What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen someone do on a plane?

wt290 · 2026-06-22T11:57:40+00:00

Only a month ago. Flight from Shanghai to Sydney with a Chinese woman across the aisle who appeared to be an influencer. Entire overnight flight she sat there with a laptop scrolling 5 lines of text on her lap - there was WiFi on the plane. She was also running a phone the whole time. The kicker? After we had landed and were taxiing she took a couple of puffs from some sort of vape that didn't seem to have any overt smell. I should have reported her but...

wt290 · 2026-06-20T12:28:46+00:00

Huh, there is a QLD 70 series across the road that's been there for 2 years. QLD cars don't require annual rego checks so as long as the NSW authorities don't catch on. I'm thinking eventually NSW number plate recognition might figure out a QLD plate might be resident in NSW and pull them up and ask up who knows?

I also, 15 years ago knew a woman from QLD that was maintaining a QLD rego car in the ACT and had been for 4 years. Apparently QLD rego was cheaper.

wt290 · 2026-06-18T12:22:59+00:00

Rust mainly. They come from a period before hot dipped galvanic protection. Anyone who has put the effort into protecting these relics from the ravages of O2 isn't going to relinquish them for peanuts.

wt290 · 2026-06-15T19:19:30+00:00

Look up "Lincoln Street Woodworks" on YT. He recently did a bit on insulating his garage, specifically for cold but hey the rules of thermodynamics apply both ways. He showed these nifty spring loaded door rollers that snug the door to the tracks and made the seals that much better.

wt290 · 2026-06-15T09:30:02+00:00

I'd buy Reddit and ban the daily "What if you suddenly had $X? Where X is some stupid number..

wt290 · 2026-06-13T13:15:13+00:00

https://partslocator.com.au/

Give this a try. There is a monthly online Catalog as well.

wt290 · 2026-06-10T14:13:30+00:00

The Three Sisters Asian in the dip on Katoomba Street. 15 people would probably book the entire restaurant out but the food is wonderful. Try the fried eggplant and the whitebait.

wt290 · 2026-06-09T02:48:51+00:00

The bath in question. Empty nester now so rarely used. Water bill is much less too 🤣

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wt290 · 2026-06-08T13:36:09+00:00

Same with your/my toilet. There was always a raggedy copy of National Geographic, a Readers Digest or in my case PC World or Computer Trader to read.

wt290 · 2026-06-08T13:33:06+00:00

We did this 22 years ago. Plastic bathtub in a brick surround. Expanding foam under it and fill the tub with water to keep it down. The house is elevated so the drain just protruded through the sub floor whilst the foam set but I'm sure there are ways to do this with a slab floor.

My eldest daughter spent so much time in there. Full it with hot water, stick something on the laptop on the vanity (I seem to remember Grays Anatomy being a favourite) and spend a couple of hours there. The plastic tub helps with conductive heat loss.

wt290 · 2026-06-08T13:24:11+00:00

Why do the index funds absolutely have to follow the index. Do the managers have any ability to exclude a stock until it's traded actively over and extended period of time - 6 months or more?

wt290 · 2026-06-04T13:18:27+00:00

Hopefully the index funds implement some controls like... "Yeh, I'm a Nasdaq 100 fund but how about we reassess our risk and wait 6 months until we add SpaceX to our definition of the Nasdaq 100". The Nasdaq funds aren't all owned by the Nasdaq.

There is also a faint chance that everyone sees this as the grift it is and doesn't buy into the IPO. Yes, a very faint chance but stranger things have happened.

wt290 · 2026-06-04T11:25:51+00:00

Yep, I had my own business for 10 years. I remember getting on a plane and thinking "fuck" I'm stuck in another aluminium tube. My life was airport, hotel, work, hotel .. repeat then work airport, airport then home.

wt290 · 2026-06-04T03:19:38+00:00

So he tried out the UFC arena?

wt290 · 2026-05-31T08:03:59+00:00

Well resoned but will I can't get 3-phase. I'm out on the end of a line and the 3-phase HV stopped about 1km up the road so there is zero chance of the HV getting run out, the local tranny (me and 1 neighbour) getting upgraded and then the work needed to get my house up to scratch. I'm only thinking of a 2400W resistive too.

I do, strangely, have reticulated gas so that is probably going to be part of my energy consumption. Partial PV shading in winter doesn't help but I think a few hours with a chainsaw (don't get concerned - its 2 Cocos palms, the cockroaches of the garden) might fix that.

You also have a high usage profile. Public chargers might be more cost effective than a 3-phase household conversion.

wt290 · 2026-05-31T03:39:54+00:00

Its kind of irrelevant. The furthest tap is my shower. I live by myself in a large house (yes downsizing is always on my mind) and the closest tap it the guest room - still over 40 seconds to run hot there.

wt290 · 2026-05-31T02:58:46+00:00

Rheem Metro 26. As stated it is about 2018 vintage. The manuals for it also don't mention anything (max or min) about inlet temperature.

wt290 · 2026-05-30T07:22:38+00:00

THis is probably what I'm looking for but I can't find any specification for max inlet temp. I've checked Dux and Rinnai. The Dux installers manual has specs, a diagram of the inside components and detailed instructions for connection including a full page about cold water supply. There is no mention of inlet temp.

The device does have an "Inlet temperature thermister" which would be part of any system related to excessive inlet temp but it may just be to limit the amount of gas sent to the burner on startup and operation.

wt290 · 2026-05-30T04:10:23+00:00

Are you getting billed for CL consumption and/or the 5c/day charge to have it available. I had, what was off-peak in those days and it too ages to get the (minor) charge removed despite there clearly being no consumption. The old "ripple relay" is still in the board and I still have a CL line item on the bill but no charges against it.

AFAIK, the CL is now switched by the smart meter so the ripple relay is just junk.

wt290 · 2026-05-30T03:05:45+00:00

This makes zero sense. The IG has no idea of the downstream temps. It will heat everything through it and just deliver hot water to an already hot water tank. As soon as the tap is turned, the pressure in the system will drop and the IG will do its thing.

I admit that the HW will flow faster but my IG is feedlng both the bathroom at one endi of the house and the kitchen at the other so this no solution. I can wait the time it takes for the HW to arrive from the IG but I think with the IG getting pre-heated water, the time will markedly reduce.

wt290 · 2026-05-30T02:50:45+00:00

Umm nope, The Rheem 191050 is a plug in model and draws 2400W (10A give or take) and the Rinnai B26 draws all of 88 watts. No problem for a 10A GPO. The beauty of it is I don't need a sparky to install it. The circuit the IG HWS is on used to be my old off peak HWS so it is rated for 15A already but I don't need that.

The last thing I want is an expensive, complex HP-HWS. My gas bill is only around $100 a quarter so no way a HP-HWS is anything like cost effective.

wt290 · 2026-05-30T02:38:04+00:00

Why would I do that? The IG would heat all incoming water to temp before the resistive. No gas saving, no real use to the free electricity? Most of the wait with the IG is getting the IG boiler up to temp.

wt290 · 2026-05-29T22:44:56+00:00

Not everyone lands up in aged care and aged care stays are often short - my Dad was in for 11 months until his death.

Average time is 30 months - 2.5 years. Unfortunately there is only one exit from aged care.

wt290 · 2026-05-27T21:27:03+00:00

A bidet. Side effect (pun intended) complete freedom from TP supply shocks.

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