Thanks. No leaks so far!
I needed to replace a 3-valve shower/tub faucet. I've gotten tired of replacing the valves every 5 years or so, and it's impossible to keep clean.
I collected all the parts over the past couple of weeks and started on it last night. Of course, I had to enlarge the holes through the tiles for the valves (Pferd TiN Coated Carbide Burs for the win!). And I had to figure out which torch head to use for how long with the Mapp gas cylinders I have. I soldered in a couple of 1/4 turn ball valves, and all the rest.
I'm not happy with the mounting of the new tub spout. It uses an O-ring sealed plastic sleeve that slides over the 1/2" copper pipe (thus a threaded fitting doesn't have to be just the right length and the orientation of the thread doesn't have to be perfect), but it's held in place by a "grub screw" that grips the pipe. Of course, in our case the spout is very close to the tub so there's little room for a screwdriver. I'll have to see if I have a right-angle screwdriver that will work...
I spent about 6 hours on it last night. Still have to flush everything and hope that the connections above the ball valves don't leak...
(I hate plumbing, but after seeing things like this (4:00), I wasn't willing to consider calling a plumber. I've got 2 more to do - it should be faster next time. A single-valve retrofit was under consideration, but the valves are too close to the tub and wouldn't fit without having to redo 50 year old tile and that isn't on the agenda now.)
Anyway... :-)
Abuse is possible in any system. Any system that is large enough is guaranteed to have some people who don't follow the rules, or who work around the spirit of the rules. It doesn't change the legitimate need for information that only a system like that can provide.
Yeah, it's disheartening that we don't learn sensible lessons from history and science, and we continue to let ourselves be led by people who appeal to our lizard brains. We know what we should do, but rarely do it consistently.
Progress is slow and jerky.
Maybe some new Internet with impossible-to-forge headers, impossible to re-route packets, and so forth, will arise to make US/non-US information distinctions foolproof. Perhaps quantum encryption will make spying on Internet traffic impossible. Perhaps some clever code will make these arguments moot. Perhaps, but I doubt it. There will always be other communications routes that need to be checked.
Maybe Brin's Transparent Society is the way to go, (and ubiquitous cameraphone video does help protect people from police abuses) but it's not obvious.
We gotta watch the watchers, and the watchers of the watchers. It's not easy.
Gotta run. Have a good Sunday!
Cheers,
Scott.
I collected all the parts over the past couple of weeks and started on it last night. Of course, I had to enlarge the holes through the tiles for the valves (Pferd TiN Coated Carbide Burs for the win!). And I had to figure out which torch head to use for how long with the Mapp gas cylinders I have. I soldered in a couple of 1/4 turn ball valves, and all the rest.
I'm not happy with the mounting of the new tub spout. It uses an O-ring sealed plastic sleeve that slides over the 1/2" copper pipe (thus a threaded fitting doesn't have to be just the right length and the orientation of the thread doesn't have to be perfect), but it's held in place by a "grub screw" that grips the pipe. Of course, in our case the spout is very close to the tub so there's little room for a screwdriver. I'll have to see if I have a right-angle screwdriver that will work...
I spent about 6 hours on it last night. Still have to flush everything and hope that the connections above the ball valves don't leak...
(I hate plumbing, but after seeing things like this (4:00), I wasn't willing to consider calling a plumber. I've got 2 more to do - it should be faster next time. A single-valve retrofit was under consideration, but the valves are too close to the tub and wouldn't fit without having to redo 50 year old tile and that isn't on the agenda now.)
Anyway... :-)
[Wouldn't you just Hate It, to be forced to a conclusion that: your very-own species! shall never reach Adulthood? almost identically to the basic plot of Blade Runner? (but with a wry twist: We are the Replicants!. The issue is not 'pre-programmed-death-times' but maybe [I say: surely] worse: pre-programmed perpetual adolescence! ]
Think about the trade-off: does it really matter if you exit life at year-X? (always unknown, also subject to the Laws of Chance) -vs- realizing that you'll never experience what, say, Being an Authentic adult human! ... might have been like! :-/
At home, however--logistics of scanning everyone/all-the-time, being too expensive anyway--your argument prevails re encryption back-doors and {sigh} much of the ugly (J. Edgar?) Hoovering of jillions of 99.999% useless messages. BUT.. only ever: via, even redundant-Overseers reliably catching each other's oversights--is that even possible?:
Abuse is possible in any system. Any system that is large enough is guaranteed to have some people who don't follow the rules, or who work around the spirit of the rules. It doesn't change the legitimate need for information that only a system like that can provide.
Yeah, it's disheartening that we don't learn sensible lessons from history and science, and we continue to let ourselves be led by people who appeal to our lizard brains. We know what we should do, but rarely do it consistently.
Progress is slow and jerky.
Maybe some new Internet with impossible-to-forge headers, impossible to re-route packets, and so forth, will arise to make US/non-US information distinctions foolproof. Perhaps quantum encryption will make spying on Internet traffic impossible. Perhaps some clever code will make these arguments moot. Perhaps, but I doubt it. There will always be other communications routes that need to be checked.
Maybe Brin's Transparent Society is the way to go, (and ubiquitous cameraphone video does help protect people from police abuses) but it's not obvious.
We gotta watch the watchers, and the watchers of the watchers. It's not easy.
Gotta run. Have a good Sunday!
Cheers,
Scott.