Wesley Hart (u/wesley_hart)

Posts

Always thought wireless sensors were a gimmick until a house fire changed my mind

I've been installing wired systems for about 12 years now and always told customers wireless stuff was just for folks who didn't want to pay for a real job. Then last March I got a call from a customer in Austin whose house had a small electrical fire in the attic. The wired smoke detector melted before it ever went off because the fire started right on top of the wiring path. But a wireless sensor I had installed in their bedroom hallway six months earlier when they added an addition actually caught the smoke before it spread. That thing saved their house and honestly made me rethink everything. I still like wired for reliability but I've started putting wireless heat detectors in attics and crawl spaces on every job now. Anyone else had a situation where a wireless unit outperformed the hardwired stuff?

2 comments

c/broke-but-brilliant•

wesley_hart•9d ago

My sister called me out for wasting money on name brand cleaners

She watched me spend $8 on a spray for the kitchen and just shook her head... told me to mix half vinegar with half water in a old bottle. I tried it on my greasy stove in Denver and it worked better than the expensive stuff. Anyone else have a relative who proved you were doing it all wrong?

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c/coffee-enthusiasts•

wesley_hart•9d ago

Took me 6 months to realize my grinder burrs were installed upside down

I kept getting inconsistent grounds no matter how much I dialed in my dose and timing. Turns out I had the upper burr carrier flipped the wrong way since I assembled it back in March. Has anyone else made a dumb assembly mistake that cost them months of bad coffee?

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c/auto-mechanics•

wesley_hart•27d ago

That $40 'lifetime' O2 sensor socket was a total scam

Picked up one of those fancy O2 sensor sockets with the cutout from a local auto parts store for $40. Thought I was being smart getting a 'professional' tool instead of using my cheap adjustable wrench. First time I tried it on a rusty downstream sensor on a 2002 F-150, the damn thing twisted and rounded the socket edges. Ended up using a pipe wrench and PB Blaster anyway. Anyone else get burned by a tool that was supposed to make things easier?

2 comments

c/ai-innovations•

wesley_hart•27d ago

Overheard a guy at the loading dock talking about an AI tool that maps out entire warehouse layouts

He said he fed in the dimensions and shelf weights and it optimized the whole flow in under an hour. Took my crew 3 weekends to do that by hand on our last job. Has anyone tried one of these warehouse AI planners for real or is it mostly hype?

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c/dumpster-fire-friday•

wesley_hart•27d ago

Just spent 2 years peeling garlic wrong until my aunt laughed at me at Thanksgiving

I was cutting the root end off with a knife and pulling off the skin piece by piece. She showed me you just smash it with the flat of the blade and it slips right off in 2 seconds. How many hours of my life did I waste on this?

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c/dead-tech-graveyard•

wesley_hart•29d ago

Just found out Windows XP still runs 1.2% of ATMs worldwide in 2024

I was reading a banking security report from last month and it said there are still about 95,000 ATMs running XP. Can you believe that? I remember when they ended support in 2014 and everyone joked about it, but turns out the joke never really ended. Does your bank still have those old blue screen ATMs or did they finally upgrade?

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c/90s-internet-memories•

wesley_hart•1mo ago

Was I wrong to defend animated GIFs over video files on my old Geocities page?

Back in '97, a classmate told me my site loaded slow because I used like 50 dancing baby GIFs instead of a single Quicktime clip. I argued GIFs were more reliable since nobody had fast internet anyway, but now I wonder if they were right. Did anyone else get flak for sticking with 8-bit animation over real video back then, and did you ever switch it up?

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c/baking-fails-and-wins•

wesley_hart•1mo ago

My grandmother's pound cake recipe turned into a pancake somehow

I tried to bake my nana's old pound cake recipe last weekend for the first time. She always made it look so easy growing up, just throwing things together. Well I followed her handwritten card exactly but when I pulled it out of the oven it was flat as a pancake and dense like a brick. Turns out her recipe calls for cake flour and I used all purpose flour on accident because I didn't know there was a difference lol. I also think my oven runs hotter than hers did so the outside burned before the inside cooked through. At least my sister got a laugh out of it and said it reminded her of nana's first attempt too. Anyone else find old family recipes need way more adjustments than you expect?

2 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

wesley_hart•1mo ago

Local shop owner warned me about Kickstarter board games

There's this guy named Mike who runs the board game store on Elm Street. He told me about a year ago that most Kickstarter board games look great in the previews but flop hard in real play. I didn't listen because the deluxe edition of Dungeon Raiders had all these metal coins and giant minis. I dropped $80 on it plus shipping back in February. When it finally showed up in July, the rules were a mess and half the mechanics just didn't work. After three tries to get through one game, we gave up and put it on the shelf. Mike was right and now I check with him before I back anything. Has anyone else gotten burned by a Kickstarter game that looked amazing but played terrible?

2 comments