You can call me AI


by Jonah

So I had this conversation, my first with ChatGPT:

JO: Hello

Hello! How can I assist you today?

JO: Last night I got into bed, and after lying there for a few minutes, I realized that the side of the bed was damp. I found it very strange. Why would my bed be wet?

There could be several reasons why the side of your bed was damp. Here are some possibilities:

  1. Spilled liquid: It’s possible that you spilled some liquid on the bed and didn’t realize it. This could be water, juice, or any other type of liquid.
  2. Sweating: If you tend to sweat a lot while sleeping, it’s possible that the moisture from your body could have soaked into the bed.
  3. Humidity: If the air in your room is very humid, it could cause moisture to accumulate on surfaces, including your bed.
  4. Leaky roof or pipes: If there is a leak in your roof or pipes, water could be getting into your bedroom and causing the bed to become damp.
  5. Condensation: If the temperature in your room drops overnight, it’s possible that condensation could form on your bed.

To determine the cause of the dampness, you might want to investigate further. Check the ceiling and walls around your bed to see if there are any signs of water damage, and inspect your mattress and bedding for any visible signs of moisture or stains. If you’re unable to identify the cause, it might be a good idea to consult with a professional to investigate further.

JO: Thank you. What sort of professional would you recommend?

If you suspect that there is a leak in your roof or pipes, you may want to contact a plumber or a roofing contractor to inspect your home for any leaks or damage. They will be able to identify the source of the leak and provide you with recommendations on how to fix it.

If the issue is related to humidity or condensation, you may want to contact a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) specialist to assess your home’s ventilation system. They can evaluate your HVAC system and suggest any changes or upgrades that may help improve indoor air quality and reduce humidity levels.

If you’re unable to identify the cause of the dampness on your own, you may want to consider hiring a professional home inspector. They can assess your entire home and identify any underlying issues that could be causing the dampness. They will also be able to provide you with recommendations on how to fix any issues they find.

Ultimately, the type of professional you should contact will depend on the specific circumstances of your situation. A qualified professional will be able to help you identify the source of the dampness and provide you with guidance on how to address it.

—

What I hadn’t mentioned is that the cat had been sleeping all day where the bed was wet, which I now realized was a red herring in my thinking, guessing that maybe he had something to do with it. And while we once had a problem with a leaky roof, we had run the electric baseboard heaters for several weeks that winter, which created ice dams along the gutter, and we had since we’d learned our lesson. (The other options weren’t a possibility.)

So something we hadn’t been able to figure out the night before, a large language model was able to give me the answer to, using predictive text, like your phone guessing what your next word will be. It also gave me a very detailed answer way faster than I would be able to think or type, even if I’d been able to come up with it on my own.

Is a large language model actually intelligent? It seems to be smarter than I am. But it’s drawing from the intelligence of all of humanity that has preserved thoughts in text. (It’s presumably also drawing stupidity from the same pool; early models were trained on Reddit.)

In any case, later in the day, I heard plopping from the bedroom, and the ceiling was indeed leaking. I put a cookie sheet on the bed to try to contain the water.

Why?

I washed all the bedding, and we moved to the downstairs bedroom for a week. Our ceiling is wood, so the water stains get lost in the wood grain; it’s fine. I climbed up on the roof (the southeast side stays clear of snow) and pushed about a foot of snow off the northeast facing shingles.

I am pleased to say that all of the snow and ice over the master bedroom has melted as of today. I remade the bed.

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Presidential M42 Progress


by Berck

The timing covers on the front were leaking profusely from both engines. As others have mentioned, “they do that.” That’s disappointing and annoying, but I’m not here to solve age-old BMW problems. The engine my car came with managed to completely coat the inside of my skidpan with about 5 miles of driving so, hopefully I can do better than that? The way these timing covers seal with a fiddly “profile” gasket in some places and a super thin paper/composite gasket in others is problematic. I’m normally not one to use RTV on gaskets, but it seems like anything might help here. The replacement M42 came completely coated in RTV squeeze-out as well as oil leaks, so it’s clear that RTV alone doesn’t solve the problem. I used a very thin layer on both sides of the gasket, and a bit more where the rubber profile gaskets join. The inner part of the profile gasket protruded a bit on one side after torquing the head down, so I trimmed it flush with a razer blade. The outer section of the gasket that rides between the timing covers is more problematic. It’s clearly meant to be compressed downward to (1) seal the forward edge of the gasket, and (2) provide a flush surface for the valve cover to mount to. Only, there’s no good way to apply downward tension on it. Worse, the holes in the upper timing cover are oblong, which means that you can line up the holes and bolt it together completely misaligned. I used some vice grips to compress the upper timing cover such that its top surface was level with the valve cover while I torqued down the bolts. I don’t think I’d recommend this technique as it put some ugly gouges in the timing cover, but you won’t be able to see them over the inevitable oil and dirt covering anyway:) The whole thing is a pretty unimpressive maintenance-unfriendly design.

I told myself I wasn’t going to clean any of this stuff up and just stick all back together with the outsides dirt and oil covered as long as the inside was clean, but I just couldn’t help myself and even wire-wheeled the valve cover a little bit. In any case, the engine is mostly reassembled, minus the intake and cooling stuff on this side.

I know how these block heaters are held in place, yet like an idiot, I went ahead and completely removed the bolt on the front before thinking it through. That left the nut and expanding wing bit to drop into the water jacket. And of course they’re stainless, so I couldn’t fish them out with a magnet. I spent an hour and got one piece out by tilting the engine over on the stand. I got the other one out by duct taping a piece of tiny silicone hose to my shop vac, which let me fish it out.

Anyway, shiny freeze plug installed. I also removed the German-tastic studs-welded-to-a-flange thing the exhaust header has going on. I now have 2 of these in my possession, and on both 2/3 studs break loose, but the third stays firm. There is absolutely no reason that these should be studs welded to a flange as bolt heads are perfectly accessible even when this is installed in the car. Fixed.

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Some M42 Assembly


by Berck

Forward progress. I’d forgotten, initially, to loctite the bolts that Josh said to loctite. I remembered to do it before the lower oil pan though, so I went back and did that, as well as the oil pickup bolts since apparently they’re problematic as well. I went ahead and doubled the lower oil pan gasket and hope that it works out.

Other frustrations–the Bentley manual talks about an oil supply check valve that goes in the block, but neither of mine had any such thing. Some internet searching found lots of other perplexed people. Apparently the part is listed, but it doesn’t actually fit unless you machine the threads in the block. Not having any interest in that, I’ve chosen to believe the parts of the internet that say such a valve was only for later years. It probably does need a valve–possibly related tow hy it takes 20+ seconds on a cold start to get oil pressure? Or maybe that’s because my oil pickup was smashed into the bottom of the pan.

I feel like there must have been more than one alignment sleeve between the block and the head, but the head came back with only one in the baggy of bits of they removed. Possible it stayed with the block and I lost it. Possible there was only one. I put it back together with one.. How misaligned could this get, anyway?

I used the cams and caps that came with my car, because the ones that came with the replacement engine looked servicable, but noticeably more worn. Some of the hydraulic lifters that came with my car had some pretty significant pitting on the surface, so I swapped the questionable ones out. They have different part numbers. I hope that works out.

I thought I’d ordered new bits for all the timing chain stuff. The old version of the guide that goes against the tensioner is NLA, but the new one is still available. Only, for some reason, it appears my new timing case had the old style installed. The difference appears to only be that the stud it pivots on is much, much larger on the new version. Not having a new stud, I used the better of my two worn ones. I’m sure it will last long enough for me to drive into a tree, right?

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Winnower


by Jonah

That was the first time she saw Death.

At first all she glimpsed was a passing shadow, out of the corner of her eye; then she realized there was nothing to cast shade.  He was walking (gliding?) along the tiles down the 4th floor corridor toward the elevators.  What kind of security did this hospital have to let someone with a giant sickle just wander around the halls?

She saw him again a few times after that, usually coming from the Emergency Department, though once it looked like he was headed toward Maternity.  She understood pretty quickly that everyone around him couldn’t see him.

Everyone but her.

Then on Tuesday he entered her father’s room. She stood up from the bedside chair where she’d been reading out loud to the unconscious man in the bed. Death seemed to pause at the door.  She stepped between Death and her dad’s bed, defiantly standing between the two.

“No,” she said.  

The machines attached to her father continued their rhythmic beeping and whooshing sounds.

Death turned and seemed to peer behind himself.

“It isn’t his time,” she insisted, her hands gripped into fists.

Death turned back to her.  “Oh,” he spoke, his voice causing her spine to shiver involuntarily. “You can perceive me.  That happens sometimes.”

“You can’t take him,” her voice broke. “He just retired.”

Death propped his scythe against the door jamb and dragged back his hood.  She tried to suppress a gasp. And yet his eyes looked surprisingly soft, sorrowful.  

Death seemed to exhale, releasing an airless sigh. “Your father will be diagnosed with dementia next year. That is after he becomes lost on his way home from the hardware store and hits a child on a bicycle with his pickup… the old one he restored. You’ll move in to care for him, leaving the man who has loved you more than any other, except your own father. Your father’s mind will dissolve quickly, and the cheerful, kind, confident man you, and so many others, love will be replaced with someone perpetually confused, paranoid, and angry, though he will not know why. Every day will be a battle to bathe, clothe, and feed him. He will be miserable, as will you.  And yet his body will endure.

“This will go on for years.”

“It isn’t fair,” she managed to whisper.

“No,” said Death.  

“Death is never fair.”

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Novavax trial end


by Jonah

This week marked the end of my involvement in the Novavax vaccine trial. I had enrolled two years ago and had gone into the trial clinic every few months (and every time I came down with a cold) for them to collect my fluids, and five times for them to inject me with their fluids. Each time they loaded up a prepaid debit card with some money. And then I did finally catch Covid, a month before my two years was up.

I was supposed to take my temperature every day and input it in an app on my phone. I wasn’t so good about that, and I’d get a phone call if I’d gone a while without doing it. If I got sick, I had to answer a whole lot more questions. So I don’t have to do it anymore.

My contact at the trial asked if I’d be interested in participating in other trials. I said sure.

Here’s me after them taking my precious, precious blood one last time.

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