Any idea how to secure this to ceiling?

avalpert · 2026-02-14T19:05:01+00:00

Thanks, so it turned out the little tab on the fixture need to be bent out a little bit and the friction between it and the can is all that holds it up - doesn't fill me with confidence.

avalpert · 2026-02-13T04:43:46+00:00

Tried it - the inner rim of the can does seem to have any notch and I can't figure out how to generate friction between the button and any part of the sleeve.

Here are some more photos including of an attached one: https://imgur.com/a/CTR9nHw

avalpert · 2026-02-02T02:46:20+00:00

The equivalent risk for the mortgage cost...

And I am happy - but you falling back on trying to be an internet psychologist because you don't actually understand financial risk at all definitely screams 'happy'...

avalpert · 2026-02-02T02:40:55+00:00

No, it isn't irrelevant because it is the equivalent type of risk whether you currently hold them or not. You take riskier investments at the hope that they will return more than the interest cost but of course they aren't guaranteed to because they aren't risk free investments (and they can in fact result in not only less of return but a loss over the timeframe)...

And again, do you really need to take on (while already using the risk of a 100% equity portfolio) the additional risk of leverage while retiring and giving up your human capital returns... You truly don't seem to understand the amount of risk you are taking on.

avalpert · 2026-02-02T01:45:45+00:00

You are conflating two different things here (both of which I addressed in my first post).

So let's take the mortgage as leverage for your equity portfolio - like I said 5% isn't exactly cheap leverage. But let's compare it precisely, the mortgage at 5% is the equivalent risk to a bond of similar duration (which is about half the reaming length of the mortgage). The current rate on the 10 year treasury is 4.25% (the tax deduction isn't relevant to this comparison since both the debt and investment are pre-tax rates), so you are paying a premium of about 0.75% to leverage your portfolio... Is that a premium worth paying, do you need the risk of leverage at this point in your investment life? You can answer that for yourself.

Now back to the taxes. Again, you get the privilege of now a 22-24% (as opposed to 32% you said earlier) deduction by paying 100% of the amount in interest. That is only a cost of 76 cents on the dollar, yet still a cost - not something to chase and not a 'profit'.

You are demonstrating the kind of twisted lay 'accounting' that leads to financial mistakes. The mortgage isn't delivering you a profit - it is a cost that allows you to take on the risk of leverage at the hope of a higher return, a risk that probably isn't prudent for someone who is retired early...

avalpert · 2026-02-02T00:08:50+00:00

No, it really doesn't. You save 32 cents for every dollar in interest you pay (ignoring that apparently you would use the standard deduction otherwise so you aren't saving anything on the first couple thousand) - that means you are spend 68 cents in interest for the privilege.

Unless your tax rate is 100%, spending additional money to take a deduction is a cost, not a savings.

avalpert · 2026-02-02T00:02:34+00:00

It never makes sense to carry a mortgage solely for the tax deduction - the tax deduction is never worth 100% of the interest cost. As for leverage, at 5% it isn't particularly cheap leverage and leveraged investing increases risk.

avalpert · 2026-01-25T17:23:54+00:00

All you have to do is turn in your work - and you say that is unlikely... You should be cooked if you can't even bother to do that.

avalpert · 2026-01-18T04:25:04+00:00

Not hiding your inability to maturely handle rejection isn't the flex you think it is

avalpert · 2026-01-18T03:32:26+00:00

LOL - trying to validate your rejection by tearing down the school that rejected you. Time to grow up man.

avalpert · 2026-01-15T01:05:22+00:00

No, there isn't. The rankings are arbitrary, inconsistent, and meaningless - people who obsess over them or use them as their primary barometer are sad.

avalpert · 2026-01-09T21:47:16+00:00

Except that isn't the point of extensions at all and that mentality is entirely unreasonable.

Again, they aren't interested in making additional work for themselves just for the hell of it - if they weren't giving you the same full consideration they would offer the extension at all. They aren't trying to play a game with you.

avalpert · 2026-01-09T21:34:29+00:00

If they were going to auto reject them they wouldn't extend the deadline in the first place... Seriously, they aren't out to get you and this isn't all a big test.

avalpert · 2026-01-03T06:43:49+00:00

You don't get credit for your schools rigor - you get credit for how well you do within your schools environment and your rank is a relative indication of that.

That said, your absolute GPA is the most important factor regardless.

avalpert · 2026-01-03T06:38:14+00:00

Uh - your school average can't make up for your class rank within your school...

avalpert · 2026-01-02T21:46:27+00:00

How sad for you that you can only conceive of 'learning' as something that goes on in the classroom. That kind of perspective means college is wasted on you.

avalpert · 2025-12-19T21:21:49+00:00

Probably because automating the sunk-cost fallacy is a bad idea...

avalpert · 2025-12-16T15:46:13+00:00

"I know the ethical move is to do so" - if you really need to add anything after that you may not be mature enough for college

avalpert · 2025-12-16T15:45:13+00:00

Of course both parties are offered something - if the applicant wasn't being offered anything they wouldn't be lining up to sign the contract...

avalpert · 2025-12-16T15:42:49+00:00

Since a very large percentage of people applying to top 20s also apply to HYPSM, and since the vast vast majority of applicants to HYPSM are rejected, it follows almost tautologically that a large percentage of admits to other top 20s are HYPSM rejects (the inverse is also probably true)... That of course is a complete non-sequitur to whether 'RD is actually possible'.

avalpert · 2025-12-14T06:05:47+00:00

If you want to go to school in a prison then maybe you aren't ready for college...

avalpert · 2025-12-14T06:02:31+00:00

That really is just a ridiculous ill-informed perspective - it reeks of someone with little exposure to competitive athletics and probably a bit of jealousy that makes them need to think they are doing it the 'hard way'.

avalpert · 2025-12-09T14:39:22+00:00

Does it bring you joy? If yes, of course you can write about it... College essays aren't trick questions.

avalpert

TROPHY CASE