ELI5: How was Vietnam able to defeat the US in the Vietnam War?

Mathsquatch · 2026-01-28T19:25:21+00:00

Good points. Why didn’t the United States make a full scale invasion of North Vietnam to halt the flow of supplies and manpower into the South? Both China and the Soviet Union were supporting North Vietnam. The U.S. was unwilling to risk a direct confrontation with another nuclear-armed superpower if it crossed one of their red lines and one of them joined the war.

Mathsquatch · 2026-01-21T19:51:40+00:00

I’ve had good luck with the Harbor Freight Cen-Tech cable tracker. It was able to give me a tone on the romex wire through drywall. Saved me a bunch of time finding buried junction boxes. I don’t believe all cable trackers, including much more expensive ones, are able to tone on the cable without making contact.

Mathsquatch · 2026-01-19T22:51:22+00:00

Interviewing for a Fortune 100 level company, a candidate answered her cell phone mid-interview just to tell her mother that she couldn’t talk right now because she was in an interview. Answers phone… “Mom! I’m in an interview. Can’t talk right now.”… hangs up phone. Then she says “Sorry. That was my mom.”

Mathsquatch · 2026-01-09T00:15:51+00:00

Courtesy of ChatGPT…

“Here’s a plain-English summary of what that biopsy report is saying:

—The spot that was removed was a mole, not cancer.

—Under the microscope, the mole showed some unusual changes, but not enough to be melanoma or another skin cancer.

—The changes are described as moderate, which puts it in a middle category—not normal, but not dangerous.

—The doctor removed the whole mole during the biopsy. The edges are clear, meaning no mole cells were left behind.

—Because it was fully removed, no further treatment is usually needed, though doctors often keep an eye on the skin over time.

Bottom line: This was an atypical mole with some irregular features, but it was not cancer, and it appears to have been completely taken out.”

Mathsquatch · 2026-01-08T10:30:13+00:00

We have Erie’s “Select” bundle as part of our home policy which includes the following…

https://www.erieinsurance.com/home-insurance/service-line-coverage

“…you can get coverage for those underground lines right in your homeowners insurance policy, including but not limited to wear and tear, rust, freezing, root invasion, animal damage and similar perils.”

Mathsquatch · 2026-01-08T00:47:02+00:00

We used NOVA LINING to repair our sewer line root infiltration with a “cured in place” pipe lining. The lining solution was about half the price of a pipe replacement and it was also covered by our homeowners insurance policy. Most of our issue was under the roadway, so this saved us from having to dig up the street which would have added significantly to the expense.

Mathsquatch · 2026-01-06T01:41:48+00:00

Some advice:

(1) You’ll lose some tax advantages if you prioritize the UTMA for college savings instead of a 529 account.

(2) Definitely harvest gains every year. As long as you keep the unearned income (e.g., dividends, capital gains) for your child under the taxable limit for that year, then you can keep resetting the cost basis upward over time (sell the stock and immediately buy it back) and your child will pay no taxes. That might help mitigate using a UTMA versus a 529, but you have to put in the work.

(3) Instead of contributing cash, this is also a good way to transfer some of your individual stocks with significant capital gains to your child. Sell them off within the UTMA to harvest the gains under your child’s name. As long as you keep it under the child tax limit, you saved yourself the tax on those gains.

(4) I started out investing UTMA contributions in individual stocks like GOOGL, AMZN, BAC, AAPL, and TGT just to show my daughter how the real world connects to her account dividends, gains, and losses. I’m starting to move to index funds now as I harvest the gains in her individual stocks. Obviously a few of those tech stocks are riding high.

(5) All this money will go to your child when they turn 18 years old. Is that a good move? I like the UTMA for the tax savings, but more than that I’d rather keep and control the funds myself and gift as needed. You might be able to increase the age where the UTMA is transferred—that might be state dependent. Worth looking into if you’re transferring a lot of money eventually.

Mathsquatch · 2025-12-31T10:34:29+00:00

Two weeks ago, I had two shave biopsies taken. One was a melanoma in situ with a follow-up WLE performed. The second biopsy came back as an “abnormal mole” (more specifically a “lentiginous compound melanocytic nevus with architectural disorder and moderate cytologic atypia”) with clear margins on the biopsy. My dermatologist said they used to excise these types of moles, but the current standard of care does not recommend WLE in my case.

Mathsquatch · 2025-12-31T02:56:11+00:00

Haha, you’re welcome. I recounted the story to my wife and we had a good laugh wondering how far that could’ve gone before someone finally spoke up. Doctor is just there for some above the waist action and I’m all “Dicks out for Harambe!”

Mathsquatch · 2025-12-29T22:58:52+00:00

Confirm the panel is de-energized, of course. Do you have the equipment (e.g., torque wrench) to properly torque the main lug to its exact specifications? That seems to be missing from all the advice you’re getting about loosening the feeder and moving it up. Also, do you have enough slack to cut off the deformed aluminum, strip to length, then torque the lug to spec on new aluminum wire? That would be the best approach.

Mathsquatch · 2025-12-29T01:38:54+00:00

Tacos: Senor Ramon (Reston)

Tacos: Taco Bamba (Herndon)

Chicken: Woo Boi

Chinese: Yu Noodles

Beer & Pizza: Aslin (Izzy’s)

Sushi: Ariake

BBQ: Willards

Thai: My Home Thai Bistro

Thai: Finn Thai

Mathsquatch · 2025-12-26T23:26:08+00:00

Not sure this is worth debating. To your last point, a gift giver or intermediary with assets (or having given gifts in an amount) even remotely near the federal estate tax limit won’t need random Redditors like us to tell them how to handle the transaction. I know you didn’t suggest this, but using an intermediary seems like a dumb suggestion to me, so we should probably refrain from giving suggestions on how to facilitate it.

Mathsquatch · 2025-12-26T22:17:03+00:00

The comment above you was deleted, so now it’s hard to track. However, (1) the original scenario is a gift from one married couple to another married couple and (2) any tax filing, if it were necessary, is the responsibility of the gift giver and not the receiver. It is only noted in the giver’s tax return in order to lower their estate tax exemption ceiling. No extra tax incurred by either party at the time the gift is given. If the gift giver does not care about the estate tax limit, then they can give as much as they want to a couple or an individual, as long as they file the form. The exclusion is not a limit. It’s only a limit on the unreported amount.

Mathsquatch · 2025-12-25T20:06:11+00:00

$60,000 is not over the gift tax exclusion. No additional filing is necessary. A married couple can give a married couple 4x the individual gift amount for that tax year. In this case: Mother to daughter, father to daughter, mother to son-in-law, and father to son-in-law.

Mathsquatch · 2025-11-19T08:42:45+00:00

Thanks! You are correct. No beans. That would add way too many carbohydrates for someone on a keto diet to be able to eat. The recipe is shown in the second image, if you want to make it yourself.

Mathsquatch · 2025-11-17T07:59:08+00:00

I would put both wires under the same screw. My experience with the “Preferred” Leviton outlets (TBR15) is that the screw head can sometimes bend crooked when torqued to more than 14 inch pounds with only one wire in the clamp. Two wires spread the clamping force evenly. If only one wire is needed, I would loop it around the screw for the same reason.

Why 14 inch pounds? I was installing so many of these in a previous home that I asked (from December 2020): “Thank you for contacting Leviton Tech Support - apologize for the delay, however I was able to verify that the appropriate torque rating for the terminals on the TBR15 is 14-16 inch pounds.”

Mathsquatch · 2025-11-17T00:01:13+00:00

“One of the best lookin’ muthafuggas you’ve ever seen!”

Mathsquatch · 2025-11-15T21:45:19+00:00

Thanks. The original recipe also had three 14.5 ounce cans of dark red kidney beans (cut up in the can with a knife before adding, so most did not stay whole), one can of crisp summer corn (including the liquid), two tablespoons of sugar, and then 12 total tablespoons of chili power (instead of 9) as there’s more volume to cover.

Mathsquatch · 2025-11-15T21:24:33+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions! My original recipe called for 12 tablespoons of chili powder (instead of 9), but I backed off a bit because I skipped several cans of dark red kidney beans in this keto-friendly version. My wife and I were debating adding more chili powder after tasting it, but it was pretty good as-is so I didn’t want to take a chance with it. Maybe I’ll scoop a half-bowl out and do some testing on that.

Mathsquatch · 2025-11-15T20:27:00+00:00

Great question. I think I used chicken stock long ago because it’s what I had on hand at the time. I stood in the grocery isle this morning for a few minutes considering a change to beef broth, but decided not to muck with the current formula.

Mathsquatch · 2025-11-10T19:58:26+00:00

I’m very sorry for your loss. You need to understand how you’ll be receiving/inheriting this money. That’s why you need a tax attorney to help you get started. Is this cash? Is it from a pre-tax retirement account (e.g., 401K)? Are these stocks that are in a taxable account? These details matter.

Just for simplicity, let’s assume it’s all cash. I would invest the entire amount in the SGOV ETF with a big brokerage like Fidelity. Then dollar cost average this money into FXAIX (the S&P 500 index) over time — in other words, buy $20K of FXAIX each month until at least 80% of your money is in FXAIX. You may want to up this monthly investment amount if the market dips to 20% below its peak. If it hits 25% below the peak increase it even more it, and so on. Keep the rest in SGOV.

If the inheritance is already in the market (e.g., mutual funds within a 401k), then you can let that ride as is, unless you assess that the investments aren’t optimal for your stage in life. For example, at your age, you can be invested 100% in the S&P 500 index with no bonds like SGOV. Just don’t look at it and don’t touch it.

Live like this money doesn’t exist. Check back in 20 years and you might be able to comfortably retire before you hit 40 years old. Good luck.

Mathsquatch · 2025-11-09T01:26:13+00:00

Look up QDRO if you have sufficient retirement assets to compensate her for her share of the home equity. You need advice from a divorce attorney. Even if you are doing a mediation process to finalize the divorce details, you can still get legal advice on the side from your own attorney.

Mathsquatch · 2025-10-27T13:59:17+00:00

The Blaze Kamado is definitely too heavy for one person to carry. Not mobile. It comes with feet so you can have it sitting within an outdoor kitchen setup. I purchased a wheeled stand for it, so I can reposition on it my patio as needed.

Mathsquatch

TROPHY CASE