***----.....Casek & Dirty's Talk Show***----.....

[Dirty_habiT]

So I'll just pick up where we left off in PM's..... I'll leave it to you to bring up topics that you wish and we can just kind of nerd out on the same kinds of things we were in PM's.  For anyone reading this, Casek and I were enjoying some catching up with eachother after quite a few years of not talking on here.... and not having eachothers' info to reach out otherwise.... and we realized that we were talking about some cool shit that others may be interested in reading or pitching in on.

 

In any case, we were discussing Honda Grom vs. Ruckus.  I own a Ruckus that is not modified and I know a guy that has wrecked a Grom despite having motorcycle experience.  I'm recommending the Ruckus because it's less "ballsy" of a vehicle and won't get you thinking about "I wonder if I can launch off that little  handicap ramp thing there, " like a Grom might.

 

We were also discussing phones.  I'm kinda tin foil hatted about it phones despite going balls deep w/ Apple.  I have an apple watch (series 3 no LTE), an Iphone XR (red), and a mid-2013 MBook Air.  They're all connected and Apple's probably slurping my info right now, they probably know what tv show I'm watching (it's LivePD btw).  They probably know I've got a Timmy and Tommy Amiibo by my computer, maybe not.  Casek, on the other had uses a flip phone.... and I'm not surprised by this knowing a bit about his computer related background.  Dude's smart and I completely understand his reasoning for having a flip phone in today's day and age.  I actually want one and thought about getting one just for funsies after talking to him about it.

 

Anyway, @lord_casek- let's continue talking about tech shit and little turd motorcycles... or whatever here.  Maybe people will like it.  I remember there was a thread where people asked about computer stuff,  I don't want this to be that but hopefully it can follow a similar format.

[One Man Banned]

Don't know shit about bikes but for multiple reasons I'm still hanging onto my flip phone.  It's really on its last legs but will use it to the end, then likely take it to the range and put a bullet in it.  Suppose I'll get a 'smart' one after.

 

The problem with having multiple points of your data known is that the general public has little to no understanding of how that data is used to influence group and individual behavior.  When people hear about Facebook and their data I think much of their upset is 'you invaded my privacy and that's wrong.'  Of course how upset are they when they maintain their Facebook and other social media accounts, but if they really understood they would ditch all this.  But people like to believe they are individuals, free thinkers, above and beyond influence.  Phone companies also helped make cell phones a bit addictive.  In any event, I don't have a lot of these modern problems with a flip phone.  There's less all around data, less tracking, no GPS, I barely use it and when I do it's for a text/call.  

[lord_casek]

The only times I've really wanted a smartphone (that's connected to a service, more on this later) is for when I'm poopin' or when I need some bit of information
on the double.

I've learned that people with smartphones want to be your servant. "Hey, will you Google _______ for me?"

Yo! I just saw a Ruckus on Bing image search that looked like an old soft tail! Dope! Dhabz, you might have won me over to a Ruckus.



 

[lord_casek]

I wanted to note that anyone is welcome to spoil their kid's Christmas here and tell Dharblz and I what "Santa" brought them.
 

[iloveboxcars]

Groms look like the most back pain hurtiest machines to ever exist.

[Dirty_habiT]

I think the Grom is actually made for an adult.  I don't know why I don't see more of them.  The typical thing to do to a Ruckus is to put a GY6 motor (150cc) vs the 50cc stock GET50 motor that it comes with.  If you pull up pictures online of them you will find that MANY of them are lowered and stretched.  This considerably ups the speed that the chassis can achieve but you must question whether or not it's a great idea to go on the highway with something meant to handle well at 40mph and below.  Sure, you can do it but I'd be really pissed in the after life if I knew I got smoked by a prius driving neckbeard checking instagram on his smart phone.

 

I don't know that the Grom would make you feel uncomfortable unless you're like 6'5" and 300lbs.  It's probably not the bike for you then.  What I'm most concerned about with it's "mini super moto" body style is that I would immediately be thinking of how to launch it off 3-sets of stairs and stuff like that.... then I'd be trying to figure out how to beef up the suspension so it doesn't bottom out when I decide to try to do something stupider on it.  Of course, being from a BMX background, I'd try to bunny hop the thing which I'm sure wouldn't really work that well.

 

The reason I know this is because I've done these things on the ruckus I bought.  It was some drunk kid's ruckus that got impounded by the police here in Austin and I bought it at the auction for a great price.  I just think it was a drunk kids because i am pretty sure it's been dropped a few times and and it looks like a donkey did some modifications to it.  So, it not being in great condition, I naturally had to try to do some off roading on it.  Keep in mind the Ruckus is not an "off road" machine.  It actually does off roading on light trails REALLY well.  As long as there aren't any crazy bumps or pot holes it works great on dirt and gravel.  I've also held the front brake and did burn outs in my neighbor's front yard with it.  He said I wasn't capable of doing it so I had to prove him wrong.  It's an absolute blast and if I had bought it brand new I'd probably have taken a lot longer to figure out how much fun it actually is.

 

I found recently that Casek has a memory that is pretty much exactly like a steel trap.  He brought up stuff that happened here years ago with a clarity I don't think I ever had even before I did fun things with my brain cells.

 

@One Man Banned- what flip phone do you have and why did you choose it?

 

What kind of christmas plans are you all participating in?  I'm probably going to Uvalde, TX in Big Booty Judy (that's my 99 GMC Suburban) to spend Christmas w/ the gf's fam.

[lord_casek]

Who wouldn't want to speed on that?

I, too, had fun with my braincells. Can you imagine my memory had I not? I'm not sayin' I'd be Magneto, but I'd be fuckin' Magneto.

Would be afraid to take a Ruckus or Grom out on the highway. Too small. One bad gust of wind and you're the new paintjob for a semi.


Christmas with my brother and sister.

Edited December 24, 2018 by lord_casek

[Fist 666]

I was a flip phone hold out until just a few years ago. I'd really like to go back; do you fellows know of a flip phone that can run some basic apps?

 

My work does time through an app called t-sheets. It requires location on so they can make sure we are in fact on the jobsite.

 

Aside from this single app I'm willing to give up all facets of the smart phone. 

[lord_casek]

The phone I have supports HTML5.
http://www.kyoceramobile.com/duraxe/att/

[One Man Banned]

@Dirty_habiTfunny shit is I don't know what kind anymore.  The phone company had their logo on the outside but that's worn away now.  The brand might be PCD?  Phone might be 8 years old now.  Main factors in buying was it's a phone, can text, has a somewhat functional camera, no GPS, and it's about the size of a credit card and about 3/4" thick.  I like that no matter what kind of mission you're on it's easily concealed on your person.  I don't care about fancy sleeves, never downloaded a ringtone, I just use it for the functions it was made for and that's it.  I do feel that over time the phone companies have tried to get me to switch to a smart phone by ending certain coverage plans, shittier reception.... there was a point where they stopped offering roaming/service updates but guess they had to go back on that.  This phone is slowly dying, will prob have to replace it within the year and will likely switch to a 'smart' phone with strict usage habits, location services disabled, etc.

[lord_casek]

Silent Circle used to make a product called "Black Phone". It was a custom, super secure Android install with safe hardware inside. Had some nice features like identifying
Stingay systems around you. You could even switch cell towers to a safer/real tower.

Looks like they no longer sell those phones. To civilians, anyhow.

Like I said, people love to be your Google slaves. So proud to show off their Samsung Galaxy Note XXL 35s Don CheadlexNike Edition.

[lord_casek]

@Dirty_habiTand I also got in to a brief discussion about quadcopters/drones. Turns out we both fly. Harblz was an FPV'er and I like to take buttery smooth cinematic video.
Got me to thinking about why @misteravendoesn't have a bird with photography and living where he lives. Not even a Mavic Air, Raven? I'd flip out if you got an aerial of the rare Montana Wolf-Whale.

[Dirty_habiT]

Yeah man, didn't that Black Phone get hacked pretty quickly?  I thought I remember reading about it not being as secure as it was marketed as.  I joogled a little too after saying that to make sure I wouldn't wind up w/ my foot in my mouth:

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=silent+circle+blackphone+hacked

 

Yes, I would totally be flying a whole lot more if I had land.  I haven't been flying recently because my friend's land is the only "safe" place to fly like an animal without worrying about hitting anyone's shit.  Racing drones are very dangerous..... VERY dangerous.  The props will cut you right open and they have no problem damaging anything they run into.  Even with prop guards, which you don't want because they make the drone fly like doo doo, you can still easily damage things.  I'm not trying to be a grandpa here, just saying it's easy for things to not go the way you want.  I've given it a break recently because I got tired of my kitchen table having all my parts and soldering station hooked up for near constant repairs.  It's almost smart to have 4 or 5 drones that are all capable of running at any moment.  That way when you break one, and you will break one..... you can keep flying.

 

I'm considering selling all my stuff but I dunno.  Dirt biking has been taking most of my free time lately and I can't say I feel bad for it.  I went riding at Emma Long metropolitan park yesterday after it had rained all day the night before.  It was definitely a new challenge that I hadn't experienced out there before.  Everything was way slick and traction was an issue on almost everything.  I rode through quite a few deep puddles with my feet sticking up close to my handle bars so I didn't get drenched legs.

 

Who's shooting fireworks for NY's?  My street turns into a crazy illegal fireworks show every time it's time that Americans like to shoot fireworks.  My neighbor across the street probably spends $1000 on fireworks every time and then lights them in the street.  He's nice about it and sweeps everything up the next day though.  Our end of the street is known as the "driveway club" because all the people at the end of the culdesac know eachother and hang out together in their front yards all the time like rednecks.  It's great.

[lord_casek]

I don't recall the Black Phone 2 having those problems, but maybe. That sucks. I know it was a hardened Android OS on there that was said to be
one of the most hardened. Like anything else, where there's a will, there's a way.

You sound like me with the drones thing. It's getting harder and harder to fly and be safe. Even for my videography/photography crap.

Soldering sucks! Maybe that's because I'm not all that great at it?

Gonna be raining here NYE. I'll probably catch a movie or something.

Gotta love the south. I had a neighbor that used to spend about a grand on fireworks. We'd get drunk on whiskey and set 'em off. Lots of fun.

[lord_casek]

@Dirty_habiT Whatchu know about them Publix subs?
 

 

[Dirty_habiT]

I tell you what.... soldering does suck unless you have a proper setup.  I bought a Hakko FX-888 (non digital) years ago and haven't even had to change the tip that came on it.  It still looks shiny and new just like when I bought it.  It's important to have a small tub of solder flux so that you can make solder go onto shitty wires.  It cleans the metal as it melts onto it so it makes the solder attract onto the metal.  There's also a lot of wrong techniques and only about one or two right techniques for making solder go onto wires/pcbs.  If you're doing anything outside of the "right" way well then you're wasting time and materials.... and probably frustrating yourself with damaged parts from heat.

 

My New Years was pretty fun.  My sister and her bf visited from out of state and my mom came and stayed.  We drank half a glass each of cheap wine and lit sparklers in the front yard.

 

As a security aficionado I don't trust much of anything that humans have made or coded.  Everything has holes.  Recently I've been watching "bosnian bill" and "the lock picking lawyer" on youtube a lot.  Not much of anything with a lock/key on it is safe.  Those guys pick some of the craziest shit that is specifically made to be difficult to pick.  That doesn't even bring in the other techniques they use to break locks outright (like the ramset gun).  I dunno, it all just reminds me of spy vs spy.  Blackhats break shit and whitehats try to fix it.  I'm a straw hat.

[lord_casek]

Flux is fantastic. Still doesn't help me, though. I'm just bad at it. I probably need to order a little crystal radio kit and practice soldering. I only had to do it while I was flying cheap drones. The "just above toy grade" stuff. I must have rebuilt that bird a half dozen times at least. Gave it to a friend's little girl last summer because it had run it's course with me and
was time to get someone new to drones interested.

I spent NYE inside. It was raining and cold here and I'm too old for crowds.

Gah! I used to love watching lock nerds pick locks. It's illegal here to possess any of those tools. I gave up my Kevin Mitnick business card when I moved here b/c
I didn't want to get pulled over and have it slip out of my wallet only to land me a new charge.

if you've never seen his biz card

[Dirty_habiT]

That's kind of funny.  I wonder why it can't be a "business card" though like brass knuckles are "paper weights".  That's kind of odd that it would be illegal to have a lock picking set.  It's not like criminals won't still carry and use them when the time is right to do so.

 

It's weird how as you get older, unless you're an "interesting" type, you don't care so much about going to loud places full of people..... or you own clothes and shoes that you don't want beer spilled on.  I outgrew all that shit a long time ago, probably as a result of getting 2 DUI's.  Both were pretty "innocent" but I just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The first time I did the FST's and did really well on them.  That got reduced to an obstruction of a highway charge.  The 2nd time I was smart and tried to wait out my drunkeness knowing that I had drank too much and wasn't in a good state to go driving.  I waited 2h past my last drink, drank a lot of water, ate some food, pissed a few times, then decided I felt perfectly fine.  Not "I can do this" fine..... I felt sober again.... no problem.  So I got in the car and started to head home.  On the highway a cop tailgated me and it was dark so I couldn't tell it was a cop.  I'm talking, dangerously close.... tailgated the shit out of me.  So I made a mistake in judgement.  I sped up and switched out of the lane I was in so that they could pass.  I was in the left/passing lane.  In Texas the left lane is for passing but people dick it up all the time doing 10mph under the speed limit in it.  Anyway, people in Austin, TX suck at driving for the most part and don't do the speed limit in any lane on the highway.  So, if you do the speed limit here, like a normal sane person..... you're usually wizzing by everyone else on the highway, and thus using the left lane to do it.  So I get tailgated in the passing lane, because I'm passing people.... doing the speed limit.  When I move to the middle lane the car tailgating me stays RIGHT on my ass, flips on the lights, and pulls me over.... for speeding.

 

I, this time, knowing better..... refused to do all the FST's.  It didn't matter anyway, the officer used this device that is like an "instant" breathalyzer that can detect the presence of alcohol vapor in the air..... he snuck it in front of me quickly after asking me a question because I refused to use the breathalyzer.  It beeped and he said "gotcha" basically.  That was the evidence used to impound my car and jail me that night.  It happened to be one of the "no refusal" weekends because the ROT Rally was in town.  On "no refusal" weekends there are judges that stay available 24h a day to sign warrants on the fly.  They can do things like, in my case, sign a warrant to draw blood right after an arrest.  My BAC was over the limit despite feeling fine and driving fine.  I'm ashamed for what I did but wanted to share my story so that maybe someone would make the decision to not drink and drive thinking they felt fine.  The problems with my thinking were two fold.... there was the part that I, in the same thread that made me make the bad decision to speed up to get out of someone's way, could have made a mistake that wrecked me or someone else.... and there's the problem that I drove after drinking which was a risk to my freedom.  All said and done it cost me ~$15,000 to make that poor decision.

 

There now you all know about how the dumb me changed into the smarter me that doesn't drink at all anymore.  I've always enjoyed cars, and I was driving one of my turbo cars that night.... it's not a safe car because it's old and because it's extremely fast.  I tell myself I wouldn't make a decision to endanger my car, or anyone else.  I put too much blood, sweat, money, and tears into that car to ruin it doing something stupid.

[lord_casek]

Yeah, up here it's different with lockpick sets. I'd love to have one just to tinker with. That's why I had the Mitnick card. I wanted to use it as a template to make my own set.
Hacksaw blade and street sweeper "blades". Whatever those things are called. They make perfect picks with a little grinding.


I have, thankfully, never had a DUI, although I deserved to many, many, many times. I've been arrested for weed and mushrooms, but never alcohol. I've also driven on mushrooms.
Stupidest thing I think I've ever done when it comes to substances and driving. When the road starts splitting off in familiar places where you know there's not split.....man, I could have died or killed someone else.

We need to harass @misteravenuntil he gets a Mavic Air. I'd love to see his photographic skill up in the air. Professional photogs always impress me with their aerials when they get into drones.