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[pwhodges]

I was about to buy an unusual disk (Toshiba MK2431GAH to replace a crashed one) off eBay for $155 plus $55 shipping from the US, delivery in 3-4 weeks; then I had another google around over lunch, and found the same disk from the unlikely-sounding "Power Tool Batteries" for £55 plus £3.50 shipping from Hong Kong, delivery 4-5 days.

Which do you think I'm getting?

[LTK]

Look up "flour weevil" and see if the photos fit. They appear to be black, but perhaps it's the larvae that are more beige. Maybe it could be worse, like all over your kitchen. This may be the lesser of two weevils.

Dohohoho - no, beetles aren't this small, not even their larvae.

According to some sources, flour mites will eat most dry foods. The fact that they went straight for the butter, and left the chocolate sprinkles alone, baffles me. Maybe it's because I keep the butter in a dish with a non-sealable plastic cover. The boxes of sprinkles may have been less accessible. I guess I better put those in the freezes. I wonder if my peanut butter is safe.

Anyway, the cupboard is in my own room, not in the kitchen; I share that with five others. The kitchen is already a breeding ground for all sorts of insects, if I found the mites there I wouldn't care as much. 

[BeoPuppy]

Is determining what they are important in your quest to eradicate them all from your environment?

[LTK]

Of course. If I'm to eradicate them, I need to figure out what they eat, and take it away so they starve to death. Maybe they even eat cardboard! That would be bad...

[Lines]

I would take the approach of throwing out all the food and spraying the cabinet whilst saying, "Die motherfuckers die."

Infestations make me super twitchy, I hope you can get rid of them. Also, at least they aren't ants. We had an ant problem in the kitchen of the house I lived in when I was in high school and they would not die. We had an exterminator come out twice and ad he was baffled. I can't remember how we got rid of them, but I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons my mom and I moved...

[Akima]

Insects eat all sorts of improbable things. If you store old books in cardboard boxes, at least in Australia, you have carefully to seal them with tape, or you'll risk them becoming condos for cockroaches. They eat the glue in the book-bindings. I discovered this the hard way. And yes, ants will find anything, and get in anywhere, if food is available. Generally, you either have to keep stuff in the fridge, or in well-sealed containers, or you will attract lots of little friends with too many legs. Once you have sealed away all the foodstuffs, the little friends will move on. Eventually. Note: Jam-jars may be sealed, but any sticky residue on the outside will attract ants. Keep them in the fridge.

In other news, winter must be over. I saw the first Water Dragon of the spring in my yard this morning. I always like to see them return from hibernation.

Which do you think I'm getting?

Is there a prize if we guess rightly? 

[jwhouk]

Had that happen to us a long while back (the little flour bugs). Suggestion: after you fumigate EVERYTHING, make sure you SEAL your food in air-tight containers.

[snalin]

One of the big advantages of living in a coldish country - no bug infestations! Still shitty weather always, but I'm inside most of the time, so I think it's a fair trade off.

On a related note, I'm suddenly going to a concert. Somebody couldn't go, so there were a ticket left over, and I figured "why not?". Well it's outside and it's raining a bunch. Yay!

[Lupercal]

Fiat might be expensive in the long term, because there not considered to be very reliable. Germans call FIAT Fehler in allen Teilen, which roughly translates into Mistakes in Every Parts. If your car fails regularly, it might add up to a huge amount of cash you'd have to pay.

Ha. A few decades ago us Brits would call Fords "Fix Or Repair Daily" - that was back when Mini's and Austens were reigning supreme. Before the hot hatch...before the VW Golf.

Cars, well I'd say get a fairly new-used car. My dad got a good deal on a Ford and it did something like 200k miles before it needed welding and didn't cost him a lot in maintenance and repairs. The newer Ford we got as a replacement already had over 100k miles on it and has needed a LOT of repairs on it, most notably a head gasket replacement and now appears to be leaking brake fluid into the floor.

Fiat 500s are very, very popular here in the UK, probably due to their size. I lump them in with KAs, though - women's cars with 4 seats that I can never really drive. If you're looking at a 500 L, have you considered a Punto instead?

[Lines]

A lot of car manufacturers nowadays offer smaller hatchbacks for a lot less, so why the Fiat? I mean, I'm driving a Hyundai Elantra GT and while it's not tiny, it's still considered a compact. (The older Corolla I was driving was a compact and they're not much different in length or width externally, even though the inside of my car is MUCH more spacious.) And the Hyundai Accent 5-door is even smaller. I mean, I don't want to toot Hyundai's horn or anything, but I rarely hear anything bad about their engineering. Same with Toyota, Subaru, Honda, and VW.

[Masterpiece]

There was that whole recall shebang with Toyota though...

[Patrick]

I'm still pissed that whole thing didn't take out my stepmom, her Corolla is a 2010 and she's a raging bitch with no soul.

[Zingoleb]

slightly scratch her corolla

[Zingoleb]

okay i smashed her corolla

[Zingoleb]

ONE MORE FUCK AND I CAN OWN YA, ONE COLD NIGHT IN OCTO8ER

I mean,  I mean,

also i'm glad to see i'm not the only one who does this

[Patrick]

okay I do have an earnest Things I Have Been Doing post

so about a year back, a band called the Palisades from Bellingham, WA came to Livermore, we played a show with them at my bar that my friend Chris had thrown for my band, Palisades, his band Loudtalkers, and one other. and it was fun and merry and exciting, and weed was smoked and friends made.

fast forward to about a month ago when they hit me up on facedick and said "Hey dude, you happen to have any shows we can hop in on to fill some dates for our tour?" we happened to have one last night that had been in the works for months, which happened to be at a huge backyard party my friend put on at his family's house. they had already asked us to play, and I called in the favor, and they were kind enough to permit it. the result ended up being that Palisades wound up making more merch sales, giving out more stickers, and having more fun than at any other point on their nationwide tour over this whole summer. they were really kind and thankful, and have offered us incredible assistance with every scene they know of in Washington. and we're already thinking seriously about doing a tour up there next spring or summer.

all in all, my friday night fucking ruled yesterday. and I even was able to host the guys on my living room floor (they had sleeping bags and mattress pads, fortunately, I'd have felt bad otherwise) and helped them find a laundromat and an auto shop to maintain their van. they were so incredibly thankful, and gave me a t-shirt. wearing it now.

this is why I fucking love being in a band.

[Grognard]

my orange tabby is shedding like crazy, and his favorite spot to sleep is on the navy blue couch.

how can anything lose so much hair and not go bald????????

[Carl-E]

Jace, $4k in repairs + $5k original cost is still about half what you'd pay for a cheap new car.  Of course, a lemon is a lemon! 

Old cars are a mixed bag, though.  Some are great, some are trash, depending on who drove it last.  Your best bets are the more recent ones from the dealer, and they usually come with warranties. 

Also, I'd be leery of a car model that's only a year or two old - bad designs need to be worked out.  My friend's '11 Juke that she finally took in for the ticking noise (and it was still under warranty, thank god - the timing chain had slipped) had five different recalls that needed taken care of. 

[BeoPuppy]

September the first, my kid is 3 years old today.

[LTK]

I am looking at buying a Fiat 500 L as my first car. Initially I was looking at getting a used car, but if I have the money...

I am really glad you're getting this money and are going to be able to get out of the money issues you're facing, but as fellow poor folk, please be careful do not go overboard with your initial spending with your eventual finances (whatever they may be).

Just because I think it's useful for those who aren't poor, and I think most of us who have been poor for extended periods of time have a hard time recognizing and dealing with these issues, this is one of Cracked's much better and accurate articles.

The 5 Stupidest Habits you Develop Growing Up Poor

On that subject, here's another interesting article:

Poverty can sap people's ability to think clearly.

So it's true. Poor people are dumber than rich people. But poverty is the cause, not the effect: the poor are worrying themselves dumb. The mental resources required to keep yourself and your family alive and healthy on the poverty line are so high that all other tasks are suffering from it. Considering how working memory is highly correlated with intelligence, I'm not surprised this is the case.

[Carl-E]

Not dumb - distracted.  When your worries and problems fill your every waking - and many dreaming - thoughts, there's little room for anything else. 

[Lines]

I mean,  I mean,

also i'm glad to see i'm not the only one who does this

I mostly type how I talk, which means I don't proofread most of the time!

[Barmymoo]

Unfortunately, the way that standardised testing works means that there's very little difference, on paper, between dumb and distracted.

I wonder if this is something that can also be intergenerational? I'm intrigued by, although almost entirely uneducated about, epigenetics and if I have understood the gist correctly, consistent sleep deprivation, stress and worry could affect DNA in some complicated biology kind of way, which could be passed on to offspring, meaning that they're predisposed towards the mental conditions of stress, worry and distraction which in turn contribute to less societal success.

[Lines]

There was that whole recall shebang with Toyota though...

Wasn't that only one year, though? I don't really remember it, but I thought it was fine now. I dunno, the Corolla I drove is 13 years old, never had a problem with it, the car my mom had before that was a Toyota and she had that for about 10-12 years as well before the engine starting having issues (it was a Tercell, they don't make those anymore). *shrug*

Also, you're talking to someone who knows very little about cars. My advice is all anecdotal - those car manufacturers are ones that my family and friends have had the best luck with.

[Masterpiece]

All I know is that Fiat is not a brand one associates with reliability.

[LTK]

Unfortunately, the way that standardised testing works means that there's very little difference, on paper, between dumb and distracted.

I wonder if this is something that can also be intergenerational? I'm intrigued by, although almost entirely uneducated about, epigenetics and if I have understood the gist correctly, consistent sleep deprivation, stress and worry could affect DNA in some complicated biology kind of way, which could be passed on to offspring, meaning that they're predisposed towards the mental conditions of stress, worry and distraction which in turn contribute to less societal success.

The fact that you know what epigenetics is already implies a substantial level of education. Whether it has a negative effect is up for debate, though. I was taught that the reason epigenetic inheritance exists is to let the child better deal with the life circumstances of the parent. Prolonged stress has a negative effect on the body and the mind, but stress has a useful function: it signals that your life is out of balance in some way - too much of one thing, too little of another - and motivates you to make a change. The simplest example is a cockroach: they prefer humidity, and if it is dry, the cockroach is under stress, and this directly causes it to start walking until it reaches someplace more humid.

I'm not entirely sure if this also applies to humans, but the idea is: if the parent lives in a bad environment, the child inherits a higher sensitivity to stress, so that it is better equipped to deal with adversity. In theory, epigenetic inheritance may make the difference between barely scraping by, or having a mental breakdown on account of not being able to.

[Loki]

Not dumb - distracted.  When your worries and problems fill your every waking - and many dreaming - thoughts, there's little room for anything else.

I remember a study saying that poor people enjoyed sex less than financially stable ones. The newspaper citing it was "no shit Sherlock, of course worrying about how you can pay the bills impacts your ability to relax".

[GarandMarine]

For the record I had a 2.6 GPA in high school and was considered kinda slow especially after the standardized testing results came back. I sent some of the teachers I didn't get along with my college transcripts. They can CHOKE on that 3.7 GPA.

[Barmymoo]

I was told by my high school maths teacher to stop considering doing a maths degree (I wanted to teach maths when I was 15) because I wouldn't even pass my GCSEs. I got an A. I resisted the temptation to go and brandish the certificate at him - he wasn't worth the effort. But I was pretty pleased, especially considering the fact that I'd point-blanked refused to take his "extended study" course in second year, which basically meant that I sat and taught myself the GCSE syllabus while he "taught" everyone else advanced maths. They all, without exception, failed the advanced test.

[Pilchard123]

Bluhhhhh...back from holiday. Work tomorrow.

[Masterpiece]

A guest arrived today at our Summerhouse. She's an old friend from school and we've all been super happy and nothing has changed. She's also brought her boyfriend with her and he seems like a very chill guy.

They just went to bed and I'm sitting in the main room. I can hear their bed squeaking like hell. Goddamn young'uns...

[Akima]

Unfortunately, the way that standardised testing works means that there's very little difference, on paper, between dumb and distracted.

I was told by my high school maths teacher to stop considering doing a maths degree (I wanted to teach maths when I was 15) because I wouldn't even pass my GCSEs. I got an A.

I have very mixed feelings about "standardised testing" and "high stakes tests", and Barmymoo's two remarks sum up the reasons. When I was at junior school, most of the teachers pretty much assumed I was stupid because I had poor English when I arrived, and an accent you could cut with a chainsaw. I got better, but I have observed that teachers rarely change their initial assessments of pupils, and often seem almost to resent it when you perform better than they expect. Then I scored in the top ten-percent in the State Selective Schools Test, and won entry to an academically prestigious girl's high-school. There the teachers were "pre-conditioned" by my exam results to accept that I was not stupid, and I never looked back. I don't like to think what would have happened if I had had to rely on "internal assessment" by my junior-school teachers.

On the other hand, the fact that standardised testing and external examinations happened to suit me, does not mean they are ideal for everyone, and certainly they should not be the beginning and end of education. For students from low-income homes, standardised testing is a two-edged sword, I think. Poverty might impair their performance, but on the other hand standardised external testing enables them to prove that they are not stupid, despite their teachers' snobbery, racism etc.

[nekowafer]

All I know is that Fiat is not a brand one associates with reliability.

This is mostly connected to the older Fiats, and not the modern ones, I would like to point out.

[nekowafer]

A lot of car manufacturers nowadays offer smaller hatchbacks for a lot less, so why the Fiat? I mean, I'm driving a Hyundai Elantra GT and while it's not tiny, it's still considered a compact. (The older Corolla I was driving was a compact and they're not much different in length or width externally, even though the inside of my car is MUCH more spacious.) And the Hyundai Accent 5-door is even smaller. I mean, I don't want to toot Hyundai's horn or anything, but I rarely hear anything bad about their engineering. Same with Toyota, Subaru, Honda, and VW.

I've been looking at other 4 door hatchbacks and I just don't like them as much, honestly. I am still looking and shopping around so this may change.

[Redball]

I don't like to think what would have happened if I had had to rely on "internal assessment" by my junior-school teachers.

A 1950s study predicts you wouldn't have fared very well. My wife succeeded despite predictions from a couple of teachers.

[Papersatan]

So, as I mentioned in the drunk thread, last night when I was out drinking, I bought tickets to a comedy show today. 

It was at a big outdoor venue with Flight of the Concords and Dave fucking Chappelle headlining.  It's one of the best drunk decisions I have ever made, and drunk me makes a lot of good choices.  It was great time, the opening acts were great, and Dave had a good attitude about his recent bad gig, though it was obvious everyone was a little nervous all day that he wouldn't actually perform. 

[Patrick]

Also, I'd be leery of a car model that's only a year or two old - bad designs need to be worked out.

Worth noting that the Fiat 500 is only new to the American market, they've been making the things for the better part of a decade. Fiat are also shareholders in Ferrari, and are the owners of Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, as well as most of Chrysler.

All I know is that Fiat is not a brand one associates with reliability.

This is mostly connected to the older Fiats, and not the modern ones, I would like to point out.

There's a reason for that, but it has nothing to do with design. Import autos require more costly maintenance because the parts have to be shipped. Fiats and any other European brand also have to deal with constant shit-smearing by American brands, because if there's one thing America knows how to do, shit talking is it. We're extremely good at it. It's also true that in the '60s, people abused the shit out of their hot-hatch Fiats because they were supposed to be hot hatches, and what do you do with a hot hatch? Abuse it. Drive anything hard enough for long enough, it'll fall apart on you.

There is actually a '61 Fiat 600 that has lived here in Livermore since she was first made and shipped over, and she's been maintained perfectly. Runs perfectly fine, I see it around town frequently.

[Carl-E]

The shipping of parts isn't as big a deal as it used to be, either, and several GM dealers (GM has a partial stake in Fiat international) are geared up for servicing the new ones.  I for one am glad to see them back after their more-than-a-decade absence from the US market. 

Barmy:  I was told by my high school geometry teacher that I probably shouldn't go on in math either. 

I contacted him after I got my Ph. D.  He was very nice and congratulated me - then went on to explain that he had learned an awful lot from me and my classmates (turns out he was student teaching for his ed degree). 

In fact, he learned enough to make it the focus of his research, and became a distinguished professor of math education.  One of my former colleagues was a Ph.D. student of his. 

It's funny how a stray comment like that can either a) completely discourage someone, or b) push them in an "I'll show you!" way. 

People are weird, and unpredictable at best. 

[cesium133]

I'm not sure if it really counts, but my seventh grade biology teacher told my mom at a parent conference day that I had no chance of getting anywhere in science. Considering I'm currently working toward a Ph.D. in physics, he might be a bit wrong.

[ankhtahr]

I think I went on about the German educational system, didn't I? With it's three types of school after elementary?

Reminder: there is Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium. Hauptschule goes up to grade 9 or 10. Most people which went to Hauptschule will not go further than being skilled workers. People who went to Realschule will often become white collar workers. And when you went to a Gymnasium, you'll most likely go to a University and study.

Now as one might see, it's a very important decision to which school you'll go. The Elementary school will give the parents/pupil a recommendation to which school to go to, but depending on which state (Bundesland) you're from, this "recommendation" is binding. Luckily I'm from Schleswig-Holstein, and here the parents are free to send the child to a different school than was recommended (but not to Gymnasium when Hauptschule was recommended). My elementary teacher didn't think I'd be able to get through Gymnasium. He literally told my mother that I'd probably drop to Realschule during the first two years. I went to Gymnasium, and got through without having to repeat or anything. My final grade might not be extremely good, but it's slightly over average for my state. (I am still tempted to mail him a copy of my Abitur…)

Now imagine if I would have lived in a state where the "recommendation" is binding, e.g. Bavaria. I'd have gone to Realschule, and my problems (which were officially diagnosed during elementary school as "mental underload") would probably have taken care of me not being able to step up to Gymnasium. Maybe they'd even have kept me from getting my Abitur after finishing Realschule. I wouldn't be able to study computer science. I wouldn't be able to go to university at all. I probably would have gone and became a "Fachinformatiker", and ended up as sysadmin or code monkey. Now, actually I might still end up as one of that, but with a university degree I'd earn more than without.

I guess my position about making such important decisions at such an early stage of ones life is pretty clear after this. I don't think the teachers are able to really judge in every case, whether a child of 9 will be able to get a PhD or work as a carpenter.

And in driving news: I'll have my second to last driving lesson before my practical exam this evening. I have to do a mandatory driving lesson when it's dark, or at least when it's starting to get dark, before I can do the exam, and the exam is on Wednesday. At 8am. Ugh. But I'm rather confident. Not as confident as I was before my theoretical exam, but still better than a week ago. I had another driving lesson earlier today, and my driving teacher didn't have anything negative to say about it. One time he was about to say something about a car which he thought I had not seen, but I was already stopping because of it. On Friday I almost had a crash, but it wasn't my fault. A truck switched into traffic from the acceleration lane at about 45km/h, while I was driving with 95km/h. One car went as well, and if the car behind that had switched lanes as well it would have crashed into my side. I stayed relatively calm, braked a lot, and everything was fine. My teacher even commended me for not trying to avoid a crash and swerve to the left. I had done that before, (a few weeks ago) and, well, my teacher was understandably not amused. I was lucky that nobody was trying to overtake me at that time. (Though I don't think it would have happened if my driving teacher hadn't said anything. I was slowing down for a car to switch lanes, but my teacher told me to drive ahead. But the other driver had noticed me slowing down and started switching lanes, which made me very, very nervous. On the other hand, my driving teacher was right of course, and if a car would have been tailgating me it would have crashed into me for slowing down so suddenly.)

It's going to be interesting to drive when it's a bit darker.

[Grognard]

my Driver's Education In-Car instructor was a retired, but licensed, NASCAR driver.
I know he passed in the late '90s-early -00s, but for the Life of Me, I can't recall his name.

I recall he told me I stank at cornering curves, but that he'd fix me.  He did.
Now days, I really enjoy driving a twisting, winding road with the right type of car.

[pwhodges]

Yesterday I spent a whole hour editing a web page and using [] brackets instead of <>.  Clearly I spend too much time on forums these days!

[KingOfIreland]

Also, I'd be leery of a car model that's only a year or two old - bad designs need to be worked out.

Worth noting that the Fiat 500 is only new to the American market, they've been making the things for the better part of a decade. Fiat are also shareholders in Ferrari, and are the owners of Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, as well as most of Chrysler.

Well, I know the 500 has a different engine to that of the european counterpart, but apart from that it's unchanged. You see millions upon millions of them around here and I've never heard a horror story relating to them.

As for the second part: Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa and Maseratis aren't exactly known for reliability

A lot has changed for fiat over the last twenty years though, so the 500 is well worth a look.

[nekowafer]

This is the 4 door version of the 500, but it is still built on the same technology, as far as I know.

[Patrick]

Also, I'd be leery of a car model that's only a year or two old - bad designs need to be worked out.

Worth noting that the Fiat 500 is only new to the American market, they've been making the things for the better part of a decade. Fiat are also shareholders in Ferrari, and are the owners of Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, as well as most of Chrysler.

As for the second part: Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa and Maseratis aren't exactly known for reliability

again, I think that's simply because they're meant for smashin down the track in, not for daily drivers.

[Loki]

Blog: medicinal latex gloves have better uses than cleaning the kitchen with them. As I did yesterday.

[Akima]

The blue nitrile gloves are better for cleaning, being stronger and more resistant to solvents.

[pwhodges]

And many places no longer use latex gloves because of allergy issues.

[Masterpiece]

I started hating Latex gloves during my brief chemistry studies

[Jace]

Well, things just got interesting. Looks like there are reports of a possum wandering the ramp.