Due to moving overseas, I'm forced to downsize to just one bike. After switching to a 26er for my daily commuting, for its better grocery-hauling abilities, this Fuji Del Rey has been collecting dust in the basement.
Absolutely a rad bike and a blast to ride, but I have to part with it.
Goodbye old friend!
Somewhat clashing formality levels today, but it's Friday!!
Pretty sure this started after riding in the rain, but not 100% sure that's related.
This is a cup and cone BB. I have done some testing to isolate the source to the BB. Please don't ask me if it's the derailleur or the chain or the pedals. Not trying to be rude, just wanna be clear that it's definitely coming from the BB.
I put this BB together myself, with clean and undamaged parts, fresh grease, and preload. Was riding the bike with no sound for two months, but now it's creaking.
I do grease the BB shell threads to prevent rust, but only lightly. I do not grease the square taper end of the spindle.
Curious to hear what folks think might be causing this before I pull the BB apart again. I need my bike tomorrow and don't have time to wrench tonight. I guess the most important question is whether I should be concerned much for now.
Thanks!
Here's the situation: I'm moving from the US to Germany this year. I have about $30k across multiple retirement accounts (2 pension accounts and a 403b). Should I roll everything into an IRA and just leave it untouched while I live abroad? I'm thinking I likely won't return to the US, but I also thought I wouldn't return to Germany, yet here we are. Alternative would be to withdraw the accounts, get taxed on the income and take it to Germany, where I could reinvest it.
Related: I have about another 60k in a personal brokerage account, which I will be taking with me to Germany. I'll have to withdraw that, get taxed at 15% capital gains (maybe... See below), and then put it into a mutual fund in Germany. Alternatively, I could keep it in the US with a different institution, but my bank won't manage my account if I don't live in the US.
Now, because I'm leaving mid-year, my total annual income would actually be low enough that my capital gains might not be taxed (income under 48k). However, if I withdraw my retirement and claim it as income, my capital gains will definitely be taxed.
Just unsure what the best path forward is here. Keep my money in the US? Take my money to Germany? Something else?
Carlisle, PA! Grab it before it's gone
Got the idea from this YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/k\_fIHTwJ2GM?si=S9v9kPsPepJZ0RzN
After trying it myself, I can attest it is effective and less sketchy than it looks!
$100!!! Absolute steal :-)
Went with the shorter quill, but also kept the short stem. Comfortable to ride and about 75% less goofy imo.
I feel like they look tiny on this bike, but I needed something with zero flare, so it's easier to take on the subway. Though I feel like everything always looks a bit awkward because I have tall frames with even more seatpost and stem extension lol.
Third picture shows the Salsa Woodchipper bars I was running beforehand for comparison.
Update here:
Seller has it listed on Facebook Marketplace for $150, but already offered me $125 because he's leaving the city for summer break (college student). I wonder if I should offer $100. I don't wanna low-ball him, but $100 is kinda my budget for a watch rn. Plus, it needs a new strap for sure.
I recently "finished" my own TTRPG; Regular Volk. It's a game about fairytale heroes with the ability to turn into animals at will. The whole game is based on German folklore, hence the name.
I invited some friends to come play it and we had an amazing time. We spent about an hour on character creation and another 2.5 hours playing the game. Their characters were creative, interesting, and funny. The game really encouraged narrative gameplay as well as using every ability and item in a creative way.
I was really nervous that the whole thing would blow up in my face and be unstable, poorly balanced, or worse: boring! But we had laughs, serious moments, intense roleplay, strategizing talks, and teamwork.
Anyway, if you're interested, I uploaded it to itch. It's free to download and I released it under a creative commons license, so have at it. If you decide to adapt the game, you can just credit me. If you're using it for personal use, just have fun!
Would love to hear stories from your first playthrough of your own RPG!! Were you as lucky or did you learn any new lessons about game design?
My partner really likes it, but I am having a hard time with it. I generally struggle to find good combinations for anything but light colored shirts. Btw, this is the only solid colored tie in my collection (because I normally wear light colored shirts that can handle some color and pattern)
I have an iPod Classic 6th Gen with an iFlash solo mod and a 64gb SD card (please don't judge the 64 lol!)
Anyway, I'm just playing music off it and suddenly it'll stop working, skip a couple songs, maybe play one or two again, then skip more of them. You can see how it skips tracks in the video.
When I reset the iPod (menu+select), I can play those same songs that were skipping before, but after a while, the same issue comes up again.
I tried two different albums. Same issue.
I did recently turn on Sound check because some of my questionable MP3 files desperately needed volume normalization. Not sure if it has anything to do with that.
The SD card is confirmed good. I have been using it in my camera for the last 10 years.
Another symptom is that it doesn't work in my car, whereas my 5th gen does.
Edit: the iPod also doesn't connect to my Windows computer, from which I previously synced the music. It readily charges from the wall, and I don't believe there to be any damage to the port. When I plug it into the computer, the following happens:
Connecting in Disk Mode allowed me to restore the iPod firmware. However, this did not resolve the issue.
My predictions for the comment section: Jeffrey Dahmer, wrist watch too casual, painted nails gasp, if you were my teacher _____. Knock yourselves out!
Also, everything is thrifted!! The shoes are Allen Edmonds McAllister in Cordovan. The heels squeak, so that's gonna be a conversation starter for my middle schoolers today lol
Long story short, I briefly had an idea for a ttrpg without combat, where a group of rogue dandies perform public stunts in a dystopian society in order to induce a romantic revolution. Anyway, I feel like it would require more world building than I have time for right now, so what I'm left with is a cool resolution mechanic and no game to use it with.
The basic idea is that players take collaborative actions by rolling ever more dice (1d6, 2d6, 3d6, etc.). Each new dice result must be higher than the last. For example:
1d6 = 3
2d6 = 5 (success)
3d6 = 13 (success)
4d6 = 9 (failure)
The difficulty of a roll would have to be set beforehand. Let's say the difficulty in the above example was 10. The players would have met it with the 3d6 roll and called it a success. If the difficulty had been 14, they would not have met the threshold.
Players can choose to stop rolling and bank their result before reaching a failure. This makes it a game of push your luck. Rolling a 13 successfully, but not meeting the difficulty of the roll would be a partial success.
Also, the dice multiplier at the end of a sequence matters as well. If players reach the difficulty with 3d6, the 3 can get stored somehow. If they wanna push their luck even after reaching the difficulty, they can store a higher multiplier. On a partial success, the multiplier can still get stored. On a failure, the multiplier benefits the opposition, which means higher rolls become more risky.
In my eyes, this system encourages group work and shared decision making about how many risks to take.
I also did a lot of spreadsheet math and it seems that this system can be reasonably balanced based on average success rates at each stage of the dice chain.
For example, 75% of all dice chains succeed on 2d6. So even if players did no risk calculation of their own, something like rolling a 6 is a reasonable ask for an easy task.
55% of all dice chains succeed in 3d6, and 30% of all dice chains still succeed on 4d6. These averages can be used to build difficulty guidelines.
NOW:
What to use this system for? I was using it for a game I call Singularity. It was kind of a dystopian, late-stage capitalist, Orwellian AI takeover setting. The "foe" in Singularity is not some kind of combatant, but rather the risk of the AI detecting strange behavior. So players had to push their luck without getting caught.
I think this mechanic might be suited to some kind of heist game? Maybe also something in a detective noir setting? Perhaps a game where the players are evil and need to commit crimes without getting caught?
I can also see this working for other collaborative activities. Maybe it's navigating a spaceship in a chase scene, maybe it's kids playing pranks on their teachers at school.
If you have any other ideas for how to use and/or adapt this mechanic, I'd be curious to hear them!