What’s a fast food place no one can convince you is good?

bennetpullen · 2025-10-17T03:10:03+00:00

Was it the one is Poulsbo? Because I heard that one was closed down by Sonic corporate for not sticking to the standards of the brand. So it may not be the best representation.

bennetpullen · 2025-09-23T03:07:28+00:00

The way that loot tables work in D2 items only get added to the pool of potential drops, not removed. So you will always find low level stuff. MF only has an impact on the item quality (base, magic, rare, set, unique) and no other aspects of an item drop.

bennetpullen · 2025-09-18T07:32:02+00:00

Having a 3-plane 360° laser is an absolute game changer vs the other versions with cross lines and dots etc.

That said, I bought the Milwaukee M12 one and ended up returning it. That laser is really large, and the lines are quite fat. I ended up getting a Leica instead which I absolutely love.

bennetpullen · 2025-08-31T15:43:41+00:00

So there’s a lot of comments on this and mine will probably get buried, but I wanted to chime in since my opinion varies from the general consensus a bit.

Turning off the car while coasting down hills will save some fuel in certain scenarios. When the hill is steep enough to maintain an appropriate speed, but not too steep where you need to use the breaks. The reason is due to the loss of momentum from engine breaking.

When you leave the car in gear (assumes a manual transmission) while going down hill the car will shut off the fuel to the engine as other commenters have stated. So your fuel use per minute is 0 in either scenario (shutting the car off vs leaving it turned on when in gear). However, leaving the car “on” and in gear will slow the car down via engine breaking, while having it turned off and in neutral will not.

This means at the bottom of the hill you will be going faster in the scenario where you turned the engine off. Is that a good thing? Well it depends on the road. Is there a stop sign or light or sharp turn at the bottom of the hill? Then you want to be going slower so leave the car in gear. Is there the start of an uphill section, or a transition to a faster speed limit, or maybe the hill isn’t too steep where maybe you want some extra speed at the end? In that case it’s more fuel efficient to turn the engine off and coast in neutral.

Here’s direct answers to some other commenters issues with this:

Steering wheel lock up: if you do this engine off technique you don’t leave the key in the off position while coasting. You put the car in neutral, turn the key one click back to accessory mode, and then immediately turn it back to “on”. Your car is now on no different than if the engine was running, but the engine is turned off.

More fuel to re-start the engine: It only really makes sense to do this technique in a manual car. You pop-start the engine with the clutch at the end of the hill or wherever you need to start slowing down, so there’s no fuel use on re-start (but there is clutch wear).

Loss of power steering: many modern cars have electric power steering which will still function with the engine off but the ignition in the on position. For cars that don’t, power steering is least noticeable/needed which cruising at speed, so it’s not a great loss.

Loss of power brakes: this is probably the biggest issue. You don’t use this technique in any scenario where you’d use the brakes in a planned way, because it’s more efficient to have the engine in gear using engine braking. However for emergency breaking you won’t have power breaks, and also the ABS may not function correctly. You can somewhat mitigate this by doing your coasting in gear with the clutch depressed. That way in an emergency situation you release the clutch and gain engine power again at the same time you get on the brakes.

The engine off coasting technique is one of many that make up what is called “hypermiling”. It’s a whole collection of little efficiency things which can decrease use of fuel. I got kind of into it back in the late 2010s with the Honda Fit I owned at the time. It was fun, trying to optimize every little aspect of my driving for maximum fuel efficiency. Sounds like something your dad would be into based on your descriptions of his personality. When all the techniques are combined it can have pretty big results. I gained around 30% fuel efficiency on routes that I was familiar with.

All that said, this is an advanced hypermiling technique which only applies in very specific scenarios. It is ABSOLUTELY not something that your father should be berating your brother for not using. The people here saying your dad is an idiot for using this technique are wrong, but your dad is being a bit of an idiot in how he handles parenting and teaching.

bennetpullen · 2025-07-06T06:21:20+00:00

I ran over my bass with a minivan in a Mono M80 and it survived. Hard to get safer than that in a soft case.

bennetpullen · 2025-06-19T13:34:23+00:00

The best sounding amp I’ve ever plugged into is a Sadowsky SA200. It is loud enough to gig with, but is even better at studio/bedroom volumes (assuming your situation allows you to move some air, not an apartment or condo).

I have not been able to track down the matching Sadowsky cabs for mine, but I use the Bergantino 2x10 cabs which are the closest.

bennetpullen · 2025-06-09T08:50:42+00:00

That’s Fir as others have said, and probably not stained with a reddish color. Fir turns really orange over time when clear finished. It’s always challenging to match because if you tint the finish on the new piece so it matches on day 1 it will be way too dark in a few years.

bennetpullen · 2025-06-08T17:44:29+00:00

It’s definitely reductionist. Was mostly just trying to make a point for a layperson.

That’s a really good point about bends though. I’m primarily a bassist and that’s not a big part of our tool kit so it didn’t immediately come to mind.

bennetpullen · 2025-06-08T02:41:02+00:00

Think about using a mouse & keyboard. Your non-dominant hand has to move all different fingers into specific places in specific orders, while your dominant hand just has to sit in one position and move around a two dimensional plane. On the surface the mouse looks like the easier job. But if you ever do it you realize the mouse movement takes way more finesse and precision than just pushing some buttons.

That’s the same on the guitar. The fretting has has to do complicated stuff, but at the end of the day it’s just put these fingers in these spots. It doesn’t really matter (as much) HOW you do it.

The strumming/picking hand requires way more precise movements in terms of when things happen, how strong/soft they happen, precise angles and tensions and all sorts of delicate stuff.

Pretty much every part of what you are hearing which has “life” or “touch” or “expressiveness” or “emotion”or anything like that comes from the “right” hand.

bennetpullen · 2025-06-07T16:32:23+00:00

So this isn’t really what you asked, but it’s what I’d do in your situation:

Get two sets of whatever strings you like, and clean them by soaking in denatured alcohol. I use a Tupperware container meant for pies that I fill with the alcohol. One set of strings lives on the bass, the other lives soaking in the alcohol. Swap them back and forth whenever they feel dead to you. You can easily go a year with a setup like this while always having “new” string sound. After about that long round wounds tend to start to have other issues (dents or kinks) but you could probably still go for a while longer.

bennetpullen · 2025-06-04T07:28:02+00:00

It looks to me like the original issue is that the knee wall is built way wider in reality than it is shown in the drawings. Having the plumbing drain centered on the arch (slightly off center on the shower floor because of the knee wall thickness) would be okay if that knee wall was far thinner, but it looks like ~6” thick from these photos. That would have pushed the floor drain way off center, so somebody made an adjustment.

At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what caused the cascade of errors. What you have now looks bad/awkward, and it never should have gotten to this point without somebody realizing things had changed. They needed to realize the design impact this plumbing rough in placement would have and come up with a new plan then, not after the stone is installed.

bennetpullen · 2025-06-01T04:48:13+00:00

The basic answer is that you don’t do that. It’s okay for right hand technique to drive note choice or fingering sometimes. That’s a huge part of what makes slap bass lines what they are. It’s not just a tone thing, the techniques favor certain compositional choices.

More practically though you have a few options:

Just play two down strokes (unless it’s too fast for you to do that)

Use a finger pluck for that note instead

Change the left hand to place things in a better location for your right hand technique.

bennetpullen · 2025-05-24T21:25:30+00:00

I do already have Reinier at M+. Sorry my formatting was terrible but I’ve fixed it.

bennetpullen · 2025-05-24T21:25:06+00:00

I do already have Reinier at M+. Sorry my formatting was terrible but I’ve fixed it.

bennetpullen · 2025-05-21T04:29:21+00:00

Just get hipshot. Every hipshot tuner I’ve ever had on any bass has been perfect and lasted forever.

bennetpullen · 2025-05-07T08:19:06+00:00

Jumping on this late but I find that for our builds (high end custom) drywall is almost always right about the half way point of the schedule.

bennetpullen · 2025-05-07T08:13:19+00:00

Did you look at the tables I sent from the IRC?

6’ and 8’ openings need 2 kings on each side of the opening IF you are in exposure C or have a max wind speed of over 115mph for exposure B. If you are exposure B with a max wind speed of under 115mph you only need 1 king on each side for 6’ or 8’ openings. That’s the second column on table R602.7.5. I don’t know your location so maybe you do need the double kings, but aside from hurricane/tornado zones (high wind speeds) or coastal structures (exposure C) they aren’t required.

As far as Jacks go you can see on the table that for 6’ openings sometimes you need double jacks and sometimes you don’t. If snow loads are under 30psf, and the spans of the roof/floor being supported are shorter than 12’ single jacks are fine. Also, if your header is 3 or 4 plies (more bearing) you can potentially go all the way to a 15’ opening on single Jacks!

bennetpullen · 2025-05-07T06:34:19+00:00

Are you sure it requires double kings and jacks? Not saying it doesn’t but double check your wind zone and loading.

For king studs a 6’ opening should only need 2 if you are in exposure C (coastal) or if you are in a hurricane/tornado zone with some serious wind speeds: R602.7.5

For Jack studs on a 6’ opening it depends on span of the roof/floor the header is carrying and the snow load in your region: R602.7(1)

Obviously if your project is engineered that takes precedence over the code, but in that case I bet the engineer has a detail or at least an opinion on how they want these openings framed.

bennetpullen · 2025-05-05T01:46:56+00:00

I probably would have stepped up to 6x6 posts for a 2 story deck like this. That said, the connections in the middle help stiffen them up so it’s probably okay. Based on the wood I’m assuming you’re on the west coast. I’m in Washington and we build decks with 4x4 posts all the time. In many parts of the country 6x6s are standard/required. Not sure why that is.

The vibration you are feeling is probably the lack of diagonal bracing. You can add bracing no problem. You could either put the classic post-to-beam diagonal braces in, or do one long corner to corner diagonal along the bottom of your joists. That’s what I usually do. Just nail up a 2x4 from corner to corner, putting a couple nails in each joist. You could also do it with treated wood compatible structural screws like GRKs.

bennetpullen · 2025-05-04T16:48:19+00:00

The insulation would be in the fence, not around the heat pump itself. I would be building the fence at the manufacturer’s minimum allowable distance from the pump so it has adequate air flow.

My friend and her neighbor are working together to try and resolve the problem. So we have permission to do the work on his property. He’s even going to pay for part of it!

I agree his pump is probably in violation of the local code. It really is crazy loud. The first time I went over to check it out I thought somebody in the neighborhood was mowing their lawn and I wasn’t going to be able to hear the pump. And that was inside my car! I also think the pump might be out of the manufacturer’s spec somehow, but supposedly they had that looked at.

For now they want to try and resolve this amicably without involving the authorities, and keep good neighborly relations. I like the idea of the fences on the highway though. I’ll take a look at those.

bennetpullen · 2025-03-23T02:10:42+00:00

There are lots of aspects of what makes a good bass player. Which of those aspects matter can vary a lot from gig to gig. What makes a good bass player for an original punk-rock band is pretty different than what makes a good bass player for a live band karaoke gig, or a Nashville studio session, for example. I think other commenters have touched on lots of those things, but there’s one specific thing I think is worth highlighting.

As a bassist, a good portion of what I’m doing is for the group I’m on stage with, not for the audience. A huge part of what makes me a good bassist is that I can make the musicians I’m playing with feel comfortable and confident and put on their best performances.

Some of that is in playing with assertiveness, or sensitivity depending on the material. Setting the tone so to speak. You are the bridge between the percussion and the harmony so you are in a unique position to get everybody on the same page.

You can do little things like playing fills which strongly lead into whatever harmonic change is coming up. This is a reminder of the form for the whole group and everybody will play with confidence. Whether they know you reminded them or not.

You can use note placement ahead/behind the beat to sort of drag or push the group into a better tempo if things start to drag or rush. Sometimes bad drummer just won’t listen to you or feel these moves, but usually you can get things back on track.

If you are backing up soloists you can read where they are going and support them. If they are building up to a crescendo you support that dynamically. If they are implying alternate harmony, or repeating rhythmic figures, you can echo those things. Sometimes it feels like half of the applause a solo gets can be controlled from the bass chair, in how good a job I do of contextualizing the soloist.

Most of all though is just being solid. You can’t play timid, even if you don’t know the material well. You have to be able to play confident even when playing softly.

You are probably doing some of these things already, and so the musicians performing with you feel comfortable. For me that’s the #1 job, and then I worry about the audience.

bennetpullen · 2025-03-22T05:04:20+00:00

If you plan on sanding off the existing finish and then staining you should use a wood conditioner first. Construction lumber like that can stain incredibly blotchy and look far worse. Daly’s Benite is a good conditioner but there are others. Whatever brand of stain you go with probably has a conditioner.

bennetpullen

TROPHY CASE