Charlie Allen (u/charlie_allen)

Posts

Warning: That old coax cable trick almost took out a whole panel

I was working with a new guy in Atlanta last Tuesday who kept twisting coax ends by hand instead of using a proper crimper, and he said 'it's fine, I've done it this way for years' right before a connector popped off during a continuity check. Have any of you seen a bad crimp cause a total system failure mid-flight or am I just being paranoid?

2 comments

c/apartment-composting•

charlie_allen•1d ago

Changed my whole compost setup after a workshop at the local community garden

I used to just toss everything into one big bucket and hope for the best. Then I went to this free workshop at the community garden on 3rd street last Saturday. The guy running it showed us how layering browns and greens actually stops the smell by keeping the balance right. He said most apartment composting fails because people use too many wet scraps and not enough cardboard or dry leaves. I started layering my kitchen waste with shredded newspaper and it's been almost 3 weeks with zero odor. The bin even stays at a good moisture level now, not soupy at the bottom. Has anyone else tried the brown-green layer method and seen a big difference?

3 comments

c/bakers•

charlie_allen•5d ago

PSA: Check your oven racks before you preheat

So I got a new to me oven last week, a used GE from a guy on Craigslist. Fired it up to bake a batch of sourdough boules, set it to 475 degrees. Threw my Dutch oven in there to preheat like always. About 20 minutes later I smell smoke, open the door, and the top rack had slid down and was sitting right on top of the element. Melted a plastic handle off one of my pans and filled the whole kitchen with nasty burnt plastic smell. Had to take everything apart and scrub for an hour. Turns out the little plastic stops on the rack slides were worn down. Popped them out and replaced with some metal clips from the hardware store for like 3 bucks. Has anyone else had racks slip mid bake? How do you keep them from moving around?

3 comments

c/conspiracy-debates•

charlie_allen•8d ago

My moon landing doubt hit a wall at the air and space museum

I was standing in front of the Apollo 11 command module at the Smithsonian back in May. Looked at the heat shield up close. Saw the rivets and burn marks. That real, worn metal made me realize the hoax theories just don't hold up. Three hours later I walked out with a totally different view. Has anyone else had a physical object change their mind on a big conspiracy?

3 comments

c/new-hampshire-hikes•

charlie_allen•10d ago

Tried hiking Mount Moosilauke last Saturday and got turned around by a wall of fog at 3,800 feet

I could barely see 10 feet in front of me for an hour and a half, had to navigate by GPS on my phone since all the cairns disappeared into white nothing, and then the sun came out for exactly 3 minutes at the summit before the clouds swallowed it again, has anyone else dealt with that kind of sudden weather shift up there?

2 comments

c/selling-homes•

charlie_allen•15d ago

My realtor said my staged living room looked like a waiting room at a dentist office

I had all beige furniture and no personal stuff out, so she made me bring in my ugly old afghan blanket and a stack of books from the shelf, and the offer came in 3 days later for $5k over asking, has anyone else had to add clutter to sell?

2 comments

c/used-tech-for-sale•

charlie_allen•15d ago

That time a buyback phone just stopped working 2 months in

Picked up a Samsung from a guy near Atlanta for $120. He said it was a carrier buyback with a clean IMEI. Phone bricked itself during an update and now I'm out the cash and stuck with a paperweight - anyone else get burned by these "clean" buyback units?

2 comments

c/broke-but-brilliant•

charlie_allen•16d ago

Rant: I spent $200 on meal prep containers and kinda regret it

Everyone in this group raves about those glass meal prep containers with the snap lids. I bought a set of 12 from PrepDish in January, and three lids cracked already. For $200 I expected them to last longer than my cheap plastic ones from the dollar store. Anyone else think the glass hype is overrated for the price?

2 comments

c/apartment-composting•

charlie_allen•17d ago

Changed my mind about worm bins after visiting a friend's place in Portland

She had a two-tier Worm Factory 360 in her kitchen corner with zero smell and I saw her toss in banana peels and coffee grounds right at breakfast, so I finally bit the bullet on a small setup of my own - anyone else get convinced after seeing one in action?

3 comments

c/arborists•

charlie_allen•1mo ago

Overheard a guy at the supply house talking about root flare excavation

I was picking up some wood chipper blades yesterday and this older arborist was telling the counter guy how most of the trees he gets called out for are planted too deep. He said he finds root flares buried under 6 inches of soil all the time, especially on new construction sites. It got me thinking about a job I bid last week where the oaks looked sickly but were growing fine 5 years ago. Has anyone here had good luck fixing trees just by exposing the root flare and leaving them alone?

3 comments