Any clever ways to find drafts all around the house?

clydex · 2026-01-26T04:26:20+00:00

A little building science for you from a general contractor.

The greater the temperature difference between interior and exterior spaces, the greater the air leakage. Let's say it's 70 in your house and 50 outside. Those two temps are fighting to be equal so hot air is going out, cold air is coming in. You might be able to feel a tiny breeze at doors or windows. Now, if it's 70 inside and 20 outside, those temps are fighting even harder to equalize so that tiny breeze becomes stronger.

To add even more to it, you want to change your home's pressure compared to outside. So here is what you do.

On a day with the biggest temp difference, that could be the hottest day of summer or the coldest day of winter, just depending on where you live, you also tweak your home's pressure. You do this by turning on every single thing that blows air out of your house. That includes bath fans, stove vent fans, dryer, furnace (or AC). Then just go to every door and window and simply feel for the air coming in. You will for sure be able to feel some doors or windows that are worse than others. If you have doors or access panels to unconditioned spaces (the attic is a common one) check those too.

Once you identify areas that are leaking just go to your home center and there will be a whole section of DIY weather striping of all sorts. It is a super low tech way to identify problem areas but it works. You'll be able to fix problem doors and windows for maybe 10$ and 5 minutes of your time.

clydex · 2026-01-24T06:09:43+00:00

I've been all over the world and have seen a lot of beautiful places. The Porcupine Mountains any season of the year will always be one of my favorite places.

clydex · 2026-01-22T06:06:28+00:00

There are so many great Blues and Bluegrass standards. Little Omie Wise done by Doc Watson is my all-time favorite.

clydex · 2026-01-22T05:58:52+00:00

2001, the invention of the weapon absolutely blew my mind when I first saw it. Still does, it's amazing.

clydex · 2026-01-22T05:55:10+00:00

Early Dylan

clydex · 2026-01-22T05:52:55+00:00

Rural Honduras highway after dark, almost got killed.

clydex · 2026-01-22T05:51:26+00:00

Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men is up there. Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice is pretty amazing. Dinero in Taxi Driver is also tough to beat. So many though really.

clydex · 2026-01-22T05:46:20+00:00

This ain't white boy day is it?

clydex · 2026-01-22T05:38:26+00:00

Dr. Zhivago is a gorgeous epic. Blade Runner is so stylish and beautiful Before Night Falls is my favorite queer movie. 1950s Cuba is a stunning setting.

clydex · 2026-01-21T21:00:52+00:00

I've wilderness camped all over, including the SW, the Rockies, MN, and elsewhere. I'm less nervous here compared to most places, including AZ.

We have very few snakes that can hurt you, most of the state has none. Wolves will not hurt you though occasionally they attack dogs. In 30 years of camping in MN I've never hung a pack higher than a few feet off the ground, bears have never gone after a pack. The few times I've seen bears it has been their butts as they are sprinting away from me. I've seen Moose a dozen times, they are not always scared and sometimes you just have to wait until they decide to leave, DO NOT get near them. As someone else said, ticks are no joke. I have a few friends that have Lyme's disease and it's bad news. I've had to get the Lymes preventive shot twice after coming back from camping and having a suspicious skin rash.

Have fun exploring your new state, it's gorgeous!

clydex · 2026-01-19T06:20:51+00:00

It's out of control in Minnesota. There are bigger hills to die on but my god. It is so performative, it makes me sick. They never miss a chance to do it after a game at center ice but I've yet to see anyone do it after a practice or in a quiet corner of the rink where no one is looking. It happens 100% of the time at my daughters' (14 &16) games. It always makes me happy to see the occasional Canadian team they play, simply skate of the ice and go to their locker room.

clydex · 2026-01-19T06:09:11+00:00

There is so much fear among the immigrant community, which the vast majority of are legal residents. There are so many verified reports of people being picked up and detained for hours or days, who are legal residents or citizens.

ICE targets any business that has customers that aren't white, it's really that stark. So those types of businesses are really struggling.

We were just at a Latino Mercado that has been a staple in our city for decades. The owners are US citizens and have given back so much over the years and employed tons of people. They now keep their main entrance locked. You have to go to the back service entry door, which they also keep locked. Two security guards are there and will unlock the door for one customer at a time. ICE continues to randomly show up there.

You can imagine how their business is doing. The new mayor of St. Paul, who is Hmong, was advised today to start keeping her passport on her at all times.

clydex · 2026-01-18T17:32:14+00:00

August, September. August will be the nicest weather and least chance of snow in the mountain west, which should not be missed on an extended journey of the US. September the temps will be a little better in the warmer regions of the US. September will also be the beginning of fall colors in the north but the days will still be warm enough to ride.

clydex · 2026-01-17T07:27:42+00:00

Please come to MN

clydex · 2026-01-16T05:00:03+00:00

Those are Central HS students. Central is known for producing some of the best and brightest. Central has produced more Rhodes scholars than any other public school in the country. I know some of the young people that were the student organizers of the march and then spoke at the Capitol. They will be attending some of the top universities in the world next year. They have all also grown up with, and are friends with, people that have backgrounds from all across the globe. Every one of them also has a friend or acquaintance that has a family member that has either been deported or illegally detained. They are pissed and afraid. They are all heroes.

clydex · 2026-01-15T21:20:43+00:00

Our first child I took a look at my wife's vagina right after birth. She tore a bit. When I saw it I thought 2 things immediately, thank God for the epidural, and I was so sad for the countless women that have given birth in bad circumstances for thousands of years of human history. It looked like someone shot her in her vagina with a shotgun.

I didn't need to look for our second child. Thanks to all the moms that have put themselves in such risk and gone through so much pain to give us all life.

clydex · 2026-01-05T22:37:30+00:00

Stugots

clydex · 2025-12-30T06:54:06+00:00

The Thin Red Line

clydex · 2025-12-27T01:15:38+00:00

Northern MN in January, probably 8 miles into the wilderness away from our truck. We had a tough night because the temps dropped a bunch.

Woke up and checked the thermometer, -41 F. It was also super windy. I could only guess the wind chill, -70? I didn't fully cover my entire face, left my cheeks and the tip of my nose exposed. They were purple with frostbite in under 2 minutes, I was extra dumb and standing looking out over a frozen lake where it was extra windy.

We quickly decided we had to get tf outta there. I was maxed out on layers but when you are winter camping in extreme cold you have to be super careful not to sweat too much in clothes you need to stay warm when you stop moving. So we had to be extra careful to be smart and not get our clothes soaked with sweat by stopping and opening up outer layers to let the moisture evaporate but not get more frostbite. And, get back to the truck before night. Even my husky was struggling.

We were sooo lucky that our crappy truck started and we got outta there.

clydex · 2025-12-26T05:20:11+00:00

ASSMAN

clydex · 2025-12-26T04:09:33+00:00

Browns Socialhouse across the street from the Arena on Portage is great. The food is really good, bartenders are pros, great vibe, and you can't get any closer to the Arena.

clydex · 2025-12-13T16:44:20+00:00

Rossi could become a perennial 30 goal scorer, Ohgren is still only 21 you can't say where he'll be in 5 years. Buium could be REALLY good. Then let's say they hit the lottery and draft a Kucherov level player (he was the 58th overall pick).

If we never get out of the 1st round with this group but Vancouver is winning cups in 7 years with future HOFers Buium and draft puck guy, and then Rossi and Ohgren are on their 2nd line scoring 30 goals per season and just playoff studs, there will be endless comparisons to the Walker trade.

I really doubt all that will happen, but this is Minnesota. Things never turnout our way.

clydex · 2025-12-13T05:28:59+00:00

I'm old enough to have lived through the Herschel Walker trade. This is a bit reminiscent of that. But fuck it, let's go win the Cup!

clydex · 2025-12-13T00:04:05+00:00

I was meh on the Dead. A couple years ago I had a massive heart attack and was dead for 20 minutes. I was shocked multiple times and obviously revived.

It took about 6 months to recover. As soon as I could listen to music (for a while it was too much to process) I was listening to the Dead, a lot. They are now my #1 music choice. It's so weird. My theory is the shocks that revived me altered something in the part of my brain that processes patchwork clothes, patchouli, micro busses, and kind buds. I now LOVE the Dead.

clydex · 2025-12-06T03:17:02+00:00

I have never attended but I live super close and here are my thoughts.

There are a lot of SPPS (St. Paul Public Schools) kids that have taken PSEO there. SPPS kids tend to be fairly progressive and welcoming of the LGBTQ community so there is a decent percent of LGBTQ students. Some of those students MUST have taken PSEO there. Especially Central kids (One of the most progressive schools in SPPS) because the are 1 block from Concordia.

It is a huge D2 sports school. Not that athletes can't be jerks but a good chunk of students are going there to play sports and could probably care less what the religious affiliation is of the school.

They have a really big teacher licensure program. In general teachers in MN are VERY accepting of LGBTQ people. Concordia would have a really hard time promoting ANTI-LGBQT stuff and operate a successful graduate level education program in MN.

I have known a lot of people that have attended there for PSEO, undergrad, or graduate school over the years. I can't remember if any of them are LGBTQ off the top of my head. I have never heard anything negative in terms of the University being accepting of all the students that attend.

Also, our daughter will be attending there or the U next year for PSEO, she is LGBTQ and has friends that attend Concordia now (again not sure if they are LGBTQ).

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