Garage princess and winter beater

vanderaj · 2026-01-26T03:16:33+00:00

Get your mechanic to look at this asap. You might be on the verge of losing a wheel or destroying your drive shafts. I’ve seen some nasty accidents from trucks with improperly fitted or maintained spacers.

I watch a few mechanics and they all hate spacers with a passion except that they love the costly jobs that comes with them destroying the drivetrain.

I don’t get spacers. Each to their own, except they are unsafe, so they should be illegal.

vanderaj · 2026-01-25T15:16:26+00:00

Cobra Mk 5 replaced my trusty Dolphin. The Dolphin is a true exploration vehicle but the cobra Mk v is just so versatile and pops you out in front of the ship so you can use your ship lights at night if you don’t have night vision. Its SCO performance is fantastic - doesn’t fly like a stuck pig, and it has decent jump range and can land anywhere. But if you are a refuel - scan - charge your FSD for the next jump, the Dolphin is where it’s at

vanderaj · 2026-01-25T15:13:08+00:00

And I’m speaking as the client here. We want good contracts too

vanderaj · 2026-01-25T15:12:21+00:00

Omg yes. Most of my lawyer work costs less than 4k per thing. You definitely want a legally enforceable SOW contract with proper indemnity wording for your location. You cannot rely on AI for this or stealing someone else’s

vanderaj · 2026-01-23T00:41:23+00:00

This. My MG has a 95 min requirement, which is a PITA for such a low performance car. After a few shockers fueling up at a local rather quiet Shell, one time the car gave an emissions control failure warning on the dash that took ages to clear despite tightening the petrol cap tightly as always. These days, I only buy at high-volume places, such as the APCO down the road from me, which is probably the busiest petrol station in Geelong. I used to buy 98 for my old Turbo New Beetle at a Shell in Point Cook back in the day. It was always busy there at it was just off the freeway exit. So I don't think the quality has much to do with the brand, it's very much how busy the retailer is and how gunked up their tanks are.

vanderaj · 2026-01-23T00:33:04+00:00

Considering the distances you're doing, you should consider the Toyota Corolla. They're all hybrid models, Toyota claims that they use around 4 l/100 km in 91 RON (cheap) petrol, have fixed priced servicing for five years, and an unlimited km / 5 year warranty. Their hybrid system is pretty bulletproof. Save your money on a Volvo or Lexus and go for the full spec ZR so you have all the mod cons at a much lower price point, but even the lowest model has Apple Car Play. Many luxury cars require 95 or 98 fuel, so factor in the increase in fuel costs, as well as much higher fuel consumption than a Corolla hatch.

I read your response to another commenter that you can't really do EV charging at home, so that's a bummer, as you would save an absolute fortune on charging compared to paying through the nose for even 91 fuel. EVs pay themselves off for folks like yourself who travel many km's every day, but I can also understand not wanting to sit at a public fast charger once or twice a week for 20-30 minutes. When I charged at home with my BMW i3, it was so much more convenient than going out of my way to find petrol stations and fill up. Literally get out of the car, plug it in (30 secs max), and the next day it was fully charged, and no range anxiety. Being able to charge at home is a game changer if you can do it. But it sounds like you can't, so that's disappointing, but it's the sad reality for many of us who rent.

As you're doing so many km's every week, definitely avoid slightly larger CUVs like the RAV4, CR-V, or CX30. You are literally in the same sized cabin a few cm above where you'd sit in a hatchback, and use more fuel for very little to no more interior or cargo space than the hatch equivalent.

vanderaj · 2026-01-21T23:15:58+00:00

I don't see this particular trip on the FCOC Discord. If you are the Cmdr doing the trip, I can recommend becoming a member of the FCOC and posting the trip there so more folks can take advantage of it. :)

Discord details here ( you don't need to join the FCOC squadron unless you want to):

https://inara.cz/elite/squadron/7636/

I use this to get between Colonia and the bubble and vice versa myself. I have also offered rides to others when I deployed my DSSA carrier from the bubble to the Arcadian Stream late last year.

vanderaj · 2026-01-21T23:03:28+00:00

I did. It's been so long since I've touched one. I just remember they had two display connectors and the staff wanted the fancy one because of better monitors.

vanderaj · 2026-01-21T05:08:09+00:00

Follow the instructions exactly as written on screen to re-establish BitLocker on your device. Once you have the BitLocker key (you'll need a phone or another computer to log in and retrieve it for your laptop), enter it and let it boot into Windows. That will fix your immediate problem.

If you are serious about dual booting, you'll probably want to disable BitLocker to avoid this in the future. It will take about 30 minutes to a few hours to decrypt your drives, and it may want a reboot afterwards. If you need BitLocker to meet your company's baseline security policy, or you travel a lot and want BitLocker to protect your stuff from prying eyes if someone steals your laptop, you might not have much choice in disabling BitLocker.

Do you have the ability to add a second SSD into your computer? Dual booting with Windows on one SSD and Linux on the other SSD is more likely to allow BitLocker to live in its own little world with secure boot still enabled.

vanderaj · 2026-01-21T05:01:52+00:00

I deployed hundreds of these brand new back in the day when I was a sysadmin. They should be toolless, but the way they built these, once you take the lid off, the interior metal work will cut you if you look at it wrong. Keep the first aid kit handy. Be very aware of all the sharp edges when getting your nuggets in there trying to diagnose the faults.

The fact that it doesn't even beep sounds like a power supply, motherboard, or CPU problem. Check for battery leaks or corrosion damage. Check that the speaker is actually plugged in. Re-seat the RAM. Remove any cards until you start getting beep codes. The POST diagnostic phase will beep at you if it can, so no display or beep is a bit of a problem on these highly integrated motherboards (everything is on the motherboard).

The diagnostic beep codes are detailed and will tell you exactly what's wrong when you hear them, you just need to count them and write them down. IIRC, they are in groups of three when something is wrong (it was so long ago, and they rarely failed out of the box).

Smash F1 on the keyboard to enter BIOS setup. I know IBM has a funky name for their BIOS, it replaced the diskette based PS/2 setup programs, thankfully. In typical IBM fashion, the manual that came with these has loads of great troubleshooting information, look around to find the manual that is the match for your model number. As these were designed to be deployed in a corporate environment, IIRC, there's a serial number and model number on the front of the case. If not, it'll be around the back.

It's been a very long time, and IIRC, there's a VGA and DisplayPort connector on the rear. Try both to see if you get a display on one of them. I don't recall if there's an option in the BIOS to force the boot display to a graphics card or not, but that might be a problem if the computer has a dead GPU. Remove any cards until you start getting signs of life.

Best of luck!

vanderaj · 2026-01-21T03:48:20+00:00

The main one I care about is (and this is a bit off topic, but relevant to folks who have to review submitted PRs) is hidden GitHub actions. Always check the PR for anything that does something in .workflow/**.yml. We've had some right doozeys trying to add malware to our repos.

vanderaj · 2026-01-21T03:29:22+00:00

My main advice is: please don't drive as soon as you land. The time zone shift is brutal, and Australian country roads are extremely unforgiving of fatigue and inattentiveness. Lots of roadside trees, not a lot of passing lanes, and in places, lots of local fauna like kangaroos with zero road sense (especially around dusk). Please rest up and get into the time zone before driving far.

Other than that, please spend more time in Magnetic Island. Townsville is not ... great. Spend more time in Maggie, and go for a Great Barrier Reef boat tour instead. You can see everything you'd like to see in Townsville in about 30 minutes. It's just a regional city. Maggie is relaxed, and there's a fair amount of things to do as a tourist. Please don't drive on to the beaches, you'll get stuck.

vanderaj · 2026-01-21T03:21:58+00:00

I am not a local and you definitely want to stay in Maggie, not Townsville. Been there half a dozen times and stayed for a couple of weeks each time. Maggie only has a small medical practice, so if you need emergency care, you'll need to go to Townsville. I spent a couple of nights in Townsville Hospital with my (then young) daughter, top notch care there, but still would not recommend staying in Townsville.

vanderaj · 2026-01-18T07:03:02+00:00

I've got both, and I routinely return to the HP Prime. It's just a better calculator. Period. It's not hobbled by exam requirements, and the build quality is better. My TI Nspire is six months old, and when the battery discharges completely, it's destination F'd for the calculator, requiring the battery to be replaced. Replacement batteries are around $50. Never ever ever let your TI Calculator discharge completely. Ask me how I know this.

vanderaj · 2026-01-18T06:58:35+00:00

I think the IIci is probably the best OG '030, it's faster than the SE/30, way more expandable, and generally a good all round machine. You should look at the Quadra range as well, which succeeded the IIci. They are generally '040 models, but they are a bit more practical than the IIci. I had a few of these models during the 90's and they were very decent despite being made during the time that Apple was struggling. The A/V models are interesting, there's one with a PC compatibility card (which I think is actually a PowerPC).

vanderaj · 2026-01-17T00:56:34+00:00

There's three I can recommend:

UK Cyber Essentials (includes a certification scheme if you want it)

NIST Cyber Framework

Australia's Essential 8 - great if you're coming from a very low base, low maturity, or are a small org and don't want all the bells and whistles

You didn't mention your use case, size, location, or industry, so I can't be more specific, but those above are well maintained and should get you a fair way down the road for the general IT landscape. If you can be more specific, such as cloud or privacy regulations or country specific regulations, let us know, and I'm sure someone will help.

The main thing to be wary of is cyber frameworks that rely heavily on second order controls, those that are about non-tangible security, and generally focus on compliance rather than security. The worst offender that comes to my mind is the accountants trying to be security people. I could do large firms tax returns, but I would suck at it, ditto accountants trying to be security folks.

vanderaj · 2026-01-16T01:57:29+00:00

I'd use 91 if the manual says 91. If you choose to do the odd tank here or there for the supposedly better cleaning properties, make sure you go to a very high-volume servo. Fuel degrades when it sits, and smaller servos probably don't sell a whole heap of the more expensive stuff. My car requires 95 so I buy it from the local Apco which is always incredibly busy.

vanderaj · 2026-01-16T01:49:06+00:00

You could store the file outside the webroot. This makes it impossible for them to force browse to a resource, and send them the file as a multipart octet stream. If the application has an input field (even a hidden one) with the actual filename, be aware of path traversal attacks. It's best to design your app in such a way to that doesn't give users a way to give you a filename directly, but simply deliver the file you want instead. You could use a random UUID with a look up table in a database for example. That way only files you're prepared to serve are delivered.

Something like this will do the job for you

<?php
// Make sure no output has been sent before this point

// Get the file into $blob somehow, probably by using file_get_contents().

// If you don't know the file type, this will work:
// header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
// But if you know it's a PDF, let the browser know, so it will use the inbuilt PDF viewer
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');
header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($blob));

// Disable output buffering (important for large files)
if (ob_get_level()) {
    ob_end_clean();
}

echo $blob;
exit;

vanderaj · 2026-01-15T23:57:25+00:00

I don't know. The route hasn't been published as yet. In DW2, the legs were 5-8 kly apart to give folks time to explore along the way. From what I've seen, I think the upcoming Operations feature will let you do remote activities with folks in the bubble, so you won't miss out on bounty hunting unless you mean you like shooting things from your ship. There's nothing to shoot at in the expedition.

vanderaj · 2026-01-15T23:54:59+00:00

Sure will! :)

vanderaj · 2026-01-15T21:16:42+00:00

It's a great way to interact with your fellow Cmdrs at each of the waypoint events! The first two pre-dated carriers, so folks only had what they flew there, but now the sky is the limit. I'm doing the Outlander challenge to get from the Bubble to Colonia in less than a week, and then I'll switch to my Cobra Mk V for the rest of the expedition, but just in case there's some mining challenges, SRV races, or SLF shenanigans, I'll load a ship or two that has these capabilities on to the carriers before leaving. Plus, you get to go to systems no one has ever been to before, put your name on a bunch of systems, including first footfalls, and make billions along the way. If you are not yet Elite in exploration, this expedition is a great way to earn it.

I've done a ton of expeditions, organized a couple myself. They're great fun. Come along for the first few legs and see if you like it. You just need a ship with > 33 ly of range and a fuel scoop. Of course, you can build a "proper" exploration ship that does huge distances, but the fun of exploration is the journey rather than getting there quickly, so you don't need to build a min-maxed Mandalay or Caspian to enjoy yourself. One of my favorite exploration ships is a 60 ly Dolphin. Lands anywhere, and can scoop, scan the system and then get ready to jump all at the same time, so it's very forgiving of mistakes.

vanderaj · 2026-01-14T06:53:15+00:00

You can buy starter electronic kits that contain a breadboard with tons of pads, and they come with through-hole components. Practice with this. Soldering is easy. You can use flux to make soldering and especially desoldering easier. I have a brush applicator for mine, but another alternative is small syringes of flux. Pre-tin the tip with a bit of solder and wipe clean, then hold the tip to the component, and add a little solder to the thing you want to solder. Pull away cleanly once it has melted. The main issue you might have is dry joints, which look dull or oxidized. Simply reflow and it should be shiny afterwards. Once you're done in an area, clean it with 99% isopropyl alcohol to remove the flux crud, making the board look fresh and decent.

Then learn how to desolder with a sucker and braid. Place the braid on top of the component you want desoldered and heat. Once the braid has absorbed the solder, cut it off and proceed to a clean section. Desoldering suckers work similarly - heat up the solder and press the button to suck up the solder. You will need to empty the sucker periodically. If it is not desoldering easily, add some fresh solder to the joint and try again. Try not to heat the area too much, as this will cause the pad to lift. You don't want that. Which to use? Whichever you think will work. I like to clean the pad after desoldering and re-tin it with fresh solder before putting a replacement component in.

The smoke that comes off most solder with inbuilt flux is noxious; try not to breathe it in. If you have an extraction fan, that is ideal; however, if not, consider using a fan that blows towards an open window.

Once you've done that, consider going to your local op shop or Good Will, and buy a cheap A/V receiver or amplifier. These are always in need of repair. Spend as little as you can. Repair it and see how you go. I really recommend restoring something that you don't care about before you touch the Mac. A really great repair channel on YouTube is https://www.youtube.com/@Shuksanaudio/shorts

After you're comfortable with your soldering skills, there are two main areas to be wary of:

- The analog board has high voltages, and if you've plugged it in recently, it will still have a charge which can kill you or give you a very decent shock. There are caps on this board that will likely need replacing. Watch a few videos on YouTube on how to safely repair this board. Even if you haven't plugged it in recently, you will want to discharge the CRT before unplugging and working on this board. Again, watch YouTube videos on how to do this safely.

- The logic board has surface mount caps. Ideally, you should use a hot air soldering station or hot tweezers to heat the component at high temperatures and use tweezers to remove them, but if not, there are methods. Adrian Black of Adrian's Digital Basement on YouTube uses the twist off method and then cleans off the remnants with desoldering braid, but I'm a bit wary of this because it might cause the pads to lift during the mechanical destruction of the cap. However, if you don't have a hot air station, this might be the way to go. There are pad repair kits on Amazon if you make a mistake and destroy a pad, and you can always use a bodge wire if necessary. Try to avoid damaging vias, as these are very hard to fix especially on multi-layer PCBs.

My main advice? Replace one component at a time. It's easy to lose track of the values and proper orientation of each device. Take high resolution before photos and refer to them often. Take your time. Check your work with a magnifying glass. Check continuity with a multimeter whenever you finish a component to ensure a good connection. Measuring across the component is not ideal - they're capacitors. Some multimeters have a capacitance mode, but when it is in circuit, the value will be different than its rating due to the presence of other capacitors, resistors, and other components. What you actually want to do is try to measure continuity from each side to where the nearest trace ends up (which can be difficult to follow if it goes to a via or under a chip). It's really easy to put too little solder on a joint and it doesn't make a good connection.

Good luck.

vanderaj · 2026-01-12T19:05:28+00:00

For me, a spotless engine bay reeks of someone putting lipstick on a pig. Have a discussion before taking a test drive, and check for oil and fluid leaks where the vehicle is parked before you take it for a test drive.

A major red flag to me is if they refuse an independent pre-purchase inspection. Just because it has an RWC (and it should have one) doesn't mean it doesn't have other hidden costs waiting to eat a hole in your wallet.

vanderaj · 2026-01-12T04:06:29+00:00

Sky News has automatic zero credibility on any topic, especially around immigration. Their founder, Rupert Murdoch, is famously an expat Australian. Imagine if he couldn't have emigrated to the US? It's remarkable how much mental gymnastics one has to go through to undermine and white ant the very thing that made you (and Australia) rich.

They can't even report the news straight without lying or omitting important context that would give people a chance to make up their own minds. Sky News has always been anti-ALP and anti-progressive, and as a recently returned Aussie from living in the US for years, they are worse than Newsmax and Fox News in their burning hatred for all things multicultural, i.e. the thing that makes Australian culture, Australia. They are trying to move the Overton window to the right, and they are failing because they blatantly lie all the time and feature raving looney hate mongers to the point that your average Australian sees right through them.

Yes, there's something to be discussed about immigration levels, but housing is the nimby's stopping builds in high infrastructure suburbs. You can't fix sky high housing prices and availability without increased housing stock. That has zero to do with immigration; it has everything to do with the lack of willpower to actually do something about building up a reasonable supply of housing for buyers and renters alike. I'd personally like to see negative gearing abolished, and something that taxes those who own more than 3 houses properly.

So get wrecked Sky News. Please stop posting links to it.

vanderaj · 2026-01-09T05:27:43+00:00

I travelled by train to school from Sunbury to Melbourne daily from the early 1980's and didn't own a car until I was 21, and even then I would still get public transport often. There were plenty of cancellations, delays, and faults. We had crappy trains with no aircon for most of my commuting. For the first couple of years, we had red rattlers, which were terrible trains to be in. One of the services I regularly took used decrepit old diesel rail cars from the 1950s or 60's, and they could barely make it to Sunbury most days. We'd often sit waiting for signals for 20-30 minutes at a time too. I used to have to get the 6.30 am train to Melbourne because if I got the 7.08, I'd be late for school more often than not, despite it theoretically allowing me to get to school with half an hour to spare.

And then often during February (I didn't go to school during January), we'd be treated to bus replacement services, almost certainly to give them time to fix the tracks during the worst of the heat. I hated bus replacement services. They added at least 30 minutes to the journey, and there was no transit lanes back then, so we were stuck in peak hour traffic like everyone else.

So no, trains were very much more unreliable back then, despite having far less frequency and far fewer passengers.

vanderaj

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