January Chat Thread: The year is dead, long live the year

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > January Chat Thread: The year is dead, long live the year

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Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Spent NYE with a bunch of other nerds (in a good way), now at home sipping a bit of Jim Beam, and reading a stupid forum.
Happy New Year, guys.

ilkhan posted:

When the roads are quiet and I need to do a U-turn (sometimes just because I *want* to do a U-turn), I do it with traction control turned off and generous application of throttle.

I have to make a u-turn near my neighborhood coming home from work. When traffic is clear, there may or may not be a Crown Vic sideways near there.

IOwnCalculus posted:

So the wife got me GTAV for Christmas, since I never played it on 360. Rockstar really did a hell of a job on that game. There have been a few times where I get an uncanny valley / deja vu feeling from locations in the game because they nailed the look and feel of SoCal so well.

No poo poo, right? I only spent a couple of weeks around LA last year, but I recognize places I went, and other places from various movies and such.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2017 09:11

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 08:23

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Sears' slow slide into oblivion is painful to me. I used to buy all my tools there. Several appliances, too.
Started off the year right. Saturday, I straightened and welded back together a patio canopy for my mother in law. It was unanchored because she had the fence replaced, and then a few weeks ago, a storm came through and blew it over. Broke a few welds, and bent brackets, but didn't bend any tubing. Harbor Fright flux core welder did well welding the 1/8" brackets back to the super thin tubing. It stayed together while bolting it all up and muscling it back into place.
Then went to a NYE party with the science fiction group I belong to. Didn't get wasted, and enjoyed nerdy discussion. Then came home and played video games until 4am. New Year's Day, I went back to the mother in law's, and fixed her keyboard drawer- I bought her an IBM Model M clicky keyboard (actually, a new one made by Unicom, who bought the design, so it's USB and has the Windows keys), and it was too tall to fit. Spaced it down with some shims, and it's all good. Then went home and played through the entire single player campaign of Titanfall 2.
So, for New Years: fixing things, and video games. Works for me.

Today I guess I'll take down the Christmas lights and stuff.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2017 20:42

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

funny Star Wars parody posted:

Innovate and disrupt are two of the stupidest words that are thrown around

Borders and RadioShack didn't fail because they weren't innovative, they failed because they absolutely refused to shift their strategy (or pivot, another dumb buzzword) to something that met their customers demands

I agree with this. I don't want innovation. I want the poo poo I want to buy available where, when , and how I want to buy it. I will buy stuff in-store if it's a) what I want, b) at the same price as I could buy online. Most of the brick-and-mortar stores that fail are failing at one or both of those things.
Innovation is fine if it actually brings something useful to the table. Innovation for innovation's sake (I'm looking at you IoT) can just gently caress right off. And get off my lawn.

CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:

I dont think Radioshack was a lack of innovation - it died the same way Dick Smith died. it tried to move into more of a whitegoods market and phones, while ignoring the traditional hard to find bits n pieces electronics that were the real backbone of foot traffic.

For example, Dick Smith would have that weird rear end power convertor or odd cable in the corner that you might need once every five years and had TV's and poo poo in another corner. And if you had a 50 year old coax with oddball connection to connect a modern TV, well no problem, Dick Smith and Radioshack had it. So why not buy the TV from there?

It worked for a long time. I know many others like myself I would persist going into Dick Smith even with online options or cheaper places, simply because Dick Smith would be the first port of call for anything I needed. Sure, they had whitegoods but that was more of a nice addition to the weird rear end rows of oddball crap that was just plain useful. When Dick Smith stopped with the weird rear end poo poo and went pure appliances and music, they got their lunch eaten by JB-HiFi. Why on earth would you want to go to Dick Smith without the weird rear end poo poo when JB was cheaper and also had a bigger appliance / music / camera range?

Dick Smith and Radioshack could have expanded to the Internet with the weird rear end poo poo but the real problem was removing the original reason to go to their bricks and mortar stores in the first place. These days it's JB for the wide appliance range, Jaycar for the weird rear end things.

This, exactly this. I went to Radio Shack for cables and components, and Realistic speakers. That's what RS did. Every retailer had TVs and stereos and cell phones, and most did it better. If you have a niche, use it. If you want to expand, don't do it by almost completely abandoning the niche. Tandy has never been the smartest corporation.

funny Star Wars parody posted:

this makes me wonder what the gently caress was going on at my old 600sqft flat because my heat and electric bills are virtually the same if not cheaper and my current house is 2100sqft

Probably old, inefficient HVAC and poor insulation.

e:f,b

CommieGIR posted:

Well, Congress just gutted the Congressional Ethics Board.

Congress had ethics?

e:f,b, again.

Darchangel fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Jan 3, 2017

# ¿ Jan 3, 2017 17:34

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Cop Porn Popper posted:

I had the opposite problem in my local office depot. Went in, asked where their usb cables and adapters were. Kid asked what I was hooking up, I told him a usb keyboard I needed to connect to a ps2 port. (Was diagnosing an issue with a computer that didn't want to play nice with my usb keyboard during startup).

"Sorry, we don't have any adapters for playstation stuff, you need to go to gamestop for that."
"No, its a connector type for keyboards and mice that predated usb connections."
"Never heard of it before man, sorry. We aren't going to have anything like that."
"Just loving tell me where your usb stuff is already."

They had adaptors, just not the way I needed. On the way out, the manager had heard me getting pissed off with the kid and asked if I need help finding anything. Nah man, just loving train your people on basic connectors.

About a year ago, I confused 4 salesmen at the same store by asking for a 6' usb to micro usb cable. I made the mistake of saying I was using it to charge a phone. Cue 10 minutes of them trying to show me phone chargers and telling me that no phone uses a micro usb connection.

I love it when little shits argue with me about what does and doesn't exist.
As it happens, I run Macs on an older PS2-based KVM, so I've got several of the adapters you needed, but I bough them all off of eBay. I like that you plug both the KB and M into them and just use one USB port. I'm mildly surprised that Office Depot didn't have at least the Belkin one.

edit: to be fair, I'm sure that they get to deal with Luddite idiots who read something on the internet all the time.

BraveUlysses posted:

No, it's standard for almost all fire sprinkler systems to only apply water where the heat has become hot enough to pop the closest sprinkler heads. The idea that all the heads go off is a bad movie trope.

Unless you pull the little fire alarm handle.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2017 17:44

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

BraveUlysses posted:

That won't pop the heads either.

The only time all the heads will flow is with a deluge system, which you might find in a commercial building with lots of combustable materials.

Almost no residential systems have enough pressure or flow capacity to maintain more than a few open heads.

It would completely defeat the purpose of a fire sprinkler system to apply water everywhere when you need it to be contained to where the fire is active.

Thanks. I've learned something today.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2017 20:06

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

keykey posted:

The purchaser has just been named today too, Stanley Black & Decker. There goes my harbor freight craftsman dream company..

Edit: hopefully they'll change their name to Stanley Black & Decker & Craftsman.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/sears-sells-craftsman-brand-to-stanley-black-decker-1483623215?client=ms-android-att-us

Hope I can still get the broken poo poo I have replaced (just a couple of screwdrivers.)

cursedshitbox posted:

hey you could have gone to UTI and promised a 75k/yr job, only to graduate making $10 an hour with the same student debt lolllllllll.

To help make America great again, 'm sure that Oberfuhrer Trump will abolish H1-b visas so that Americans can get tech jobs at a living wage rather than.... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can't finish!

# ¿ Jan 6, 2017 00:59

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Metal Geir Skogul posted:

My pay was locked at 9.60/hr since 2006, now it's locked at 10.75/hr until SEP 2017.

Thanks, Arizona!

Christ! Nothing like paying the people who MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE peanuts...

cursedshitbox posted:

I'm back in college for a degree in robotics engineering, cause I want to build loving cylons...or toasters.

That actually sounds interesting. That may be something that my IT experience can have some bearing on. I need to do the mechanical/electrical side, though. I discovered when I was a EE major that I no longer liked programming.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2017 20:01

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Y'all, it's snowing right now here in Dallas.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2017 20:10

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Oh, hey, some rear end in a top hat just shot up Fort Lauderdale airport. Way to go Florida Man.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2017 20:24

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Powershift posted:

New roadkill and it is amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFdpJKpxGNQ

They're going to have a little Honda and a first-gen RX-7 in the next one (current one if you have MT on demand)!

# ¿ Jan 7, 2017 00:38

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

meltie posted:

I like cars

You keep that off-topic poo poo out of here.

CommieGIR posted:

I love that Capitalism is supposed to be great but gutting the low/middle income completely ignores who largely makes up the purchasing power of a consumer oriented country.

Capitalism is great. When its regulated. But ilkhan still thinks that there is some magic ladder to climb out of poverty because of his anecdotal experience.

I've commented to friends and family similarly: who the hell do all these goods and services providers think they are going to be selling to when they keep lower wages, laying off folks, and sending the jobs overseas? Your declining profits aren't because you're not making it cheap enough - you've left no one enough money to buy your poo poo.

CommieGIR posted:

You know how I feel about STEM.

That's brilliant. I mean truly shiny.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2017 09:37

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Massive muti-reply, incoming! :siren:

(STR's not the only one who can do it!)

Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:

At least in TX, EMS is usually part of the city fire department if the city is large enough to have a paid fire department, and the ambulances are parked at the fire station in one of the bays. The firefighters are almost always cross trained to at least an EMT Basic level, and calling for an ambulance often gets a fire truck too.

Rural areas will sometimes have a county-run EMS service, others may contract with the nearest city or a private company.

The city I'm in requires all firefighters be at least EMT Basic certified, and has almost all ALS ambulances (if not all of them).

I always thought most cities had EMS under the FD. Guess not?

Dallas runs EMS under the FD as well, though they'll station ambulances around the city during the afternoon and evening. They have contracts with private companies for overflow, which was a big deal last year in the news when that cost came to light (it would be a lot cheaper long term to buy more ambulances and hire more EMTs).

So I guess all the LifeStar and other private ambulance companies are just doing hospital/non-emergency transport? Because I see plenty of them abound the area.

Pham Nuwen posted:

I would like to clean my 'new' transmission a little bit before I install it. What's the best way to get old nasty grease off without making a huge mess / killing all my grass / etc? Purple Power and a rise? If I work on a concrete slab, will it stain the fucker?

Purple Power is amazing, but be aware that it will darken aluminum and strip paint, if you care. The dissolved grease may or may not stain your concrete - it depends on porosity and the whims of Finagle. Get a cheap under-car drip pan to scrub it on.
If you have a power washer, use that. They make things so much easier, even a cheap one.

Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:

Yes, it will stain the slab.

Lay down several layers of cardboard and go to town with some brake cleaner? Or throw it in the back of someone's truck and take it to a self service car wash and hit it with degreaser, use the rinse there. Take it out of the truck first if they value their paint. Or do what I did and just toss it in the trunk with some rags, take it out to wash it, wipe it off as best you can and chunk it back into the trunk to take it home.

Goes without saying, but make sure the tailshaft opening is covered somehow.

I've done the carwash thing, too, before I had a power washer. I really need to find the low-pressure attachment for it so I can use the soap/additive tank (Task Force found free in someones trash. It's amazing what folks throw away. Same guy chucked a Dremel disk/belt sander, and an '80s Roland electric piano [with floppy drive!] that needed a little repair but works great!)

Simple Green works well, too, though not as well as the purple stuff, but it doesn't strip paint, skin, etc., so safer to use around other stuff.

Tomarse posted:

I assume these are to join something post 1970 to the V8 engine block where some genius decided that rather than changing the machining to put a different hole and thread in the block they would instead create a special part in the form of an imperial metric bolt?

Is 3/8-16 = 3/8 UNC?

I'm still trying to find something to fit into the threaded holes in the back of my V8 heads. Getting hold of imperial bolts here is quite tricky and I have to order them in small quantities online and it is getting quite frustrating

Yeah, 3/8-16 = 3/8 UNC.
poo poo, ask someone here (US.) We can probably go rip a hundred SAE bolts out of some '70s pickup or another in the wrecking yard, or any pre-90s American V8, I bet. 3/8-16, if that's what you need, is super common on GM engines.
Or, I suppose we could buy new and ship. No idea if that would be any cheaper for you.

meltie posted:

What's the opinion on using FS in older engines that have lived their lives on Dino?

I don't think there's a problem with that, though I don't know, with synthetic, if you need to worry so much about the ZDDP additive for flat-tappet cams. I prefer to run Rotella in my Cutlass, due to the flat-tappet cam, and detergents in the diesel oil.

Enourmo posted:

E: currently sitting at the tire shop getting 2 new tires, because the puncture was too close to the sidewall and the other tire was 5/3/4. Which is weird since I never over inflate them and I don't run sikk camber.

If it's on the front, that just seems to happen with FWD, though a lot of the time they wear both edges.

Tomarse posted:

I'll have you know that the current mineral oil loss via leaking seals and gaskets in all my classic vehicles is carefully calibrated and controlled.

Of course. It's metered carefully to prevent rust.

CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:

How dare you leak shame me

The safeword is"Zinc dialkyldithiophosphate"

Somewhat Heroic posted:

I saw your post in the RC thread. I'll reply with some good info tomorrow on a real computer. Since I've been painting on the inside for over 20 years I have a hard time thinking the other way around. Just make sure you get polycarbonate compatible spray. Tamiya spray is the best stuff. You are in for a whole world of an obsession that you don't need. Like a meth habit.

This is why I continue to look at RC stuff longingly, but don't commit. I can't afford another hobby, especially not that one. What makes it worse is my buddy owns an RC hobby shop.
I love those Tamiya solid axle 4x4 chassis. The scale accuracy pleases the model nerd that I am. I've wanted one since they came out with the Toyota Hilux back in the '80s. Which also introduced me to the name the rest if the world knew those trucks by, too.

Geoj posted:

Re: different oil at Walmart, there is a possibility this is true. It's been well documented that as a result of Walmart dictating prices to suppliers (with a "do it or we'll find someone who will" threat attached) many of their suppliers have Walmart specific products that are either made to a lower spec reflecting the price, or in the case of big ticket items like TVs they'll deliberately ship sub-par products, like units with B-grade LCD panels installed.

There isn't any database of known products like this (that I'm aware of) but it's certainly possible that the formulation of a given motor oil sold at Walmart is different - and if so, likely in a "for the worse" manner - from what you'd buy from a dealership, parts store or really any other retailer that isn't big enough to tell its suppliers what it will pay for a given product.

Not saying if the above is true that the oil is going to grenade your engine, but it's certainly possible that the oil they sell is different.

I knew about the Walmart-specific electronics, but I hadn't though about oil or other stuff like that. That would be a good thing to know, if true.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2017 19:49

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Geoj posted:

This typically doesn't go well for the supplier - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/etc/script.html

TL;DR Rubbermaid announced to its retail customers in the late 90s that since their raw material cost had increased so would the prices of their products. Walmart responded by saying they would either have to sell at a loss or not sell at all, resulting in Rubbermaid shuttering a large factory in Ohio, laying off roughly 1,000 workers and moving production to China.

WalMart: driving the race to the bottom.
Again: who is going to buy your crap when you run every manufacturer in America out of business? Those fuckers need to be leashed, and now, though I'm not sure by what authority or legality anyone can do it.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2017 00:28

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Tomarse posted:

Cheers guys. My issue is that I don't know what size i need as i'm working blind on a few blind holes at the back of the heads.

I've been sorting out yesterday and today and have just been through my 2 junk storage boxes containing 10 years of assorted fixings and 'bits' and I think i might have a few candidates.

I have definitely found some 3/8 UNC

95% of what I ever deal with here is metric. You can get imperial bolts - but not as easily as metric ones that I can just buy from a shop on the high street. Ordering them online in small quantities means they end up costing 10x what the metric stuff does.

We have the opposite problem here in the US, despite all of the cars and everything from China being metric. Never mind that the hardware at the local home centers are slightly harder than cheese, anyway.

edit: I've got about $9K left on my student loan, but my wife went back a couple of years ago, about to finish, and I'm in denial about what she owes. I really, really hope she gets a better job because of it.

Darchangel fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Jan 10, 2017

# ¿ Jan 10, 2017 20:48

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

kastein posted:

There are plenty of excellent textbooks out there that cover this poo poo actually - hell, the one I read when I was 8 and used to help my dad wire the garage* in the mid 90s covered stuff exactly like that. I'll see if I can figure out which one I read.

e: a 4-way goes between the two 3-ways and is a DPDT switch wired to either pass the red/black "traveler" wires straight through, or swap them. Now you know why you can toggle any of the switches and the light changes state!

national electric code has required neutral wires in every switch box since several years ago (unsure how many, anywhere from 09 to 14 depending on your muni I think?) so you need /3-WG romex to do all lighting switch circuits these days. A lot of electricians are bent out of shape over this due to the extra cost, I didn't really give a poo poo and just complied with the code.

Same, but those stupid tiny 6-32 threads always just feel wrong when I'm threading them in regardless. Maybe it's the brand of junction boxes I'm buying.

I find that having several "home wiring" books to be useful, since they sometimes explains things differently from each other. I've got a newer Home Depot one, and a couple of older ('60s-'70s. '80s) wiring books for reference, and the internet can be useful. Usually someone will explain of diagram it in a way I find illuminating (heh).

BraveUlysses posted:

double payments might be going a bit overboard, you might just be better off saving most of that money or starting to contribute more of your pretax wages to a 401k, especially if your employer offers matching contributions and you aren't already taking them.

Yeah, maybe split the difference. Having a paid off house can make a lot of other things feasible, but build up a savings safety-net first.

Rhyno posted:

His father is a cop! His is gonna be a hilarious ride. He absolutely didn't tell his parents that he aimed a gun at the other car but when witnesses started showing up he admitted he had a gun. He still claims he didn't point it at the other car but like every witness that has come forward says he did.

Frankly, it doesn't matter where he pointed it. If it looks like a gun, and you're brandishing it, you totally deserve to get a lead enema.

:catstare:

Jumping Jesus Christ on a pogo stick. This poo poo show just keeps on going. I love all the folks still defending their choice of this Cheeto-in-Chief.

Rhyno posted:

The people I've been talking with locally think he's hosed. Witnesses say he instigated, was brake checking the Cadillac, he was endangering other motorists. Maybe if he was still a minor they could protect him but he's a loving adult now. I'm also told he does have a history of suppressed violations (daddy took care of them) so something it gonna happen to this dipshit.

Edit: For clarification. His parents are wonderful people. Wonderful. His mom is one of the nicest and most welcoming people I have ever met. Just a great gal all around. His dad is a quiet but very warm person. Of course he'd do things to protect his son. For the life of me I can't figure out how these two people ended up with such a fuckstick of a kid.

By being "nice" and letting the kid get away with everything without appropriate punishment/consequences, usually.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2017 18:16

Darchangel: Feb 12, 2009; Tell him about the blower!

Rhyno posted:

Okay this right here, you shut the hell up. You're one of the smartest people on this forum, you just make a few bad decisions from time to time. I'm serious, I'm visiting DFW this summer and I will punch you in the face.

Stupid kid chat: his parents have decided to sue the news station for slander over the mention of the airsoft gun. They're really doubling down on the little angel thing.
And then someone just stepped forward and claimed he pulled it on them at a car show in August.

poo poo show continues.

Told you. The first problem is always parents ignoring the signs, and thinking that their child is an innocent, faultless babe. I'm well aware that my daughter is, well, MY daughter, and as such bears watching. She comes across as an rear end in a top hat a lot, but that's *mainly* because she's Spergey (actually mild Autism spectrum, not just a Goon.) I don't intend to let her get away with anything I can cll her on. She's 15, so my window of efficacy is waning, though.

Seriously, suing a news outlet for reporting the news...
It's not like they made it up - they are reporting what eyewitnesses said. I hate to say it, but gently caress the parents, no matter how "nice" and "warm" they are. They're part of the problem.