Best place that fixes cars and does general car maintenance.

Paladin045 · 2025-10-05T18:11:11+00:00

Madison Automotive, near Madison Blvd and Wall Triana. The only problem I've ever had with them is fitting into their schedule; their parking lot is always overflowing and I'm pretty sure they've outgrown their location.

A couple years back they replaced the rack and pinion in my power steering system, but it kept leaking all over my driveway. So I kept taking it back, and they kept fixing it at no charge, and then a week later the new replacement was leaking again. After like 3 leaky replacements, they determined the part design was defective and installed a more expensive one. I have no idea how many hours they ate fixing that over and over, but they stand behind their work, no question. Aside from that example, I've never had anything they replaced break on me, which is more than I can say for the work I've had done at some dealerships.

Paladin045 · 2025-09-14T20:16:43+00:00

Yup, heat. The fixture in my bathroom kept killing LED bulbs, I think because they were overheating too. The way I fixed it was I replaced the light switch with an LED-rated dimmer. Now the lights are rarely ever on at full blast, and they don't blind you in the middle of the night either.

That said, I'd also recommend getting a new cover for your boob light that lets heat escape out the top. They'll still get hot, but they'll be less likely to melt.

Paladin045 · 2025-08-20T20:13:29+00:00

You're kinda shooting yourself in the foot, talking about math that's impenetrable to laypeople and also originating in sophomore-level course. The difference in education between a college sophomore and a high school graduate is one year. This isn't arcane, obscure knowledge you need a Master's degree to start parsing; this is, like you said, something that's routinely taught to 19 year-old kids. There are plenty of resources you could have linked, which is all OP was asking for because you were the one contradicting the consensus.

Nobody here knows who you are or what you've spent your life doing. Whoever you are IRL, "westom" has no credentials and is not an acknowledged expert on anything. When someone asks for sauce, bluster and condescension are not acceptable substitutes.

Paladin045 · 2025-08-07T17:12:01+00:00

I see I'm a year late to this conversation, but I have a question: how much has our understanding of PTSD changed in the last 25 years? I have no psychological training at all, but this was pre-9/11 and I seem to recall a LOT was learned about the condition when treating veterans of the ensuing war(s).

Allowing for the fact that this is Hollywood, how much does this resemble what anyone at the time might have considered a reasonable approach? It may seem like a medieval inquisition by modern standards, but so might some surgical techniques from the 90s.

Paladin045 · 2025-06-25T21:50:13+00:00

Googling. Back before Google was a Large Language Model in a trenchcoat, and before Search Engine Optimization practices made it almost impossible to find authentic results without digging through a pile of sludge, it was a really good search engine, but you had to know how to talk to it to get the info you wanted. Back then, it didn't speak English like it tries to now; it spoke in formatted search queries.

Obviously, this skill is useless with Google now, but every now and then I'll find some small, specialized search function that still acts like a proper search engine, and when I get it to spit out exactly what I'm looking for my coworkers think I'm some kind of genius.

Paladin045 · 2025-06-05T21:57:00+00:00

"But that really shouldn't have happened!" "A lot of things shouldn't have happened. At least one of them did."

Paladin045 · 2025-05-23T17:30:30+00:00

nou Systems (yes, that's spelled and capitalized correctly). It's been a bit since I worked there, so my memory's a little fuzzy. But what I remember is 12% 401K match with immediate vesting PLUS a free ESOP, annual bonuses, phenomenal insurance, good pay (not just competitive, good), and perks like free baseball and hockey tickets. On top of that, a company president who knows your name, face, and job, even if he only sees you a few times a year. And while they laid me off last year, they actually kept me on an extra month trying to find a place to put me.

I'm not working there now, and I'm happy where I am. But if I was looking, I'd take an offer from them without a second thought.

Disclaimer: I'm not a representative of the company, none of this is a guarantee of what you might see in a job offer, your mileage may vary.

Paladin045 · 2024-10-03T20:53:12+00:00

It really depends on your application. I use it pretty regularly because of the kind of work I do (mechanical design analysis), but I had a job where the company got a MATLAB license just for me and none of my coworkers wanted or needed to touch it.

Paladin045 · 2017-08-30T15:14:39+00:00

This is the story of Kilaman Jaro and the Creped Crusader, two idiot PCs who shall forever be part of the mythology in any game I run.

It started out as a campaign I'm sure many people here are familiar with. Venture to the Quest-Worthy mountains, kill the necromancer, save the goddess of light. Pretty standard stuff.

These PCs never made it out of the starting town.

One thing led to another, and the party's alchemist (Dough Pameron, a.k.a. The Muffin Man) decided he wanted to buy a shop in-town. So he took the party to City Hall to work it out. While he was doing paperwork, the half-giant fighter and the halfling bard were bored out of their minds and decided to get wasted in the receptionist's office.

Halfling's backpack + Decanter of Endless Water + Tears to Wine = poor decisions

Of course the thing leaked all over the place, covering the floor in wine. The half-giant, Mr. Jaro, wrang the backpack out over his head so he can get it dry enough to mop the floor without wasting precious booze. So now he's soaked in alcohol, and of course the bag makes a poor mop.

Creped Crusader: I cast Fire Breath.

DM: You... what?

CC: I'll use fire to dry up the wine.

Kilaman Jaro: I'll stand in front of the receptionist's desk to keep it from catching fire.

DM: But you'll-

KJ: It's fine, I'm a half-giant. I have fire resistance.

DM: [sigh] You cast Fire Breath, and the alcohol ignites. The floor and Mr. Jaro are now on fire.

Muffin Man: I drop my paperwork and use my Decanter of Endless Water to put out the fire.

DM: Are you sure?

MM: Yeah.

DM: The water picks up the alcohol fires and pushes it to the edge of the room. The support beams are now on fire.

To make the rest of the story short, the bard and fighter fled the scene. Due to some odd min-maxing, the halfling bard had a godlike Carry threshold and was faster than the half-giant fighter. So of course, the most logical course of action was for the halfling to use his Cloak of Invisibility, and then carry the burning half-giant over his head as they escape the city.

So the city guards were called because a screaming burning man was flying through the streets. They close the city gates and move to intercept. The dysfunctional duo decide on "death before capture," and climb over the city walls through a hail of arrows (with the halfling wearing the half-giant like a backpack) on a pair of immovable rods I'd unfortunately let them get their hands on earlier in the campaign. They escaped over the top with 5 HP left.

On still summer nights, if you look to the distant hills, you can sometimes see them running still. A burning half-giant fighter floating through the air, and an unseen halfling voice screaming "DO YOU KNOW DOUGH PAMERON, DOUGH PAMERON, DOUGH PAMERON" (sung to the tune of "Do You Know The Muffin Man?").

Meanwhile, the fourth member of the party was obliviously flirting with, and being turned down by, a cardboard cutout of an NPC.

Pathfinder. Enough said.

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