Dorkus

My tub is old, the house was built in 1939. When my kids splashed in a full tub tonight, it made water leak through the ceiling underneath. I discovered why - there was this black sealant substance between the overflow hole in the tub and the overflow drain pipe behind the tub, which had started to degrade, letting a lot of the water that goes into the overflow to leak out. I got rid of all the black stuff but I don't know what to use to replace it - silicone caulk or something fancier? It is a pretty big gap, 1/8" or so. It's not like water usually goes in the overflow so I don't have to do it "the right way" but I at least want to use a decent material.

After a few seconds, my garbage disposal seized up. I freed it with the hex wrench, then started it again, and it seized up in a fraction of a second - now it is so stuck, I can't turn the hex wrench with all my might. I can hear it trying to turn when I turn on the switch. The reset button did not pop out, i.e. I can't push it to reset. I didn't have much in there - a few pieces of overcooked asparagus, which I removed. I cleaned it all out, there's nothing in there now, the two metal moving parts on the bottom can still rotate freely. I'm almost positive there's nothing hard in there like spoons or pieces of glass or anything. What is going on, how could it get stuck like this? Do I need a new garbage disposal? If not, what tricks could I try to loosen it up or get it going again?

I have had this car (06 Civic) for 3+ years, this is the first time it's happened. I've driven probably 8 cars regularly over 15 years and never had this before: Whenever I have any ventilation (air conditioner or not), it smells strongly of (~cow) manure in my car. It's been going on for a few weeks now, and is getting worse if anything (not fading away). There is no way to my knowledge manure could have actually gotten into my car. I looked for dead animals in the hood but couldn't find anything. Does anyone have similar experience, and could you tell me what it means?

The disposal always worked fine, i.e. it never clogged, but recently I've had to cycle the power a few times to get it to turn on once, even when it was empty. Once it actually turned on it worked great.

Over time, I had to flip the wall switch on/off more and more times to get it to work once, now it doesn't turn on at all. Absolutely no noise when I flip the switch.

It seems like an electrical rather than a mechanical problem - but given the symptoms, is it likely to be a problem with the disposal itself, where only getting a new disposal will solve the problem?

Has anyone heard of these symptoms happening before?