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-rw-r--r--posts/playing-with-leaves.md9
-rw-r--r--posts/sketchy-looking-gas-stations-aren-t-that-sketchy.md9
-rw-r--r--posts/the-best-way-to-transfer-gopro-files-with-linux.md51
-rw-r--r--posts/yabs-yet-another-bad-shop.md119
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+---
+permalink: "/posts/{{categories}}/{{slug}}"
+title: Playing with Leaves
+categories: []
+tags: []
+layout: post.liquid
+is_draft: true
+---
+Start writing already...
diff --git a/posts/sketchy-looking-gas-stations-aren-t-that-sketchy.md b/posts/sketchy-looking-gas-stations-aren-t-that-sketchy.md
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+---
+permalink: "/posts/{{categories}}/{{slug}}"
+title: "Sketchy-Looking Gas Stations Aren't That Sketchy"
+categories: []
+tags: []
+layout: post.liquid
+is_draft: true
+---
+Start writing already...
diff --git a/posts/the-best-way-to-transfer-gopro-files-with-linux.md b/posts/the-best-way-to-transfer-gopro-files-with-linux.md
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+---
+permalink: "/posts/{{categories}}/{{slug}}"
+title: The Best Way to Transfer GoPro Files with Linux
+categories: ["technology"]
+tags: ["gopro", "camera", "video", "download", "linux", "wireless"]
+layout: post.liquid
+is_draft: true
+---
+
+Transferring files off of most cameras to a Linux computer isn't all that
+difficult. Normally I can rip out the SD card and transfer files or just use a
+USB data transfer of some kind. The exception is my GoPro Hero 4 Black. For 4th
+of July week I took a bunch of video with the GoPro, approximately 20 MP4
+files, about 3GB each. The annoying thing about the GoPros USB interface is
+you need an app to download everything this way. The camera doesn't just show
+up as a USB device that you can mount. The GoPro does have a micro-SD card but
+I'm away from home and didn't have any dongles or adapters.
+
+The solution? GoPro cameras, after the Hero 3, can open up an ad-hoc wireless
+network that lets you browse the GoPro's onboard files through an HTTP server.
+This means you can open your browser and scroll through the files on the camera
+at a intranet address, `10.5.5.9`, and download them one by one. Well if you
+have like two dozen videos on there it kinda sucks.
+
+> *Smiles warmly*
+
+So, I opened up the manual for `wget`. I'm sure you could get really fancy with
+some of the options but the only thing I cared about was downloading every
+single MP4 video off of the camera, automatically. I did not want to download
+any of the small video formats or actual HTML files. So here's what I did:
+
+```sh
+$ wget --recursive --accept "*.MP4" http://10.5.5.9:8080/
+```
+
+This tells `wget` to download all of the files at the GoPro's address
+recursively and skips any that don't have the MP4 extension. Now I've got a
+directory tree with all of my videos in it. And the best part is I didn't have
+to install the dinky GoPro app on my laptop. Hopefully this helps if you're
+looking for an easy way to migrate lots of footage without manually clicking
+through the web interface or installing additional software.
+
+Some things I would like to change/add:
+
+- Download all image files as well; should be easy, just another `--accept`
+- Initiate parallel downloads
+- Clean up the directory afterwards so I just have one level of depth
+
+I could probably write a quick and dirty shell script to do all of this for me
+but I use the camera so infrequently that it's probably not even worth it.
+
diff --git a/posts/yabs-yet-another-bad-shop.md b/posts/yabs-yet-another-bad-shop.md
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+---
+permalink: "/posts/{{categories}}/{{slug}}"
+title: YABS - Yet Another Bad Shop
+categories: ["automotive"]
+tags: []
+layout: post.liquid
+is_draft: true
+---
+
+Today I received a text message from a local mechanic/auto shop asking me to
+leave them a Google review. It was an automated message from a shop that I know
+well and have used many times in the past. Unfortunately, I have had several
+poor experiences (at the time they seemed horrific) with them in the past year
+and I can honestly say they'll never receive my business again. Now I could
+have used this as an opportunity to leave them an anonymous nasty-gram but
+instead I'm going to do the opposite. I'm going to write about everything I
+don't like about them without telling you who they are or hiding who I am. Why
+would I do that? Well for one, they were an excellent shop for many years. I
+believe a recent change in management is to blame and I'm not going to ruin
+their chances of making a comeback (because frankly I would like for them to
+rebound). And secondly, I don't believe in hiding. This page and its author are
+public knowledge. Now, in no particular order: a sample of awful work from yet
+another bad shop.
+
+# Mom's Truck -- Balls Out
+
+Mom's truck is a 2007 Chrysler Aspen that she loves very much. Dad does a whole
+lot of work on it himself (the both of us do pretty much everything we can
+in-house so long as we have the right equipment). We've been taking her truck
+into this shop for years because we've found them to be reliable, efficient,
+and economical. As I said before, at some point in their recent history they
+changed hands -- either ownership or management, I can't remember which. It was
+around this time that Dad decided to overhaul Mom's front suspension. He
+replaced the ball joints, tie rod ends, and a few other worn out parts. He then
+did his own best-guess front-end alignment, but left everything loose so that
+YABS could finish up the alignment and tighten everything. Now read that again
+because it's important. Dad did his own alignment in our driveway (as a
+cost-saving measure), got it decently close, but then instructed this shop to
+finish the job and tighten everything up.
+
+Now here's where things fall apart. This shop full of professional mechanics
+took one look at the alignment Dad did and decided it was good enough. Hooray
+for Dad and supernatural mechanical skills, but the shop didn't even touch the
+car. They called Dad back to come pick up the car, telling him it was already
+good to go. They never tightened a thing, even after Dad explicitly told them
+everything was loose and needed to be tightened but they didn't to touch a
+thing. So what happened? Dad picked up the car assuming everything was A-OK and
+Mom drove the car for about a week before the two front tires wore down so
+badly they had to be replaced immediately. Everything fell out of alignment as
+things loosened further and further and the tires wore unevenly until they
+ripped themselves to shreds. The worst part? These weren't tires with 6+ years
+on them. These were brand new tires. So YABS got to install two more front
+tires and then tighten everything. They did not cover the costs, presumably
+because it was Dad who had done the alignment. Strike one.
+
+# Friend's Minivan -- Crude Necessities
+
+A good friend of ours drives a 2005-2006 Chrysler Town and Country. It was
+actually Mom's car before upgrading to the Aspen (the minivan was perfect in
+every way but it couldn't tow). Our friend has been using YABS for just a long
+as we have. Once again, things started getting kinda strange after several
+years of good service. She started getting charged extra for simple repairs she
+had them doing very consistently. They also started tacking on extra items for
+routine jobs. She would go in for an inspection and they would claim she needed
+a new Part X. Now this in and of itself isn't an uncommon or even strange
+request to make. As cars age they need things and sometimes you don't know what
+they need until you visit a professional mechanic. They remember the things you
+forget about.
+
+One day they did all the forgetting, and they forgot a pretty important, nay,
+crucial engine component: motor oil. Our friend took her minivan into YABS for
+a routine oil change. Good diligence on her part. And she's not the type to do
+that change on her own. She's too old to get under a car anyway (no offense!).
+So she took the van to YABS and they did a job they've done thousands of times:
+drain oil, replaced the filter, and gave her back the car. Easy peasy right?
+Now I know I'm not a professional but I'm thinking someone might have wanted to
+double-check that several quarts of synthetic had left the shop shelf and gone
+into the car they just backed out of the bay door. Now this part of the story
+I'm a little fuzzy on so take it with a large, heaping grain of salt, but I can
+say for a fact that they failed to *completely* refill the engine oil before
+returning her car. Supposedly there was enough in there such that the minivan
+survived long enough for them to realize it before she drove off.
+
+# Monty, My 2013 Ford Focus -- Nut Allergy
+
+160$ for new lugnuts; knew that these were a problem with ford and chrysler, class action lawsuit so keep lugnuts
+
+I decided to give YABS another try after a long leave of absence. I needed new
+tires all around for my daily driver. I also needed an inspection and an
+alignment. A simple set of tasks for any shop (you see where this is going). I
+initially tried to go to another local shop but they were all out of the tires
+I was looking to get so I caved and went to YABS. About halfway through the job
+they gave me a call and told me they had some bad news. They said that there
+were some issues getting the lugnuts off my wheels and that they had all been
+stripped, warped, or otherwise destroyed in the process. They told me the only
+fix was to get new ones from a supplier in town for about $160. Keep in mind
+the entire job (inspection, tires, etc.) was going to cost $650. Furthermore,
+dad and I had no problem getting those lugnuts off and back on again just a few
+weeks prior when we changed the transmission fluid.
+
+They didn't have an explanation that I could reconcile with. Joe Schmoe over
+the phone told me this is typical of Fords and Chryslers these days and that
+they'd like to keep my lugnuts for a class action lawsuit they're participating
+in. Now why on Earth would any sane mechanic, with full knowledge they are
+dealing with a defective set of lugnuts, take a high power impact wrench to
+those wheels without speaking with the owner about it first? Smelled fishy to
+me honestly.
+
+# Ole Blue --
+
+Lost hupcap, took a chunk out of tire sidewall
+
+# Not All Bad
+
+- good things -> hassle-free inspections, etc., honestly years of good service
+
+Oh the tires were Cooper GTs by the way and they're amazing. They're smoothe
+and quiet and came with a very nice warranty. They're also made in the USA,
+which is very important to me.