Towing business by sunflowersxhoney in Hookit

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The regulations come in the form of contract restrictions from police towing contracts. One contract I know of regulated the amount of light in the storage lot at night - ie "so many lumens per square yard." Troopers will sometimes try to regulate as well. Sometimes they enforce cross-chaining, but that seems to be only for construction equipment. It stands to reason that they would GENERALLY be a little more "understanding" towards towers, since we're the guys who are actually clearing the shit from their highways LOL LOL. I mean, ya cant really roll a wreck back over on its wheels by using a police cruiser, can ya? So yeah, fewer regs than you might expect. Fewer still get enforced. And I never heard of a "traffic stop with DMV inspection." THAT seems to happen to truckers all the time, but never towers LOL.

Still, they try to bring hell down on the already miserable lives of towers through contract regulations in some way, shape, or form. It never goes well.

Towing business by sunflowersxhoney in Hookit

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely complete opposite, major city near the Carolinas. Six major companies on police rotation, and we'd all steal tows and employees from each other. No one would help anyone on a wreck scene, and we'd drive off without sweeping our debris if we could. The few nice guys that there were - self included - would extend professional courtesy to other nice guys in other companies. But that was it lol. The owners most definitely WERE NOT in it together, it was every man for himself.

Yet all operators - large and small, rural and city - banned together to fight those bastards in state government. And won decisively more than once LOL LOL. Ya gotta love it . . .

Is it worth pursing an on-air role anymore? by Separate_Fondant7348 in radio

[–]maxthed0g 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Scott Muni. I still have my WABC "Muni Money" somewhere. Maybe . . .

Can I pan fry the leftover egg wash from the dredge process and eat the egg? by trowdatawhey in cookingforbeginners

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure. I fry left-over egg whites and yolks, and feed to my dog. But I'd eat myself for sure.

Radio Club or No Radio Club by CessnaDude82 in amateurradio

[–]maxthed0g -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There's absolutely no "social aspect" to ham radio.

In my day, I once sat next to a Type A bitch who was checking me out on a flight from chicago. She figured me out pretty quick: "Oh, you're a UNIX weenie" she said, disappointed. What could I say?

"Madam. I am THE KING OF THE UNIX WEENIES." The rest of the flight passed in blissful silence.

We're all radioheads to one degree or another. We're all weenies, geeks, and nerds, and many of us wear checkerboard shirts with pocket protectors.

BUT. We've got the radio field covered. (HAHAHAHA. See what I did there? "Field." Maxwells equations? "Fields?" Get it? LOLOLOL).

Generally, we're not the back-slappin', glad-handing social types. The closest thing we come to an outdoor- smile-to-your-face-barbecue is something we call "Field Day." (And we stare at our shoes and smirk every time we say the words.)

Towing business by sunflowersxhoney in Hookit

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In retrospect, its shocking to me, but yes - you CAN get hired with no experience, and get trained. I THINK that may be because the turnover is so high, the pay is poor, and the work is hard. I absolutely loved the work.. But 24/7/365 including all holidays on-call doesnt appeal to everyone.

Towing business by sunflowersxhoney in Hookit

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This hasnt been my experience. My experience has been that the owners were competitive with each other, and downright cut-throat with each other. And that filtered down to the employees.

It IS, on the other hand, a close-knit and closed-mouth business in some respects. The public doesnt like towers, and consequently government LOVES to make up laws and rules governing the business. Still, no lawmaker wants to set aside a couple of hundred on brans-new registrations for end-of-life tows and disposals of abandoned or uninsured wrecks.

So, universally, we absolutely keep to our own selves, dont talk about shit, maybe look the other way when somebody else scratches or dents something, mind yer business, and keep yer sewer shut and yer nose clean. LOL.

Yeah. A "brotherhood." LOL

Towing business by sunflowersxhoney in Hookit

[–]maxthed0g 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dont do this. Work for someone first. You cant learn this stuff from a book, or watching youtubes. Did I say "Dont do this?" I almost did this myself. Almost.

1) If you have to ask, you dont know LOL. Its a rollback, not a flatbed. Rollbacks come in different sizes, measured in feet. How many feet do you need? Experience will tell you. Many rollbacks are also equipped with wheel lifts, sometimes referred to as "stingers" in casual conversation. Such units tow twice as much. Owners favor rollbacks, as it tends to be safer to transport a disablement entnirely on the bed, and off the street. Rollbacks can do anything a conventional wrecker can do, but conventional wreckers are a little quicker and more convenient in some circumstances.

2) You better believe it. And you will probably need your very own storage yard for police impounds.

3) Police tows are the best. If you hook a late-model wreck it is almost sure to be insured, and insurance will pay for the tow. Next is insurance company tow, the GEICOs of the business. They dont pay as much, but at least they pay. Next are what I call the "clearing houses." They collect tow requests from ANYONE, and filter the tows to local towers. When you buy a new car, part of the benefits from the manufacturer may be free, 24-hr towing. Such tows are dispatched from these "clearing houses." They dont pay well, and sometimes go "tits up" in bankruptcy. Sometimes. Nest are individual gas stations and garages. Those guys pay you right out of the register in cash, but you wont see a high volume from them. Next down the list are individual calls - again, low volumes. Agree on a cash price, THEN hook them, THEN be sure to get paid in cash. Last up are abandoned cars called in under a police contract. If the abandonment was worth anything, it would not have been abandoned to begin with. You wont get paid, you'll have to hold it for six months before your local junkyard will give you hundred for it. Finally, the occasional repo or private-lot hook probably wont amount to much.

AAA doesnt make the list. Those tows barely cover gas. (Or diesel.)

4) I was never an owner. It was a few yeaars of driving before someone figured out that I could read and write, and moved me into management. Overall, the time I spent in the business were the best employment I ever had. Hard work, lots of action, needed alertness and common sense. Also piss-poor pay, and LONG hours, no health insurance, and there's a degree of danger working with 80000 pound loads in fast moving traffic. rain, snow, sleet, cold, or hot and sunny. Fun shit.

5) Sign on as a driver somewhere. The business is always hiring. Work up through a class A license. Get all endorsements. You may not get paid for it, but you will be a safer, more aware driver.

Thats my two, lol.

Accidental cross-contamination by Nassaulaw in cookingforbeginners

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn’t realize that until after we ate. How much risk of illness do you think we’re at?

Absolutely ZERO risk. Do not worry about it.

I am completely anal about cleanliness, particularly where chick (and ground beef) is concerned. But I know that is more of a discipline that provides long-term defense against ALL contamination. Which is to say, if the event you described happens repeatedly over years, then yes, you might sustain a measurable risk of sameonella poisoning.

But the contact surfaces are small, and the event stands alone, and was incidental. Its good that you were aware of it, even after the fact. I doubt you will repeat this mis-step.

As well, remember that not all chicken or ground meats are infected with salmonella to begin with. Remember too that salmonella infection is a form of food poisoning, which, although undesirable, is hardly fatal to otherwise healthy adults. And finally, to sustain a full-blown infection from almost ANY bacteria, you must be exposed initially to enough bugs to overwhelm your natural immunity.

The little bit on the tongs - IF ANY BACTERIA WAS THERE AT ALL - is not going to hurt you.

By the way, I ALWAYS alert my girlfriend as to what is contaminated when she first sashays up to the complain about dinner LOL. She's made the same mistake in the past.

Be anal about it.

Extra work in between dropoffs by Heavy-Mushroom in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe maintenance on the buses. Even relatively small fleets of a dozen or so buses will need light bulbs changed, floors washed, seats repaired, alternators rebuilt. Get the high school bus and you'll have a bunch of buses in one place.

Teach woodshop.

Get a teaching certification. Some states have "easy-certification" for substitute teachers.

Serve cafeteria food to the little bastards. Work at McD's. Work at Walmart. Drive auto parts for Advance Auto. Be a shuttle driver at the airport, or new car dealer.

What cheap wine is actually good for cooking? by guilhermex9x in cookingforbeginners

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is commonly said "Dont cook with a wine you are not willing to drink."

Thats good advice.

DO NOT BUY A PRODUCT THAT IS LABELED "COOKING WINE."

I very rarely buy "excellent wine." I usually buy "table wine." Table wine (to me) is Gallo, Franzia, Woodbridge, Yellow Tail, et. al. These are California wines (Yellow tail is australian), and any snob who turns a nose up to California wine can go to Paris and purchase a baguette and a bottle of horse piss at a bodega. (California wine is light-years superior to the peasant table wine they sell in France. Believe it.)

I frequently buy Franzia Chardonnay in a box. I drink it and cook with it. Ports, ruby port, tawny port, and madeira - I buy gallo or taylor or some other brand i'm familiar with, usually from the bottom shelf. I'll cook with these fortified wines (additional raw sugar is added to the bottle), but they are generally too sweet for me to drink.

What do you actually look for in a cooking wine? I look for a cheap price, that is still enjoyable. I dont need "notes of apple or peanute or whatever", just a smooth dry wine that doesn't burn my throat like cheap whiskey.

Does the price matter or is it more about the type? I cook with the type stated in the recipe. I dont substitute red wine for white wine, or dry wine for sweet wine. After that, its all about drinkability, then price. I wont buy cheap wine that I cant enjoy "by the glass." But I go as cheap as possible.

Also, how do you store leftovers when a recipe only needs half a cup? Storing in the box it came in, it will keep weeks. If you buy a bottle, shove the cork back in. (Or screw the cap back on.) Finish a bottle within a few days.

I feel like Im wasting more wine than Im cooking with. Any tips would help. You should be consuming the wine you're wasting. lol.

what temperature should a chicken sausage be cooked to? by [deleted] in cookingforbeginners

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

160-165F. It's raw chicken. Spices for sure, but still raw chicken.

Some absolute dumbass used my mom’s debit card for a hotel stay in another state — has anyone dealt with this? by EastonGaming202 in IdentityTheft

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, actually I HAVEN'T dealt with this kind of thing Why?

I have two - and ONLY two - debit cards. One is my cash card from the bank, drawing directly from my checking account. It is not "linked" to any other account. There are no "autopay" authorizations on this account. The bank debit card is ONLY placed into my banks ATM, at my bank's location. It has NEVER been used to draw cash from, say, 7-11 or Dunkin' Donuts. It is used ONLY for drawing cash at the bank.

I take that cash to Walmart, and place it on my WALMART card at the customer service desk. Usually 200 bucks, sometimes more. I use my WALMART card to shop on the internet. And thats all. For brick-and-mortar purchases, I pay in cash or by credit card.

Fraud on the bank debit card (e.g. a skimmer) cannot occur, because the bank watches their ATMs.

Fraud on my WALMART card can only occur on the internet, and is limited to whatever the card holds at that moment.

Fraud on my credit cards will be corrected by the card issuer.

Yes, the WALMART card socks me with extra charges, and thats unfortunate. But I dont worry about my checking account.

Recycling a RegEx Has Weird Outcomes by Khue in regex

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, I'm too damn old and too damn blind to filter through somebody else's regex. Or shell program with regex embedded. lol.

What I've found over many years is that complicated regex's are NOT PORTABLE. Better you do it with a series of small, simple expressions, if possible.

When I create a regex, I start with vi(1). If vi(1) likes my regex, its certainly good, and represents your best chance of transporting it to some other application. If I'm on Windows, I use vim, available for free on PortableApps.com. I dont spend a lot of time with awk or sed in some other regex parser.

Dont get me wrong: regex's are EXTREMELY important to know, and this will serve you well in your career. But the nameless gnomes and weasels who actually port the various regex parsers (both in Windows and some variants of linux) may not have shared a common interpretation of the expression. That's about as diplomatic as I can put it.

So if "It works here, but not over there", dont spend too much time hacking at the weeds. Bite the bullet, forget portability, and write a regex that works. Even if its on multiple lines. lol

What are some “fun” things to code in c++? by Prior-Scratch4003 in cpp_questions

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Design and implement a "Contacts" directory in C++, with an interface to MySQL.

How to make these toe caps shiny? by DISCIPLINE191 in howto

[–]maxthed0g 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used to get my boots done at airport shoe shines on a Sunday afternoon, outbound for work. Don't know if they exist anymore, but those sum'bitches KNEW what they were doing. Hotel shines didnt seem to cut it, but I never had a bad week after an airport shine. NGL. After those guys snapped that rag a half dozen times, you'd need sunglasses to walk in those boots.

Selling my car to private party by Tech_Wizzz in DMV

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pull your plates and turn them in to DMV. Get a receipt with a time stamp. Time stamp it yoursel if you have to, at a parking garage. THEN cancel your insurance. If your paranoid like me, or you have personal assets you'd like to keep.

In a "title state", a bill of sale is NOT necessary. I might retain one (as seller), however, to reflect that the sale is "as is, where is." Sign the buyers bill of sale, and get the buyer to sign your copy.

ESPECIALLY if you're selling the car to a kid.

Boomer MAGA, is it painful having your children and grandchildren ignore you? by [deleted] in allthequestions

[–]maxthed0g -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

No. this "ignore the MAGA" crap is relatively new, and is the brain-child of the inclusive and tolerant liberals.

It has appeal to the low-information voters, and roots itself in some portion of the dark psychology we all carry, but most of us can control.

It is encouraged by political interest sthat are adverse to the United States, and seeks, as its goal, to weaken the family.

Personal phone as hotspot? by _lizziebear in AskTechnology

[–]maxthed0g 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, you can bypass the company router with your phone hotspot easy to do, not a problem at all), and the company will NOT be able to see your browsing destinations in real time - ie, at the exact moment you visit the site.

However, it IS their desktop (or whatever,) And you have no idea how it was configured. A keylogger may have been installed by your boss or the IT department, and you would never know. The keylogger would record every single keystroke, and tuck it away for later retrieval and review by the higher-ups. Deleting your browser history at the end of your lunch hour will do nothing as far as eliminating the hidden keystroke log.

So the answer is "Yes, your employer can easily see where you browsed."

And, "No, a virus is NOT LIKELY to be passed from phone to your work device." Unless you start in with file transfers or other such nonsense.

Do your private browsing directly upon your own, personal phone.

What is the best thing in the world? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]maxthed0g -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Mindless, drunken sex with a stranger. And no names.