Super General Advice (the thread for advice without making a thread)

is the shaking only happening at/worst at high speeds? my first thought would be your tires - we had to take our car in to get the tires rebalanced the winter we first moved to iowa, because the way snow would build up in/get knocked out of the wheel well ended up changing the weights of the tires, and it caused this horrible shaking and made our car basically impossible to drive over 45mph

it wasn't a particularly expensive thing to have fixed, either - probably only $50 or $60? i got our oil changed at the same time, and it cost us $110 something altogether

 

It went away but not completely when I sped up. Granted I was in an area that i couldn’t get over 40 for very long.

Sadly I know it’s not the tires because it keeps shaking even when parked. It only stopped when I turned the engine off. I’m just really hoping it starts and can get me home when I get off.

 

Car friend has no clue, but says you’ll want to get it looked at asap, cuz things that make car shake can make things worse the longer they are ignored.

 

I’m gonna get it looked at after work today. It behaved on the way to work this morning and I hadn’t drove it over the weekend. As soon as I get off I’ve got an appointment with a mechanic. I’m hoping it’s just a spark plug making things misfire

 

Speaking of cars! I will, as soon as pandemic is chilled out enough for me to have to go in to work, have to buy a car for the first time. I don’t want to go into debt or buy something super fancy since there’s a slight chance that within 2 years I’ll work abroad again and have to sell it anyways.. but also I want to be able to feel comfortable driving across the country (USA), I’m currently budgeting up to 8k but closer to 6k would be preferable

I know literally nothing about cars, any tips on how to start learning literally anything that will help me prevent getting screwed over when buying a used car

 

Number one thing is trusted dealer. Like, straight up. Unfortunately, that can be super hard to find. Always test drive before buying. When you test drive, hit Every Button. If it doesn’t work, you can either make them fix before buy, or take price down due to broken thing. If you can, take it on the highway and go FAST. I think my mom tries to go at least up to 80mph(but I’ve gone up to 100mph). This is a good way to find out if car is misaligned(car will shake at those high of speeds if it is). Also good to slam breaks in a safe area(no one behind you or things you could skid into)to test if those are good. Check to make sure everything smells good(like smoke smell or if it starts making odors while you drive it). Shaking car is bad. Noises besides engine noise are suspect. Rattling is bad. Squeaking is bad.


Know some preference/needs before hand. Automatic vs manual, 4 wheel drive vs 2(4 is super important if you are living in an area prone to lots of wet and freeze and snow, but less important in warmer climates), heated seats, working ac, seating fabric, how many people you are planning to drive, what kind of things you will need to fit in car for regular use. I haven’t heard any hard evidence for Best car types, it seems to depend on how well the car was taken care of, especially if are buying used(which I presume you are at those prices).

-trained on car buying and maintenance, not car mechanic or otherwise an experienced car diagnostician

 

Okay so I’m looking for a new bank. I want one that knows what they’re doing with electronic payment programs (paypal, patreon, kofi, etc.). Does anyone have any recommendations, or conversely any warnings to steer well clear? I will not be banking with BoA, this I know.

Eta: Bank acquired!

 

sibling has asked for a pair of noise cancelling headphones for their bday. can anyone recommend some that are quality but don't break the bank?

 

These Are pretty good bluetooth headphones, fairly sturdy (they've survived many walks, falling off my head onto concrete during said walks, and being routinely shoved into my bag) and quite good at noise-cancelling. They're 30$ which is maybe a little high but on the lower end for what I consider good headphones.

 

thanks! my budget is about $50 max so these fall well within it :D

 

Following conversations elsewhere, I figured I'd look into information on defusing conflict. De-escalation techniques and the workings thereof.

Coming at this with only like 5 hours sleep, went about it in a very direct way - open internet browser, insert search terms, see what pops up. Turns out, a heck of a lot of pdfs of informational powerpoints for police officers - the sorts of mandatory trainings that some use more than others. All things considered, anything aimed at police isn't quite what I'm looking for - esp since I don't have that authority to wield or compensate for.

Working with synonyms, "defusing conflict" led me to plenty of workplace-focused options, but not the stuff of a coherent methodology or paradigm.

This one is focused on here's some tips that might help, but this is an article, so nothing is discussed in detail.

This one has more information, but a lot of the detail is focused on a physical situation, where danger of violence is a risk and body language is a tool.

Any suggestions on what terms would improve my search results, or maybe resources you're familiar with and have already vetted? I don't want to just read clumsy HR mandatory training type stuff, I want to aspire to being an Iroh (atla).

 

I haven't looked into it much, but my old Quaker Meeting shared invites to workshops by a group called the Alternatives to Violence Project which I think is all about this topic. I haven't had a chance to actually attend, but it may be a useful jumping off point for you to poke at.

 

I am checking that out, thank you!

 

For the past few days I've been oversleeping a lot, should I talk to the doctor?

 

I would, if you can. Oversleeping, especially out of nowhere, can mean a lot of things (although not many particularly dangerous) and it's better to ask than suffer in silence

 

So weird issue I've noticed since the COVID crap started- using a mouse (as I need to do both at home and work) drives me absolutely batshit.

I'm pretty sure it's because I've been washing my hands A Lot instead of The Typical Amount, cause I'm reaaaaasonably sure it's not an issue with the mouse? I've tried cleaning it (and borrowed a brand new mouse) and it didn't mitigate the issue.

Anyways, when using my mice, everything will feel perfectly fine for about 30 minutes after I wash my hands, then it starts feeling like there's some kinda gross, invisible residue on contact with the mouse (other things too to a lesser extent but especially the mouse), especially on the pads of my fingers. I don't know why but it's really intolerable and makes it hard to feel/notice/not be constantly irritated or distracted by the sensation - so far the only solution I've found is just... washing my hands even more to reset the clock, and it's just not feasible to do that so constantly!

I've looked into typing gloves but those are always fingerless so that's no help :V Anyone else noticed this or have any tips?

 

that sounds like it might be sweat so thin gloves whether or not they have fingers might help at least somewhat

 

my old Wacom tablet is apparently not working. computer says it's connected and the driver is fully updated, and the lights on the tablet light up when I use either the pen or my finger so it is registering pressure, but the cursor doesn't move. I haven't used it in years and definitely don't have the documentation anymore. a restart did nothing. does anyone know what this might be or how to fix it?

 

Perhaps try the book The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense? It’s helped me quite a bit.

 

tablets are really annoying to troubleshoot, but one thing i've found occasionally fixes problems is completely uninstalling the driver (and preferrably any other tablet drivers on your computer) and reinstalling it
i think wacom should have all of its drivers available to reinstall online if you don't have the original cd or whatever, long as you know what tablet you have