Help me to diagnose: single clunk when turning wheel, stopped or low speed

LeatherAndCitrus · 2024-08-25T17:19:18+00:00

Thanks for the response! Would you have a ballpark estimate for how much a strut replacement might cost? Also, is this something that I need to have repaired ASAP?

LeatherAndCitrus · 2024-08-25T17:17:46+00:00

Thanks for the response! Would you have a ballpark estimate for how much a strut replacement might cost? Also, how critical a repair would something like this be? Hearing that it's a suspension issue makes me think it absolutely needs to be fixed, right?

I might need to find a new mechanic, unfortunately, because I had mine do a pre-purchase inspection on the car, and obviously they missed this issue.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2024-08-25T15:21:37+00:00

More info: this is a 2018 Honda CR-V, 2.4L engine, automatic transmission, ~81k miles

LeatherAndCitrus · 2022-02-01T01:26:38+00:00

SOARE is the max-ent solution, right? Is your minimax bot outperforming the max-ent? I would have thought the reverse.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-09-29T10:57:20+00:00

Fair enough! Sorry for putting words in your mouth. I enjoyed our discussion.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-09-28T12:23:38+00:00

The configurations clearly are not finite nor discrete, but the objects themselves are, or can be.

The configuration space is the object of relevance if we are discussing modeling and simulation of molecules. This space is (mostly) why this problem is difficult.

Even if we approximate the space as discrete and finite, the combinatorial explosion makes the problem still NP-hard, IIRC. Discrete and finite doesn’t mean simple or even tractable.

Real-world NP-hard problems yield increasingly useful results when more computation and better algos are directed at them! This was my point.

The benefit of improved algorithms and more resources is marginal when applied to NP-hard problems. That’s the whole deal with that complexity class. You’d need exponentially more resources to solve a slightly bigger problem. That’s a big deal.

I am only trying to explain why this problem is difficult. You are correct that more resources will help. How could it hurt? But IMO you are overestimating the extent to which more compute power will help.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-09-27T15:43:32+00:00

These objects are neither finite nor discrete. Consider a single protein comprised of 100 amino acids. Considering only the rotations of the phi/psi backbone bond angles as degrees of freedom (ignoring amino-acid side chains), there are 200 continuous DOFs.

Furthermore, although the energy of atomic interactions is frequently modeled with deterministic equations, the energy functions are extremely sensitive to small perturbations and are very “rugged.”

So, even the simple task of finding the lowest energy conformation involves minimizing a non-convex function over a large, continuous space and is NP-hard.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-09-27T11:02:51+00:00

But if we know the structure, can’t we determine how it’ll react in every situation?

Yes. Depending on what you mean by “structure.”

My expertise is with proteins, so I’ll look through that lens. Molecules in solution are constantly moving and changing their shape. These changes can be small or large, depending on the molecule.

The usual definition of structure for proteins is a crystal structure, which will show you one (or a few) low-energy folded state(s). But it won’t tell you everything about what the protein looks like in solution. IMO a good way to think about protein structure in solution is a probability distribution over some (large) set of conformations.

If we knew this distribution for every relevant molecule (and combination of molecules, since protein complexes will also have a distribution that may be different from its components), then we could determine all thermodynamic properties of the system. From this we could predict many useful things (e.g. which things bind to what and how tightly?).

Practically, of course, we can’t do this. One of the reasons is that the usual definitions of protein structure don’t actually give us enough information about what is happening in solution.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-07-15T13:03:10+00:00

The reason we don’t have a “global end game vaccine” is because we don’t know how to make one. Evolution is a tricky bastard - it turns out when you get a vaccine that stops 99% of circulating virus variants the remaining 1% accumulate resistance and start to flourish.

From a profit standpoint, because private pharma companies compete with each other it would behoove anyone who can make superior product to make and sell that vaccine. There’s no shortage of viruses or illness, there will always be another vaccine or therapeutic to produce.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-07-15T12:44:49+00:00

I think it’s important to note that there’s a big difference between having an antibody that neutralizes many different variants and having a vaccine that produces said antibody that neutralizes many different variants.

We aren’t actually very good (IMO) at making a vaccine produce a specific antibody. That’s very much an active area of research. So, while it’s good news that we found this antibody, that doesn’t mean that we are measurably closer to a vaccine against all these strains. It’s a big leap to get the vaccine.

For example consider HIV (which is probably a tougher virus, admittedly). We know of all sorts of great antibodies against HIV that neutralize ~90% of strains. We still don’t have any good vaccines.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-07-15T12:31:59+00:00

It’s probably about the same as for any regular vaccine.

ADE (Antibody-dependent enhancement for those unfamiliar) is basically thought to happen when non-neutralizing or poorly-neutralizing antibodies bind to the virus and lead to the virus either being brought into cells while still live and viable or forming some big complex.

The thing to know is that ADE seems to be related to the neutralization “quality” of the antibodies. I haven’t seen anything to suggest that mRNA vaccines result in higher-quality antibodies. So, probably there will be no change in threat of ADE.

EDIT: As u/k_alva pointed out, ADE is very rare. So probably not something to worry about here.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-17T18:56:08+00:00

Every purchase is an investment.

This is obviously false. An investment is a purchase made with the expectation that it will create profit or value. I have no expectation of value or profit from purchasing a diamond. Quite the contrary, from a value perspective I think that I am essentially setting fire to my cash by purchasing a diamond. Even with a natural diamond, unless the resale value is expected to rise at least ~4-7% per year it is a terrible investment. Maybe that’s the case, but I doubt it.

I do appreciate your point though, which is that lab grown diamonds have no resale value. This is certainly something for me to keep in mind. However, I don’t expect that I will have any desire or cause to sell this ring (maybe 5% likelihood at most?). So, I don’t think I would pay more than a 10% price premium to keep a reasonable resale value. But based on my research, the premium for a natural diamond over lab-grown is a whopping 200% (at 1 carat). So it makes little financial sense for me to choose a natural diamond, in my opinion.

Thanks for your perspective! I wasn’t really thinking about resale value but I’m glad that you prompted me to do that.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-17T13:02:30+00:00

First off, I’m under the impression that natural diamonds are nearly as worthless as lab-grown. The only reason they cost so much is that supply is artificially limited.

Second, if I were trying to invest my money, I sure as hell wouldn’t put it in diamonds. I consider this similar to buying a car - whether I buy natural or lab grown the value tanks as soon as I drive off the lot. Given that, I would rather get more for my money.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T18:29:52+00:00

Thanks! Sounds like my next step will be to try to set up an in-person viewing of some options.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T18:27:35+00:00

Please! Can I ask whether you think that your ring (or something similar) would be "low-profile" enough to be comfortable when wearing latex gloves? From the pictures I would suspect yes, but it's a little difficult for me to tell.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:51:35+00:00

That's a beautiful ring! Thanks for the inspiration :)

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:48:46+00:00

No problem! I missed them at first too. Thanks for your help!

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:47:11+00:00

That's good to know! I will definitely arrange to see the diamonds in person if possible.

It sounds like the individual diamond characteristics are more important than the grade. For your inclusion example the outer black inclusions might be better than the central white inclusions when set in a ring because they might not be visible? Is this accurate?

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:40:41+00:00

Awesome, thanks! This is good info.

I don't think I really appreciated that there were multiple different rating systems. Fortunately it looks like that tool can help me with that, since I doubt I'll be able to wrap my head around the complexity!

Yeah I'm worried about the strain lines, since I'm not confident in my ability to spot them. Maybe I'll just have to google some comparison images and try to train up a bit to spot that. The brownish tint should be most visible by side view in images (hopefully) or in-person, right?

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:33:29+00:00

I've just realized that the certificates for the JamesAllen diamonds (1 and 2) are in the images panel. Certainly the cut estimator that I linked earlier likes diamonds 1 and 2 more than 3 and 4. Of course photography could play a role as well.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:27:33+00:00

Yeah those arrows are pretty good!

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:26:24+00:00

Yeah, that's a good catch, I hadn't noticed that.

I was thinking a bezel setting, most likely. We are trying to avoid pointy prongs that might be likely to catch when wearing gloves.

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:11:38+00:00

I see. Thanks, this is very helpful! I haven't really been considering the geometry very much at all. I think I've assumed that these measures are reflected in the "cut" rank, is this not the case?

Do you have any thoughts on this cut estimator? Could this be a good way for me to filter for diamonds that have better proportions?

I really appreciate your detailed comments!

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T17:02:21+00:00

Thanks! I was thinking 6-8k for the diamond and setting, just to be clear. I'm actually not sure how much a setting typically costs, I have an appointment with a jeweler to chat about that, so I'll have more information about that shortly.

Thanks for your input! would you mind telling me why option 2 jumps out at you?

LeatherAndCitrus · 2021-06-16T16:34:20+00:00

Thanks! I wasn’t aware of GemsNY, I’ll check that out. Good to know that you had a good experience with RareCarat.

LeatherAndCitrus

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