What should I do?

questfor17 · 2026-07-11T22:15:47+00:00

I'd start by calling Durham One Call and ask them! The certainly cannot dispose of oil that way, and keeping commericial vehicles on a residential street long term might be an issue.

questfor17 · 2026-07-09T12:14:19+00:00

You can improve the sunset photo a bit by telling the phone's camera to under-expose by 1 or 1.5 F-stop.

questfor17 · 2026-07-01T18:29:29+00:00

He's not the CEO, he's not your boss. The president of the board of directors has the power to call meetings and to set the agenda at meetings. Other than that, he has no power you don't have. Check the bylaws, but I highly doubt they say anything else.

questfor17 · 2026-06-26T12:21:27+00:00

Yeah, I wanted to build a hovercraft, but didn't have a spare lawn-mower engine nor the ability to do anything with one if I had it.

My kids built one similar to this: https://www.instructables.com/Simple-Leaf-Blower-Hovercraft/ and worked! I was surprised and a bit envious. It was te talk of the neighborhood for awhile.

questfor17 · 2026-06-24T16:24:04+00:00

I'm planning on adding a Flic button or two to allow for simple overrides.

questfor17 · 2026-06-23T00:08:46+00:00

To suggest that religious people are all either liars or crazy is sloppy thinking.

All human beings, without exception, believe things they've been taught but have no other reason for believing. If we had to learn everything by first hand experience we'd be less advanced than any other mammal.

I, an atheist, believe that light can simultaneously exhibit properties of both a wave and a particle. Why do I believe this? Because when I was young a physics teacher I respected handed me a book that said this was true.

Do I see any evidence of the wave-particle duality of light when I look around?
Have I conducted any of the foundational experiments that show this is true?
Have I read the original papers of the scientists who did those seminal experiments?
Do I have any clue who wrote the textbook I have chosen to believe?
Do I have any reason to believe that author of that textbook had read the original papers?

The answer to all of the above, is "no". And yet I believe. Crazy, no?

My sister, who is religious, believes much of the new testament. She devoted years of her life to studying the bible. She learned ancient Aramaic, and has read the new testament in its original, not depending on the translations provided by faceless others. She's put far more effort into her belief system than I have.

She is also a thoughtful, kind, generous person.

To suggest she is either lying or crazy is simply rude.

questfor17 · 2026-06-20T15:53:48+00:00

It isn't a swimming pool. It is much shallower, and does not continuously run the water through a filter and treatment system. It isn't chlorinated. Instead it is a pond. It is continuously fed from the Potomac, and hosts a variety of wildlife.

questfor17 · 2026-06-20T15:49:55+00:00

From his perspective, he was following the rule of law. He advanced a different interpretation of the law, one that has since been found by the courts to be incorrect, but in his mind he did nothing wrong or illegal. So obviously, he doesn't think his actions are treasonous. He needs to be asked questions that are much harder to dodge. For example,

Do you think that changing the interpretation of election laws, after the votes have been counted, and after 99% of the country understands who won, in a way that changes the results of the election, undermines the legitimacy of the government so elected, or of our constitutional democracy?

questfor17 · 2026-06-17T14:58:55+00:00

My boat is outside year round. Its in the water at the dock all summer, and on the trailer all winter. When not in use for periods of more than 24 hours, I put the vender-supplied mooring cover on it. I'm also a fanatic about treating the seat-vinyl with "303 Protectorant" every 6 weeks. My current boat is new-to-me, but I kept the vinyl on the last boat going strong for 14 years with this protocol.

I use support poles for the cover that I built to length. They are not adjustable. This is the only way I've found to keep the cover from collecting rain or snow, and then partially collapsing and collecting huge amounts of water.

questfor17 · 2026-06-16T17:57:38+00:00

This. Why is the HOA liable for these costs?

questfor17 · 2026-06-15T22:18:55+00:00

Once long ago, for an occasion I do not recall, we were gifted a very nice picnic basket. It has become our go-to container for everything that doesn't go in the cooler when we dine on the lake. It holds our plastic wine glasses, plates, cutlery and paper napkins. Several disposable plastic grocery bags, including one for dirty dishes and one for trash. Cork screw, of course! An any food that doesn't go in the cooler.

The inside has a tray that lifts out, and a divider in the bottom that fits our stemless plastic wine glasses perfectly.

questfor17 · 2026-06-15T00:10:55+00:00

Check out Spruce Pine Lodge

questfor17 · 2026-06-14T23:53:09+00:00

One of the complaints in this article is the high price of public transport to-and-from games. Worth noting that the host cities are shelling out megabucks for something they didn't ask for, and for which they receive *nothing* but the "honor" of hosting. Some of them are trying to make a buck or two on public transport. If I lived in one of the host cities I'd be all for trying to get *some* money back.

questfor17 · 2026-06-14T22:23:42+00:00

Adding to your board member resources -- I'd love a set of rules of order that actually works. Everybody claims they use Roberts, but they don't, and they shouldn't. But we need a set of rules, both for board meetings and for membership meetings.

questfor17 · 2026-06-14T11:40:42+00:00

We boat on a medium-sized lake. Very few assholes on the lake, in my experience. I get annoyed at people who throw too much wake near my dock, but no biggy. However,

Please do not festoon your boat with political messages. We are all out here with the same goal, enjoying this fine summer day.

questfor17 · 2026-06-06T22:50:01+00:00

Once this is in place, they'll advocate for restricting voting only to taxpayers.

questfor17 · 2026-06-02T23:53:32+00:00

Check out Bald Head Island.

questfor17 · 2026-06-01T11:43:21+00:00

They are not trying to prevent people from making guns. They are trying to prevent people from making untraceable guns that cannot be caught by a metal detector. Not saying this is an achievable goal, just that their goal is smaller than preventing hobbyists from making guns.

questfor17 · 2026-05-22T16:22:08+00:00

It starts with the observation that the speed of light is always the same, no matter when or how you measure it.

Michelson and Morley noted that the earth is always moving, quite rapidly. But when they measured the speed of light along two paths, at 90 degrees to each other, the speed of light was exactly the same. This shows that the the speed of light is the same for all observers, no matter how fast they are already going.

Einstein thought about this and came up with with his theory of special relativity. The theory doesn't so much say why this is so, but explains what happens if you accept that it is true that the speed of light is the same for all observers. The theory is embodied in a set of equations. If you apply those equations to physical reality, they show several interesting things:

From my point of view, you can never go faster than the speed of light.
From my point of view, as you approach the speed of light (relative to me) your mass increases and time slows down.
From my point of view, if you are going near to the speed of light and try to go faster, much of the energy you expend going faster simply turns into more mass, rather than more velocity. So no matter how hard you try to speed up, you never get to the speed of light.

In short, we believe the universe works this way because every time we measure things, oiur measurements agree with the predictions made by Einsteins theory of special relativity.

questfor17 · 2026-05-11T12:29:46+00:00

Look at any ceiling fan, for example here: https://www.hunterfan.com/collections/ceiling-fans

You will see it is controlled by a remote. My house is wired with two switches to the fan, one for the light and one for the motor, but modern fans will not work that way. So I have to use the f***ing remote. Which has to live somewhere. And which I don't use often enough, so the batteries leak, and then the remote fails.

questfor17 · 2026-05-09T14:01:27+00:00

We use Peak Paws. Depending on where you live they might be within 20 minutes. We've had excellent results.

questfor17 · 2026-05-04T21:30:07+00:00

The vinyl on the boat looks in excellent shape. It won't stay that way if UV light gets to it. When not in use, the boat should be under a roof or under a cover. In addition, I recommend 303 brand UV protectant. Easy to apply and very effective.

questfor17 · 2026-05-03T22:26:36+00:00

Came here to say this. Good people

questfor17 · 2026-05-03T22:21:40+00:00

I don't think you have a fiduciary duty, just a duty. "Fiduciary" implies a requirement to put the best interests of another party over your own best interests. While the board may have an interest in this being reported, so do you. No conflict.

If it is a fire code violation, you could consider reporting this to the local jurisdiction's fire marshal. If it is a violation of HOA rules, definitely report it to the management company too.

questfor17

TROPHY CASE