totm nov 2023 Thread to discuss negative things in a very general way, just see where it goes y'know?

[DDE]

Unfortunately I have a dilemma.

Yesterday, I caught a clothmoth.

Mood:

Spoiler

Besides a long-overdue dust sweep, I want to resolve the issue thoroughly. A problem: the heaviest insecticide ordnance I could get my hands on is permethrin. And I don't want to nerve-gas my two cats: I did do my homework, regrettably after purchasing a full can of 0.25% permethrin aerosol, and it turns out cats (and fish) are vulnerable to the stuff. It's clear the chemical is meant to be persistent - and I don't expect to be able to keep the cats out of the sprayed closet, the constantly half-open closet door is actually the likely culprit of any infestation.

Is there any way to ensure safe use without collateral damage?

Edited June 7, 2021 by DDE

[YNM]

2 hours ago, DDE said:

regrettably after purchasing a full can of 0.25% permethrin aerosol

The common mosquito killer we have at home is 0.15% transfluthrin and 0.15% permethrin. I mean obviously don't direct it at your cats, but best as I can tell it's fine really. We even use it to pursue rats and stuff (they're not going to die but they're going to stay in one place or move off pretty much, which then we can take it and throw it outside).

[Pthigrivi]

We lost our boy a few weeks ago, and this is the first mention Ive made of it online because its been so difficult. His name was Spaceman, or Manny for short most of the time, and of all the cats Ive ever experienced he was the most curious, the most loving, and the most in tune with us Ive ever felt.  You try to prepare yourself but losing a member of your family is always the hardest thing imaginable. We miss him dearly every day.  You were and always will be the best <3

 

[Pthigrivi]

On 6/6/2021 at 9:41 PM, StrandedonEarth said:

Had to make the decision to take our little old dog to the vet today so he could go to the clearing where the path ends. He had no quality of life left and it... was time. 

Im so sorry <3 Its such a hard choice but it takes real bravery and love to do the right thing. Hope you’re hanging in there. 

[DDE]

7 hours ago, YNM said:

We even use it to pursue rats and stuff (they're not going to die but they're going to stay in one place or move off pretty much, which then we can take it and throw it outside).

...and they call me brutal when I repel lecherous neighborhood tomcats with airsoft gun fire.

[StrandedonEarth]

On 6/6/2021 at 6:41 PM, StrandedonEarth said:

Had to make the decision to take our little old dog to the vet today so he could go to the clearing where the path ends. He had no quality of life left and it... was time. 

Dang, this is getting me in the feels today. Probably because I keep recalling how at the vet I finally put him down so I could pay (office was empty, no leash on, etc). He toddled off into the back rooms, looking around, as if thinking “okay, I’m here, let’s get this done”  Perkier than I’ve seen him in along time 

Damn 

Thanks for th thoughts, everyone 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by StrandedonEarth

[richfiles]

On 5/27/2021 at 5:54 PM, richfiles said:

Great... So much for the cheap fix. Instantly went from $8 to $120... Joy... 

Well, I got all my phone parts, and I put everything together, and now my phone looks like it's brand new!!!

Too bad the speakerphone doesn't work right, and the OLED panel I was sent is defective (bottom 3/4 has issues with bright flickering, and a horizontal dark line intermittently appears at the border of the flickering area. I can't win... Now I gotta take the phone apart, RE-install the broken OLED, and send the dumb defective OLED back. Seller is being really dismissive too, trying to claim that if it didn't happen day one, then obviously nothing was wrong and I must have done something... Ain't happening. I initiated a return with ebay. Seller's just gonna have to deal with it... Don't send me polished trash if you don't want returns!

I sent all the photos of the lines and flickering and what not to ebay and the seller both... I don't even want a replacement... I'll spend an extra $10 and find someone with a better rating. 

Ugh... of course, now I gotta FIND my old screen. I kept it... somewhere...

[Admiral Fluffy]

I have a mosquito bite on my knee. It’s really bugging me.

Jokes aside, it is really annoying.

Edited June 16, 2021 by Admiral Fluffy
Ha ha bad pun

[kerbiloid]

On 6/7/2021 at 10:04 PM, DDE said:

Yesterday, I caught a clothmoth.

Interrogate it.

Does it have accomplices? Where do they hide?

 

2 hours ago, Admiral Fluffy said:

I have a mosquito bite on my knee. It’s really bugging me.

Jokes aside, it is really annoying.

Now you can say

Spoiler

 

[DDE]

6 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Interrogate it.

Does it have accomplices? Where do they hide?

Already killed a second one.

I've unleashed the spiders as retaliation. We've been friends for a while now, one even tried scouting the underside of my keyboard.

[Shpaget]

15 hours ago, Admiral Fluffy said:

mosquito bite

You mean stab?

[Admiral Fluffy]

1 hour ago, Shpaget said:

You mean stab?

Yep.

[StrandedonEarth]

21 hours ago, Admiral Fluffy said:

I have a mosquito bite on my knee. It’s really bugging me.

[Souptime]

a tick bit me on the underside of me knee, i thought when i was gonna pull it out it was just some fluff, then i saw a headless lone star tick

Now i have a bumb on me and im pretty sure i dont have a disease

[tater]

Hope all are well in FL. That building collapse in Miami is terrifying.

[YNM]

Black Death is, sadly, upon us.

[BBC News] Covid-19: Indonesia announces lockdown in Java and Bali as cases surge

EDIT : It's only starting.

[ABC News] Indonesian COVID patients die in self-isolation as hospitals reach breaking point

Edited July 5, 2021 by YNM

[TheSaint]

Just found a water leak in the kitchen. Or, should I say, it found us. Under the wall in the living room.

[DDE]

On 7/3/2021 at 6:56 PM, YNM said:

Black Death is, sadly, upon us.

[BBC News] Covid-19: Indonesia announces lockdown in Java and Bali as cases surge

EDIT : It's only starting.

[ABC News] Indonesian COVID patients die in self-isolation as hospitals reach breaking point

Meanwhile the Silk Way rally had to change route and avoid Mongolia because of literal plague outbreaks.

 

[YNM]

3 hours ago, DDE said:

Meanwhile the Silk Way rally had to change route and avoid Mongolia because of literal plague outbreaks.

Yeah... not looking great.

 

[richfiles]

So, this is going to be the velocity readout for my Kerbal instrument panel.
When I tested this all out on the breadboard, it worked perfectly...
I verified that all digits worked, and that I could set the binary input to any valid input, and press the latch button, and set the digit.

It was simple! It worked! And so I built it... Aaaaand nuffin'

This is so frustrating! what's more, Is I think the unit is fine, but I that my tools are trash.
Specifically, I think the breadboard may be screwy. I've had it since I was a teen, back in the 1990s. It's warped, old
I'm getting a weirdly high voltage (1.41 volts) when I should read near 0, but it's literally the same pile of parts from the other day testing!
I can even pop a module out of the socket and plug it back in and it will load the correct character being sent on the data bus!
Literally "Have you tried turning it off, and then turning it on again?"!

I figure there might be some leakage in the breadboard, or worse... leakage in the newly wired harness! 
If there's a problem in the harness, then I can't for the life of me find it... Continuity checks out... I just get a weird voltage on the latch input.

Again... I keep coming back to the tools failing me. I just have no idea...

[Delay]

I'm back in a period of doubting myself regarding anything. My ability to make/play music, write code or perform basic math, just to name a few.
It's a combination of being aware of how ignorant I (genuinely) am, coupled with the awareness that I have no one to talk to who could help me. I don't have anyone who could criticize my code, no one to give me feedback on music, etc.

I don't know what to do. All I can do is wait it out. But even then, even if my awareness of it has slipped away, I'm still on my own. I'm still helpless. Forgetting that a problem exists is not the same as a solution.

 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Delay

[Dientus]

7 hours ago, Delay said:

I'm back in a period of doubting myself regarding anything. My ability to make/play music, write code or perform basic math, just to name a few.
It's a combination of being aware of how ignorant I (genuinely) am, coupled with the awareness that I have no one to talk to who could help me. I don't have anyone who could criticize my code, no one to give me feedback on music, etc.

I don't know what to do. All I can do is wait it out. But even then, even if my awareness of it has slipped away, I'm still on my own. I'm still helpless. Forgetting that a problem exists is not the same as a solution.

 

 

My creativeness stems from my love of music. Music is pure emotion. Music is the infinity sign. Music is self-expression in its purest form - it's how I express my anger, my self-doubt, my love. I think my music is very vulnerable and very expressive, very transparent.

Cordae

 

Do you have a way to record to youtube? I will listen. Do you have a place to upload the code? I will check it out.

 

Self doubt can force you forward to a break through or a masterpiece. It can also drag you back to a break down or a catastrophe. I can't promise miracles, cures, or even immediate responses... But I can promise honesty.

[DDE]

Russians line up amidst a record heatwave to get their shot of a natural, organic Corona:

Looks like I'm going to join this hunt for CoviVac in October.

[richfiles]

Went to my brother's place to install a trailer brake controller onto his truck. His truck looks like a typical mid 80s Chevy, with a lift kit, but in reality, it's several different model years of early to late 80s parts, cobbled together, with a box of unknown era, and a Cummins diesel engine and drive train that one might expect to see under the hood of a semi-truck. The only real giveaway that it's got more under that hood than a typical truck is the dual vertical stacks behind the cab. He has a massive fifth wheel tailer that he uses to haul tractors to and from competition tractor pulls. The trailer brake controller operates four electric brake units on the trailer's wheels whenever the truck's brakes are pressed. This gives 8 wheels of stopping power, vs just 4 wheels.

This should have been a simple installation...

It was not.

Turns out, that when you combine parts from an 83, an 85, an 87, and something from probably the late 1970s... etc... There are sometimes differences in things such as the wiring harnesses... Turns out whoever wired the box onto his frame failed to take this into consideration. The trailer lights weren't working when plugged in, and the tail lights themselves were screwy. Turns out the right turn signal was wired to the reverse lights, the brake light signal wasn't even hooked up. There was no wire for reverse at all, and left turn signal and the running lights were the only things wired right, except half the running light bulb sockets were not even hooked up.

Also, my brother's dog Leeloo is adorable, but good Lord, she just wanted to play with the new visitor (hint, it was me!  ) I got the face lickies cause it turns out that a hyped up pupper can crawl around under a truck way better than I can! There was no escape from sloppy doggy kisses!  At one point, I banged my knee on the trailer, then about an hour later, Leeloo used that very knee as a launching point to jump over me, as I was lying under the truck! Max pain inflicted! 

 But yeah... I am definitely SORE... I got that second day soreness blues... I'd love to just crawl back under the blankets and sleep off the bangs and bruises and over-stretched joints and muscles... Alas, I should not, as I have circuit boards I need to solder for work.

Also, a word of advice... don't lie under a truck, face up, when someone uses an impact wrench on a bolt on said truck... that's a good way to get a face full of road dust.

Edited July 12, 2021 by richfiles

[richfiles]

I just noticed it doesn't show reputation or the old custom titles by our names anymore... Only post count, and a mouseover for some generic "rank", acting as some sort of de-numerated reputation. Really getting tired of websites trying to hide people's numbers... Likes, reputation, faves, subs, whatever... I earned those! I don't want 'em hidden! Websites taking away my dopamine hits, such nerve! LOL 

I do miss it showing me as a "Spacecraft Instrumentation Engineer"... 

Edit! It shows reputation again! Was this just a temporary glitch? just recent updates? A change? Regardless, woo hoo! 

Edit 2! It's all fixed! Woot!
Still, it is annoying how many other sites have made these kinds of changes their new normal. Glad these were presumably only maintenance glitches.

Edited July 13, 2021 by richfiles