Mary Clark (u/the_mary)

Posts

PSA: Spent $400 on a cheap o-scope from Amazon and it lied to me for 3 weeks

Chased a ghost in a King Air 350 for three weekends straight before I realized the scope was reading a half volt low on the 5V reference bus. Anyone else get burned by cheap test gear or am I the only one who learned this lesson the hard way?

2 comments

c/banned-beyond-borders•

the_mary•3d ago

Just realized 47 countries still have blasphemy laws on the books after reading about that artist in Pakistan

How are we supposed to have real free speech when nearly a quarter of the nations in the UN can throw you in prison for criticizing a religion, does anyone else feel like the internet makes us forget these boundaries exist?

2 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

the_mary•4d ago

PSA: wasted $80 on a "vintage" board game lot that was all moldy and missing pieces

Thought I scored big with a 10-game haul from an estate sale in Denver, but after opening the boxes I found mold on three of them and at least half the pieces were missing, so has anyone else gotten burned by those "mystery" board game bundles online?

2 comments

c/edmonton-legal-advice•

the_mary•7d ago

Seen too many people sign agreements at family law intake without reading the fine print

I used to work as a paralegal in Edmonton and noticed most folks just skim the first page of their mediation agreement. One guy signed a clause giving away rights to his pension without realizing it, and that cost him about $40,000. Has anyone else run into a nasty surprise from a form they thought was standard?

2 comments

c/banned-but-not-silent•

the_mary•7d ago

That talk with my neighbor about the library book ban changed my mind

My neighbor Frank stopped me by the mailbox last Tuesday. He said they pulled a book from the kids section about a family with two dads, and he thought it was fine because it 'protected' kids. I asked him what exactly it protected them from, and he just stared at me for a second. It hit me that he never actually read the book or talked to anyone who had, he just heard it was bad and went along. Has anyone else had a conversation like that where you realized the other person hadn't even looked at the thing they wanted banned?

2 comments

c/edmonton-legal-advice•

the_mary•9d ago

Lawyer missed a filing deadline by 1 day should I push for a refund

I hired a lawyer in Edmonton for a small claims dispute back in March. He was supposed to file a response by the 15th but he filed on the 16th. The other side tried to get a default judgment but the judge let it slide with a warning. I paid him $1200 upfront for that work. He says the case moved forward so no harm done. I think I paid for a service he didn't deliver on time. The other side's lawyer is now using this as ammo in settlement talks. Has anyone else dealt with a lawyer missing a deadline in Edmonton and got a partial refund?

2 comments

c/electricians•

the_mary•15d ago

That conversation with a journeyman in Detroit about bending rigid conduit still sticks with me

He told me to stop relying on my bender's degree marks and start visualizing the bend before I pull the handle, and now I can't unsee how much time I wasted doing three-fourths of a bend wrong on a 90 in a parking lot last month, has anyone else had a mentor give you a tip that totally changed your approach to a basic job?

2 comments

c/donald-john-trump•

the_mary•19d ago

I used to think Trump was all talk until I saw him get that trade deal done

I used to think Trump was all talk until I saw him get that trade deal done. Last month I was at a diner in Scranton with my dad and he started going on about how Trump actually delivered on the USMCA. I always dismissed that as just political fluff, but then I looked up the specifics. Three years ago when NAFTA was being renegotiated, I figured it was just another broken promise. But seeing how it helped dairy farmers in Wisconsin get better access to Canada made me pause. My dad showed me a local news article from 2020 that talked about a dairy co-op near us that doubled their exports. That concrete detail flipped my view. Has anyone else had a specific moment where they changed their mind on his policies?

2 comments

c/debate-without-hate•

the_mary•20d ago

Had a guy at church tell me my salvation was in doubt because I voted Democrat in 2020

He said it right after the closing prayer, dead serious, and I just stood there holding my toddler wondering how to even respond to that without blowing up in the fellowship hall.

2 comments

c/china•

the_mary•20d ago

Tried Lanzhou beef noodles in Chengdu and got pure hype

I spent 3 months going to six different noodle shops in Chengdu because everyone said real Lanzhou noodles were life changing. Every single bowl was just salty broth and chewy noodles, nothing mind blowing. Is there a specific shop or technique that actually makes them taste different or did I just pick the wrong places?

2 comments