BigRobsVan: Building a Desk | BRV027

[m00npie]

I grew up in the 80s and was really into computers. My dad purchased a TRS-80 Model III from Radio Shack when they were brand new (and Radio Shack was open). A few years later we swapped that computer for an Apple II, and before long I had a Commodore 64, which was my computer […]

Source: https://bigrobsvan.com/2024/06/24/build ... sk-brv027/

[AArdvark]

Now that was funny! The way you just looked at that tweet on the screen and went F-it, and made the whole thing a silent movie. I was half expecting dialog cards like a Charlie Chaplin film. Seriously though, don't bow down to the 'tards on Social Media, give 'em a double middle finger and do the video the way you want.

THE
WHOSE VAN IS IT
ANYWAY
AARDVARK

EDIT: I think I already know the answer but are you keeping a running total of how much you're spending on the van? Will you post that figure when you get everything done?

2: Have lumber prices dropped at all since the post-pandemic supply chain issues?

[Flack]

I reedited the video and uploaded a normal "talkie" version tonight. There was a slight mix-up with the upload, but it's all fixed now.

As that channel grows, so do the trolls. I have been waiting and preparing for them and for the most part to be 100% honest, they do not bother me. There are some criticisms I take personal, like some things about my books or my podcasts or stuff, but the van YouTube channel I pretty much established that I'm a middle-aged, overweight idiot doing my best. When people say "Jesus that table looks like an idiot made it" I believe the correct response is, "true!" There haven't been any outright mean ones about my weight yet but I've had maybe a dozen or so that are all variations of "duh" or "tell us something we didn't know. Some I ignore and some I try to kill with kindness and a couple I've deleted.

Lumber is expensive as shit. A 2x4 is currently $3.73 at Home Depot. I think I bought five for the desk and used one or two I already had here at the house, but then I also added that plywood which was super expensive. Those four sheets of plywood were probably $100.

I was keeping track of what I spent on the van for a long time but gave up because (a) I buy so many things it's impossible to keep track, and (b) the price was becoming depressing. At a bare minimum I've spent $10k on the van -- that's the cost of the van and the two major repair bills. Everything else combined it probably $2k or less, but a big chunk of that is a $1k power station battery and a $200 solar panel.

[obliterator918]

I remember when I posted my Youtube video showing the steps I took to mod and paint one of my C64s (I mounted a uIEC/SD in the case and soldered it to the bus), I got all kinds of horrible responses. I really didn't care, but the UK people making fun of how I pronounce "solder," which is how everyone outside of the UK pronounces it, was hilarious to me. And of course people who seriously treated me like a criminal for drilling into and painting the C64 case, or for cutting out the old chips (well, maybe they have a point there). And guys who were angry with me for not given them enough details to do the wiring I did, when anyone can google it... People critical of HOW I painted it, even though it turned out better than I expected it would, etc... oh well. I did it for my enjoyment, not theirs.

Interestingly, a lot of those comments are gone now (I didn't delete them). I can see replies I wrote to comments that are no longer visible. It was a long time ago, and I wonder if Youtube eventually hid them? Maybe the people who wrote them grew up and deleted them? No idea...

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I made a video about 15 years ago with my Polybius machine, and on the camera we used to film it and the monitor I used to edit it, the "blacks" were such, and the contrast/brightness were such that you could not see my friend pull a mask on. I would have edited it out otherwise. On subsequent monitors over the years that are brighter, it can be seen.

OH MY GOD. For 15 years you'd think that every single person, of the quarter million that have watched it, were the first one to see the mask be put on. I no longer care about being called an a-hole by these nobodies, it's just the sheer desire from these feebs to comment the first braindead thought that enters their empty minds that is crazy.

[AArdvark]

I bought a laser printer from Amazon a few years ago. It only prints in black and white, it was clearly marked in the product description. Scrolling through the FAQ section I noticed there must have been twenty people asking if it printed in color. Every time the answer was: no, it only prints in black and white. After I bought it I posted the question: "how many times have you had to tell people it doesn't print in color?"
Perhaps in this day and age people talk first and engage brains later

[Flack]

Back when my YouTube videos were getting around 100 views, every comment was positive and every one got a 100% approval rating. Now I'm getting 300-500 views on average, and for the most part it's still the same. I've had a few videos shoot up in views, like the headlight installation one which has 11,000 views. (Insignificant in the scale of YouTube views, but higher than average for me.) Ones like that seem to have a 95-97% approval rating, and get the snarky or negative comments. My second highest one is the one where I installed a shore power outlet, which also gets negative comments. You could probably figure out some average, like .5% of all comments are really negative, and when you're in the < 1k view range, the number is so statistical small that it pretty much stays at 0. It's not worth the trolls coming out of their caves for.