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

[Nuke]

i broke linux again. i noticed the 4k video playback was shoddy, made me question whether or not the os installed nvidia drivers. last distro i used had a convenient utility for this, but i couldn't find any indication that any driver was installed.  so i was following instructions, on the debian wiki, for my distro, on how to install blob drivers. so i followed the instructions, and it said i had to reboot, so i did. and now i cant login. gg linux, you win this round..

i think the documentation was a little sparse in this case. i usually have the opposite problem with linux documentation in that a lot of man pages are extremely winded.  the instructions for how to add non-free repos to apt was ambiguous, it just mentioned a file and a line of text. am i supposed to edit that line or paste it in? idk. after trying 3 different things and fixing a typo, then updating apt i was able to find the correct package and install it.. another thing linux documentation fails at is how to mittigate common problems. like when you have other drivers installed that you couldnt find previously, or when you have secure boot enabled, you cant just install things that arent signed, i though linux didnt do that shtick. im not sure which broke my install but im pretty sure both happened. im at the point where i can log in as root in recovery mode and have no idea how to undo what i did, other than installing windows 10. such a shame, it was doing so well up to this point.

Edited January 1 by Nuke

[DDE]

The year kicks off with a smallish tsunami off Japan's west coast.

Fun (no).

[AlamoVampire]

I dont know if this belongs here or the interesting things thread so if someone on the mod team feels ive chosen the wrong place perhaps a move is warranted….

Just baked off 24 chocolate chip cookies. Nestle toll house. Yes i baked them at 0200 so dont judge me lol. Anyway the smell of them baking then cooling on my racks was nothing short of a wild ride down memory lane. Brought back memories of the sheer joy of hearing my mom say we were going to make cookies. I knew when she said those magic words: “lets make cookies” i was just minutes from something magical. Now, at 42 and with my mom living in an assisted living facility and living as a shadow of the wonderful person she was (still is but dementia renders it not the same) im sitting here with the smell of cookies and the ghosts of my past haunting me. The echoes of happier and simpler days. It smells so wonderful, the two cookies ive eaten that were still warm so delicious yet so much pain finds me. Why did i do this to myself? Why do memories like the ones this dug up have to hurt?

023701032024

[Nuke]

i used to keep a full cookie jar when my sister still lived nearby, mostly for my niece who routinely raided the jar. every time it got to the bottom id rummage around my pantry to see what i could make. chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and penult butter were my usual. more rarely snickerdoodles and sugar cookies. sometimes mom would find a crazy exotic cookie recipe (i refuse to ever attempt to make macrons again, that's 5 hours im never getting back and the results were inedible). of course when my sis got divorced and moved i just came to the conclusion that we just end up eating too many cookies and stopped doing it.  one way to avoid eating junk food is to not fill your house with it. im running out of teeth.

Edited January 3 by Nuke

[Nuke]

on the running out of teeth front, i just had my very first root canal. just barely dodged another extraction. that's probibly a good thing and doesn't belong in the negative things thread, but il get back to you after the novocain wears off. 

[StrandedonEarth]

Forum acting up on me or maintenance? testing....

[Lisias]

> Nuke said:
> on the running out of teeth front, i just had my very first root canal. just barely dodged another extraction. that's probibly a good thing and doesn't belong in the negative things thread, but il get back to you after the novocain wears off. 

I had a bunch of these, and later extractions. I feel you bro, getting old is a pain in the SAS...

Take the meds religiously - one of my root got infected, I spent the month trying to salvage the tooth. And it hurt as hell.

 

> StrandedonEarth said:
> Forum acting up on me or maintenance? testing....

Nah, I think some ACL got screwed on the last update.

I can POST pure text, but no links or fancy text formatting - my guess is the thingy they use to filter unsafe HTML got its permissions screwed.

[Nuke]

keep in mind i really only have front teeth left. 15 at last count. maintaining what i have is my whole dental budget, waiting for a perfect checkup and then maybe i can swing for a partial. 

so far the worst part from the procedure is the hangover from the novocain.

Edited January 4 by Nuke

[AstroWolfie]

one thing that's been bugging me: iPad Kids. I hate the idea of it so much. Kids, who are raised on, and I mean ON the internet, where unlike previous generations where companies and stuff didn't realize they could exploit people through various means at the same stage as it is now, have ABSOLUTELY no restrictions, even if their parents mean better. Gen Z grew up with the rise of the modern internet age, and saw it evolve and grow without as much corporate influence/monetization. Now, all the companies have a social, almost every super-popular competitive game has a battlepass or lootbox system that you spend real money for, and the kids are just being conditioned to consume things. If you look at what they are watching, it can be very, very, materialistic, which I see as very detrimental to children. even things such as COPPA don't help much, as YouTube has been violating this law, got called out for it, and still is doing it! Another thing about the content, it can be very disturbing. I was sitting in a bus next to an iPad kid and they were watching some good educational video about how to play bowling (you'll see where this goes next) and then the video ends, and the video changes to the bowling ball twitter gif video with demons by imagine dragons playing in the background. I tell the mom, and she's like, "oh its educational, it says so in the title, so it means its appropriate for my precious child" . See? also with that weird toilet trend which is basically stupid GMod humor, but it sadly became something worse, because of this monetized, social media fueled place called the internet. It's a combo of poor parenting and unrestricted access, which is so, so sad. How do you feel about this?

Spoiler

for all of you feeling a bit down, here are some funny pixel mercenaries singing

 

 

[Superfluous J]

40 minutes ago, AstroWolfie said:

How do you feel about this?

I remember when I was a kid, and everybody was worried that my entire generation would be mindless zombies because we were being raised by television, and advertisers could beam messages directly into our brains to buy whatever crap they wanted to sling at us under a thinly veiled cartoon premise.

Then I think about how when my parents were growing up, and how the kids those days couldn't appreciate the finer things in life because of that bebop music littering their brains with mindless lyrics and bikini-clad blondes on Lawrence Welk.

And their parents, who were pampered with electricity and wireless radios and motorcars.

And don't even get me started with ice deliveries. Kids these days, man.

[AstroWolfie]

I'm frustrated about the parents just straight up plopping a device in their kid's face whenever they act up. Like, if I was a parent, why couldn't you go and do anything but give them a device to quiet down. I get things like, maybe they are super busy and physically can't parent at the moment, or are having a mental breakdown, or theres a mantis-man on the loose on my street, but if their reason is something like, oh i don't feel like dealing with my child who's misbehaving, im gonna scroll social media for 18 hours straight, or my child is a precious angel, they would never do that, your lying... If that's your reason for giving your kid the device, that isn't very good in my opinion. 

[DDE]

On 1/5/2024 at 10:58 AM, Superfluous J said:

I remember when I was a kid, and everybody was worried that my entire generation would be mindless zombies because we were being raised by television, and advertisers could beam messages directly into our brains to buy whatever crap they wanted to sling at us under a thinly veiled cartoon premise.

Then I think about how when my parents were growing up, and how the kids those days couldn't appreciate the finer things in life because of that bebop music littering their brains with mindless lyrics and bikini-clad blondes on Lawrence Welk.

And their parents, who were pampered with electricity and wireless radios and motorcars.

And don't even get me started with ice deliveries. Kids these days, man.

I still think the situation is both qualitatively different in itself, and the quantitative differences are so tremendous they have a quantitative effect as well. Igor Shafarevich (or, likely, one of his many non-Soviet sources) pointed out that TV, unlike books, can't be rewound - you can't pause and mull over a point, you're forced to be maximally receptive in the moment and stay glued to the screen, and you also can't catch the anchor contradicting themselves five minutes later. The Internet brings its own array of issues - off the top of my head, extreme democratization that gives platform to absolute loons, complete lack of borders or even the most rudimentary pre-censorship, all topped off with interesting and perverse algorithmic incentives... anyone remember Elsagate?

However, I think the bigger problem is sheer information overload. Information, impressions, visuals, cuteness, [redacted to be child-friendly], parasocial relationships... it's all hosed at us in an unprecedented torrent that we cannot handle effectively, and this leads to two things: (1) exaggeration in a continuous arms race of simulacra and (2) makes the consumers learn to consume information in a quick, surface-level fashion, preferably through the use of established patterns of thought.

Two examples of the results. One, NPC streamers... and we know why almost all of them are female.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/07/19/the-bizarre-tiktok-npc-livestream-trend-where-creators-act-like-robots-explained/?sh=4b56986c2d05

Two, and here I must introduce you to one of my Telegram subscription, a political strategist and GR specialist named Maria Sergeyeva (who has a very dated Wiki page). These days, the woman mostly runs about with the concept of "Netflix politics": it doesn't matter what you're advocating for, what your political program is, or what your politics even are. Politics are a TV series; you use established fictional tropes and references to cast yourself as the hero and your opposition as the villains, and you maintain a steady stream of media episodes to keep yourself relevant. Good governance, good ideas, leadership? Like anyone cares for that... The most egregious and oft-mocked approach is to declare oneself Harry Potter fighting Voldemort.

Spoiler

(Can confirm one of my subordinates from Blagoveschensk showed up to a client's office with a Slytherin pin to go with a green and black cardigan)

 

[AlamoVampire]

My car has gremlins. The other day i was driving and got a blink and miss it “Charging System Malfunction Detected” message. Was on screen half a second. Had i had my head turned to change lanes or just be defensive behind the wheel id have missed it. Didnt see it again for a few hours until that night. Popped up on screen 10-20 seconds then went away. Drove 200 feet then it returned for another 10-20 seconds. Didnt see it again. Until the next day. Last night specifically. Earlier yesterday i went to autozone where i got my battery. Was made 08-2021, installed 09-2021. So it was about 3 years old. Tested it three times: bad, charge-retest recommended. Test 2: good, but had only 80% charge. Ran engine 5 minutes while talking with employee. Test 3 at my request to see if my alternator was charging. Battery tested as bad. Warranty swap.
 

New issue found the negative terminal was not fully tight. New terminal clamp installed. Problem solved? Nope. Drove it home and many hours later i go to this burger place (40 mile round trip) specifically to prove out the battery. No warning shows. Figure done and dusted. Nope. 90 minutes later after i got home and ate my burger, so its now about 2330. I go back out to buy or intended to buy some sodas and snacks. I get 3 miles AT MOST before the  “Charging System Malfunction Detected” message returned. This time it was blink and miss it then it went biblical. Came on. Stayed on a good 5 minutes then blinked out, for 2 seconds. Then on. Then off. Then on. Then off. Spending more time on than off. Then 5 hours ago i decided after having gotten it on my driveway safely to crank the car on just to see what happens. Idled 5 minutes no warning. Decided screw it lets do a quick 2-3 mile loop, did a few mild pulls and 1 full throttle pull just to see. No warning light.
 

Im stuck at home with 2 cars out of commission. 1 true dead battery and 1 with an alternator that has approx 87445 miles on it that cant decide if possessed or healthy. Ive sourced a new alternator but its beyond what i feel a safe driving distance all things considered. Good news is my father lives a short drive from the store with said new alternator and requested he buy it for me and drop it off at my house for installation later today/this evening.  Will update if you guys like.

070801092024

[StrandedonEarth]

17 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

My car has gremlins. The other day i was driving and got a blink and miss it “Charging System Malfunction Detected” message. Was on screen half a second. Had i had my head turned to change lanes or just be defensive behind the wheel id have missed it. Didnt see it again for a few hours until that night. Popped up on screen 10-20 seconds then went away. Drove 200 feet then it returned for another 10-20 seconds. Didnt see it again. Until the next day. Last night specifically. Earlier yesterday i went to autozone where i got my battery. Was made 08-2021, installed 09-2021. So it was about 3 years old. Tested it three times: bad, charge-retest recommended. Test 2: good, but had only 80% charge. Ran engine 5 minutes while talking with employee. Test 3 at my request to see if my alternator was charging. Battery tested as bad. Warranty swap.
 

New issue found the negative terminal was not fully tight. New terminal clamp installed. Problem solved? Nope. Drove it home and many hours later i go to this burger place (40 mile round trip) specifically to prove out the battery. No warning shows. Figure done and dusted. Nope. 90 minutes later after i got home and ate my burger, so its now about 2330. I go back out to buy or intended to buy some sodas and snacks. I get 3 miles AT MOST before the  “Charging System Malfunction Detected” message returned. This time it was blink and miss it then it went biblical. Came on. Stayed on a good 5 minutes then blinked out, for 2 seconds. Then on. Then off. Then on. Then off. Spending more time on than off. Then 5 hours ago i decided after having gotten it on my driveway safely to crank the car on just to see what happens. Idled 5 minutes no warning. Decided screw it lets do a quick 2-3 mile loop, did a few mild pulls and 1 full throttle pull just to see. No warning light.
 

Im stuck at home with 2 cars out of commission. 1 true dead battery and 1 with an alternator that has approx 87445 miles on it that cant decide if possessed or healthy. Ive sourced a new alternator but its beyond what i feel a safe driving distance all things considered. Good news is my father lives a short drive from the store with said new alternator and requested he buy it for me and drop it off at my house for installation later today/this evening.  Will update if you guys like.

070801092024

Check your ground on the battery. A loose ground wire can cause wonkiness. I had an Aerostar and the screw connecting the ground wire to the frame came loose. Not off, just loose, and the charging gauge needle was bouncing back and forth. Tightened the screw and the needle became steady as a rock. 

[kerbiloid]

Spam calls.

And again, a phone call from another random phone number is followed by the SMS from the phone provider: "You can order a paid service to block the spam calls!"

Coincidence? I think so.

P.S.
This time the SMS arrived even before the spam call had stopped ringing.
What an amusing responsiveness!

Edited January 10 by kerbiloid

[AlamoVampire]

On 1/10/2024 at 12:12 AM, StrandedonEarth said:

Check your ground on the battery. A loose ground wire can cause wonkiness. I had an Aerostar and the screw connecting the ground wire to the frame came loose. Not off, just loose, and the charging gauge needle was bouncing back and forth. Tightened the screw and the needle became steady as a rock. 

The negative/ground terminal is new and tight. Battery is new as well. Both were installed 36 hours ago. My neighbor is going to install my new alternator later today. The car has 87451 miles give or take a mile or two. The old battery was shown to have 80% charge and the error comes and goes so best guess is alternator is going. Will update later in the day.

032001102024

running an experiment with my car. Its 43°F or 6.1°C. Car has 87453 miles. Engine is currently “cold” and at idle. Charging System Malfunction Detected (CSMD) is currently not in its alert state and car presents no warning indicators aside from a seat belt warning. Thats illuminated because engine is on, im in drivers seat with out my belt fastened thus that illuminator is no factor.
 

The CSMD alert seems to only present after car reaches operational temperature and under certain RPM loads.

Current test: idle mode only, 0 throttle input allowing car to warm up to operational temperature. Observe for duration of warming and then for 5 additional minutes at operational temperature.

Hypothesis? Uh fault may be only occur at temperature after alternator heats up. RPMs steady at about 500. Temperature increasing nominally. No faults or warnings aside from occupant restraint unfastened. Air temperature steady at 43°F/6.1°C. Winds N at 1mph gusting 2mph. Engine appears to have reached operational temperature. No faults or alerts present aside from prior listed occupant restraint unfastened. Observation underway. Additional electrical load applied by bringing climate controls online. AC is online along with the heater set to 85°F/29.44°C. Fan speed medium low. RPM stable, no faults or alerts aside from occupant restraint not fastened.

Have observed car for 4 minutes and now into 5th minute at operational temperature observations. No change in status. 

5 minutes of observation complete. Experiment complete. Results inconclusive. CSMD has not illuminated. 
 

Conclusion: alternator still to be replaced, then further operational observation to be performed during various drive cycles post repair.

Current Repair Status: Battery replaced, negative lug clamp replaced. Alternator replacement pending.

end current update.

041601102024

post alternator installation/swap preliminary update:

several drive cycles have been completed in the last hour and a half since the car was returned to me following completion of repair. At this time it is a presumed fix. Finalized update to follow in 48-72 hours. If youre following this saga stay tuned!

192301102024

finalized update way late  

well can confirm! Problem solved!

125702012024

Edited February 1 by AlamoVampire

[Nuke]

so yea, alaska decided to stop being broke about a week ago and started snowing, ive been shoveling snow ever since. i shoveled the deck and the walkway last night, and again this afternoon. probibly again tomorrow. being in se alaska, i need to get it while its still powder, wet snow is heavy and turns to ice if you don't handle it immediately. 

[boriz]

Had a handyman over to replace my broken toilet seat. (Still isolating. Can't go get one myself). Shouldn't take long or cost much right?

He confirms my suspicion that the flush mechanism is faulty, and asks if I'd like him to look at it, and I agree. He leaves, returns with a new siphon mechanism. Can't remove the old one because everything is ancient and rusted solid. Eventually manages, but in so doing breaks other corroded parts. Leaves, returns with parts, and a colleague to help ... "Do you have a Dremel? I need to cut slots in these seized screws" ... leaves for parts, returns, with another colleague ...

A couple of hours later, the entire toilet and cistern are completely removed and sitting in my bedroom, the bathroom floor is soaked, a leak has wet the wall and carpet downstairs ...

Long story short, changing my toilet seat took three people all day and cost £200. LOL.

To be fair, the toilet is very old, was on it's last legs, works great now, and it's a lot cheaper than a new one.

 

[DDE]

1 hour ago, boriz said:

Long story short, changing my toilet seat took three people all day and cost £200. LOL.

* whistles, pretending he's not trained to perform similar "horizontal" sales at every opportunity*

[boriz]

3 minutes ago, DDE said:

* whistles, pretending he's not trained to perform similar "horizontal" sales at every opportunity*

The toilet absolutely needed fixing, everything they did needed doing. It was a tough job, and a thorough job. I observed them, and there were no "horizontal" sales. Every time they uncovered something, it too was rotten. Everything except the porcelain really did need replacing, including some pipework. £60 in hardware + one days work for three guys? You think I should have offered them less?

[Nuke]

toilet maintenance should be taught in high school. its one of those life skills that can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. 

[AtomicTech]

3 hours ago, Nuke said:

toilet maintenance should be taught in high school. its one of those life skills that can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. 

That and perhaps car maintenance too.

[TheSaint]

17 minutes ago, AtomicTech said:

That and perhaps car maintenance too.

Speaking of which: I drove my free car home from California on Saturday. Which was great, got to spend time with an old friend on Saturday afternoon. After pouring over the car on Sunday and yesterday, here is the to-do list:

• It keeps getting a CEL with multiple codes due to the emissions system. This is the main reason he gave me the car, because this is preventing the car from passing the smog check in California, and if it doesn't pass smog you can't register it, you can't sell it, you can't do anything with it. (At least not in California.) He thought the problem was with the catalytic converters burning out, but now that I've driven the car and looked at the codes, I think it may just be the oxygen sensors. So first task: replace all of the oxygen sensors, this car has four of them. If that doesn't work, then replace the catalytic converters, which is obviously a much bigger, more expensive job.
• The battery is dying. Not dead, but dying. He hadn't replaced it because, see above. Easy fix.
• The right-rear tail light is cracked. Apparently he got a love-tap in a parking lot a couple years ago and since he stopped carrying comprehensive on the car he never bothered to get it fixed. Easy changeout, although most of the inexpensive replacements are aftermarket and don't exactly match the OEM lights, so I'll probably have to buy a pair and replace both of them.
• The engine leaks oil like a sieve. More than a quart between changes. So valve cover gaskets probably need changing, probably need to look at the crankshaft and camshaft seals, possibly the oil pan gasket. First step though is to drop a vial of dye into the oil and make sure there isn't anything out of the ordinary happening.
• Engine also has a coolant leak. Not a major one, just a top up with each oil change. But should be tracked down and fixed before it becomes a real problem.
• The SRS/air bag light flickers. This is probably due to either a loose sensor connector under a seat or in the bumper, or a loose connection at the airbag control module. Not difficult to fix, just a PITA to track down. It's also possible that this is an early indication of a dying alternator, but he said he just replaced that about 50,000 miles ago. Possible, but unlikely.
• The paint on the top of the roof and on the hood is flaking off. It's gone beyond the cosmetic stage and is threatening to become a rust issue, especially on the roof. Apparently this was a known issue with this particular model/year/color of car. Ford bought a bad batch of paint. So the roof I'll need to take down to bare metal then prime/paint/clearcoat. The hood I can probably still get away with just a quick wet sand then paint/clearcoat.
• The rear bumper cover is cracked. (Same incident as the tail light.) It's not that noticeable, but it bugs me, so at some point I'll buy a new bumper cover and paint it to match.
• The rear wiper arm is missing. Super easy fix, but also super unimportant. I'll replace that whenever.

It may not sound like it, but it's in better condition than I was expecting, considering it's 22 years old with 195,000 miles on it. He did take pretty good care of the car.

[Nuke]

9 hours ago, AtomicTech said:

That and perhaps car maintenance too.

not everyone has a car but everyone uses the toilet. 

[Nazalassa]

On 1/16/2024 at 2:02 PM, Nuke said:

toilet maintenance should be taught in high school. its one of those life skills that can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. 

On 1/16/2024 at 5:19 PM, AtomicTech said:

That and perhaps car maintenance too.

Computer maintenance, too? Everyone (or at least most people) have one nowadays.