a timer and return temp thermostat. Pump only runs during set times and only if the water in the return pipe near the water heater is below a set temp. so it'd be cycling on and off throughout the day.

If your house is really that large then I'd have recommended what I usually do for light commercial buildings and retrofits; a demand recirc system. This is really close to what you describe with the motion control sensors etc. in that the recirc only runs when there is anticipation of hot water demand, but typically there is a tiny pump near each point of use which uses the cold water supply as the recirc return until it senses the water is getting warm. This also eliminates the need for a third recirc line, which is great for retrofits. If at some point in the future you decide to try something again, it's a strategy worth considering.
=Smidge=

If your pump is loud, you need a new one. One that is properly sized. It should be somewhere between "are you sure it's even working?" quiet to barely audible if you're in the same room with no other source of noise.

Should probably also only be like 100 watts or so at most.
=Smidge=

Because the original only ever existed as a video game, the proportion of the parts are not compatible with off-the-shelf parts.

So the choice is make his own components to the proper proportions and get something faithful to the game version, or completely redesign the table layout to make standard parts work.

He got a resin printer for making smooth parts where required. What he really needs, from what I've seen in the video, are more powerful solenoids.
=Smidge=

> you're really splitting hairs, that's not what is meant. a serial port is very much the physical rs232 "connector" or an emulation of it.

Key word "or an emulation of it." From the software point of view, all it's doing is sending and receiving bits at some baud rate. The physical hardware interface no longer matters. That's kind of the whole point of these things. Beyond the hardware interface, modern keyboard and mouse speak exactly the same protocol as they have since the PS/2 days. In fact USB keyboards usually still have PS/2 port hardware in them, which is why you can use those USB-PS/2 adapters (which are entirely passive).

They don't "identify as" serial devices. The are serial devices. Always have been. It's not unthinkable that a poorly made device could be vulnerable to a firmware hack and not unthinkable that giving javascript access to serial ports could be a vector for such an attack. Not even hard to imagine a fancy keyboard with programmable RGB lights or OLED displays (that definitely have microcontrollers capable of executing arbitrary code) getting exploited.

> of course, which is why the browser asks the user for permission to acces all these devices!

That's a strange way to admit you don't know how security vulnerabilities work. "There's no way someone could get in uninvited; there's a lock on the door!"

> they can already do that.

Maybe? But adding a system where javascript can directly and explicitly interact with serial ports is definitely not going to make doing it any harder, is it?
=Smidge=

> this api is about ports that everyday hardware (like e.g. mice and keyboards) hasn't used for decades,

If by "decades" you mean to this very day. A serial port is not the physical connector. Your keyboard is almost certainly USB (no points for guessing what the "S" in "USB" stands for). It presents as a serial device at the hardware and OS level, like all USB devices do. If your OS puts it into a special category and doesn't explicitly label it as a serial device, that still doesn't mean it's not a serial device.

Now, whether or not any particular mouse or keyboard actually has a vulnerability where they have firmware available to be overwritten is an entirely different subject... but it's not unthinkable some devices may be exploited in such a way.

I can definitely see some shenanigans where a malicious website uses this as a vector to keylog. That's *already* well within the realm of plausible exploits, even without the WebSerial API. This is just another surface to attack.
=Smidge=

Nothing.

There is a 30 year old law that prohibits releasing audio from aircraft black boxes. They accidentally "released" the audio by publishing a spectrograph, which is effectively a violation of the law.

So now they're going through all their stuff making sure they aren't accidentally releasing data they are legally prohibited from releasing.

No conspiracy needed.
=Smidge=

> Remember this part? "Privacy? ...

I do. In fact I even quoted it in my message, which you clearly didn't read.

"They can already track you, so we might as well make it easier for them" is not the persuasive argument you think it is. Just so you know, historically, you can lick that boot until you can see your own reflection in it and it's still gonna stomp on you. Literally any resistance is better than the rolling over you are clearly so eager to do.
=Smidge=

That's strange. When I hear "Trump Mobile" I think of something completely different.

=Smidge=

My first thought was, "So three CEOs got $10B each and everyone else gets a $5 gift card and some pizza."

Of course, the bonuses are in the form of stocks that only a third of which can be sold right away, so they're not actually paying the workers a bonus just the promise of a bonus with the caveat that the bonus value is tied to the ephemeral value of the company months or years from now and not on the actual labor that was already performed or value already created.
=Smidge=

I don't know if you noticed, but you're just as likely to BE kidnapped through the use of these systems than be saved from a kidnapping. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people give power to fascists under the guise of law enforcement. There can't possibly be a better tool for a fascist regime to quash dissent than the ability to identify and track individuals nationwide. Hope you never turn out for a protest, or even be in the wrong place at the wrong time to but Uncle Sam reason to think it's worth getting rid of you.

> Without the tech, cops will be driving around all day hoping to spot him walking his dog.

And with the tech they'll at best arrest the wrong person, with the very real risk that they'll murder them or a bystander in the process because, y'know, American cops are prone to shooting first and asking questions later.

https://www.businessinsider.co...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cou...

https://coloradosun.com/2025/1...

https://www.dailyjournal.com/a...

https://www.americanpartisan.o...

And that's before we consider that cops may (and absolutely will) intentionally abuse the system to stalk people.

https://www.theguardian.com/co...

> Privacy? We all handed that over on a silver plate wearing butler gloves when we signed the service contract for your internet and your cell phone

Yes, but you can still leave your cell phone at home. Really hard to leave your FACE at home (And if you think the cameras can or will only ever read license plates you're delusional). So if you recognize the problem, why are you so gung ho about making it orders of magnitude worse?

=Smidge=

Yes but the altar is a barbecue and you can substitute lamb for pig or cow or chicken or anything else as is your preference.

=Smidge=

> I'll choose Christianity if I'm forced to pick a religion.

Why not Satanism? Church of Satan if you're a selfish asshole, The Satanic Temple if not. Neither are theistic or even supernatural, and both allow you to eat what you want AND masturbate yourself raw if that's what you're into.

=Smidge=

> If I want to broker my house through MRED exclusively, and also advertise on Zillow, how is that a problem?

"If I want to sell my shit on Amazon, and also want it to show up on eBay seareches, how is that a problem?"

It's a problem because Zillow doesn't want to give their business to their competitor. YOU, the seller, do not factor into it. Get fucked. This is why I said you're conflating "private." It's not about you. Nobody gives a shit about you, capitalist at the door should've told you. *shrug*

> Neither Amazon nor eBay list products sold by the other site, at all.

Correct. You get it but somehow you don't get it.

> A better analogy would be a Google Products listing that points to Amazon products.

Incorrect. For that to make sense, Google would also need to be directly involved in selling products in the same way Amazon does. Google has practically no products that are sold to the general public on the open market, much less shit like furniture and toiletries. Google's main business model is being a tool to find things, and they sell their user's eyeballs (and browsing data) to other businesses. Google's and Amazon's business model are synergistic. Zillow's and MRED/Compass' business models are competitive.

Maybe you don't understand what Zillow is or does? Do you think it's just Google for houses? It's not; it's closer to eBay for houses. Might help you to understand Zillow's business model before wondering why it's not in their interest to include MRED/Compass' *private listings* in their results.
=Smidge=

> If I want to sell my house, why shouldn't I be able to sell it and advertise it how I want to?

You can. Nobody is saying you can't. That's not the problem.

  > Why *shouldn't* I be able to access Zillow's advertising service and sell my house privately?

I think you're conflating the word "private" here. This isn't about you listing your home as a "privately" as a private individual, it' about MRED maintaining "private" (e.g. exclusive) access to that listing. MRED and Compass are monopolizing the rights to broker your property's sale but still want Zillow to do the advertising for them.

  > Selling and advertising are two different things, there is no ethical reason to tie them together.

Correct, but Amazon should not expect eBay to show Amazon store page results when you search for things on eBay. Amazon maintains a walled garden of sellers and you must go through Amazon as an intermediary to buy and sell anything there. You want to list your stuff for sale on Amazon but still want eBay users to see it... why should eBay accommodate that bullshit?

MRED wants access to Zillow's users while simultaneously cutting independent brokers out of the business, and Zillow justifiably has a problem with that.
=Smidge=

> How can it be abused? I don't get it.

Really? You can't imagine a single way that a corporation or the government could abuse the ability to identify, track, and instantly locate any person at any time for any reason? Nothing at all, huh?

> yet I never heard of one case of a street camera being used to hurt someone let alone end lives

https://www.businessinsider.co...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cou...

https://coloradosun.com/2025/1...

https://www.dailyjournal.com/a...

https://www.americanpartisan.o...

Those examples took basically no effort to find; now imagine if they want to target someone ON PURPOSE, like a civil rights leader, or to harass/round up people who participated in a protest.

Or just be a creep and stalk their ex or random women;

https://www.theguardian.com/co...

Oh, also the system is hilariously insecure, so it's not just cops, corps, and spooks who can use it.

https://stateofsurveillance.or...

=Smidge=