Things I've learned the hard way . . .(Part 2)

[Monocrom]

It's been 64 years, but I still remember my mother washing the walls of my bedroom every night before I went to bed due to my Asthma. I turned around three and a half years ago.

Looks like both of us ended up with Saints for mothers.
If it wasn't for mine, I'd likely be living in poverty.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I've bought way too many USB chargers over the years.
I'm currently using these: UGreen 160w 4x USB-C, 1x USB-A charger
and a bunch of the Anker display chargers
Anker 100w charger 2x USB-C, 1x USB-A
Anker 140w charger 3x USB-C, 1x USB-A
Anker 160w charger 3x USB-C
Anker Nano 45w charger: 1x USB-C, pocketable

I will say that most of them won't run at the full rated power for extended periods of time before throttling, but I never need that. The UGreen is interesting, but has some limitations. Only two ports are high-powered. The remaining 2x USB-C and USB-A ports are shared, so plugging/unplugging renegotiates all 3 of those ports and reduces how much power it sends to those devices. Still, having 5x USB ports out of one brick is very convenient.

The Anker Nano is pocketable enough. I've grabbed it, plus battery pack for the multiple times I've had to take family members into the ER this year. VERY nice to not have to worry about a phone battery, especially after 10-24 hours.


I've mostly gone to USB-C cables for everything and use connector adapters like these if I need something different. I also keep a few multi-headed USB-C to C,A,Lightning cables the bag just in case.


I hear you on that. After my dad's doctors screwed up his meds and he had a brain hemorrhage and went unconscious, I had to step in for everything. Home finances, healthcare, living arrangements, taking care of his wife, and the wind-down of his business. There's a lot involved. After a very long medical battle, even longer recovery, I have him in a very nice assisted living home, in the memory care section. He's still improving. I feel bad that I've been so tied up with my fiancée's health issues and haven't been able to spend time with him and work with him to get better enough to live in the regular assisted living side.

I don't know anything about the UGreen brand but most of my chargers are from Anker. Their new Nano series is pretty impressive for it'ss ize. There's an exhaustive review of their 45W Nano here.

Glad to hear that your father is doing better and your girlfriend has found some solid treatment at Mayo and is improving also.

 

[Monocrom]

Just a few hours ago.... My elderly mother can't even walk 3 average city blocks. Two blocks might as well be two miles to her.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

Just a few hours ago.... My elderly mother can't even walk 3 average city blocks. Two blocks might as well be two miles to her.

I can relate. Mine can hardly walk 50 metres without needing a breather.

To be fair, the chemo treatment has left her anemic, so that hampers her a lot.

 

[Monocrom]

Sorry to hear about your mother's condition.

Before COVID19, she could easily cover that distance, and more. Did all the weekly shopping by herself with no issues, and return home; walking.

 

[Monocrom]

If you're buying a cordless hand-vac., don't get the ones with encased lithium batteries that can't be removed. If the battery is defective, you're screwed.

Buy one from the major power-tool brands out there. Such as Ryobi, or Craftsman, or RIDGID. The ones where you're far better off with separate batteries that can be removed, and recharged! Toss another battery onto the hand-vac. if you still need to use it. Mom bought a Shark hand-vac. a couple of months back. The darn thing now constantly shuts down after literally a few seconds of use! So, I'll be replacing it. The Shark hand-vac. with its encased battery is crap!

 

[TPA]

In the true spirit of the subject of this thread:

Don't fart in the shower or steam room. Humidity becomes an amplifier.

 

[bluflaam777]

 

[Galane]

If you're buying a cordless hand-vac., don't get the ones with encased lithium batteries that can't be removed. If the battery is defective, you're screwed.

Buy one from the major power-tool brands out there. Such as Ryobi, or Craftsman, or RIDGID. The ones where you're far better off with separate batteries that can be removed, and recharged! Toss another battery onto the hand-vac. if you still need to use it. Mom bought a Shark hand-vac. a couple of months back. The darn thing now constantly shuts down after literally a few seconds of use! So, I'll be replacing it. The Shark hand-vac. with its encased battery is crap!

Open it up and see what kind of cells it has. If it's NiCd they can be replaced with higher capacity NiMH. Same with replacing NiMH with higher capacity NiMH. I use a cordless shaver that had two NiCd cells which I replaced with NiMH. They've lasted far longer than the original NiCd. Didn't have to do anythign with the charger.

 

[JimIslander]

Most people are nice, given the chance.

 

[Monocrom]

Open it up and see what kind of cells it has. If it's NiCd they can be replaced with higher capacity NiMH. Same with replacing NiMH with higher capacity NiMH. I use a cordless shaver that had two NiCd cells which I replaced with NiMH. They've lasted far longer than the original NiCd. Didn't have to do anythign with the charger.

Fantastic advice. I'm going to try that, first. Thank you.

 

[Monocrom]

Most people are nice, given the chance.

Come to NYC, spend a week here.
See how fast you change your mind.

 

[Galane]

Come to NYC, spend a week here.
See how fast you change your mind.

Watch Cash Jordan's videos. They chronicle the descent of New York City into a desolate craphole. Businesses are fleeing or having to lock up everything behind tough barriers or hire security. In some stores the clear plastic cabinets haven't deterred thieves. They walk in with a propane torch and burn holes through the plastic to steal stuff.

The courts there are 100% pro criminal. Cops arrest 'em and the judges send them right back onto the streets. Got a bunch of muggings in a park? Cops come and patrol for a while and the criminals move elsewhere for a while. It's crime whack a mole because the size of the police force has been reduced so much they cannot patrol everywhere often enough to be proactive. The chance that a cop will happen to cruise by while a crime is in progress is one of the biggest deterrents - if the judges don't flip them right back out without bail.

He used to do videos on apartments available to rent at various price points. Real estate agents and building owners liked him doing videos, especially when he'd come in to show off a newly renovated apartment. Then he switched to walking around the streets, reporting on how bad things were becoming. Lots of videos on the luxury hotels turned into illegal immigrant / refugee housing and the crime associated with them. For the past few months he stayed home doing videos from his apartment.

Now he and his family are moving out of their apartment. Rent's too high, neighborhood is too noisy. The place has a large balcony they never used because it was always too hot/sunny, too windy, raining, or snowing. He also mentioned other reasons why they're moving.

Dunno if they're staying in NYC or getting the hell out.

 

[Monocrom]

Watch Cash Jordan's videos. They chronicle the descent of New York City into a desolate craphole. Businesses are fleeing or having to lock up everything behind tough barriers or hire security. In some stores the clear plastic cabinets haven't deterred thieves. They walk in with a propane torch and burn holes through the plastic to steal stuff.

The courts there are 100% pro criminal. Cops arrest 'em and the judges send them right back onto the streets. Got a bunch of muggings in a park? Cops come and patrol for a while and the criminals move elsewhere for a while. It's crime whack a mole because the size of the police force has been reduced so much they cannot patrol everywhere often enough to be proactive. The chance that a cop will happen to cruise by while a crime is in progress is one of the biggest deterrents - if the judges don't flip them right back out without bail.

He used to do videos on apartments available to rent at various price points. Real estate agents and building owners liked him doing videos, especially when he'd come in to show off a newly renovated apartment. Then he switched to walking around the streets, reporting on how bad things were becoming. Lots of videos on the luxury hotels turned into illegal immigrant / refugee housing and the crime associated with them. For the past few months he stayed home doing videos from his apartment.

Now he and his family are moving out of their apartment. Rent's too high, neighborhood is too noisy. The place has a large balcony they never used because it was always too hot/sunny, too windy, raining, or snowing. He also mentioned other reasons why they're moving.

Dunno if they're staying in NYC or getting the hell out.

Yup, all that sounds accurate. My neighborhood is thankfully less of a cesspool than certain others. Go up about 25 blocks into the next neighborhood over, and it's starts to get a bit seedy. And, the one next to that one is just ghetto as hell. It's a Ghetto. But looks somewhat respectable because it's an unofficial outdoor mall. Tough to describe. Businesses, especially pawn shops, practically on top of each other. You can tell if you're in the wrong neighborhood as far as businesses go. Liquor stores, fast-foot eateries, pawn shops, gun-shops. And, they keep alternating. Being NYC, no gun shops. Tons of fast-food places and pawn shops. A few less liquor stores than you'd imagine. But you get the gist.

I sometimes have to go into that neighborhood. Place hasn't changed in 25 years. Likely never will. I sure as heck don't go there at night.

 

[Galane]

It's like the city wants to go back to when Times Square was ringed with alternating bars, strip clubs, and brothels. The cleanup didn't start with outright bans on certain types of businesses, it began by requiring a minimum distance between any two of the same type of business. That created empty spaces that building owners then had to rent to non-seedy sorts of businesses.

 

[Monocrom]

It's like the city wants to go back to when Times Square was ringed with alternating bars, strip clubs, and brothels. The cleanup didn't start with outright bans on certain types of businesses, it began by requiring a minimum distance between any two of the same type of business. That created empty spaces that building owners then had to rent to non-seedy sorts of businesses.

Don't forget the corruption! Those same landlords would happily rent to seedier businesses if they could. Outside of Chicago, no major American city does corruption as well as New York.

 

[TPA]

NYC used to be great. Back from ~2007-2015, I'd usually work for at least 1-2 weeks a month there. somehow managing to align one of those weeks with each year's February blizzard. I had even heavily considered getting a Pied-à-terre in the city. In 2026, I can look back and say thank God it never happened.
It's such a shame. NYC has (had) the chance to become a true world-class city. Instead, corruption & mediocracy reign supreme. Sure, they'll build something nice and shiny, only to have it fall into neglect between the people (animals) who inhabit the city + union maintenance/cleaning crews who are there to punch a clock and not work.

When you travel to other countries, even developing ones, you see just how far NYC has sunk.

 

[Monocrom]

NYC used to be great. Back from ~2007-2015, I'd usually work for at least 1-2 weeks a month there. somehow managing to align one of those weeks with each year's February blizzard. I had even heavily considered getting a Pied-à-terre in the city. In 2026, I can look back and say thank God it never happened.
It's such a shame. NYC has (had) the chance to become a true world-class city. Instead, corruption & mediocracy reign supreme. Sure, they'll build something nice and shiny, only to have it fall into neglect between the people (animals) who inhabit the city + union maintenance/cleaning crews who are there to punch a clock and not work.

When you travel to other countries, even developing ones, you see just how far NYC has sunk.

I want to disagree with you but.... NOPE!
All of that is spot-on.

 

[Burgess]

Question, please, if I may --
Don't wanna' start a whole new thread here.

With cars built since about year 2000,
can ANY of them Charge a cellphone or similar device
WITHOUT the engine running ? ? ?

Let's ignore electric vehicles.

Thank You for your input !

 

[Monocrom]

Question, please, if I may --
Don't wanna' start a whole new thread here.

With cars built since about year 2000,
can ANY of them Charge a cellphone or similar device
WITHOUT the engine running ? ? ?

Let's ignore electric vehicles.

Thank You for your input !

2009 Mazda 6, V6 sSport trim has two cigarette lighter inputs. One below the dash. One inside the center console. That one works even if the engine is switched off. All you need is a simple, common adapter with a USB slot on the end of it to charge up a phone.