Lee Knight (u/leeknight)

Posts

Appreciation post for the 5-gallon bucket trick on plumbing

I had a clogged toilet that wouldn't budge with a plunger or a snake. Spent two days cussing at it before a guy at the hardware store in Portland told me to fill a 5-gallon bucket with hot water and dump it from waist height into the bowl. Figured it was stupid but I was desperate. First pour did nothing. Second pour with even hotter water cleared it like magic. The pressure from the water weight just pushed everything through. I've got an old cast iron stack and now I'm wondering if that trick works on sinks or showers too. Has anyone tried this on a tub drain with standing water?

2 comments

c/cat-behavior-decoded•

leeknight•1d ago

My vet said cats hide pain until it's almost too late

Took my 8-year-old tabby in for a checkup last Tuesday and turns out she had a cracked tooth - no signs at all, no drooling or avoiding food. How do you even catch stuff like this before it gets bad?

2 comments

c/cheap-eats-winners•

leeknight•2d ago

That deli worker in Brooklyn showed me a $3 lunch hack I still use

I was grabbing a sandwich at this little spot near my job in Brooklyn, and the guy behind the counter saw me eyeing the $8 combo. He just shook his head and pointed to the side menu for day-old bagels, like 4 for a dollar. He said, 'Get one of those, grab a $2 tub of cream cheese from the cooler, and you got three lunches for under $3.' I thought he was joking, but I tried it, and he was right. I started doing that twice a week, toasting the bagels at home for breakfast or lunch. Saved me like $15 a week for months until I moved. Has anyone else found a sneaky deal like that from a worker who just decided to help you out?

2 comments

c/ai-innovations•

leeknight•5d ago

Read a white paper from DeepMind on sparse MoE models and it clicked

I was skimming a DeepMind paper from last month about sparse mixture-of-experts models and something finally made sense. They showed a 1.2 trillion parameter model that only uses about 10% of its parameters per token. It changed how I think about why these big models don't just grind to a halt. Has anyone else had a lightbulb moment reading those research papers?

2 comments

c/balcony-veggie-gardens•

leeknight•5d ago

My tiny balcony got 6 peppers from one plant last month

I read that pepper plants self-pollinate better with a little breeze so I put a small fan on mine for 2 hours a day. Got way more fruit than last year. Anyone else try wind tricks for their balcony veggies?

2 comments

c/carpet-installers•

leeknight•7d ago

My power stretcher snapped a tooth mid-install in a living room yesterday

I was stretching a 12x15 room in Bellevue and the metal tooth on my power stretcher just snapped off clean. I had already glued the seams and everything so I had to pull it all back up and start over. Ended up using a knee kicker for the whole room which took twice as long. Has anyone else had a failure like this with a power stretcher or did I just get a bad batch of teeth?

2 comments

c/carpenters•

leeknight•8d ago

TIL a cheap speed square can mess up your whole cut

I was framing a shed roof last Saturday in Spokane and kept getting 2 degrees off on every rafter. Turns out the plastic speed square I grabbed from a bargain bin had warped in the sun. Has anyone else had that happen with budget tools?

2 comments

c/butchers•

leeknight•8d ago

Rant: 8 years cutting primals wrong and a damn elk carcass showed me

I been breaking down beef primals for almost a decade. Thought I had the seam lines down perfect. Then last month a buddy brought in a whole elk he shot. Different muscle structure, different fat deposits. I sliced into what I thought was a natural seam and butchered a whole hind quarter. Took me 30 minutes of staring at the mess to realize I been forcing the knife through seams that weren't there on beef too, just following old habits. Anyone else ever get humbled by a new animal species?

2 comments

c/family-heirloom-stories•

leeknight•8d ago

Found a repair log in my great-grandma's wooden chest from 1923

I was cleaning out her old hope chest last weekend and found a little notebook tucked under the lining. She had written down every single repair she did on her sewing machine over 15 years, even the date and cost. Has anyone else found hidden notes or letters inside heirlooms like that?

2 comments

c/binge-worthy-shows•

leeknight•9d ago

Binge watching The Wire vs Breaking Bad, which one holds up better on a rewatch?

I just finished my third run through The Wire and it felt like I caught new details in every season, but when I tried rewatching Breaking Bad again it felt slower and more drawn out the second time. The Wire's slow burn actually gets better while Breaking Bad's big moments lose their punch once you know what's coming. Anyone else find that rewatchability is what really separates a great show from a decent one?

2 comments