The Snark

The calls on the various com channels, all too often containing the words, Code 3, H.U.A., Motorcycle. No helmet.

I wish I had a poster that the Calif highway patrol had circulated for a while. Their high rez evidence camera of a traffic accident. Bodies all over, EMT crews working on things. Blood and body parts clearly visible. The caption at the bottom read:

WE DON'T WANT YOUR BUSINESS

Public outcry at the picture being too graphic made them take the posters down.

As FD, LEO and EMT, how many times in 40 years have I arrived at scenes like that? How many 02:00 waking up in a cold sweat? How many times have I heard the words or sentiment 'It can't happen to me'?

And how many total BS blowfests like some postings on this thread have I come across where people talk their trash, talked the talk but have never walked the walk, and most certainly have never knelt on the side of a road with gravel getting embedded into their knees as they try to keep a bloody chunk of meat viable and transported?

So you survive an ambulance trip to the ER. And you get lucky a POD noticed a neuro issue. Game on.

Your future:

- In the US, $200,000 to start. No brain bucket = many insurance companies skate: self inflicted injury.

- Get to know the neuro ward real well.

- CT scans and EECs regularly for life.

- Diet becomes crucial. You are in the prime candidate category for CVAs down the road.

- Disqualified automatically from many jobs and positions.

- Self administered neuro tests in your wake up regimen.

- No full self reliance. Must be periodically observed and assessed by a qualified person.

Dumb  dumb here. 40 years in and around emergency services. One little comment:

This Should Not Be A Topic Of Discussion.

Start a new thread -> Something about being stupid and ways to avoid it or whatever.

CVAs and other brain trauma are normally your frenemy for life as you become a burden for other people.

GET OVER IT.

OR, restrict comments on this thread to people with hands on experience in the trauma rooms of ERs.

PS Just great. Posturing.

This applies to any foreigner seeking medical treatment in a foreign country - Suggestions

Diagnostics

• If at all possible, obtain a preliminary diagnosis from your home country
• Purpose of each diagnostic - from simple lab analysis to CT Scans and Angioscopy et al
• Obtain at least two independent diagnosis from different hospitals and physicians
• Find a third physician, again independent that you have a solid sound reason to trust, to compare the results of the two or more diagnosis.
• Put on your detective hat. You are looking for discrepancies between both the diagnostic procedures, the results, and the physicians recommendations for treatment.

If a discrepancy becomes obvious or even appears suspicious in any way, start over. with entirely different hospitals and physicians.

Treatment

As above, two or more independent medical authorities

1. Consult the physicians as to recommended treatment procedures and do comparisons

• Overall costs
• Procedures to be performed - spelled out in detail
• Length of the procedure - a time line
• Duration of stay in the hospital
• Follow up diagnostics and procedures
•  Immediate and future prognosis

Fact: There is little difference between medical diagnostics and treatment, and buying a new or used car. Sales pitches are common. Buying accessories you will never need or use is common. Prices can different greatly from one dealership/hospital to another. Payment plans can be open ended. Warranties may not be worth the paper they are printed on.

And most importantly, as a citizen of a foreign country, you have little or no recourse if you get scammed. Even less with medical since physicians wear the hat of unimpeachable authorities. Only an expert witness of superseding medical authority testifying in a court can impeach a physician.

Myself: Retired. BME, Bio Medical Engineering degree. EMT II, ACLS instructor. Certified Nurses Aid.

And with all my training I've been royally scammed four times now. I write this in the hope that others don't get victimized as I have,

7 hours ago, phetphet said:

I have had to replace the circuit board in my Smeg oven

Smeg? Ouch!

BTW, the tech that told you to unplug the unit may be right but I doubt it. Smeg would or should have a bullet proof voltage and current sense on the front end, is highly tolerant of voltage fluctuations, and probably rigged to power off when out of bounds. What @McTavish just posted is a cheap but possibly functional version of that front end.

The major problem with Chinese made goods is if it is quality built and selling it will be copied within hours and cheap crap visually and packaging identical replicas hit the market rubbing shoulders with the good stuff.

I don't know why certain species of ants are attracted to electrical components and I'm pretty well versed in entomology. I had a $200 Braun shaver that quit one day. Loaded with those mega bite micro ants. The formic acid from them completely compromised the iron laminations.

Circuit boards. Save your money. A good coat of clear lacquer critter proofs them. Makes them a beech to repair but nobody does that now anyway. Just don't spray any heat sinks or connectors.

By the way, Nvidia designs the lions share of all graphics cards then leases out rights to replicate them. My card is an Inno3D but inside is edge to edge Nvidia.

My above mentioned graphics card. After I cleaned the sticky goo off of it which the sales outlet told me was rust - it was some kind of sugary kanom - I voided the warranty, tore it down, reseated the GPU, spiffed up some solder connects, and cranked the fans way up. The card only uses the power available from the PCI-e slot which is rated at 75 watts. Under test with full on 3D moving graphics it draws 72 watts. Bad design. But, it works now, though I'll switch to my overpowered antique POS graphics card for heavy loads if need be.

Chinese made? As in I needed a drill bit but could only find a set of them. After one failed to drill a hole in aluminum I grabbed the vice grips and stuck them one by one in the vice. They all bent. Probably crapesium semi steel.

A bearing failed in my ride. Suspicious looking, I bust open the race and smacked the balls with a hammer. They all flattened out. Unhardened ball bearings? Yo! Those are called sinkers on the end of your fishing line.

And probably the best one, my Seagate hard drive, new in the box shrink wrapped with data sheet and warranty card, failed after 2 weeks. I went to the Seagate repair shop. The tech just glanced at it, plugged it in and turned it on. Not even bothering to look at the screen he turned the monitor so I could see the words. Not Seagate.

Or one can sometimes get creative. 2600 watt vacuum burned out the motor in one year. Replaced with 2800 watt. Drilled holes to increase air flow cooling by roughly triple. Still running 8 years later.

Vacuum mentioned in above post now sports a 14 gauge 16 core wire and vents added, after five minutes operation the case is at 110 F as opposed to 150 F as purchased.

Microwave oven gave me a mild shock when I touched both it and the solidly grounded convection oven. Got 12 VAC between the two cases. Hint hint.

Silly me. Wired our house here as I did in America, 12 gauge receptacle wire, 16 gauge for lighting. Breakers were about the same price regardless of current capability. Cost me about twice as much in wire, about 2000 baht more. Okay, operation overkill. 7.5, 15, and 20 amp, per code, California.

We managed to trip one breaker once when workmen wired the neutral to a switched hot. Bright side, I can run 2 ovens, hot water pot, rice cooker, hot plate and blender at the same time on one circuit without tripping a breaker.

@alanrchasehttps://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html

>24 core, add 75% for short term intermittent loads. Don't even think about running your 3600 watt water heater on 16 gauge wire.

Our water heater. 6800 watts. 12 gauge wire, (single core, 34 amp rated) 18 foot run. Wire starts to warm up above 28 amps (IR thermal test, went 10% above ambient). Preset water heater to 26.

@ToughsituationsI used to work in a casino. Rather than go into details, research Obsessive Compulsive disorder. It is very common but requires being dealt with on a psychological level. Consider consulting a professional.

Well, dismissing all charges since they are self evident of anything is impossible. The waters around Trump enterprises is as muddy as it can get.

As for 34 acquittals and zero convictions, I could be wrong but I don't think that has ever happened in the history of the US judicial system.

32 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

As noted on a parallel topic, the Trump defense will have until AUG 08 to submit their motions -- one of which, according to the legal buzz, will be a motion for summary dismissal of all charges.

 

Prosecution will have until SEP19 to respond; the Judge will rule 04 DEC.

With his own business's convictions providing probable cause, it's safe to say a whole lot of us want to see the carpet they are going to try to sweep this under. Not allegations but convictions and only a lengthy trial will be able to exonerate him from responsibility. All their arguments for dismissal will require proofs that will stand up in a court as being self evident. Leprechauns, character witness attestation from Santa Claus and sworn testimony from the tooth fairy don't count.

At this juncture, with the charges being so carefully thought out. it appears the only self evident proof that could be submitted is several experts written diagnosis of mental incompetence.

Self evident: No room for debate or reason for cross examination.

People need to keep in mind, all the noise, lying, avoiding, and endless congressional hearings that has gone on until now was moot. Everything so far has been on the legislative level, even the Mueller report. Congressional hearings are pissing up a rope. They have no judicial prosecutorial powers and can only refer matters to the judiciary. Even contempt of congress gets scoffed or laughed at.

It's a whole different ballgame now. And there's a whole lot of judicial junk yard dogs that are salivating right now that would have frightened Pavlov. Most likely the domino effect will kick in as the courts uncover new facts.

17 hours ago, Jingthing said:

34 felony charges. No smoke. No mirrors.

12 hours ago, Furioso said:

It's a weak case:

 

As a former LEO I'm having a private chuckle here. Just ask any veteran cop.

It's not A weak case.

It is also up to the prosecuting attorneyS and the judge to determine whether the charges are misdemeanors or felonies, based solely upon the weight of their assessmentS and the court admissible evidence that has been very thoroughly examined and vetted.

As for 34 charges, come on! Each charge has to be  separately successfully challenged and defeated. Again, ask any veteran cop what that spells out in any courtroom.

And do keep in mind, very similar charges have already been successfully prosecuted against various Trump business practices. Part of the defense must involve entirely divorcing the person from the businesses and business practices of his company's.

(As an aside, the onus placed upon the defendants attorneys in one aspect is quite significant: his veracity must never be employed in his defense.)

And the vote is in, proof of the pudding. The boss tried out her bike with the new tires yesterday. -> "I don't like them! It's hard to steer!"

Duuuuhhhhh yups. Her first time ever riding on road grippers. Going to have to learn to shift her weight from side to side. How inconvenient!

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

I ride to CM tomorrow first long ride I've had for sometime. 

Stay safe. Keep the safety zone!

@kwasaki Since you know your Hondas. Here in Thailand a friend had a 1974 CB 750 according to the registration book. Stock with dual overhead cams and dual front disk brakes. ????

4 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Remember my Dad like the Vincent square four if i remember that correctly.

Ariel

4 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Don't know what Vincent you refer to but i would say there's is no comparison with a 1993 Fireblade.

It's not got any real class if it doesn't have a reputation for hurling you over the handlebars when you kick start it. And the nifty using the engine as part of the frame. No down tubes or under engine frame. Not to mention the plumbers nightmare exhaust system.

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

If someone finds a tyre that suits their riding style on or off track thats what they tend to stick with, as I do.

 

I have found Avon in Thailand for my Blade and they feel the same Bridges to me and cheaper so I'll stick with them. 

I experienced the opposite. One of the few times I took my beloved over 100 mph (Vincent rules folks) and the forks felt almost uncontrollable. Felt like on the edge. That was the Avon the factory originally equipped them with and recommended. I swapped in a used Dunlop and it was night and day. Up around 115 and smooth sailing.

But admittedly Vincent was a whole different ballgame. That bizarre fork assembly that could confuse a geometry professor.

Failure To Maintain...

20 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Never liked bikes i rode with Michelin tyres on they seem to grip and grip and you went down no warning was my experience.

They do, or some do. Common Michelin all purpose tread really resists road variations and minor steering. They want to track dead straight and they do. So very little hint as to the break over point. BUT, they make a lot of different tread patterns and types of rubber which I have seen vary from country to country. Probably the most radical difference I've encountered was running a big rig. Michelins on the steering axle lasted 80,000 miles! Wot the heck? Similar Michelins on the rear tandem wore out faster than Goodyear. Same tread and profile but apparently different rubber.

As for people who say cheap tires are as good as name brand road grippers, it's the good enough, close enough crowd vs those who know their vehicles and demand maximum control. The same crowd that I've observed numerous times when working as a cop regarding maintaining lane placement - somewhere between the lines most of the time. If I felt like writing a ticket - burning some time before a 10-7, just follow them. An FTM is inevitable.

(Do cops profile drivers? Absolutely. On patrol we spend nearly the entire shift observing and profiling drivers. How they handle vehicles is as sure fire as fingerprints.)

I've chatted with several pro racers that can tell the make and tread pattern of a tire by taking a half lap on a track. Also can tell tire pressure within a couple of pounds by how they handle doing Ss for 50 feet.

As for make of tire, AA fuel altered drag racer managed to beat the 5 second barrier by simply changing the brand of tire.