What’s on your mind?

[Apple fanboy]

Forgive my ignorance. Is a Project Home a "Custom Designed Home"? Like the ones rich people build?

As @Scepticalscribe said. In our case it was a somewhat derelict bungalow (single story detached house) built in the 60’s. We moved in on the 4th of December. It had no heating and needed a lot doing to it to modernise it. Had just one single electrical socket in each room.

We removed walls, put up a new internal one), ripped out the broken central heating system and had underfloor heating installed (a massive undertaking). New boiler, complete rewire, new kitchen, new bathroom. New interior and exterior doors and windows.

So we bought the house cheaper than if it had all been done before hand. We have no intention to flip it though. We are staying here until we die. I hate moving.

 

[Clix Pix]

Here in the US, "project housing" has a much different connotation.... That term refers to "public housing" or "the projects," and generally means government-owned or subsidized housing for low-income families. Many large cities have several of these projects, which are often apartment buildings rather than single-family dwellings. Usually the local jurisdiction's community social services agencies handle the responsibilities inherent with them. I would say this is rather like the "Council Housing" projects in the UK.

When referring to buying a previously-owned single-family home that will require some renovation work, we usually call that a "fixer-upper". In some cases, people will buy a seriously decrepit place and gut it totally, or even tear the whole thing down and simply start from scratch. The property upon which the house sits is of more interest to the buyer than the house itself. This is often done in communities which have older homes in a really desirable location.

 

[JackAHyde]

I like how useful ChatGPT can be for tech support and troubleshooting, but I really hate how it gets some things 100% wrong, especially terminal commands.

 

[kagharaht]

As @Scepticalscribe said. In our case it was a somewhat derelict bungalow (single story detached house) built in the 60’s. We moved in on the 4th of December. It had no heating and needed a lot doing to it to modernise it. Had just one single electrical socket in each room.

We removed walls, put up a new internal one), ripped out the broken central heating system and had underfloor heating installed (a massive undertaking). New boiler, complete rewire, new kitchen, new bathroom. New interior and exterior doors and windows.

So we bought the house cheaper than if it had all been done before hand. We have no intention to flip it though. We are staying here until we die. I hate moving.

Oh ok a Renovation or Fixer Upper. I thought of doing that way way back. Then we are approaching our 60's and decided, getting too old and tired to do that... so we instead bought a home to retire into that pretty much had all we need.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Several states in Australia are rolling out cameras on gantries that will be positioned above roads to pick up certain offences like seat belts, mobile phone use and, now, looking at, or touching, your smart watch. All of this is powered by AI.

Now, the pictures of 'offences' are supposed to be scanned by real people before fines are laid, but the pictures are often so bad and grainy that it's hard to tell anything.

So far, it hasn't been able to tell the difference between holding a piece of banana bread* (square) and using a mobile phone(rectangular). How the [insert expletive here...] is it going to be able to tell the difference between looking at a smart watch and looking at a normal watch?

I can see lots of court time taken up with challenges.

(Touching smart watch - bad. Touching other person in the car - not bad. As for being touched by the other person - not even considered. Go figure.)

* Challenged in court by the lady and won, but that cost a day's pay, about the same as the fine.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Several states in Australia are rolling out cameras on gantries that will be positioned above roads to pick up certain offences like seat belts, mobile phone use and, now, looking at, or touching, your smart watch. All of this is powered by AI.

View attachment 2526467

Now, the pictures of 'offences' are supposed to be scanned by real people before fines are laid, but the pictures are often so bad and grainy that it's hard to tell anything.

So far, it hasn't been able to tell the difference between holding a piece of banana bread* (square) and using a mobile phone(rectangular). How the [insert expletive here...] is it going to be able to tell the difference between looking at a smart watch and looking at a normal watch?

I can see lots of court time taken up with challenges.

(Touching smart watch - bad. Touching other person in the car - not bad. As for being touched by the other person - not even considered. Go figure.)

* Challenged in court by the lady and won, but that cost a day's pay, about the same as the fine.

What about fines for using the dangerous stupid touchscreens in cars? That is as bad (if not worse) than using a touch screen on a phone.

 

[Hamdullah Retarderson]

Good luck, safe travels.

Thanks, I will go on Thursday. I left the summer house today and went to my own city, I stopped to get gas right now, I am on the highway. On Friday, Mercedes service said they cannot do it, there are no parts and the prices are expensive, now I am going to the auto technician I know, we will change the spark plugs, engine oil and antifreeze. Mercedes service does not make its own cars, just think about it. Our people always scam each other and the car drinks gasoline. Since there is a political and economic crisis, foreign exchange and oil prices are increasing by the minute. There was an accident on the highway when the weather was 40 degrees, the reason was that the tires could not withstand the heat of the asphalt and burned while driving. There were no deaths or injuries, but I came that 30 kilometers in 1 hour. I could not go to work, what a bad day. We will have another passport/visa photo taken

The car had an overheating problem for the first time this summer. I bought it in 2013 when it was 0 kilometers. Model Mercedes CLA 200
I used it for 13 years without any problems and I reached 170,000 kilometers. But thank God I have an acquaintance in the industry. My old 2005 Opel Corsa was constantly breaking down. I bought it second hand and it was misused, and my money was enough for it at the time. Suddenly the gear lever was shaking on the highway, the gas would lock itself with my Opel Corsa and I didn't have an accident with that car.
You can have acquaintances or friends everywhere, you won't be disappointed

 

[Apple fanboy]

Oh ok a Renovation or Fixer Upper. I thought of doing that way way back. Then we are approaching our 60's and decided, getting too old and tired to do that... so we instead bought a home to retire into that pretty much had all we need.

Similar age. But thought this way we can get what we want. Even when I looked at houses twice the price of what I paid they still all needed something doing.

Now we are set. Here for the duration.

 

[Apple fanboy]

My trip to Scotland is on my mind. I spent the evening trying to squeeze as much demo gear into my two bags. Hopefully I don’t suffer the EasyJet tax.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

My trip to Scotland is on my mind. I spent the evening trying to squeeze as much demo gear into my two bags. Hopefully I don’t suffer the EasyJet tax.

Safe travels.

Will your camera accompany you?

How long will you be in Scotland?

Where will you be based, and will you be able to travel around a bit?

The long, lingering evenings - and, assuming the weather is fine, the exceptional quality of light - plus, the fact that it shouldn't be too cool (even for Scotland) at this time of year - Scotland (even in summer) is not the same as the south of England - should add to whatever enjoyment you can derive from the trip.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

My trip to Scotland is on my mind. I spent the evening trying to squeeze as much demo gear into my two bags. Hopefully I don’t suffer the EasyJet tax.

I always wanted to visit Scotland. Maybe when the kiddos are older. My favorite band is from Scotland

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I hope not! I can’t believe it failed. It’s only three years old! lol and was just out of the extended warranty I purchased for it. I should have kept the one the house came with. It was like 30 something years old lol; a tank. An inefficient, energy guzzling, heavy, ugly tank but a reliable tank none the less.

Verdict is in - new compressor to the tune of about $850 bucks. Still better than the 3500 for a new one. The crappy part is that the compressor is back ordered for 6 weeks lol, so am looking at roughly two months without a primary refrigerator. To remedy this we’re going to pick up a modest 17cft fridge for the garage. Financed through my Lowe’s card, I can pick this up for about $50usd a month zero interest so I can get this with a warranty for next to nothing per month until the new compressor comes in and gets installed, will expand storage capacity and provide recourse should this happen again. It’s certainly better than spending a small fortune on bags of ice every other day for two months anyhow. The repair guy said that the new trend of high efficiency fridges leverages dangerously underpowered (for the size) compressors and that they burn out because of this. That’s why my old refrigerator lasted forever- because when it was manufactured the philosophy behind the industry was different. It wasn’t energy efficiency; it was build and longevity.

What a PITA.

 

[KaliYoni]

That’s why my old refrigerator lasted forever- because when it was manufactured the philosophy behind the industry was different. It wasn’t energy efficiency; it was build and longevity.

According to this story, other factors include “must have” mechanical add-ons, such as water dispensers, and electronics that make things like precise temperature control and Wi-Fi features possible.

The Real Reasons Your Appliances Die Young

Modern appliances pack in more features and efficiency than ever — but you might need to accept that they won’t last as long as Grandma’s old fridge.

www.nytimes.com

And from the same source:

My Fridge and Stove Are Ugly. But Now I Know That’s a Good Thing.

Our appliance expert dishes on why having a more basic fridge, dishwasher, or oven might be a good thing. Plus: How to make your home appliances last longer.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

According to this story, other factors include “must have” mechanical add-ons, such as water dispensers, and electronics that make things like precise temperature control and Wi-Fi features possible.

The Real Reasons Your Appliances Die Young

Modern appliances pack in more features and efficiency than ever — but you might need to accept that they won’t last as long as Grandma’s old fridge.

www.nytimes.com

And from the same source:

My Fridge and Stove Are Ugly. But Now I Know That’s a Good Thing.

Our appliance expert dishes on why having a more basic fridge, dishwasher, or oven might be a good thing. Plus: How to make your home appliances last longer.

www.nytimes.com

It does make sense that more features introduce more potential failure points. Interestingly the computer component of this refrigerator did not fail and was not the cause - aside from that, my two refrigerators are identical in function - freezer, fridge, water and ice dispenser pretty standard features over the past 40 years or so. Per the technician who inspected and diagnosed the failure, it is with high efficiency system trend - a smaller, (implied as weaker) compressor & system tasked with maintaining an identical box size which is the general trend across the industry. I can verify that the compressor in this broken unit is about half of the size of the old fridge compressor (I’d open up the back to clean the condenser fins) where the cubic ft is almost identical. This is one technicians opinion of course. Truth be told it could be a fantastic design and I unluckily got a dud lol although our tech did state that he sees this failure in HE systems commonly across all major brands. It certainly will make me rethink the “value” in potential energy savings off HE systems if I’m looking at an $850 bill every three years & the extreme inconvenience in time it takes to get the non-standard oem part in.

I have a solid path forward now with built in redundancy that is budget friendly which is good future proofing but this experience has been … quite educational. Coming from 39+ years in foodservice, commercial HVAC is commonly built on shared standardized parts, that are easily accessible allowing for quick same day repair. This is the exact opposite of residential/home HVAC - temperamental designs full of weak, proprietary manufactured parts with limited production and stupidly long wait times for them - eye opening to me to say the least that this is the current residential appliance trend. I never would have thought that it would take effectively two months to get my fridge repaired lol. This general 6-8 week timing mind you was verified by four different appliance repair companies. Crazy

 

[Apple fanboy]

Safe travels.

Will your camera accompany you?

How long will you be in Scotland?

Where will you be based, and will you be able to travel around a bit?

The long, lingering evenings - and, assuming the weather is fine, the exceptional quality of light - plus, the fact that it shouldn't be too cool (even for Scotland) at this time of year - Scotland (even in summer) is not the same as the south of England - should add to whatever enjoyment you can derive from the trip.

Fly up lunchtime today. Fly back tomorrow evening.
Flying to Edinburgh for an appointment there, then driving to Glasgow for one there the following morning. Yes I’ll have my camera, but not too much free time.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I always wanted to visit Scotland. Maybe when the kiddos are older. My favorite band is from Scotland

Snow Patrol?

 

[VisceralRealist]

I wanted to share this photo I took in Krka National Park, Croatia:

I've really enjoyed my time in this country (never been before this trip). I can see why it's such a popular tourist destination (though maybe not on the list for those who are only hitting the major countries of the Mediterranean). Although I am not intending to go to Slovenia or Montenegro this time, I imagine those would be places worth visiting in this part of the world. Often by this point in a trip, this is when I'd be thinking about home, but this time I'm finding myself wanting to say here as long as I can 😳

 

[Apple fanboy]

I wanted to share this photo I took in Krka National Park, Croatia:

View attachment 2526861

I've really enjoyed my time in this country (never been before this trip). I can see why it's such a popular tourist destination (though maybe not on the list for those who are only hitting the major countries of the Mediterranean). Although I am not intending to go to Slovenia or Montenegro this time, I imagine those would be places worth visiting in this part of the world. Often by this point in a trip, this is when I'd be thinking about home, but this time I'm finding myself wanting to say here as long as I can 😳

Very pretty part of the world. Enjoy your trip.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I wanted to share this photo I took in Krka National Park, Croatia:

View attachment 2526861

I've really enjoyed my time in this country (never been before this trip). I can see why it's such a popular tourist destination (though maybe not on the list for those who are only hitting the major countries of the Mediterranean). Although I am not intending to go to Slovenia or Montenegro this time, I imagine those would be places worth visiting in this part of the world. Often by this point in a trip, this is when I'd be thinking about home, but this time I'm finding myself wanting to say here as long as I can 😳

The scenery, climate, cuisine, and, yes, history (Split, and Pula, for example) that you can experience in Croatia are amazing.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Fly up lunchtime today. Fly back tomorrow evening.

Safe travels.

Flying to Edinburgh for an appointment there,

I love Edinburgh - and there is plenty to photograph in the city if you can find the time.

then driving to Glasgow for one there the following morning.

Ah, okay.

Yes I’ll have my camera, but not too much free time.

Fair enough.

Enjoy what you can and have a good trip.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Snow Patrol?

Great guess. I do like Snow Patrol. My favorite band is Mogwai.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Music, and meetings are on my mind.

 

[goldmac2006]

Things have been a bit rough at work lately, but I’m keeping my chin up and looking forward to tomorrow!

Guess what? My MacBook Pro is finally on its way! It’ll be my first Mac!

 

[Apple fanboy]

After a long day of on off travelling I’m sat in the restaurant having ordered a steak and drinking a beer. Been a long day. Shed load of work to do when I get back to my hotel room.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

After a long day of on off travelling I’m sat in the restaurant having ordered a steak and drinking a beer. Been a long day. Shed load of work to do when I get back to my hotel room.

Enjoy your steak (served with chips? A salad, or vegetables?) and beer. And enjoy the rest of your evening.

Steak, chips and beer - as long as they are good - can be utterly brilliant.

I don't have them often, but, as an occasional treat, they cannot be surpassed.