u/dududududuuim

ok so i might have bought a 100ah lithium battery without doing the full math. in my head it was simple – big battery = big power.

but now im adding up the load. 60l fridge drawing about 4-5amps, some led strip lights, charging two cameras and a drone, plus a diesel heater for the colder nights. am i delusional to think this will last more than a day without driving?

i know i need a proper dcdc charger to actually fill the thing, but im getting confused about solar input too. do i need 200w of solar just to keep up, or am i overestimating my usage?

honestly i think i need someone to just look at my whole setup and tell me what i actually need. found a site that seems to do this exact kind of work in perth. might be worth getting a pro to spec it out rather than me guessing and ending up with warm beer and dead cameras on day two.

anyone else made this mistake and had to upgrade immediately?

I’m in the middle of finishing my basement and figured it was the perfect time to upgrade our whole home security while i’ve already got some walls open and power runs going. The cheap wireless cameras i installed a couple years ago have been a constant headache. They’re always losing signal, night vision is grainy as hell, motion alerts go off for every leaf that blows by, and the footage is basically useless if anything actually happens. I’m tired of dealing with dead batteries, WiFi drops, and monthly cloud fees just to have blurry proof. I was thinking of trying 8 Camera 3K 5MP PoE NVR System, Turret and Bullet Cameras with Mic by SCI on cctvcameraworld now, i see that people speak really well of them, i even checked out a few reviews and they look pretty solid. Plus the price isn’t too expensive and it fits my budget nicely. Should i go with this option, or do you have any other recommendations? Have you used something else that has proven to be a really good choice over time? Thanks!

i’ve been freelancing full-time on Fiverr for a while now and things are finally scaling up, but my local tax situation is becoming a massive headache. i'm seriously looking into setting up an official corporate structure to make things smoother with legal stuff and separating my personal assets.

Wondering if anyone else tried this setup for their freelancing? curious how withdrawing to a business entity is working for u guys or if it’s just more trouble than it’s worth.

Currently mapping out a 2-week tent trip down the South Coast of NSW and trying to figure out my stops.

Don't get me wrong, I love wild camping and remote spots where you don't see another soul. But realistically, after 3 or 4 days of roughing it and digging holes, I just desperately need a proper hot shower, a decent camp kitchen to prep a real meal, and a patch of grass that isn't rock hard.

When I was around Jervis Bay last time, I ended up booking an unpowered tent site at Tasman Holiday Parks. I usually try to avoid commercial caravan parks because I don't want to be surrounded by massive rigs, but pitching the tent there was actually a lifesaver. The amenities were spotless and it was right by the beach.

How do you guys handle long road trips? Do you mix it up and break up the rough weeks with a night or two at established parks, or do you strictly stick to the bush?

If anyone has good coastal site recommendations between Sydney and Eden that actually care about tent campers (and don't just cram you in a gravel corner), let me know.

i have been struggling with cleaning products scattered everywhere in the laundry and under the sink. sprays, brushes, cloths and gloves were always getting lost or knocked over. it was making the whole job more annoying than it needed to be.

i went to victoria's basement and picked up a set of interlocking storage bins plus a sink organiser. everything fits neatly now and i can actually see what i have. has anyone else found good storage solutions that made a big difference to their cleaning routine?

ok so this is weird. Sometimes when I turn on the kitchen tap the water comes out normal. Other times its barely a trickle. Same with the shower. My neighbours are having the same issue so maybe its a street problem? But the water company said everything is fine on their end.

Im thinking maybe theres a partial blockage in the pipes? Or a leak somewhere? Ive looked under all the sinks and everything is dry. But a friend said it could be a small crack in a pipe thats reducing pressure but not enough to show a leak yet.

So now im wondering if I should get someone to check my pipes or just wait and see. Also is there a way to test for this myself? Like turn off all taps and check the meter? Any advice would be good. Dont really want to pay for a plumber if its just a city issue but also dont want to let a small problem get bigger.

honestly, i am just so tired of my own brain lately. i’m trying to focus more on my mental wellness but one tiny mistake and my motivation is completely gone. it doesn't even matter if everything else went well during the day. i will still sit there and stress about one stupid detail.

like, if i skip a workout or whatever. instead of just moving on, i end up freezing, scrolling on my phone and feeling guilty.

Improve myself is what I constantly try to do. But it makes it so hard when it always turns into this annoying all-or-nothing loop. you want to fix your habits, you start doing good, and then you lose a whole day to overthinking.

for anyone who figured this out. how do you actually stop the guilt? how do you reset your brain without feeling like a total failure?

A lot of classic science fiction was written with the best scientific knowledge available at the time. Some ideas have aged remarkably well, while others feel much less convincing now that we know more about physics, astronomy, biology, or artificial intelligence.
What's a concept that you think hasn't held up particularly well? And are there any older works that turned out to be surprisingly accurate?

i ordered a messi argentina jersey and it arrived pretty quick. the colors are accurate and the material feels decent for the price. i am curious how it holds up after a few washes though.

they have a lot of different player jerseys and movie inspired ones too like mighty ducks and christmas vacation styles. i am thinking of getting another one for my collection but want to make sure i am not missing better options in the same price range. what has been your experience with these replica style jerseys long term? is there a specific one you think is better than the rest right now?

bought a house in hobart late last year. paid for a building and pest inspection as part of the purchase. report came back clean - couple minor things but nothing major. settled, moved in, all good.

then last month noticed a crack in the back wall getting bigger. called a structural engineer who came out and said theres significant movement in the foundation. said it looks like its been a problem for years and should have been picked up in any half decent inspection.

the engineer sent me a report with photos showing old cracks that had been patched and painted over. the inspector definitely should have seen it.

i checked the inspection report and theres no mention of any of this. the guy even wrote foundation appears sound which is clearly not true.

now im looking at $30k to fix the foundation. i emailed the inspection company and they said we only report on visible defects and we're not liable based on their terms.

feeling pretty screwed honestly.

I'm so over the standard internet narrative on this topic lol. As a guy in his late 20s, my experience has been a brutal double whammy of getting next to no likes, and the rare ones I do get are just... tragic. I'm pretty active-I do bouldering, local hiking, love cooking-but the profiles swiping on me are either completely opposite lifestyles or just empty accounts with nothing but an IG handle in the bio. Optimization is a myth.

Worst part? The "conversations", if you can even call them that. I'll ask a relaxed, open-ended question about something specific in one of their prompts, and I just get slapped with one-word responses. "Yeah true," "cool lol." No effort, no follow-up questions. It is like pulling teeth, I swear. And the exact second I try to move things off the screen and suggest a casual coffee or drinks? Instant flaking or total radio silence. Are people just on here for a quick dopamine hit or an ego boost? It's exhausting.

Honestly... half the time I feel like I’m not even talking to real, breathing humans anymore. With AI spam and fake profiles completely taking over the internet, I'm convinced a huge chunk of these are just ghost accounts or bots designed to keep us scrolling forever. We desperately need some kind of hard check to confirm there's an actual, living person on the other end. I’d gladly pay for a platform if it forced everyone to prove their ?human identity? through a verification so I know for a fact I wasn't wasting my time on a piece of code, a scammer, or someone who deleted the app six months ago

The hilarious thing is I’ve shown my profile to a few female friends, and they were totally shocked by how completely dry my match queue is. They kept telling me I'm a good-looking guy with a solid corporate career, so at least I know I'm not completely delusional. Plus, I do totally fine in the real world when I talk to girls at social events or run clubs. But these apps? Man... they just make you feel entirely invisible for no damn reason.

I bought this property because I felt that this was the beginning of something new. All mine and all about me. The last owners were a young couple who had come here for work and stayed here only for 3 months. Their story seemed so convincing to me. Nothing was wrong. They just needed to move

Yeah, right…

Week 1: kitchen faucet starts dripping. Annoying, but fine

Week 2: shower cabin starts leaking

Week 3: the vanity unit and I hate that thing, who even designs a bathroom without proper drawers? Is now also falling apart

I have already called several plumbers. All of them use the same rhetoric. It is going to cost a fortune. It literally feels like buying a whole new apartment. And about the shower, it's going to take two weeks to fix it. Without a shower for two weeks. I work full time, you know; I cannot be showering at the gym every day

I'm frustrated... I'm exhausted... I moved here for peace and instead I got a never-ending list of problems…

A friend suggested I stop hiring individual contractors and go with a company that actually cares about its reputation. He mentioned Top Flow Plumbing Services in Wollongong. Said they're reliable, do good work, and don't leave you hanging for weeks

I really do not know at this point. How much time will this take? How much is this supposed to cost?

I am so tired of being told numbers that are out of this world and timeframes which aren’t realistic at all

Has anyone else had to deal with this? Am I crazy to think that shower repairs should not take 2 weeks?

went to Wanaka and Te Anau in July last year and i feel like i've been sitting on a secret ever since

the crowds are just gone, like actually gone. you can walk around Wanaka township and not feel like you're in a theme park. the mountains look unreal with snow on them. Te Anau as a base for Fiordland in winter is honestly perfect: moody, quiet, the kind of scenery that doesn't feel real.

flights and caravan parks in July were way cheaper too. if you've been putting off NZ because it feels expensive, winter is when it makes sense

yesterday was my last official day at my corporate marketing job and today is my first day being completely on my own doing freelance strategy. I woke up at my usual 7 AM out of pure panic habit, walked into the kitchen, made a coffee, and just sat on the couch staring at the wall for like thirty minutes. No angry Slack messages, no pointless stand-up meetings, no micromanaging boss. Just quiet. It’s honestly kind of terrifying. Spent the afternoon setting up my home desk and trying to get my legal ducks in a row so I actually feel like a real professional. I was looking through a bunch of corporate filing sites to see how to handle the state paperwork without putting my home address on the public registry, and I think I'm just gonna go with an Incorp registered agent setup to keep things private. Once that's filed, the reality is really going to sink in. I'm completely responsible for my own paycheck now. It’s a weird mix of total freedom and absolute imposter syndrome. To celebrate, I’m probably just going to order some expensive sushi and try not to check my email every five seconds.

I've been thinking a lot lately about modifying humans specifically for longduration space travel, not through cryo sleep or generation ships, but through actual biological alteration of the species itself. The idea that we might need to fundamentally change what a human being is just to survive the journey feels both fascinating and deeply unsettling.

The obvious questions keep coming up. At what point does the engineered traveler stop being human in any meaningful sense? Is the destination worth losing our baseline biology? And who gets to make that decision for future generations who never consented to it?

I know Alastair Reynolds touches on something like this with the Conjoiners and some of his other factions in the Revelation Space universe. Peter Watts also goes into seriously disturbing territory with human modification in Blindsight and Echopraxia.

I'm curious whether the community knows of other works that treat this theme with real scientific grounding rather than just using it as window dressing. Novels, short fiction, anything goes. Bonus points if the story actually wrestles with the ethical and philosophical weight of the premise rather than glossing over it.

What are your recommendations, and which treatments of the concept do you think are most scientifically plausible?

My mom moved in with us last year. She is as sharp as she was in her youth, but she can barely walk due to her bad knees. Going up the stairs had become quite risky, while the main bathroom on our floor was extremely dangerous for her

I knew we had to renovate. But I was terrified it would end up looking like a hospital room. You know the look: cold grab bars, clinical shower seats, raised toilets that scream institutional. And I think that my mom deserves better than that

Browsed online for ideas. Spent way too many hours scrolling through bathroom trends until I saw this whole movement around accessible design that actually looks good. I had no idea it could be done

We picked brushed brass grab bars which look more like towel rods rather than any medical device. Teak shower chair instead of looking cold has been used which provides warm feeling. Toilet is raised to make it easy for her to use but looks more modern than a toilet used in nursing homes. Even flooring has been changed to textured flooring which is slip resistant but still modern

The best part? When we showed what we’ve picked and the approximate picture how it will look my mom said it feels like a spa. And I’m sure that she will shower comfortably, use the bathroom without difficulty, and be happy in her golden years

Anyone else done an accessibility remodel without losing the aesthetic? I’d love to see pictures and hear what worked for you

Always looking for more ideas

I've been putting off getting some work done on my teeth for way too long (you know how it is, life gets busy and suddenly that little sensitivity turns into yeah you need a crown or two territory, finally bit the bullet last week after a rough toothache and went in for a consult, the first place quoted me around $1800+ for the main stuff plus cleaning/xrays, which honestly made me feel sick. I'm in the Houston area and after scrolling reviews i was thinking about checking out urbn dental, heard from a couple people its not bad at all. Anyway, now i'm trying to figure out how to budget for this without killing my emergency fund. I've got about $600 saved up rn for it but the rest? thinking of side gigging some weekends or cutting takeout hard for a couple months. Anyone been through big dental expenses lately? howd you make it work? payment plans? hsa stuff? or am i better off shopping around more? Thanks in advance, feeling a bit overwhelmed but trying to stay positive lol. teeth are important right? 😂

you know that feeling when something that used to make you feel good suddenly feels like a chore?that's me with skincare right now. doing the whole multi-step thing for years it used to be my wind-down time. now it's just another box to tick before I can go to sleep.

I'm 38 I have a demanding job and Im tiredbstanding in front of the mirror patting on serums at 10pm is not relaxing anymore - it's exhausting. wondering if Im actually doing this for my skin or just because I'm scared my face will fall off if I stop. the whole beauty industry is so loud. more steps, more products, more money.

haven't actually done it yet. old habits die hard. but the thought is there.

has anyone over 30 cut back and felt better for it? not like influencer minimalist with 12 hidden steps

I've been thinking a lot lately about the practical challenges of interstellar travel, specifically the biological side of things. The distances involved are so massive that any crew would either need to live for centuries or be fundamentally changed at a genetic level to survive the journey. It got me wondering how science fiction has handled this idea in serious, thoughtful ways.

I'm not just talking about hibernation pods or generation ships, though those are great too. I mean stories where humanity deliberately rewires itself, through genetic engineering, directed evolution, or some kind of biological augmentation, specifically to become suited for deep space environments. Stories that grapple with what it means to still be human after those changes, or whether that question even matters anymore.

I found a few passing references to the concept but nothing that really digs into the science and the social consequences together. The best SF for me is when the speculative idea feels like a genuine extrapolation from where we are now rather than pure fantasy.

Has anyone read anything that covers this territory well? Novels, short story collections, or novellas are all welcome. Bonus points if the science feels grounded and the author clearly did their homework on evolutionary biology or genetics.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how artificial intelligence has quietly worked itself into everyday routines in ways that feel less like dramatic robot uprisings and more like a slow, almost invisible creep. Which got me wondering which science fiction writers actually got that right.

A lot of classic SF imagined AI as either a looming existential threat or a loyal servant with clear boundaries. But the reality feels messier and more mundane. AI is helping people write emails, generate images, recommend what to watch next, and gradually shifting how people think about creativity and work. It's not Skynet. It's not HAL 9000. It's something stranger and more banal.

I keep coming back to Philip K. Dick, who seemed to grasp the psychological and identity dimensions of living alongside artificial minds. More recent writers like Hannu Rajaniemi and Peter Watts explore how intelligence itself might become alien even when it's technically serving human ends.

But I'm curious what people here think. Which book, story, or series captured the texture of how AI actually lands in real human life, not the dramatic version, but the complicated everyday version? And do you think science fiction is still ahead of reality on this, or has reality caught up and started outpacing the imagination?