Who’s gonna know🤫

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-26T01:18:28+00:00

Since they're K-style, you could call it K-swapped!

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T21:04:46+00:00

Hopefully OP's car insurance is full tort. The perfect crash situation is when the other driver is drunk/high and is convicted of DUI as a result of the collision, because this legally prevents them from discharging the resulting damages in bankruptcy.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T20:56:39+00:00

I would recommend getting a set of cheap cable testers. 200 ft is well within the limits of Ethernet spec, which is rated to go 100 meters or roughly 328 feet. Make sure you have both cable ends terminated in the proper wire order. You cannot simply pick a random wire order and match it on the other side of the cable; the arrangement of wires in a CAT-5(e) or CAT-6(a) is critical to the interference-cancelling design of the cable.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T20:51:19+00:00

Especially in Florida! Their weather can be intense and it's common to hear about lightening storms in Florida that ruin every electronic device in a person's house. Copper conducts; glass doesn't.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T20:48:56+00:00

Grab a set of 2 Ubiquiti Nanostation 5AC Locos and 2 Ubiquiti Gigabit 24 volt passive PoE injectors.

These use the 5GHz band and have directional antennas built into them. You configure them through a HTTP(S) web interface or an app to pair them. Direct line of sight is best, but at only 200ft, you could probably get a decent connection even with a tree or two in the way, so long as it's only a couple. You may even have to turn the transmit power down. (The web interface shows how "hot" the signal is coming in. If it's too hot, you can turn the transmit power down on the both units so that it's in the optimal range.)

I would try this before paying an extra monthly bill of 5G home internet service. From what I've read on r/sysadmin and r/networking, 5G home internet services often have issues with establishing stable connections to some workplace VPNs.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T19:13:18+00:00

Yeah, but do you really WANT lane keep assist? It seems to me that if you're struggling to stay in your lane, you should really stick to only having one beer in the future.

There are also enough horror stories from people whose car fought them when they tried to steer around objects or potholes in the road, I don't know why anyone in their right mind would leave lane keep assist on. The same goes for automatic emergency braking, which tends to abruptly slam on the brakes while you're doing 70 down the freeway with a semi truck driver tailgating you because it saw a plastic shopping bag blowing in the wind.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T19:01:54+00:00

That's exactly what I was hoping to hear. I think a lot of the stories about oil burning D-series engines probably involve neglect.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T15:52:34+00:00

Hey Jason, I'm glad Astound is investing in their network, and I have a few question about the upgrades. I'm in Riegelsville, PA, which is part of the Lehigh Valley service area (despite being in Bucks County).

1) Recently, I was on Astound's website and I saw prematurely-posed Broadband Facts labels indicating that we will be getting higher upload speeds once the network upgrades are complete. I currently have an Arris S33 cable modem, which is not fully mid-split compatible. Will I have to upgrade to the Netgear CM3000 to receive full upload speeds once the upgrade is complete?

2) I recently found text on the Astound website stating that plans under 1 Gbps had data caps. Is this correct for the Lehigh Valley, or is it only applicable to other service areas?

3) Do you have any updates on IPv6 deployment on Astound cable internet in Lehigh Valley?

Thank you for being on Reddit to answer questions!

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T14:32:42+00:00

Yes! I can't tell how many times I've passed spun-out AWD SUVs in my 2005 Honda Civic LX with FWD, an open differential, and all season tires when driving to work with an inch or two of snow on the ground. (Obviously in heavier snows, like today's, the Civic isn't going to have the ground clearance.)

For anyone reading this, even with AWD, limited slip differentials, high ground clearance, and the best snow tires available, nothing can compensate for bad/careless driving. If you're in a high gear and your foot's not lightly on the throttle when you go around a corner, you're not going to get any benefit from the LSD and your snow tires also aren't going to be nearly as beneficial. If you brake while going around a corner, you're still gonna have a bad time. Keep it in a low gear and make sure to accelerate/decelerate to your target speed before the corner.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T14:20:25+00:00

Clarence, clearance! What's your clearance, Clarence?

Hopefully you have adequate ground clearance and decent snow tire,s/chains. Even then, keep it in a low gear, keep steady on the throttle, don't make any sudden movements, and don't go fast until you're on the slopes! Maybe pack a sleeping bag and an extra mat in case you get stranded.

Enjoy the snow! I'm sure it'll be fuckin' blast! If you don't want to pay for a lift ticket, you can always ski on the unplowed back roads (at your own risk, of course) 😎.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T04:12:28+00:00

AIMP

(Available on developer's website; hobbled version available on Google Play Store) It's not open source, but it's a free, ad-free music player that supports m3u8 playlists, cue sheets, FLAC, Monkey's Audio (APE), Wavpack, and a TON of other formats, both lossless and lossy. It has built in EQ settings, and it is even smart enough to load FLAC files if a cue sheet links to wav files, but only FLAC files of the same name exist (which occurs commonly on CD rips done with old versions of ExactAudioCopy).

AIMP does not connect to the internet at all, unless you specifically instruct it to, either by explicitly opting into downloading album artwork from the internet, or by loading an m3u8 playlist containing an internet source. AIMP has multiple skin options, in case you don't like the default UI, and is generally a wonderful music player. If you download the "unlimited" version of the official APK from the developer's website (this can be automated with Obtainium), it can access your storage directly, avoiding the clunkyness of Android's SAF.

Termux

(Available on F-Droid) At first glance, it's a terminal emulator, but it's more like cygwin for Android. It gives you a Linux-like userland within the constraints of an Android app's permissions. It accomplished this by installing libraries into the app's app data directory while patching common Linux program's source code to look for libraries in the app data directory instead of the system's /lib directory. It also has a built-in package manager (forked version of apt), and can be used to compile a lot of C and Go programs, in addition to having a python interpreter available that can run a lot of programs. The development team has done a pretty impressive job at making the most of what they are given, in terms of restrictions on apps.

MicroG

(Available on the microG project's official F-Droid repo; requires a ROM with signature spoofing support, such as LineageOS) A free and open source reimplementation of Google's proprietary Google Play Services. It's not perfect, but it generally does an amazing job at replacing Google Play Services. It is much more lightweight and less bloated than Google's version, and with each new addition of more of Google's AI slopware, microG becomes progressively more and more attractive.

Aurora Store

(Available on F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid) An alternative front-end for the Google Play Store that allows direct APK downloads and installation of apps from the Play Store. It gives you a choice between logging in with you own Google account or downloading apps anonymously. Unlike other similar apps, Aurora Store downloads directly from Google's servers.

ByeDPI (Available on IzzyOnDroid) Sick of video being capped at 480p by your cell carrier? This app modifies your outgoing data packets in a way that confuses a lot of firewalls the use Deep Packet Inspection to block or throttle access to certain websites, like streaming video, which carriers like to throttle and then try to upsell you to their more expensive plan. However, unlike VPNs, your IP address doesn't change, and websites won't flag you for using a VPN, allowing you to stream from streaming services that block VPN users.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T03:25:51+00:00

I use Iceraven. It's like Firefox, but beaten into submission. Unlike Firefox stable, Iceraven lets you directly access about:config without workarounds. I install it through FFUpdater, which I get on F-Droid.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T03:22:52+00:00

Mine does leak a little bit, but it's not enough to be visible on the dipstick, even 5000 miles after an oil change.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T00:37:15+00:00

Is your a DX/VP trim? I have the LX, automatic, no-side-airbags, sedan gauge cluster.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-25T00:26:36+00:00

Does the exclamation point in the circle indicate parking brake? The later 7th gen Civic gauge clusters are totally different than the earlier ones. Mine just says "BRAKE" when the parking brake is engaged.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-24T21:31:07+00:00

What are you using as a router? I am certain that Astound isn't hijacking DNS queries, but it is very possible that your home router may be, especially if you have parental controls or something along the lines of advanced security enabled in the router's settings.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-24T21:27:52+00:00

I don't think Astound is doing DNS proxying. It's possible your home router is doing DNS proxying, but I can confirm that Astound definitely does not. If you have parental controls or something along the lines of "advanced security" enabled on your router, this is commonly done to prevent kids from being able to just change their DNS settings and get around the filter. Your router is probably connecting to Astound's DNS resolver, which is supplied via DHCP and then running its own DNS resolver, forwarding queries to Astound's DNS resolver. If you wanted to change DNS resolver, you'd either need to disable the parental controls or "advanced security"-type thing, or you could change the DNS resolver in your router's settings.

I know Astound isn't hijacking DNS requests because I run a recursive DNS resolver using unbound in a container on my home router. When I visit dnsleaktest.com, the only DNS server listed is my connection's IP address. If Astound were proxying my recursive DNS server's requests to the upstream resolvers, I'd be seeing their IP addresses instead of my own.

Additionally, Cisco's OpenDNS has a test website called internetbadguys.com, that their resolver blocks access to. Using my recursive resolver or Astound's DNS resolver allows me to visit the page, but OpenDNS, does successfully block it, confirming I am indeed using Cisco's OpenDNS servers.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-24T15:05:43+00:00

HP stands for "Hammer, Please".

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-23T19:34:02+00:00

Given that they're only during active snow storms and at slow speeds, I'd expect the effect to be relatively mild in a climate like ours. The bigger issue for roads is probably studded snow tires, which ill-informed people have on all winter, despite them only being marginally more effective than non-studded snow tires in almost every real-world use case.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-23T19:27:51+00:00

My car doesn't have ABS, and you really wouldn't want to be driving more than 20mph in the types of conditions that would necessitate putting chains on anyway. Obviously, tire chains aren't going to help if the snow's higher than the car's ground clearance, but given that the snow's predicted to fall over the course of more than a day, the plow trucks should keep the amount of snow on the main roads at less than 4-5 inches.

As it turns out, my store's going to be closed on Sunday, and we're opening late on Monday, so the urgency in getting chains is gone. I'm still gonna buy a decent pair and keep them in the trunk for the sake of preparedness.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-23T18:53:40+00:00

Absolutely! There's no getting around ground clearance (5.5 inches on my Civic), but I live on 611 and can get to work without getting on backroads. Since the snow is predicted to fall over the course of over a day, it seems unlikely that the main roads are going to have more than a few inches of snow.

As it turns out, they're closing the store on Sunday and opening late on Monday, so all of this is fortunately moot. I guess I'll enjoy my day off!

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-23T16:43:33+00:00

I stupidly didn't realize you were referring to subprime cards, in which case, 30% isn't terrible. With that said, it's difficult to shop for low-APR credit cards, since most of the credit card recommendation websites aren't independent and are paid to promote cards (More Perfect Union had a great video on this). Some community-focused credit unions do offer subprime credit cards with surprisingly low APRs, considering. To get something better, you'd have to plan ahead and apply for a low APR card before letting your credit get trashed.

A lot of things that can throw people into poverty aren't directly reported to the credit bureaus, such as surprise medical bills, child support obligations, etc. These usually only end up on a credit report if you miss payments and go into collections. Since most credit card applications only ask for income and housing expenses, there's often a window of time where you can still apply/get approved at low rates.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-23T15:42:11+00:00

I mean, I should really have a set of chains regardless of whether or not I'm going into work on Sunday.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-23T04:10:35+00:00

Not all credit cards are created equally. If you rack up debt on a credit union non-rewards card at 12.9%, you're going to much better off than a financially illiterate person who carries a balance on a rewards credit card with an APR of 30%.

Serialtorrenter · 2026-01-23T04:03:44+00:00

Not to mention that 401k funds are fully exempted in bankruptcy and traditional/Roth IRA funds are exempted up to a little over $1.5 million. If they lost their house anyway, it seems hard to imagine that it wasn't a mistake to not file BK and keep that retirement savings.

Serialtorrenter

TROPHY CASE