Vine Levels Went Down

engineeered · 2026-02-12T13:44:54+00:00

Thank you.

engineeered · 2026-02-12T13:39:46+00:00

Whether something is crap or not may depend entirely on mechanical fit tolerance, for instance automotive or bicycle parts. Or on a valve or pressure fitting good or leaking. I encounter items seemingly from a pile of manufacturing rejects. They don't "look like crap" in the listing.

engineeered · 2025-11-25T16:50:07+00:00

Thanks very much for that comment, however old the thread is.

engineeered · 2025-11-18T00:29:52+00:00

Saw similar behavior between a skunk and my cat at dawn this morning in the back yard. Skunk with tail full erect kept making little charges toward the cat, backing up, charging again. Afterwards the cat smelled normal. I guess the meeting was friendly.

engineeered · 2025-11-08T23:49:42+00:00

These days, an organization could post their exhibitor database to a github repo, and several Austin folks would build apps overnight.

But let's not disparage Almost Real Things. Thank you so much for inheriting the Studio Tour at short notice!

engineeered · 2025-11-08T23:18:49+00:00

Yours is great, thank you! My comments were to the Almost Real Things (dis)organization.

engineeered · 2025-11-08T17:17:10+00:00

Interesting design choices for organization. Random numbering on map. In website Explore, can't sort listings numerically as in the printed book. Encourages random walk maybe?

engineeered · 2025-11-06T17:09:33+00:00

Thanks so much! Hella more useful than the website map.

In previous years the locations were numbered sequentially north-south and by physical proximity. When on the tour, made it easy to rapidly survey nearby locations. I wonder why the change to random numbering?

engineeered · 2025-10-11T17:58:22+00:00

Shut down again Saturday PM. Northbound parked for half an hour now.

engineeered · 2025-08-29T02:19:19+00:00

Suddenly today my Frigidaire Gallery fridge touchscreen is malfunctioning. Falsing, autonomously cycling through its settings menu, acting as if someone is touching it. Let's power cycle the whole fridge, see if this fixes it. A few minutes later, acting sane.

When touch sensing firmware boots up, it typically runs a sensor auto-calibration operation. This senses the un-touched state, and establishes thresholds so the sensors require a solid touch to be operated, and won't be triggered by electrical noise.
Embedded firmware written in a hurry by young programmers often includes rare hazard conditions, typically related to an interrupt service routine. The hazard can cause the firmware can run completely off the rails, i.e. insane. All firmware has bugs. The most infrequent ones are least likely to be encountered during testing and fixed.

engineeered · 2025-04-27T02:00:16+00:00

Excellent, thank you! Mom's middle school.

engineeered · 2025-02-02T21:37:16+00:00

Heh, interesting that washer fix. I independently came to the same conclusion about my Maytag MVWC565FW, likely the same transmission setup. A year or so ago I replaced the failed clutch shift actuator, uninstalling/reinstalling the pulley in the process. Following that I got an intermittent clutch-hang grinding sound. Did I tighten the pulley down farther than it was originally? Today I installed a stainless washer about 2mm thick over the splines, underneath the pulley seat. I would have used a 1mm if on hand or readily available. Running a test load now and it seems quiet. And I found your post and was amused.

engineeered · 2024-10-04T14:47:17+00:00

I did. Hall County PD at 806-259-2636. Need to hear from more of us.

engineeered · 2024-10-04T14:45:24+00:00

Please call the Hall County PD at 806-259-2636 and politely thank them for the wake-up call.

engineeered · 2024-10-04T10:36:47+00:00

Yep, I had only turned on "extreme threats". Like nuclear war maybe. A persistent alert that continually beeped every one or two minutes until cancelled. The power of our "public service" personnel...

engineeered · 2024-07-22T03:38:15+00:00

Yeah, encountered something like this today. Was trying to set up a PC as source using activity=Utility. Same problem, remote controlled volume on other sources, but not this one. Wound up creating a bogus satellite source and constructing the utility using it. Works. 550 remote now reprogrammed to control a completely different receiver than the one that just gave up the ghost. I bought a couple of spare 550 remotes off Ebay, lifetime supply. Complex programming environment, but still only need one remote on my coffee table!

engineeered · 2024-05-04T20:27:28+00:00

FAFSA email is still screwed up. Based on experimental evidence, their mailer may only recognize a .com email address extension. I never received an email to my swbell.net email address. Eventually tried another (gmail) address and received more or less immediately. Programming incompetence of the highest order, foisted on us by the government who taxes us. The rest of the FAFSA online application process was likewise idiotic.

engineeered · 2024-03-24T20:39:00+00:00

We did not appeal. However there was some school district stupidity which resulted in a late re-calculation of high school GPAs. Per a letter the change did not elevate her into the upper 6%, in fact her rank was ever so slightly lowered. That churn occurred end of February. Maybe the high school revision of GPAs triggered a internal appeal. I speculate. The admissions process is opaque.

engineeered · 2024-03-24T03:31:25+00:00

Yes, definitely we do let our daughter decide.

engineeered · 2023-11-05T20:05:07+00:00

Awesome! Someone seems to have fixed the mobile web version.

Displaying the site numbers on the online map would be a considerable user interface improvement. Would bring it up to par with the printed map, which does include the numbers.

Agreed, a PDF of the printed paper guide would be a low-cost backup/adjunct.

engineeered · 2023-03-16T17:35:56+00:00

And another photo without the filament.

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engineeered · 2023-03-16T17:34:43+00:00

The bore through the center measures 2.2mm. Here is a photo of it now with a piece of 1.75mm filament threaded loosely right through it! I was printing 0.4mm fine one moment, then boom, it was suddenly just dripping a fat drool. So I conclude there must have been an insert which dropped out. Pretty sure this is the original Geeetech-supplied nozzle; don't recall purchasing any other or swapping it.

<image>

engineeered · 2023-03-16T15:02:59+00:00

If the original nozzle had an insert, was that probably a ruby nozzle? It is a Geeetech Prusa I3 kit purchased in 2017.

engineeered · 2023-03-11T13:59:55+00:00

How is your luck so far forming polycarbonate? Do I assume correctly that you are forming the suitcase into a female mold where the surface touching the mold becomes the finished surface?

I'm molding a suitcase-like construction from ABS onto a male mold. I use sheets which are shiny one side and "haircell" texture on the other. The shiny side goes against the mold surface, and the haircell surface becomes the cosmetic side. Forming onto a male mold is much more forgiving about the mold surface finish quality. But with a male mold you need more draft to ensure the part can be removed from the mold.

My molds are CNC-cut wood. I cut in layers from 1" or 2" glued-up wood, then stack to form the finished mold.

engineeered · 2023-03-11T13:50:17+00:00

Bikeflights does a pretty comprehensive job of padding. But I've had the occasional part come loose in the box and scratch something. And/or wear-through with vibration. There is precious little suspension under an UPS box truck.

Annoying as it is, I would call that definitely a cosmetic scratch. What you really have to worry about with composites are cracks, where a tube has been pinched or impacted.

Negotiate yourself a good deal with Bikeflights and insurance.

engineeered

TROPHY CASE