discussion Rants etc.....

[JD]

Where are they manufactured? USA or China? Are they stuck with a global supply chain for either?I'd agree there's a lot of corporate apathy now; shareholder profit is more important than employees and customers.

I'm sure parts come from all over... I think Carrier is mostly made in the USA, maybe a bit of Mexico. KeepRite has a factory in Ontario still I think, but it's part of Carrier/ICP. Daikin/Goodman is made in Texas. Napoleon furnaces are made in Canada if that's important to people here.

I follow some HVAC stuff, interests me for whatever reason, but ever since COVID the general theme seems to be yearly price increases. But yeah, I'm sure all the tariffs on steel/aluminum surely aren't helping that Trump has applied. As much as he claims the USA can be independent, I'm sure they're still importing metals.

There's also the phase out of R410A, and the newer units use R32(?) are also more costly if we're talking AC/heat pumps. But as supply of R410A dwindles too, servicing older units will become more expensive.

prices only go up and salaries sure don't lol

 

[clshades]

So our Carrier furnace died again, 2nd time in 13.5 years. The heat exchanger rusted out again, which is a common problem. Carrier extended their warranty from 10 to 20 years because of a class action over their crappy heat exchangers, but it's supply of the part only. The tech quoted me $2205 for the labour to replace the part, while pushing me to buy a new furnace for $8k. The last time I did this 7 years ago, it was $700 for the labour, it took 4.5 hours for the tech to swap it out. It's f%$#ing robbery. I phoned a friend who does installs, not repairs. I'm getting a new furnace installed for $4500 cash. I'm pretty sure the techs are getting commission on these quotes.

I charge nearly 14k to replace an 8 head boiler system flushed. 8k isn't that bad really especially if it's an HE furnace. Its typically closer to 10k to replace a furnace.

 

[sswilson]

Increasing HDD capacity/density is great, but doing so while still on a speed limited mechanical drive sure a hell makes for some brutally long prep.

I'm doing a pre-clear on a 22TB drive. Pre-clear is a 3 part process read/write/read and I'm currently @ 73% of the first confirmation read after 20+ hours . The write portion is apparently a bit shorter, but the second read is similar length to the first so I'm expecting it's going to be a minimum of 3 full days.

Then.... once the drive has been tested there'll be another couple of days worth of parity check getting it installed into the array. That's 5 full days 24/7 to bring a 22TB drive into the array.

 

[SugarJ]

So the new Ameristar furnace is in. It took him 3 hours to pull the old one out, modify the intake and outflow ducts and install the new one. He said he normally charges $5500 plus tax. You can buy an 80,000 BTU furnace for about $2200, plus another $200 for the filter rack and misc. parts. Give it another hour to pick up the furnace and drop the old one off at the recycler. He's making upwards of $400 an hour. But he has his plumbing ticket and gas-fitting ticket, which I don't. He replaced my main PRV valve at the same time as he said it had failed and that's why my hot water tank PRV was dripping.

So, what I'm really saying is I hope my middle son gets into the plumbing and pipefitting program he's applied for at his highschool.

 

[lowfat]

Getting sick of Google messing up YT app. Every few months they make a change to TV that makes it worse. And yesterday's is by far the biggest offender.

Couple months ago they added a 'Most Relevant' to top of Subscriptions tab, which I never use. Yesterday it's gone. Well no, they just made the whole damn subscriptions section in 'Most Relevant'. Algorithm based subs. No longer in newest to oldest. Now I get to see the same videos I scrolled past over and over.

 

[FreeKnight]

Getting sick of Google messing up YT app. Every few months they make a change to TV that makes it worse. And yesterday's is by far the biggest offender.

Couple months ago they added a 'Most Relevant' to top of Subscriptions tab, which I never use. Yesterday it's gone. Well no, they just made the whole damn subscriptions section in 'Most Relevant'. Algorithm based subs. No longer in newest to oldest. Now I get to see the same videos I scrolled past over and over.

I switched to only using Smartube for any YT content. If they're going to continuingly push the 'enshittification' of Youtube, I'm not even going to sit through ads.

I didn't mind 1-2 brief ads at the start of a video. It's an exchange, my ad exposure so they could pay hosting, servers and content creators. Now it's a multiple start videos, mid-length videos, push to watch clickbait and 'shorts', etc. I'm fine with 'Yarrr'ing' it all now.

 

[naugrim]

Yeah i run smarttube on both my bell android tv boxes and 2 chromecast at home. I even run it on my phone but it's not that great of a experience on a phone

 

[CMetaphor]

Sooo im starting to wonder if Kickstarter is literally just a scam. Like, all of it. Ive backed 4 projects over many years... but both of the last two ended up being of the type: "we took your money, claimed there were some delays... and ran away with said money". Thankfully I really didnt lose much. But seeing ad after ad for kickstarter trash come up, many of which for products that have been Exactly the same as the above scams, is just maddening. The fifteenth triple monitor made for your laptop? Unique and special! Give them your money! And what about the 6th ultrasonic or oscillating tool? Sure! Take my money! The 219th EDC carry flashlight, complete with carabiner, bottle opener and moar?!? MY WALLET IS YOURS!

/end of obvious sarcasm.

So ya, anyone Not been scammed by Kockstarter recently? BTW, in case this wasnt clear: NEVER back ANYTHING on Kickstarter!!

 

[moocow]

So ya, anyone Not been scammed by Kockstarter recently? BTW, in case this wasnt clear: NEVER back ANYTHING on Kickstarter!!

Ashes of Creation? I mean Star Citizens is getting less scammy it seem, I thought I would never see my $20 USD from 10 years ago. Without much evidence, I sense a few of those projects are just drop ship crap from Aliexpress.

 

[naugrim]

Sooo im starting to wonder if Kickstarter is literally just a scam. Like, all of it. Ive backed 4 projects over many years... but both of the last two ended up being of the type: "we took your money, claimed there were some delays... and ran away with said money". Thankfully I really didnt lose much. But seeing ad after ad for kickstarter trash come up, many of which for products that have been Exactly the same as the above scams, is just maddening. The fifteenth triple monitor made for your laptop? Unique and special! Give them your money! And what about the 6th ultrasonic or oscillating tool? Sure! Take my money! The 219th EDC carry flashlight, complete with carabiner, bottle opener and moar?!? MY WALLET IS YOURS!

/end of obvious sarcasm.

So ya, anyone Not been scammed by Kockstarter recently? BTW, in case this wasnt clear: NEVER back ANYTHING on Kickstarter!!

I've been lucky that the kickstarter projects I've backed were from larger known outfits. They had lots of successful campaigns under their belts, but it doesn't mean they weren't without any issues. One of the projects that i had backed was delayed by months because brexit happened, we eventually got our stuff but it was almost 18 months later.