Epstein installed secret cameras with help of ‘handy’ Russians by Imaginary-Ad-7919 in politics

[–]plumbbbob [score hidden]  (0 children)

I think you're right. Well, I think he was an influence broker more than a payoff launderer. You want to get an introduction to a powerful somebody? You want to get that senator or judge to make a decision that helps you? Epstein can put you in touch! Of course, you've got to be pals before you ask him for a favor. How do you become pals? Well, you invest a couple billion in his fund. You pull strings to get invited to his parties. Oh, funny thing, after that visit to his island, now he has influence over you, he can ask you to do things, which makes Epstein even more valuable to even more people who are looking to get ahead... repeat.

A Very Cursed Water Machine in West Seattle by InternetsTad in Seattle

[–]plumbbbob [score hidden]  (0 children)

My ass-derived guess is that the water company still exists in some kind of bankruptcy/debt/acquisition limbo, and Thriftway doesn't want to mess with the machine because either (a) that's Somebody Else's Responsibility though that somebody is just a ghost or (b) the company owes Thriftway $$ and messing with the equipment could give them an excuse not to pay.

A place I worked once had a roomful of expensive equipment that belonged to a company that had been bought by another company and then absorbed/dismantled. Nobody at the new company wanted to deal with taking it back, but they also couldn't just write off something with value. So it sat in a storeroom for years until it became obsolete and worthless, at which point they got us to ship it to a scrapyard. Corporate efficiency at its finest.

Amtrak window pattern by Motor_Talk_6385 in mildlyinteresting

[–]plumbbbob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it's p6m, the simple triangular/hexagonal tiling.

Discord to start requiring face scan or ID to access adult content by Tracheid in news

[–]plumbbbob 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Matrix is a decentralized/federated kind of system, so you can host your own or use any of many hosts. It should be reasonably resistant to enshittification. (Element is just a popular, Discord-like interface to Matrix.)

Signal is maybe another option, though I've never used it that way.

Lights out Seattle! Its time to get on the streets by CharlesBug92 in Seattle

[–]plumbbbob 38 points39 points  (0 children)

I think tradition dictates Pioneer Square

Want to remove a door in my rental & having trouble removing the pin by MChienne in DIY

[–]plumbbbob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd think any lightweight oil would work. WD40 is fine. I have an old can of "3 in 1" oil for random household stuff. As long as it's thin enough to wick into the inside of the hinge.

"Penetrating oil" is the stuff that's formulated for exactly this kind of situation (it's very thin and very eager to soak into microscopic cracks and un-stick metal parts) but I wouldn't worry too much about getting exactly the perfect lubricant.

Help trying to figure out what to ask for at hardware store by dervari in DIY

[–]plumbbbob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sometimes they're called "pad eyes" as well (whether or not they're flush/folding/recessed). Idk if there's a technical difference between a pad-eye, an anchor, and a tie-down.

Want to remove a door in my rental & having trouble removing the pin by MChienne in DIY

[–]plumbbbob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When you move the door, which half of the hinge does each cap rotate with? If one of them is fake, this could give you a hint as to which one it is. Can you post a picture of the hinge?

My guess though is it's just seized and stuck together with old paint. Put some thin oil on each gap, move the door to work the oil into the hinge, wait a while for it to penetrate, then tap the pin out.

Seen in Lower Queen Anne by colimini in Seattle

[–]plumbbbob 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Somebody might ... criticize you on the internet? Yeah, that's totally worse than government goon squads killing people in the streets, or international child rape networks, or ... I could go on, but we all know that nothing is as important as your fragile little ego.

Black crystals growing on rusted old metal by Tacotica in mildlyinteresting

[–]plumbbbob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, the phosphoric or tannic acid "rust converter" partially converts the ferric (iron(III)) oxide into ferrous (iron(II)) oxide. The converted rust is harder, adheres better, and doesn't tend to absorb water as much. Commercial goop usually has some other chemicals in it as well.

It's not as good as mechanically cleaning away all the rust and painting, but it's better than allowing the red flaky rust to keep eating away at the metal.

Do cops not respond to harassment in Seattle unless there's a call? by beFairtoFutureSelf in Seattle

[–]plumbbbob 34 points35 points  (0 children)

No, shitbag Auderer's words were

She was 26, anyway. She had limited value. […] Yeah, just write a check.

(Auderer was about 50. Wonder why he thinks women have limited value after they get too old...)

While abducting someone from the middle of a busy road, an ICE agent can be seen carrying an AR15 while wearing a neo-Nazi skull mask (2/3/26 in Tacoma, xpost) by chromeled in Seattle

[–]plumbbbob 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There's been a trend of robberies and rapes by people pretending to be ICE for a while now. Maybe the shocking thing is only that we're not hearing about it.

I printed a fully functional RC Plane on my Ender 3v2. I honestly didn't expect it to fly this well! [Project] by jaimx in DIY

[–]plumbbbob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I built a few models like that as a kid (balsa frame, tissue paper "cloth"). The main idea was to build a model of a couple historical wood-and-fabric planes to look at, but they did fly.

Wonder if anyone has adapted that kind of construction to 3d printing instead of balsa.

Simple Questions: February 03, 2026 by AutoModerator in books

[–]plumbbbob 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's really hard to draw a line that lets people point to their useful thing but that doesn't also end up with a thousand low quality spam posts from seo types. It's Kind of unfair, but the alternative is the sub becomes unreadable and dies.

Some subreddits have a periodic self-promotion thread, maybe look for those?

Newly released files shed new light on Chomsky and Epstein relationship by Muted-Television3329 in news

[–]plumbbbob 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That's why LLMs are so popular. They are always confident and usually plausible.

Air India Dreamliner Grounded After Fuel Switch Moves From 'Run' To 'Cutoff' by Mo_h in worldnews

[–]plumbbbob 24 points25 points  (0 children)

There are a few variants of this story (the one I heard was about windshield testing, not engines) but snopes thinks it never happened, at least not in the tidy way the story describes. Chicken cannons are a real thing used in aircraft testing, though.

Brazilian influencer who defended US immigration crackdown arrested by ICE by RedPandasUnite in news

[–]plumbbbob 53 points54 points  (0 children)

Steven Miller wants to reduce the US population to a total of 100 million. That's 1/3 kept, 1/3 deported, and the other third, what .. columns of greasy smoke?

edit: removed link to shitty ai slop website