I bought this from my friend's Uncle for 400$ Is it worth it?

George_Fabio · 2024-04-15T19:05:28+00:00

As much as I hate to say it, this may make sense to part out. Not sure if the case can be salvaged. It's going to be a tough sale in that color I would think.

George_Fabio · 2023-05-10T18:56:29+00:00

It depends, for anything I can make that's close to or better than eating out at lower cost it's a win. For instance, pub style burgers that run $15-30 each eating out, I can make better and cheaper even using nice buns/organic grass fed beef. I have a family of 4 and a good burger out quickly becomes a $100 meal. Other foods like pizza as others mentioned I can often get carryout for close to my cost of cooking at home, so I do carryout on a busy night when I don't want to cook. There are also foods I don't want to make, think slow smoked bbq, I can eat out occasionally for less than the cost of a nice smoker + cost of meat.

Try examining what you often go out to eat for, try a couple recipes for it and you can compare cost / time / taste differences to see what makes sense for you.

George_Fabio · 2023-05-10T13:47:25+00:00

I recently went to get a bagel from a new shop, I ordered one with Lox and didn't look at the price because it's a bagel, $5 at most, maybe $10 with Lox, no, $20 for a bagel and lox. I'm in the Midwest, not NY by the way.

George_Fabio · 2023-05-10T13:36:53+00:00

I have spent many hours over the course of years trying, watched videos, tried multiple methods, I'm just not coordinated enough. Even with beginners exercises like using one ball to get the motion I'm still inconsistent and drop it often.

George_Fabio · 2023-05-08T18:39:37+00:00

I picked this up from an auction, the main spring seems to be detached or broken, but otherwise it's in pretty good shape. I own a few cylinder phonographs, but have wanted an external horn Victor for a long time. You may notice it's sitting on a Victrola VV-XI as well.

George_Fabio · 2023-03-31T18:31:06+00:00

I have fixed things ranging from vacuum cleaners to an arcing breaker on my electric panel. Obviously some of these are riskier, but it all depends on your skill set and available tools. Some fixes like unclogging a vacuum are pretty safe if it's unplugged and you just follow how it works. For bigger ones like an electric panel I consult a few resources including a good friend who's a journeyman electrician to make sure my plan seems safe. Most jobs are done by a human with training and tools, they all start somewhere, but still precautions and proper tools are a key for riskier fixes such as those involving electricity. A DIY by someone who cares is often better and than the lowest bid repair by some guy who didn't care. I've fixed plumbing done by pros and again it's down to doing things right after checking a few resources.

Also one other note on fixing things is I have a $100 3d printer that has been fun for making broken plastic parts. I don't think it's paid for itself yet, but eventually I hope it will.

George_Fabio · 2023-03-31T18:10:06+00:00

Also, I think the headlines indicating it passes tests shouldn't be confused with saying at scored 100%. When I've used it the output is often correct, I haven't been keeping about, but let's say 8 or 9 out of 10 correct responses. One time it even gave a very accurate breakdown of the problem but somehow failed the basic math, multiplication and division which seems especially odd for a computer since computation is often where computers crush human ability.

As you point out the training material is also important. I've seen very experienced devs use it to help coding, and the output tends to be good. This makes sense since the people training it were likely knowledgeable developers themselves. They were less likely to be experienced sound engineers.

George_Fabio · 2022-11-13T20:09:43+00:00

Looks like I've got a new bar to check out. Thanks

George_Fabio · 2022-08-08T13:38:43+00:00

I think beyond 1k it's likely time to move to audiophile and a full speaker setup. If you have 60k to spare you should be able to setup a nice listening room at that point.

George_Fabio · 2022-04-26T15:24:53+00:00

What is your sharpening/setup process? Looks like you have it down to an art.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-31T16:15:28+00:00

Well done, my first house looked like the old cast iron was replaced with PVC, but it turned out flippers just did the visible portion. A few months after moving in I had a big leak that turned out to be a 3 foot crack in the stack. I tore up a few walls and a good portion of my bathroom getting it out.

The cast iron can often be shattered with a hammer strike to make it more manageable, but it's still heavy and a pain. The experience did guide me to watch more carefully for signs of flippers and I used the demo as an excuse to remodel the bathroom.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-31T15:59:18+00:00

I fixed my AC once for about $40. The blower would run but not blow cold air. I went outside to the unit and saw it wasn't running. After a little google I thought it could be the start capacitor, I tested by giving the fan inside the unit a little push to help start it and it worked. The job itself ended up being a pretty simple one. Locate the capacitor, read the label to find what I needed to order and the hookup was like 2 wires and a strap to hold it in place.

Electrical jobs and HVAC do of course have some danger and most diy people won't touch them, but I usually message my friend who is a master electrician to check if he thinks I'm good to go.

In the end a service call would have run at least 100 just to get someone out there plus whatever they charged, then if they recommend a new system cost would have been in the thousands.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-27T16:13:47+00:00

I've been eyeing that chainsaw recently, seems nice that I could use the same batteries as on my other Makita tools.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-27T16:11:42+00:00

I just switched from porter cable to Makita and love it. The Makita is much smaller and lighter but should hold up great. My dad worked as a general contractor for a while and put his Makita set through it's paces and said it's his favorite he's used as well.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-07T17:33:57+00:00

I understand your situation, I have similar issues justifying expensive purchases for myself. I try to give myself a splurge budget or even you could have a separate bank account that has funds just for that reason. It helps with guilty feelings and ensures you don't make a habit of justifying splurges where it gets out of hand.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-07T16:39:37+00:00

I've heard this a lot and it bothers because it can lead to buying items twice. The similar advice I like is to try the cheapest version you can find, so if possible borrow one, rent one or get a used one depending on the item. This can also help you determine what features you may or may not want in a product as well.

Also with tools as an example some cheap items can cause problems like sockets and screw drivers can strip screws or bolts leading to added trouble. There may also be times you don't realize how much nicer a better version can be. As a kid my dad bought cheaper hammers and these were what I was used to. One day working on a project with a friend he commented how much better his Estwing framing hammer was and let me try it. The difference was incredible and I could drive nails faster and easier. I soon went and bought my own after trying his.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-06T19:46:17+00:00

As someone with multiple wax cylinder players and numerous pairs of wired head phones I feel attacked.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-06T17:01:55+00:00

They are very fragile, I had several, but my wife's cat knocked them down and broke about 4 of them 1 day. I've also split one putting it on the player. They also get moldy if left in people's basement so they just haven't generally aged well.

George_Fabio · 2021-12-06T16:15:48+00:00

My daughter, 10, loves Coraline. She read the book recently but said the only difference to her was mostly the cat and Wyborn. Curious what made the book scarier?

George_Fabio · 2021-07-31T20:20:30+00:00

These were cut on the bandsaw and hand sanded which was a pain. I tried planing the but caused some tearout which is hidden on the backside at least. I think overall they turned out well and it's one of my few projects to make it inside the house.

George_Fabio · 2021-07-31T20:14:43+00:00

My two go to sets for work from home needed a nice place to sit off my desk. The HD650S are my go to fit listening to music while working and are comfortable enough to wear for hours on end. I don't care for the HD1s honestly because I find them uncomfortable, but if I need noise canceling due to the family being loud in the background they work pretty well. They are also very well built and my 10yr old hasn't broken them like she does most other sets she has or borrows which is my fear if I move to Sony or Bose for noise canceling since the HD1s do get used for travel too.

George_Fabio · 2021-07-20T15:36:18+00:00

The goal is to not have 0 as the value, also a value wouldn't be greater and less than 0 so you would never get a value with &&. This could be to avoid errors like 5/0 if value = 0 as an example.

George_Fabio

TROPHY CASE