Random Question Thread.

[hey]

So, i have a marble collection my uncle left me when he died. I have no idea what they are, or what they are worth. I've been told they are worth "thousands", but that doesn't really mean anything. How would i go about selling them?

[Cream Soda]

Been away for a while, current best TP/WS sets for Vereth mnk? (as well as any substitutions they may be necessary, for example if you need extra acc or something)

[Chun Liroy]

this is gd nigga...

[Omniyoji]

It's okay, his sig is awesome~

[Psion]

I got a question! I have a 80ish gallon freshwater aquarium (well, mostly freshwater, it's got some aquarium salt in it, but it's meant for freshwater fish health) and one of the decorations i had in there was several tumbled glass eggs that were in various colors for my dragon statue to guard. For some reason though, the glass eggs have recently been...eaten away at? It's hard to describe, other than it almost looks like something was taking tiny discs of glass off the eggs in layers, so they have a weird rippled pattern of ring shaped bites taken out of them. When i picked one up, tiny pieces and slivers came off of the thing too. They do have a type of brown algea growing on them in some places, though my plecto fish snacks off them and removes it sometimes. The only thing's i can think of that are possibly destroying them are either the plecto fish has one hell of a bite, my mystery snail is doing secret diabolical experiments to it, bacteria are eating away at the glass somehow, or something in the water or florite substrate is chemically reacting to the glass eggs and eating away at it.

So far it seems to only be the eggs being affected, but should i be worried about the walls of the aquarium also being etched away by this? They're both glass, though the eggs were stained glass so they're slightly different compositions. And if it's just my plecto fish having a algea scraper mouth of diamond tipped steel, should i be worried about him doing damage to the aquarium walls as well? x_x never seen glass being eaten away like that before.

[Apelila]

Chances are the eggs are made from silicate glass, hence the brown algae. That's what's eating away at them, not the fish.

At least, that's what i'm assuming from multiple google's on some of your information. http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/ma...algaebrown.htm - brown algea and what causes it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Silicate_glass

And a google that I lost about the cheap and easy manufacture of glass that uses silicates. Chances are the glass in the eggs is cheap and just providing a food source for the Algae and consequently your feeder fish.

[Psion]

Chances are the eggs are made from silicate glass, hence the brown algae. That's what's eating away at them, not the fish.

At least, that's what i'm assuming from multiple google's on some of your information. http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/ma...algaebrown.htm - brown algea and what causes it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Silicate_glass

And a google that I lost about the cheap and easy manufacture of glass that uses silicates. Chances are the glass in the eggs is cheap and just providing a food source for the Algae and consequently your feeder fish.

Well i would hope the glass is silicate glass, considering glass generally IS silica, with a few other additives added in, such as boron for the glass beakers used in chemistry as well as casserole dishes, which helps it withstand sudden temperature shocks. And the silicates in the water are just free silica i think, not silica dioxide from the glass. Never read anything about brown algae actually destroying glass, but who knows.

[Apelila]

It made more sense with the 3rd link I lost, detailing how hand blown glass has a higher ratio of silicates to additives.

Again, that was my assumption that they are handblown glass. Depending on what additives they used when making those eggs, that could be whats slowly being eaten at. I would bet that the algae is more responsible than the fish though.

[Psion]

It made more sense with the 3rd link I lost, detailing how hand blown glass has a higher ratio of silicates to additives.

Again, that was my assumption that they are handblown glass. Depending on what additives they used when making those eggs, that could be whats slowly being eaten at. I would bet that the algae is more responsible than the fish though.

I don't think theyre handblown, they're tumbled glass eggs of some sort, so they were probably just glass leftovers and shards or something that they melted into egg shapes and tumbled for a sea glass look to recycle em. They probably do have a bit more additives of some sort, since they're tinted though. But i don't think brown algae is likely to be the cause, since before i had my plecto, the glass tank had a huge infestation of the stuff for months from the new substrate and stuff. (seriously, if i left it alone for 3 days the tank would be impossible to see through cause of the film covering it.) Brown algae scrapes off real easily too.

Whatever it is though, it's the first time i've ever encountered glass that looked like it was falling apart like that. It really looked sort of like someone took a hardboiled egg and took lots of small, shallow bites out of it lol.

(P.S.: plecto fish kick ass if you got brown algae problems, provided you got a good sized tank to accomidate their large max size. the first day i got mine, i woke up to see bright white patches on my decorations, and by the end of the week the brown algea was gone for good. XD )

[Omniyoji]

Wondering if it would be safe to use an electrical contact cleaner on a squeaky bike chain since I don't have any WD-40 around or would I only be making things worse?

Also anytime I think of WD-40 this comes up:

[Elesirdur]

It depends, are you trying to clean the bike chain or lubricate it? Chain grease is pretty cheap at any bike shop and is what you should use.

If you have rust or other non-dirt buildup on the chain than the electrical contact cleaner, which is a solvent if I recall, should help you clean off the offending crap which may be causing squeaking. However, you will need to lubricate the chain afterwards since the solvent will also remove the oil or lubrication that's existing. It might also be worth getting some rags and giving the chain a good wipe down or getting in there with an old toothbrush and some penetrating fluid or other solvent (like the electrical contact stuff) and removing any nasty shit that's being problamatic. Then apply a fresh coat of chain oil - shifts will be silky smooth.

In my experience, WD-40 is pretty sub-par as a lubricant. If you have something that can't be greased or oiled, then I much prefer white lithium grease which is safe around plastics and electrical components - wicked stuff for the car and around the house. Since bike chains are intended to use an actual heavy oil as a lubricant, go with that.

[miokomioko]

So, my ladyfriend and I have been renting a 2-bedroom apartment in San Francisco for almost a year now (it's the top floor "unit" in a 3-story house). Our 1-year lease is just about up and upon double-checking our rental agreement, we will go month-to-month without our rent being adjusted. This was a huge relief because the San Francisco area is literally the most expensive area to rent in the country right now and we were afraid of our rent getting hiked up big time about a month from now and apartment hunting in this city/county is absolute hell. We've been toying with the most logical idea of consolidating our living space into one of the bedrooms instead of having an "office" and finding a 3rd person to split rent with just to ease the financial burden a bit.

Now, the contract does not allow subletting, and it disallows non-tenant "guests" to stay for more than 15 consecutive days and/or 30 days per year so there's no way we could have a 3rd person here without violating the contract. We could probably get away with sneaking a roommate in here because the landlord and the property manager are never around whatsoever... but I'd rather not do anything that gives them the right to evict us because I'm sure they would jump on that opportunity in a heartbeat so they can rent it out for twice as much as we're paying without lifting a finger. Our only option that the contract gives us is to get written permission by the property manager to have anyone staying in the unit for more than 15/30 days.

Obviously this tends to depend on each individual landlord/etc. but has anyone had any experience trying to talk a property manager into allowing another roommate? I'm afraid that asking them for permission will open the door to them giving us the ultimatum of either "no" or "yes, but if you sign a new lease with higher rent." I'm assuming this would be legal on their part because they don't have any obligation to give us permission to have a 3rd person in here, do they? I feel like since it's a 2-bedroom, 3 tenants is not an unreasonable request considering it could just as easily be rented by a couple with a child... and they had already established the rent before they even met with prospective tenants.

Would it be likely that they would try to strike a deal as such? I'm just paranoid considering this is a pet-friendly 2-bedroom unit with a private backyard, doggy door, washer/dryer, 2 blocks from the BART, quiet neighborhood, etc. This shit would be snatched up right quick for way more than what we're paying... *sadface*

[pohibaba]

Since it's going month-to-month, can't they kick you out anyway, or can you just stay there in perpetuity?

[miokomioko]

When the lease is up, we go month-to-month from then on, but everything else in the contract remains... including our right to stay. However, this includes the piece about subletting or having "guests" for over 15 consecutive days/30 days per year being grounds for eviction.

"TERM: The term of this rental shall begin on x/x/xx and end on x/x/xx, and thereafter shall be month-to-month on the same terms and conditions as stated herein, save any changes lawfully made until terminated."

If I'm not mistaken, going month-to-month doesn't introduce an opportunity for them to terminate the rental agreement.


Shit, nevermind. I just found this buried in the back:

"After the expiration of the original term of this Agreement, Owner may terminate the tenancy, in accordance with applicable law, by giving in the case of a tenancy of less than 1 year at least 30 days prior written notice, and in the case of a tenancy of more than 1 year at least 60 days prior written notice."

However, from a lot of what I have heard, legally evicting someone in the state of California can be a difficult, costly, and time-consuming process and is usually only fallen back on when the tenant is blatantly destroying property, not paying, etc. I have heard many a horror story about trying to get hoarders and shit kicked out of any apartment.

This does make me a bit more paranoid about bringing attention to us right as our lease is about to expire...

[Restrat]

That's not what eviction is. Once you go month to month the landlord can tell you to leave for any or no reason. If you stay and try to get "evicted" they'll probably sue you for all the rent + court costs.

[izembo]

yeah, once you're on month to month they just need to give you notice. and they would definitely do it in that case. it is a business, and they can make more money.

[miokomioko]

Yeah, it's pretty much a big "nevermind..." now that I found that piece about terminating. :( However, I'm thinking that the property manager and owner aren't quite shrewd enough to kick us out... not to mention we haven't had any notice and it's less than 60 days until our lease is up.

[Manako]

This does make me a bit more paranoid about bringing attention to us right as our lease is about to expire...

I wonder how common it is for landlords to release their tenants after their year expires, if the additional rent would be worth the hassle of finding a new tenant and hoping they are good tenants. If you pay your rent on time, keep quiet and don't make a mess you are treasured where we live. The guest clause is also there to protect your landlord and other tenants, if that guest becomes an issue they need a way to get rid of them.

Unfortunately I think its hard to give you advice without knowing what your landlord is like. If they are very involved with the property it might be an issue, but otherwise I would think it couldn't hurt to ask. If you called and asked them if it would be ok to have an additional person move in to help with rent, didn't mention the rental agreement expiring you'd probably be safe in most cases (although I would hate for this to be the one not safe case.)

Alternately, having a random housemate sucks, I'd rather not have cable and cut back on groceries than have someone else living with us :O We even have 2 bathrooms which connect to the bedrooms and honestly -- no thanks!

[miokomioko]

Yeah, the question now is pretty much how common it might be for a landlord to terminate a perfectly good tenant because of a spike in the rental market. That's my primary concern because of how fucking retardedly expensive it's getting in this area and we had luckily signed our lease just before this started happening. Relocating is the last thing I really want to do right now...

There are literally lines down the street/around corners for 1-2 bedroom apartment open houses, and everyone has all their credit information and documentation to nab something right there on the spot of need be. My boss saw some lady in line for one that had a fat wad of cash to pay the deposit if she liked the place enough.

[Restrat]

Most places, although I'm not sure for where you live, will allow the landlord to adjust the rent once you are in the month-to-month period. So the easiest thing for them would be to say "5% more or get out in two months"