Opinionhaver

God damnit, that was an expensive ride.

Now I’m trying to find one identical to this so I can use it for parts. I just hope this isn’t a common issue with this frame and that I just got unlucky with mine.

Would’ve been an easy fix if the frame were steel - but from what I understand, welding isn’t really an option with these alloy frames.

I mentioned that I’d never been in an electric vehicle before, so he just told me to hop in, and we went for a spin around the block - even tested the acceleration a bit.

This is one of the perks of being self-employed: I’m free to do things completely unrelated to my work if I feel like it. And honestly, it’s amazing to see how kind people are outside the internet. My faith in humanity is being restored one customer at a time.

Poor countries are catching up and getting richer faster than the rich countries are - and the accumulation of wealth by the global top 10% is actually decreasing, while the wealth of the bottom 50% is on the rise.

Source

Some of it will come in handy, and some I just wanted because of the traditional, respectable brands. For example, I think those two Billnäs pipe wrenches were hand-forged. A lot of it was well-used and rusty, but very few of them said “Made in China” either.

Pretty overwhelming to try and pick one from the hundreds and hundreds of options out there. What I’m looking for:

• Reliablility
• Not an EDC light per se, but I’d like it to fit in a pocket when needed
• USB-C charging and removable battery
• Good battery life
• 1000 - 1500 lumens is plenty for my use.
• A tool, not a toy
• The simpler the UI, the better - all I basically need is moonlight mode and around three brightness settings
• Adjustable beam would be nice
• Bonus: one-click turbo mode (for self-defense)

So basically, something that’s not too bulky to carry around, but something I’d be glad to have with me if I were stranded in a dark forest and kept hearing scary noises around me. ChatGPT recommended the Fenix PD35 V3.0, though it doesn’t have an adjustable beam.

Finnish Defence Forces don't have any so I assume it belonged to the Royal Air Force. First one I've ever seen in person. Neat!

There's probably a better community for asking this, but I haven't been able to find that one either.

What I'm looking for is a place to discuss ideas that encourages good-faith conversation, staying on topic, and being decent to one another - while actively discouraging mean-spirited, facetious, or bad-faith responses that focus on criticizing the person asking the question rather than engaging with the substance of it. And by “discouraging,” I mean active moderation with very low tolerance for that kind of commentary.

This English article doesn’t seem to mention it, but this happened during practice for an airshow.

I can hear a bad bearing again, but in my infinite wisdom, I didn’t bother to write down what types of bearings this motor uses the last time I had it disassembled. So here I am again, trying to breathe some new life into these rusty mofos - hopefully, by the time I need to do this a third time, I’ll have clean, new replacements ready for all of them.

Also, I have no idea what I’m doing here, so here’s to hoping all the parts find their way back to the right spots and I don’t break anything else in the process.

Also, note to self: just buy them damn lockring pliers.

EDIT: I didn't fuck it up.

If you’ve got a job that’ll take a week, contractors will basically fight for it - but if it’s just something that takes a few hours, it’s apparently a real struggle to get anyone to show up.

I just installed a new kitchen sink and hooked up the faucet and dishwasher for a client. He said they had called eight plumbing companies, and all of them either refused outright or said they’d get back to it but never did. One company agreed to come install it but wouldn’t do the hole in the countertop for the sink, so they would’ve needed to hire a carpenter separately - and you can imagine how thrilled a carpenter would be about a job that takes less than an hour.

This is an incredibly common story among my customers. I’m a plumber by training, but when I went self-employed, I expanded my services to cover all kinds of handyman work. Clearly, I’m filling a niche, considering the amount of gratitude I’m getting from customers. I literally received a gift basket from one just last week. I should’ve made the jump a decade ago.

I've been thinking lately about why, in debates (usually) about highly emotional topics, so many people seem unable to acknowledge even minor wrongdoings or mistakes from "their" side, even when doing so wouldn't necessarily undermine their broader position.

I'm not here to rehash any particular political event or take sides - I'm more interested in the psychological mechanisms behind this behavior.

For example, it feels like many people bind their identity to a cause so tightly that admitting any fault feels like a betrayal of the whole. I've also noticed that criticism toward one side is often immediately interpreted as support for the "other" side, leading to tribal reactions rather than nuanced thinking.

I'd love to hear thoughts on the psychological underpinnings of this. Why do you think it's so hard for people to "give an inch" even when it wouldn't really cost them anything in principle?