SwampNut

I'm trying to understand the peak voltage thing. I thought you meant the peaks of AC power, instead of RMS. But now it's a DC talk. So do you mean that you want the meter to read and hold the highest DC voltage it has seen? Anyway, I've had this for a few years and every time I use it, I wish I'd bought it much sooner. Fantastic for auto/bike work, and just as good for household. I bought the extra lead kit and use a few of them regularly. It has min/max hold function, though I've never used it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B7H2ZBW Goddammit. A "few" years. When I went to find the link...bought in 2017. Feels like last year. Jesus.

Yes. The tunes are locked to a VIN, but in my experience with a few of these, using it as a reader is safe and works fine.

Which is why I can re-program them to be human-friendly. Duh.

That's an understatement. Phillip, you should do what Oscar did.

"The African Handshake": This one’s a contender if "Squeeze" wasn’t quite it. It’s a sly, tongue-in-cheek phrase that refers to the act of slipping a bribe—usually cash—into someone’s hand under the table, often disguised as a friendly gesture. It’s not as widely documented in academic literature, but you’ll see it in travel blogs, expat forums, or even X posts from people recounting their run-ins with petty officials. Picture a customs agent at a border crossing giving you a big smile while palming a $20 note—that’s "The African Handshake." The humor’s in the politeness of it all, like corruption’s just good manners. "The African Tax": Another gem, this one’s more explicit. It’s not an official tax, of course, but the extra "fee" you’re expected to pay to cops, clerks, or local bigwigs to get permits, avoid fines, or just move along. It’s been called this in places like Kenya or Uganda, where the grift is so baked into the system it feels like a shadow levy. The nickname’s funny because it’s absurdly accurate—everyone knows it’s not going to the government, but good luck getting through the day without paying it. "The African Way": Okay, this one’s broader and not always about bribes, but it sometimes gets looped into the grift conversation. It’s a catch-all for the informal, often cash-based workarounds that define life in some African bureaucracies. Need a license? There’s the official fee, and then there’s "The African Way" fee—wink, nudge, and a few bills later, you’re sorted. The humor here is in the shrugging acceptance; it’s less a nickname for the bribe itself and more for the whole dance around it.

Please explain to me how the fuck this is political. As you know my meter is broken on that, but truly can't even guess at how. It won't stop unless we go another conquest war and upend the entire system there. It's so ingrained that they even have more nicknames for bribes than Eskimos have for ice. Also this tends to suggest that you think we should go ahead and let TB flourish until we figure out how to be World Police.

Should the US be "responsible" for global problems? Probably not for wars, or expeditions of foreign conquest, but what about health that eventually comes back to US (both us, and US)? Microbes don't need passports and don't respect borders. The United States was a major funder of tuberculosis programs. Now hundreds of thousands of sick patients can’t find tests or drugs, and risk spreading the disease. The whole system of finding, diagnosing and treating tuberculosis — which kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease — has collapsed in dozens of countries across Africa and Asia since we cut funding on Jan 12. The United States did not pay for ALL of the TB care in Kenya, but it funded critical pieces. Things like simply paying a guy $1 to move a sample or a drug to/from the patient. And when those funds were frozen, it was enough to bring the entire system to a halt. Even if someone else funded the drug or test, what good is it if we were covering the transportation? If TB begins to spread unchecked, people throughout the world will become at risk. Make America Breath Again

This isn't a smartass answer, but... Who is "they" because some are leaning that way. Because you still have to continue to weigh cost and benefit. Cost meaning dollars, side effects, and potential risk. Most people won't stick themselves with a needle without motivation, though studies show that needle phobia is WAY down because of Semaglutide. We don't yet have a specific regimen and dose rate for general life sustainment. Semaglutide has different protocols for diabetes vs weight loss. Tirzepatide doesn't, but they still had to go through a process to decide that, and then still called it a different brand name. Foibles, processes, (and justifiable) rules. Edit to add: Thanks to AI we are discovering an astronomical number of proteins suddenly and there are at least 20 but maybe 100 peptides related to this in testing now. Peptide therapy is taking off hard, and we're just at the beginning. Meeting up with a new subject tonight and mixing up a pen. Oh, yeah, these are easy to make and easy to use, no visible needle.

Oh, if you drop the drivers on their ass end, off the blind wand, they immediately eject the end of the motor which is barely held on by a couple of barely-folded tabs. Glad I got four. So now I have one. One was Moriah's fuckup, second was me doing exactly what she did, and the last was wind. New design incoming.

You've seen the quality of this stucco.

https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/ozempic-weight-loss-drug-aging-health-benefits-d93a22f8 https://12ft.io/https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/ozempic-weight-loss-drug-aging-health-benefits-d93a22f8 Key Points What's This? GLP-1s, including Ozempic, show promise in preventing age-related conditions like Alzheimer's, osteoarthritis and certain cancers. GLP-1s work by suppressing appetite and reducing inflammation, potentially contributing to their preventive health benefits. While promising, more robust studies are needed to confirm the causal effects of GLP-1s on longevity and healthspan. Very low risk, and seemingly high benefit.

Oh, that's my grackle buddy! We have a lot of them, but that one joins me on most mornings. I've started putting out seeds and stuff. He's the only one that stays when I walk around the yard. Not within touching distance, but the rest of them fuck off as soon as I walk around. Being a blackbird they do the crow thing of befriending people, in some cases. Their call is more ... ? Er, shrill, or almost creaky metal? Makes me realize, I haven't seen any crows or ravens here for a while. Wonder if the grackles and other blackbirds "own" territories? We've had waves of grackles lately, 100 or so at a time. Did you ever see the photos and videos of my hand-tame buddy, Dan Quail? I've also got a nearly hand tamed hummingbird now.

LOL, they are already marked as cosmetics with like $5 value, so...

Absolutely no recordings will be made or allowed without written permission. Privacy. This presentation is specifically about two peptides for perimenopause, so...hopefully not applicable to you. Oh, would be applicable to a man on testosterone suppression (a friend will try it for this), and transgender M2F. Every research subject so far is responding, they are cheap, FDA approved with perfect safety, and nobody is paying attention since there's no money to be made on them.

I have a fan-cooled MagSafe charger/mount on the dash. It's good, but in summer it still overheats while charging and the phone gets dark. I've been talking to this company about their new device for a while, and it was released last week. I got it yesterday. It's amazing. First, it's strikingly beautiful; the pics don't do it justice. Charging is fast, and as claimed, it actually gets COLD while the phone is hot, sucking out the heat. Not less warm, it's cold to the touch, and measured at just under 60 degrees while the phone was warm. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DT36JNYG https://everyamp.com/products/qi2-wireless-charging-phone-mount-with-semiconductor-cooling It has the vent clips, which I only use for rental cars, with a standard 17mm ball mount. So I can put it right on my existing dash ball. If I ever get my truck back. Also I want to add something here, because most people don't know this. USB-C can work as an intelligent negotiated protocol, or as just dumb power. If you want fast charging, you need a real USB-C port with all of the smart negotiation. If you use a basic dumb power supply for this, it will be ultra slow because some power is used for the cooling (~12w). So get a real power supply that has real USB-C, not Chinesium junk for $5. This is the only option I can find for full speed charging: RAM RAM-GDS-CHARGE-V3CU or RAM-GDS-CHARGE-V3C-1U. The latter is way overkill and more expensive. It can charge laptops. Or get this for another hidden install option: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DT4TJFH8 Or any USB PD 3.0 lighter plug adapter for a quick but messy installation (it's what I use for rentals).

I got a friend to go on a diet and lose over 50 pounds by using a fisheye lens for some group photos.

Some of the drivers had this apparently bullshit spec: Battery voltage :7.8VF/4.2V WTF is a "VF??"

I can't believe that nobody makes a motor for these. Seems so obvious. So I had to DIY. $8 Ali Express screwdriver and 3D printed parts. There are two different versions in the video; one for the high mounts next to a wall, and one for the low blinds without the wall. Mechanical cranks are so 1899, ain't nobody got time for that.

No pressure. I've done a lot of speaking in my life, but on tech and business topics where I was already an expert. This is...fuck, I don't even know. High school dropout who decided to learn something out of nowhere and now is considered "expert" by some people? WTF. It's the only time I've been unsure about a presentation, I often just wing it since they are easy topics for me.

I guess I should stock up for the future before "everyone" turns Chinese and depletes supplies. That happened a year ago when they first talked about canceling the supply exemption.

An annoying millionaire blowhard cunt said on her TV show today that people should just pay for the real thing and deal with it. Privilege is so blinding. I wonder how much she pays her personal chef and dedicated nutritionist?

The customer was the asshole here, not the electrician. A neighbor stopped by, everyone is out walking since we had almost five days of winter and it's finally nice again. He asks me what I think about his electrician leaving "a whole bunch" of extra "cable" on the side of his house when installing an extra outdoor outlet right off the breaker panel. Seems odd, wire is expensive and all. He's pissed and is planning to call and bitch him out. Let's go look. It's a drip loop in flexible waterproof conduit. Which he had to use to get the outlet in the right place. Sigh. "If you call your electrician, thank him for doing it right."

The surgeon has now changed from surgery for sure, to telling him to continue the GHK blend and he will give him steroid shots in addition. Legally the doctor can't prescribe the GHK blend, but recommends it.

I suspect my flow of emails asking for how to DIY is going to turn from a few a day to dozens.

And may also apply to semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic) eventually. Millions of people are on it, and now have to either pay up to $1100/mo or turn to the Chinese stuff. This includes many diabetics who really can't just go without it.