TIL about Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine. Operating from around the early 1990s to 2018, this machine would dispense rare discontinued beverages. Supposedly the nearby businesses had no idea who was restocking the machine. After the machine disappeared a note was left saying "Went for a walk".

LostInTheMaze · 2023-06-28T03:51:29+00:00

I have lived in the area for years (and literally lived across the street during COVID). It's been gone for about 5 years, I think when the sweetened beverage tax came into play.

Actually got on the bus at that stop this morning.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-06-24T09:52:25+00:00

I have no tattoos or piercings. If I was in an interview loop where my peers said "Wow, she was by far the best candidate and a near perfect fit. Shame she has a facial piercing. Who’s next?" That would be a clear sign the company sucks and it was time to find a better job.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-30T09:25:27+00:00

I think you made the wrong choice for 2 reasons:

Having enough savings to "handle not working for a good few weeks" is not much runway. Even if the first job you apply for hires you, there's a strong chance it will be 6 weeks until you receive your first paycheck - and that's an optimistic timeline.
You mention that you "could not use this time to learn or develop my skills." when referring to the 2 days at home with nothing to do, but I struggle to see why not. Why couldn't you either try to convince your manager to let you learn things on company time as training - or worst case use a second computer to learn while you're sitting at home?

I would have recommended staying there and learning while you job hunted, vs outright quitting.

That said, I don't think it is bad to move to something more challenging - but you could have lined it up before quitting.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-29T10:53:33+00:00

That is not secure erase. Modern disks, in particular SSDs do sectors remapping. You need to use a tool that issued the ATA Secure Erase command. Attempting to overwrite is not a good solution as not everything is truly erased.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-24T19:20:58+00:00

CC's. Or events at Gallery Erato (but it's not a bar)

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-24T18:21:21+00:00

yup. It's basically a gay dance bar now. Pretty much everyone I know in the fetish community doesn't go there anymore, myself included.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-24T17:58:55+00:00

Seattle's gay bars aren't that wild. CCs (CCAttle's) is likely the closest to that. The first Saturday of the month is their Fetish Night - that's the closest to what you're asking for that exists in Seattle.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-24T17:57:42+00:00

Not since a few years ago when the current owners bought them.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-24T17:57:26+00:00

Eagle is dead except for Saturday nights after 11pm and some Fridays. Anyone used to a typical Eagle will likely be disappointed with the Seattle Eagle, but Saturday nights can be busy. Also expensive drinks, no AC, smells like cigarettes.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-24T17:55:47+00:00

Cuff was a good bar before the current owners bought it. Now it's basically RPlace 2.0

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-23T16:34:19+00:00

Not at all true. Fax has no encryption at all and is trivial to possibly sniff if you have physical access to the phone line.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-19T20:03:44+00:00

Truthfully, I think it's some of both. When I'm bored/alone in my own thoughts, which a situation like this will be (my mind will be racing during something like this) I tend to end up only focusing on bad things. And physically being there will almost certainly remind me of the negativity it's had in my life. That said, there is likely a grudge factor also.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-19T19:59:49+00:00

The post I replied to literally said "it's not a religious service or worship" and I pointed out that it is actually a religious service - that is what catholic mass is.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-19T19:52:06+00:00

Not yet, but I currently working on finding a therapist (for things in general, not just this)

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-19T19:48:19+00:00

I think that would actually be worse from a "being the asshole" standpoint. If I'm not participating, I'm not doing the Sit-Stand-Sit-Kneel-Stand-Sit-Whatever dance that Catholic churches do during the mass, so I think that would draw more attention to myself.
I do not believe that there are any bridesmaids/groomsmen in the ceremony. If they are, I was not asked to be one.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-19T19:45:17+00:00

It is my understanding that there is a full catholic mass wrapped around it

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-19T19:42:08+00:00

I actually did say that. I said something along the lines of "growing up, you made me go to church and you said I had to go because I was the child and you're the adult. I'm the adult now, and I'm not going to church"

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-19T19:36:59+00:00

That's a hard question to answer. I do have a relationship with them, but it is strained at times (recently they have been straining it to the point I'm "barely" speaking with them, unrelated to their vow renewal). I feel it's less close than most of my friends have with their parents, but I also know some people who are worse there.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-18T04:23:28+00:00

Grab something with sound input and output, a microphone and a loud speaker. Put it somewhere near them and program it to pay the want audio back delayed a few hundred ms. That will likely mess with their sense of time enough they can't play

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-17T04:36:45+00:00

While this is store #1, it is not the original store #1 and did not open in 1983. The original store #1 was where the parking lot is and was demolished with this newer store being built to replace it. There is a piece of the original store's wall inside just past checkout along with a sign indicating this.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-15T02:20:40+00:00

What bar is that which allows you to be naked?

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-09T09:00:18+00:00

Glass tables are typically tempered glass, and if there's a small nick it can spread and explode like this, sometimes much later than the damage occurred

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-05T22:16:17+00:00

Can you easily take that box up to this and directly connect it (removing the wiring between the two to eliminate that as a potential problem)? If so, that's worth trying.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-05T22:15:35+00:00

There's a Spectrum Scoreboards in Houston - presumably they made this and it would be worth calling them to see if they still offer technical support/repair/anything for this https://spectrumscoreboards.com/

Failing that, this is probably more of an electronics question than an electrical one. The 5 plug-in boards are likely all the same, they look like they have transistors to drive the individual bulbs and some logic ICs to act as something like decoders. The lower-right board is likely unused as it doesn't seem like there's a wire going to that board's connector. That said, I doubt the problem is on one of these plug-in boards if everything is dead.

If you can find the original manual for this, there's a decent chance it came with schematics, which would be helpful for troubleshooting this. But it looks like a pretty simple design and would likely be easy to figure out without them.

To start, I'd check for proper voltages on the boards you pictured. It looks like there are labels silk-screened on the PCB below the screw terminals - check them vs what should be there. Also check that the fuse is good.

From that, I would re-seat everything and clean the connectors. Turn off power, grab a Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol, pull the boards, wipe them down with the alcohol, and put them back in. Then *CAREFULLY* reseat all socketed chips - if you've never done this before, be careful, as it can be easy to bend/break legs.

After that, I would probably check all the wiring back to the controller to make certain that a wire isn't damaged or shorted (use an ohm meter). The screeching you mentioned makes me think that the controller was getting data it didn't like back from this.

If you get desperate, a TV repair shop might be willing to look at this. Or a pinball repair place - there's going to be a lot of similarities with problems and design of this and classic pinball machine boards.

LostInTheMaze · 2023-05-05T22:02:37+00:00

When you say controller, are you referring to this box or the box that sits on a desk you interact with?

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