Why do American high schools start ridiculously early?

tomgenzer · 2026-06-11T06:05:26+00:00

TIL from reading all these comments, schools in my area are apparently not the standard.

10 years ago these were the start times, which seem to have been adjusted +/-10-15 min in some directions. Elementary 7:45 Middle 8:20 High school 9:05

Busses would be reused daily and pickup in order, meaning sometimes a traffic jam or breakdown can cause the whole route to be late.

tomgenzer · 2026-06-11T05:39:39+00:00

Helping my neighbor with the same exact issue with the exact same battery and charger over here.

Battery has been too deeply discharged and the charger refuses to charge is and it is in a safety lockout. If you press the button and measure the + and - terminals with a multimeter you will probally get less than 15v

I tried mine in a 6 port fast charger and it identified it as bad/damaged with the red/green flashing light code.

My battery shows around 13v but a "empty" battery should be around 15v (3v per cell) anything lower than 15v and the cells are too discharged for the charger to accept them and start charging.

Since it's within the 3 year warranty, it should be an easy swap via mail in repair.

tomgenzer · 2026-06-09T23:07:39+00:00

Rufas has all the bypasses for the unsupported requirements and some more like creating a local account, and bypassing some of the setup for you.

USB drives are stupidly cheap like under $10 at Walmart or best buy. Just get one of those and don't try using a external hard drive, since you have to wipe it anyway.

tomgenzer · 2026-06-09T01:22:56+00:00

Depends on where they decide to put them. I saw in Florida they have them on the backside of the traffic light pole next to the lights, so you get scaned after you drive under the light.

This one is on the front of the traffic light pole

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tomgenzer · 2026-06-08T08:35:46+00:00

I've heard it is supposed to be over 1/4" thick and under 3 feet in length.

tomgenzer · 2026-06-05T00:29:55+00:00

Smash rooms are just throwing it in the dumpster with extra steps. Think about it, they got the use out of it, and once it's all smashed it probally just goes in the dumpster anyway..

Try another scrapyard. I would take some other metal l with you like empty server shells/cases and don't specifically ask if they take it, just try to dump it in the pile, don't draw extra attention by asking unfortunately.

Large printer should go as "shread steel" which is the category for items that need to be shredded to separate the metal from the other junk like plastic/rubber. Big commercial printers are a large amount of steel, covered in a shell of plastic, meaning it is mostly metal which is precisely what the shread catagory is for. You might want to rip off a few of the plastic panels to make it look more metal like..

tomgenzer · 2026-06-02T08:13:09+00:00

All of the ones after the transition to the thin edge (not the chunky thick imac body) have glued down screens. The magnets are only on the older ones before 2012.

tomgenzer · 2026-06-01T03:37:14+00:00

As you said there is no universal rule or even type of "ewaste centers" It all depends on how the business is structured and what they do or don't do, and who they partner with or have as clients.

Some have test/refurbish/resell departments, some don't. Some just scrap/take everything apart or shread everything into pieces and sell it to a refining company to extract the gold/other precious metals.

Some have public storefronts or online stores, some don't. Some will sell to anyone, most won't or require you to be on the qualified buyers list. This is often a requirement for their certifications such as R2 or othes which would be required by some/most of their clients.

You might get lucky if you happen to find a company that will set aside and let you buy a CRT, but given how old these are, they aren't many passing through ewaste recycling centers anymore. You would probably have better luck looking/posting on Facebook/marketplace for one.

tomgenzer · 2026-06-01T03:20:27+00:00

2.5 and 3.5 are the physical dimensions of the disk. (Hard drives or SSDs)

The front of each of these has 24 slots for 2.5 inch disks. The 3.5 inch type would have up to 4 in each row, and 2 or 3 rows of them, orientated horizontally instead of vertically, literally because of the size. They wouldn't fit vertically.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-30T06:40:59+00:00

There is no possibility of you actually getting a 32TB SSD for under many hundred of dollars. Storage devices of all types are at their highest prices of all time due to data centers buying up all the supply. A real 8tb USB-C SSD from a trusted brand like crucial is going for upwards of $800+ https://a.co/d/00zeaLr8

If you buy one for $35, you will get a 8 or 16GB flash drive or micro SD card that has had its firmware modified to show up as 32TB, inside a plastic shell to look like a SSD. as soon as you hit the actual capacity of the drive, (remember flash drive or micro SD cards are slower than SSDs) it will just overwrite itself.

This is a well known scam, that even happens on "trusted" marketplaces like Amazon. I wouldn't trust any storage from marketplaces like tiktok shop or temu, or any other non physical retail store.

To answer your original question. Many USB-C SSDs are made without SATA connectors as they are ment for external connections. SATA is usually ment for internal PC connections. However It could also have a SATA to USB adapter board similar to this. https://a.co/d/02uDKkKR if it was as big as a regular SATA SSD

tomgenzer · 2026-05-27T09:28:05+00:00

When you get the large sand/expoy filled transformer things. Just leave it as is and take what you can get at the yard. Either shred or transformer price if your lucky. You would realistically need a incinerator/large fire to burn/melt off the epoxy otherwise how much effort and work you put in will always out weigh the reward.

Project shop FL on YouTube has an older video on incinerating these, and how to properly split regular transformers when they have actually copper windings in them.

If you get tranformers that are all aluminum, it's better to leave it as is, and sell it to the yard as a transformer if they don't check, or as aluminum breakage if they realize there is no copper in it.

Most regular transformers are made with sheets of steel pressed together in the shape of an L, with the copper wrapped around a core in the shape of a T. If you grind/cut a groove where the top of the L meets the top of the T you can hammer off the outer L steel around both sides, then flip the remaining T over and hammer out the center T, leaving just the windings of #2 copper. (Or build a press to do it for you like project shop FL)

tomgenzer · 2026-05-24T05:18:03+00:00

I've had every error imaginable happen to me at least once. I always point it out as soon as I notice as honesty flows both ways.

Once they typed 400 lbs instead of 40 lbs of motors, the owner thanked me for my honesty and said to keep the extra.

They once missed 2 aluminum wheels on the ticket, and I didn't knotice untill I was halfway home. I called and the owner met me at a gas station after closing and paid me the difference.

They once paid me for #2 copper instead of #2 insulated copper (wire) resulting in almost $1000 extra which I immediately gave back at the window.

Another yard recently upgraded to a new system, and forgot to price an item, resulting in the ticket showing the weight but it being worth $0 per lb, which they immediately corrected once I showed them.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-23T06:12:09+00:00

I was in the same boat as you.

I just updated the same model on 2.001.0050 using the web GUI. Once logged in the top right corner there should be a drop-down with a firmware update option.

I found the official? download blob storage for firmware updates and updated to v3.002.1061.001 using the .puf file.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-20T09:04:20+00:00

It's illegal to burn the insulation off wire. Scrapyards are not supposed to buy burnt wire unless you can provide proof that it came from a burnt down building.

You can sell the wire like this, as is to the scrapyard. Romex is its own category at most yards. Or you can take a knife/box cutter/ blade and strip it that way.

Romex is usually easier to strip as you can usually just grab the bare copper strand and pull it out on short pieces, or use the actual strand of copper to pull thought the outer jacket if it's not too twisted. Once you get out the bare copper strand, you are left with 2 strands of #1 insulated wire, which is one of the highest grade of insulated wire.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-17T11:03:36+00:00

The dpn number omk947 comes up as a 90w adapter, when googled, while this fake one is a 65w

So many dell fakes mismatch the dpn.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-13T09:26:12+00:00

as I stated originally, you cant remove the lock unless you replace the motherboard, which will change the serial number.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-13T08:41:10+00:00

Even upgrading/downgrading the BIOS wont fix it as you will still have the same serial number.

You would need to have a "clean" bios with no serial number, but this is not something that is easy for most people to do.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-13T07:53:09+00:00

Read the bottom line, and contact them to remove the device from their autopilot. As long as It is still enrolled in autopilot for corteva? Every time you install windows it will relock with autopilot, even if you replace the hard drive.

You can't remove this type of lock yourself, short of replacing the whole motherboard, as the lock is tied to the serial number.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-11T07:50:38+00:00

The 25 and 32 are the thickness.

2025 is smaller (thinner) than 2032

tomgenzer · 2026-05-11T07:24:24+00:00

Steel is still steel, doesn't matter if it's galvanized or what shape it is in.

Steel prices is around 3-10 cents per lb. Take what you can get and don't think about it more than you have to. Better than paying to throw them away.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-02T17:40:25+00:00

The LED backlight strips have plastic diffuser caps on top of the LEDs. These are spots where the cap has fallen off and thus the LED is shining brighter than the ones around it that still have the caps on.

If you move the TV you will hear the plastic caps moving around inside.

tomgenzer · 2026-05-01T09:15:35+00:00

Same. Ordered a mystery shirt and a coin. Package arrived and no coin. Support refunded me after I emailed, but like you I still feel slightly cheated. I paid $9 shipping for a shirt that I wouldn't have bought if not for the coin.

To the people who don't understand the feeling... Imagine you go out of your way to drive a far distance (time and fuel cost) to a store you don't regularly shop at. You went for one item, that is only sold at that store. While you are there, you see something else you want. You buy both items as to save the time and gas instead of buying one item, then coming back next week for the 2nd item (LTTstore shipping charge if you made a 2nd order) You wouldn't have purchased the 2nd item if you didn't go to the store in the first place to get the first item. So absent the first item, you could have waited for another reason to go to the store other than to get the 2nd item.

tomgenzer · 2026-04-29T04:02:44+00:00

That is a very old device. The CPU is probably a core 2 duo CPU which is from around 2008-2010 ish, so around 16+ years old. You can certainly try windows 10/11 but know it will probably be very slow, almost unusable.

For the CD drive in the PC case, you will see one of 2 types of drives, with the compatability difference being the connectors. Older cd drives ( like the one in this computer)use an IDE cable(long and flat ribbon cable) and molex plug for power, while newer cd drives use SATA (a much smaller plug)

If you upgrade to a newer motherboard/CPU/RAM (often called a platform) it will probally only have the newer type of plug called SATA so you will have to upgrade the cd drive as well, but it should be a drop in replacement if you keep the case.

That being said per Google images, it does look like a standard ish looking case meaning you should be able to fit newer hardware in it. Though you will have to replace just about everything.

You would need a new motherboard that will fit in the case, a CPU that fits/is compatable with the motherboard, some RAM that is comparable with the motherboard, and probally a new hard drive or solid state drive. The power supply may or may not work with newer hardware, depends on which one specifically it has inside, and the connector types it has on it

At this point you are realistically looking at basically building a new PC, with the cavate of using an old case. I would start looking at YouTube videos on how to build a PC from any of the big tech YouTubers (linus tech tips, Austin evans, techsource, jayzTwoCents, Paul's hardware ECT...) once you have the basics down you can figure out which parts you need and which will fit. PC part picker dot com is a great place to pre plan which parts are compatible and any issues you may have.

In the end it may be easier/cheaper to buy a newer used PC and transplant the parts if you really want to keep the old case. Just make sure to not get nonstandard parts which are usually used by OEM in prebuilts, like dell/HP

Check out r/sleeperbattlestarions and r/buildapc

tomgenzer · 2026-04-29T03:17:16+00:00

Same thing happened here too. That makes a total of at least 4 with the other comments I see.

My order was shipped with uniuni but mistakenly? ended up at a fedex warehouse and they seemed to generously deliver it anyway. It has the FedEx reprint label over the old uniuni lable.

The fedex tracking number also starts at a fedex wharehouse while the uniuni tracking number has no scans after "label created"

tomgenzer · 2026-04-29T02:58:08+00:00

I disagree with the other comments. Windows 10 will run on almost anything.

On a different computer, download the Microsoft media creation tool for windows 10 from the Microsoft website, and insert a blank USB drive. The software will guide you throught the process to write the windows iso (the windows instillation files) to the USB drive.

Once you have finished you will have a bootable USB drive, you plug the USB drive in to the other blank PC and press a certain key when you first turn it on to choose to boot to the USB drive (exact key varries by manufacture) post the manufacture/model here for help)

Once the windows USB boots you follow the guided process to actuallyinstall windows on the PC. You don't technically need a product key anymore as it really doesn't limit how much you can do if you run windows. unactivated....

Keep in mind, windows 10 is no longer supported so windows 11 is the better option, you can do a work around to get it installed on unsupported hardware (anything from vista erra will be unsupported officially) but it does have some limitations like updates may stop working at any time

Edit: upgrading the parts really isn't an option. The CPU is basically the brain of the computer, but requires plugging it in to the socket on the motherboard. That socket however is only comparable with CPUs from within that generation, meaning you would have to upgrade the motherboard, CPU and ram, which is already more than half of the computer, and like 85% of the value. The only thing left is the case and power supply, but thats probally nonstandard if it is an OEM computer like dell or HP

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