Something Random

sedrosken

Florida Man
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
1,590
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Eglin AFB Area
You guys are echoing a personal finance class I took on student loans. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere near those things. I saw how much trouble they put my stepmother through. They never let her rest after she had to stop working.
 

ddrueding

Fixture
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
19,511
Location
Horsens, Denmark
I had a great teacher on student loans. My best friends dad was the most respected doctor in town, he paid off his loans the year he died of cancer just so they didn't go after the estate and his widow.
 

Bozo

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Feb 12, 2002
Messages
4,396
Location
Twilight Zone
One of the things we found out about when our son was in collage; move out of your parents house. This will open the vault doors to scholarship and grant money. He also got a job as an intern at a large manufacturing company that paid well.

He worked his ass off, but when he graduated (after 5 years) he was debt free.

It's not easy, but it can be done.
 

snowhiker

Storage Freak Apprentice
Joined
Jul 5, 2007
Messages
1,668
^^^^ The auto makers and gas producers have lots of cash (for bribes) to give to our elected leaders. Cities will continue to have cars.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
16,624
Location
USA
Everyone does not live in a large, crowded, old city as in Europe or a few places in the US.
It's sounds pretty horrible what they are doing in some of those areas, though I guess the people are used to living like that.
 

jtr1962

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
4,168
Location
Flushing, New York
Everyone does not live in a large, crowded, old city as in Europe or a few places in the US.
It's sounds pretty horrible what they are doing in some of those areas, though I guess the people are used to living like that.
Actually if you mostly get around the city by walking, biking, or public transit having cars around makes things horrible. Cars are tools, but like any tool there are good and bad uses. Private automobiles are better suited for rural and some suburban areas. Inner ring suburbs and cities would do better to create disincentives for automobile use. The issue here is given the number of people in NYC and the limited street space, at best cars will ever only serve a minority but they create big problems for everyone else. From a democratic standpoint, the convenience of a minority shouldn't trump the very real problems this convenience causes to everyone else. There's pollution, expensive space wasted for private car storage, traffic signals which delay cyclists/pedestrians, deaths/injuries to vulnerable street users.

The fact is our cities are now in the process of reprioritizing street space for the majority. Eventually this will mean more streets closed to car traffic, more circuitous routes if you're traveling by car, far fewer places to park, congestion charges to enter CBDs, perhaps even private car bans in places like Manhattan. I'll welcome this with open arms. You have to live in a large city to realize how unpleasant private autos make things for everyone around them. The irony is private autos don't even offer their users great travel speeds. It's often faster to travel by bike than car in much of NYC. It's almost always faster to take the subway. Given that reality, one can see how cars are just the wrong tool for the job in cities.
 

jtr1962

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
4,168
Location
Flushing, New York
^^^^ The auto makers and gas producers have lots of cash (for bribes) to give to our elected leaders. Cities will continue to have cars.
Actually most of the vehicle miles and gas usage are outside of big cities. You can effectively ban cars from some of the large cities in the US but it will hardly make a dent in gas use. That said, the transition to electric vehicles is inevitable. Big oil only succeeded in delaying it, not stopping it. As for automakers, they're coming to realize there's good money in for hire fleet vehicles, and also possibly public transit vehicles. For all we know, GM might have a subsidiary making subway cars in a decade.
 

jtr1962

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
4,168
Location
Flushing, New York
Horseshit was actually one of the reasons people gravitated to automobiles back in the 1920s. Of course, we're not ever going back to horses in cities. It's frankly as bad as cars, and PETA would never allow it anyway. ;)
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
Location
USA
Random question... I'm trying to find a harness or hook-like piece of hardware that's used for attaching wires to the exterior of a house. I don't know what it's called so my google searching hasn't come up with examples of what I'm looking for. The one we have on our house now is for the hanging power wires that come from the utility pole. This hook/harness is screwed into the exterior of the house.

When our house was resided last summer, they neglected to reattach my fiber optical cable properly. It's currently being held up by a single nail on the railing of my deck which makes me less than happy. I want to get one of these hooks/harnesses to attach the fiber cable to the house more securely.
 

Handruin

Administrator
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Messages
13,737
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USA
I don't think those are what I'm looking for. I'll take a picture when I get home and post it. This thing would be for the exterior of the house supporting wires. It has a large tapping screw/bolt to be screwed into the framing of the house and holds the weight of the entire wire from the house to the utility pole.
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
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USA
This is what we have on the house right now holding the service wires.

service-wireholder-mast-2.jpg
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
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USA
Nice find! I have wedge clamps for the telephone line. Not sure about the others. https://www.galesburgelectric.com/Service-Wedge-Clamps/

The fiber cable currently has a wedge clamp on it link the one in the link you posted. I need something to screw into the house to attach the wedge clamp to. :) Right now it's attach to a single nail in my deck railing (I've added numerous straps around it for the time being). I guess I could just use a lag bolt style hook but I wasn't sure if that was safe. In theory the fiber wire should be non-conductive but I don't know if by code (and safety) it's best to still attach cables to the house with an insulated service wire holder in the event of lightening or some other reason.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
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I am omnipresent
I had a seagull commit suicide against the front of my car this morning. It flew straight in to my front end. On the plus side, I got to spend 45 minutes of my work day today hosing off my car.
 

ddrueding

Fixture
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
19,511
Location
Horsens, Denmark
Had a snake fly into my windshield a couple months ago. Of course it was being carried by a hawk that couldn't climb fast enough. They survived (didn't even hit the ground before the hawk recovered and flew off), but it was a very strange sight/sound.
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
10,865
Location
Michigan
While we're talking cars, I drove 1169 miles in a 24 hour period starting yesterday at 7am in a rented minivan to get a used set of speakers from a guy on the eastern side of PA. I got home just after 3AM this morning. :eek:
 

snowhiker

Storage Freak Apprentice
Joined
Jul 5, 2007
Messages
1,668
I've mentioned this before, but if I was a sick SOB I could kill 2-4 Doves/day if I wanted to. Those damn birds DO NOT MOVE when you are driving toward them. Just this morning I was coming home from work and drove right up on 2 of them. I was 2' away, slowed down to 5 MP/H before they decided to fly away.

Quayle on the other hand run like mad when they see you coming. They almost never fly out of the way, just run like hell.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
16,624
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USA
While we're talking cars, I drove 1169 miles in a 24 hour period starting yesterday at 7am in a rented minivan to get a used set of speakers from a guy on the eastern side of PA. I got home just after 3AM this morning. :eek:

Damn. Are they vintage or really special? I hope you have unlimited km on the van.
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
10,865
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Michigan
Yeah, I can see the appeal. Have you set them up yet?
No, they're sitting in the garage.

ZxE2bWr.jpg


My friend is going to stop by this morning and help me get them to the basement. My HT room also isn't finished yet. :eek: (but I've started working on it again) I'm going to use two of them as my "workshop" speakers while I'm finishing the HT.
 

Stereodude

Not really a
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Jan 22, 2002
Messages
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Michigan
Very cool. No wonder you needed the minivan, 4' tall and 115lbs? Does your receiver have XLR outputs?
44" tall in the boxes and 132lbs. There was no way to get 3 of them + the stands in the S4.

I've generally avoided buying electronics for my HT since it's not done yet (after sitting stalled for almost 5 years). I'm going to use them with a receiver that only has RCA outputs for now. I am planning to get a pre-pro for my HT with XLR outputs though.
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
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Michigan
My friend is going to stop by this morning and help me get them to the basement. ... I'm going to use two of them as my "workshop" speakers while I'm finishing the HT.
So my friend stopped by and all 3 are now in the basement. They're heavy... I have two of them on the stands and will get them wired up later when I'm home from work. I take a picture of my silly basement setup.

I did find the pictures of the exact 3 speakers I bought when they were new at the manufacturer prior to being sent to the first owner.
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
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USA
What happened causing you to stall on the HT project? I remember you mentioning it a while ago but I assumed you had completed it.

What's a good place to sell floor standing speakers? Is audiogone good or is craigslist the way to do it these days?
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
10,865
Location
Michigan
What happened causing you to stall on the HT project? I remember you mentioning it a while ago but I assumed you had completed it.
I started the HT while I was unemployed and I got so busy with my new job that I started a few months into it that I just didn't have any time or mental energy to work on it. I got less busy over time, but it sort of languished. Now I'm trying to get back on it. Though I was sidetracked for the past week and a half or so with my whole house fan project.

What's a good place to sell floor standing speakers? Is audiogone good or is craigslist the way to do it these days?
Presumably you mean Audiogon. It all depends on the speakers and how high end they are. There's Craigslist, ebay, Audiogon, the FS section of audio related forums, etc.
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
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USA
Good luck getting back the motivation for building your home theater. I bet it will be amazing once you get it done.

Yes thanks, I meant Audiogon. I'm looking to sell my B&W CM9s and was trying to figure out the right place to do this.
 
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