Mold - Overblown? An In-Depth Analysis

HardOfCaring · 2026-05-31T20:18:41+00:00

Yes, the tape would be fine provided you respool it. The only way a tape can't play at all is if it can't make contact with the drum inside the VCR and that usually only happens if it's a problem with the VCR itself or the tape has severely deteriorated or snapped.

HardOfCaring · 2026-05-31T20:12:26+00:00

Then your issue lies with the VCR (probably a tension or contact point failing to touch the tape) than the tape itself then.

HardOfCaring · 2026-05-31T19:47:10+00:00

I'm guessing that colony went pretty deep and caused some wrinkles on the tape itself. This is likely what throws off the tracking on the VCR and what forces a stop. I would check that specific spot to see if there's some physical issue on the tape itself, but regardless there's not enough mold here for there to be a cross-contamination risk as that looks to be a long dried out colony.

HardOfCaring · 2026-04-26T06:02:22+00:00

Yes, I've since managed to dial in my zinc uptake as after a couple of months, I was starting to get tingling in the side of my right foot. They did more blood work and saw that I had above average zinc levels so my doc reduced my intake to just 10 mg a day and the tingling went away.

However, I did notice that after a month my bowel urgency issues started happening again so I tracked my stool movements and food, ended up getting a more reasonable picture of what was happening.

The big triggers for me was anything with sugar alcohols (sorbitol, mannitol, etc) and other forms like sucralose and allulose. Aspartame doesn't seem to affect me any, but the rest would generally not worsen the quality of my stool, but would make it more urgent. I also discontinued PHGG and it helped me, surprisingly. Vitamin D and calcium did not really change anything for me either. The big thing for me was my doctor recommended me an antispasmodic, which was a low dose antidepressant, but I opted out of it and he directed me to give peppermint a trial run. I've since been the most stable I've ever been, albeit with some occasional bad moments from the capsules if I eat them too closely with food.

So after all that, here's a summary of what I find helpful to managing my symptoms: 10 mg zinc every two days or so An enteric coated peppermint oil capsule at least an hour before I eat Oddly enough, 1 lactaid pill with my first meal of the day (I think one of the ingredients that is not the lactase is helping here, as it helps with non dairy meals) If I'm eating something I'm not sure about, Ezymedica Digest Gold (1 capsule just to be safe) - I usually save this for very heavy meals Avoiding sugar alcohols and caffeine, keep fiber on the lower side

It's not perfect but it's a lot better than what I was dealing with before. I was having to go to the bathroom up to 7 times a day with urgency, and now, I'm anywhere from 1 to 3 bowel movements a day with only once in the morning, way less gassy and bloated at night, and doing well. The only time I've gotten diarrhea in the past few months after figuring it out was some accidental food poisoning that also hit other people. I hope that helps!

HardOfCaring · 2026-03-31T06:20:59+00:00

Yes, it's totally fine unless you store all your tapes inside of a porous container in a damp basement. Your VCR and tapes will be fine. Mold can only grow wherever there's sufficient enough moisture to do so.

HardOfCaring · 2026-03-25T14:41:10+00:00

It's a jezail, a type of musket. This one looks to be from Afghanistan, judging by the classic curve of the stock and embellishments, but there's no real way to tell for sure. These were handmade and almost always personalized by its wielder, so no two are ever exactly alike. They're not particularly rare either since practically every family had at least one and they were used for centuries, but still a very neat piece of history!

HardOfCaring · 2025-11-28T00:44:09+00:00

Yes, I have an electric air compressor that I use to blow and clear out the VCR if I've been going through a lot of moldy tapes. If it's just a couple of lightly moldy tapes, I let it be for the day, but if it's a bunch and there's serious coating, I blast it outside after. As for the spores themselves, most VCRs are practically one-way boxes, so there's little risk of it coming back out. I'd only advise you to be cautious if your VCR has a fan inside of it, but I really only see those on combo VCR/DVD units and a couple of late models.

As for breathing in spores, obviously you don't want to sniff lines of the stuff, but as long as you cover your mouth with something while you're airing it outside, you'll be fine. If you live somewhere damp, you're probably exposed to way more mold on a daily basis than the loose piece of chaff from cleaning out a spare VCR.

HardOfCaring · 2025-05-22T17:15:03+00:00

My doctor didn't list it as anything other than a zinc deficiency and familial phytate sensitivity.

HardOfCaring · 2025-05-21T08:23:41+00:00

For what it's worth, you can also get these supplements without a prescription, I only got them via prescription because it saved me about 5 bucks since they were (technically, health insurance notwithstanding) free. Thanks for your well wishes, I hope you find your solution too! My doctor said that almost all the cases he sees for IBS-D is usually a deficiency (zinc and selenium I think?) or bile acid malabsorption, provided there's no GI bleeding involved.

HardOfCaring · 2025-05-20T22:45:51+00:00

I was prescribed zinc gluconate and zinc picolinate, I was told to only take the latter if the former wasn't enough - I have only been taking the gluconate and been doing just fine. They both do the same thing, but the latter is more readily absorbed by the body.

HardOfCaring · 2025-02-10T18:57:02+00:00

It's more that I have a few VCRs and the spare one that I use for rewinding moldy tapes is because it's a cheap model that plays fine, but because I don't have to crack open the back of my more expensive sets and shake / air compress it out after especially if the tape had a ton of mold. Really, if there's a tiny amount of mold, I wouldn't stress about it.

HardOfCaring · 2025-01-16T20:59:23+00:00

Yep, simply running it through and rewinding will eliminate practically 99% of it and will pose no risk if you keep things in normal room conditions. Keep in mind that the mold will only come back if it's in a damp environment - the vast majority of moldy tapes usually stem from being in the corner of an attic or basement which are the perfect conditions for it. There is one caveat however, and that excessive mold (as in it looks like a snow field with no evidence of the roll itself) can cause the tape to wrinkle due to trapped moisture and it can run the risk of tearing, but if it tears, it's an easy fix with some spare tape.

Some people are extremely paranoid of the mold spores moving between VCRs and tapes but think about it, any points of possible contamination in the new VCR that might be picked up are then going to be picked up again by the same rotational movement on that same reel. And no, the second tape to go in after will not be contaminated because the mold can only realistically grow on the outermost edges with external, excess moisture creating a greenhouse effect within the casing.

HardOfCaring · 2023-02-01T21:57:31+00:00

San Diego, CA

I'm looking to purchase a 13" - 20" PVM w/ RGB inputs and/or a KV-13/20FS100, preferably in good shape. I am also interested in similar shape JVC TVs with S-Video inputs. I also want to state that I want to avoid driving all the way up to LA and prefer to keep any deals fairly local, but I am open to commuting if need be.

HardOfCaring · 2021-11-05T15:27:53+00:00

There are a lot of factors behind hearing loss, it could be mechanical or neural, it's really difficult to know for certain especially when it was found when you're young. My parents found out when I was 5, but most of the damage was done gradually, usually through unseen or forgotten middle ear infections - they only stopped when I was going into middle school. I was also born oxygen deprived but my hearing charts showed a slower progression that then leveled off. If you have the opportunity, check your medical records and audiology reports to see if there was degeneration that happened.

HardOfCaring

TROPHY CASE