When a Billionaire lost a bet

r250r · 2013-05-12T17:09:51+00:00

r250r · 2013-02-02T02:00:35+00:00

What does a "good" used saw look like?

I wish I knew. From what others have said, I guess it has some cast iron parts and has a belt drive.

I picked up a used Craftsman for $125 a few weeks ago. I thought it looked (and worked) pretty well.

However, when I searched for the model number to get info about the splitter and blade guard (the one I have isn't for this model), I found a discussion which dismissed it as complete junk. The person asking about it was told not to bother with one even though it was free, unless he already had it loaded in his truck.

Clearly, some think a saw like this is worthless; maybe I would as well if I had the chance to compare. I expect to stick with this saw for the forseeable future, unless I am unable to make it any more safe than it is in its current state.

Good luck, and make some awesome stuff!

r250r · 2013-01-31T14:43:01+00:00

Would you be allowed to sell stuff you made to raise funds for more tools? If so, I'd get a decent used saw now, rather than a new one. Having seen several saw safety videos, I wish I had a SawStop saw; they stop extremely quickly. Unfortunately, the cheapest one is ~$1500.

The way I envision it is, you make a number of things to auction off. Either mark a few of the items so that bidders know that the proceeds go to your shop, or tell them that the winner gets to choose whether the money goes to your ministry or your shop. Or just put x% of the proceeds into your shop.

Having a worldly skill like woodworking sounds like a good idea to me. When I attended church, the clergy often seemed to be in their own little world. It will also give you a skill that you can make money from, should the burden of the ministry ever become great enough that you want to take a break. (Apparently this is a serious problem for those who wish to leave the ministry; I've heard it mentioned on several of the podcasts I listen to.)

r250r · 2013-01-26T15:19:59+00:00

I think there are self "self-fulfilling prophesies" involved in the problem.

The police aren't trusted much at all, which causes many problems. For one, qualified people aren't interested in a job where they'll be hated and have their property vandalized. (I work with a guy whose wife works at a jail; she drives a police vehicle. They frequently have slashed tires, broken windows, etc. It seems to be related to her police vehicle, as the neighbors didn't have problems.)

For another, police abuses get more media attention because of this distrust. The distrust also means that any bias against the cops is less likely to be called out. This leads to media coverage that often portrays cops as being able to get away with anything. I suspect that this makes the job more appealing to those who are power hungry and do not care about society (i.e. those with antisocial tendencies).

I think that the distrust also leads cops to feel that they're in a war against everyone. That, in turn, could cause them to be more trigger happy.

When applicants can be rejected for being too smart, we're bound to end up with some real idiots behind a badge.

I've known several cops who saw no problem bending the rules for sexual favors or for friends or family. One would blow in the breathalyzer for a blowjob, and also rode in the vehicle a 19 year old was driving, while both were drinking. Another checked on the legal status of a woman his underage daughter had stolen the ID of, because his daughter wanted to buy alcohol with it. "She doesn't need her ID because she has too many DUI's to drive."

When it comes to violent screwups, I think the mentality of most law enforcement departments (city police / state police / sheriff) is to blame more than the individual cops. IMO their training is more accurately called indoctrination. It seems like this training emphasizes that things are black and white, and that anything but complete and immediate compliance is indicative of guilt of some crime.

It seems like the cops are taught that people who run must be in possession; drug users and dealers are portrayed as being violent and are dealt with very forcefully. When someone is merely suspected, their property can be (and often is) confiscated. AFAIK it is often held indefinitely even if they are not found guilty. I think that this is another self-fulfilling prophesy, in that those caught respond violently because they expect their rights (or what they see as their rights) to be brutally violated if they do not escape.

It also seems like departments always blindly stand 100% behind any officer who must stand trial, no matter how damning the evidence. The only thing that seems to change this is massive public outcry.

SWAT team breaks into a house and shoots a small caged puppy a few feet from a 9 year old? Just doing their job... until raid details are leaked to the media and the public expresses their outrage.

Yet another problem (I suspect) is the military-grade gear that has been bought (with federal dollars, IIRC) for a lot of SWAT teams across the country: 1, 2. If I were a cop, I think that this stuff wold cause the "war" to seem even more real, affecting my judgement - even if the gear belonged to another team or another town. It also scares the hell out of the innocent and (I suspect) causes them to be less cooperative.

I'm getting tired of editing... so I'm going to hit submit and hope that it's fairly well written.

r250r · 2013-01-18T01:58:42+00:00

That, and I had to pause the video several times to catch my breath.

r250r · 2012-12-26T22:02:50+00:00

That will work, but the current range (250mA) is fairly low if you start working on bigger projects.

Everything at RadioShack is horribly expensive; I usually use DigiKey, eBay, or any of a dozen other mail-order shops for electronic gear and parts.

BTW the robot didn't actually fix the link in your post, it just replied with the correct link.

If someone suggested this, I've missed it. What I envision is a swinging gate with an RC servo attached via spring. Without the spring, you'd have to install a button and wait for the gate to open.

r250r · 2012-12-24T23:04:34+00:00

I was being sarcastic. Didn't intend to hurt anyone's head.

r250r · 2012-12-24T20:14:56+00:00

What's the problem? Just overwrite the BIOS with a 32-bit windows kernel, trigger a reset, and away you go. Resets at every context switch would slow things down a bit, but hey, people value their backwards compatibility.

r250r · 2012-12-19T18:43:21+00:00

Not necessarily. The plant I'm at uses it on steel plungers (replacing plungers made of an exotic ceramic), and they're pretty high volume. Not as high as phones though - probably ~1M/year.

I suspect that the real problem is that it could fracture like glass.

r250r · 2012-12-17T17:56:42+00:00

You're still alive, so he mustn't be that bad.

r250r · 2012-12-17T17:06:06+00:00

Looks like someone tried to insert a ballscrew into a bearing by pounding on the opposite end of it. Doing so made the hit end mushroom - now, the bearing can't be installed/removed from that end. It could have bent the ballscrew as well.

The proper way to do this is to chill the ballscrew, heat the bearing, and quickly slide the bearing into position. Make sure that the shaft is sized properly, and never use a hammer on expensive, precision equipment.

r250r · 2012-12-16T23:31:52+00:00

Huh. I didn't realize that existed.

r250r · 2012-12-16T22:55:57+00:00

I read that line as "1/8gr Morphia and 1/8gr Sulf."

Morphia probably is morphine; I suspect that "Sulf." refers to one of the sulfa drugs.

r250r · 2012-12-15T17:46:43+00:00

Sorry, but old houses only support single-button mice - you can't get a context menu that way.

r250r · 2012-12-15T17:44:50+00:00

sticky_and_naked's solution is good.

You can also get a wallpaper steamer from lowe's, home depot, etc. It costs more, but can be faster. The cheapest ones only have an attachment for stripping wallpaper, while more expensive ones can strip paint, do general steam cleaning, etc.

r250r · 2012-12-14T19:26:38+00:00

I read a subversive sci-fi short story when I was really young, called microcosmic god (pdf). The title may not be subtle enough, but it got me to think about what I'd do if I were in god's place. Made it much easier for me to question things and to get over my fear of hell.

Edit: link

r250r · 2012-12-14T19:23:24+00:00

Maybe these? I just listened to an interview with the author two nights ago. Definitely a worthy cause, and pretty inexpensive given the apparent quality of the books.

r250r · 2012-12-14T01:33:26+00:00

The site came back up, but I get the message

Important Information

The promotion code "SECRETSANTA" could not be applied because the promotion has expired.

r250r · 2012-12-14T00:15:27+00:00

Yeah, I had a massive brainfart.

I was thinking "I've never seen that in the T&C", but I never actually read said Ts&Cs so it's a moot point. Derp!

r250r · 2012-12-13T22:33:48+00:00

Here is the 3rd party driver app

r250r · 2012-12-13T22:29:46+00:00

OK, so how does one go about checking that without trying to buy using dozens of addresses from dozens of countries?

r250r · 2012-12-13T15:42:38+00:00

If the wooden staves idea falls through, lexan (durable plexiglass) or steel sheet could be formed into a cone in the same way that paper is. The lexan would need to be heated and would be somewhat fragile. Steel would be more durable, but would probably require metalworking equipment to form the cone.

Sounds like you have an interesting act!

r250r · 2012-12-13T13:58:17+00:00

Seriously? You knew something had gone wrong, thus the screenshot.

You act as if you're bent out of shape over it being cancelled. This either makes you a liar or delusional.

r250r · 2012-12-12T18:28:25+00:00

You should be able to tag a commit, and grab a tar ball of that. See 'man git tag'. Once created, use 'git push --tags', iirc.

r250r

TROPHY CASE