BigDaddySlim

Just wait until they add VTEC to it

My dad wasn’t perfect, but he always did what was best for my mom and I. He worked his ass off doing a number of labor jobs (carpentry, mechanic, electrical, plumbing, etc) and was a jack of all trades. He dropped out his sophomore year in the 70s to help support his parents when his dad had a stroke and just kept working the labor jobs. He was well known enough in the plumbing business that when Disney was planning another hotel they asked for him by name to lead the plumbing project.

When all that hard labor caught up with him and he had his back surgery, it threw him on his ass and disability. He still kept working on stuff after recovering, rebuilt his uncle’s Willy’s he had found, swapping motors out of his truck when he eventually killed it, doing home renovations, everything. All while trying to teach my dumbass some of what he knew so I’d know something useful. I learned a lot from him, but not nearly all of what he knew. He was a stubborn hard ass so he liked things done a certain way and would sometimes get frustrated if I wasn’t doing it right, but never in a “I’m going to scream at you because you fucked up” kinda way.

It took me until he was diagnosed with cancer to realize why he had always been a hard ass and pushing me to do better, he didn’t want me to follow his footsteps and he stuck doing these hard labor jobs, destroying my body like he did his. Sorry that didn’t work out, old man.

It’s not really a particular memory of my dad that impacted me, it’s basically his whole memory of him that did. I’ve had lots of great memories with him, but everything he always did was for his family first, he was very selfless. I wouldn’t be who I am today without my dad.

Happy father’s day, dad. Miss you.

Another strongly worded letter SLAMMING and BLASTING tRump and everyone else responsible

Friendly reminder that Halo 3 is legally an adult this September and that you’re getting old, as am I

Had this problem too (phone number is from NM but I’m in MA now) so I just started messing with them. I’d answer “Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albuquerque district office, how may I direct your call?” Click. After about a week of doing this I haven’t gotten a single spam call, this was like 2 years ago. Who cares it it’s “impersonating a federal agency” or whatever, they’re scammers overseas, fuck em.

At this point I didn’t even drive in Boston anymore, I take the commuter rail into the city and subway from there. Why people are acting like that’s an absurd possibility is astonishing to me. Yes, traffic in Boston sucks, but mainly because too many people from outside would rather drive in and complain about the traffic they’re causing than the cheaper and much easier alternative of taking transit into the city. As for the actual residents, there’s great public transportation, just fucking take it. You really wanna pay all that money for parking and vehicle maintenance just to sit at every red light to get somewhere maybe 3 min faster? Get a grip. If I lived in the city the first thing I’d do is sell my car and use my electric assist bike for everything, I already use it to get to work in the Metrowest, you can do it in the city.

Today’s cars are rolling smartphones with constant Internet connections. You can’t access the OS and you can’t see what data is being transmitted. It’s a privacy nightmare.

Last summer I bought a 2021 Toyota RAV4 hybrid, I spent ages doing research before choosing to buy that vehicle. Does this one have that same tracking technology? Of course, however, in my research I found a way to disable it.

What can be done with this particular car, and possibly many other Toyotas, if you remove the fuse providing power for the Data Communication Module (DCM) it will kill the transmission of this data. Keep in mind this isn’t an immediate solution, there is an 18650 battery in the module that will stay alive for a few days. Once that’s drained you’ve successfully stopped having Toyota spy on you remotely. Obviously they can still access this data if you go to the dealer and they plug into your car, but factory resetting your car should negate this (not confirmed, just a theory). Alternatively, just find a local shop you trust to do your basic maintenance if you can’t do it yourself.

Other makes and models might be able to have the same trick pulled on them, but in my reading doing this in some cars might actually trip the car into limp mode because of some bullshit failsafe built into the car. I believe some Mazdas have this issue.

Downsides to doing this do include losing any remote start function you might have available with the remote app, as well as remote tracking of the vehicle (obviously).

Feel free to look into this type of remedy for any modern rolling cellphones you might be considering buying or already owning, check owner forums or even ask within them if any owners have tried this type of solution for a car you might want to buy.

Also, the DCM in my particular car can be removed without causing issues, I just haven’t had the time to tear the dash apart to remove it, as it sits in the dash below the infotainment screen.

I drink coffee daily, it gives me zero energy. I drink it for the taste and in the winter for the warmth. I’m exhausted at all times 😎🤙

Yum, extra microplastics 🤤