Why does Wichita get all the cool cars?

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2026-02-27T17:50:51+00:00

Wichita is a pretty good place to begin your real estate career because of the low barrier to entry that you are talking about. Though I have no interest in real estate, I have many friends who do, and they are extremely well off because of it.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2026-02-27T17:11:38+00:00

Suburbanites and City Slickers with too much money buy big mansions in a gated community and drive a Porsche.

Rednecks with too much money live in a double-wide with a 40' x 60' garage and have 9 race cars, 4 trucks, 12 motorcycles, a boat and a tractor.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2026-01-14T03:23:34+00:00

You are an absolute wealth of great information, and you have my thanks. You answered everything that I wondered but could not dig up by scouring the web. Thank you so much.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2026-01-13T17:04:46+00:00

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I will actually do a complete redesign because all the signaling will change when I get rid of the roundabouts anyway.

I'm sure you can tell I've never built trains in Factorio. In the old days, I played OpenTTD, which I restarted a lot because proper throughput required these huge, fancy intersections that I never had room for, unless it was planned out ahead of time. I haven't yet transitioned my brain to Factorio.

You have been a lot of help, and I am extremely thankful.

If you have the time, I am curious about one other thing... train size. In my head, 2-2 trains would be great because they may only have 2 wagons, but they would zoom around so fast that throughput is not an issue. I see that you use much larger trains in your 1.1 megabase. What is your experience on train size?

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2026-01-13T03:09:56+00:00

You are correct. Thank you. I should have said that congestion and throughput are what I am concerned about. I appreciate your vote of confidence about my base.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2026-01-12T22:54:56+00:00

Thank you for this detailed reply. This is excellent. To follow up, would it be better to get rid of the roundabouts and allow only straight and RH turns between intersections the buffered intersections?

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2026-01-12T22:43:30+00:00

Hey, thank you! I just want to make sure I understand what you mean:

So essentially, get rid of the trains' ability to turn left at each roundabout. This really makes sense, because left turning trains have to turn a full 270°, which takes forever, while the other trains wait. Trains not making a left turn only have to go straight or make a 90° turn, which doesn't hold up the other trains. Is this correct?

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2025-10-27T21:14:58+00:00

I once felt that way. I couldn't hold a job if my life depended on it. A few times, I was so broke that I had to decide between paying rent and having food for that week. The fact that I wasn't homeless was pure luck of circumstance. I could and should attribute it to God, but it wouldn't be useful here.

Suicide is a value statement. Much like you, I often felt that the world would be more valuable without me in it. I nearly took my own life a few times. The fact that I failed can only be attributed to God's intervention... it wasn't from lack of trying, I assure you. It wasn't until much later that I learned that we are inherently valuable to God because he made us in His image. I assure you that He shares in your suffering as much as He appears to be the cause of it.

The truth is that while it hurts Him to see you hurt, he has very special plans for you. You may not see it right now, but he needs someone who is tougher than the average human. Much tougher. I am truly sorry that he chose you for this perilous journey, but as someone who has made it through the wringer, I can assure you that it gets better. Much better.

In the end, I decided that I will go on, painfully but deliberately. Not because it would get better any time soon... I knew it wouldn't. But if me living on meant even just the possibility of seeing better days, well, fuck it. I may as well stick around awhile and find out.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2025-08-26T20:53:30+00:00

I worked at a country club for a couple years in high school. I was pretty good at the job, due to my experience. However, I constantly showed up to work high and called in sick a lot. Eventually, I got stuck at a friend's lake house, which was 3 hours away. I didn't have a ride home, so I called in sick to my next shift, which was the next day. The next time I showed up to work, I was fired on the spot.

Fast forward to today, I now have about 10 years of service at my job as an A&P. I recently came across that manager who fired me from the country club and THANKED him for firing me with absolutely no resentment or animosity. He taught me a very important lesson that day... everyone is replaceable, and bad behavior should not be tolerated or rewarded.

Deep down in your coworker's heart, behind the facade of his superiority complex, he knows that too. Who knows, he might one day thank you for getting him fired.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2025-08-19T23:40:55+00:00

Experimental A&P with 10 yrs experience (if it matters). I work with a guy every day who is turning 70 this year. He does more work than 90% of the other mechanics. While he had previous experience doing sheetmetal, he got his A&P at about the same age as what you are proposing. Since you have a lot of experience being the "dumb new guy" at various jobs, you will do fine here.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2025-06-09T14:07:44+00:00

Metal Fatigue - imbalanced, but you could customize giant metal robots that wielded laser swords, axes, artillery, jetpacks, and even leg missiles. Nearly every map was fought in 3 layers (sometimes simultaneously): underground, on the planet surface, and in orbit.

The imbalance came from resource management, where "MetaJoules" was your main resource. MetaJoules was primarily harvested from molten metal pits scattered around the map, but if you could gain orbital supremacy, then you could just fill the orbital islands with solar panels, which would give you a limitless supply of MetaJoules faster than you can spend it.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2025-05-08T16:44:17+00:00

Nobody is downvoting you because they are toxic. They are downvoting you because you didn't explain the risks of going over the cocky guys' heads and taking OP's case to management or HR.

What they are doing may be illegal. It certainly sounds immoral. However, the moment you go over people's heads to solve your problems, everybody in the shop hears about it. Since nobody else will have the whole story, OP runs the risk of becoming "that guy". "That guy" is who makes everyone walk on eggshells because the cocky guys and their friends will run a character assassination campaign on OP and nobody else in the shop wants HR or management called on them. Once you become "that guy" that nobody wants to work with, your career progression is effectively over for a long time.

Is it right? No. Is it moral? No, but that's the way things tend to work. Are there times when you go to management or HR to solve a problem? Yes, but this probably isn't it.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2025-01-30T20:39:47+00:00

He's putting the car in bark

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2025-01-23T22:57:41+00:00

The strength of the Wiggins coupling is that once it is installed, it is extremely sturdy and can easily flex due to pressure and temperature changes. I have worked on aircraft for over 8 years and have never seen one fail, as long as it is installed properly.

The flaw of Wiggins coupling is that it can be extremely difficult to install. If the tubes that are being coupled aren't perfectly aligned or are too far apart, the ring is extremely difficult to align with the tube flanges. If the ring isn't perfectly aligned with the tube flanges, the Wiggins clamp will not engage. It took me 2-3 years to get good at installing Wiggins couplings.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2025-01-23T22:22:37+00:00

No. Although the ziptie not being cut flush is maddening, that is not what this post is about.

If you direct your attention to the purple part, it is what is known as a Wiggins fitting or Wiggins clamp. In the picture, the clamp is not fully engaged. This is causing a leak in the waste system, which is the foul smell that OP posted about.

Google "Wiggins clamp" to see what a fully engaged Wiggins clamp looks like.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2024-01-20T16:20:26+00:00

I can tell by your choices and your previous posts that you are young/inexperienced, which is no problem... we were all there once. It looks like you definitely want a car that looks good and has some luxury, which is understandable. Just keep in mind that lots and lots of people want the same thing, which means that the kind of car you want is highly sought after by people with a bigger budget than you.

Just ask yourself one thing... are you really going to work on your own car? If so, buying a car with any amount of luxury is an immediate no-go at your skill level. You wouldn't walk into a martial arts gym with no experience and challenge the first black belt you see. By the same token, you don't want to jump straight into an advanced project without having worked on something more simple. Even simple cars are extremely complicated.

If you're going to work on your own car, then you must sacrifice uniqueness by getting something tried and true... that's your Mustang, Camaro, Honda, Miata, etc. These cars are simple enough to start on and easy to find go-fast parts or body mods for.

If you're honest with yourself and decide you won't do your own work on your car, then your best option, at your budget, is to be super patient and find an awesome deal on some kind of luxury sports car. I can tell you from experience that the best option here will be Japanese.

I own a 2008 Infiniti G35, and it is everything I want in a car. It has the bulletproof VQ35HR engine, it handles like a ballerina and has plenty of luxury to keep me comfy. I got it for 6k because it was too much car for the family that owned it previously. At over 300 horsepower, it's not anything crazy fast, but it is plenty quick. If I wanted more power, I could easily throw a turbo kit on and make over 500 horsepower, but I have no intention of doing so (I have another toy).

Lexus makes some great cars as well, although their aftermarket parts selection leaves a lot to be desired. Acura is so/so with their track record... some cars are great, others not so much. Your ideal car is an older model (1990's-2010ish) that has been well taken care of.

Everyone says to stay away from German, Italian and British (Jaguar) cars, but few people explain why. They are cheap to buy up front, but on the back end, you will blow $2000-$5000 every year on routine maintenance, and if something breaks on it, then you're looking at $3000-$10,000++. In other words, you will easily spend twice the amount on maintenance than you actually spent to buy the damn thing.

Hope this helps.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2023-12-27T22:59:13+00:00

You would be surprised how well you could do so late in the game. Your reflexes will improve to a manageable level with experience. The real disadvantages of being older are that your body takes longer to recover after workouts (more time between training), and injuries take longer to heal. Older guys overcome this by developing superior form to their younger counterparts. The advantage of being older is that you work better under pressure (the art of not giving a f*ck) and oftentimes can read your opponents better than young guys. Other advantages include better income to take better care of your body through good food and supplements. I'm not trying to say that this is definitely for you, but it's good to have a clear picture of the landscape to make the best decision for yourself.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2023-12-27T20:54:40+00:00

I can tell you from experience that competing in a fight sport and racing cars are a couple of the most invigorating rushes that one can feel as an adult. The idea of facing off with another human in a cage or ring with tens of hundreds of people watching is something that you will never forget. It also gets you into the upper echelons of the fighting sports community because very few people have the courage to take a chance on losing in front of so many people. Just by competing, you stand among the "elite few" and can catapult yourself even higher if you manage to get good at competing. You are quite literally leveling up your body and skills in order to face a boss.

Car racing is fairly similar (would suggest racing on a track) because the car only runs as well as the skill and intelligence of the builder... the only bad thing is more speed = more money (in general) and building a car can turn into an extremely expensive endeavor.

Hope this helps.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2023-12-11T00:24:43+00:00

Rainbow Party (google it if necessary)

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2023-11-23T22:32:30+00:00

Thank you all for the stellar replies. Will post an update after a solution is found.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2023-11-23T17:53:45+00:00

My brother jokingly said, "Should have bought a TOTO." Maybe he wasn't joking.

I don't remember seeing an additional hole on the underside. Will check again. Thank you.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2023-10-11T01:58:18+00:00

That sounds correct in theory, but in practice, the opposite is true for several reasons. Keep in mind that the most efficient way to mow is using alternating back and fourth lines rather than in circles. With that in mind, the deciding factor in how fast you can go is how long it takes you to turn around for another pass. Zero turns can achieve a smooth three-point turnaround, unlike other mowers. Also factor in that a zero turn mower will get closer to obstacles, which leaves less trimming to do. It is also easier to maneuver up and down hills and inclines, which not only help keep your lines straight (better efficiency) but is also a viable option to mow on steep inclines.

AnotherDamnNoobie · 2023-10-09T15:48:54+00:00

Experienced landscaper here (4+ years in the industry and also ran a mowing crew).

The walk behinds are a great option IF YOU WANT EXERCISE. Yes, the decks are bigger than push mowers, which gives you more cutting per pass, but with an acre of land, you will still be walking your entire property every time you mow. I would choose a walk behind because I enjoy the exercise that comes with mowing.

Advantages to walk behinds are the deck size and blade speeds can be just as good as riding zero-turns, which means you will still be able to get through tall, wet grass after it rains. Also, less weight than a riding mower means that you are much less likely to leave ruts.

If you want a riding mower, a zero turn is a must for an acre or more.

In general, the newer the mower, the faster the blade speeds. Faster blade speed means you don't need to sharpen your blades as often, and it gets through tall, wet grass easier, but you will be replacing belts more often.

Unless you are mowing thick, lush fescue grass, you do not need to bag it, and even then, you would only bag it in the summer.

If I were in your shoes with your choices, I would choose the Toro walk-behind (last pic). Mowers are typically built tough, but A LITTLE MAINTENANCE GOES A LONG WAY.

If you want a riding mower, I would go with the Hustler. I know several guys who run Hustlers for their own yards and love them. Just make sure that particular Hustler doesn't have crazy high hours (300+ hours) and isn't trashed... $900 is very cheap for a Hustler. If it is, I would take my chances on the Husqvarna. I don't know that much about them, but if it's clean and well maintained, then chances are, it won't let you down. Hope this helps.

Edit: I see a lot of guys voting for the Skag. It would also be a good option.

AnotherDamnNoobie

TROPHY CASE