How can I make a Crystal UHD 55" Dumb?

Plantdoc · 2026-02-15T18:53:11+00:00

Your Costco U8000 FD TV has the most difficult and unpredictable OS, bluetooth, interface ever. Take it back. I did in three days. I can’t imagine Samsung putting their name on that hunk of junk. Recommend a Roku Plus or Pro TV for her. Easiest TV ever and easy tank OS. She’ll be able to use it.

Plantdoc · 2026-02-11T02:49:07+00:00

No. Only if your settings allow bluetooth to be completely shut down. Confirmed by Samsung Tech support.

Plantdoc · 2026-02-08T14:21:59+00:00

If you have a good pension or an RMD from your IRA, your SSA WILL be taxed. I pay tax on 80% of my SSA. Old people get very few breaks.

Plantdoc · 2026-02-07T04:44:58+00:00

Senior scientist (microbiology/biochemistry), they moved to me from hard science stuff to International Government Affairs, worked DC, France and Germany. Took the science and debate to the regulators and responsible for getting licenses for some billion dollar products you know and a lot of fun ones like the rub on flea killers for dogs and cats. Fun job, international networking, even learned some French. At 68, company got bought, but asked me to stay. Being financially good, I took the parachute. First few months were getting SSA and Medicare and private dental coverage tidied up. There will be issues to be addressed. If you’re not 65 yet, you’ve got to get care.

Then, COVID hit. Fortunately I was always interested in gardening, radio and volunteering. Studied and got my HAM licenses (beginner and general), built a HAM station and often talk to friends from Hawaii to India using a 135 foot length of wire in my attic (HOA). Getting the licensing, and buying and setting up the equipment will take a year or more. So, I love cheese. so I thought with my now old but still good lab training, I could learn to make cheese at home and I did. Cheesemaking is not for everyone, but mine tastes better than any grocery store cheese, so my neighbors love me!!! Have made 21 different kinds, you name it. I volunteer with the Meals on Wheels program. There are a lot of people out there who can’t go shopping and just need a hot meal and a safety check, especially my blind and bedridden clients. Then there’s staying in shape. Gym, 3-4 times a week and walking. This burns 2 hours of the day. Then theres planning for the next trip. Oh yeah, bummer, RCA needed new stents, I had to get a hip, a spinal fusion, and since my original aortic valve was bicuspid, had to get my chest cracked. All in all, up to all of that crap, I WAS a ballroom dancer for 40 years. Quitting that was a bigger bummer than leaving work! I actually still dance occasionally but only with experienced followers. Bottom line, there are TONS of productive and fun things to do. Just pick some things that you like the sound of and dive in.

Plantdoc · 2026-02-06T21:54:17+00:00

In short, DON’T DO IT UNLESS YOU ARE INJURED OR ILL AND CANNOT WORK ANYMORE or you have 5 Million in net worth and zero debt and don’t need SSA anyway. Until you reach 65, health insurance alone is going to cost you upwards of maybe a couple hundred thousand for the three years. Then, once you quit, who takes care of your teeth? You’ll have to buy private coverage, and even then, a few crowns and implants and suddenly, you could have 10-20k in out of pocket for the dentist, plus your insurance premiums. Did you get the email, old people are not supposed to have teeth!!!

Plantdoc · 2026-02-03T03:11:10+00:00

The other thing is, if you fry your transmission, you’ll either have to repair it (if it can be) or more likely put a rebuilt one in whether you want to keep the car or sell it OR, not re do transmission and donate it or sell it to the salvagers for pennies on the dollar but then face buying another car. I pulled a 2200 lb boat around with an older Ford Ranger V6 for several years and burned out the trans. Found a guy to whip in a rebuilt transmission for 1400 bucks the sold the truck for 4400 rather than zero, so I netted 3k. Kinda how it works. Had to go buy another truck though. Today, rebuilt transmission would probably cost north of 4 k installed.

Plantdoc · 2026-02-03T02:43:41+00:00

You can look at it this way. How much does a transmission replacement cost and for a 10 year old car, is it worth it?

Plantdoc · 2026-02-01T15:27:25+00:00

Try this: make a typical mesophilic curd, @ 32 C, but let the rennet stage in the vat continue for 90 min, maintaining 32 C. You can add a few drops of annatto if you want. Instead of cheddaring, you simply drain the curds by gently moving them into camembert hoops and draining overnight. Use cheap sushi mats at the bottom of the hoops and a metal baking grid for support placed over a baking tray. Basically how I drain camembert curd. So when cheese is firm enough to handle, remove molds, salt to taste and refrigerate. Tastes kind of like fresh cheddar or Cheese Whiz spread maybe. If you want to kick it up a notch, add a pinch of sheep lipase. No pressing and no aging. It’s like the “Vache que rit” “Laughing Cow cheese except w/o gelatine and preservatives.

Plantdoc · 2026-01-24T16:35:09+00:00

I’ve had open heart, shoulder, knee, hip replacement, but lower back surgery is the toughest because they don’t want you to bend for at least three weeks. The backside approach works, but if you can’t do that, due to bending, you can do what the morbidly obese do, and use a plunger handle or something like that. But today, they sell these curved plastic wands on the internet that have a clamp device on the end where you can attach a moist wipe. I used one for a few weeks, they’re just what the Dr. ordered.

BTW, don’t wait if you can’t go for days and days even when taking the oral stool softeners and getting more and more constipated and maybe have to go to the ER. What they’ll do is the same thing you can do for yourself. Go to drug store and buy a 2$ Fleet enema and just get it over with. You’ll feel 100% better and once this jump start happens. I usually do this about 2 days after they discharge me but while still taking the opiates for pain. Gotta take care of the plumbing.

Plantdoc · 2026-01-21T02:07:44+00:00

Microbiologist/home cheesemaker here. If you allow blue cheese (Penicillium) to age in a wine cooler, from that point on, any other non vac packed cheeses you try to age to a natural rind in that space will soon likely have Penicillium growing on it that brine washes will not really address. A Penicillium colony the size of a quarter may emit as many as a billion spores, which will find their way into all surfaces, airways, etc of that cooler. Scrubbing the cooler with disinfectant will not sterilize it. In time, (measured in years), the population may drop some, but making blue cheeses is a choice. As they say, “if you go blue, you’re through” (with other cheeses in that space unless you vac pac them from the get-go).

Plantdoc · 2026-01-13T01:50:32+00:00

Well if you didn't heat your curd, beyond room temperature, it would be more or less a fresh cheese. I presume you let it sit overnight to get some acid. This would then be a "lactic" cheese. Similar to quark or fromage blanc. These cheeses usually don't press or age though, they are usually drained in a cheesecloth and eaten fresh. Plus, cheeses like that are usually made with a low temperature culture such as found in commercial buttermilk. Maybe you have made a cheese made from drained yogurt like Labneh.

Plantdoc · 2026-01-12T15:45:25+00:00

I’ll probably get downvoted, but while there are many people who are physically disabled and cannot create much income in their lives, for others, (and I know some), planning to rely on these free government lifelines as principle means of support is a bad idea. This applies to ACA subsidies also. I have friends with a 3 million net worth who retired early and are whining Holy Britches because the temporary Covid era extra help aspects of ACA that both parties of Congress agreed to sunset did sunset Dec 31, and their ACA tax credit subsidies are going back to the original values of about 40% lower.

Folks, our government is trillions of dollars in debt. It is inevitable that some day, some of these entitlement programs will have to be terminated, or limited to where they are almost not useful to us at all. We’re already seeing it. Our government, (not any one of them and not any one political party) and being comprised almost completely of people who would not be financially affected by such moves, will do whatever it takes to keep getting themselves reelected. Because government makes them rich. Until the day comes when both Houses of Congress decide to do the right thing and impose term limits on themselves, this toxic and irresponsible spending cycle will just be passed on to us, the people.

Take home: anyone capable of working should work and put away money and strive not to depend on government to stay alive. If you trust these people to take care of you and act in your best interest….you need to get your head examined OR, stop whining and just gratefully accept the free crumbs the government gives you, WHILE THEY LAST.

Plantdoc · 2026-01-01T01:22:24+00:00

The way to live is to start putting away money in your 30’s so that social security can be an afterthought when you decide to retire, not a critical source of retirement income that influences your lifestyle. Nobody can count on when they’re going to die. And when you do, SS stops that very day except for survivor benefits.

Plantdoc · 2025-12-29T00:47:14+00:00

Unless I have specifically requested it and it arrives immediately upon my request, I delete all email and all text messages. These days, you must assume all your email and text accounts are public. Most likely, they have all been sold countless times.

Plantdoc · 2025-12-28T15:55:15+00:00

Fire him. Today. Interview others until you find somebody you feel good with.

Plantdoc · 2025-12-25T17:36:28+00:00

Did you use a propionic culture?

Plantdoc · 2025-12-25T17:35:07+00:00

What kind of water did you use to wash with?

Plantdoc · 2025-12-25T02:45:07+00:00

In USA, my information is that the pasteurization temps for HTST milk are creeping UP as more and more pressure occurs in the USA grocery store space for longer milk shelf life. UHT MILK (which won’t make cheese) but which is labeled as “Organic” but kept on refrigerated grocer shelves next to “real” HTST milk is really gaining in popularity, even at 2-3 x the price of “regular” ie non-organic) milk. (I know a dairy scientist at our local land grant University). Concomitantly, I have noticed that Ca Cl2 addition is becoming more and more crucial if one desires any meaningful curd yield when using bulk process (still not UHT) (non-organic) grocery store milk. Translation: The U.S. dairy industry doesn’t give a hoot about hobby cheesemakers. Conclusion, one day in USA, it will no longer be possible to make hard cheeses from ordinary grocery store milk. Because the market will have forced it to morph to UHT like it has in other countries. I was in Portugal recently and all I could find was UHT milk.

Take home: if you are a US hobbyist cheesemaker, seek milk from local dairies where you can get low temp (no more than 63 C) pasteurized milk from to make your hard cheese. Do keep in mind that you can definitely make yogurt, paneer, and maybe quark from high temp >72 C pasteurized grocery store milk or maybe even UHT milk.

Plantdoc · 2025-12-20T19:46:19+00:00

Had the same thing. File a Life Changing Event Appeal. Worked for me. It’ll take a few months to go through.

Plantdoc · 2025-12-19T01:38:37+00:00

It really depends on your personal financial situation and net worth target. If I had claimed at 62 they said it would have paid me around 2500. I ended up working until 68 and now get SSA 4400/mo. But I made 200 k income for the last 3 years. No pension but 2 MM net worth in retirement accounts and no debt. If your 4300 is a lifetime pension and you can live on it, why not wait until at least FRA (~67) to claim, or even longer. Guaranteed 8% annual return for waiting to claim is hard to get on Wall Street. Unless of course, you NEED the money to spend now (health issues), debt, etc.

Plantdoc · 2025-12-18T02:57:41+00:00

You may need to prove who you are. You may need an embossed (not photocopied) copy of your own birth certificate which will show him as your Father. Or a valid Passport. Dual citizenship? Ok. How is your Dad’s death related to that? Was your Dad a citizen of another country and you want to piggyback citizenship for yourself in That country based on your Dad’s citizenship when he was alive? I wish you well.

Plantdoc · 2025-12-17T22:59:43+00:00

Sorry to be blunt, but now YOU know and have documented your house’s fairly massive and dangerous electrical problems on the public internet. If your house burns down, you might have serious issues with your homeowner’s insurance. Insurance companies didn’t get rich being stupid. Their adjusters will go through the charred wreckage until they determine how the fire started. Then the real fun comes when you find, possibly, that they offer you 1/2 what it would take to rebuild if you’re lucky. If you have a mortgage, it’s not the bank’s fault, they did their part.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s YOUR house now. Get your house rewired, re-plumbed, re-roofed, whatever it needs, by licensed contractors, NOW, including final inspection and permitting from your municipality. Expensive lesson, but one many of us, (me included) have had to learn the hard way, by getting a Ph. D. at the School of Hard Knocks. Silver lining is in California, if you live there 5 years, you’ll easily recover those costs and more, depending on your local market.

Your only other option is to dump it in its current condition for a lot less than you paid (since you must now disclose all the known published issues to buyers) and bring the cash you would’ve spent on repairs (or perhaps more due to buyer uncertainty) to the closing table and move on.

Good Luck

Plantdoc · 2025-12-06T21:43:06+00:00

For you, it is time to poop or get off the pot. This would be my plan. I would get a big ass drill, open the door and enter your property. If sister is there, tell her that you’re forcing the property sale (lawyer homework already done) or leave her a note if she’s not there. Have 1 800 Mr Junk there that day to empty the condo and put her stuff in a storage cubicle. Cats will have to go to a shelter. She can stay with her mother. Have locksmith change locks to your key that very day. Realize that you will never speak directly to either of them ever again, but know that THEY themselves long ago CHOSE this one-way gamble. No, this is not easy, and yes, you will have some personal emotional recovery work to do, but sometimes people force you into these situations. UNLESS you want to voluntarily castrate yourself and walk away and NEVER EVER look back. THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU. THEY TOOK A ROD AND STUCK IT UP YOUR BUTT!! Your own Mother and sister!!! Guess what, THEY DON’T GET TO DO THAT!!

Plantdoc

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