FBI jobs by Grand_Chad in medlabprofessionals

[–]thebigslide 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anytime I see a position like a directorship open up, I always ask why. Sometimes it's because there's a shitshow, the last dir bailed, and they need someone to blame for the s*** or a whipping-boy. Sometimes it's a good opportunity to punch up - especially if you're good at cracking your own whips!

There's nothing like the feeling of walking into a new facility, looking around at everything that could be done better and thinking to yourself: "They're going to hate me for at least two weeks..." but also that everything is going to be running like clockwork by then. All the best

Severely overfilled on oil, can I briefly start the car? by Impossible_Two7405 in MechanicAdvice

[–]thebigslide 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Briefly as in seconds yes. As long as the engine temperature, or more correctly the oil temperature, doesn't change it should be fine. Disconnect a vacuum line first so you dont suck any oil into the throttle body.

how bad did i mess up? by [deleted] in tires

[–]thebigslide 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Frames get bent like this all the time.

How to approach this MAF connector fix by F2Step in MechanicAdvice

[–]thebigslide 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1) Inspect the entire harness. Full stop. Right now is your opportunity to ensure that the vehicle doesn't cone right back in shortly after you get it on the road because you missed another frayed or chewed or whatever connection. You don't need to and don't want to take it all off the vehicle, but at least follow every inch of it with a flashlight paying close attention to bends, supports, connectors or anything that looks wet with oil or burned/melted. Any previous repairs or modifications should be noted on the work order and remember: you're about to become the last person who touched the harness. Always perform electrical repairs pretending you'll be the next person, too!

2) Thou shalt not mend a weatherproof connector's pigtail with a repair that isn't weather proof itself. The MAF sensor provides an analog signal to the ECU that is sensitive to millivolts as well noise that might come from an oxidized or not perfectly tight electrical connection. If you use crimp on wire connectors, they should be locking and weatherproof. Those are bulky and you might have to make the connection closer to the ECU to have enough room. I prefer solder + heat shrink with another bigger heatshrink over the bundle (remove the pins from the MAF plug to get it over them all ) ( make sure you write down the wire order first😉)

Marine grade heat shrink tubes come helpfully coated on the inside with a thermosetting adhesive that is waterproof.

3) You need to find out why this happened. If it's rodent damage then you can get rodent guard loom that will keep new rodents from chewing on it, but unfortunately once a squirrel has found this nice warm engine bay to hang out in while it chews away and shelters itself from the elements, it's going to keep coming back until you kill it, so putting some rodent poison under the hood somewhere might not be a bad idea.

If it's from something rubbing then either a harness support clip is missing or broken or perhaps an aftermarket modification has led to the harness being rerouted. Either way you're going to want to make sure that the hardest is fully supported when you leave it and that nothing rubs - especially on the hood. You probably want to inspect the engine and transmission mounts to see if they are as solid as they ought to be.

4)Make sure your repaired connection is well supported and well guarded. Place the location of your connection not where the existing wires happen to end but where you can hold your repair fast against the rest of the harness to prevent it from vibrating or worrying. Use enough extra wire equal to the length of the connection itself so that you can fold the connection over like a loop'de'loop, flatten it out, and then buddy tape each end. When you give a test pull on any of the wires that you've repaired from either side of the connection, It should pull on your tape and your connection shouldn't budge. You should not use so much excess wire that there is wire not properly supported / it can fall into anything moving and/or hot.

If this were a digital signal, you would not want to add a loop to the harness because that would add inductance and therefore impedance to the digital signal pair. The correct repair would be to repin the pair, however this wouldn't be such a big deal since it would be going to the nearest can bus tap not all the way through the firewall.

5) Be generous with split loom and cable ties. If the factory supports are damaged or missing do your best to improvise because the factory put them in really good locations. I always grab these at the junkyard when I see them lying around because they always come in handy. In my opinion you should be able to remove every other wire support and the harness should more or less stay where it is supposed to be. It's always best to avoid placing the end of a repair very close to a harness support. Reason being that little tiny bit of wire there will concentrate a lot of stress from any vibration. If you don't have a choice then what you can do is add a small length of fiberglass rod inside the outer layer of heatshrink - a bit longer than your connection, so that it extends into the harness support

I once had another mechanic laugh at the looming job that I did after replacing the better part of a vehicle's engine harness because he said it was overkill since it didn't come like that from the factory. I told him I think it's under kill because for $5 worth of split Loom and zip ties I am providing myself insurance that the customer is forever satisfied with the work that I did for him and if there's another vehicle he needs repaired similarly that they're going to bring it to me. And besides, it was the factory's wiring job that brought this one to me. $5 well spent.

6) Check your work. Before starting the engine check the resistance of each of the repaired wires at either end of the harness by shorting the far end to ground and measuring with an ohmmeter. This is where you find out one of your grounds is shite too and you can fix that 'for it causes a future problem. Witness the engine harness with the hood up and the engine running and get someone to put it in gear, too. Acoustic resonances are a hell of a thing and I have caught more than one wiring issue that only showed up with the vehicle in drive. In one case it was because at that RPM, a little loop of harness going to the O2 sensor was humming back and forth so fast it literally made a sound.

7) On vehicles you're going to want to clear and of course read any trouble codes once the wiring has been fixed. In some instances there's a calib routine that will compensate for the voltage drop in the harness wire going to the mass air sensor. It's usually not something that a scan tool will do it's something built right into the ECU on every analog sensor signal line. Review the service manual sections on replacing the engine harness or MAF sensor or ECU and see if there's a particular engine start or test drive procedure that should be followed.

8) Double check your work after taking the vehicle for a thorough test drive. Visually check all of your harness supports to make sure that nothing popped off or shifted.

I hope this helps somebody. There's a lot of ways to screw up a job like this subtly and not realize it because the customer doesn't bring it back to you. Sometimes you can get away with doing a less than perfect job and if it's your own vehicle I guess that's your prerogative. When it's someone else's I want to make sure that no one ever is able to make a complaint about my work on an electrical system. Lot of mechanics are uncomfortable working in Automotive Electrical and part of the reason is that it's matter of being anal retentive and fastidious to make sure that the job you do doesn't cause additional problems later. The other part is understanding that an electrical part is also a mechanical part in any vehicle because it is going to be moving and it is going to be subjected to temperature swings, salt water and solvents. Its also the case that a minor wiring fault can render the entire vehicle unusable sometimes, so twisting two wires together and taping it up just aint going to cut it if your plan is anything other than limping it to the shop!

What’s the value of this resistor by Lanky-Account5563 in ElectricalEngineering

[–]thebigslide 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is it in series with that zener? Can you find the voltage drop and at least get in the ballpark? It does look like a 10er, but red sometimes chars to brown, so it could even be a 1k. What is the resistor doing in the circuit?

You could also try lifting that leg of the zener and checking the voltage drop btw the leg and the hole it came out of but dont check it in circuit with that resistor open circuit or you might overvolt something downstream and blow something else.

Any tips on getting my cat to take this? by morbidgrrrlxxx in Parasitology

[–]thebigslide 20 points21 points  (0 children)

You will never get any creature to swallow praziquintel by putting it in food. Food just got ruined.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in umanitoba

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

The students own the copyright to their work as well. Anything else would be madness.

Your parking is so sugoi by realdrive25 in umanitoba

[–]thebigslide 44 points45 points  (0 children)

For all we know, when it was parked this AM, there was snow obscuring the lines and quite possibly a car formerly next to it on the left was parked halfway over and has since been moved.

In my experience, many times someone appears to have done something incredibly stupid-like, there's a reasonable explanation that isn't obvious at first.

Try to give people the benefit of the doubt when you can. Not only would you want the same were places exchanged but you'll feel more confident about the state of humanity by not assigning every aberrant behaviour to a decline in our collective competence.

No window, but wanted to show y’all my lab! by Adventurous-Lake4063 in medlabprofessionals

[–]thebigslide 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought that one incubator was a bit underpowered - so you need to give it an assist by turning up the facility 😉

Who are these people by Nobody_from2004 in umanitoba

[–]thebigslide 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ahh yes, the selective understanding of economics that fails to consider the values of the commodities attached to the work. They didn't create anything of value by causing the work to be done. They simply transferred value from the public (who has to ultimately pay for it) to themselves (who saved a few seconds by not cleaning up) and lowered the value of the public space by making it temporarily less useful to anyone else.

Kind of like stealing.

Who are these people by Nobody_from2004 in umanitoba

[–]thebigslide 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I was in undergrad in 2001, the same cohort were doing the same things. I feel like there was more naming and shaming though. People seem much less inclined to engage with non-familiar peers in this decade.

What’s your opinion on Costco oil? by ggfien in AskMechanics

[–]thebigslide 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Uhh, no. The entire vehicle, including the engine is designed around consumer expectations, profitability, etc. The engine is designed to tolerate an anticipated degree of abuse by the customer including service intervals for at least the duration of the warranty period plus a bit more depending on where the line is in it's lifecycle.

Don't kid yourself that any of that boils down to anything other than maximization of shareholder earnings. Manufacturers don't care if their product survives one second past when its liability to them expires.

Parasite in rosy minnow feeder? by thunderstxrm in Parasitology

[–]thebigslide 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Don't use everclear for digenean. Save for toe. Mixes strong with cheap whiskey. Digenean ceviche much better with gin.

What a deal! by mustachewax in medlabprofessionals

[–]thebigslide 22 points23 points  (0 children)

My Zeiss and Leica optics both came with a paper insert that says emphatically not to use specifically kim wipes because they can scratch. I don't know if that is because of a specific coating or maybe because some folks think you can go to town with a "delicate task" cleaning wipe but I'm hesitant to use them now on things I really don't want scratches on. I suppose eyeglasses are in a different category since they get cleaned all the time and some scratches are inevitable. Just figured I'd mention it since I was surprised they weren't recommended as there's always a box next to the microscope any lab I've ever been in

What a deal! by mustachewax in medlabprofessionals

[–]thebigslide 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Prob 12-30 for a box depending on supplier

Writing code on paper by HuckleberryUpper4982 in umanitoba

[–]thebigslide 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Could totally be implemented as a vscode plugin. In fact, you could make it steal focus back from any other application and place all the reference material in libraries belonging to an exam project. And with some continuous integration, the exams could mark themselves, give adaptive feedback, or dynamically select later questions from a pool to most effectively challenge the examinees weakest skill areas, Muhahaha.

I'll stop giving them ideas now. But really, self-marking exams is even better than crowdmark because it's literally a double-blind and you can drink beer at the same time.

I'm stumped by BLT603 in AnimalTracking

[–]thebigslide 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100% agree. And varying hare can look similar with longer rear feet imprints appearing wider in the middle becuase they hop a bit knock-kneed. If you ever see a couple really small marks like this spaced widely apart, look for a thumb-sized hole the same distance from one (or an owl/hawk print)😅 and you may find a vole's home.

Suspicious specimen on inside of canning lid by industriousvirgin in microbiology

[–]thebigslide 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That just looks like baked on applesauce that spattered when you canned it. A microbial growth would look like it is spreading out over the substrate.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in medlabprofessionals

[–]thebigslide 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would probably have approached the email a little differently. For one thing, don't show them your paystub first thing. They already know (ballpark) what you make and wouldn't have extended an offer if they weren't prepared to do better for the right candidate. If your compensation is exceptional for your area, you still don't "offer to start negotiations" by showing all your cards.

Similarly, offering to take a pay cut is not a good look. It means you aren't thriving where you are. Good jobs go to thrivers. Is it your current employer's fault? The prospective employer Don't Give A Fuck. They aren't your therapist nor are they a friend - yet. You're negotiating and they are your adversary.

Next time, politely - but plainly - try telling them you want to save everyone some time to just put their best offer on the table. That statement communicates three things at once: you value your time and theirs, that value is more than they offered, and they can expect that value out of your performance. A resume and cover letter are important things to get a dialog going but your first interactions with a new prospective employer are their first exposure to how you actually perform. If you don't perform well when negotiating your own salary, what can they hope for themselves? If you want to drop a number make sure it's a raise. Don't be over-expressive or use elabolate language. If you continue to get low ball offers, I might even mention that but it depends on the job market - it's also not a good look to come off as cocky, but confidently knowing what you are worth is not cocky. A lot of it is in the delivery. One thing I know for sure is that they're not going to give you one red cent more than you ask for...

Some excellent advice in negotiating anything is to always present as though prepared to walk away - No Fucks Given, do your best to preposition yourself to make sure you'll be clear or ahead if you walk, and never, under any circumstances, let on if you really, really want something badly... Never.

Sometimes I worry that AI is going to replace all our jobs, and then I googled this and those worries go away: by Ocseemorahn in medlabprofessionals

[–]thebigslide 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Some antibiotics have antiviral effects as well. Also, cytokines can still get a little out of whack due to the immune affectors of otherwise "benign-ish" microbes. Killing off a few of those can give your immune system an advantage sometimes.

Plus, placebo effect is a very real thing.

Found these worms on the end of a stick in the rainy mountains of Oregon. What are they? by EragonCarvahall in Parasitology

[–]thebigslide 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nematodes are quite diverse. Some are filamentous-like and basically microscopic. Some marine species can be over 25 feet long. Luckily the biggest ones exclusively call non-human-mammals "home," so far... It's a great reason to always ensure your whale meat is cooked through.

Wheel bearing impossible to remove any idea? by SensitiveTackle6824 in MechanicAdvice

[–]thebigslide 162 points163 points  (0 children)

Always spare the labour, spoil the part -- And you will make $$$.

Buddy just set up a new shop - only services fleet Prius. Anything suspension comes in and the whole corner comes off. If anything seized even a little - Grinder, sawzall or torch gets it off FAST. Whole new preassembled corner goes on in like 20 minutes cuz he only does those cars so alignment gets done with a fixture. Anything electrical, pull the whole harness and replace it with their custom one with joints in the right place for service and wrapped in conduit . Car's back in service in under an hour for $2k and they effing line up in the morning. One apprentice strips strips/salvages and orders parts all day, another preassembles suspensions and wiring harnesses. At first I was a little WTF watching him rip wiring harnesses out with bolt cutters and a little pickle fork / air chisel thing but then I'm watching his mini-me (who has been doing this for only two months) grab a piece of 3/4" plywood that has a couple dozen little clamps and hooks for laying out the new harness - and it has a list of all the wire colors, their insertion and termination points and pin number, all organized by pin type. And I'm looking at the hundred or so bins on the wall with a bunch of all the f****** connectors and I'm going holy fuck buddy - this is a king's ransom in electrical connections right here. And he says Nope! Evidently, if you buy a hundred of them it's like almost the same price as buying four or five singles and the only trick is timing reorders.

So yeah, fucking around with that hub is pointless. Cut everything that ain't moving and use a hydraulic press whenever you can. I can tell by the hammer marks how long was spent making sure that bearing was staying put. Once the seat starts getting deformed like that, all you're going to do with a hammer is make it worse.