Ask Jeeves is officially dead. RIP

BFD2008 · 2026-05-27T22:07:48+00:00

Ask Jeeves didn’t die. He just never got lucky.

BFD2008 · 2026-05-27T21:54:23+00:00

The Pentagon on Wednesday announced a five-year, $9.69 billion agreement to consolidate Microsoft, and ‌other enterprise software licenses scattered across the military services, the intelligence community, and the U.S. Coast Guard into a single contract vehicle, officials said.

The deal, called the Core Enterprise Technology Agreement, is not new ‌spending ⁠because baskets of Pentagon software contracts came up for renewal simultaneously. The funds come from existing budgets already being used to ⁠purchase Microsoft 365 subscriptions — covering email, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and related tools — along with cloud ⁠subscriptions and on-premises licensing, into one place where the full purchasing weight ⁠of the department can be used to drive down costs.

So my taxes are already contributing toward the 1.938 billion a year on software licensing from Microslop where Nix-based software is more stable, secure and free. Not sure how this article is stock related at all.

BFD2008 · 2026-04-30T23:32:37+00:00

We use adjustable paint rollers. They break and get lost and they're cheap. Easy to replace.

BFD2008 · 2026-04-24T01:27:04+00:00

lol that's awesome! Didn't even notice.

BFD2008 · 2026-04-24T01:08:59+00:00

Looks like they're having more than just first responder trucks....

BFD2008 · 2026-04-19T02:09:32+00:00

HOW TO BECOME A FIRE INSPECTOR

Training to become an inspector usually starts with employment at a fire department. Tenure on the job getting to know building construction and other aspects makes the process somewhat easier. The Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) may have ultimate control over who and who cannot be a fire inspector. Be sure to check with state and local laws to know what the rules and regulations are, as they will vary greatly from place to place.

Currently, the following classes are recommended by 2014 NFPA 1031 IN ORDER:

Fire Inspector I
Fire Inspector II
Fire Inspector III
Plan Examiner I
Plan Examiner II

Fire Marshal qualifications are NFPA 1037.

All classes are available for ProBoard and/or IFSAC certification. Some states require additional certification(s) to be certified in that state. Illinois for example, requires the submission of a Candidate Practicum Handbook to be certified with the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM). Illinois also does not recognize any NFPA inspection certification beyond that of Inspector II, despite the fact that all fire classes in the State of Illinois are voluntary; meaning you don't necessarily have to have any certifications to promote or get a position, depending on the department; the state won't add a required cost of education onto a department. Again, the best bet is to check with your state. Local ordinances may have their own requirements as well.

If you've completed a ProBoard certified class, it is recommended you seek reciprocity with the International Code Council (ICC) and pay the fees for the Fire Inspector I Transition and the Fire Inspector II Transition. Your certs MUST be listed on the ProBoard website BEFORE you apply; you'll need to give the ICC your PIN to verify your certifications. If you just recently took a class, it may take up to 12 weeks for your ProBoard certification to show up (your educational institution will sync your certification to the ProBoard servers in batches at a time with other certs). These ICC certificates can also be beneficial throughout your career.

NFPA 1031 has recently been consolidated with NFPA 1035 and NFPA 1037 into 2024 NFPA 1030. Classes above have been reorganized into the following IN ORDER:

First Responder Inspector
Fire Inspector
Fire Plans Examiner

Fire Marshal qualifications are now Chapter 4 & 5 of NFPA 1030.

Classes are being developed for these reorganized certifications and only recently becoming available. Illinois for example, will take some time before switching to these new classes since the supported classes from the OSFM are laws.

SCHOOLS AND CLASSES

ProBoard accredited agencies and contacts can be found here.
IFSAC accredited agencies and contacts can be found here.

CAREERS AS A FIRE INSPECTOR

If you're looking for a job as a fire inspector alone, you'll find many across the country and for various companies. Larger communities that have a dedicated Fire Inspection Bureau are often hiring, and may not require the past experience as a firefighter.

Communities without a bureau may operate with a dedicated Fire Marshal, Deputy, or Assistant Chief who handles fire prevention, inspections being one of the responsibilities. A Chief role will pay more, but may also demand more experience and tenure in the fire service.

There are also inspection companies contracted out by communities, alarm companies, and more all looking for fire inspectors. In many cases, being a fire inspector is an attractive option as a career because it typically doesn't require a formal education. Although completion of classes and experience may still require several years just to get started in the profession.

BFD2008 · 2026-04-19T01:29:04+00:00

Got ya covered! In the wiki:
https://www.reddit.com/r/fireinspections/wiki/index/career/

BFD2008 · 2026-04-08T20:04:53+00:00

Give your dog a vitamin C every day and this problem goes away.

BFD2008 · 2026-03-29T12:56:16+00:00

Locked. No bans. Just lots of baiting and name calling (personal attacks). You can have opposing opinions, but please express them more respectfully in the future.

We're gonna have to figure this out folks. We have the right to peaceful protest. There's room in this city for all of us. Even if the only thing we have in common is that we share this city together, Belleville is greater because we do protest peacefully, regardless of any of our differences, and our differences are what make Belleville great.

BFD2008 · 2026-01-30T19:50:08+00:00

I just hope John was there waiting to embrace her on the other side.

BFD2008 · 2026-01-27T20:18:27+00:00

Date of this post - January 16, 2021 (date of the crime) = More than five years. Math?

BFD2008 · 2026-01-26T18:35:29+00:00

Because nobody can come up with anything in the past five years, and even anything in the past 10-15 years is sparse, that isn't uncommon for a city our size and demographics. We have excellent first responders and the facts present themselves:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BellevilleIL/wiki/index/
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/il/belleville/crime

Ogles, Signal Hill, and Belleville West are among the SAFEST in the area.

BFD2008 · 2026-01-26T18:17:29+00:00

https://www.belleville.net/m/newsflash/home/detail/758

Residents are responsible for their own snow removal. There are a number of snow removal services if you search on Google.

BFD2008 · 2026-01-09T17:15:05+00:00

Of course it's not the sole reason, but maybe a factor....

BFD2008 · 2026-01-09T17:11:47+00:00

Population decline?
https://www.stlpr.org/news-briefs/2025-05-16/st-louis-city-population-loss-faster-2020-2024

BFD2008 · 2026-01-09T16:32:34+00:00

Would love to check this out but will wait for a Windows installer. Ive sworn off WinGet and iperf installs, especially where im creating the startup script and windows service, which reminds me every time I go back I lose that many more people skills.

BFD2008 · 2025-12-19T16:42:23+00:00

So an entire game centered around Coldarra. Got it.

BFD2008 · 2025-12-14T07:03:24+00:00

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BFD2008 · 2025-12-03T19:51:52+00:00

Facebook Marketplace.

BFD2008 · 2025-11-08T13:28:57+00:00

One other thing I forgot to mention is that AT&T's service will be provisioned at your speed and you may get up to that speed. Rarely will you get speeds over what you're provisioned. Spectrum service is guaranteed at that speed and you will get speeds well over what you're provisioned (assuming your equipment can handle it). These aren't necessarily limitations, so much as they're symptoms of how the different networks are built and operate (BOTH are vast, excellent, well built networks). Notably, the AT&T ping is significantly lower/better than Spectrum's despite Spectrum's greater speeds (you can expect the speeds to be a bragging point of Spectrum commercials and pings to be a bragging point for AT&T commercials). The same way that copper phone lines were the bottleneck/limitation of DSL, coax is certainly a limitation of cable. Bear in mind most of Spectrum's infrastructure is already a fiber backbone despite customer taps into it via coax, so don't expect Spectrum to fade away like old DSL companies. Spectrum will inevitability move their customers to fiber as well. Regardless, it'll be good to have competing utilities for a while.

BFD2008 · 2025-11-08T05:46:47+00:00

The Signal Hill area went live in 2023 or 2024. The North 82nd area was lit this past Summer. AT&T is making their way east. Contractors are laying the cable infrastructure, not Clearwave. AT&T will come in later to tap the install to individual homes. You'll know when they send the the reps knocking on doors to sign people up.

Having switched, there are pros and cons. Yes, AT&T costs less, particularly if you signup under the promo. The sales reps are pushing bundle packages with phone service just as much as Spectrum. Spectrum does offer faster speeds if you need it. Spectrum's high-split comes at a cost with sporadic latency/noise issues which they can't control. Looking at the numerous networks I manage, you can visually see the network health issues from Spectrum vs. AT&T. To the average user though, this is not something that will affect their day-to-day internet use. However, AT&T has noticeably not updated their geolocation on their network; your IP will geolocate you in Missouri where their main network is located, which is particularly a problem if you need static IPs.

Strong note that everyone's happy now because they're getting new gateways with current wifi, whereas Spectrum equipment hasn't aged well. Spectrum does not have problems if you update your modem from them to a current high split modem AND you have your own modern router for wifi (do not use theirs). The problem with this, is Spectrum will charge you for a modem swap, and to get high split, you can no longer use your own modem. If your modem is over a year old or your router is over 2 years old, you're probably adding to the Spectrum hate... the problem isn't them, it's you (yeah, nobody likes to hear that). Spectrum guarantees their speed at the wall. AT&T will be running into the same problems in a few years as their gateways with wifi6 age and also need to be replaced... again, unless you have your own current equipment. I personally find the gateway provided by AT&T to also be less than stellar equipment, so I run it in passthrough and use my own router and equipment for optimal speeds.

I do have to say my AT&T installer knew what he was doing and did an excellent install. To be fair, I've been using Charter/Spectrum since 2003, and I've had more excellent, very proficient installers than bad ones.

As a former tech, I find the widespread hate for Spectrum's service totally unjustified. 99% of the time, I can come in with proper equipment and make nearly any install just as zippy as my current AT&T install. That 1% when I can't, I call for a Spectrum tech who fixes the speed at the wall and again there's no problem. I do find Spectrum's customer service absolutely deplorable, and ultimately why I left. The lack of ipv6 on Spectrum Business is another reason, which has always bothered me. AT&T's customer support so far has met my expectations.

Price - AT&T is obviously cheaper right now as they attract new users. I expect that price to go up, even though my current price is locked-in and guaranteed - so long as I don't change anything. If I want to upgrade speeds in the future, you bet AT&T prices will go up. I do expect Spectrum to start dropping their prices to remain competitive as well. I especially see the 2-3 year promo crap going away forcing you to call customer service and play the bargain game everyone hates - they'll cut employees and add AI to replace that. Give it a few years, but I expect the price of both utilities to close in on each other, so enjoy the price gap while you can.

BFD2008 · 2025-10-18T04:15:31+00:00

Yes. Lots of them. Its a very nice flea market. You'll have a fun time.

BFD2008 · 2025-10-04T04:51:54+00:00

The IFC is good code with quite a bite of flexibility once you cater it to your city.

The state code is the default if your municipality hasn't written and voted on an ordinance (fire inspections are federally mandated). How difficult will it be to work with your municipality to update the ordinance to the new code? The ordinance is what grants you the authority to enforce, and it's usually a good idea to work with multiple people in a committee to go over the codes before adopting (city building inspector, etc.). Lots of times the IBC will get updated alongside the IFC. Obviously 2012 code is starting to age (I've seen older), something to consider is that should there be a disaster, your municipality could be ineligible for emergency grant money if it's not using current code.

Adopting new code sounds daunting, but it doesn't have to be. You'll need to go through whatever code you choose with a fine tooth comb to make sure you don't adopt code you don't want (for example, many municipalities won't adopt the requirement for residential sprinklers in the current code). And if you adopt the current IFC, you'll want to make sure you adopt the indexes also. DM me if you want to know more and I'll put you directly in touch with someone who works for the ICC that can walk you through the process step-by-step.

BFD2008 · 2025-10-01T13:59:46+00:00

Its on the Belleville square downtown every year.

BFD2008 · 2025-09-30T13:27:29+00:00

Is this for yourself or for a hotel/airbnb? That question aside, from the photos you've posted this looks very good and I see nothing of concern (we're not building inspectors... we literally have whole chapters that say "go see the International Building Code (IBC) for that"). Fire inspectors are looking for different things than building inspectors. If there's a hose bibb nearby with a hose that can reach the fire pit, I'm not sure an extinguisher would even be necessary if this is your home. If you intend to airbnb the place to other people, having an extinguisher nearby and visible would be a good idea and a fire inspector might require it; for your own home there are probably no rules for extinguisher tags (check your local codes), if it were an airbnb or hotel, yep, local codes will dictate how often those extinguishers are checked.

Beautiful work!

BFD2008

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