tonyb

The progression is different for everyone so it's hard to give universal advice but I'll try. My dad is progressing quick, it took almost 2 years to get diagnosed. He was diagnosed in May and I'll be lucky if he is still around for Christmas. It's not that fast for many people (lots of examples of people having it for 10+ years) so that certainly impacts my experience.

Make every day count - you don't how how many are left.

If he isn't going to a multidisciplinary ALS clinic I would look into it. Instead of having to go to 5+ individual Dr. appts my dad goes to one big one and sees the neurologist, occupational therapy, physical therapy, respiratory therapist, nutritionist, etc. all in one appointment and they all calibrate together on treatment. It's a long day but far better than managing individual appointments.

It's ok and often better to start a treatment sooner than you might think is necessary. My dad is on an iVAPS (a non-invasive ventilator) to help him breath and that has greatly increased his quality of life and I wish he could have started it sooner. Some PALs (People with ALS) avoid stuff like that because they are embarrassed, see it as a weakness, etc. but then realize how helpful it can be. The biggest example of that is probably a feeding tube. Most PALs at some point have to decide if they want to have a feeding tube placed. The tricky part is that often times by the time they actually need the tube their respiratory function is too low to actually undergo the procedure. The tube can be placed and not used for years, but often time people wait at the time they are able to eat without issue. Unfortunately my dad was unable to get the tube (due to late diagnosis and fast progression ) and eating is one of his biggest struggles (they want him to have 2500-3000 calories a day but he has virtually zero appetite so a meal for him is like half a sandwich). This applies for almost every step of the journey - voice banking, mobility assistance/wheelchair, and even hospice. Most people think of hospice as being for someone who only has a few days left but it is available to anyone with a 6-month or less prognosis and they provide a large amount of support, this is a decision we will likely be making soon.

There are way more support groups/organizations than I would have ever guessed. I'm generally not one to ask for help but these organizations have helped us quite a bit. Team Gleason provided a my dad a portable electric wheelchair basically no questions asked and it was only about a week from applying and having it sitting on his door step. There are local charities near me that help provide everything from adaptive eating utensils all the way up to giving families wheelchair vans. There is also a lot of useful online content - podcast, content creators (@limpbroozkit on IG for example), etc. that can be very helpful.

I'm happy to answer any other questions, publicly on here or email in my profile.

My dad is dying.

ALS is 100% fatal.

Suggesting that a $700 online course about paleo diet is going to save him is disgusting. The Wahls protocol is generally recognized as a scam with no scientific backing.

Damn - this + the hospice piece really hits home.

My dad is rapidly loosing his battle with ALS. He has always loved to cut grass. He has very limited mobility (in some ways he is lucky, most people with late stage ALS are basically paralyzed. His progression is respiratory focuses so he is loosing the ability to breath faster than the ability to walk) but with some assistance has still been able to use my zero turn mower and get a little joy out of cutting my grass.

Just this Sunday he reached the point where he can't cut anymore...I guess he is out of salt :'(

That's not how QoS works on a DOCSIS network. DOCSIS QOS is controlled via the DOCSIS config file and is applied to any cable modem, it is part of the standard that all cable modems - so any QOS that would be applied to Comcast supplied modem would also be applied to a customer provided modem.

I don't have any specific knowledge of how Comcast does or doesn't do throttling on their network but it is very unlikely that is happening via the CPE. They may be doing some QOS via PCMM (PacketCable MultiMedia) but that is often used to manage congestion on the cable network and not the backhaul/transport side.

It works because the route to 1.2.3.4 is relatively stable. The routes would only change and end up at data center #2 if data center #1 stopped announcing the routes. In that case the connection would just re-negotiate to data center #2.

Nope - just like about every other protein the key is to not overcook it.

I personally thing spatchcocking the turkey is the way to go. The cavity is your enemy for an evenly cooked bird. With that big cavity you have trapped cold air on the inside and hot air on the inside making it hard to get the inside and outside cooked at the same time. Stuffing the cavity only makes that worse.

By spatchcock you eliminate the air pocket - it cooks more evenly and in about half the time.

This wasn't a typical "someone clicked a link they shouldn't have" attack.

There was a vulnerability in the RMM server software that allowed remote code execution. The attackers used the RCE to push the ransomware out to all of the endpoints connected to the RMM server.

The attack is still being researched but it looks like there were two vulnerabilities. The first was an authentication bypass that allowed the attacker to authenticate as if it were an authorised client. That was used to upload the payload. There was as a RCE vulnerability that allowed the attacker to executed the uploaded file. The payload itself modified the SQL database of the RMM software to create a task on the remote endpoints that executed the ransomware.

This is very true - I think that is one of the reasons BBQ is so popular across so many demographics - it is relatable and achievable.

Awesome - I’ll have to check him out. We likely have mutual friends in the bbq community.

I don’t have any plans to go full time with BBQ anytime soon but that’s exactly the model I’ve looked into.

It’s not waste in that it goes into the trash - it’s just a sink cost that I’ll never recoup. Anything left over I keep for myself, give to friends/family, or donate (which is actually more difficult than you would expect since it is perishable)

I’m only open once or twice a week so secondary uses (beans, chili, etc) unfortunately don’t work for me.

Good BBQ is good BBQ - no matter if it is in Texas, Portland, Ohio or anywhere else.

Yep - you are pretty close.

I still have my tech job and don’t plan on going full BBQ anytime soon. I do it enough that it keeps me busy but I can always say no to a catering job or event so it’s still enjoyable and not a chore.

The right opportunity would have to come along for me to jump onto the restaurant world. It’s definitely something I’ve looked into but one thing I have learned is that the BBQ is the easy part of running a BBQ business - it’s everything else that is tricky. Right now I don’t have to worry about employees, rent, etc. so someone with those strengths would have to make a pretty good pitch to get me to open a restaurant.

The short answer is BBQ is “hobbies gone wild” for me. My “9-5” is in IT and that’s what pays the bills by BBQ is my passion.

I’ve being doing BBQ professionally for 10+ years. It started out just done some small catering jobs and has grown from there. Through BBQ I’ve been able to do lots of cool stuff that I would have never imagined when I started. I was heavily involved in competition BBQ for several years and through that I’ve worked with several big brands . Currently I’m focused on my food truck and rub and sauce products. I’ve also done several BBQ classes and hope that as we turn the corner on COVID I can start that up again soon.

That's exactly what I did starting about a month ago - I've got enough on hand to last about a month (most of that is committed to catering jobs that already have a set price - so my forecasting is much easier but if I didn't lock in the price I would have to eat the difference).

As long as they are safely handled I've found no quality difference at all when freezing stuff that is cryo-vaced. More often than not it has already been frozen at least once before it gets to me.

I don't ever sell anything that has been re-heated after cooking though. You can also do that with little to no quality loss but I try to position myself as a premium brand so everything is 'cooked to order'. There are also a lot more food safety concerns (cooing it fast enough, re-heating it fast enough, etc.) that I don't want to worry about. I vacuum seal cooked BBQ at home and it's just as good as fresh but you can't do that in a commercial setting without special permits that aren't available to food trucks (at least not in my area).

Prices had come back down to pre-pandemic levels up until about a month ago. Nationwide easing of restrictions has increased demand faster than the supply chain has been able to keep up.

That is an excellent idea (having more than just a transactional relationship with you food vendor is a good idea in general) but my volume is way too low to have that type of leverage. The best I can do (and fortunately what I did when I saw the prices increasing) is pre-buy and freeze as much as I can to lock in the then-current pricing. Right now food supplies aren't even able to fill many wholesale orders because they don't have enough supply so I'm not sure pre-paying would help if they can't even get the product. For example one major vendor has changed their order cutoff time from 11PM to 5PM so they can spend that extra time allocating their available stock across all the orders because they don't have enough for everyone.

BBQ is my side hustle so I'll be ok either way - but if I was paying my mortgage via food service I would be alot more concerned.

Raising prices is an option but that is very market dependant. BBQ customers in general are more price sensitive than lobster customers and I would lose sales at a higher price point.

There is a certain price (which I have generally found is $4.50 - $4.99/lb, that is when my food cost for a brisket sandwich hits 50%. Target food cost should be somewhere around 30%) where it just isn't worth it to sell brisket. BBQ is somewhat unique in that you have to estimate your demand ahead of time - you can't just throw on another brisket if you run out and I don't reheat/re-use leftovers. So even if I raise my prices $2/sandwich to cover the increased cost my risk is still higher because any unsold product is now a higher loss.

Looks like I'll end up having to pull brisket off the menu again this summer (I own & operate a BBQ food truck).

Before this latest blow to the supply chain I have already seen a 66% increase in brisket prices in the past 4 weeks ($2.99/lb about a month ago, current price is $4.99). The restaurant industry is already running on low margins so it will be interesting to see how this is all going to shake out.

Everything I cook is temperature + feel. For example on pork once it hits 200-205 (depending on what temp I'm cooking at, the higher the cook temp the higher the finish temp) the thermapen becomes an expensive toothpick to feel for tenderness. Color is used as a element when I might move on to the next step but not at all for when it is done - for example I wrap pork once it hits 160 + has the color I want.

It has to be a repeatable processes, especially if you are doing it commercially and you need to train other people. Temperature is a measurable thing vs look or feel which is subjective.

For some things accuracy is extra important, one or two degrees won't make or break a pork but but can greatly impact something like steak.

If you don't want to fix it yourself Thermoworks will repair it for next to nothing. I think I paid like $10 to have one with a similar issue fixed. Normally it is something with the case around the pivot point that causes it to stop turning on (try squeezing it in that area to test that theory).

The speed compared to most other thermometers is that that is uses a thermocouple vs a thermistor. The cheaper ThermoPop uses a thermistor and takes about twice as long to get a reading.

If you still have the Thermapen they will likely replace it or repair it for free or cheap (like $10).

I'm a professional cook (I do professional BBQ competitions and own a food truck) and I own at least 5 Thermapens and several other Thermoworks products.

For me the Thermapen is worth every penny to me. It's fast, accurate, and reliable. I know that if I pick it up it is going to work and that alone is worth a premium. I've also had good experiences with their customer service - they will replace or repair them with little or no hassle.

Yes they are expensive but my oldest Thermapen is at least 10 years old. If you keep an eye out it's not hard to get them 25% off or more.

The first except for Blackberry. Before IOS or Android even existed Blackberry had granular per app permissions.

I don't disagree with your argument though, of the modern mobile OSs Apple moved to towards the per-app model before everyone else. I just find it interesting when Apple or Android gets coverage/credit for a feature that has long existed but was forgotten or ignored.

This isn’t accurate. The amount of data available on a DOCSIS network is incredible. Per modem SNR, power levels, preEq data, etc. If the data is used properly it cans find a loose screw on a tap or a damaged cable down the the foot.

That being said impulse noise is one of the harder things to track down. If the modern tools don’t work most MSOs would end up doing the “unplug a leg and see if the SNR gets better” method until they found the offending house.

This is spot on - A large majority of residential internet customers would see no difference between a 50/5 plan and a 300/30 plan. I done a significant amount of consulting in the ISP would and every time we would do mass speed increases there would be virtually no increase in aggregate traffic levels. As long as people could go to a speed test and get their subscribed speed they were happy. An HD Netflix stream takes the same amount of bandwidth no matter what your max speed is.

Most consumers aren't willing to pay the monthly cost that ISPs would be need to charge to make overbuilding fiber economically feasible. DSL providers overbuild with fiber because they can't compete with cable and the rising cost of maintenance of a copper plant. Some cable providers will do new builds with FTTH or overbuild when upgrading the existing plant is cost prohibitive. But overbuilding a working coax plant almost never makes since. Spending millions of dollars to offer higher speeds at the same price just doesn't make business sense.

The GE switches are made by Jasco. I have a few different brands of zwave switches and the GE/jesco ones are my favorite. The newest version is much more compact and they auto sense line and load so they are much easier to fit in the existing boxes.

Having worked on several ISP networks that practice isn’t nearly as common as many people seam to think. It would be technically difficult to do that at the rate of a large ISP.

There could be capacity issues between an ISP and some content providers but that is different than throttling or optimizing traffic.

If you are just wanting to share the secret once (not persistently) this works really well: https://onetimesecret.com/

You can use the public version or host yourself.

The features they aren't talking about aren't a "backdoor". It is well a well document feature of most service provider networking equipment that allows for the provider to respond to subpoenas. The data collection is explicitly configured by the service provider. The allegation is that Huawei can activate the lawful intercept feature without authorization from the service provider.

The theory behind the lawful intercept concept is that with the appropriate legal authorization a law enforcement agency can get a capture of a subscribers traffic in a somewhat standard format - that way the LEA doesn't have to have a different way to process the data from each network equipment vendor.

Here is a description of how the feature is commonly implemented: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawful_interception https://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/Instant_40_Mobile/Adv... https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/10000/10008/fe...

I own a BBQ business and CostCo in my area often has meat less than my wholesale cost from various restaurant suppliers. I can often get Prime briskets from costco for less than Choice from other suppliers. The same is true for some other items as well (foil pans are cheaper at Costco than restaurant supply store for example)

That's interesting, I wouldn't have considered that but it make sense. If I'm at a football game or concert I'm much less likely to be streaming content and much more likely to be sharing content than a user at home.

On an unrelated note - I've been pretty disappointed with the WiFi at The Shoe. The first game I tried to use it I couldn't event join the network, the second time I could join but it wasn't usable. It was early in the season though so they could have still be working out the bugs - I can't even imagine how much goes into supporting a system like that. Trying to get 100k devices on a WiFi network is impressive.