AsktheBuilder.com News - December 18, 2022

Issue #1212 (I think...)

Dear ,

Ho Ho Ho! Christmas is now just one week away! If this is your first newsletter, you'll discover I try to make home improvement news entertaining.

As I typed this sentence, it's looking like it's going to be a very white Christmas here in central New Hampshire. In fact, Just a few days ago we got our cover snow. More snow is forecast for the days just before Christmas. I'm not going to see the grass again until late March or April.

If you live in Sarasota, FL, you'll just have to try to make sand balls and a sandman with that dreamy white sugar that gets between your toes as you stroll along your beaches!

Let's get started.

WX ALERT!

Remember a year or two ago when TENS OF THOUSANDS of people had frozen water lines in Texas? Repair parts were as scarce as water in the Atacma Desert?

GO OUT NOW and purchase repair couplings, a few 90s, and all you need to REPAIR your BURST copper water lines. Look at what's coming for TENS OF MILLIONS of people. Don't say I didn't warn you. Map courtesy of Accuweather.com.

My Past Week

I forgot to mention last week that I was invited to speak to the Hampden County MA amateur radio club on January 6, 2023. It's a 3-hour drive from my house to Holyoke, MA.

With the meeting not starting until 7:30 PM, there's no way I'm driving home in the inky blackness getting home after midnight.

I'll be spending the night in town after the talk and coming back the next day. Before the talk, the club officers and I are breaking bread. The meeting is open to the public should you live nearby and want to attend.

They want me to share my trials and tribulations about herding 40-50 amateur radio operators at the New England Forest Rally (NEFR) for the past five years.

I was Chief of Communications (CoC) for the NEFR during that time period. I feel my biggest accomplishments were:

• Solving a vexing 25-year-old comms conundrum using a silly wire just 4 feet off the ground. I did this with the help of four other operators. All of the previous CoC were not unable to solve the problem.
• Creating the robust written documentation used by all the radio operators both new and experienced. Prior to my arrival there was little in writing.
• Creating team leaders. There are four comms teams and since I couldn't be at all places at once, each team now had a person who solved problems and took charge. I gave them partial ownership of the comms responsibility and the were trusted advisors.

Is it possible you'd be interested in this topic? Do you want to know what that vexing 25-year-old conundrum was? I thought so. READ THIS STORY and watch the video. Then tell me if you'd like to be at the rally keying up a microphone.

It's Tough to be Practically Perfect in Every Way!

I made a mistake in how much it cost to scan my 90 historic family photos. Don't ask me how I goofed up. It wasn't just under $15. It was $31.50. Capture charges 35 cents per photo. Even at that price, it's a tremendous bargain.

Mike, who hales from Virginia Beach, VA, reached out to me hours after last week's newsletter was dropped into his Inbox:

"No words are misused today, but something was different about the following sentence. Can you see it?  Remember, the devil is in the details..."

I forgot to include the letter n in the word different. This word was in my writeup about Capture.

David, a fellow amateur radio operator, also caught the mistake and another one on the Wood Conditioner Video page.

Poor Danielle

There wasn't enough room last week to share this story. I don't know how to couch this without coming across as pretentious. 

I'd like to think what sets me apart from many of my home improvement peers is that I go to great lengths to hold people's feet to the fire. It's not unusual for another home improvement website or newsletter to simply ingest press releases from public relations (PR) people like Danielle and then cough them up word-for-word like a bad hairball.

Not me. Not EVER. Here's an example of how I try to protect you from claptrap, chicanery, and malarkey.

About twelve days ago I received an email from Danielle. You don't need to know her last name or her employer. That's nice-to-know information. 

Understand that she was just doing her job and layer onto that she might not know much about plumbing. Here's part of what she sent. I highlighted a key phrase that jumped out at me like a big spider:

"...In 2021, people used 8% more indoor water on Christmas Eve and 3% more indoor water on Christmas Day than they did on average in December. This increased use can lead to water leaks and other costly issues if homeowners don't take the necessary precautions. If you're interested in this topic, I'd be happy to connect you with Ric Miles of the Alliance for Water Efficiency to discuss in more detail."

Freezing pipes have nothing to do with higher water use, so I'm very confused about that comment.

I'll refer back to what you originally sent me in your original email. You said, "...This increased use can lead to water leaks..."

Maybe I should ask: Please list the top two or three leak locations and then the direct leak cause due to increased water usage.

Does that help?"

I've never heard back from Danielle.

You be the judge. Is the Alliance for Water Efficiency trying to blow smoke and frighten folks like you or am I too inquisitive?

Critical-Thinking Exercise

Last Sunday I heard from a subscriber. He owns an RV and he uses a chemical in his RV sewage holding tank that claims to help break down the sewage sloshing around in the tank.

He was responding to my New Home #HACKS project and told me that my hack for RV owners might be a bad idea.

I had received a hack from another RV owner. He thought that all RV owners should have a pipe that connects to their sewer or septic tank. It should stub up next to where they park the RVs at their homes when they come back from an adventure.

They could then drain the holding tank into their septic tank or city sewer instead of having to travel to some other place to PAY to dispose of the sewage.

This man said he had seen on the Internet that the additive he uses shouldn't go into septic tanks. I asked him why. He couldn't give the reason other than these invisible faceless online commenters said it would harm the septic tank or the septic tank bacteria.

I did my best to re-create the actual discussion below. The following quotes may not be 100% accurate.

I asked, "Do you know what goes in your RV holding tank? You've got a bathroom and a small kitchen sink, right? Isn't it the SAME STUFF you put in your septic tank?"

There was a pause. He replied, "I guess so."

I then said, "If this chemical is supposed to aid the breakdown of the waste in your RV holding tank, how could that be a bad thing for the septic tank where you want the same exact waste to break down?"

"I'm just trying to inform you of what is out there on the Internet," was his reply.

I then said, "Don't you think it's a good idea to employ critical-thinking skills in these situations and AVOID believing everything you read? What are the qualifications of the people spewing these comments? Did you call the manufacturer of the enzyme chemical you use and ask them if it harms septic tanks? If not, when you do call and they say yes, press them and have them tell you why it causes harm in the septic tank but NOT the RV tank."

As always happens, after the exchange there were extra things I wished I would have said. For example:

When you go to a facility to dump your RV sewage, where does it end up? A municipal sewage plant?

If so, why doesn't the chemical hurt the sewage-treatment facility?

BTW, do you know how municipal sewage treatment works? Do you know HOW your sewage is broken down before it's dumped in the river to become the drinking water of the next city or town downstream?

I SUGGEST YOU GO HERE AND DISCOVER SOMETHING YOU DIDN'T KNOW.

How many times in the past 2.5 years have I said in this newsletter:

STOP TRUSTING PEOPLE

STOP TRUSTING AUTHORITY FIGURES

STOP BEING PLAYED

Instead START using your God-given critical-thinking skills and QUESTION everything.

Two Tips

Tip 1: You collapse at the grocery store or anywhere in public. You're unconscious. How do the first responders CALL YOUR LOVED ONES? Do you think they have ESP?

Did you know there's a great chance your cell phone has a place deep in the Settings where you can create a list of your Emergency Contacts?

Did you know the first responders can use your phone and call these contacts WITHOUT having your password? What a great feature for the first responders! 

Go to the Settings in your phone and ADD your EMERGENCY CONTACTS. Use your God-given critical-thinking skills to complete this task.

Tip 2: You've been kidnapped by idiots and still have your cell phone. Or, you're about to be attacked or physically abused. Or maybe you've fallen and you can't get up. How can you SILENTLY send an EMERGENCY SOS to get help?

Your cellphone MAY HAVE this capability. Mine does. 

Once again, employ your critical-thinking skills to make this determination, discover the different SOSs you can send including video, and practice how to use it. Watch the demo that's on your phone.

That's quite enough for the week before Christmas. 

Jesus is coming! Christmas is a reminder of when He came down to take care of all your sins.

It's a good thing I've got thousands of years of Indulgences saved up! Also, if Kathy precedes me in death, I'm stuffing $500 in her pocket to help pay my way into Heaven in case St. Peter/God have my records messed up or they're lost.

What are you doing to make sure you and I get to have lunch up in Heaven????

Tim Carter

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Morse Man - www.W3ATB.com

P.S. How does the Fog of Complacency drift into your life each day? The author of The Great Crescenta Valley Flood first introduced me to that phrase. It's an amazing book about the epic flash flood on New Years Day in 1934 in Montrose, CA.

He talks about how all of us tend to forget somewhat recent events or ignore clues about what WILL HAPPEN AGAIN in the future. You plod along in your daily life in a FOG not taking seriously some danger - you become complacent. 

Perhaps you hear stories about something or someone and after a few years you get distracted by some shiny object and forget what you knew.

Do you remember that flash flood in your county five years ago? Are all your priceless possessions SAFE from floods, fire, or other natural disasters? Why not?

Do you remember the time your power went out for days, not hours? What have you done since then to make sure you've got power?

Are you complacent about the search engine you use? Try FreeSpoke.com instead.