u/johnnybiggles

Installed 1G internet today. I have another computer sitting right next to this one connected to the same switch (which is connected to the router extender I have at 1G, which is connected to coaxial, which is connected to a 1G router elsewhere in the house) and it's getting around 500/500 on SpeedTest. I connected yet another computer I have to the extender for my router directly (wired) and got over 400/400. Connected it to the router itself and also got over 400/400 (bursts of over 500). What would cause the download on this PC to be super slow, even though the upload is roughly where it would be (I assume)?

On SpeedTest, it bursts out to over about 100-250, then pauses for a second while the bar goes across and the dial stops, then continues to drop lower until it's average is below 100. It's gotten as low as 25-70mpbs, while upload speed is still around 400+. I'm not downloading anything else, and don't think I have anything running. I ran it several times and the same thing, no download speed was over 100 and the upload speed was 300-500. What can I check?

Update: In a different browser (Chrome is my default, now I did the same test in Firefox), I got about 26-40 down and about 200 up. WTF

UPDATE 2: I installed the latest Microsoft drivers for the network card (somehow it still shows the same older version in its properties, not the new one of the package file I downloaded, 31.2.2, that covers I219-LM and a bunch of others), then rebooted. The reboot might have cleared something since I remembered I hadn't rebooted since getting the newer hardware, but if not that alone, the new drivers seemed to fix the issue as I'm getting over over or about 500/500 now. However, I still think it should be higher since it's supposed to be 1G (which, from my understanding should produce roughly ~800-900mbps), but at least it's even and matching my other connections.

There are a bunch of sweet tea recipes floating around, but I found myself lost a while back when they stop serving the Hi-C orange (Lavaburst, not the carbonated orange soda), and when they brought it back, I felt like a kid again! Since I go there less these days, is there a recipe floating around to duplicate that drink in bulk? Like an orange concentrate or something that's on par for large quantites? Thanks in advance.

I want to go back to school. Is Rocket Surgery more complicated or more difficult than Rocket Science? People keep informing me that things are "not rocket surgery", so it seems more sophisticated. Seems like a lucrative study path to wealth if it's so niche. Do we have any Rocket Surgeons here who can offer some advice for a college prospective scientician?

Looking to get a small set of those Asian soup spoons.

Just wondering how good or bad melamine spoons are vs ceramic and porcelain. It's a bit harder to find the flat-bottomed and hooked ones as ceramic/porcelain, and was concerned with plastics in hot soup fresh off the stove. They are a bit cheaper, too.

Ceramic & porcelain are better materials, and more luxurious (?) I would assume, though more fragile. I'm seeing lots of holes by design in some of those in the handle area, and it's a weak spot where it can break, apparently.

What's your preference when it comes to asian soup spoons and why? What would you recommend?

I buy a package of Banh Pho noodles, which comes dry and wrapped around several times in the pack so it is basically one big chunk of thin, dry noodles. I nomally just want a single bowl and need to break them apart, but they end up shattering and going everywhere, and breaking in half.

It's not like dry spaghetti, where you can just dump a batch out. These you apparently have to break apart to get a single serving. Has anyone had any better luck at separating a serving out without it shattering and flinging little noodle bits everywhere? Perhaps keeping them dry? (or is soaking or partly cooking them the only way?)

There's a movie called "The Brainwashing of My Dad" that was released in 2015, and, IIRC, it covered how a woman's father, who had watched right-wing media excessively (to say the least), became "brainwashed", and demonstrated a significant change in behavior directly because of it. They showed some tactics used, and went into the mechanics of how it can work (for example: using red, white and blue color schemes and imagery in the backgrounds to associate a subtle sort of "default" patriotism, and also in the 'breaking news" banners and the scrolling tickers; various other techniques like talking over or interrupting guests, omissions, etc.).

Given the popular "Fox News" references throughout this sub and in others, and their widely known credibility issues and their reputation (record $787M defamation suit), in spite of it's persistent popularity, we generally know it seems possible to some great extent to mislead the nation via controlled media, and how it's used explicitly to do so.

 

How good do you think your own media literacy is? Do you think you would be able to teach such a course?

What do you think conservatives miss (or, conversely, get right) when it comes to the most popular information mediums? What about liberals?

What can we do or how could we use this "course" to curtail mis/disinformation, and, thus, improve our political discourse and intelligence, if you think it needs to change? Would you go as far as to describe such a course as "deprogramming"?

I've been slow walking the rest of the frozen ones I have left since the last several times I was at Aldi, they didn't have them in the freezer. At best, they had the more premium seasonal Bavarian ones in the Finds freezers... so while they had those, I figured they wouldn't want a conflict and they'd put the Appetitos ones away for a bit. But I haven't seen either, lately. Anyone seen them lately or know what's up?

I have VLC 3.7.0 and want to listen to an audiobook I have in MP3 format. It's long, and I had forgotten that other apps like Audible allow you to increase speed to like 1.5x or 2x, etc. I can't find the supposed "running man" icon in the settings to chage the speed, according to instructions I've read. Is it possible on the GS10 version to do this? If so, how?

Everyone has freezers at home, and restaurants have industrial sized ones. We could just fuse the ice cubes into ice chunks, and chunks into boulders, and boulders into icebergs, etc., then ship them back to Anti-arcticaland, or wherever it came from, to make a cycle. Are we stupid? People are looking for work.

Just echoing another post from earlier. I see these kinds of things pop up every now and then, and the responses are pretty interesting. I don't think I've seen this one yet, though...

 

I've seen various definitions of it and it seems to land in different places on the political spectrum and Overton window. But I also see a variety of "XYZ libertarian" flairs both here and in our sister sub(s), and various other places.

I wonder, how you personally define it (if you could put it in words first for us), what changed for you, and where now you find yourself with respect to liberals/liberalism.

This sub seems to encapsulate the "liberal" of "AskAliberal" as being anything from "center left" to "independent" to "far left", and there are some "libertarian" tags here, too. Have you had any clashes with other libertarians ("right" or "left" leaning)? Were you a "conservative" and/or Republican before you were a libertarian? Is there any difference or significance to you between 'big L' Libertarian and 'small l' libertarian? Thanks.

I have woodchips down over the soil I just planted an arborvitae in. I swear it's my neighbor's outdoor cat using it like kitty litter, but it doesn't look like cat turds I've seen and I have yet to spot what's doing this... but every time I come out to water (which has been every day for the last two weeks), there are fresh, small foot markings dug in like somthing was walking or kicking dirt and the woodchips in the patch, and what looks like dried mud lumps (light-colored, dry-ish "dirt" lumps - what I thought was mud or stones I had dug up when I re-planted it... turned out to be poop of some kind, since I can smell poop when I spray water over them).

Should I leave it as fertilizer? I had 2 others that died or dried out fairly quickly before this little new guy, but was that the problem with the previous ones?

I was going to put up one of those tiny shrub fences from Lowe's, but they're expensive when added up, and cats (if that's what it is) could probably jump right over it. Any advice?

Mathematically, it makes little to no sense to me, given today's numbers (and today's needs). Article II Section II of the U.S. Constitution grants the president power - with "Advice and Consent" of the Senate (confirmation process) - to appoint judges to the Supreme Court. With that said...

Since 2000 (and considering beyond that, also):

• Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats while Dems have only 45 (+2 Independents who caucus with them, totaling 47). Yet... those Republican Senators serve ~22M fewer people across the country by each state's population than their Democratic counterparts. (only four states have split tickets, 2 of which are Republican/Independent, 2 of which are R/D)

• Republicans have controlled the Senate almost 16 of the last 26 years (more than half the time)

• 2 Republican Presidents have won by Electoral College vote only, without the popular vote.

• The 538 Electoral College electors (made up by the number of House Reps and Senators, plus 3 electors for D.C.) used to vote for president skews in favor of Republicans due to several low populated states being solid R (which - because of the Senate/Connecticut Compromise, sends two from each state). Only 4 states are split by party for Senators, with 2 of those baving Independents who caucus with Dems.

• 5 of the 6 currently conservative-appointed justices were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote and a Republican-majority Senate.

• These figures combined means the numbers favor Republican presidents and and a Republican Senate - the two authorities responsible for appointing justices, hence favoring also a "conservative" SCOTUS (quotes, because they are not partisan labeled).

Considering the Senate is supposed to represent state matters at the fed level, while the SC decides on matters more deeply affecting the people directly, and nationally, do you have a problem with this? How would you change this? Do you think it should be? Why or why not?

Bonus Q: Without a change to the constitution itself (seeing how difficult/impossible that would be under the current circumstances), if you feel it should be changed, what do you believe is the/a remedy?

Are we stupid?

Fairly new home (~12 years, townhouse-style) with a 24/7 fan on the top floor bathroom (oddly, they also installed a switch next to the light switch for the fan that does nothing at all). Air quality seems no different than anywhere else (not sure how much that has to do with this fan - there is also a huge vent without a fan at the top of my staircase). This installation seems to be more common in newer homes. I previously lived in an apartment with a 24/7 fan and it, too, was in the bathroom.

I've banged on it and it shuts up. I've wedged a business card in between. I had something in the adjacent bathroom vibrating that was leaning on the wall, so I moved it. Sitting nearby, it always comes back and sounds like a motor running.

Anyone else have this kind of fan and problem from it? How can I correct this? It seems seasonal (starts to happen as it gets warm, but sometimes in the winter you hear it, too) but it feels like it's getting worse. Any suggestions?

Am I trapped here inside these squares? Is there a toll to pay to get out? Do boats & planes just smash through them? How do they work and who are the idiots who put them there? Why did they? HALP!

Also, why aren't there diagonal lines? The earth is tilted, right? Who came up with this stupid line crap for earth? No other planets have them!!

New to Costco and they have 10-11lb packages of bone-in, skin-on thighs, which seems to be a lot of chicken. Each of the 6 separate packs seem to have multiple thighs compressed into each.

Sometimes, I'll get packages for a BBQ or something and it would help to know exactly how many are in a package. It's hard to tell since these are packaged differently than typical grocery store packages where you can see or at least feel how many. I don't want to stand there feeling up chicken thigh/breast packs in a busy store like Costco.

Thanks.