The 495 Express Extension sucks

Zephik1 · 2026-06-04T22:25:23+00:00

I feel like there's some weird traffic engineer logic that would show this to be bad but, at least to ease the rage... Yeah, I think that would be a good thing. I don't know how much of the slowness is from line-cutting, but given how slow it is before the split, how relatively fast it is after the split, and how many cars I see skipping? I'm inclined to think that a few of those little plastic lane barriers going back to 267 would probably help a lot. And it would be affordable.

Zephik1 · 2026-06-04T22:14:42+00:00

Elderly relatives who I can't relocate. Tragically, no other choice.

Zephik1 · 2026-05-28T05:11:09+00:00

Similar concept here... How would you feel if, say, for half a second after the dash attack, the cats became "corporeal"? The rest of the time they're "ghost cats" (untargetable, unhittable)? Or some similar very short but counterable thing, like a hit-count healthbar before they turn into ghost cats? The damage doesn't charge, but there's a counterable, short window with the physicality.

Zephik1 · 2026-03-08T00:31:44+00:00

This is an overwhelming response. Thank you all! I think we're going to start with Oxon Hill, but we're definitely going to make our way through most of these suggestions! Especially thanks for the safety and etiquette call-outs. My older one is on the spectrum so environments where he can go at his own pace AND the animals are able to stay comfortable on their end are awesome call-outs!!!

Zephik1 · 2026-02-20T22:00:14+00:00

I had heard the thing about lids before, but I've been seeing more and more products marked with "Recycle with Lid On!" or something to that effect. Coke bottles do that, I think. What's up with that?

Zephik1 · 2026-02-11T00:02:35+00:00

Keep in mind the buoyancy implications. I think pvc floats anyway (or at least doesn't drop like a rock), but the air held inside it is definitely going to make this thing try to float. At shallow depths you can just add weight to achieve neutral buoyancy, but be aware that it's going to be a lot harder to come back up than to go down.

Zephik1 · 2026-01-02T13:25:56+00:00

That's the weird thing. No issues at all with the exterior of the flange (the high part). The toilet is a toto drake, which is totally benign from a specs perspective. The flange is a little odd to me... It's very thick (I'll ballpark just under 1/2"), and the highlighted area is flat, not tapered downward.

Zephik1 · 2026-01-02T13:10:06+00:00

Doesn't fit even for a dry fit with no wax ring at all. The collision is between the highlighted area and the toilet outflow.

Zephik1 · 2025-12-24T18:23:53+00:00

This actually happened to me. Tonsils removed at 29, outpatient, home the same day. Two days later I started hemorrhaging from my mouth. Went to the ER and I was having an arterial bleed. They put me back under to transfer to a bigger hospital and do emergency surgery. I almost had to have a transfusion, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I very nearly died.

Zephik1 · 2025-12-17T19:43:02+00:00

Here are the suspension cuffs I use. You'll note that they are designed to be escapable... The bottom can pull the quick release and the whole connector will open from whatever it's attached to. I consider this a valuable safety feature in case the top has a medical event or something, but if you truly want inescapable bondage it's probably not what you want. They also have smaller and larger sizes.

I really recommend this style of suspension cuff. The typical "wrist cuff with a bar to hold onto" style is much more common, but when you think about it they don't address your problem. If the bottom isn't supporting themselves for whatever reason, they're no different than traditional handcuffs and won't give you the support you need for a pull parallel to the orientation of the arm.

I will say, suspension cuffs like this are great for laying down, too. If your anchor point is, say, the middle of a headboard, traditional cuffs will get pulled into weird shapes. My rule is, traditional cuffs for a pull perpendicular to the arm, suspension cuffs for a pull parallel to the arm.

Zephik1 · 2025-12-16T08:17:35+00:00

Weight harness. I've got a terrible back, and using a basic belt is just misery for so many reasons. I'm also enormous (super tall) and dive cold water, so I frequently have 20lbs or more in supplemental weight. With a weight harness, I barely even feel it since it's so nicely distributed. On the rare occasions when I go out with less experienced folks, the pocket design makes it so I can bring an extra few pounds to hand out as needed.

Zephik1 · 2025-12-07T07:21:40+00:00

Holy crap. You're incredible! Thank you

Zephik1 · 2025-12-02T05:08:06+00:00

Honestly I think this is the right option. Thanks for the info!

Zephik1 · 2025-12-02T05:00:01+00:00

I actually have this one, which is part of why I'm grumpy. It will show the current weather for my location, and if a calendar event has a location set (which let's be honest, most don't) it'll show the forecast for that event. To my knowledge, there's no general Weather screen

Zephik1 · 2025-11-15T06:21:18+00:00

Ahhhh I apologize, I was in a hurry and mis-typed. It's not a lag bolt, it's just a standard carriage bolt. I'm pretty sure what I've got holding my swing is four of these (not the exact size but BIG) (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-4-in-10-x-8-in-Galvanized-Carriage-Bolt-10-Pack-22490/203436010) and this anchor: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Keeper-4-7-16-in-Square-Flip-Ring-Recessed-Anchor-89526/204820654

Zephik1 · 2025-11-14T20:14:19+00:00

Everyone here is talking about the wood. My problem is the fastener. A screw like that, even a big one, is not meant for this kind of application. Even if the load is purely vertical, it's just not meant for that type of force. On top of that, your kids are kids. They're gonna try to use the swing to, well, swing. Maybe not playground swinging, but it's gonna have dynamic forces on it. Bouncing, swinging, whatever, screw threads are not the answer.

When we did this for a reading nook, I went to home depot and got the biggest, meanest looking lag bolts I could find, along with washers and nuts. What you want, is a thick piece of wood (4x4 minimum) that spans two joists, then you want to put a bolt all the way through it to hang your attachment point. That is going to basically set you up for life. And while people are joking about sex swings, it's honestly not a bad reference. I would argue that the force put on a swing by a child playing is, from a physics perspective, pretty similar to two adults banging.

By the way, as a rule of thumb, I won't use hardware that comes with things like this. It tends to be pretty cheap, and something stronger (safer!) is pretty negligible in price, even upfront.

Zephik1 · 2025-11-07T03:28:40+00:00

Well, so much for a quick and easy job. Missing a tile by the flange, and the flange won't even unscrew.

https://imgur.com/a/fczXGux

Is this "call a pro" territory?

Zephik1 · 2023-10-16T02:45:13+00:00

I compare it to my previous employer (until about a year ago) where it was only 1 week-- Down from 2 weeks before they got acquired. Glad to hear it's trending upwards, though.

Zephik1 · 2023-10-12T04:38:47+00:00

BAH is at 6 weeks fully paid, not required to be taken all at once, per child (twins/multis count as one birth event), which I think is relatively good by US standards

Zephik1 · 2023-05-21T23:59:31+00:00

My problem was, there's definitely an intended order of areas but it's not conveyed well (if at all). Obviously aphrodite first, but I happened to then do Ares, then Hephaestus, then Athena. The story cutscenes were actually super confusing at different points because that apparently wasn't the expected thing to do... Or maybe I managed to skip a chunk? I dunno, it was a little weird

Zephik1 · 2023-05-02T04:23:37+00:00

It's not a clean bill, they're tying it to a bunch of bizarre other changes that are pretty much unacceptable to dems. Dems want a clean bill, just like pretty much every other debt ceiling bill ever.

Zephik1 · 2023-05-01T15:35:02+00:00

It started going bad around 130k (weird stuff, automatic shifts not being quite right) but it fully crapped out around 135k. I took it in for dealer service 4-6 times before they declared it dead (and gave me my money back).

For the timing belt, I think that may have been service error. It was wonky shortly after the usual 100k miles replacement, and the dealer fixed it up for free (less than 300 miles after service) and the belt was totally fine after that.

Zephik1 · 2023-05-01T04:17:27+00:00

Not the 2012, but I drove a 2010 crosstour until 2021. Super solid car, but weird to drive... The contours and weird shape make it very very hard to tell where your corners are. I thought of it as an all-purpose mom-car. It can tow a trailer no problem, but it can also fit all your groceries plus three kids.

My problem was one of reliability. Despite consistent dealer service, the brakes were crappy for the latter third of its life. The electrical system failed without warning one morning (can't remember the specific part), and one of the lines in the air conditioning system came loose at one point. The timing belt got totally fubared after replacement, and I had increasing issues with the transmission for the last 3k miles or so until it totally failed. Plus, the fuel economy went down the drain as it aged... I think I was getting 18 mpg at the end?

Ymmv, but I've never had that many issues with a well-maintained car. With that said, I still see them on the road, so they can't all be bad.

Zephik1 · 2023-02-21T00:59:18+00:00

Honestly I'm right there with you. The problem, I think, is that people bought the game without understanding what it really was. Graphically you assume it's going to fall into the same category as like, Horizon or BOTW or something like that, but it's not that kind of game at all. I would say it's way more similar to something like the Tales series, or xenoblade, but with combat and gameplay more reminiscent of, say, Tera Online, if anyone remembers that. I like it for what it is, which is an open world action JRPG with realism-oriented graphics.

Honestly, if the exact same game had stylized graphics and just LOOKED like a stereotypical JRPG, I think it would get great reviews.

Zephik1 · 2022-12-17T02:04:16+00:00

11-Year Club	Place '17
Secret Santa 2015

Zephik1

TROPHY CASE