FWIW, I bought a new Ender3 as a kit not too long ago, it was $150 IIRC. And by being forced to assemble it, I learned a good bit too. It might be worthwhile to watch their store & see if they put it up for sale again.

The only upgrade I’ve done that I really felt made a difference was buying an enclosure for it. Nothing fancy, it’s a fireproof bag over an aluminum frame. Even more than controlling the temperature, it also keeps it dust free when not in use - that’s probably the biggest win for me.

As for buying the used one - these things do wear down. Start by checking the feed gear & the PTFE tube. If the filament feeds well, then also check the belts, rollers, & nozzle. Those are really the common wear items imo. Perhaps obvious, but make sure the seller gives you a copy of the slicing software (should be free on their webpage) and also the little USB-A to Sim card doo-hickey that you need to move files back & forth.

I’m a bit surprised I’ve never heard of LONGTIME. Seems like they’re doing exactly what I’ve wanted - searching out products designed to last.

https://longtimelabel.com/en/

That said, not sure I need a Buy It For Life cable. Far more interested in BIFL appliances.

As others have said, search YouTube for brake pad changes on your make/model of car. If that still leaves you with questions, you can also find a self help book specific to your car (Chilton or Haynes).

Good news, based on how you’re describing your own technical level, I think you’re going to find this is pretty easy actually. Only concern is if you live where they salt the roads, then some of these things will be rusted together. So, good to watch the video again & see how it’s supposed to come apart.

Once the calipers are off, you need to support them somehow so they don’t hang on the brake lines. I usually just slide a cinder block underneath them, but others like using bungie cords / zip ties & tying them to spring/strut. (Depending on the car, you may not even need to fully remove the caliper - many of them pivot upwards).

Probably worth mentioning, the pads themselves are cheap, but you should also resurface or replace the rotors. One of the important steps to making sure they last is having a clean & smooth surface when they’re new, so that they will mate together smoothly. There’s a lot of neat stuff going on with the transfer of pad material to the rotor itself, I can’t pretend to cover it all, but “bedding” the pad material to the rotor properly ensures long life. And the short-short answer is that to accomplish that, you need new rotors or you need to have the rotors machined smooth when you replace the pads. I find it’s usually more cost effective to just buy cheap rotors from Rock Auto online.

Lastly, you may want to watch a video on brake bleeding (getting the air out of the brake lines). In theory you might not need to even open the brake lines, but often you need to do so in order to get the caliper pistons to retract far enough for the new brake pads. (I like to bleed the brakes on every pad change just to have fresh fluid in there). I mention this because brake bleeding is usually a 2 person job. There are special tools to work around that, but you need to know in advance if you’re going to need them.

I do not have chickens myself, but my brother does. Every 2-3 years, he picks up & moves the shed to another location, because the chickens shit constantly. Gets so bad he cannot keep up. You will not have that option, so stop & think in advance how you plan to keep the place clean. Depending on your tolerance for cleanliness, it may not be feasible to use the shed for anything else once you’ve had chickens in there for a few months.

Also, the chickens attract all manner of wildlife, from other birds who want to grab food, to snakes who want to steal eggs, up to downright predators who want to eat your chickens. Realize you cannot simply let them out in the morning & come back from work in the evening & expect everything to be alright.

Mildly interesting, as I just did nearly the same, going from a GTX970 to a Radeon 8570. Did not have the same “it just works” experience however. But I blame that more on my lack of Linux knowledge than the video card.

Related - my friend pointed out to me decades ago that the best punk music comes out when Republicans are in control. Not sure if that still holds true today, I’m too out of the scene.

As others have noted, you have a single “the car is good” note, and the rest is all about entertainment & comfort. That’s cool, but it tells me you’re not very handy. I see lots of folks recommending tools, but I think you’d be better served by a AAA membership or similar. If your car does break down, what’s your plan? Also, don’t 100% count on having cell coverage.

Second note - I drive home to check on my elderly parents every month. It’s a 6 hours drive that I used to do in a straight shot. Now I take a break every 2 hours & get out & walk around a bit. Yes, the drive now takes an extra hour, but it is so fucking worth it. I strongly encourage planned breaks.

Start by planning for an emergency. Smoke detectors & a fire extinguisher. Tools to turn off the water main (find that valve before you need it). Get your neighbors’ phone numbers. Get the after-hour/emergency contact numbers for all your utility providers - make sure you can contact the power company when there’s no power.

After that, it’s largely up to you. If you’re handy, you probably already have most of the tools you need. If you’re not, start asking around for good repairmen. Look around for any signs of neglect that the home inspector might have missed. My gutters were clogged full of leaves for example, wasn’t obvious until it rained hard.

If you have a yard, decide now if you’re going to maintain it yourself or if you’re going to hire a service. If you decide to do it yourself, it’s fall right now, those tools are about to be on clearance.

Make a journal for your house where you record everything you’ve done. I like to write down the date I replace anything, and also note the make & model numbers. So, for example I know that my last hot water heater lasted 10 years, because I have that in my notes. If you are handy, having the model numbers is super-useful. For example, I’ve learned to keep a replacement ignitor for my furnace - it’s a 15 minute job once you know to do it.

Yeah, this stumped me too. FWIW, their website is garbage. But digging around a bit, I’d say this is a travel trailer, not an RV. It does have it’s own motor however, and it helps push when you’re going uphill. So in theory, you could tow a larger trailer with a smaller vehicle. Or perhaps this would help if you were towing with an EV and needed the additional range?

https://www.lightshiprv.com/technology

My friend married a Chinese woman & brought her back to America. Her diet adapted pretty quickly. But when her parents were visiting, they did in fact take them to Krispy Kreme. They were unable to keep a single bite down. To be fair, they tried to be polite, but it was just more sugar than they would normally eat in like a month. To them, it was simply inedible.

This is a cool idea, but I’m having trouble reading your categories upside down. Looks like you have Aggro vs Control on one axis, and Value/Midrange versus Uninteractive(?) on the other.

I think that alone is interesting, as I wouldn’t have considered any of those as categories to sort by. Outside of sorting by bracket, I usually don’t think much beyond that.

tunai firefly ldac

Ah, cool, I figured there must be a device out there. Sadly it doesn’t help me directly, as I’m already using a cassette adapter just to get up to a 3.5mm jack. Still bookmarking this though, never know when I’ll need it. Thanks!

I have a second hand little portable vacuum cleaner - we used to call them Dust Busters, not sure if there’s a more generic name for them these days. Anyway, because it was second hand, it didn’t have any of the attachments. Was able to buy a bunch on eBay that were sort of close, then 3D print an adapter to make them fit.

Since you asked, the lack of the headphone jack is the exact reason I have not upgraded my phone. I use my phone for music in my two cars and my home gym. None of those currently have Bluetooth.

Upgrading all 3 is just a matter of money of course - throw everything I have away & buy new. I see no reason to do that.

Oddly, the wake-up call that made me realize I needed to step back from cars was at a racetrack. I was standing on pit lane with our race about to start, and was looking up & down pit road. There must have been 1000 gallons of gas all stored in 5 gallon jugs (100+ teams, each with 20-30 gallons, so probably closer to 2500 gallons in hindsight). And it made me realize we were all going to burn it all just for fun.

I do not regret my time racing at all, in fact I still encourage new folks to get out there & actually do it (check out ChampCar & 24 hours of Lemons!). I learned so much, had way too much fun, and made some simply irreplaceable memories. But I also feel it’s an irresponsible use of a limited resource. Still haven’t found a way to balance that equation in my head. For now, I’ve hung up the helmet.

I’d probably just buy the next size up at the closer store if I wanted that much. I usually buy the smallest size & end up throwing about 1/4 of it away.

Still, when I go for ice cream(*), I’m going because it’s a treat. Getting one overstuffed like the one on the right would certainly trigger more dopamine.

So, I guess it’s a coin flip depending whether or not it’s a nice day for a drive.

I love cars. I also love this planet. Cars are bad for the planet.

That feels like a really dumb place to put it. We have plant Vogtle bringing reactors 3 & 4 online, but they’re like 2 hours away. So power’s going to be an issue.

There’s plenty of river or sea water along the east coast of Georgia, which is also 2 hours away. So cooling water is going to be an issue.

The two most important resources they need - aren’t where they are building.

Serious upvote here. This is a game changer, it’s right in front of our noses, and it’s free.

Hardest part is figuring out how to make yourself actually sleep - just lying down in the bed isn’t enough.

No, he was never actually impeached. He has to be found guilty by both the house & the senate. In both cases the vote split 1-1.