The Woodhouse Group nears completion of the University of Waterloo's “Velocity Centre” located in the Communitech Hub @ 151 Charles St W. Kitchener Ontario.
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
TXV Woes
Hanging very heavy carriage doors
My GC is a bit nervous about getting the install right since its hung on hinges that are lag bolted to the underlying structure. The frames aren't perfectly square so he will need to do some shimming to get it just right. The issue is that he can't shim the jambs because the lag screws go deep into the supporting frame. So I suggested that he build a temp support to hold the doors in the exact closed position he wants it and then use that to line up the hinges.
Anyone try anything like this before? Given the weight we are worried that they will shift a bit and then will be out of alignment. Or over time they will sag. The lags have a out a 1/32 of an inch of play within the hole of the hinge. Plus the hinges are mounted on the face of the building frame so he can't shim it horizontally.
Poor sealing fridge door gasket.
The poor seal caused much condensation both inside and out. Unfortunately this is taking its toll in the form of minor isolated corrosion (as seen in pic) along with a constant mildew problem. This Kenmore (#2539768481) is probably 12-15 years old and, while still in otherwise very good condition, I'm not sure investing in a $100+ genuine gasket is worth it.
Any tricks-of-the-trade appreciated.
.
......
Monday, July 4, 2016
INstalled -- Sq. D
I also have a 220 Volt Smoother : Smoother Power - Saves Boards
http://global220volt.com/product/tripp-lite-lr2000/
https://www.zoro.com/square-d-surge-protection-device-1-phase-120240v-hepd80/i/G4618844/
Building inspection process for a deck?
-After looking through many documents, it appears you are quite limited in the amount of step down you can get from the door to the deck. When adhering to the allowable ledger bolt patterns and the band joist bolts, without completely changing the size of your joists, you are stuck with practically no step down. I am using 2x10 joists for the deck, and house band joist is 2x10, which by code would only allow a .75" step. That is not great for snow in New jersey. Check out link to confirm
2015 IRC Deck Ledger Bolt Placement | ProTradeCraft
-Another area where I wish I has some room was the footings 5ft from the foundation rule. Unless you intend on digging your deck footings to the elevation of your house footings (unrealistic), than you have to space the deck off further than 5ft. This confuses me as the none of the maximum allowable joist overhangs in the code can reach span that 5ft distance. In my case this is not critical, as I am right on the edge of 5ft, however if I could cheat a little I would. Do inspections measure from the footer to the house? Pier to the house? Post to the house? Or, are they quite strict about the footer to the house distance?
-Stairs landing on concrete pads. Code says stairs must land on an area with footings of proper size and below frost. I have seen countless pictures of stairs landing right on concrete slabs, sometimes, just concrete blocks. ?
-How does an inspector, inspect your ledger attachments if he/she cannot access your interior band joist? Obviously, an owner w cannot demolish the floor to access the band joist? How does he very you are attaching the ledger to the right spots on the band joist (edge distances, no drill, no pass zones, esc)?
Thank you guys, I really need some advice here
Aint No Sheriffs Star.... lol
Its not the fact that Trump is trying to tie Hillary to jewish cash.... but its the fact that Trump used that image that they got from a white supremacist post...... and reused it....
Do you want someone that dang stupid sitting in the white house ??? The guy is one ignorant sack of doodie.
Trump can say what he wants about the star..... but man... it doesnt take a 3 yr old to fiqure out what they are trying to say with the star and the pile of cash....
Maybe the US can get Mossad to deal with Trump...... in their own special way.... I know if I was in government... I would at least be considering that option.... no matter which side of the table I was sitting on.
Toronto board of health approves supervised injection sites
Final approval left to council after emotional board meeting sees overwhelming support for harm reduction measure
Removing / replacing silicone caulk
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Sunday, July 3, 2016
My New GFCI wont reset! Please help
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
55% of Visitors Read Your Articles For 15 Seconds or Less: Why We Should Focus on Attention Not Clicks
Millions of blog posts are published every day.
A small percentage gain traction and attract readers.
And among those readers, 55% will read the blog post for 15 seconds or less.
(If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with this one!)
The internet is a daily battle for attention. Everywhere you turn, people are trying to share the latest marketing hacks with many of the same points echoed repeatedly.
I'm guilty of it myself, and I completely understand why many of us write articles that are a little similar and repetitive. It's because they work. You could argue that content is becoming less art and more science. There are formulas to it - if you find the best keywords and write the correct content, you can build a high-traffic blog (that's almost a guarantee).
But is traffic the goal of content? Or can there be some new and unusual ways of measuring content success? I have some ideas I'd love to share.
Do the surface metrics really matter?
Why pageviews and sessions might be the wrong numbers to chase
Often (and, I'm guilty of this too) you'll hear someone talk about the success of their content by saying something like: “10,000 people read my post” or “60,000 people saw my video on Facebook.”
But I've started to wonder if this is really an accurate measure of successful content?
Even if someone clicks on your article, the likelihood of them taking it all in is very slim. The internet has changed many of our habits. But one thing that hasn't changed in nearly 20 years is the way we consume content online. Most of us still skim and rarely read a full post.
Many publishers have now started to focus on “attention metrics” alongside more traditional measurements like pageviews. Medium's Ev Williams explains their stance on which numbers are meaningful:
We pay more attention to time spent reading than number of visitors at Medium because, in a world of infinite content - where there are a million shiny attention-grabbing objects a touch away and notifications coming in constantly - it's meaningful when someone is actually spending time.
Maybe we need to stop focusing on how we can hack and grow the number of views our content gets. And instead, focus on how we can make each reader care about what we're saying.
I'd argue that you don't build a successful blog by accumulating a huge number of page views. Rather, you build a successful blog by creating something of value.
The only way content will drive results for any business is if it provides value to someone else. It's not necessarily about how many people you reach; it's how many you connect with. Because when people connect with us, they remember us, come back for more, trust what we have to say, and may eventually buy from us.
When you're creating great content, you don't need to live or die by your analytics. Maybe we should let go of our desire to write for everyone in order to skyrocket our pageviews, and instead hone in on sharing what's unusual, valuable, and unique?
How to measure the value of your content
3 under-used metrics to tell you just how valuable your content is
Value is quite subjective and can be hard to measure. In this section, I'd love to share a few ways we're starting to measure the value of our content here at Buffer.
1. Run an NPS survey
A Net Promoter Score (NPS) is commonly used to measure loyalty between a brand and a consumer. It can also be a great way to measure the value that your blog is delivering to readers.
You calculate NPS by asking a simple question: How likely is it that you would recommend our blog to a friend or colleague? (Using a 0-10 scale to answer.)
Respondents to the question are then grouped as follows:
- Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer others, fueling growth
- Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings.
- Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.
Subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters yields the Net Promoter Score, which can range from a low of -100 (if every customer is a Detractor) to a high of 100 (if every customer is a Promoter).
This handy graphic from the Net Promoter Network highlights the formula:
By running an NPS survey on your blog you can begin to understand how many of your readers truly value the content you're creating and whether they would be happy to share it with their networks.
How to run an NPS Survey
There are plenty of great tools out there to help you run an NPS Survey on your blog and I'd love to share a few below:
- Promotor.io
- SurveyMonkey
- Delighted
- Qualaroo (we use Qualaroo at Buffer)
You can also create your own survey using a tool like Typeform and distribute it to your readers. One thing that feels important to be mindful of is ensuring you reach all kinds of readers with your survey. For example, sending it only to your email subscribers could slightly skew results as they're likely to already be your most engaged readers.
2. Pay attention to the comments
There has been a lot of debate about the state of blog comments. With the rise of social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, readers have a multitude of ways to engage with your content:
- They can share a link to your post on Twitter, Facebook (or any network of their choice)
- They can interact with a post where you've shared a link back to the blog (favoriting a tweet, sending a reply, liking on Facebook)
- They can retweet your tweet sharing the post or share your Facebook post
- And much, much more…
With all these options and ways to interact with content, you could argue that a blog comment is losing its relevancy - or on the contrary, you could see it that the value of a blog comment is rising.
Knowing that people can share and comment on your post anywhere, the fact they're taking the time to respond directly within the post itself could be perceived as the highest form of engagement.
For us, comments are an increasingly important metric and one we're focused on measuring. In Q2 2016, we've had a focus on increasing the average comments on each blog post by 100% from Q1 and here's how we're getting on:
Comments feel like a great measure of the value your content creates. If someone takes the time to spark a discussion on reply to us through a comment then we feel the post must have been useful to them in some way or sparked some curiosity. A great example is our recent social media study post. This one generated over 70 comments with readers sharing their thoughts on the study and also how our findings compare to their own.
3. Monitor mentions and shares
Whenever I publish a post on the Buffer blog, I'll get a few mentions on Twitter or LinkedIn when people share it. As a result of this, I've started to build a slight intuition around how much value each post is generating based on shares and mentions.
When a post really delivers value and goes above and beyond reader expectations, I'll notice a distinct spike in the number of shares it receives and the number of mentions we receive both via the @buffer accounts and my own personal social media accounts.
It's super easy to keep tabs on how many times your content has been shared. Sharing plugins like SumoMe and Social Warfare can provide share counts on your posts and PostReach (full disclosure: this is a tool a few friends and I have built) and Buzzsumo can pull in data about who is sharing each of your posts on Twitter. I also like to pay extra close attention to my mentions on Twitter after a new post goes live so I can gauge how it's doing and see what people are saying.
A quick tip: Promise value in your headline
Headlines are amazingly important to the success of a piece of content. Before we publish a post, we spend a bit of time focusing on how we can craft a headline that gives the content the best chance of being seen. Amazing content behind a weak headline probably won't get seen.
Sometimes we'll create between 20-30 headlines for each post and choose the one that feels best and other times we'll have a quick chat and riff on how we can make the headline stand out. Here are some extracts from a recent conversation between Leo and I:
The original headline we had was:
53 Graphic Design Terms and Definitions for Non-Designers
And the title we decided on when we hit publish is:
Why Every Marketer in 2016 Needs to Be a (Part-Time) Designer: 53 Design Terms and Tips to Level-Up
This post has generated plenty of shares so far and 18 comments (at the time of writing). By focusing on the headline, we were able to promise value: 53 Design Terms and Tips to Level-Up. And also spark a discussion about the role of a marketer: Why Every Marketer in 2016 Needs to Be a (Part-Time) Designer. Without the time spent tweaking this headline, I'm not sure we would have had such success with this post.
What makes an idea worth writing about?
Every blog post begins as an idea, but what makes an idea stand out and how do you know which ideas to act on and publish?
Before choosing a post to write, I tend to ask myself three questions:
- Is this actionable?
- Who will amplify this?
- What makes it unique?
And I'd love to go into detail on each of the three questions below:
1. Is it actionable?
On the Buffer blog, w
We focus on making content actionable because we believe that if someone learns something from one of our posts they're likely to remember us and even share the post with their network as a New York Times study found that content that is practically useful gets shared more than any other content:
2. Who will amplify it?
When creating content, it's important to hone in on your audience and think about who you're writing for. One way I like to frame this is to ask myself “who will amplify this post?” If I can't answer this question then I won't write the post. Normally, this question forces me to focus on a specific area of marketing or a specific role.
(h/t to Rand Fishkin for this one)
3. What makes it unique?
We're surrounded by content nowadays and if you want to stand out, you need to craft content that's unique.
What makes a piece of content unique can vary from post to post. Sometimes it can be timing that makes a post unique, for example, when we published our post on Twitter Polls it was launched shorty after Polls were publicly announced and was one of the first guides on how to use the feature.
Other ways to make your content unique include:
- Sharing your unique perspective: One of the best ways to make a piece of content unique is to create something that only you can by adding in your own perspective and point of view. As Jory McKay explains on the Crew blog: “Everything has been said before, but it's never been said by you.”
- Going deeper on a topic that anyone else: There might be a ton of posts out there about Facebook Ads, for example, but you can create a unique post on this subject by going more in-depth than anyone else has.
Over to you
I believe we can create more value if we pay closer attention to depth than breadth. It's not so much how many people click on our content, it's how many people pay attention to our content. It's how many people we can make an impression on and connect with that really matters.
Measuring the success of blog content is an interesting topic and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Do you feel we put too much focus on the metrics like page views and sessions? How do you measure the quality and value provided by a blog post? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Fixing breaker overload
I have a code violation/ breaker overload I would like to fix.
It is a 15amp (120V) breaker, it serves:
half of the basement, and plug inside a kitchen cabinet; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 small living room, 1 fridge (6A), microwave (1200W;10A, located in kitchen cabinet).
What would be the easiest way to fix it to be a little bit more compliant to code?
Monday, June 27, 2016
Foreigners trying to nab girls
The main DJ said something almost happened with his daughter ,i didn't hear that story, but he brought the topic up on the radio and all kinds of people started calling in.
-------------------
One girl said 5 years ago, she answered a job posting on Craigslist for a printing job in Camarillo, California. She said she went to the "job interview" and heard her car alarm going off, she went outside and found her car was blocked in.
She started noticing everything was strange so she started sending text messages to her friends that she wanted to get out of there.
They told her to get into the car because she had to go meet the CEOs in Santa Monica, California.
She said when she got the opportunity, she jumped out of the car and ran.
She said, when the police got there the whole building was empty.
--------------------------
Another women called in and said her 18 year old daughter had made plans to attend "free college" in China.
They told them if they wanted to sign up for the "free college" program they need to be at the airport when the plane leaves.
She said her daughter didn't go because they weren't accepting males, and they told her male friend he couldn't go.
--------------------------------
i'm sure our government would tell you, hey! it's only a small percent who get kidnapped never to be seen again, and it's a small price to pay for showing everyone how non-racist we are.
Toronto council's $3 billion choice doesn't inspire trust: James
Reasonable people understand the city may need to raise more revenue. But they're not sure this council will spend their taxes wisely.
Tips on how to chisel or notch out a a small section of wood
Thanks
Goodman horizontal coil
Central air shuts down after 5 minutes
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Lennox HSXB15-036 fan failure question
After shutting the unit down I found the fan blade to turn but relatively stiff.
Not frozen binding but certainly not 'free spinning" I know a value judgement a bit but pretty sure the bearings are getting old
being 13 years old and all
Question is. 1)is it still possible to be the run/start capacitor? This was replaced once before.
and 2) how bad is it to run very temporarily w/out the fan.
3)What about a fan, like a box fan as a temporary cooling unit?
One odd educational question:
The shutoff outside that cuts the 220V to the compressor/fan.. Why is there not 110 across each set of fuse contacts?
What is the name of the window screen clip and how to make the frame?
I would like to know the name of my window screen clip. Is there a way that I can make this kind of frame myself?
Thank you
Utilitech AC condensate pump not pumping
https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=...003010.jpg&f=1
Xr14 and tam7
New soundlined return box, lines, filter media, and twisty transition.
Might get better pictures when i go for inspection. It was dark.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Saturday, June 25, 2016
USGS environ/energy lab closed for manipulating results
Problem was discovered in 2008, but was allowed to continue operations up to 2014.
Results from 1996 thru 2014 have been "adjusted" or "corrected". I find it curious problem was discovered in 2008 but not stopped until 2014.
Gee, what landmark event happened in 2008, that seems to have allowed the problems to be covered up until 2014? And we aren't hearing about it until now? And Rep Bruce Westerman brought it to light (guess party)? How come no Dems were keen on revealing this?
I am sure there will be wall-to-wall coverage by ABC, NBC, MSLSD, CeeBS, NYT, WaPO, etc. How long can you hold yer breath?
http://dailycaller.com/2016/06/23/fe...-manipulation/
Quite a crew we have operating in administration, and in the USGS... 😡 💩
Carrier Condenser Fan won't start by itself
I originally had a service tech out and he let me know the capacitor and fan motor were bad. I opted to replace them both myself. After replacement of both, the condenser fan still won't fire up without a stick push. I have tested the new cap and get the appropriate values (80 & 5, dual run). I've ohm tested the motor and it checks out. I've taken the contactor off and tested the resistance between the low voltages and get 8.1 (normal). What else would prevent my condenser fan from starting up? The only thing I haven't tested is the amp draw. I have tried two brand new motors and caps with the same effect. I have also tested a temp sensor in the unit and get about 1400. Does this sensor have any impact on condenser motormotor start up?
The AC runs fine with condenser fan stick push started, but once target temp is reached, and AC shuts off, the fan won't start again without support.
The motor is a single phase three wire, black is going to line 1, white is going to terminal 2 and brown is going to capacitor.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Can liquid refrigerant boil out when heated
A/C Fan Not Turning On
Some of the online videos referenced the compressor and capacitor; however, most videos only appear to show the capacitor and I'm unclear if they are two different things or the same with different terminology.
I attempted to kick start the fan, which seems to rotate freely without any issues.
Should I attempt to replace the fuses, capacitor or both?
Thanks.
Friday, June 24, 2016
This has been posted before... still lots of fun:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/hLpE1P...policy=3&rel=0
BTW: Think of the work involved in making the video... same guy, multiple recordings, lots of mixing, etc.
Didn't Have The Faith
No ground wire for new bathroom fan.
I removed a bathroom ceiling light and replaced it with a fan/light combo. The old light was only connected by black and white wires, inside a junction box with no ground.
Removed the box, installed the new fan housing to the joist and ran wires into fan housing box.
Now I know to connect the black to black and white to white but where do I run my ground wire to?
Can I self tap it into the fan housing box itself? Or do I even need to ground it to anything since no one will ever touch the fan itself, only the light switch on the wall to control it.
Thanks!
David
Toronto hookah lounge owners fight ban in court
A lawyer for four Toronto hookah lounges told a judge the city's ban would have a “catastrophic effect” on his clients.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Intertherm Furnace Experts out there??
Torontonians not sold on Expo bid, poll says
Forum poll finds they're somewhat more positive about storefront pot shops and bicycle licensing.