Things I've learned the hard way . . .(Part 2)

[raythompson]

" 0% APR financing means $16.67 a month per $1,000 borrowed". If you total that up, it comes to $200.04 per year for every $1,000 borrowed. I don't know how they get away with saying 0% APR financing means a 20.0004% annual percentage rate for 5 years. If you didn't make a down payment, you would pay over 100% interest, doubling the cost of the car.

You have that entirely wrong. That amount is not the interest but the amount you must pay on the loan to satisfy the principal over a 60 month loan.

For example. If you borrown $1,000.00 at 0% you must pay $16.67 a month to pay off the loan in 5 years. If you borrown $10,000 you must pay 167.76 each month to satisfy the loan in 5 years. Borrow $20,000 and the amount doubles to roughly $332.00 each month.

You are indeed paying 0% interest as is claimed in the advertisment. I think you totally and completely misunderstand loans and financing.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

My mistake. That section you quoted has now been deleted from my post. Happy now?

 

[Fizz753]

No matter which Dremel battery you grab you will always get the dead one on the first try.

 

[gadget_lover]

Don't buy a used hybrid car with a salvage title. Hybrids require specialized expensive service that can only be done by the manufacturer. Hybrids are worthless without the initial warranty.


Don't buy any car with a salvage title. If it was stolen and sold later before you got it, you'll be out your money and the car if the original owner comes knocking at your door.

(I'm not knocking Hooked......)


Don't believe everything you hear about hybrids, especially when you hear them from people who don't own one or work on one or at least drive one. My hybrid (gen 1.5 Prius) has been remarkably trouble free for 72,000 miles. While the electronics are specific to the car, so are the electronics in all the modern cars (take the BMW 7 series, for instance). The rest of the hybrid is plain old mechanics.


As for salvage titles... Absolutely correct. Don't buy any car with a salvage title. They are hard to sell later.

And another lesson... Don't buy a car from someone who does not have the pink slip handy. It's an easy way to hide the fact that there's a loan against the car, or that it's been salvaged.

Yes, I've learned all these things.

Daniel

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

Don't accept payments on a vehicle you're selling. Period. If the person was responsible enough to make payments then they could get a loan from a bank and pay you cash. If you do accept payments, make sure the vehicle and the title stays in your possession until the total amount is paid, and that the buyer knows that missing a payment means they forfeit the vehicle and any payments they've already made. Have this in writing and drawn up by a lawyer. Or just don't accept payments, period.

Learned this the hard way too.

:buddies:

 

[dulridge]

Most of these can be summed up by:

Murphy was an optimist.

More useful ones

Do not buy cheap Cat5e sockets. Really don't. Really, really don't. Likewise really, really, really do not buy cheap patch panels.

Don't ever let customers supply network gear - the replacement for a gigabit switch suffering from lightning was a 10mbit hub. In a print shop where the print files are in the tens of gigabytes...

Always buy dirt cheap tools - you can always replace the ones you break with something that actually works. Speaking as the guy who managed to weld several far from cheap Snap-On sockets to a motorcycle frame.

Corollary to this - do not drink and weld.

Snap-On's warranty really does seem to be unconditional. But for the prince it ought to be.

As several others have already said, do not pocket several high current cells. It really isn't fun and may harm the cells

No multimeter works very well with a dead battery.

Remember to shut the door when cutting wood with an angle grinder. The house smelled of woodsmoke for weeks.

Really don't hold the cable in the hinge area while shutting the door. Was wiring up a set of speakers and wanted to check that the car door wouldn't nip the cable. Holding the cable in place with your thumb while shutting the door to check this is a very bad idea

Do not assume that insulators won't or conductors will.

That one caused quite a lot of expensive smoke.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

If you're petting a horse, never assume that he'll automatically like you for it (CHOMP!)

When probing a circuit that contains a mixture of low voltage and high voltage sections, always assume you're working in the HV area and take appropriate precautions.

On a related note, when taking voltage readings, always insure that the VOM you're using is rated for the maximum voltage that you might encounter. Especially if it's an expensive VOM.

 

[dulridge]

If you're petting a horse, never assume that he'll automatically like you for it (CHOMP!)

Definitely! Been there, done that, been scarred

Also remember that most horses are addicted to peppermint and the smell clings. A horse trying to eat your trouser pocket is not my idea of a fun time.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Also remember that most horses are addicted to peppermint and the smell clings. A horse trying to eat your trouser pocket is not my idea of a fun time.

I didn't know that! Is peppermint sort of a drug for them, the way that catnip seems to affect cats?

 

[dulridge]

I didn't know that! Is peppermint sort of a drug for them, the way that catnip seems to affect cats?

Don't know. I'm not a horse person but a good friend of mine is, as was my brother's ex. I've never yet met a horse that didn't love them. Large, extra strong ones by choice.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Don't know. I'm not a horse person but a good friend of mine is, as was my brother's ex. I've never yet met a horse that didn't love them. Large, extra strong ones by choice.

Interesting. So if I ever need to distract a horse, I can toss an Altoids in the opposite direction!

 

[dulridge]

Interesting. So if I ever need to distract a horse, I can toss an Altoids in the opposite direction!

Preferably something about 25x the size so the horse can see it. Just about anything can spook a horse in my experience. Let it see it and smell it first - then run in the opposite direction.

Generally, horses are wimps and if you come on like the boss they will back off unless they're really scared. The horse that tried to eat my trouser pocket was an exception. He was a big guy - his head was longer than my arm though technically he was a Highland pony.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Generally, horses are wimps and if you come on like the boss they will back off unless they're really scared. The horse that tried to eat my trouser pocket was an exception. He was a big guy - his head was longer than my arm though technically he was a Highland pony.

The horse I encountered tried to eat my shoulder. He bit through a thick winter jacket and two layers of clothing and still left teeth marks on my skin. oo:

 

[Crenshaw]

You will always have one friend who consistantly forgets not to look into your lights. And then, even with it on dim, they will say "ouch, thats bright"



Crenshaw

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

When you give a friend a flashlight as a gift at his bachelor party, don't tell him not to look into the light while it's on. Then he's guaranteed to get blinded out of curiosity and blame you. It was a 3 AA l.e.d. Maglite. He was probably used to the regular ones that you have to look at to see if they're really on. At least I didn't give him a 200 lumen e.d.c.

 

[clg0159]

When boogie boarding on the fake wave at a water park always make sure your shorts are tied tight

 

[PhotonWrangler]

When boogie boarding on the fake wave at a water park always make sure your shorts are tied tight

:laughing:

 

[Crenshaw]

when boogie boarding in real waves, always ensure you have the ankle strap on.....got flipped by a wave once when i was younger, wasnt pretty, was lucky i had the ankle strap on, and was close enough to shore to feel bottom after recovering.

Crenshaw

 

[PhotonWrangler]

If you accidentally lock yourself out of the house and you have to re-enter through a front window, your neighbors will assume there's a burglary in progress and will take appropriate action.

 

[DrunkenDonut]

Go around back, or the side!

But it's comforting to know that your neighbours care. Just as long as they don't care so much as to be paranoid, you'll be fine.