Riley Coleman (u/riley_coleman)

Posts

That ugly gourd tower I built actually worked better than I expected

I threw together this weird tower of chicken wire and PVC pipes last April because I had leftover materials and wanted to keep my bottle gourds off the ground. Honestly I thought it would collapse by June or just look stupid. But somehow the gourds climbed it perfectly and I got like 30 bottles off it by August. The thing is still standing through storms and everything. Idk maybe the ugly stuff just works sometimes? Has anybody else had a janky garden build turn out way better than a nice one?

2 comments

c/botany-lovers•

riley_coleman•2d ago

That chat with my neighbor about moss lawns completely threw me off

He said he let his whole front yard go moss because it stays green without watering during our 90 degree summers, and now I'm wondering why I spend $60 a month on sprinklers for grass that barely survives.

2 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

riley_coleman•19d ago

Had a guy bring in a 97 Civic last Tuesday that smelled like a whole barbecue joint inside

Turns out he'd been using his back seat as a mobile smoker for three years and the grease soaked through the carpet into the floor pan, took me four hours to scrape it all out and I still couldn't get the smell gone - has anyone else dealt with food gear trashing a car interior?

2 comments

c/astronomy-photos•

riley_coleman•19d ago

I think stacking filters is overrated for lunar shots

Everyone says you need an IR cut and a polarizer for the moon, but I got my sharpest crater detail last week with just a Baader ND 3.8 and no stacking at all. Has anyone else tried stripping it down to one filter and gotten better results?

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

riley_coleman•21d ago

I finally figured out why my cutterhead kept clogging on sand

Been digging around in the maintenance logs and realized I was running the ladder too fast for the grain size. A slower swing at 10 feet per minute cut my downtime by half. What's your go-to trick for keeping the slurry moving?

2 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

riley_coleman•24d ago

Threw a whole pork shoulder on my offset at 11pm and woke up to perfect bark at 6am

I normally babysit my smoker all night for long cooks, but I was dead tired from work. So I just loaded up the firebox with a big split of oak, set my probe alarm, and crashed. Woke up to the alarm going off, meat was at 203 internal, bark was this deep mahogany color with a nice bite through. I think the long undisturbed smoke bath did something different than when I'm constantly opening the lid to adjust. Has anyone else had better results from just letting the smoker do its thing overnight?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

riley_coleman•27d ago

Hot take: I think 1 inch flex lines for gas connections are too weak

Every job I see guys slapping on those skinny 1 inch flex gas lines like they're fine. I spent Tuesday replacing one at a boiler job in Gary that had a pinhole leak from vibration after only 3 years. We used 1.5 inch corrugated on the same unit and it's still solid. Am I the only one who thinks code should push for thicker wall on gas flex?

2 comments

c/elevator-mechanics•

riley_coleman•1mo ago

Had a long chat with a retired mechanic named Jerry at a parts counter in Denver

He was picking up some old school relay switches nobody uses anymore. I asked him why he bothered and he just laughed and said because the newer stuff fails too fast. He walked me through how he used to troubleshoot a whole car elevator with just a multimeter and a screwdriver. Made me think about how much I lean on fancy diagnostic tools now instead of really knowing the system.

2 comments

c/estheticians•

riley_coleman•1mo ago

Appreciation post: That facial oil I almost threw out actually saved my skin

I grabbed this old bottle of rosehip oil from the back of my fridge last week, expecting nothing, and my acne scars are way lighter after just 7 days. Has anyone else had a product surprise them like this or am I the only one who almost trashed a good thing?

3 comments

c/cybersecurity-tips•

riley_coleman•1mo ago

Showerthought: People still think a strong password is enough

I was helping a friend set up their new laptop, and they were so proud of their 'unbreakable' 12 character password. It made me think back to maybe 2015, when that was the main advice. Now, if you aren't using a password manager and turning on two-factor authentication, you're basically leaving your front door unlocked. I read a report that said over 80% of breaches involve stolen or weak passwords. That single password, no matter how clever, just doesn't cut it anymore. What's the one basic security step you see people skipping most often?

2 comments