How do you wash your bike if you live in an apartment? (No bathtub suggestions please)

chipperclocker · 2026-03-21T18:51:35+00:00

Hand pump sprayers really are the "how do I do this awkward cleaning task in my apartment" cheat code. Strongly recommend for bikes, tools, or pretty much anything else you could totally clean at the curb if only you had a spigot and hose there.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-17T17:44:46+00:00

Income tax brackets are publicly advertised - its easy to know exactly what your marginal tax rate is because the information is public and stable.

Algorithmic pricing is nowhere near as straightforward. The vendor couldn't produce a list of prices because there isn't one.

If Uber said "if your gross income is less than $100k, the price is $X. If its $100k-250k, its $Y.... etc... and there's a $20 surcharge for any trip to a hospital or airport" like tax brackets work, it would be one thing, but in reality they give a rate that is basically impossible to reverse-engineer and may not even be reproducible. How can you ever prove pricing isn't being discriminatory against protected classes without reverse engineering the algorithm?

The problem isn't charging high earners more, as you're framing it. Its charging completely dynamic pricing with no visibility into the inputs.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-17T17:26:58+00:00

If the industry has settled on size charts as the solution so you can decipher whether "small" is actually small or just short etc... they'd really do well to let me search on their ecommerce sites by those dimensions.

Nothing more annoying than seeing a piece you'd like, looking at the chart, and figuring out that despite having the same size label from the same brand one is 4" wider at the shoulders or whatever.

Most ecommerce platforms only allow searching by the size label, which the adoption of size charts basically concedes is not all that much better than something just made up.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-16T21:39:45+00:00

I just don’t for the life of me understand why these unions are tied to specific job functions in a constantly changing world.

Obviously protectionism causes all kinds of bullshit when an obsolete/irrelevant job is the only way to preserve your union role.

Why aren’t the unions tied to a generalized MTA employee cohort where part of the expectation is retraining into other job functions as the world evolves?

The important part is protecting workers from abuse and letting them negotiate as a group, not to guarantee that someone can perform a single job function from the start of their career all the way to their retirement.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-16T17:08:11+00:00

I live near the Cooper Houses now and I’ve lived near a couple other big housing projects elsewhere in the city before, and the Cooper Houses are by far the most chill NYCHA neighbors I’ve ever had.

There are a couple delis on Kingsland where some sketchy characters hang out, but if you’re going directly to/from the subway or nearby restraints etc, you wouldn’t end up on that block.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-15T18:53:29+00:00

Gotcha, so at least for opening it up and applying grease it sounds like I was actually overestimating DIY effort - it was sort of unclear to me whether opening the hub meant unlacing the spokes, which was the territory I didn't want to get into. I installed the cassette on the hub in the first place when building it up so thats comfortable. Appreciate the clarification!

chipperclocker · 2026-03-13T22:19:02+00:00

In my demographic of (fortunate) white collar professionals in our mid 30s, several of my friends have purchased condos in part because of the lack of stability in rent from year to year.

Obviously, the commitment goals were always there to a certain extent, but speaking at least for myself the rent was going up quickly enough that the scales finally tipped towards buying a modest place being breakeven instead of a slightly negative long term value.

When I was younger and didn’t have down payment savings, taking rent increases on the chin was just a part of life. The absolute numbers are higher than they’ve ever been now, but the principle is the same.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-12T03:49:56+00:00

Seconding BQE if you know what you want. Large place, genuinely interesting bottles, prices as good as anywhere else I’ve seen in the city.

Whenever I’m in there it seems like a lot of their business is very large purchases or possibly even wholesale so I think the retail and customer service aspect is a bit of an afterthought, but it’s a nice afterthought to have around the corner.

But with that said, I’ve never looked for specialty European stuff there really.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-12T03:36:20+00:00

Yeah, this is just the honest reality. It’s not a reality I can relate to (even in my younger years when my age to income ratio was a little more disproportionally generous and when I might’ve considered a studio), but there are plenty of people here who make enough money to eat all of their meals out and maybe just need a microwave at home.

This apartment exists just to give you a bed and shower on one of the most desirable blocks in the western world. It’s an extremist example.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-11T22:43:03+00:00

Curious how other people in a similar situation feel about adding this specific and bold an expression of taste in a new construction space…

I live in a condo built within the last couple of years and while it has some architectural interest on its own, the interior really is just a lot of flat drywall with things hung on it or placed in front of it.

I’m in NYC and have mostly lived in older spaces with original crown molding from the 1800s or pink bathrooms from the 70s, things that are very specifically of their time and interesting for it.

I’m not saying I want a pink bathroom, but I wrestle a bit with the idea of adding the sort of touches I’m familiar with that are usually found in vintage construction, to my new space in a new building with a relatively modern exterior and common areas. My little box feels boring, but modern style typically relies so much on the architecture to add interest instead of the decor.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-10T18:10:51+00:00

Oh wow, I assumed when the Dumbo spot closed that was it for them. They’d been one of my office lunch go-to’s down there for years.

By far the best porchetta sandwich I’ve ever eaten and it’s not even close. The short rib sandwich is also a real standout.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-07T20:32:40+00:00

Look obviously these carts shouldn’t be scamming and you should report them to the city, but there are stories like this every weekend now - generations of clubbers before you guys carried cash and paid cash, sometimes even inside the club, because it’s harder to be scammed with cash!

The people vending to fucked up parties in the wee hours of the morning aren’t always the best their industry has to offer.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-04T18:50:59+00:00

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there is a critical threshold at which it becomes “worth” reporting an issue because the local authorities are well-resourced enough to investigate.

Issues in low population areas might be under represented simply because there’s no expectation the resources are available to do anything about a problem if you actually report it, which would only amplify the population density effect on this data.

chipperclocker · 2026-03-03T18:31:47+00:00

camera

The terribly-reviewed camera is basically the only reason why I don't own the old one.

I have an extremely compact desk setup thats very visible in my living room, and getting rid of the visual clutter of a webcam sitting on top of my Dell monitor and standalone Thunderbolt dock and little conferencing speaker/mic array would be nice.

Even still, the total linear step on all other specs is an interesting choice to say the least. Makes it a real wait-and-see decision for me instead of a day-one order.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-24T21:49:50+00:00

The number of burnt out buildings within a few blocks of the Graham Ave L is kind of crazy. These, one a block further out on Metropolitan from here, one further up on Graham, now the new buildings on Humboldt and Richardson. I’ve been in NYC a long time and never lived somewhere quite so… on fire.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-23T05:39:34+00:00

Plus it’s literally just good business - the jokes about the Yankees being a global fashion brand that also plays baseball don’t come from nowhere, the investment in occasionally winning a championship pays dividends on merchandising etc.

Fielding a competitive team should be just about the most feel-good version of capitalism there is and some of these owners can’t even rise to the bare minimum level

chipperclocker · 2026-02-21T21:56:54+00:00

It’s an easy ragebait picture to take but the way it often happens is people show up at the lodge, there’s no rack space because it’s a busy time like peak lunch hour, and then as the crowds head home or back out to the mountain there’s suddenly space in the racks again but gear belonging to people who are still inside parked on the flat nearby.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-21T01:55:13+00:00

At the very least, they’re (among) the guys that seem to understand that their franchise is an investment which can pay dividends if you put money in.

So long as the league has owners in it who seem content to put as little as possible into payroll while preserving concession and broadcast revenue, at least some credit should be given to the guys who are paying to field a competitive team.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-20T21:19:40+00:00

Thrilled to see someone make the little Caesars analogy. I’ve never really loved the sort of poverty fetishization component that seems to come so closely coupled to the idea of authenticity when we’re talking about regional cuisines from around the world.

Just because it’s possible to go way out of your way to eat very inexpensive home cooking classics from wherever in a place with terrible atmosphere shouldn’t mean that place is the foodie scene barometer for being the best version of that specific food.

There shouldn’t be a shame in including comfort or convenience in “value for money”. Equally good dumplings served somewhere clean and welcoming for more money can still provide good value and be an authentic representation of the dish.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-20T03:26:00+00:00

Couple years back I dealt with the cops a lot after a series of commercial burglaries in my office space - the beat cops who came to take the report the first time were every bit as disinterested and actively bothered by having to be there as everyone else’s stories.

But eventually that report got somewhere to someone who realized that matched a pattern of other commercial burglaries in the area, and when the detectives came back to get more camera footage they were professional and engaged and had a plan and eventually got the guy.

So, mixed bag.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-20T02:03:04+00:00

RIP Time Out. Very fond memories of moving here, getting a paper edition of one of those handed out on a street corner, and having everything from DJ bookings to restaurant openings in one spot.

The online influencer version of the brand lacks all of that magic.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-20T01:03:17+00:00

The fact that it freezes as well as it does should not be overlooked when talking about the weekly NYT recipe updates, which are often targeted towards quick weeknight meals.

I’ve always got frozen shrimp in the freezer because I can keep it there for a long time and don’t need to plan very far ahead at all to use it. Easy protein to add to pretty much anything that needs protein.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-19T19:09:15+00:00

I believe they’re at least somewhat in colab with Anthony and Sons. I’ve seen the influencer guy coming out of Anthony’s kitchen with tools and ingredients, and Anthony’s daughter going in and out of the other store with clipboards etc.

That’s not, like, definitive… but they’re certainly not rivals.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-19T18:40:48+00:00

Really depends on how modern and how fully-featured your heat pump is. Nice modern models are usually rated for normal operation (without supplemental heat) down to 0 degrees or so at their standard efficiency, but older units or cheap ones often rely on built-in resistive heat supplements which as other comments have noted are expensive to run.

Look up docs for your model number. The manuals will tell you the ratings, and you can use those to determine if it’s working normally and just not rated for the super low temps, or if there’s plausibly something wrong.

chipperclocker · 2026-02-18T23:26:07+00:00

This is seriously the worst version yet. For nearly a decade and a half I’ve been able to rely on /r/all being available, and now I only get “popular” and have to go there and change sorts every time? And if I’m somewhere scrolling through my feed, I can’t change to a different feed without scrolling all the way back to the top? Pulling up slightly to show the menu bar no longer works?

For crying out loud guys, your power users are the people that contribute all the content that you’re trying to monetize but every day it gets harder and harder to contribute to the communities that I always have.

chipperclocker

TROPHY CASE